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.
