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Chick who Talks Games - Nikki Douglas
Chick
Who Writes Game – Nikki Douglas
Hello ladies and gents
out there. I hope all is well and I’m glad to welcome you back to
this weeks gameDiva. This week we will profile Nikki Douglas, who
runs grrlgamer.com. If you havent’ already checked out the site, I
must insist you run…not walk..run to the site immediately and see
what it is all about. It is a great read!
Who are
you?
Nikki Douglas - a hardcore, old-school grrlgamer, games
journalist and diva(though not as emotional as Mariah Carey).
What do you do?
I run a little site called
grrlgamer.com, which was the first gaming site on the web for women
and girls. In fact it was the first "anything" for women and girls
interested in computer and video games. Call me a trend-setter but
shortly after my sites debut, several other female oriented gaming
sites debuted but none have withstood the rigors of the dotcom
downturn as well as grrlgamer.com and none have certainly been more
involved in helping women have a voice in the computer and video
games industry. I know it sounds like I'm giving myself snaps; and
hell yeah, I am. I'm proud of the site and the women who are
currently a part of it and who have shaped it over the years. It's
been a gas telling the world that grrls play more games than Spades
and Solitaire.
Who do you write for?
I've written
in the past for a number of game mags, Electronic Gaming Monthly,
Official Playstation Magazine, incite PC Gaming where I was a Senior
Editor (and the only grrl). I've also written for Showtime, a few UK
mags Nova and Now and quite a few other non-gaming publications and
websites. Right now I am just writing for grrlgamer.com, which is my
primary passion.
How did you get into writing about video
games?
I played them for so many years and didn't find it
unusual to be a female playing predominantly male oriented games. I
always did things my own way and playing video games was part of my
self-expression. I played from the earliest gaming days, the Atari
2600 days when my big charge was beating my brother at Asteroids and
Space Invaders. I was there for the first video game too, Pong
(which does make me over thirty.)As far as writing about games, it
was a natural progression; I was writing for the web on my own site
riotgrrl.com and playing a lot of computer games. I was disheartened
by the fact that there were no game sites with female correspondents
or reviewers. Underrepresented, I took it upon myself to launch the
first ever games review column ever targeted at women. I called the
column Grrl Gamer and from there the site was born at the end of
1997.
What is your favorite video game?
I hate to
pick favorites so I won't. I will say that there are only a few
games that I still play frequantly: EverQuest, Asheron's Call, The
Sims, Babyz (its my biological clock, sorry), Anarchy Online and
Unreal Tournament. Peter Molyneaux has had a hand in creating some
of my favorite games as has Will Wright. I also treasure my John
Carmack -inspired moments of Quake-ness too.
Who is the
best looking video game character out there?
Well I always
thought Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid was kind of a hottie, but
then Duke Nukem kind of made me long for Howie Long and Gordon
Freeman from half-Life has a certain sexy, nerd quality. But if you
are just talking pixels; Lara Croft had some of the best.
What is the first system you ever owned? first
game?
It was the Atari 2600 and the game was Space Invaders.
I kicked my brothers ass.
What is the craziest thing
you've ever had to do to get a review?
Sing to David Bowie's
agent. It was when his computer game came out and all the mags
wanted to interview him and no one could get to him. He had just
released his newest CD then too and was doing some shows. I got his
agent's number and proceeded to make an impression. I got the
interview.
Would you ever dress like Lara Croft in
public?
Let's see after the ol' nip and tuck here and there
and a boob job - possibly. But only if I could have the two guns
slung on my hips.
What advice do you have for people out
there who want to write about video games/high tech?
Let your
passion guide you. If you love technology: love it. Study it. Be it.
Same thing with games. It's easiest to write what you know and make
yourself an expert at it. Then no one can tell you that you're full
of it. Well, they can still tell you, but you won't care cos' you
are an expert!
Funniest game/high tech related
anecdote:
Bill Gates once sent me fan mail and flirted with
me in it.
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Thanks
Nikki for taking the time to check out gameDiva! O.k. fans, here is
the bad news. Looks like there may be some changes coming with
gameDiva, we may have to find a new home. So there may be a delay
before I send another one of these babies out to you. Have no fear
though….gameDiva will live on…I promise to keep you all posted! Have
a great week and keep the high scores coming ladies!
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