At7addakers, please meet Frag Dolls' Edelita Valdez. Lovely but dangerous, this virtual "femme fatale", along with her teammates is a known advocate of female gamers. She talks to our very own Ozimandus about the Frag Doll Cadette program, her most memorable gaming competition and her addiction to Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Good day Edelita. Can you tell us more about yourself? What do you do and what’s the story behind your gamertag?
I’m Pixxel of the Frag Dolls, and besides playing video games on a daily basis, I am the Digital Marketing lead for our team. In essence, you can find me all over our Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ pages keeping you all up to date on contests, gaming news, and community events, with some of our daily antics thrown in. You might even find me trolling your Facebook on a quiet Wednesday evening, but don’t worry. I’m not a mean-troll variety. ;] In addition, I’ve also starting taking on more design tasks for our team including the creation of graphics and web updates. That also leads me into the second part of your question, the story of my gamer tag.
It can really be interpreted in a couple of different ways. First off, I stand a mighty 5’1.5”! He he, people usually comment that I’m one of the tiniest people they’ve met, and say I’m pixie-like. I also fell in love with PCs at a young age, and started teaching myself Photoshop in middle school, so I feel like “Pixxel” just fits.
So how did you join the Frag Dolls?
It was an epic quest line, let me tell you!
In January of 2011, I was one of the 12 lucky girls who were chosen to be a part of their Spring 2011 Cadette class. For a little bit of insight, the Frag Doll Cadette program was a 6 month internship (1 year now) in which you learned about the promotions side of the gaming industry, attended an industry event, and joined a family of badass female gamers. After the conclusion of my 6 months with them, I received an exciting email saying I was one of the girls the team was considering to hire to be a Frag Doll.
That’s right. A 100% official, too legit to quit, Frag Doll. After more written interviews, and sample content was created, I was among the 11 finalists chosen to fly to San Diego Comic Con, which would serve as our Casting Call. I rocked a mic on stage for the first time, met some amazing people, had the time of my life, and learned all the moves to Party Rock Anthem on Just Dance 3 by heart. A couple of weeks later it was announced that both myself and Kimberly (Sabre) were chosen as Frag Dolls!
Sounds like a nice team. Now, you've been gaming for a long time now. Tell us about your first ever memorable gaming experience?
This definitely brings me back to when I was but a wee lass. I’ll never forget the times my mom would spend hours playing Super Mario World with me on our Super Nintendo. Oh… I’ll also never forget the DAYS I spent playing Street Fighter II at a relative’s house when we were on vacation. For a month. Did I mention I was five?
Five? That's so sweet. What about pro-gaming? What’s your all time favorite competitive title?
You know, I’ll never forget the happiness Unreal Tournament 2004 gave me. I never played this game in an actual competitive circuit, but I definitely played this game competitively! I would rush home every day after school so I could get my fix of UT2k4, and it never disappointed. This game was also the first in which I plugged in a mic and spoke. I still remember a 1v1 where I took some 20+ year old dude out. (Yeah, I asked!) I was 14. He must have been fuming in his seat. I peaced out.
;]
Fourteen years old! That must have been embarrassing for him. In a world dominated by male gamers, what are your biggest challenges and obstacles with the community?
The majority of people I’ve met both online and off have been great. And by great I mean respectful, having common courtesy, and you know, free from douchebaggery. I have met the occasional person, however, that will jump to the conclusion of, “Oh. It’s a giiiiirl. She can’t possibly know what she’s talking about.” And yes, it’s a little annoying, but I don’t go out of my way to prove myself. Once the non-believer begins to converse with me or ends up being a raid I tank or lead, attitudes begin to change.
You're right, gaming is all respect. What’s your typical day as a Frag Doll?
Besides the day to day social media interactions, I’ll choose what project I want or need to work on. The amazing part about this job is how self-driven and flexible it is. If I’m not working on a graphic design project, maybe I’ll be recording a new video, or creating blog content. I usually wrap up the day with a gaming session either with our community or on my own. At the moment, I’m quite addicted to a little game called Star Wars: The Old Republic. Maybe you’ve heard of it. ;]
Star Wars: The Old Republic? We're hooked! Now what do you think is your biggest achievement as a Frag Doll?
Jeez…I have to say… making the team! Hehe, it’s only been five months since I’ve started, and sometimes I can’t even believe that. In this short amount of time, I’ve done so much with these ladies! Maybe my second biggest achievement would be surviving the East Coast. I had never been before New York Comic Con, and I had a ridiculous fun time there.
Comic Con is a beautiful chaos, we can tell you that. Would you like to share your set-up and weapon of choice for competitive gaming?
It varies from game to game, but for most shooters I aim for mid to close range encounters, or to support. In Battlefield Bad Company 2 and in Battlefield 3, I love being that person who revives their squad and dispenses medkits. The M60 used be my best friend in BFBC2, but I haven’t played the game since they nerfed it. In BF3 I still feel the most comfortable with the M16A3 by my side, but that could change as I unlock more options.
Finally, what are your future plans? Any new e-sport tournaments you’re aiming at?
My first plan is equip myself with a new rig for this year that will allow me to stream and game at the same time. My next order of business is… PAX East! I’ve never been to Boston before so this will be an exciting adventure for me. And as far as e-sports goes… well… I’m not sure how much I can say, but I will give you a hint: Ghost Recon Online.
Ghost Recon Online! You lucky Edelita. Thank you so much for your time. I'll let you go back to your fraggin' and long overnight sessions of Star Wars: The Old Republic.
For more information about the lovely Frag Dolls,
you can follow them on
Twitter,
Facebook or even Google+ if you're into that thing. You can also play with them on Fridays, on Xbox Live Community Playdates.
Ozimandus has been reviewing games and gadgets since 2003. He's not afraid of speaking his mind, and loves to share his love of everything geeky.