Pakistani Gamers Want a Seat at the Table

At a Call of Duty tournament in Islamabad, Pakistan, an exasperated gamer stands up from his computer and demands that the player who keeps sniping him speak up. "Who is this '$@dy'?" he bellows, referencing the player's in-game name, his eyes scanning the room in furious anticipation--but what happens next turns his anger into embarrassment, for a diminutive young woman nervously raises her hand. Now, more than 15 years later, Sadia Bashir, 33, recalls the encounter with a glint in her eye. "I was the only girl in a room full of boys, and the moment he saw me, he just sat back down again. I guess the thought of being killed by a girl really hurt his ego." At the time, Bashir was just a computer science major with a dream that she could somehow make a living in the mysterious world of video games.