When id Software released the Quake III Arena demo, many Quake female gamers were ecstatic, but it woudln’t run on their computers like many other PC games. As you might imagine, they didn’t want to buy another computer. When the retail version of Quake III Arena was released many of us had to buy new computers. The main issue I kept hearing with just about everyone was Voodoo 2 and 3 wasn’t running the game correctly. Once there was some patches released, the game ran much smoother.
Quake III Arena is much better than Quake 2, but I need to get used to the arena style gameplay. I’m also not used to the model bobbing up and down, side to side with each step. That bopping may seem more realistic for a game but it make me dizzy.
As many of you know, I was a big fan of Quake I but had motion sickness the first time I played. My main problems was the lava and water in the game. This may sound silly but I would actually turn on fans in the house when I was near the lava. When I would jump in water I’d hold my breath. The game seemed so realistic at the time. I think most of the motion sickness was because I played online with a slow modem. I also didn’t have a REAL 3d graphics card.
Suspicion
To get to the point. Someone brought to my attention that Quake female gamers aren’t interested in Quake III Arena. They sort of just seemed to disappear since the Quake 2 days. I never really thought about it until he said this. I haven’t seen as many Quake 3 Female Fanatics as I recall seeing in Quake 2. Where did all the excitement for Quake III Arena? Here are some of my assumptions since I believe Quake III Arena simply rocks!
1) Some (but not all) girls aren’t as familiar with technical issues with their computers. I mean, I know how I started, I had my brother tell me how to fix problems with my computer. All I knew is that I was able to use it, play on it, and when it did something strange I asked my brother.
2) Their computers are too outdated. Having to buy a game and a new computer isn’t budget savvy. Without a computer that runs Quake III Arena smoothly, they may give up from hours of troubleshooting.
3) They won’t give up Quake 1 or Quake 2 yet. Some times a person will get attached to the predecessor. I know from experience that I wasn’t able to enjoy Quake 2 nearly as much as the original Quake. The female player model in Quake 2 was the only real thing that was appealing to me. Other than that, I loved Quake with a passion.
4) They found a love for another game or genre. Some of my friends have moved on to role playing games and they won’t play Quake III Arena.
Further Investigation
QWF was a site that kept updated with skins for Quake 1 and Quake 2. It also had bios of female gamers. To my surprise, there is nothing about Quake III Arena on QWF, and it hasn’t been updated in a while.
QGirlz are active in Quake III Arena. In fact, Trillian was a big influence in encouraging me to play more Quake III Arena to get used to the gameplay.
Lady Quake Marines is fairly active in the game. LQMS-Jezebel, the founder, has been passionate about the franchise. LQMS-Adrastea helped make the Pro Mode for Quake III Arena. Talk about a talented girl! The only problem she has is her connection in Ireland.
Ripley’s Violent Femmes is a clan I heard about this past week. I was told most of the girls play and they’re quite good.
Psycho Man Slayer founders
Psycho Man Slayers – One of the original Quake clans, PMS plays Quake III Arena. Lady Death is running squad leader these days.
Xtreme Prejudice is another old clan, although it may not be an all female clan, it’s coed. Many of you who remember XP-Unholy, XP-Kiljoy and other clan members in the Doom and Quake 1 era, A couple of the female players from this clan play.