Those in the professional gaming community may recognize the name
Frag Dolls, a group of female gamers that a pretty hardcore. See their website for randomness involving blogs, their take on current video games, and ubisoft propaganda with a firm blue jean center.
Well apparently the Frag Doll priorly known as "Voodoo" has gone AWOL from the group, now going by the tag "Siren", teaming up with another gamer girl by the name Vixen to create a new group called
VersuS.
Siren is very heated in her beliefs on gaming, the media, and how professional gaming should be viewed, which is a nice change, as I've always failed at seeing a higher level of rational thought from the girls over at FG, though that's most likely due to the filling of the pockets.
"Although we may have strong opinions, you can be sure of one thing; We're not here to endorse any product or sell you anything. If we say it, it's because we mean it, not because it pays our wage. We've both seen the perils and pit falls of "selling out" and have learnt one vital lesson; if you love something then honesty, independence and freedom are the best path to take. We hope that you feel the same and are sick of just how invasive and abundant advertising has become. If so and you are ready to join the resistance, if' you're ready to stick the Vs up to the advertisers... then welcome to VersuS! On a similar note, we may both be girls who game but we are not here to wave the "girl gamer" flag. We believe that by drawing attention to gender you create a barrier that is otherwise irrelevant. In our experience "promoting girl gamers" can often be used as the cover story of big business trying to widen its market whilst still getting some pretty faces in the Magazines, in other words: Free advertising.
It's a natural progression that more and more women are getting into gaming and of course we fully support that.
However, we don't see any need to define ourselves by gender. We're just two people who love games.
In a pre-emptive strike against the endlessly cynical we want to make it perfectly clear that we have a gallery because we are proud of ourselves, what we do, and what we stand for (and obviously to record our exploits.)
On a completely honest level we enjoy posing and messing around with a camera as much as the next person - so hopefully you can relate to that and share the fun in it. It's all about relaxing and letting go, being comfortable and proud in yourself. Enjoying yourself with your friends. Hopefully our site can help promote and share a little of that fun."
Thanks Siren, that mildly renews my faith in the world and in the gaming industry that people can game simply to game.
I've been through the VS website and all and all I'm impressed. It has the potential to reach a good amount of people and the message that they seem to be giving off is a positive one.
Now, I'm not one to judge anyone, hell, I'm looked down on. I'm a tattoo'd gamer who plays D&D. I'm pretty bottom of the barrel when it comes to societal norms determining what is "good". But I find it hard to look at a group like the Frag Dolls seriously. You can't look at girls being toted around major video game conventions in matching outfits without thinking "studio built" (see: Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys) or "booth babes". Sorry, it's just the way it is. If you're serious about gaming try to be a little more low key... like a real gamer.
I understand that the video game industry is not exactly overflowing with the opposite sex, (though it is standardly higher than the average person would assume), and given that, I could see it being difficult to be a professional female player without being seen as a sex object. Yes, we're men, and we suck. Ackknowledging this won't change the fact. You see this type of behavior in most niche audience hobbies (sci-fi, role-playing, etc...). It's a genre filled with adolescent virgins and kids, women are a great mystery. Big companies understand this, they aren't as stupid as some would like to believe. There's a reason Britany Spears made it big, and let's just say that she's no Janice Joplin.
Companies *cough* Ubisoft *cough* then see a group like the Frag Dolls and think "mmm... fresh meat" (see: diablo 1). These girls will sell games. These girls appeal to the average video game consumer, and as such the consumer will listen to every corporate sponsored piece of product propaganda that is regurgitated from them.
Now in the defense of these large corporations I'm sure it's not just a gender thing (though it does help). No company would hire an overweight, balding, greasy, inarticulate MMO troll (see basement maggot) to stand in front of cameras and tell the masses to buy their games.
But all in all I have to assume that everything these girls say should be taken with a grain of salt.
Now back to VersuS. These girls are (as of yet) unaffiliated and that's a very good thing. Quality tends to be a fuzzy gray area when the game you're discussing is made by the person signing your paychecks. Call me crazy...
Another point which Siren makes which I'm whole heartedly for is that they aren't trying to trump themselves up as sexy women gamers. They are just gamers, that's enough. Gaming shouldn't be about what people are packing beneath their clothes, they should be about what your avatar is packing in their clip. If I get shot in the face playing
Unreal Tournament it's all very simple, because bullets, lasers, rockets, radioactive goo, etc... kill indiscriminately.
So keep fighting the good fight Siren and Vixen, I'll keep reading assuming you don't fall back into the standard trappings.
\\drew
