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15 Minutes of Fame: The Frag Dolls' Valkyrie
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft personalities of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. "I can't handle it when people say, "It's only a game,'" says Amy "Valkyrie" Brady, a WoW-playing, card-carrying member of Ubisoft's well known Frag Dolls all-female gaming team. This all-business gamer has helped create and lead the a multi-platform clan of more than 300 gun-toting women who compete across five FPS (First Person Shooter) games in 10 separate divisions. In December 2006, Valkyrie was part of the four-member Frag Doll team that took first place in the Rainbow Six Vegas tournament at CPL in Dallas. Rainbow Six 3, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Halo 2, Final Fantasy XI ... On top of considerable hours spent on weekly practice for the Frag Dolls, she puts in some 50 to 60 more in personal game play -- and among those games is World of Warcraft.
15 Minutes of Fame: Amazon grace, how sweet these guilds
15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about. Why would players want to play only with others just like themselves? Members of special interest guilds tell us their groups allow them to play away from others who either inadvertently or purposely seek to harass or offend. GLBT guilds, Christian guilds (scroll down to Recruiting) and similar groups offer a haven for players seeking a peaceful place to hang out with like-minded souls. This week, we look at a new group that offers not one, not two, but three special interest guilds. The Goddess guilds of Nesingwary and Winterhoof, along with a brother guild also on Nesingwary, welcomes females - actual, physical females, not female characters - with a friendly, events-focused environment. We visited with long-time gamer and Goddess guilds founder Myredd to find out why so many women appreciate playing in a females-only environment.
Ubisoft says Wii a 'female-driven platform'
Gaming is becoming more and more popular, thanks to ever-increasing sales of the DS and Wii, and that means new gamers. A large portion of these gamers are of the female variety, and Ubisoft says a lot of them are flocking to the Wii and DS. "What's driving the Wii sales is the use of Wii by women, girls and families," said Ubisoft's senior brand manager, Ann Hamilton. Hamilton says that the number of girls who game has significantly increased over the past two years, jumping from 50% in 2006 to 57% in 2008. But are they solely responsible for the Wii's success? We'd say not, but it's important to note that female gamers probably take up a notable chunk of the overall casual audience that has been so responsive to the Wii. In our experience, however, we've found that a game's ability to be fun to play overcomes all obstacles, including the huge chasm between us boys and the fair sex. [Via Endsights]
NPD: Girls increasingly becoming gamers
NPD's new study, Girl Power: Understanding This Important Consumer Segment, finds that girls between 2 and 14 years old are increasingly wasting spending their time gaming. The gaming disease apparently strikes between ages 6 and 8 and finally metastasizes in the brain between 9 and 12, when girls begin "migrating to computer and video games, especially virtual world online games."NPD's industry analyst, Anita Frazier, says that 50% of girls between 2 and 14 years old still play with "traditional" items like "dolls, plush, and arts & crafts" in this digital age. She notes that the growth in use of social networking and virtual world sites by women should be recognized by manufacturers who, you know, want money from the ladies.
15 Minutes of Fame: Tamzin on being a girl gamer, movies, music
15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about at 15minutesoffame (at) wowinsider (dot) com.Last week, 15 Minutes of Fame introduced Tamzin, maker of the madly popular strat videos that have helped catapult so many guilds past some of the most intimidating battles in the game: Lady Vashj, Kael'thas Sunstrider and Illidan Stormrage. Our week-long correspondence with Tamzin meandered far beyond the actual videos – so this week, we bring you Tamzin's musings on her professional work in games and movies, being a girl gamer and her thoughts on the future of raiding.Catch the first installment of our conversation with Tamzin, and then join us after the break for the second part of our exclusive interview. Be sure to click the screenshot here to visit her most recent video, Tamzin's guide to downing Illidan.
Player vs. Everything: Playing with your friends
Players often venture into the wilderness of online games alone and friendless, seeking out allies in the worlds they inhabit and making friends as they go along. Some games are better at encouraging players to work together than others, too. You're not going to last very long playing by yourself in games like EverQuest or EVE Online, so you have to go looking for people to play with. On the other hand, in games like World of Warcraft you can start at the first level and get to level 70 without ever talking to another human being (it's even easier if you're a Hunter). Regardless of whether your particular game of choice forces you to find friends, many people like to have friends to play with anyway. Even if you don't need them, it's kind of the point of online games to play with other people. Right? That's why some people roll into these games with a ready-made posse. Maybe it's a group of real-life friends that want to play together online, or maybe it's a guild composed of players that you met in a previous game and you'd all like to try something different together. Either way, it's pretty nice to be able to work with a group of people you already know, trust, and like. You don't have to hope that the fickle hand of fate will deliver good PuGs to you (we all know how rare those are), and you don't have to worry about trying to find a new group of people who you can relate to in a sea of anonymous faces (many of whom will have value systems, expectations, and maturity levels that will be different than yours). Is it possible you're missing out on something by bringing your own people in, though? If so, do you care?
Opening a dialog about sexism in World of Warcraft
Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of being a gamer girl is learning to deal with rampant sexism, without becoming defensive. Just like racism, sexism should not be tolerated, but how do you address it without making the problem worse? Smurphy from Burning Blade brought this up in the forums. Nethaera's response was to shut the thread down before a dialog could really begin on the subject. Although the majority of WoW players are men, there are a number or women who do enjoy the game. Women are often important contributing members of guilds and raids. Perhaps a little known fact about gamer girls is many of us don't like to be hit on or given special favors like spots in raids. Nor do we like to be called honey, baby, or sweetie by complete strangers. We would very much like the same treatment given to our male counterparts. Women do truly enjoy the game, and should be able to feel safe and comfortable in the online environment.
L337Lauren tops other gals on road to Miss Video Game crown
We know what you're thinking, because we're thinking the same thing. There's a Miss Video Game competition? How did such a thing fly under our collective radar? The event, part of the larger 2007 Arcadia Festival in Montreal, aims to find and award one female as this year's most accomplished gamer without a Y chromosome, and who better suited for this task than our neighbors to the north? After the first day of events, the pack is currently led by EB Games assistant manager Lauren Berggren, aka L337Lauren, as she bested the other girls in both Mario Kart 64 and a series of 1-on-1 matches in CounterStrike. Now she and four others move on to fight for the crown while rocking out to Guitar Hero and testing their noodles in Brain Age 2.Impressive, sure, but like female-only gaming clans, this sort of thing strikes us as odd, especially since video games, unlike sporting events or beauty pageants, don't favor skills unique to either sex. Still, playing games is seen by some as a bit of a boy's club, and something like this could possibly help break down a few stereotypes, which is a positive, though being the lecherous types we are we can't help but hope for a swimsuit or evening gown competition to follow.
Girl Gamer Award nominations for 2006 -- 2007 out today
Several different girl gaming networks and groups have pulled together a mass of games from different sites, forums, and other networks devoted to female gamers, and have put together this list of the final nominees. While they encourage female gamers to log in and vote, it doesn't look like they'll be screening for X or Y chromosomes at login.We've recently been talking about developing and marketing games for females, and this is a great example of how to do that -- find out what they're playing, not tell them what they should be playing. However, in all honesty ... this looks like a list of games that could have been pulled together from sites populated by only male gamers. Further proving that the line between girl gamers and guy gamers is something created by PR and marketing, not the people who play the games.Our advice? Open up the voting to everyone, but have them identify which sex they are (Austin Powers: "Yes, please!) from the outset. Once the awards are done, give us the winners, and show us how the demographics break down by sex, age, toothbrush color, favorite type of pizza, etc. That way the marketers will see we're all just playing games.
Girls 'n' Games event: this news is so old
While E3's keynotes were kicking off last week, several academics, developers and advocates of women in gaming gathered at UCLA to discuss girls, games and everything relating to the two. However, from Gamasutra's account of the event, nothing new was really discussed. Some of the key points brought up: Girls play games. (Well, duh.) Developers shouldn't try to focus on "girl game design" -- stereotyping game design by gender leads to missteps. Player-generated content is popular amongst girls, as is social gameplay. "Cuteness" in games, like anime and manga culture in Japan, encourages girls to get involved in gameplay. Women gamers and girl gamers are different; women and teenage girls have different demands on their time. Girls and women shouldn't just be gamers, but developers too.
Overheard at E3: You're all nerds! [update 1]
For the "Women at E3" gathering today, a number of female industry professionals gathered to wear special "Girls FTW" shirts in a show of solidarity. Morgan Romine, aka Rhoulette of the Frag Dolls, led the crowd:Rhoulette: Who knows what "FTW" means?[Women cheer loudly]Rhoulette: Thank God! You're all nerds![Update 1: "FTW" means "for teh win". Added at the request of at least one Joystiq staffer. For shame!]
Girl gaming clans as next-gen booth babes
The idea of booth babes who are fanatical gamers isn't a new one, but the booth babe cliché tends to overlook the fact that becoming a babe is one way for gamers to get into E3. With a clampdown on the amount of flesh on show at this year's E3, companies are looking for a few other ways to give their booth -- and its attached babes -- the edge.An interesting marriage of ideas is to employ girl gaming clans as "totty with triggers" -- a booth attraction that appeals on multiple levels. Arguably, that's what Ubisoft's "Frag Dolls" team is all about, but the Dolls won't be alone at E3 this year. g0d (girlz of destruction) will be bringing their VIA-sponsored "home of chrome" to the show floor, and the PMS clan will also be sending members to E3 to work for various sponsors.There is a difference between groups which were set up specifically by one company, or which formed in order to seek sponsorship, and those which came together naturally -- though on the show floor, that's less apparent. Clans like g0d and PMS are becoming famous, and attracting sponsorship now, but they formed for fellowship rather than financial gain. With professional gamers in general getting more exposure these days, it seems that the gender of all-girl gaming teams makes them an immediate hot prospect to replace the stereotypical eye-candy booth babes.
Girl gamer recruitment good reality TV?
Recruiting a new member for a sponsored girl gaming team can't be easy. When Eekers (one of Ubisoft's Frag Dolls) left the line-up last summer, a nationwide search for her replacement rolled into motion, requiring everything from a gaming CV to glamour shots. Months later, when all but the hopefuls have forgotten the empty space to be filled, the shortlisted candidates have been announced and the final selection procedure outlined.All eight of the finalists will be flown to San Francisco to "join the existing Frag Dolls in a weekend of playing games and interviewing", a party that sounds like good fodder for frazzled nerves -- especially when you add in the filming. For this is no ordinary interview -- instead, the whole thing will be covered by Internet TV site GameTrailers, providing a reality TV glimpse into the mysterious world of girl gamers.
Oblivion not PC enough?
While the rest of us are discussing Olgatha the Argonian's cup size, "Gamers with Jobs" are earnestly exploring the Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion gender bias issues currently riling the feminist gamer blogosphere. The controversy seems to stem from two perceived slights that indicate the developers are (in the words of one critic) "blinded by male privilige": Oblivion’s character creation system assigns certain bonuses based on gender, which vary from one race to the next. The Prima Strategy Guide notes: “Sadly, only three races offer females with power design advantages…In all other cases, to maximize a given race choice for its best-suited character role, pick the male. Where the stats differ between these sexes, the male gets the better benefit from the difference.” All the illustrations for classes and races in the manual are male. Bethesda's Pete Hines tries to explain it away as offering choice to the gamer, but the ladies aren't buying it. Unsatisfied wiith the mere omission of inflated breasts and dead prostitutes, they want a game where the lizard women can bench press as much as the men: Though Hines is correct, the majority of the variations, when present, still tend to occur along lines that could be interpreted as following gender stereotypes: a review of the stats reveals that in races where there is a difference, male characters are always stronger and almost always have greater endurance, whereas female characters are always more intelligent, and almost always have greater willpower and personality. Ah, stereotypes—those useful mental short cuts we all use to make sense of our wacky world. Stereotypes explain why, while none of the girls in my office can beat me at arm wrestling, most can spell Oprah's first name. A few years ago, "Math is hard" Barbie was blasted by critics for turning young girls off to calculus. Will Oblivion teach those same girls that men are dull-witted sword jocks who would rather whack you with a battle axe than engage in stimulating conversation? Furthermore, is the Gay/Lesbian/Bi/Transgendered community too busy counting theirs successes with World of Warcraft to notice that cross-dressing Orcs have been completely left out of this game? When it comes to political correctness, the PC version of Oblivion is, naturally, a little more PC. There's already an affirmative action mod that equalizes racial attributes for a single gender, accomplishing with a few lines of code what do-gooding social engineers and and burning bras have failed to do in the real world. How long before every aggrieved victim group has it's own special mod? And does Microsoft, as the beacon of progressive corporatism, have a duty to make this stuff available (for 200 MS points of course) on XBLM? Of course, just when you thought old-fashioned male privilige was on the defensive, Chuck Norris returns to save the day. [Thanks SickNic]
Sponsorship of female gamers a "joke"?
There hasn't been a good rant about female gamers for a while, but this article by Kim Rom delivers quite nicely. Looking at female gaming teams who seek sponsorship and attention based on their gender and looks rather than their skill, Kim points out the disparity in marketing between some female teams and the male teams they compete alongside.
Girls and hardcore gaming meet in the Home of Chrome
Billed as the first sports academy for competitive gaming, the Home of Chrome in Sweden is a venture set up by VIA to showcase the successful female Quake 4 team g0d (girlz of destruction). We assume the plan is to combine the appeal of micro-celebrities with the universal allure of gaming (and girl gamers in particular).It's an interesting move, and one that every pro team (or aspiring professional gamer) is looking on with envy. As the results of this experiment appear, we'll see if more sponsors decide to follow suit--as the play girlz blog points out, this is crying out for a TV show.
