Interview with Anne-Marie Wilson (Spectra)

If you haven't heard of the awesome professional gaming team of all girls known as the Frag Dolls, than you haven't been playing online. They started professionally gaming in 2004, and have since been sponsered by Ubisoft, featured in almost every video game magazine, and became advocates of female gaming.


I got in contact with the Frag Dolls through they're forums (which are great, by the way!) and soon got a hold of Anne-Marie Wilson, otherwise known as Spectra. She is one of the Frag Dolls and is best known for her left-handed activism. Check her out on Frag Dolls' website and her own personal blog.

LadySnip3r: Who is your favorite female video game character and why? What sets them apart from other characters (both male and female)?

Spectra: Lara Croft - I love Lara, she is a video game icon. I love everything about her. How she walks, talks, climbs, grunts, and dies. She is confident, beautiful and rich. She can go anywhere and do anything. She travels the world and is always in the most beautiful places under amazing circumstances. I think what really sets Lara apart is how well developed her character is. We know a lot about her because she has such a rich history that unfolds in a many different games.

GLaDOS - She is brilliant! Her dialogue and its delivery are so memorable. She is saying all of this really mean and horrible stuff in the nicest way. I forgot how much I really liked her. I am playing through Portal 2 now and have really enjoyed every moment she is involved in the story.

What sets GLaDOS apart from other characters is her twisted sense of humor and the fact that she is not human but she is able to invoke a very human response from the player.

Whenever I am given the chance to play as a female character I do. However, most of my favorite video game characters are men. (Sam Fisher, Agent 47 from Hitman) I would love to see a Hitman game feature a female assassin as cool as Agent 47. Or be able to play Splinter Cell as Sam Fisher’s badass female partner. Maybe one day.

LadySnip3r: What game really got you into gaming and sparked your love?

Spectra: Halo 2 was the first game to really hook me in (largely due to the fact that if offered Left handed controls). I played through the co-op campaign and then got really into the online multiplayer. At first I was playing it over at my boy friends house but I was having so much fun, I went and got my own Xbox and game. The online multiplayer helped drive me to be a better player.

LadySnip3r: Do you have any positive or negative stories related to online multiplayer gaming? Have you ever been treated disrespectfully because of being female?

Spectra: When online I play mostly w/ randoms. I get very little negative feedback from other players. I like to play objective based games and work together with my team. I am a good team member; the fact that I am a girl rarely comes up. When I play with friends during Frag Doll Community Game Night and Girls Night In, we get a lot of attention. Having that many girls in a lobby at once is unusual for the average player. There is always lots of trash talking, but it’s fun. There is strength in numbers.

LadySnip3r: Any advice for girls and women on how to deal with situations like that?

Spectra: There are a few things you can do if trash-talking boys really bothers you. 1. Mute them (I use this one a lot). 2. Play with a large group of friends and stick up for each other. 3. Report players for inappropriate comments or actions. 4. You can always leave the lobby or game and find a new one.

LadySnip3r: Women are becoming more and more prominent in the gaming industry and culture. What do you think that this will mean for the future of video games?

Spectra: I hope it means better playable female characters attached to storylines that are more memorable and moving, and games with unique innovation.

LadySnip3r: What has been your biggest gaming achievement (and I don't mean on Xbox)?

Spectra: Becoming a Frag Doll has been my biggest gaming achievement. But one of my most memorable moments was getting to demo Splinter Cell Conviction on stage in front of hundreds of Game Stop Managers.

LadySnip3r: Finally, what does being a female gamer mean to you?

Spectra: Not much. I’m a gamer. The fact that I am female is inconsequential.

But being a gamer means a lot to me because it sets me apart from other people my age. Gaming is very social for me, I love playing with other people and building relationships with other gamers. As a gamer, I feel like I am apart of an exclusive group of people that are having more fun than anyone else.  

I hope you enjoyed the interview with Spectra. The next segment of Dames who Game will include some reader opinions - as gathered via twitter, facebook, and various forums. Be sure to speak up on our facebook discussions to get your voice heard. Feel free to comment, email, anything - we want your opinions, ideas, thoughts, ramblings! Get in touch :)

As Always,

LadySnip3r

Interview with Rana McAnear

Given the space-y occasion of today (Star Wars Day -"May the 4th be with you"), I decided to publish my interview with Rana McAnear; face of Samara and Morinth from Mass Effect 2. I also figured it would a great way to tide all of you Mass Effect fans out there, after the devastating news of the release date push.  I met Rana at PAX East 2011, after her panel with Crabcat industries. She is absolutely beautiful (as you can tell) and one of the nicest people I met during the weekend convention. During the next few months, she will be undergoing a transformation into Samara, the character modelled after her, with the help of Crabcat industries. I'll update readers via twitter with her progress. I was able to chat with Rana about her feelings on the characters modelled after her, cosplay, and being a female gamer. 

Amanda: Well how about we start by telling me a little bit about yourself and what you do.

Rana: Ok… I'm a student right now at FIDM (Fashion Institute for Design and Merchandising) looking to get into costume design for film and TV. I also model and act. I'm a cancer survivor of 15 years and I'm the face of Samara and Morinth for Mass Effect 2, which I'll be cosplaying at comic con this summer.

Amanda: I didn't actually know you were at FIDM. That's very cool. What would be your dream job with regards to costume designing?

Rana: I'd love to be able to design a whole film (costumes); a period piece would be awesome.

Amanda: What games are you currently playing?

Rana: I'm replaying ME2 when I have a free moment. I get really addicted and I'll play for 5 or 6 hours at a time…into the wee hours of the morning haha.

Amanda: Is it a little weird to see yourself (sort of) in the game? Or does it just make the experience that much better?

Rana: It's really crazy to see myself. When I use the sniper rifle and Samara gets in my sight I'm say "damn it! I don't want to shoot myself". Then I had to kill myself (Morinth), a little morbid don't you think?

Amanda: Oh no, yes that is a little twisted. But that's the joy of video games . Speaking of Samara, how is the costume with Crabcat going? I haven't seen any updates in a while.

Rana: yeah.. it's a little slow to start - Holly is very busy with other projects and Aubrianna who is going to be helping with the sculpting is in Hawaii right now.. so.. *sigh*, we better get started though! It's going to take some time for sure!

Amanda: Readers can check out the progress here. I'm so excited to see the finished product.

Rana: You and me both sista!

Amanda: Back to gaming, who is your favorite female video game character? And why?

Rana: I think Laura Croft is pretty bad ass…because she's bad ass haha

Amanda: From what I gathered at PAX, you had no control over what the developers did to Samara and Morinth. What do you love about Samara and Morinth, and what would you change if you were in control? Why would you change those things?

Rana: yeah they didn't tell me much about her at all when I did the scan except that she was a strong female Alien. I love how powerful she is in her convictions I love her loyalty (Samara or course). And Morinth is just hot. If I were in control I would have loved to be the voice of either one, but I think they women they picked fit the characters really well. I think I wouldn't have made her boob so big too hahaha

I also love that you can't romance Samara (I like being unobtainable)

Amanda: hahaha, I'm glad you said that about the boobs, it was something that I noticed as well. As a female gamer, do you feel that video game characters (especially female ones) are designed with a mostly male audience in mind?

Rana: yeah as far as being designed for males – definitely.

Amanda: Does that impact your gameplay?

Rana: not really… I feel like I'm so desensitized to it from watching movies and being in Hollywood - it's just kind of the norm (sadly).

Amanda: And my last question; What does being a female gamer mean to you?

Rana: I think being a female gamer is pretty cool.. I feel like there are so few of us that we bond really quickly.

Amanda: I totally agree!

Rana: plus being nerdy is totally "in" right now!

Rana McAnear

Rana's character Samara from Mass Effect 2

Myself and Rana at PAX East 2011

As always,

LadySnip3r

Interview With Leigh Alexander

You may recognize Leigh Alexander from her work in pretty much every gaming website. She writes a monthly feature for Kotaku, edits the game section of NYLON magazine, and contributes to the Thought catalog. Did I mention she also runs her own Sexy Videogameland blog? I was able to talk about to her about balancing life and gaming, her thoughts on female video game characters, and the ever-changing gaming industry.

LadySnip3r: Okay, well why don't we start off with telling me a little about yourself and what you do.

Leigh: haha, that's a big question, or a broad one I guess. It is probably easiest to give you official bio from my FAQ:

"Leigh Alexander covers the art and business of video games at Gamasutra, and writes a monthly column on the culture surrounding games and gamers at Kotaku. She is editor of the games section at NYLON Guys magazine, maintains her Sexy Videogameland weblog and is a contributor to Thought Catalog, where she often focuses on the social media and internet culture landscape. Her work has appeared in Slate, Variety, the Los Angeles Times, Paste and a host of other publications, and she frequently speaks at events on the business and design of social media and the intersection of interactive design with the real world."

Other stuff: I used to do the Aberrant Gamer column at Gamasutra's sister weblog GameSetWatch, which is run by my crazy talented boss Simon Carless. I was also the first editor of the Worlds in Motion weblog, also part of Gamasutra's network, covering the business of online worlds and planning the inaugural Worlds in Motion Summit at GDC. My name is pronounced "Lee."

Um, less formally, I think of myself as a critic and a spiritual advocate for the medium of video games. How's that?

LadySnip3r: That's great. What games are you currently playing?

Leigh: Pokemon Black and Portal 2.

LadySnip3r: I'm going through both of those right now too - they're so much fun.

Leigh: and I'm on a replay of FFVII for this letter series I'm doing at Paste with my friend Kirk, and I always have Symphony of the Night. It's on like every platform I own, and I just pick that up pretty frequently whenever I am killing time, and Canabalt on the iPhone, I hit that on the reg. And when friends come over we play geometry wars retro evolved 2. But that's "it" for right now.

LadySnip3r: Now about time and gaming, I love your article on Kotaku about being immersed in games. I can totally relate about how hard it is to find that anymore because of balancing real life and game life. Do you have any tips for gamers attempting to juggle the two?

Leigh: I sort of started giving my middle finger to the cultural pressure of being a "gamer." People who are part of gaming culture are usually so passionate and insular that there can be an expectation that unless you're playing games all the time, or unless you're playing the newest games, you somehow aren't "hardcore" enough or you otherwise don't belong. I hate that idea. Sometimes I'll go a week without picking up a controller, other times I play constantly... it just depends on what else is going on in my life and what else I've got on my plate, but either way I try not to worry about it. I think the bottom line is that people will make time for things that are important to them, so if people are enjoying their game time it doesn't matter if it's a lot or a little.

LadySnip3r: That is very true. What games have really done that for you, immersed you in their worlds? Whether they're new games or old games.

Leigh: Well, I think there's something to be said for still wanting to talk about FF7 more than ten years later, or that people still look forward to Zelda games. I remember being really fond of Chrono Cross -- not because it was such a great game, but because there was just something so touching about it. The music and the visuals, and the sad minimalism of it just stayed with me. I still love to listen to the music once in a while. Silent Hill 2 and 3 got under my skin. And of course I'm just hopelessly in love with the Metal Gear Solid series. There's a difference between feeling hooked on a game, like I am with Pokemon, and feeling like you just love it, and go on thinking about its places and people for some time to come.

LadySnip3r: It's really the difference between a good game and a great game.

Leigh: Yeah. The difference between 'good' and 'great' for me has nothing to do with perfect mechanics or high graphical polish. It's that emotional something you can't put your finger on.

LadySnip3r: Now let's talk about women and gaming, as that is the real purpose of the segment. Who is your favorite female video game character? And why?

Leigh: Can I pick any character, or just playable ones?

LadySnip3r: Let's say any to make it fun.

Leigh: Hmm, I'm thinking... Sorceress Edea, Tifa, Heather Morris, uhh... Sniper Wolf, Bayonetta...

LadySnip3r: All great characters, now why are they your favorite? How do they stand out in comparison to other characters, both male or female.

Leigh: It seems so silly, as I know people want me to be an "inspirational voice for women," and so I know people expect I'm going to say Samus or Alyx Vance or girls that are tough or admirable... but honestly, I loved Edea because she was beautiful to look at. It was such an incredible character design, and she was so powerful and creepy. Same with Bayonetta -- it's just so much fun to play as her, she's so flamboyant. And I love Tifa because she had this quiet substance to her. If you look at the narrative of FFVII, she's the one who was really there for Cloud, you know? With Sniper Wolf, I just always loved her aura and her story. She was so cold, you know? I loved how they called back to her with the Crying Wolf fight in MGS4. Heather was really the most "human" girl I'd ever seen in a video game, just a normal moody teenager with a lifelike face. I've always loved that about the Silent Hill series -- strange broken people are more interesting than "positive role models" to me.

LadySnip3r: I noticed on your blog's FAQ, that you had two responses about the difficulties of being a woman in the gaming culture. What changed your original response? Was it the industry changing or personal experience…?

I might add that I liked how you kept both responses on there

Leigh: Personal experience. It became difficult when I became more visible. I mean, it's a tricky question. I get asked it a lot. At best I'd say it's a double-edged sword: There are opportunities when you have a different perspective or when you stand out in a crowd, but then you also attract negative attention, or people make too much of your gender and not enough of the work you're doing, etc.

LadySnip3r: I agree. My last question, with your expertise in the whole 'culture' of gaming, do you think the growing amount of women who game will affect the future of video games? And in what ways?

Leigh: I sure hope so. Diversity is healthy for any form of entertainment. The broader variety of people playing, the broader variety of games there will be, and developers will be less bound by risk aversion to keep putting out sequels or identical first-person shooters annually (no offense to anyone who likes those!). It's not just we need more women in the audience, we need more of all kinds of people outside of what has traditionally been viewed as the "core gamer demographic." And more importantly, we need new types of voices on the development side, too. People can really only create work from their own experience, so the more voices there are on board, the richer the medium can be.

Stay tuned for more Dames who Game features, and keep your eyes open for a Portal 2 Video Review this weekend. Also, once Assassionista gets to 75 followers we're going to a contest/giveaway. I've already got the prizes (Gears of War 3 Beta Code and an indie game bundle, valued at $60), now all we need is the people! Check out the rules here.

As Always,

LadySnip3r

PS. You know you're legit when you have a facebook page. Follow us for strictly post updates, and the occasional fun status. We're also trying to get some discussions started there, so feel free to participate and/or start one.

Interview with Susan Arendt

I was lucky enough to interview Susan Arendt this week about her thoughts on gaming. She is the Senior Editor of the gaming magazine The Escapist. I caught up with her after an intense lunch session of D&D. She's got some great advice for new gamers and an interesting perspective on women in the industry. This is the first interview in my new segment called, Dames who Game.

LadySnip3r: Well, how about we start with you telling me a little about what you do at The Escapist?

Susan: Oh, ok, sure. well, my official title is Senior Editor. I oversee production of the weekly magazine - that's the feature articles we publish every week - I'm the news director, I produce three video series, work with columnists and cartoonists, and also review games and write the odd article here and there

LadySnip3r: Wow, how do you manage to find any time to play games?

Susan: Well, fortunately, I'm married to a fellow gamer who understands "Saturday is devoted to Dragon Age" and similar statements.

LadySnip3r: Oh, that's good. What are your Saturdays being used for now? What are you currently playing?

Susan: Well, we were playing Portal 2 this past weekend, so that was pretty much the whole weekend. The co-op is a blast

LadySnip3r: That's great to hear - I picked up a copy yesterday but haven't had a chance to play it yet. 

LadySnip3r: What was the first video game you ever played?

Susan: Pong. or, well, a Pong knockoff. It wasn't mine - I played it at a friend's house. It might have been "video tennis" or something like that.

LadySnip3r: Did it spark your love of gaming? If not, what game did?

Susan: It's hard to pinpoint any one game that did it, but certainly getting a Sears VCS - that was the other version of the Atari 2600 - was a key moment. I played so much Space Invaders that I could clear the first level with my eyes shut just from muscle memory. It was amazing to me that I could be controlling things on the screen

LadySnip3r: I've been doing a segment on the blog written for new gamers. I've got some friends that are just getting back into gaming (since the NES years) and finding that it's definitely a very exclusive club to be considered an authentic gamer. What games would you recommend for gamers just starting out? And do you have any tips or lessons you've learned gaming that you'd like to pass on to beginners?

Susan: Well, that's a tough question to answer, because the most important thing to know is - what kind of entertainment do you like? Do you like mysteries? Puzzles? Action movies? There's no one right fit for a new gamer. I think that's a big part of what puts newbies off from gaming. It’s that people don't try to tailor their advice to them. Rather than figuring out, hey, what game would actually be a good fit for you, people tend to just push the games they like best

LadySnip3r: That's an excellent point, and actually some great advice. 

LadySnip3r: So let's talk about women and gaming. Who is your favorite female video game character and why?

Susan: Oh, there are many. Lara. Vanessa.  Kate Walker. Cate Archer. But all for largely the same reason - they're smart, independent, and don't *need* rescuing - which isn't to say they would mind if it happened every now and again

LadySnip3r: Do you think that being a woman impacts how you perceive games? Does this influence what games you choose to play or write about?

Susan: Being a woman impacts everything I do...because it's part of who I am, the same way being my age impacts everything I do, or being from Pennsylvania impacts everything I do, or being a nerd impacts everything I do. Change any one of those factors, and I'd inevitably be a different person. The games I write about, I write about because I believe I have something to say about them, and because I want to share them with readers. I love it when people tell me "I never would've played this game if it weren't for you, and I loved it!". I try to talk about games that are a little offbeat, maybe lesser known.

LadySnip3r: The amount of women in the gaming industry and culture has been really increasing in the past couple years. What do you think this mean for video games in the future? If anything.

Susan: Well, we tend to relate to people a bit better when we can identify with them. If you're a young girl, and encounter two people talking about games, one male, one female, you're probably going to want to identify with the female.

So the more women talking about games, the more women we'll have talking about games, if you take my meaning. But also, the more *people* we have talking about games, the better. The more voices you have talking about something, the more likely it is you'll have a wide variety of things being said and that's always good.

LadySnip3r: That's very true. Do you think this will result in games with a more 'female' audience in mind? (and that aren't Cake Mania or Fashion Runway - no offence to games like that, but you know what I mean)

Susan: As more women begin designing games, we will, more than likely, get more games that female players of all kinds will embrace. But let's be clear on something - "girly" games are just as valid as non girly ones. A lot of women say they want more girls playing games, but what they really mean is they want more girls playing games they approve of.

LadySnip3r: I totally agree, I just meant more a complex female audience being targeted.

Susan: They sneer at Imagine Babiez and Cake Mania and anything that isn't hardcore - ignoring the fact that, hey, some girls just plain like sparkle pink ponies. I don’t think the issue with women playing games or not is as much about the games as we tend to think it is.

LadySnip3r: That's very true. It's extremely difficult to appear 'authentic' or legitimate in the hardcore gaming scene. 

LadySnip3r: My last question, What does being a female gamer mean to you?

Susan: I'm not a female gamer. I'm a gamer who happens to be female.

Hope you all enjoyed the interview, there will be more to come in the future. 

As always,
LadySnip3r