My bad I'm also guilty of hesitating whether Spiro was male or female but never dared to ask as I guess it hurts a man if you doubt his masculinity and also risk the misogyny label if he was actually a girl. (as in what how dare you think a girl can't be an excellent programmer)

whether Spiro was male or female

Why does it matter? If Spiro gives good advice, Spiro could be a potted plant and it wouldn't change anything*.

Unless the post is about e.g. experiences which relate directly to being a specific gender (in a thread called "What are women's experiences in the IT workplace?", being female might mean you have first-hand experience instead of second-hand experience), judge the post based on its contents.

Allow poster history to create a context -- "does this person seem to generally know what they're talking about or not?".

Incorrect pronouns are easily corrected if someone guesses wrong.

*Ignoring the fact that on the internet, you are a dog as far as I care.

It doesn't matter, but I still laugh when I see people mistake him for a girl since I've seen him explain the origin of that sketch multiple times.

Once again, I couldn't care less what race/gender you are. If you have something of value to contribute, great. But if you're only about politics, seeking attention and/or elevated status for your own greed, then I'm opposed. I'm a black man (and we are a great minority in this industry I might add), and the moment I meet a black woman with the same goals, it excites me greatly. The last two I met in person, I almost immediately walked to their table to say hello, exchange business cards and share words of encouragement because I hope to meet more of my own kind in the future.

Let's not turn this into a big political correctness thing, because this is gamedev.net, not tumblr.com. If I'd have known it would have escalated into this mess, I wouldn't have said anything at all...

Shogun.

Ha +1 for this. Spiro is a dude.

Why didn't anyone ever tell me? Just let me go around thinking he's a she.

Happened to me in the beginning.... the suggestive power of avatar images. Especially strong when they look realistic or even serious.

Though you yourself might be an insane cartoon rabbit, ockhams razor would educate me that you are rather not.... :)

... even though he's explained the story behind that sketch he drew multiple times.

damn my locked down internet connection at work. Now I need to have a look at L.Spiros link at home, because if this is a sketch he drew, that is an AMAZING piece of "programmer art"! Even fooled some "hardcore forum dudes" that should have known better :)

Why does it matter? If Spiro gives good advice, Spiro could be a potted plant and it wouldn't change anything*.

If a potted plant starts giving ANY advice on game programming, good or bad, that does indeed change nearly everything. ;)

Starting off with JavaScript is a great idea. In your position, I would use YouTube and check out the many videos on how to use Java with libgdx to create some basic engines.

Start on part one and examine the code. Never copy and paste, ALWAYS re-type the code to get into the habit. Don't move on to the next video or tutorial until you UNDERSTAND every line of code, every argument, every word and WHY the author is telling you to use it. The worst thing you can do is just blindly copy code without stopping to take it apart.

With a copy of Eclipse and LibGDX, you can learn to build what you're looking to build. NONE of this will cost you a penny, either.