There is a contest that is being held for female gamers and it is getting many of them all fired up. The WSVG (World Series of Video Games) has announced their quest to crown the first ever Miss World Series of Videogames. Will the contestants go head-to-head in a death match on Quake 4 or will the hopefuls go for the most frags in a 10-minute round? Not even close. If you want to enter and qualify, all that is needed is your name, address and the blazing answers to these heavily game related questions:
- Favorite Food
- Favorite Video Game
- Likes
- Dislikes
- Favorite Artist
- Favorite Movie
- Three photos of yourself
Female gamers are up in arms over the barely hidden agenda of the purpose of this event-a beauty contest. One of the most well known female gaming clans, The Frag Dolls, expressed their displeasure on their website by saying:
"$%##@!#! Is all I have to say, what the heck is this crap? How is a Miss WSVG being crowned based on a beauty contest and has nothing to do with gaming? WOW guys, you let me down on this one severely, and I know I am not going to be the only female gamer to think this…this contest has the title of a PROFESSIONAL GAMING CIRCUIT attached to it, and they don,t think that associates it with female gaming? Why not re-evaluate this contest and do something that would make this event more positive, like have a real contest for girl gamers based on all things: a complete package that includes gaming skill and knowledge."
Morgan Romine of Ubisoft, who is in charge of marketing the Frag Dolls, said that it was important not to stereotype the women gamers and to "fight the perception that we’re booth babes. We’re gamers first. We felt that this [contest] was threatening that."
Beauty contests, which are commonly held in state fair competitions and the like, rarely, if ever require any expertise in the fields that the contestants are representing. But in the world of gaming, where an individual,s skills are the prime determining factor in how good a gamer is-male or female, the contest held by the WSVG seems to throw this belief out the window by only looking at the exterior of a gamer.
