Ben-DutkaAlmost one year ago, we spoke to the Gamer Next Door, Playboy's Jo Garcia , about our favorite subject: Video games.
As it turns out, there's more than one Playboy bunny who enjoys the interactive entertainment medium. There's also Pamela Horton , who looks great, has an artistic streak, and loves MMOs like League of Legends and World of Warcraft . We talked to her about a variety of topics, including a few you guys suggested . So without further ado:
PSXE: How and when did you first get started with video games?
Pamela: "I’ve been a gamer since I was 5 years old. Gaming has always been a large aspect of my life. I didn’t start modeling until 18, so I was a gamer long before I was a model. 'laughs'
PSXE:Do you have a favorite genre and favorite game of all time?
Pamela: "My favorite genre is role-playing, basically any sort of RPG. I enjoy most all of them, and I get the most amount of time out of MMOs like League of Legends and World of Warcraft. If I had to pick a favorite game of all time, I'd say it's a toss-up between Chrono Trigger and Earthbound for the SNES.
My dad actually got Chrono Trigger before I even know anything about games and their titles, so I was basically playing it before I even knew what it was. Then I got Earthbound for my 9th birthday; it was right when it came out. It only became a big cult classic later, but I remember it releasing right around my birthday."
Quick side note- This got us talking about Chrono Cross , and Pamela reminded us that not everyone was all that happy with the game, as it wasn't exactly a direct tie-in to CT. There was also the mention of Legend of Mana , which wasn't anything like Secret of Mana . Yeah, it was my fault; I got her talking about it. But when it's JRPGs…we're gonna talk more. Anywho…
PSXE: What's your take on the ongoing West vs. East debate in gaming? Do you see any lagging in Japanese games versus their Western counterparts?
Pamela: "Personally, I enjoy games for what they're worth. The Japanese culture obviously has certain standards, and they put out the sort of games they would enjoy. Americans are stereotyped for only playing games with guns, so FPSs like Call of Duty and Battlefield are excelling in our current culture. So games that are super popular in Japan don't do that well here.
Obviously, Japan wants to drive towards the world market, but they're still going to appeal to the audiences they believe will like they're type of game. Games they like to play, you know? It's just two different cultures trying to appeal to different audiences, so it's hard to speculate on this. There can be no cease-fire here."
PSXE: What do you think of mobile gaming (cell phones, tablets, etc.)? Do you play those games often?
Pamela: "I do play mobile games. I've got all the Zenonias and I really like to play Plants vs. Zombies. That game became popular on the mobile market, and I thought it was weird that it came out for the 360. I've always been a big fan of the cash-op games, anyway. As for the mobile market, I don't think it will get worse or anything but I do think it has peaked for now. Everyone has their smartphones and and there's always something to play on them, but now it feels like it has plateaued."
PSXE: What do you think about handheld gaming in general? Like the PlayStation Vita?
Pamela: "Just to give you some perspective, I have a 3DS and a DS but I don't own a PSP or a Vita. They just didn't put out that many games I enjoyed, so I don't have my original PSP anymore. And right now, there aren't enough Vita games to warrant a purchase for me.
Obviously, there were plenty of games for the PS3 (I got it for God of War III). I'm not the type of person who says, 'oh the new system is coming out so I'm going to buy it.' I wait to see what games are coming out for it and if I like them, then I buy it. The PSP just never had anything I was particularly excited about. And a lot of my favorite titles came out for the PS3."
PSXE: What do you expect from the next generation of hardware?
Pamela: "As much as I love a lot of the shooters and Assassin's Creed and all those games, I'm really looking for something new. It seems like no one is really trying new titles these days, so I'm hoping the new systems give way to some new games that can become the next big thing.
People are all looking at the Wii U and going, 'oh, I want a new Mario,' and they're looking at the PS4 and going, 'oh, I want a new God of War,' or 'what's the next shooter going to be?' I just want games nobody has ever seen before. It's almost like they've run out of ideas, but I have a feeling there will be new games [on the new consoles] that I'll really want to try. I have high hopes."
PSXE: How do you define a hardcore gamer vs. a casual gamer?
Pamela: "I say if you can go a week or a month without gaming, you're a casual gamer. If you can't go a day without playing a game, you're hardcore. When you get home from work, pop open a beer and instead of going, 'I wonder who's playing [sports] tonight?,' you decide to play a game. And gamers will always be gamers, regardless of how little time they have."
PSXE: Besides MMOs, do you like to play online multiplayer in other games?
Pamela: "There are of course a lot of stigmas in the gaming community against women who play shooters online. I really lost interest and appreciation [for the genre] because I was treated like crap. I don't play FPSs online now because of that.
There's anonymity behind a gamertag; nobody knows who you are or what your situation is, so you can just say what you want and there are no repercussions. There really aren't any police officers online so you can get away with anything; you can hide behind that anonymity. People are going to use that to just troll or get a rise out of someone. There's a certain arrogance with people playing online FPSs and I want to avoid the whole thing. It can be very stressful.
It reminds me of when I’d get bullied in middle school and if someone tried to protect me, it’d get worse. You just have to shut them out but it's hard to do."
End Interview
We'd like to thank Ms. Horton for taking the time to speak with us, and we're one again marveling at just how popular video games have become. It seems like just about everyone of a certain age is involved somehow and a few, like Pamela, are just big fans of the medium. Yeah, it's kind of annoying that girls like this just didn't seem to exist when I was growing up (you hear me out there, 30-somethings, I know) but hey, it's nice for the young'uns. And they better freakin' take advantage, too.
Feel free to check out Pamela on Twitter , and maybe we'll talk to her again someday. Guest review…?
View large image 🙂
Thumbs up for saying what we are all doing.
haha that's why i clicked on the interview! 😛 but i still read it so…
Thanks for that interview Ben those are always entertaining. It's somehow soothing to hear these responses because they sound like something that comes from a lifelong gamer and not a poser who pretends they are a gamer because they played Guitar Hero at a party and watch The Big Bang Theory.
I especially like her thoughts on what makes a Hardcore gamer and a casual gamer. I haven't been able to play Dishonored at all today and it's killin me.
Props to Horton for her love of JRPGs and I find her thoughts on smart phone and tablet gaming plateauing intriguing, I'd like to hear more.
Jeez Ben, if there was a time to make a PSXE video, now would of been the perfect time.
I wonder if she would ever date a gamer? I wonder if she likes guys named ZenChichiri? Hmm…
I suspect being a gamer doesn't make people less shallow when it comes to looks. He/She would still have to be a rich and good looking gamer.
If she saw the way I worked those dual analogues, she would be impressed. Money can't buy that kind of skill.
There is something to be said for being good with one's hands, but now I'm uncomfortable talking about that with you 😛
I'm still curious if she's ever heard a Who. World was wondering too, don't let him lie to you.
She certainly heard something on Xbox Live she didn't like. It could have been a Who, cuz it wasn't me or you.
I neglected to ask. 😉
LOL World.
Kuroyukihime,
You should've asked during the question submission. I certainly wasn't shy about asking mine.
Ben,
I don't blame you. 🙂
Last edited by tes37 on 10/12/2012 12:40:46 AM
Hey I never said it doesn't happen on PSN. Not sure what a white whore nigger is though. My advice to all: consider the source.
The mute button is our savior. 🙂
"I say if you can go a week or a month without gaming, you're a casual gamer. If you can't go a day without playing a game, you're hardcore. When you get home from work, pop open a beer and instead of going, 'I wonder who's playing [sports] tonight?,' you decide to play a game. And gamers will always be gamers, regardless of how little time they have."
TRUTH. Never have I heard this so articulately (and practically) said.
Friendly PSA: That insulting mess from Kuroyukihime is gone, and so is she. Hardly banned for voicing a different "opinion," as if that had anything to do with it. It was flat-out slander. Accusations of sexism will not be tolerated, as it's personally offensive and offensive to a site that has never shown a sliver of anything to which she alluded.
Done.
Sorry, but I just can't sit still and say nothing when I see injustice like this. This was *not* fair treatment of her.
I hope you sometime will pick up what she and others before her has tried to tell you. It is your *replies* that ignites the stir. A calm, professional reply would do so much more good than to just go completely pit-bull in her face. I really hope the day will come when you realize this. It would do this site so good.
Next time you get the steam pressure up on max and see red, count slowly to ten and let things play out without your interference for a moment.
Give it a chance, man. You might be surprised what happens without your frontal assaults.
There was no need to block her.
She never said you were sexist, she only voiced an opinion of being tired of every female interviewed here being a pinup model. She suggested that it would be more interesting to read the opinions from a female developer or other professional within the business instead of these nude models. Agree with her or not, it's hardly grounds get expelled.
PSXE should unblock her and mail her a humble apology. Right the wrong. There's still time.
Last edited by Beamboom on 10/12/2012 6:47:58 AM
Lol in this article you said "full frontal". Poor taste or a Freudian slip?
lol – I actually thought that was the expression, "full frontal assault". 😀 Corrected now, thank you Underdawg.
… Although it must be said, in this context it *was* a funny error!
But I'm off to Cyprus for two weeks now. Enjoy my absence. 🙂
Last edited by Beamboom on 10/12/2012 6:53:26 AM
Beamboom, you missed a few of the posts in question, which absolutely violated policy.
And you may not have noticed, but nobody has been banned all year. In fact, nobody has been banned in the past two years outside of one troll that people ASKED me to ban. So I don't see any problems. You're over-exaggerating and being overly dramatic.
There will be no apology when I'm accused of only posting things with the express purpose of objectifying women and only catering to neanderthal men. And when saying someone "constantly" sees me interviewing "pin-up" models" when in six years, it has happened three damn times. It's not just exaggeration, it's wrong and it's hurtful to the site when new people read it in the comments.
Last edited by Ben Dutka PSXE on 10/12/2012 11:27:27 AM
Have fun in Cyprus Beam
I want to find a girl with whom I can have this type of discussion…
I liked all of her responses except for the one against online shooters. First rule in any online game is to find a clan, guild, or corporation. You will always have a better experience once you've learned to do this. The only other reason I have a problem with it is she says she plays WoW(and I am not questioning this) and I am sorry but there is just as many douchebags playing that and other MMOs as well. Just go look at the article on the 7 biggest d**k moves in online gaming over on Cracked.
Her definition of casual vs. hardcore is great, I refuse to even use the term hardcore anymore as it really has lost all meaning, but she has a great view of it that makes me want to use the term again.
She plays all the Zenonia series??
Woman, you and I have a thing in common~~~~
Good interview!
Thanks Pam & Ben!!!
BTW….
Pamela Horton's Gamer Fantasy
I feel for Ms. Horton on the online shooter harassment. I've been in squads and heard first hand the absolutely ridiculous s**t that gets said when a women/girl enters the game. Maybe being married and dealing with women daily as a trainer at Punch Kettlebell Gym makes me more immune to reacting when a women plays an online video game. But personally, I just think the shooter genre has an overabundance of "Meatheads" and "Man-children".
Obviously, not all who play shooters are this way but a substantial amount.
Nice interview and accompanying articles Ben, you do seem to have a knack for picking interviewees… 😉
Seriously though Ms Horton's difficulties in online shooters is something that I can sort of sympathize with since I use female avatars in WKC/WKC2 and of course Home. The amount of harassment in Home is ridiculous, so much so that I have turned off all the communications options to allow me to ignore it. Considering how far people will go in that highly monitored environment to harass a female avatar, I imagine it's even worse for female gamers playing online shooters. Sadly many male gamers are immature boys despite their adult appearance – and the male gamers that truly are younger are sorely in need of growing up too.
yah, online is a mess if u don't watch your boundaries enough.
I was in Home one time and somebody said something derogatory as I walked by. I turned around and walked into the crowd of avatars and nobody repeated what was said. I found it humorous because I really couldn't tell who said it and there wouldn't have been anything I could do about it. A week later they removed voice chat and only allowed it later in private places like your apartment.
It happens to males too, but not as often.
I've heard about that Home nonsense and I'm actually surprised more isn't done to stop it. I also question WHY it happens at all. It's not even a competitive environment, so…
Ben, it's that dreaded Eye of Mauron(Moron) effect again. People think it's anonymous, and so is consequence free. For some reason a very vocal minority like to make use of that supposed anonymity and abuse others, flame for the sake of flaming and troll for the sake of trolling. It's almost as if the normal inhibitions that we have on our behavior are absent for many users of Internet services, and as a result the negative aspects of human personality come out. So you have a lot of immature people who are angry, hate various things, are very opinionated, easily offended, often prejudiced against one thing or another and sexist to the point of misogyny. The resulting collective 'mind' (Eye of Mauron) is not pretty, and when we see how the individual elements of that Eye of Mauron act we can see into that mind.
Agreed, Highlander.
I personally confronted a troll with strong and hateful language years ago that was relentlessly harassing a fellow Home user. While I'm not entirely proud of the way I handled it looking in hindsight, I still hope it caused him to think twice before he treated another user in that fashion.