Keisha Howard and Sugar Gamers

What games are you playing now? What is your favorite game of all time and why?

I’m playing Mass Effect 2, Soul Calibur, and trying out that new Syndicate game. My favorite game of all time?! I can only choose one?!  Well then I would have to say Xenogears on Playstation, it was the must fulfilling RPG I ever played.

For those who don’t know, what is Sugar Gamers and where did this idea come from? How would you describe the experience of being a Sugar Gamer?

Sugar Gamers started off as a simple desire to meet other nerdy women like myself to game with and discuss comics and anime. What I discovered was that even though there are a lot of other female-oriented gaming groups – they are very competitive and exclusive- meaning if you are not pro-level or have any significant skills- you are basically not even considered a gamer. The way video games are marketed give a lot of girls the impression that they have “be into it” or “know how to play” and they are discouraged from even picking up a controller or watching an anime because they feel excluded from this subculture.

So, I decided to create an organization where all these things are warmly introduced and casually played. I don’t care if a person only plays Mario on super Nintendo or only likes puzzle games, to me that’s a gamer!  Why not combine that with a warm social setting, where people can actually meet one another and make friends as well as try out new games they may not have considered playing before. It’s a lot of fun and the community we have developed here in Chicago is very tight-knit and diverse. We have women who are mothers, lawyers, students, artists, ex-strippers- the whole shebang and we all come together over our common interests.

I grew up in New York City during the 80s and early 90s, and growing up a nerd or geek had its challenges. Nowadays it seems that the subculture has become more mainstream. Why do you think being a nerd is the new cool? How did this happen, in your opinion?

Talk about the events you have put together. What are the most challenging experiences you have faced?

The most challenging? Every event I put together is challenging. Trying to make sure all individuals involved are happy and actively participating, finding effective ways to cross-promote with other products and venues, making it all come together within the deadline and budget, I don’t think it will ever not be challenging, especially as the organization gets bigger, but that’s doesn’t discourage me, I’m looking forward to it.

Lately there’s been a lot of debate online, not only between men and women but also between women and women over the term “girl gamers” (or gurl gamerz).” Some feel that using the term means you are just drawing unnecessary attention to your gender instead of proving how good a gamer you are by your skills. What are your thoughts about this controversy?*

It’s interesting. A woman is defined by a variety of different things besides her proclivities. My whole issue with that debate is that’s it’s tired. I don’t even entertain that debate because I don’t care. There a lot of other problems within this industry I’d rather be discussing. The craziest part about it is that women are the ones that are hardest on one another. If I happen to wear a fitted tshirt and have a controller in my hand and am photographed that way, I get all these accusations that I’m trying to use my sexuality and exploit myself to become more notable in the gaming industry. My response to that is, “WOW, wouldn’t you rather be playing games than to be passing your judgements on me?”  It blows my mind how people are so concerned about this issue.

Video games are entertainment for me, not a political statement. I feel like the best way to stop the term girl/female/chick/lady-gamers is for women to continue playing a more active role in the industry. What’s great is I have met some awesome, intelligent, beautiful women who spend their time making games, creating characters and story-lines and typically they don’t have time to participate in this debate either. I am a woman, I play games, being called a girl gamer is not one of the most offensive things I ever heard and probably the least of my worries. I don’t feed the fire by acknowledging it and stopping what I’m doing to argue about it. And how about all the other adjectives used to describe different gamers? there’s thug gamers, transgendered gamers, black gamers, angry gamers, kid gamers, old gamers, gorgeous gamers- are those wrong as well?  I not only run Sugar Gamers, I have a family I contribute to, and I also have another job- I don’t have time to spend on this argument- I’d rather just game, and meet other mature, fun people who I can learn from and grow with. I don’t care if a chick is in a business suit or completely naked.  I’ll let others define themselves as they choose- ….As long as they play me in a round of Soul Calibur!

As a fan of Soul Calibur, what do you think of Soul Calibur V? Who are your favorite characters?

As a woman of color, have you or any of your team experienced discrimination or negative reactions? If possible, give examples or instances.  How do you handle it?

Actually quite the opposite. There are not many women of color who are active within this industry that I know of. With that being said, Sugar Gamers is an exceptionally diverse community, more than half of the girls are minorities. The positive reactions is I’ve gotten is other women of color to come out of the closet and share their nerdy side with us which is exciting!

Tell us about your team. How did you put your team together?

However, over the past two years, I’ve met some super dynamic women who have helped this organization along considerably. We all get along, we all tell inappropriate jokes, love to eat, share a beer or two and of course game and nerd out on some anime. We all have different strengths that compliment one another- but most importantly- all the women that are part of our team genuinely support and empower each other. I am very fortunate to have found such wonderful individuals.

What Sugar Gamers events do you have coming up?

With convention season starting soon, we are working on ensuring that we have a presence at all the major ones- possibly even having another after-party for the C2E2 convention. Most of our major events take place in late summer and early winter. You can always check our events page on our website for updates.

Below is a video of a fun gaming event Sugar Gamers sponsored.