Girls Gone Geeky? - Article Gone Bad

So a while back I received an email from a fellow female gamer about a recent article in the July issue of Marie Claire which is a woman's magazine. They had posted a small article that month about the Frag Dolls and their careers in the pro gaming world which didn't paint the Dolls or a female pro gamers’ career in a pretty light.

The female gamer that sent me the email had sent a letter to the editor about the article a while back but I hadn't responded to her angry letter because she hadn't given me a copy of the article to look at. I finally found a copy of it today and this is honestly what I think of this bone-headed view. (I linked the article above, so please do read it first)

Though I've never been a big fan of the Frag Dolls because they do look like the Spice Girls of the Gaming World, I do understand unlike this Marie Claire writer that Ubisoft uses them to as a promotional tool to sell their products, so you need them to be pretty. I also understand that these girls are definitely better FPS players than me (I get sick when I play FPS) and I have to respect the talent behind their careers.

Looking at the entirety of this article, why is this writer even questioning whether or not, it is necessary for women to be a part of the professional gaming circuit? Should a woman's magazine that is meant to boost our self esteem and encourage us to pursue our dreams in any field, be supporting these female pro gamers instead of making them sound like a bunch of Pussycat Dolls with controllers in their hands.

I personally love how the writer brings up how one of the girls burned down her Mother's house while attempting to cook. Why don't you just include some other horrible details about these girls’ lives while you're at it? I'm sure one of them cheated on a boyfriend or got their period in front of their gym class one day. Are you trying to make her sound bad? A depressed high-school student? This writer is an ass.

Could have just wrote that she was a shy teen in high-school and dolls broke her out of her shell, without the rest of the crap?

Finally the articles takes about how some males pro gamers want to see no female gamers in the field, while others dig it. The writer makes it sound like while some guys are sexist jerks, the rest are just pigs looking to drool on them.

I mean the whole article paints the girls badly and makes it sound like being a pro female gamer is the worst career choice ever. Heck, even the intro line under the title makes pro gaming sound like it’s the worst career choice for anyone.

Honestly I don't know who this writer is, but he needs to work his google a little more. There are tons of female pro gamers out there, some that look nothing like the Frag dolls and some that do, but they are all great gamers who make money playing games. In the long run, who cares if these pro female gamers do look hot? They're women and should be allowed to look good and as long as their gaming skills are on par to be in these tournaments, then again who cares?

And another thing, if this writer really did any research he would realized that the lady gamers aren't the only ones getting all the attention. In Korea, professional male Starcraft players are treated like rock stars from the sexy product ads and teen magazine photos they do, to the hordes of female groupies they incur. Perhaps it is our culture that is behind in thinking that all gamers should be non-sexual creatures bound to their parent's basement and never to be worshiped by another human being ever.

But if anyone has a problem with chicks kicking their ass at videogames: this writer or anyone else, then too bad cause we've been doing it since the days of the first videogame systems and we're not stopping now.

Now this is how you write an article about a female gamer. It lists all Lanai Gara, a.k.a. Fidget's achievements in the gaming world, talks about how she joined the Frag Dolls and has her in tasteful photographs for the interview. No bull, no sex.

[Thanks Jessica for pointing me to this article]