Losing Faith in Miss Video Game competition

Judging by the photos of the "candidates" Faith posted, I wouldn't be surprised if the private anonymous funder was Playboy or some porn company.

So I don't get it. What's the big conspiracy?

"2. So I don't get it. What's the big conspiracy?"

This whole notion that attractive female gamers exist.

Just kidding, girls. Calm down!

The first thing I noticed, when the competition had just came out, one of the "rules" was that you don't have to play video games to enter, in that it's really just about getting together and learning. Excuse me, but do you enter a Chess Tournament if you don't know how to play Chess? A bake-off if you never touched an oven?

I've known about this thing for months, and if it didn't give me the heebeejeebees, yeah sure I would've joined. But I don't understand why one needs to prove yourself as a woman with pictures, let alone with pictures of body parts. I could understand CosPlay, perhaps as Lara Croft or Chun Li, but the only reason why someone would pose in a bikini for a gaming contest is for DoA Beach Volley, which is just incredibly boring (not the game, the idea).

And even which, I don't remember any of those designs in the game. (And I'm quite glad no one wore the jewel set; at least I hope not.)

I think the reason they don't mention their major 'sponsor' is simply because it's the company creating the 'up-comming game' that the winner is advertised being in.

This whole thing looks like a bunch of bull though.

The winner is obviously just going to get raped.

:P

One of my guy friends suggested I enter this contest back when it first came out, I looked at it, I rolled my eyes, i ranted to him for a couple mintues, then I got on with my life.

I don't know whether the contest is legit or not, but its things like this that sicken me.

By treating women gamers as if they are something special or unique, it just reinforces the point of view that there is something special about them. There isn't. It's exploitative...

But then again, it goes both ways, a lot of women are using there status as a girl gamer to achieve some sort of fame, (woman bloggers whose only claim to fame is the fact that they have both boobs and play video games, and girl only clans that seem to act like dressing slutty is as important as game playing, and such like that) both ways I find it sickening.

Girls: Stop acting like sex objects to try and get fame.
Guys: Stop treating girl gamers as something special just because they have boobs.

Both groups... really make it hard for a girl who games to be treated seriously, and its sickening.

Oh great - a glamour contest with the words "Video Game" in the title. I don't think I'll vote.

Anna, every woman is special and unique even if she play video game. ;)

Faith disgusts me. Her only claim to fame is that she has boobs, she claims to play video games, and she has a blog. Seriously places like Joystiq need to quit reporting on her.

The idea of a female only gaming tournament is a good idea, because quite frankly, a woman is never going to beat the likes of Fatality at ANY FPS on the market. But really, as long as there are exploiters out there that realize the gaming industry was built on fat, dateless shut-ins, and that they flock to anything with breasts, girls like Faith will continue to get their 15 minutes of "Fame" whether us level headed people like it or not. And before you tell me a girl could win an FPS tournament, please first make an equally ridiculous argument about how a girl could play in the NFL or the NBA, so I can get my lulz in twos.

No woman could ever beat Fatality in an FPS?

This is video gaming, it's not sports, where physical body mass and build matters. All that matters is quick reflexes and an understanding of the system.

It is entirely possible a woman could beat him, it is just that he's had quite a head start. Women are coming into the gaming sphere a bit late, being that it is a male dominated arena.

@Anonymous

I don't think I'M ever going to beat the likes of Fatality at ANY FPS on the market.

And I'm, like, totally a dude.

Anonymous, you can't really be serious comparing video games and the NFL or NBA? Those are physical sports, of course a woman can't match a man in the NFL. But video games are just hand-eye coordination and a little strategy. I can't see why a woman can't compete with a man here. The only reason that the "best of the best" right now is a man is probability. I'll just throw random numbers here, but you have like 25 millions males that are hardcore gamers and like 1 million females. Of course there's a better chance a male gamer turn pro and become "the best". The pool of male hardcore gamers is much bigger.

Anyway, there's no reason a woman can't compete with a man in video games.

Thank you for posting about Faith dropping out of the contest, but you missed the point of what is newsworthy, which is what Kevin was working on.

I run GamingAngels.com. I have been researching the company that runs Miss Video Game since it began. I have had three interviews with the organizers and every time the information gets more and more vague. You can read my article here:
http://www.gamingangels.com/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=74

The news-worthy item of MVG, is that it's a badly organized company that women are submitting their information and pictures to. These women seem willing to fly out to Canada and Cabo with people that she doesn't know and don't have any validity in the gaming industry. They have no sponsors because they are privately funded, but sponsors help validate that the contest exists and the winner really will be a spokeswoman for the Gaming Industry.

There is nothing wrong with hot women gamers, or women competiting in a beauty pagaent that is gaming based. The problem is this company claims it's not a beauty pagaent and that it really is looking for the top female gamer.

Recent news shows the company is still not trustworthy with false claims about where in Canada the girls are staying and the gaming company that is putting on the tournament is not even a real business yet.

It's these loose ends and really weird lack of attention to detail by MVG that is newsworthy. Not the particular fact that Faith dropped out. * I love you Faith ^_^*

BTW for the gamer that says women can't beat Fatal1ty, I have a girl who is starting our young gamer section. She is 8. She is a professional gamer. At a recent tournament she came the closest out of anyone in the tournament to beating him. No she didn't beat him, but she's got alot of years of training in her to go. ^_^

Trina
GamingAngels.com

Two words that don't belong together "Professional" and "Gamer".

It's a wonder that it took her this long to realize the contest is shit. Seriously, though, I'm sick of all this fuss over female gamers. Who gives a damn, save for the basement dwellers? They're just girls who play video games. Whoop-de-freaking-doo. Whoever's running the contest surely only wants to make money or get attention with attractive, half-naked (or fully naked) women who supposedly play video games.

As much as I dislike Faith, kudos to her for doing deeper research.

#13:

So basically what you're saying is "women could beat Fatality, they just don't want to." Last time I checked, nobody has been stopping women from playing for the last 30 years or so. Maybe the fact that larger numbers of women are starting to play only now that games are becoming more mainstream says something. If nothing else, gaming certainly seems to appeal more to men than women, and you need to love something in order to become great at it.

Also, anyone who says men and women are the same is either trying way too hard to be PC or is just plain wrong. Physical abilities aside, the minds of men and women function in different ways and each has different strengths and weaknesses. Whether one or the other makes for a better gamer's brain I don't know, but I've yet to see a woman who can play at the same level as a top tier male player.

Gaming is serious business. /sarcasm off

Sorry, I'm just tired of all of these posts where people are taking this thing SO seriously! It's just a fun little competition put together by a group of people who have never done it before. I'm in it for fun. They aren't asking me for money. What exactly am I "risking" here?

I also have spoken to the creators and have done research and yes, while I agree some things aren't all roses and sunshine, I don't see where ANYTHING is SO bad that it's not worth at least playing around with. They are brand new to this and are still figuring things out every day. A lot of the issues that we have all brought up they have fixed immediately.

I sent them this article and I'm sure that, after reading it, they will realize some of the things they have missed and fixed those as well.

I just feel people are taking this FAR too far. It's just a fun little contest. It doesn't mold all female gamers. The winner will be the one who does anything positive/negative with the title. Either the winner will win and sit around with a tiara and post how much she loves being Miss Video Game or she's going to go out and do good things for the community as Miss Video Game and give the title a positive name.

The rest is just technicalities. Yes Faith, you did very good detective work and you have made some very valid points. That being said, I don't think it's a scam at all. A scam would be asking us all to pay an entry fee and then running off with our money. (been there)

I'm not putting my heart and soul into this thinking that it's serious business. I too am doing detective work and covering this entire thing from a journalistic standpoint. That being said, I'm going all the way. If nothing else, it's a great experience to write about. The good AND the bad.

Wow the sexism in the room is pretty deep, i assumed jfls was just being a dumb ass, but then he followed up with a second sexist post. Woman are just as capable of playing games as guys, for cultural reasons there are just less into it.

As for Trina, well the name of the site Gaming Angels, kinda implies the whole, I'm special because I'm a girl. It sets your defining characteristic on the fact that its run / written by a girl.

Though I have to comend you, there are no pics with you dressed up like a whore, trying to draw the male crowd, and thats a lot more then I can say for a large majority of women trying to break into the game media (you know who i'm looking at).

But seriously as long as we (as girls) treat gaming as if its something special that we game, the longer it will remain something seen as special. "Look at me, I'm a girl who games" might get you some publicity, but "Yeah I'm a gamer, so what" makes the hobby mainstream.

I couldn't beat Fatality either, not that I would ever try. Personally I think gaming as a sport is ridiculous, but that aside, girls don't have the skills, be them physical or otherwise, to even hope to compete on the same level as the top of the ladder male players. Someone earlier made the argument that girls are..new to the arena? Years ago when I first picked up doom/Wolfenstein etc, I don't remember anyone saying "No girls allowed! GTFO!". Girls just aren't as competitive, and they are not wired the same as men, and therefore they can't compete on a level playing field. Sorry, but it's true

(Oh, and I got my lulz)

#17:

Sexism? That sounds like the cry of one unwilling to examine a difficult topic. Is seens to be dogma that men and women are the same. They are not. Is one better than the other? No, but each on the whole tends to be better than the other at certain tasks.

In general, women tend to be better at detailed tasks and multitasking, better process and understand emotion, and are better with language. In general, men tend to be better at logic and spatial skills, and tend to be more dominant and aggressive. Which skill set is better for games? That's open for debate, but I would lean towards the latter. In addition, most games are made by men so unintentionally or not they're geared towards that kind of mind.

Of course, these are generalities. There are dominant and competitive women and many who excel at logic. There are detail-oriented men and men who excel at understanding emotion. So I suppose the potential exists. But, when it comes down to it, the proof is in the pudding. Anyone can say "I could do it if I wanted to."

One of the prizes is to appear in a video game? I'm wandering what kind of a game. I'm going to go have to agree whole heartedly with Anna.

"Girls: Stop acting like sex objects to try and get fame.
Guys: Stop treating girl gamers as something special just because they have boobs."

We have girls in our guild on WoW that get so much more attention simply because they are female. This is ridiculous. I think the guys should concentrate more on going out and getting real life Girlfriends than flirting in a virtual world. Your chances of scoring in RL are far better than in Wow or on the internet.

Just an FYI. Everyone keeps stating this is a beauty pageant. It's not. The first round is based on how many votes you can get but, even the ugliest contestant could get all her friends to vote and get into the top 50. No one is just going to browse the site and click on the hottest girls and vote for them. The only way anyone will even GO to the site is through the advertising of one of the contestants. I mean, honestly.

Also, round two is pure gaming. The girls with the top scores go to the finals and also game there for the title.

Yes, there are a LOT of pictures of girsl that shouldn't be there. Even I have caused a stink about that. Realistically, however, who would even participate in voting for a competition where no pictures at ALL were put up there. If you are going out for a job, the people hiring you want to see your face and how you carry yourself. Same here. So, if you don't like how the attention whores are carrying themselves.. then just don't vote. Vote for the girls who you DO respect. That's all.

It's really up to YOU to make the decisions. You can't put all that on the site owners. No where does it claim it's about beauty.

sounds to me like we have a case of guerrilla marketing. my bucks are on microsoft pulling some covert crap like this, but i guess sony might also try it. it's all about making bucks, you know. guess they never thought anyone would dig that deep. stupid marketing goons.