Anatomy of a Gamer Girl, Part 1
In this two part article, Mkerr from Chainfist.com tracks down and interviews one of the most elusive of all players — the hardcore girl gamer. So let’s see what makes an actual gamer girl tick!
Exactly one month ago, TastyTaste graced us with a fun article titled “Girls, Girls, Girls“, where he rhetorically asked the age-old question “how do I get a woman to play with little army men voluntarily?“. The article struck a note with the community and quickly tallied more than 400 comments!
Buried in the flood of comments was a link to a blog post titled “Cloud Gets Beat By a Girl” on Paul’s Basement League, where Paul introduced us to “Zephri”, an honest-to-god-hardcore-gaming-girl. The article is a friendly ribbing / battle report, but two things quickly grabbed my attention.
The first thing I noticed was that a girl trashed a CSM army with Necrons (awesome!). The second was this picture:
Not only did I see what appeared to be a pretty girl playing 40K, I saw that girl playing Necrons! So donning my “Ace Reporter”-brand Fedora and notepad, I took it upon myself to track down this “Zephri” to see if she was real.
Guess what? She was real. Her name is Cassie and she’s an honest-to-god-true-hardcore-gamer-girl (“h2gthgg” for short? — Bigred). After chatting with her, I felt like I opened my back door and saw a unicorn standing in my yard. She’s the whole shebang. #1: She’s a hardcore video gamer (I design video games for a living and she plays way more than me). #2: She’s paper RPG player (she plays D&D and s in a weekly Rogue Trader campaign). #3: She collects, paints and plays tabletop wargames (she picked Necrons because she loves they way the look and play). It’s the trifecta of gaming geek!
And she was nice enough to grant me this interview.You’ll find part one of this interview below, and you’ll find the second part (with more pictures and links) at Chainfist.
But let’s get to the questions!
Mkerr: “Okay, it has to be asked. Were you actually playing that game of 40K or did someone trick you into standing next to the table and then take a picture?”
Cassie (laughing): “That’s actually me, playing *my* Necrons with some friends. I actually drove six hours to play 40K with those guys — it was a lot of fun!”
Cassie: “When I was eight, I was in the hospital with appendicitis. They brought in a TV with a Nintendo 64 and MarioKart to make me feel better. It worked! So I got a Nintendo 64 for Christmas and I’ve never stopped playing.” (Yes, that means she was born in 1989. And yes, we are all so old… — Bigred)
Cassie: “I played video games constantly through middle school and high school. When I was 15, a friend of mine was talking about something called ‘Dungeons & Dragons’. I was curious, so I tagged along and rolled-up a rogue. I absolutely LOVED it! I still play D&D a lot — including running my own campaign — but I’m a bit of a Dark Heresy / Rogue Trader kick right now.”
Here’s a shot of Cassie at last week’s Rogue Trader game. She’s playing a Explorator (notice the autobot sticker on her Laptop? Yes, she’s also into Transformers — noticing the robot/zombie theme yet?).
(Click the image for for high resolution version: 3264 x 2448, 2.7 MB)
Cassie: “Ha! It was me and five guys, so I don’t think they too me seriously at first. But I kept coming back and kept getting more and more into the game. I love rogues. I really love rogues — there’s something appealing to me about being able to kill (and loot) anything that moves. I played in that campaign for three years.”
Mkerr: “So it was D&D that caused the jump from tabletop RPGs to tabletop wargaming?”
Cassie’s Rogue Trader ship is called the Spiritus Invictus (named after the ship’s ghost field). She loved designing the ship, but secretly wishes they’d opted for Murder Servitors. (Murder Servitors rock! — Bigred)
(Click the image for a high resolution version: 3264 x 2448, 2.7 MB)
Mkerr: “So how long have you been playing? And how often do you get to play?
Mkerr: “Once our readers get over the fact that you are a real girl and playing a game they love, they are going to have one question. Why Necrons?”Cassie: “Ha-ha! I was playing Dawn of War before I played on the tabletop — and in Dawn of War, Necrons are *amazing*. I love their look. I love their rule mechanics. And I love their fluff. And, personally, I think they can be competitive, if played right. Even though they don’t have a lot of different options tactically, they have some amazingly tough units.”
Mkerr: “I notice that you have some nicely painted minis on your blog. What’s your favorite part of the hobby — painting or playing?”My interview with Cassie continues after the jump at Chainfist.com. where we about dating gamers, costumes and more! You’ll find more pictures as well as links to Cassie’s blog!
