Thanks for all of your great responses! Many of you wanted to know how to pick up a girl gamer, so let me present you with a few Do's and Don'ts when it comes to wooing one of us.

Remember: Ask a Girl Gamer comes out every Friday night. Whether you have questions about chicks or cheats, I'm your girl. Leave me a message here or e-mail me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the subject "Ask a Girl Gamer" and I'll do my best to answer.

Now, how to date a girl who plays video games...

DO be in the right place at the right time. If you want to meet a girl who games, you have to invade one of our nests. You won't find many chicks at your buddy's basement LAN party, and if you do, chances are you're going to have a lot of competition or just annoy her when she's trying to play. You want to be in places that feature games, but are a little more girl-friendly and social. Think more along the line of entertainment complexes that feature games rather than straight-up arcades. Hit up your local Dave and Buster's or Gameworks. If you don't live in a metro area, you at least have a bowling alley with a little arcade where you can hang out, sip a beer, and challenge a girl to DDR. Every girl that you meet in these situations will be willing to play games with you....because they already are. She may not be as knowledgable as a girl you meet at Wizard World, but the guy to girl ratio is much better and the pickings aren't as slim. Plus, she probably won't be wearing synthetic elf ears.

DO be an entrepeneur. If you can't pick up a girl gamer, you can always turn your girl into one. Invest in a Wii. Girls love that shit. It may be totally lame, but think of yourself as a dealer and Nintendo as a gateway drug. If your goal is to turn her into a full-blown addict, you're going to have a lot better luck getting her to take a toke than injecting heroin between her toes. Suck it up and put in some time playing Mario Party. She'll have fun and be more receptive to trying more games. Then you can ease her into using a more challenging controller. Take her to see the movie Up. She'll love it and cry the whole time. Then rent the Up game (I know, but listen, you're going to have to put in some effort here) as a surprise. She'll love that too and be eager to learn how to play PS3 or 360 in order to play the game. You are getting closer, my friend. Now that she has the necessary skills, introduce her to some games you actually like to play. Put them on easy and play co-op together. All you have to do is be real. If you talk about how much you appreciate a certain game and why it's superior to Imagine: Babyz, she'll want to see for herself.  Soon she'll be fragging with the best of 'em.

DO run in the right circles. Start a Technological Society at your college. If you write a classy proposal, you can get your school to pay for pizza and video games. It happened at mine. Put out some ads, assign a female as your vice president, and let the ladies come pouring in.  Subtly advertise your love of games when you go to parties. Pick up a subtly cool gaming t-shirt (no, do not go to Jinx or Hot Topic--I'm talking more like some of the cooler stuff on Threadless, Meatbun, etc.--see below for examples ) and let the compliments come in. Any girl gamer will make a beeline right to you to talk about it, whether she's interested in you at first or not. After she identifies herself as a gamer, it's up to you to make it happen.

NOT COOL

COOL

DO get your shit together. Even if you spent all night on a marathon gaming session, please don't look or smell that way. Get a new outfit, some new shoes (they don't have to be expensive; you just need to look fresh and clean), and take care of yourself. Mutual interests go a long way, but no girl is going to get over your righteous B.O. Once you've got this, all you need is confidence. If you don't have it, fake it. No one will be able to tell.

DON'T be a dick. It's fun to teabag your buddies when you kill them, but if you do that to your girlfriend, you are going to be one lonely fella. Don't trash-talk--some friendly teasing is okay, but remember that she's not one of your guy friends. Don't get frustrated when she's lagging behind in co-op. Don't just do everything for her if she's learning: let her learn and feel capable. Don't kick her ass relentlessly. If you do any of these things, she'll be turned off from gaming (and you) for a long time.

DON'T be ashamed to use the internet. Especially if you live in a small town and aren't in school, you might have a hard time finding a girl who plays games. Chat with some girls on Xbox Live (and don't be one of those guys that asks for pics--your conversation is going to end right there). Be friendly and get her comfortable. Play online together for awhile. Maybe eventually ask for her phone number. Try MySpace and Facebook too. But here's the big rule of meeting girls on the internet: friends first, or you risk coming off as a creeper. You can always lie to your children about how you met.

Now get out there! If you still have questions, you know where to go. Have you successfully hit it off with a gamer girl? I want to hear your stories. They could be published in an updated guide to picking up girl gamers. See you next week!

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