FEATURE

Girl gamer

Mary Brady plays her Nintendo DS in the Student Center.

by Charlotte Young Bowens
Staff Writer

Mary Brady, a second year transfer student, planning to become a videogame designer said, “I caught the gaming bug the first time I played.”

Her older brother Karl Lee introduced Brady to video games when she was merely 4 years old. He let her play various games on his Super Mario entertainment system. And in no time gaming became one of Brady’s favorite pastimes.
She tried as many games as she could get her hands on but playing video games was just the beginning. At 10 years old, Brady designed her first video game with imagined concept art and rudimentary drawings.

For Brady, gaming became a place of refuge and helped her deal with years of being bullied. She was in a bad place mentally and feeling dehumanized.

Things changed for Brady with an introduction to the video game “Tales of Symphonia” when she was 12.
“The game changed my life. I learned I had a right to exist,” said Brady who credits the video game with giving her a message of hope. It conveyed the importance and value of life. She learned that being born was the primary indicator that she was worthy to be alive.

“Tales of Symphonia,” a role-playing game was created in Japan and released for the Nintendo in 2003. It was published by Namco as part of a series. Symphonia was the fifth installment.

Symphonia is an interactive novel with characters structured around a story, but with a gaming element. The game immerses players in scenes designed for players to learn as they go. The choices made affect the game outcome, which is controlled by the game maker.

“The series distills the essence of camaraderie and friendship,
of struggle and perseverance into a potent tonic,” wrote Daniel Starkey in a blog post, Why People Love the Tales Series.

Brady prefers the Japanese role-playing games because gaming is based on cooperative play and provides a more enjoyable experience shared with other players.

It’s true, the game is less controlled by the player. But, at the same time, it rewards the gamer with a truly extraordinary journey. The characters are complex, making for surprising adventures.

As vice president of WCC’s Gamer club, Brady confirms the lack of women members. She attributes that to a lack of awareness about the group.

In fact, there is data on women gamers.

“A staggering 52 percent of gamers are women, many of whom, like me, started as little girls and held onto it throughout adolescence and young adulthood,” reported gamer Suzanne Samin on her blog.

Although there are more women playing video games than men, there are very few women game designers. Brady plans to make her impact by creating role-playing games based in the Japanese tradition. She wants her games to speak to people and bring about an emotional response.

A sense of engagement within the game’s design is central to Brady’s game-designing career goals. For Brady, playing video games wasn’t just mere entertainment, but a source of emotional support just when she needed it the most. She hopes her game designs change the lives of others, the same way it did for her.

“Discrimination comes from the heart,” she said. “It’s a weakness in people’s heart, that’s the reason for discrimination.”
Video games don’t discriminate. Instead, said Brady, they have the capacity to positively influence gamers and in some instance, video games can change a life.