Exclusive: Interview with Frag Doll Valkyrie!
The Frag Dolls are a group of women recruited and promoted by Ubisoft to bring the presence of women in gaming to the industry's attention. At least, that's what they started out to be. However, they are really a bunch of really cool gamers who can kick some serious ass on the PC - and they just happen to be women.
Our top notch network news reporter, Becky "Tovin" Simpson, caught up with the Frag Dolls recently for some interviews, and here is our next in the series. Today's section is with Amy " Valkyrie " Brady , who is also part of the mega-watt team behind Pandora's Mighty Soldiers (PMS), an Xbox LIVE clan community which is today the largest clan out there. She is also a champion player, gaming since the days of Atari, and enjoying titles such as Rainbow Six 3 and Final Fantasy XI.
Tovin: How do you guys fare when trying to get it all done?
Tovin: When you're not playing shooters, what are you playing?
Amy: I am currently addicted to World of Warcraft. I am the guild master of a raiding guild currently in SSC and TK and have a 70 Mage and Warlock, a 50 priest, a 30 Shamen, and a level 14 Druid!
Tovin: Seagate is sponsoring your booth here at CES, and so you're playing Rainbow 6: Vegas on the PS3. Is there something that stands out to you, about this game that you want to share with other gamers?
Amy: I played the Rainbow series long before becoming a Frag Doll and starting at the original Xbox version. It is probably my most played series of any game and love it because if its realistic military style.
Tovin: Let's be frank, you're a group of good looking, very good gamers, and often you get in trouble for using one thing to show off the other. Do you feel as if the media is missing your message?
Amy: Not anymore, we have been around long enough and have won enough to combat and preconceived notions about us. All anyone has to do is research before they open their mouths and they can see for themselves!
Tovin: Do you feel that the average woman has more to juggle when you add in home, family and then a gaming urge?
Amy: Of course, it's the predisposition of society that women take care of more of the family stuff, so I you have a wife or mother that is a gamer they will of course have to balance and juggle more as their job is nonstop!
Amy: I think it depends on the wife's view of gaming, lol!
Tovin: What would you say to someone in the industry that said that females are only a casual gamer?
Amy: I would say that is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, and you need a webcam in my house to even fathom how much I game- morning till night!
Tovin: Do you feel that more of an effort is being put into making these games attractive to female gamers from the design point of view?
Amy: Of course I do, I think the industry has been struggling on how to tap into the female gamer mind for quite sometime as we are a viable and mostly untapped market just waiting to be reached!
Tovin: Do you feel that the game industry is taking the outraged cry of female gamers to heart and not only marketing to them, but hiring women and training them in the industry?
Amy: A group is only benefited from diversity, so of course we have seen more women emerging in prominent roles in the gaming industry. We know this and the gaming companies know this.
Tovin: What are your plans for 2008?!
Amy: To continue to kick some ass!
Interview by: Becky "Tovin" Simpson