A Vignette of my Visit to Ubisoft Montreal

A couple of hours ago, I walked up to a beautifully restored red brick building on Boul St. Laurent. I had been up since five, so I was hoping I looked a little less disheveled than I felt. It had become an impromptu road trip with my dad, since I'd decided I could use some moral support (and more than one camera angle) for my interviews at Ubisoft Montreal.

I was admiring the industrial-chic vibe of the lobby when I was presented with a long video release form. Ok, I don’t have the energy to decode this right now, but as long as I can still make the documentary, we’re good, I thought. I tried to mask the scuttling of my suitcase on the hardwood floors as we wound our way through the endless departments of people hard at work. Lots of screens. Giant gaming figurines. Awards all over the wall. Everything had its place. Everything was cool. Everything was perfectly branded.

When I arrived at the interview room it was bright and spacious, if a little dull and corporate. No problem—all the more incentive to focus on the interviews instead of the scenery, right? I go through the usual ritual: talking to myself at various volumes, testing, testing, fiddling with the lights, fiddling with buttons, trying not to leave anything unhooked, unplugged.

I think I’m ready. After 10 months of filming—bussing across the city, flying across the ocean, juggling odd-looking bags of equipment—I'm ready. After the electric highs and lows of so many interviews I am ready for the boss. Well, bosses.

Ok by boss, I don't mean the kind you talk to at a meeting or the kind you fight in a dungeon. I mean those people who totally own at what they do. In this case, three incredibly chill, bright young women who are part of the biggest video game dev branch in the world.

On my right: Anouk Bachman, Bio Jade Adam Granger and Stephanie Harvey. The minute they walk in the door they break the ice with open smiles. Instead of getting straight down to business, they want to hear about the project. I don’t feel the need to plead my case for She Got Game. I don't have to stand up and defend my personal gaming history or offer solutions to all of the industry’s gender issues. These women get it. I I’m ready to dive in, because this is the last chapter of something that has completely consumed my life for the past year.

After Saturday my interviews for the documentary will be done. Wait, what? I can't believe it. I’m not always the best interviewer. I have the horrible habit of getting excited about certain topics and interjecting. I have a tendency to be more casual and personal than objective, if that’s considered a virtue in documentary filmmaking. But at the very least I do my best to represent the messages of these women with accuracy, humility and artistry. This is where I’m at with She Got Game right now.

As I see it, my responsibility is to make people feel comfortable so that they're able to discover something new in the process of talking. There's nothing more gratifying than seeing someone wake up inside as they get carried away with the conversation. Something great happens who you see people forget about the reserved, well-arbitrated answers they'd prepared and start to learn something about themselves through our interaction.

You're like, "Ok that's nice, but what about the interview!?" I know I know I know! I'll be posting it soon, I promise. I just wanted to capture the feeling before it disappeared completely. I can tell you, I've almost never had such a good time and learned so much in one sitting. I can’t wait to share these segments with you. Anouk, Bio and Stephanie are absolutely kickass.

So what’s next? As October ushers in the cool winds of hibernation I’ll be madly working away at my editing station. Somehow I'll weave together the dozens of stories I’ve collected and figure out how to make them make sense to you.

Thank you so much to each and every single one of you who has made a contribution to the production, content or my motivation for this project. I needed you all in order to get this far, and I hope I will give you something that you will be proud to be a part of.

Always,

Cailleah

So I'm in Japan! ...and Madly Hoping Google is Wrong About Japanese Women Gamers

Hey, how's it going? 

Good, good. I'm doing pretty well myself. Currently lying on a nice comfy futon with a belly full of tempura and sashimi enjoying the air conditioning after spending a fun 35-degree day in my beloved Japan! For anyone I haven't told already, I lived in Japan for two years after my undergrad working as an English teacher in a public junior high. I was living in Yamagata, which is a beautiful, rural, mountainous area in the north of the main island. I can't explain what that experience meant to me, but it's something that'll probably stay with me forever.

Since I started working on She Got Game, a lot of people have asked me whether living in Japan really got me into gaming. In fact, the thought never really occurred to me. Of course Japan is a total gaming mecca, but I never heard a single word about gaming the whole time I was living here. Seriously (Ok--maybe one of my students mentioned Pokemon once or twice cause they were all like 12 years old, but that was about it.) I never once met anyone who identified as a "gamer" or who was really into the fan culture. I was living in an area that still used blackboards and fax machines...so needless to say it wasn't rocking out in the technology department.

Anyway, this summer my boyfriend and I decided to come back not only to visit everyone and to explore, but also to do a little research for this project. It's actually been tricky to find any personal content--you know like blogs, vlogs and articles by Japanese women gamers. If I were to only rely on English Google, here's what I'd get when searching "Japanese Girl Gamer":

First we've got Otome Games which I find pretty fascinating. For those of you who aren't familiar, they're like interactive visual novels which are targeted at women by giving the main character some racy, romantic encounters with the hot guys in the story. Something like this scenario:

Now maybe this isn't your cup of tea, but the interesting thing is it's totally consistent with other aspects of the culture which cater specifically to women's romantic fantasies. Hell I once found myself in a Butler Cafe with a friend of mine where everything I said was met with, "Yes, my Princess." Never have I ever been so embarrassed in my life. Moving on.

Anyway, whether or not the women in these games match up with our idea of great female characters, there is something to be said for the fact that there's a distinct market devoted to what we all supposedly, secretly want. 

Next on the Google list is this thread on Where to Find a Gamer Girl, which doesn't say anything about Japanese women, but which says:


"If your looking for places to find girl gamers, your best options (from what ive learned) are A: Japanese produced games. Harvest Moon is almost a chick magnet. Everyone female gamer ive met has played, and enjoyed a Harvest Moon game. I think its because of how much more adorable and fun Japanese games can be. (Im not saying women ARNT into hardcore gaming, im just saying its slightly less likely from my own experience.)"

Harvest Moon, ladies and gents:

One of the only thoughtful articles I read on the subject was written by Jacqueline Cottrell who was working for the Jace Hall Show. She interviewed Ryako Asumi, a close friend and avid gamer, to find out what it's like to be a girl gamer in Japan.

According to Ryako, "In Japan, women who game, or just the average otaku woman in general, can be looked down upon by both men and women." She also mentions that, "being a woman in Japan who games is kind of like waving a red flag in front of a bull: If I were to announce I’m a gamer in a crowded room of men, maybe 90% of them would try and have sex with me."

WOW. Sounds just fabulous, doesn't it? I actually messaged Jacqueline about the article and she said she'd pass on the word to Ryako. With any luck, I'll be able to meet her in person while I'm here and talk about these issues in more detail.REST ASSURED there's got to be way more to Japanese women gamers than the internet lets on. From my experience of living here, personal introductions make all the difference. I'm hoping that my visit here will help to flesh out the paltry image that dominates the web.

Wish me luck on my hunt for interviews!
皆さん、いつも読んでくれてありがとうございます。またね

Cheers