Is gaming culture today very welcoming nowadays or pretty elitist overall?

Not saying every person is a snob, but why are a lot of them so hostile to new fans who end up just as passionate or females who are also gamers?

The gaming that I'm referring are the games beyond iphone games or something similar. I actually don't get mad if they people call themselves gamers if they only play those kind. Games are games. I can see why many people get mad though.

Yes, there are pretentious girls who participate for attention, which is pretty pathetic and low, they should go away; but that's probably just a minority of the girls who say they like video games, comics.etc. Now there are some guys who think every girl who plays Gears of War, Half-Life, Metal Gear Solid, Persona.etc is fake. When they're proven wrong, they're in denial.

I don't think every guy who plays lives in the basement of their mom's house. It's a funny stereotype, but it's grossly exaggerated.

There's also some people who mock a person if they only played the sequel of certain game:

Person A: "Oh! I played the second one. I'm really enjoying it."
Person B:"Whatever, you call yourself a gamer? You've skipped the first game and only played the latest one."
Person A: "Really? That's dumb. You think I broke a law."
Person B: "Stop being fake man and leave."

Or at a convention:
Person A: "Hey I love your costume! He's my second favorite character."
Person B: "Of course. He's awesome. What are you supposed to be? Where's your costume?"
Person A: "I don't have one."
Person B: "Then why are you here?"

Why does it matter how much the other person plays? Or if he/she dresses up?

Luckily, I haven't encountered people like this in person. A lot of my friends (guys and girls) like this kind of stuff and they're open and not narrow minded.

But I get warned about these kinds of people at conventions. Are there a lot of them at Comic Con.PAX.etc? I can easily prove that I'm not fake, but it's going to be annoying if I keep bumping into them. Then if I try to ignore them, they won't leave me alone.

Is the culture today very welcoming or really elitist? In the middle? Leaning towards one side now that there are more fans?

I find that most people are quite welcoming. You'll always find snobs and elitist weirdo's once in a while, but they're easy to ignore. Most fans are just passionate about their favorite franchises and love sharing that passion with fellow fans.

I've never once seen someone get called out and challenged to prove how much they know a game. Knowledge doesn't equal love. There have been debates go on between two people, but they asked for it. I find those arguments more sad than anything.

Everyone has different ways of expressing their fandom. Dressing up and stuff is just one of those ways. I'm no fan of cosplay at all, but they all seem happy doing it, so I find other ways to enjoy it. Every who does cosplay has to be in it for the attention, otherwise it would be bad idea to dress up and hope not to stand out. Whether than attention is negative or positive is their business, and I think a lot of people see it that way.

All in all, everyone's there to have fun, not get up unto someone else's business.