Girl Gamers: Vanessa Artega
Girl Gamers: A Hostile Takeover
The realm of competitive gaming has evolved over the past decade with young women joining their male counterparts in the realm of competitive gaming. Not only have they carved out a niche in a field once dominated by men but they’ve followed the lessons of Oakland Raider owner, Al Davis “Just win, baby.”
Female gamers aren’t cowering against the boys anymore, they’ve taken the paths of their gender busting peers like Michelle Wie and Annika Sorenstam who have successfully competed against men on the PGA Tour. They’ve followed Danica Patrick who is the only woman to have won on IndyCar Racing, and has continued to take on her male counterparts week after week.
Vanessa Artega
For female gamers the situation is no different, gaming has it’s own heroine, one who is not only the best within her field, but perhaps one of the best of them all. Her name is Vanessa Artega, the Championship Gaming Series’s (CGS) most dominating gamer. She’s won an astounding 65 singles matches throughout the 2008 season. Her record of 65 wins to 12 losses ranked three times better than the best male gamer, Offbeat Ninja who interestingly enough just happened to be her ex-boyfriend.
The CGS (Championship Gaming Series)
Vanessa who plays for the San Francisco OPTX who are just one of six teams competing in an inter gender team based championship of America’s top gamers (other teams include Chicago Chimera [KI-MERA], Los Angeles Complexity, Dallas Venom, Carolina Core and New York 3D) puts all of these teams into a league competing for a winner’s cash purse of $150,000, the title of North America’s champion and more importantly the opportunity to later go up against the world in a winner take all tournament (cash prrize $500,000) and the title of being labeled “the world’s best gamers”.
Dead Or Alive Showdown
The CGS is just one of the places you can catch female gamers like Artega but the action of course doesn’t stop there! The male vs female controversy has always sparked attention in the realm of competitive gaming, so it was no surprise that when the creator of Dead or Alive 4 put on a contest of his own to field the best female and best male D.O.A. player in a “battle of the sexes” match, that heads were turned. The prize was an authentic, hand-made samurai sword and a chance to finally lay to rest who was the best.
So what happened ? Well prior to the match Artega received training from another D.O.A. expert, Master. He bested Ninja in several playoff contests before losing out to him in the finals and gaining these extra tips may have been exactly what Artega needed to pip her ex boyfriend in this battle of the sexes showdown.
The final result a highly tense and emotional battle ending in a triumphant Ninja who managed to win the battle 5-3. A walk in the park for Upbeat Ninja ? Not quite, in fact both players admitted at the end that the match took a real emotional toll on both of them.
The Future Of Girl Gamers
Despite the setback, female gamers have continued to turn heads and bring excitement to gaming as a whole and sponsors like Mountain Dew (Code Red) and Nintendo know this. They’ve continued to put their money to field new teams every year and this won’t be changing anytime soon.
Artega had a great year and despite the Chicago Chimera winning both the North American CGS title and the world title. Artega won the inauguaral best female gamer in the world title and is confident that she’ll eventually take over the men’s bracket. Watch out boys!! girl gamers are here to stay.