Devin Thomas was a normal sixteen year old girl. Scratch that. She was a sixteen year old girl, the normal part was never really her thing. Ever since she could remember she had been different than other kids.
Aspergers.
Her mom had always told her that having Aspergers wasn't a bad thing, that it was like a super power, "Ya right," Devin had told her, "if being a social pariah that doesn't understand facial expressions and normal social cues is a super power than I guess call me Captain Aspy."
Her mother retorted with the usual, "Albert Einstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve..." but before she could finish her standard list of famous people that were suspected to have Aspergers, Devin had retreated back into her own mind, reliving the game of Sonic the Hedgehog she had been playing earlier in the day. Video games had always been a great escape for Devin, and Sonic the Hedgehog had been one of her favorites for as far back as she could remember.
Today she had been playing Sonic Adventure 2, a hardcore Sonic fan favorite. This was the first game that she ever played that introduced a role playing game element to her, in the form of the chao garden mini game. Chao were super cute little animals that you hatched and then through various actions leveled up into stronger and better versions of themselves. What they turned in to had to do with what character you were playing as, what you fed them and what attachments you gave them. It was the chao garden that had given Devin her first taste of the world of rpg's, and she hadn't turned back since.
During the last four years Devin had become one of the best mmorpg, or massive multi-player online role playing game players in the world. She was ranked in the top 10 in two different games, one of which she often found herself ranked in the very first spot. She had even competed in several tournaments and earned some sizable cash prizes. All of the hardships of social interaction melted away when she was immersed in the virtual worlds. It was there where she felt she could truly be herself, and she owed it all to the tiny chao that had become a hero in her first game of Sonic Adventure 2.
"And people thought they were weird, but they changed the world around them, just like you will. You were meant..." Devin's mom was saying before she was interrupted by Devin in a mocking tone.
"For something great. Yeah yeah, I know mom, but what if I don't want to do something great, what if what I want is to just play video games."
"Video games," she retorted, as though the word tasted bad in her mouth, "I can't imagine why someone as beautiful and smart as you would want to spend all of their time holed up in your room, eating Cheetos and pretending to be a wizard tapping away on a computer screen."
"First, I do not pretend to be a wizard, I usually play as a warrior. Second, are you trying to say that because I look a certain way I should allow societal expectations to determine the outcome of my life, that I should just be the dumb pretty girl that cares about my clothes and finding the perfect boy to finally make me feel complete...barf...and third, you should know that the majority of those guys you just mentioned that as you put it, changed the world, did it by being holed up in a room somewhere and tapping away on a computer screen...soooo...."
"Ya but they were doing more than playing video games."
"Well, do you really think the world is a better place because of Facebook and iPhones, or would we all be better off if Steve Jobs and old Zuck had just stuck to marathon sessions of World of Warcraft?"
Her mother sighed, "I don't think I will ever win an argument against you Devin."
"Finally something we can agree on. Now, if you'll excuse me the realm of wizards awaits, which reminds me...we need more Cheetos." Devin gave a small bow, smiling mischievously and ran up the stairs to her room.
As Devin walked into her room she paused and looked around at all the faces staring back at her. Princess Zelda, Faith from Mirror's Edge, Samus from Metroid, Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, Lara Croft from Tomb Raider, Amy Rose from Sonic the Hedgehog, Ms. Pac-Man...it was her salute to the badass women of video gaming history. There was also a poster that she had made of her very own avatar from the mmorpg Guild Wars 2, DevinDurga, and she was, without a doubt, the most badass of them all.
Looking at the posters she smiled thinking back to a conversation that she had with her best friend Jazz just a couple of weeks ago via FaceTime.
"All I'm saying is that Ms. Pac-Man doesn't really belong on the wall with all those other super rad chicks," Jazz said as Devin held the phone out for her to see the various posters on the wall.
"Are you kidding me?" Devin said, "Ms. Pac-Man might be the biggest feminist of them all. I mean, it was the early 80's and her husband was the most famous video game character of all time at that point, and she still chose to not be called Mrs. Pac-Man, because no man owns her...iconic."
Jazz laughed, "Okay fine, she belongs on the wall. Plus it is a pretty fun game, and some people credit Ms. Pac-Man with getting women into video games in the first place."
"Well those people usually say that women liked Ms. Pac-Man because she was non-violent and the entire game is about chasing Pac-Man, having babies, and eating...so those people are dicks."
Jazz and Devin both burst out laughing and moved on to playing Guild Wars. They were a fearsome duo, even though they had never met in real life, but they played together every night, text each other all day while they were at school, and FaceTimed pretty much all the times in between. Jazz was basically the only friend that Devin had.
The familiar brrriinnng sound and the accompanying short clip of music that meant a chest had been opened in the original Legend of Zelda game brought her out of her memories. She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and read the text from Jazz.
Where r u??? Been waiting forever to start this quest, u know I can't do it without my gurl. - Jazz
Sorry, had to win an argument with parental, signing on right now! - Devin
Have u ever lost an argument?- Jazz
Only once. - Devin
What was that about? - Jazz
It was when I tried to convince you to stop using the word gurl... - Devin
LOL! I forgot about that...gurl - Jazz
Lets just play before we aren't friends anymore :) - Devin
With that Devin threw her phone on the bed and sat down at her computer, logging in to the virtual world.