For the first time ever I joined a voice call while playing a game (among us) and as soon as I said something everyone immediately started going "Is that a female??" "You're a female??" "There are females here??" I get that it was supposed to be a joke but fuck it felt so alienating to be bombarded with that in my first attempt at gaming socially
Truth in that, there's a distinction between being a Gamer and someone that on occasion plays videogames (but also has other things going on in their lives so they have more than a mono pillar personality "i.e. Gamer 4 Life" shit). Also gaming can be a area of competition in which individuals can otherwise achieve dopamine highs from beating other opponents. Honestly I don't know much of the online scene, most of my gaming is done via single player play once experiences that I relate tot he same way one would watch a movie or read a book (not good books but ya know average fun junk media).