When looking at this phenomenon, the first question I ask myself is why these games were initially conceived as entertainment only for males.  Men have always seemed to dominate the technological arena so videogames automatically fell into this category. But in a broader sense, these games also stress their male design and association through the objects, tools, and interfaces of play. From the joystick to the object of pool of shooting a ball into a hole with a wooden stick, the phallic representations of the design manifest that Freudian psychoanalysis may not be too far-fetched.  Failing to hide their male conception, these games were also expected to be played by men with women not really receiving much thought in the entire process.

Through my own online interaction in an all-female Quake clan, QGirlZ, and as a member of a new all-women pool team, The Lady Sharp Shooters, I continue to encounter proof that the existence of a purely male sphere of gaming is a fallacy.  While one may feel that computer games and billiards stem from two totally different genres of gaming, they both fall into this misconceived category of male-only games as they rely heavily on male dominated academic streams like physics and follow the a male interface design logic.  Most importantly, I find that QGirlZ and The Lady Sharp Shooters both perfectly manifest how women are competing and playing the games that they were never encouraged to play. With their own battle styles, team play, and other “gender differences,” women are pushing these games to a whole new dimension of interaction.

Key to any game, competition creates the need for skill, strategy, and challenge within a gaming environment. In fact, most games fail to entertain a player without a formidable competitive challenge by another player or machine. 

Contrary to the myths of gender differences, women do like competition and challenges in game play. Yet, women also like to help each other out within the game world so that competition no longer is just a one-sided battle to help oneself. 

For example, one Lady Sharp Shooter commented that, 

"When guys play pool they tend to get really competitive so that all they can thing about is winning. We have a lot more fun during the game since every one is really laid back and likes to help each other out."

I also find that in many of these female gaming environments, the emphasis shifts from the end result and more towards how one plays the game. When I competed in the First All-Female Quake Tournament this summer, I had an unbelievably exciting time even though I lost my first round match. I was just so amazed by all the enthusiasm players had and how much they enjoyed supporting their teammates. My opponent and I even chatted after the game as we exchanged information on how we started playing Quake and why enjoyed it so much.  Finding others out there who share the same love of the game is what makes the competition so remarkable, exciting, and unique.

As competition takes on a different type of structure, the social rewards of gaming become much richer.  All games are inherently social since they require interaction with another person. Even computer games are losing their anti-social categorization with the advent of online human-human competition. Clubs and clans offer these same rewards providing women with a network of girl players like themselves that quash all notions of a “gender” specific game.  For The Lady Sharp Shooters this means one no longer fears walking into a bar and putting quarters on the pool table to challenge the current male players. In fact, many people on the team commented on how they really enjoyed pool but always fell that with guys dominating the pool tables there was never an opportunity for them to play.  I think female Quake players also feel this same bond with other members in their clan. Clans give women a social outlet to meet others with their same interests and also provide a space to play where one does not need to fear being harassed for having a female login.  Whether the interaction takes place through a computer or at a bar, the engagement is real and the friends you find support you just the same.

What makes teams like QGirlZ and The Lady Sharp Shooters so special is that they continue to prove themselves successful by garnering attention, power, and respect.  The Lady Sharp Shooters now have a reserved pool table waiting for them once a week at the sports bar where the team meets to practice.  On one occasion, the bar had put up a number of beer advertisements of silicon-injected women wearing bikinis and drinking beer. One of our members marched right up to the manager and said that we found the bikini ads offensive and that they were destined to lose their female clientele if such pictures remained on the wall. The next week at pool practice, our team rejoiced in our power noticing that the ads had been removed from the wall.  Similar success is found in the Quake world where girl tournaments, top-ranked players, and clans are garnering media attention everywhere. People are really starting to take notice and responding to the female video-game world which adamantly states that technology oriented games are not just for boys. GrrlGamer is another testament to all this activity and female power on the net.

Games are so cool and unique because they specify an apparatus and set of rules and let the players define the production.  Despite their design or theme, games themselves do not wear a sign that says “boys only.” Instead society deems the age group, gender, and locale of play acceptable for each game. Transforming the misconceptions of a biased world, women are proactively creating their own forms of entertainment with female clubs, clans, tournaments and events to play the games that society had characterized as “un-feminine.” I’m tired of blaming guys for the lack of women in the gaming industry or on the playing field. Guys aren’t the issue— I’m sure they would love to have women taking part in the games that they enjoy playing but are too passive to think that they could do something about that.  Women, on the other hand, hold the power to create new opportunities for themselves by forging together and creating these arenas of play. QGirlZ and The Lady Sharp Shooters are just two examples of the thousands of various forms of interaction and entertainment that women can now participate in.  So long as women continue to show such drive to fight the power, the world will adjust to their demands accordingly.