Conroversial first Miss Video Game competition names winner

The highly controversial, first ever Miss Video Game 2007 took place in Montreal, Canada, this past weekend. The finals of the event were held at Festival Arcadia, a Canadian gaming event, and organized by Edmond-based Titan Gaming.

The five finalists in the competition were Adelle Moore (Syracuse, NY), Lauren Berggren (Mandeville, LA), Tiffany Greene (Simpsonville, SC), Héléne Bronnec (Chateaubourg, France) and Yvonna Lynn (Dallas, TX). On November 9, 2007, the five women competed against one another Mario Kart 64 and Counterstrike. Berggren took an early lead with first place wins in both games. On day two of the festival the women competed against each other in Guitar Hero and Brain Age II. During breaks between matches, they will be greeting and taking pictures with fans. The final challenge was in Nascar 2008.

Mark Donovan, Titan’s representative describes the competition as being “…designed to help create a supportive community for female gamers.”

On November 11, 2007, Berggren, a 20-year-old from Louisiana, was announced as Miss Video Game of the year after winning four of the five challenges. As such, she gets the title of Miss Video Game 2007, a seven-day/six-night trip for two to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, $1,000, and a Wii console. Greene took second place and Bronnec was third while Lynn was the first runner up and Moore was the second.

The Miss Video Game 2007 competition has been a controversial competition ever since it was first announced in the last quarter of 2006. Many Girl Gaming sites, like GamingAngels.com, message boards, like Not Addicted and communities including Girl_Gamers have debated the authenticity, credibility, and motivations of the competition and Titan Gaming.

The debate was mainly due to two reasons. The first was when representatives from GamingAngels began asking Titan Gaming questions about the nature of the competition and how it would be run. Initially there were few responses, the methods seemed unprofessional and investigation revealed that, while the contest had been announced, there was no information on the parent company Titan Gaming anywhere. Another reason was the requirements offered by Titan Gaming for contestants and the way they would later be judged:

Be Miss Video Game Requirements:

1. Must have Personality

2. Must be a female? (No wigs and makeup guys)

3. You Play Video Games like it’s your job.

4. Loves the beach

Many female gamers found the criteria offered by Titan Gaming derogative. While it may have been a lighthearted attempt on Titan’s part to be humorous, it instead made many woman gamers hesitant.

The questionable actions on Titan’s part continued, with an online voting portion which began January 20, 2007. All female contestants would have their profiles and pictures online at an official site. Rather than competing against each other to determine which is a better gamer, it became a beauty pageant. Visitors to the site would look at the brief profiles and pictures and vote based on that. The online gameplay competition wouldn’t actually begin until three months later, on April 30, 2007. In the online gaming portion of the competition, the women faced off against each other in Counter Strike.

The five finalists were chosen based on their performance in the online gameplay, but also by which were found to be more visually appealing by website visitors. The finalists were chosen May 26, 2007. The contest began with 500 women entering, then narrowed down to 48 finally to the last five.

It is nice that these five women are getting recognition as real gamers, but I have to question if this is the proper manner to find approval. The whole competition was conducted more like a beauty contest rather than an official gaming competition. Do you think a Mr. Video Game 2007 would have a photo round where they would have fellow gamers voting online based on whether their profile is appealing and they look nice? I think not.

They probably also wouldn’t have to “love the beach” as one of their entry requirements. Perhaps Titan Gaming is hurting women more with Miss Video Game 2007 than helping them.

Read [Canadian Press] Also Read [Comic Book Bin] Also Read [Not Addicted] Via [The Average Gamer] Also Read [GamingAngels] Site [Miss Video Game]