by Marcus Brooks

Created on: June 24, 2008   Last Updated: June 25, 2008

As the world of competitive gaming evolved, gender barriers broke down. Male gamers are still dominant in amateur and professional tournaments. However, females are carving their niche on one simple rule: Just win, baby.

Female gamers aren't cowering against their male counterparts anymore. Sponsors like Mountain Dew (Code Red) put their monies and energies into creating teams. The makeup of players consist of men and women, sometimes paired on the same team. A worldwide audience got their opportunities at seeing their favorite gamers play on live television. What started off as a boy and a girl playing Galaga (a space video game) at the local malt shop, grew into high-definition television matchups on Direct TV. Instead of winning 25 cents for a free game, the price rose to a $30,000-plus a year contract and close to $500,000 in prize money for the winning team.

Direct TV's Championship Gaming Series featured teams from all over America. L.A. Complexity, San Francisco Opix, New York 3D, The Dallas Venom, Carolina Core and Chicago Chimera played one another for a combined $500,000 cash prize. In 2007, Chicago Chimera won the North America finals against the Carolina Core. Chicago repeated that success with winning their inaugural World Title against those same rivals. Both teams had highly ranked, female gamers. Kusumi Chan and Mystic fought knock-down matches of Dead or Alive 4 (D.O.A. 4). Female D.O.A. contests are pivotal to winning a CGS match. The winner received five point when they reach five victories. However, the loser got a point for each match they won. Several one-on-one battles ended with less than five points deciding them.

One team, the San Francisco Opix, boasted CGS's best female D.O.A player. Vanessa Arteaga won an astounding 65 matches during the season. She swept all of the five match contest. She only lost 12 separate sets. Her dominance was so overpowering, the creator of D.O.A. sponsored a "battle of the sexes" contest between she and former boyfriend, OffBeat Ninja (screen name). Offbeat Ninja was the men's best D.O.A. player. Ninja won 5 to 3 in the televised event; which took place aside from the North American championship. However, there are plans for a "battle of the sexes 2" rematch.

All across the world, all-female gaming teams are forming. Some, like in Japan are dominating gaming tournaments in their regions. As more families are getting the Playstation 3s and Wiis, boys and girls are becoming avid and highly competitive gamers. The internet which allows for XBOX Nation to exist, brought thousands of gamers, regardless of gender into matches worldwide. Female gamers aren't a fad. They are taking over. They're not going away.

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