The Frag Dolls are a group of women recruited and promoted by Ubisoft to bring the presence of women in gaming to the industry's attention.  At least, that's what they started out to be.  However, they are really a bunch of really cool gamers who can kick some serious ass on the PC - and they just happen to be women.

Our top notch network news reporter, Becky "Tovin" Simpson, caught up with the Frag Dolls recently for some interviews, and here is the first in the series.  We start out with Emily "Seppuku " Ong , who has not only degrees in both Computer Science and Mathematics Applied Science, but also is a champion gamer with 3 titles under her belt!  (She has a serious penchant for PS3's Rainbow Six!)

Tovin: When you're not playing shooters, what are you playing? Emily: I play a lot of everything! I just bought Rock Band and am loving it because I've always wanted to learn how to play drums. I also love action/adventure games and am in the middle of Super Mario Galaxy. Although I had to stop for a while because I let my parents borrow my Wii. Who knew that would ever happen? And sometimes you can find me dazed out in a puzzle game like Bust a Move or Sudoku. Tovin: Seagate is sponsoring your booth here at CES, and so you're playing Rainbow 6: Vegas on the PS3.  Is there something that stands out to you, about this game that you want to share with other gamers? Emily: Well, first of all, the PS3 is an AMAZING system. I just got one recently and noticed that the graphics are insane for this platform! Rainbow Six Vegas is just awesome as it ever was on the PS3. Tovin: Let's be frank, you're a group of good looking, very good gamers, and often you get in trouble for using one thing to show off the other.  Do you feel as if the media is missing your message? Emily: No, not at all. If you look at the way a lot of females are used in advertising, we're like saints compared to that stuff. I think we're very professional when it comes to marketing ourselves as well as Ubisoft games and we do it with a lot of respect. Not only that, we're aware that a lot of people look up to us and we wouldn't want to do anything that would disappoint our peers. Tovin: Do you feel that the average woman has more to juggle when you add in home, family and then a gaming urge? Emily: Not necessarily. I mean, what if you substituted "gaming urge" for "shopping"? I mean, even stay at home moms can find time to do the stuff they like to do in their past time. That would definitely be frustrating for me though if I had all these other priorities and barely had time to game. Wait, isn't that what husbands are for?

Tovin: How do you guys fare when trying to get it all done?

Emily: I think you just need to balance the things you do in life. Sometimes I can be a workaholic and sometimes I just spend 10 hours straight gaming. I just have to step back and look at the bigger pictures sometimes and see where my priorities are at. All things in moderation, that's what I keep telling myself…

Tovin: What would you say to someone in the industry that said that females are only a casual gamer?

Emily: Well, do some research, first of all! The fact that there are 9 of us Frag Dolls and plenty other female gaming groups and clans is proof that girls aren't only casual gamers anymore. We're a growing demographic and we're not as hard to find as we used to be!

Tovin: Do you feel that more of an effort is being put into making these games attractive to female gamers from the design point of view?

Emily: There was a period of time (maybe more in the 90s) where I thought "Geeze, why do they have to make such guy-centric games? What's with all the big boobs and women in hot pants?" But in the past 5 years, I feel like gaming in general has become more main stream and that the industry is changing and realizing that the term "gamer" doesn't necessarily mean your basement dwelling, pale and acne challenged overweight male. I mean, if you look at the type of games and type of consoles that have come out in the past few years, you'll see how the type of games being released aren't only geared towards a certain type of gamer. Not that they're necessarily making more "girly" games just because some of these games are casual, but it's just nice to see something different than what we're used to seeing.

Tovin: Do you feel that the game industry is taking the outraged cry of female gamers to heart and not only marketing to them, but hiring women and training them in the industry?

Emily: Personally, I've never been one of those outraged women who demand more "girl" games. I've loved games since I was able to hold a controller and never stopped liking them. And I went straight from college to working in the industry so I didn't find it necessarily MORE challenging just because I'm female. I think what we have seen though is more encouragement for women to join the industry. The fact that there are conferences and panels for these specific topics show that there has been movement in this area for more females in the industry.

And I definitely have seen a rise in the marketing of games towards women - especially when the DS came out. There's something very heart warming about seeing a little girl with a DS. I don't think Nintendo thought – "Hey, let's make a console for girls." They just wanted to make something fun and they were able to make it fun for girls AND guys. And the games for the DS weren't necessarily "girl" games, they were just FUN games. But now that the industry knows that tons of girls are playing the DS, they're starting to notice and make games that they assume girls will enjoy. And I think that's awesome.

Tovin: What are your plans for 2008?!

Emily: Well, I think the Frag Dolls will take over the gaming world, go on tour, maybe start a band and/or get their own TV show. There you go.

Tovin: Thank you, it's always wonderful to see girl gamers making strides for females in the industry.  Thanks for taking the time out to talk to me!

Thank you Becky for the great interview, and thank you, Emily, for taking time out of your busy schedule to let our readers know a bit more about you!

Interview by: Becky "Tovin" Simpson