Gamer Spotlight: Raychul Moore
Last Updated (Wednesday, May 13 2009)
Hello everyone! This is the Gamer who digs art here. In celebration of Mother's day this past Sunday this week I decided to shine a little spotlight on female gamers this week. No, not to show off how hot they are or the big boobed booth babes...I want to shine a light on a population of gamers who don't fit societies mold of the average gamer.
One thing is for sure I believe guys are more caught up with the fact that girls actually play games than the girls themselves. I have the pleasure to game with a girl gamer on a daily basis. I am married to a girl gamer. She likes the same games I do, and of course she has her own taste in games as well that differs from my own, but the bottom line is being a female doesn't take away from her appreciating a good game.
Well kicking off the week long spotlight on girl gamers is none other than Raychul Moore from GameGirl.com.
She is a very cool and friendly gamer and I loved how she was available to be interviewed. She is very active in the industry...and if you don't know her yet you will soon!
First off would you like to give a brief bio about yourself...who you are and what you do for a living:
You are such a passionate gamer. You have embraced the industry and are a great representative of not only girl gamers but gamers in general. What changes have you seen over the past 10 years that have kept you hooked as a gamer?
Thanks! Well mostly I think what has kept me hooked is that with every new system comes tons of new and amazing games. The games are definitely when keeps me playing, obviously. :) It's really just the improvement we have seen from the NES to the Dreamcast to the PS2 and to the systems we have today. Each new generation of systems brings us so many new options and new technology to explore.
When you see companies that make games catered to girls they tend to be rather "girly" pink...cuddly cute.....do you think this is the right approach for companies to take?
Honestly, the way companies market games doesn't effect me, I will buy a game because I think it looks interesting, not because of the colors of bows it has tied on it or which sex it was targeted for. I think marketing works, just look at the Wii and how Nintendo has made a killing off of marketing their Wii to the casual gamer. But guys don't fuss when games are obviously marketed towards them with boobs and blood, so why should females care what games are marketed towards them? Just because a game is marketed towards me as a female doesn't mean I have to play that game.
Let's say you are marketing a game to reach out to male gamers but also a large amount of female gamers..what strategies are not being used in the industry today?
I would just tell them to simply show their game and let the gamer decide whether they want it or not. Don't drench the marketing scheme with boobs or ponies, just show us the game and let us make up our own mind on whether it's something we would be interested in or not.
In your experience of a gamer/ writer/ blogger I see you give shout outs to many artist out there. Do you think creative people (artist, musicians, etc) experience more enjoyment out of video games more than non creative people?
I don't think people who are more creative than others enjoy games more than the next person, not at all. I am not at all creative, but I think enjoy games pretty obsessively. I think artists and people who have the creative talent can appreciate gaming just as much as someone who isn't as creative.
You have been around for all the great movements in video game history...from the evolution of 2-d plat formers to fully 3-d worlds where anything is possible. What are some things developers could hope for to bring gamers (guys and gals alike!) into more immersive worlds?
I really think developers are getting a little off course right now when it comes to how to make games more immersive. I think it's all about the story of the game and not making more gimmicky add-ons like 3D graphics, motion-sensor controllers, or motion-tracking cameras that are just fun for a short while. I think developers need to pay more attention to bringing us creative and imaginative worlds rather than just some silly new peripherals to add to our ever growing collection. At the end off the day, we gamers will just revert back to what has always worked in the long run; a great game that tells a fascinating story while we sit on our couch with a simple controller in our hands.
Ok...I thought I was the only gamer who loved Zombies with a passion...(joking of course...but I do love me some Zombies!) this may sound crazy...but I gotta ask...have you ever thought out your actions on how you would survive a full blown Zombie invasion? On a serious note...what is it about zombies that float your boat?
Me and my friends have had many deep conversations about what we will do when the zombie apocalypse happens. I own the Zombie Survival Guide and I have seen more than enough zombie flicks to know what to do and what not to do when the time comes. We have our escape plan and our survival plan all mapped out.
I am not sure what it is about zombies that I love so much. I was never into classic horror bad guys like Frankenstein or other things from nightmares like werewolves or vampires, I always found those cheesy. Zombies have just always had a special place in my heart. They are fun, scary and just so damn silly at times, I guess.
What systems do you currently own and what are some games that stay in rotation on your playlist?
I own just about every system since the Atari 2600. I have the Intellivision, the Sega Systems, every Nintendo system, the NeoGeo, the Sony systems, every version of the GameBoy and of course the Xbox systems, including two Xbox 360's.
Some of the games that I always find myself going backto are Super Mario 3, Super Mario Sunshine, Zelda: Majora's Mask, GTA: Vice City, Burnout Revenge, Mario Kart Double Dash and lately I have been wanting to play Kingdom Hearts 2 and Stubbs the Zombie again.
Do you have any suggestions for guys to get their girls' into gaming?
Sure, if you want to get into gaming, it's easy: go buy a system and get a few games. There ya go. :) There should never be a decision on whether you want to be a gamer or not, it should be something you start or get into because you have a love and passion for it.
Name 3 female game characters that give respect to all girl gamers.
Wow, hmm. That's a hard one. I can tell you 3 guy characters I love in a heartbeat: Nathan Drake (Uncharted), Kratos and Pyramidhead, with Mario and Marcus Fenix coming in very close behind. Female characters tho, hmm, I guess Princess Peach because she is timeless. Namine from Kingdom Hearts because she was way cutier than Kairi and Katsumi because she is my favorite DOA girl.
You are an advocate for girl gamers everywhere....are there any practices or things that are in place by the industry that you frown upon that is in disrespect to women? Or maybe that you would like to see changed?
Honestly, no. I know some girls hate being called a "girl gamer" yet other girls just wanna be a part of girls only clans - neither of these things are for me. I game because I love it, not because I am trying to prove anything. You can call me whatever combination of "girl" + "gamer" you want, but basically it won't have any effect on me or my passion for the industry.
Girl gamers are making their presence heard all over the interweb with blogs, web sites, and forums. Five years from now...do you think the stigma of games being strictly for guys will be gone?
I don't think that the impression of games being just for guys is an issue. I think that it's only an issue when it's convenient for someone to read far too into something and make a stink about it. I think 5 years from now gaming won't be the "cool" thing to do anymore and the real gamers will still be gaming and the people who were in it for the wrong reasons will be on to whatever the next "in" or hot thing is. I think that's really the only thing that will change significantly in the industry as far as that goes.
Three worst things a guy could say to a female gamer...
Are three things it would be mean to say to any gamer: 1. My collection is bigger than yours 2. calling someone a fanboy 3. Or asking them to send naked pictures over Xbox LIVE.
Ok...Zombie apocalypse has devastated the world. You are safe in bunker living out your life in peace with full electricity and a nice 60 inch HD tv.... what system would your choose to live out your days with... one system only.... unlimited game titles, but just one system (you would have wifi).
I would take my PS2. Now let me explain myself: I originally thought of taking my 360, but it would probably die shortly thereafter (not talking shit about the 360, it's currently the system that's getting the most love from me, but let's be honest.) I chose the PS2 because I think that as of right now the PS2 still has the largest library of games that I could play time and time again and it also has one of the most diverse game libraries. If the world is gone, there is no need for Xbox LIVE so that rules out the 360 as well, plus, I can only play Gears, Crackdown and BioShock so many times. If I had my PS2 I would have many more games of different genres to choose from. My PS2 library is definitely the biggest of all of my systems since I keep every game I buy, so that would just be the most logical pick for me.
Thanks so much Raychul it has been a pleasure and I may take that offer up to play online with ya!
Raychul Moore
Lead Writer and Site Manager
GameGirl.com
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