At the end of the day, the simple fact is that women LAN gamers don't want to be treated any differently from their male counterparts. Considering the first remark I heard when I arrived at TFF was "Oh my god, Angelus has brought a woman with him," I must admit I was not filled with confidence.
It turned out, however, that my assumptions were wrong. After the initial few jokes about my Welsh heritage (not the barrage of sheep jokes I usually encounter when meeting new people), the guys at TFF turned out to be a really nice bunch of people. I didn't hear a single joke about women throughout the event, although there is the chance they told them all out of earshot. Apparently red haired women of Welsh heritage such as myself have a little bit of a temper ...
Evident as soon as you walk through the doors of the community center where the LAN takes place was the family atmosphere. There were three generations of Sally's family in attendance: her parents, her sister and Maddie, who is TFF's first baby at 4 months old. Gamers of all ages are encouraged to attend the event, and there were a few younger kids among the participants (all of which put me to shame by staying up far later than I think I ever could). Not everyone is related, but you nonetheless get the feeling that they are all very close.
Despite their familiarity with each other, the great thing about the people who frequent TFF is that how welcoming they are of new people. I never once felt like a stranger there despite not having met any of the participants before.
The only downside to the whole event was the fact that I had to withdraw early due to a migraine. I must admit that one of the highlights of the LAN for me was the bacon and egg butties kindly made by Sally's mum, Sue, that Sunday morning (something which I sadly had to miss out on due to the migraine). Then again, as one of the other participants at LAN said after the event, "You'll just have to have twice as much next time."
So, the big question is: Will I be frequenting LANs in the future? Actually, I've already signed up for my next one (another smaller event running over a weekend with space for 40 participants), and I can definitely see myself attending TFF again. I'm not sure whether I'll ever attend the larger events. I liked the atmosphere at TFF and you might lose that to a certain extent if you have 100-plus people attending an event. Then again, I may end up attending a larger one at some point just to see what the fuss is about.
If there are any female gamers out there who are considering attending a LAN, put aside your reservations and do it! There are plenty of people who would like to see more female faces on the LAN scene, and we could certainly do with a little help when it comes to bolstering our numbers.
Rachael Griffiths is a freelance contributor to The Escapist.
