This year at PAX, I not only gathered oodles of game info, but I also met the intelligent and beautiful Spectra from Ubisoft’s team of girl gamers, The Frag Dolls. I found her at the No More Heroes 2 booth, and after annoying her with my endless NMH2 questions, I asked her for an interview. She very sweetly agreed. But don’t let the “sweetly” part of that sentence fool you – she’s hardcore.
When asked who exactly The Frag Dolls are and what they represent, Spectra quickly gave me the run-down. “The Frag Dolls are a team of gamers employed by Ubisoft to represent their video games at industry events. We work to promote the presence of women in this industry by breaking stereotypes and encouraging more women to game.” They participate in many events throughout the year, with the most well known being E3, PAX, and Comic Con. “My favorite event had to be the GameStop Managers show in Las Vegas,” she continued. “I had the opportunity to demo Splinter Cell Conviction on stage for a few hundred GameStop managers. I am a huge Splinter Cell fan girl -- I was on cloud 9.”
On to the serious questions! I wanted to delve a little deeper and get an idea of how she really felt about female game characters – how they look, how they act, etc. “Not every video game heroine looks like Ivy from Soulcalibur 4. The range is diverse and there is something for everyone. I have come to appreciate a number of the artistic depictions of women in the games I play, with the first being Lara Croft. I love spending my time as such an awesome, beautiful, badass character like Lara. I like the way she looks. If I could do half the stuff Lara Croft can do, I would look like that, too.” A few of her favorite female characters include Kitana from Mortal Kombat, Zoey from Left 4 Dead, Princess Leia from Lego Star Wars, Cortana from Halo, and of course, Chun-Li. “For me, character design isn’t as much of an issue as the availability of cool playable characters,” Spectra went on. “I would love to see more playable female characters represented in games. How awesome would it be to play as Elika in Prince of Persia 4 or as a female version of Nico Bellic in GTA4?” She especially loves games that allow the player to choose between a male or female character right from the start, like in Fable 2. “My character in Fable 2 is awesome, even though she looks like Mr. Incredible in drag.”
With the mention of Ms. Croft, I asked for her opinion on the proposed Lara Croft reboot. Her answer was a pleasant surprise. “I think they should focus less on her looks and more on making the best game they can,” she stated strongly. “Personally, I think Lara looks better in her latest version than ever before. GameInformer said that they wanted to change her looks to ‘make her more appealing to female gamers’. The best way to appeal to me as a ‘female gamer’ is to give me better game mechanics, manual saves, more checkpoints, new innovative ways to move in the environments, dynamic story plots, and introduce ways for me as a player to put to use all the skills I just spent the last few hours honing to advance to the next level, instead of button mashing boss battles.” A great answer. That’s a true gamer chick, for you! I couldn’t agree more.
Of course, I had to compliment her on her love of Arrested Development, which is one of my favorite shows. (She and I both advise all of you to GO RENT IT NOW if you haven’t seen it. Trust us – it’s genius.) This led into her acting experience. “My favorite roles are when I get to be in a motion capture suit, acting like a fool with reflective dots stuck to my face. Mo-Cap acting is like no other because of the amount of imagination it requires. In that environment, you are not limited by your gender, race, or species for that matter. You can be anything you can imagine and it is ridiculously fun!” I was definitely not satisfied yet, so she gave me a Mo-Cap story. “I was first introduced to Motion Capture when I worked on The Polar Express as a set production assistant. A week or so into filming, they decided they needed more kids on the train. They pulled me from my job, threw me into the suit, glued some dots to my face, and I was off to see Santa.”
Time for fun! I, being the slave-driving interviewer that I am, had the lovely Spectra partake in some Quick Draw questions. She had to pick one without thinking!
Prince of Persia 4 or Assassin’s Creed? Assassin’s Creed 2
Far Cry or Fallout? Fable 2
PS3 or 360? Xbox 360
PAX or E3? E3, because you get to see all the games before the general public.
Master Chief or a Big Daddy? Master Chief
Batman: Arkham Asylum or Star Wars: The Force Unleashed? Batman
Normal or Inverted? I play on two different settings. I am left-handed and play mostly Southpaw controller options on a normal setting. Not all games offer Southpaw, so when I play default settings for some reason my axis has to be inverted. Isn’t that weird?
Discs or Digital Download? Discs with great DLC ;)
Sniper Rifle or Shotgun? Shotty
Booth Babes or Frag Dolls? Frag Dolls
Next, I asked how she came up with her Frag Doll name. “I wanted a super hero-sounding name. In my search I came across an astronomy site with a quote that struck a cord in me. ‘We know what the stars are made of, know of their structures and their lives, only because we are able to observe and analyze their Spectra.’ After I read that I knew it had to be Spectra. Plus, my favorite color is Rainbow. ;)”
Finally, there was something else I just HAD to know. If she could have ANY super power, what would she choose? “I would love to travel through time or have the ability to absorb people’s skills and talents.” Wow. Why didn’t I think of that? I just want to be able to turn into a panther.
Whether it was chatting with me at PAX or agreeing over email to answer my silly questions, Spectra couldn’t possibly be nicer. She is an awesome role model for female gamers and definitely knows her stuff! Keep an eye out for her at 2010 game expos and on Xbox live – she’ll likely be right behind you with a shotgun.
Thanks, Spectra!
For more information on becoming a Frag Doll and getting your foot in the door of the game industry, visit www.fragdolls.com. Look for their new Cadette program!