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Interview with the Frag Dolls
Staci writes "KillerBetties.com, a site with a focus on the female gamer, is running a interview with three of the ladies that comprise the UbiSoft sponsored FragDolls FPS Team. Rhoulette, Jinx and Katscratch sat down with Nicole of KillerBetties to talk about the controversy surrounding their existence and connection with UbiSoft, how they feel about representing female gamers and a few other personal tidbits." From the article: "We wouldn't be the Frag Dolls if it weren't for Ubisoft, so promoting games is certainly a distinct part of what we do. However, all of us have our dreams for where we would like to see girl gamers a year from now. And as girl gamers ourselves, we can't really help but represent some of their interests and desires."
Good that they managed to pin down these 3. If they had managed to get a hold of Morgan Webb, they'd have managed to score an interview with every single girl gamer in existence!
I thought someone had created a new subdomain porn.slasdot.org.
"However, all of us have our dreams for where we would like to see girl gamers a year from now."
Wearing bikinis in my living room while playing with big joysticks?
This is great and all but the first thing I wanted to do was see pictures off all the girls to see how good looking they are. Wouldn't you know it, they are all very attractive. I know plenty of girls that enjoy playing video games and being cute is not the norm....at least in my experience. The level of expertise a female has in a video game is usually higher the uglier they get. Maybe it's just my limited experience in the area but you won't see me challenging the 275 pound female coworker in a game of Quake. She would destroy me. Now, the cute girl in accounting.....I'll take her on any day.
My Xbox Live Gamer Card
I don't know if anyone else got this ad, but when I pulled up the interview about woman gamers, I got a nice long banner ad for Anarchy Online next to it that read "I Got Implants Baby!", complete with an ingame female character in underwear. Another ad in the corner features the same ingame model, with the text "Play Me!"
Really goes well with a site "focused on girl gamers." Apparently their advertisers are focused on a certain subset of girl gamers...
(I'm assuming "I Got Implants Baby!" is a reference to something ingame that I don't get because I don't play the game, but still - it's kind of crude. It's the Internet, I've got other things available to satisfy the "oggling at women" need, that an MMORPG just isn't going to be able to offer. I always wonder about games that try to sell themselves using a hot ingame character - it's like they're trying to distract you with that, to get you to overlook something else, like the fact that the game sucks or something. Makes me wary.)
You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
What a coincidence. All of them have good skin, large boobs, and fairly trim wastes. Am I the only one who thinks there is at least a bit of Milli Vanilli or Backstreet Boys to this group? Do they have anything to do with girls in gaming, or just to get pimply nerds even more hot and bothered than Lara or DOA?
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
...my wife is a far better gamer on some genres than I, and I've been gaming for a while. She can't play Gran Turismo to save her life, but put her in a CS match and watch the frags pile up. I think that a lot of girl gamers are just afraid to come out and say that they like games, because it might attract guys like us.
"What I cary in this box is your utter subjugation."
When you're sponsored by Ubisoft and you tell the interviewer that your favorite game of all time is Splinter Cell, you lose any credibility as a serious gamer. These girls are like Duffman; they're paid to raise awareness of Ubisoft by playing Ubisoft games at Ubisoft-sponsored events. They may be living the "pro gamer" life now, but in 2 years when we all decide we don't give a shit about competitive gaming any more, they'll be out on their asses and Ubisoft will go back to advertising in magazines.
Besides... Console FPS games? Puh-lease.
Now the all-girl Quake clans that started up without corporate guidance, on the other hand... hot-cha-cha.
I heard someone saying that they really aren't very good at FPS at all. They really don't deserve the title "FragDolls" unless they can go into the average CS/UT2003/BF1942/whatever server and rack up the kills.
You are wise to be wary. BTW, "I've got implants" refers to the in-game ability to increase your stats and abilities with mods that can be crafted, bought or that drop off various baddies in the universe. And AO has been using the same crass advertising ever since they lost a million subscribers after launch because they overhyped and WAY under-delivered. I was one they lost, and I never went back. I've heard it's better, but I don't really care.
Mentioning the 95% win rate doesn't mean anything unless you also mention who they play against. Does anyone know if these girls play against people who aren't chumps?
Rob
that is quite a fancy website for a brand new clan. It's obveus that Ubi made the site and paid for it. A few random female games don't pull a site like that out of nowhere. Heck, me being a guy I couldn't pull that site out if you gave me 6 months.
~ Mooga
Frankly, I think its pretty telling that there ARE NO UGLY FRAG DOLLS. Real game girls run the gamut from 3-10 in terms of looks, and the fact that these are all near model hotness girls says a lot.
If anybody from Ubisoft is reading this, I will be taking this PR move into consideration next time I am in the market for a video game, or when a friend asks for a recommendation.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
"Awenyddion: From a woman's standpoint, being so visible in the gaming industry, you are being viewed as role models for women gamers everywhere."
/. posters' words that they are all good looking (I didn't see any pics).
This makes me sad. Why? Let's take them at their word that they are great gamers and are "so visible". Then I'll take it on the other
Where does that leave us girl gamers? I'll tell you where -- in yet another area of interest where you have to not only be good at what you do but you also have to look like models as well. If these girls are supposed to be role models than what their sponsors are saying is that it's not enough to be good at games, but you have to look like "Booth Babes" as well. Only then will you be allowed on our team.
Geekland was the last hold out where a guy might actually like you for your brains as much as for your beauty. I'd like to see it stay that way.
~Fricka
OffLineTshirts.com
Awenyddion: How often do you practice together?
Katscratch: depends on if we are in competition mode or not. Now we are practicing 3-5 times a week together
Rhoulette: It depends, but we try to get up to 10 hours of team practice in a week.
3-5 times a week, for a total of 10 hours? and they are supposedly competitve gamers? weaksauce. i play games pretty much daily, and on a slow saturday i can put in 10 hours on that day alone.
hmm, looks like all i need is a bra, a box of tissues, a blonde wig and a shave and i'm set. oh yeah, and a list of recent Ubisoft releases so i know what games to put in my 'favourite games' list. GHOST RECON 2 ROOLS!!! IT'S IMPROVED ON THE PC ORIGINAL IN EVERY WAY!!!1!
so do you think it would be a good thing to date one of these chicks beacause if you do your house will be a mess and both of us will never get anything done. I want to be the one playing the games and I will have her bethe one that does the dishes. man I hope they can cook too
We have the Fragdolls, an obviously corporate tossed together group of women who seem to be decent gamers (and of course, eye candy).
They're in the 18 - under 30 age range, probably have student loans, etc to pay off, know their looks won't last forever and have been tossed together into a corporate sponsored clan.
It's easy for people to post (Corporate whore!1!!!111) and say they wouldn't take the money to be Ubisoft's marketing eye candy (something akin to BoothBabe+).
Let's face it, marketing has done the "corporate" formula before to great success (Morning Musume in Japan, New Kids On The Block, etc). Should anyone really be surprised that they used this in gaming?
Are there non-photoshopped non 38D girl gaming clans who deserve a lot more attention than the FDs? Of course. Are these girls role models? Mmmm, it depends on what the girls viewing this want. The fact is, the majority of gamers are male and if you happen to be both a gamer and female (and hot) you could likely find 20 companies willing to toss you the same type of deal the Fragdolls got.
There's nothing saying girls can't be successful at gaming. At the first LAN party I ever got taken to I went to take a break from BF1942 (snack machine trip) and passing by the CS room there was a girl (bout 16) in there PWNING the guys at CS.
To wrap up I guess what I'm trying to say is that while I support women standing up for themselves and saying "hey dammit, we've got as much game as you guys do!", I would rather see the attention pointed at your average gaming girl (maybe not the hottest woman on the planet, but lots of skill) than corporate sellouts. And yes, I'll probably get flamed, and yes I likely would have taken the money too had I been in the same situation (free games + professional website + money + etc etc etc). That doesn't mean I have to respect it.