Or a gal gamer could show up dressed in pink and proceed to clean everyone's clock.

(Former gal gamer who sometimes wasn't taken seriously because I was "too pretty" or "just a mom", which was always a good opportunity to take advantage of some fool while his guard was down. The second game was always more challenging because they didn't make that mistake again.)

:-) That surprise people get when they realize they severely underestimated someone always strikes positive chord in my heart.

> "proceed to clean everyone's clock."

Rather than proceeding to stare at the screen until somebody takes away your keyboard and plays for you.

If you want to be perceived as a gamer, you can get away with not looking the look -- but you've got to show up ready to play.

You remind me of a time my youngest son was coaching me on Master of Magic. He told me to go into the town with a particular unit "...and wreck his shit".

That's a gamer attitude: Wreck his shit. If you aren't comfortable with it, then you are likely to have trouble with a gamer social environment.