My Interview With: Athena Twin PMS

I recently got ahold of Anthena Twin of PMS Clan fame. I asked her a few questions regarding the state of girls and gaming.


1) What do you think has caused the rise in girl gamers?

Exposure that women REALLY do play.and can play well! I believe this is because women, for really the first time in gaming, are getting recognition and support from the gaming community, media, and companies...in that order. For PMS Clan, we started on Xbox Live 4 years ago. It took almost 2 years of serious game play, dedication, and hard work to get the recognition we have today...and now many new women are actually able to come into a supportive gaming environment and learn to kick some butt, or just have fun! Guys are getting their girls systems now, and the girls are liking them! They go tell their girl friends about it, and the story continues.


2)How do guys react to girl gamers online?

This is a double-edged sword...some are mean as heck and some are huge supporters. Especially if one is losing to a girl, it can get really bad. I think majority of the gamer guys support us girl out there, though. Although, I have noticed a little more animosity as we have gained more recognition, sponsorships, and media. It really is a shame, and I think people need to realize that groups that bring positive attention to female gaming.like diversity, competitivness and a good community, help the industry overall. It brings awarenss not only to female and male gamers, but also to mainstream audience.which is where more gamers come from!

3) Has that reaction changed? (What did it used to be?)

It was really bad for us at first.until we started entering into the PRO tournaments last year. Once we started giving a face to PMS, as REAL GIRLS, the guys started realizing we WERE real women playing, and started treating us more like humans.

4)What is your training schedule like?

Personally, I only get to play about 3 hours a night now...and I play Xbox, PC, and hand-held games. I am training in PGR for CPL Summer, and will be Playing Halo2 at WSVG's LanWAR since one of my teams needed one more girl. I work full time as a manager for a finance company during day, and I run PMS Clan at night. Many of our top PRO Players like PMS Teen FiOS (our Verizon/FiOS sponsored team), and other members, play about 6-8 hours a day on their specialty game. Most of our girls average around 3-4 hours a night.

5) How competitive is PMS?

PMS is in almost every PRO US tournament for console for the past year. Our teams placed 6th & 8th at the CPL Summer Championship and the championship bracket twice at MLG events. Our PC division launched PMS V3nus last year at CPL Winter, and we will be debuting a new CS team at CPL Summer 2006. We were in the top 20 of Xbox clans on teamcompete.com in R63, and we have held successful competitive divisions in UR, CS, RTCW, GR series & R6 series. We have allot of catching up to do with the guys, as they have been playing competitively for years.and this is new (last couple of years) for many of the females players. I think as our younger generation of PMS girls, and younger women from other teams, start competing, that is when the world will see 1st place win from a female. I do want to point out, although we are competitive, it is not solely about competition for us.it is about support each other in gaming.

6) What were the major contributors to girls playing more games?

1.. Supportive gaming environment. As women find their place in gaming, and have communities supporting them, women turn a hobby into a passion. Many girls have joined PMS as casual players.and are now our top players. One of our main PRO players, Smiley PMS (16, she plays on our PMS Teen Fios team) said she probably would not even be playing Halo2 anymore if she had not joined PMS Clan do to all the smack talk and obscenities that can sometimes be found online (especially when you are a girl).
2.. Companies recognizing importance of marketing to women.


7) How did PMS get started?

PMS Clan was formed almost 4 years ago, at the Xbox Live. My sister and I ran into a girl named Blues, and it was the coolest thing to play together. Sisterhood at it's best! I went and posted on the Xbox.com forums about the new PMS Clan we created, and we met 2 other girls (FraggityAnn & Wildthing) to make our first 5 founders. Today we have close to 500 girls, which is really amazing. Any girl with a positive attitude is welcome into PMS. We only screen for attitude and dedication (i.e. attending practices), and they would just need to post in our recruitment section of our forums at www.pmsclan.com

She also encouraged me to let you guys know that to set up playtimes for PC, Xbox, or PS2 or for just more information you should visit the forums at www.pmsclan.com