Oct 1, 2010
I was given the opportunity to ask the ladies of PMSclan.com a few questions about gals and gaming. After reading what they had to say, I can truly appreciate the bonds of sisterhood. I hope that this interview with the ladies will bring to light the everyday celebrations of being a girl in a gamer’s world.
The Ladies of PMS
Blue Rose PMS/Kerry – PMS Xbox General
BoogieBaby PMS/Nadia– PMS Xbox Co-General
PMS Deja/Nikkia – PMS Clan Community Manager
Kitteh PMS/Chloe – PMS Clan Inc. Executive Team
1. How long has PMS Clan been around? And how long have each of you been a part of the clan?
Blue: My orientation was 4/22/07
Boogie: Officially finished recruitment towards the end of March 2008
Deja: I have been in the clan since Feb 07.
Kitteh:PMS Clan was founded coming out of the Xbox Live Beta, in 2002. It looked a wee bit different back then, but we’re pretty proud of how far we’ve traveled in that time! I’ve been around since March 2005, so I guess that makes me OldSkool – or something.
2. How close are you ladies, in terms of enduring friendship? What has the clan done to build the bonds of “sisterhood”?
Blue: The clan has somewhat of the same structure as a Sorority (or fraternity for H2O). Once you join, you are part of a large family. I’ve had my living room filled with members that we had just physically met earlier that day but have known for months online. Boogie and other PMS|H2O members bought many tickets for a raffle in order to win the most amazing gift for my fiancé (Esty H2O) and I – a tricked out Gears of War themed Xbox 360.
Boogie: Well, since I can laughingly tease one of our community managers for her habit of pocket dialing me at 2 AM, give shower planning tips, help with wedding planning, rant about personal issues, etc… I guess you could say true enduring friendships form.
I think a lot of members see the clan as a second family for them. They find true friends who they can share laughs with, bounce ideas off of, or vent to when things are not going right, help with homework – whatever the case may be.
Deja:Well, as Kitteh has said we are all sisters simply because we know we can count on each other when we need someone. I have known Kitteh since I became a member and we have gotten pretty close so she adopted me as her little sister..lol Since she has also adopted Blue then that makes me and Blue related and so on..lol Our family trees within the clan are interesting. When I joined I was given a big sister who has since left the clan so therefor Kitteh adopted me since we got along so well and we talked a lot about things not only inside the clan but also what was going on in our life.
Kitteh:Well, I consider Blue Rose and Deja sisters, and then since Blue considers Boogie her sister (daughter?), that makes Boogie some relation of mine. And that also makes Deja some relation of Blue and Boogie…
Ok, so our family ‘relations’ get kind of messy, but the idea is kind of just that – we’re all sisters to each other, even if we don’t classify our selves that way. Many years ago, we started the Big Sister/Brother program, where new recruits are ‘assigned’ to an existing Member, often one who just went through Recruitment themselves, so right from day one, there’s someone in the Clan they can turn to. Most of us end up picking up ‘sisters’ as we go as well, as was my case with Blue and Deja.
3. Would you say that the majority of the clan are competitive players?
Blue: Everyone is competitive in their own way so I have to say 100%. I’ve become fiercely competitively over games of UNO and said some pretty evil things regarding the mother of a gummy bear in “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” Then we can hop into Gears or Halo and shoot up the room.
Boogie:I think the vast majority of our players have a competitive mindset. To dedicate yourself to x numbers of practice hours each week as an active member – you kind of need to be a competitive person. We do have some professional members who travel and are invited to compete in various competitions and events. Not everyone competes though. Not all of us run to register for every tournament out there. A lot of members do play on ladders such as GameBattles, but are not out to win that prize money at the end of the season.
Kitteh: I would say that the majority of the Clan plays competitively, but are not necessarily competitive players – i.e. they’ll play their hearts out, but might not seek to enter into tournaments, either online or at LAN. I don’t think that’s a bad thing though!
4. How many of your clan mates are mothers? Married? In a relationship?
Blue:Well, I met Esty through the clan in a Gears practice…and now our wedding is in *gulp* seven weeks.
Boogie: What was that? I couldn’t hear that question over my five year old playing with the latest loud toy sent from Grandma >.<
Personally, I have had to hide during a round of Team deathmatch to go make chocolate milk.
We do have members who are proud moms – they post everything from the recent ultrasound pictures, birthday pictures, announcement of graduations of their children and more can be found by many of these ladies.
We really don’t keep track of the relationship status of our members. Our members run the age range of too young to date to old enough to be your grandmother. Some are married, some divorced. Some are in relationships, others are single and loving it.
5. Are any of you ladies mothers? If so how does competitive gaming fit into your life?
Boogie: Proud mom of a Five year old boy who started kindergarten this year. I really don’t travel much for events. When I am on a team – matches are kept to later at night. Homework and Bedtime stories come first.
Deja:I’m a mom of a 4yr old boy and 7yr old girl. Right now with my daughter is getting more active in school things. Its kind of hard to fit gaming competitively in at the moment. Both of my children love gaming so as far as sitting down to play its pretty easy or I will just wait until bedtime comes around and that’s my quiet time. When both children were smaller I was competitive in Halo 3 and even did gamebattles matches which were normally scheduled after bedtime just to make things a little easier. Just to show you how my oldest thinks, she’s already asked when she can join the clan.
6. How did you find out about PMSclan.com?
Blue: A friend from work knew I was into “hardcore” games and sent me an article she found regarding the clan. I joined the forums but waited a few weeks before posting my application to join Gears.
Boogie:Actually, I was looking for people to play with shortly after getting my XBL account setup. My husband came home one day and said here, take a look at this group I found on the internet. I had heard of PMS before from an interview I saw with Athena. I started recruitment the next week and here I am now.
Deja: I found out about the clan on xbox.com because they were doing a community event in Halo 2 I think it was.
Kitteh:Ha! Not many people know this, but I was originally recruited from Gamertagpics. A long-time Clan Member was looking to expand membership specifically in Canada, so she went looking and found me.
7. Does PMS hold any kind of LAN party of get together anytime during the year?
Blue:Because we have members all across the country (and world), we usually take advantage of other events to meet up (PAX Prime/East, MLGs, Comic Cons etc)
Boogie: Who is planning for PAX East this year?! I will bring my console if needed damn it.
Kitteh:Man, I wish. We’ve talked about it several times and even gone so far as to try planning it occasionally, but we always end up with the fact that our Membership is spread out all over North America and the rest of the world and that makes it really hard to plan any one event. We traditionally do meet ups at MLG’s, now both PAX’s and other industry related events, like E3, etc.
8. Do girls game better than boys?
Blue: I’m not sure it matters anymore. Now that more female gamers are coming forward, it’s less about girl and guy gamers and more about just being a gamer.
Boogie: I can play S&D with a toddler sleeping in my lap without missing a beat, or discuss why Lightening McQueen is better than Chick Hicks while capturing the Flag, etc. I don’t know many guys that can swing that – lol
Deja: I think girls can be more competitive once they put their mind to it only because it always feels like we have something to prove if to no one else but ourselves.
Kitteh: Not necessarily, but we DO multitask better while playing!
Thanks for the conversation ladies. See you on the battlefield!
Interesting Read BlueBird. Those ladies from PMS I gamed with certainly knew how to play.