As many of you know from Xbox Solution attending E3 this year it was a great show and Microsoft had a very impressive showing. From the Live Anywhere to Halo 3 it seemed MS just kept finding ways to surprise everyone. You may have watched the E3 coverage from your Xbox 360 and saw the PMS Clan members hosting as well. I ran into the girls several times and got a chance to talk with them briefly. Then on Friday night at the Xbox Live Party I ran into Athena and we talked a bit more.

I asked her if she would be willing to do an interview for the site and let our members know a little more about the PMS Clan and her thoughts on the show. She agreed and after playing tag back and fourth here is the interview with Athena Twin. Her answers have not been altered and yes in case you’re wondering she has skills. I hope you enjoy the interview and it may change the way you think about clans and girl gamers in general.

XBS: Hello Athena Twin. Thanks for agreeing to do the interview. I know who you are and the PMS Clan members, however, for those that may not know who or what the PMS Clan is, can you please give our members some details? Also, can you tell them your main role as the leader of the clan?

Hello, thank you for having me! PMS Clan is a global group of competitive female gamers. Our mission is to provide a fun and competitive environment to female gamers. We currently have almost 500 members in 3 platforms: Xbox, PC and Ps2. Most of our members specialized in traditionally male-dominated games like FPS & fighters… although we are now launching MMO, RPG, and Casual Games divisions as well. Besides our PMS Clan divisions, we also have an International Division (iPMS), a teen division (PMS TEEN), and a male division (H20 Clan).

As for my role… I am a Co-Founder and the Clan Leader of PMS Clan. Basically that means I manage the leaders, coordinate events and tournaments, delegate duties, and do general management of group. When all of that is all done, I also get to play with my lovely PMS gamers!

XBS: Unfortunately, girl gamers have gotten a bad rap. Can you talk a little about if this has affected the clan and what you did or are you doing to let people know that girl gamers enjoy gaming and can compete?

Actually, we have been competing for 4 years. We did well on Team Compete and online matches in UR, RTCW, CS, and GR series. In fact, in R63 BOTH our Alpha and Bravo divisions placed top 20 (out of over 2000 clans). My team placed 8th, and our other PMS team placed 6th , at CPL Summer 2005. My team also finished in the Championship Bracket for MLG Houston last season. Regardless of placement, we are not out there saying we are the best… and you never will see us saying that even if we were.

For us, it is more then competition… it is about each other. I support my girls in ANY placement they get. In fact, I ENCOURAGE all of our members to go to tournaments, regardless of skill. Why? So they can improve their skills! Women will never see a 1st place in co-ed PRO tournament until gaming is as ingrained competitively in us for years… the way it has always been for the guys. We women have always enjoyed gaming; PMS just wants our members to have a passion for gaming. Tournaments give a goal for the girls to work towards, and to improve their skills. They also serve as a way for PMS to meet and strengthen our bonds of sisterhood, which is the most important part for me.

As far as the bad rep, for the first time women are getting recognition and support from media, sponsorships, and gamers in general. I think more people out there support women gamers; it is just the haters that scream the loudest. What I want people to understand is that positive recognition for ANY gamers, be they female or male, is good for the industry. Are women a unique story? Sure they are. What I want people to know about PMS Clan is that we never expected what has happened to happen, but it has. But, it is NOT only because we are gamer girls, because there are tons of those around.

What is unique about us is our dedication to gaming (each girl has to attend 4 practices a week to be active), our Professionalism in game (we actually say good game, shake hands of opponents at tournaments, and have “no cheating” and “no smack talk” policies that are strictly enforced), and the organization & camaraderie of our group.

XBS: I know you are always in training to prepare for tournaments and often you play on Xbox live with their “Game with Fame.” How do you find the time to train and do you have a job as well? The time spent training and traveling must be expensive, do you have sponsors or is the clan self-supportive?

I financially supported myself in all the events last year, just like many of our girls did and still do. I ran the 2005 tournament season not only paying for myself, but also cost for many other members as well. Yes, I could definitely be a better player if I did not have to work during the day earning the money to support the group, but we all have to make sacrifices. Luckily, I have a knack for gaming so I can be pretty decent with minimal game time in a game I choose to focus on. As far as how much I play, I typically spend about 3 hours a night, longer on weekends on all kinds of games. Most of our players that run in the PRO tournaments spend about 5 hours a day. I play Xbox, Xbox 360, PC, and the DS. Currently I am playing Halo2 (Xbox) again for WSVG (I was going to compete in PGR but my girls needed me for a team), Stacked (Xbox) PGR (Xbox 360), Second Life (PC), and Animal Crossing (DS, and don’t laugh!). I am dabbling in arcade games, DoA4, and Poker on my new H20’s (Chris “The Jesus” Ferguson) site www.fulltiltpoker.com.

The PMS Clan United - featuring some of the PMS Clan girls.

As for our Game With Fame event, it is just starting! Gamers can find us in our group event “Girl’s Night In” once a month, as well as individual PMS highlights each month. You can keep track of these on the Xbox Community Calendar. This month features our Halo2 commander and PRO Halo2 players, PMS Mary Jane. This is a great way for gamers to get a chance to play with some of us, since most of the girls chosen by Xbox.com are leaders of divisions or games, and spend most of their time with those divisions or practicing. We have been in the Xbox community since the first month of Xbox Live, so we where honored when Xbox asked us to participate in this event!

XBS: Keeping on the topic of training and sessions with the other clan members, how many hours a day do you play overall? Also what is your personal genre of expertise and why?

Most of this was answered in the question above. Typically, I like shooter games. Most of my gaming career has been spent in UR, RTCW, CS, and Halo2. I liked them because they were team games that took coordination as a group to work together. Lately, I have really been enjoying other types (As you can see with my PGR, SL, and Animal Crossing interest).

XBS: What is the average age of the members in your clan?

Not too sure the exact average, but I would say about 22 years old. Our youngest is 9, and our oldest is about 58. We are a pretty diverse group with women from all backgrounds and all walks of life… all brought together by our love of gaming. You can check out our member profiles on our website.

XBS: While the Xbox 360 E3 coverage helped bring exposure to the clan, what else do you have plan in the near future in the way of events or competitions?

You can find us at WSVG’s LanWar & CPL, Penny Arcade, Digital Life, and MLG this year. We are working with VerizonFios for their www.FiOSgrand.com tournament in which we will has a PMS University to show Half-Life (PC). That event is also special because it is out debut for our first “Gaming For a Cause” event. This is a charitable event created by several PMS and a former H20 member in efforts to give back to the community. VerizonFiOS will be hosting the first event with a “Celebrity Challenge” in which 4 Celebrities will be placed on 4 PMS teams to have a face off. Winner gets $25,000 donated by VerizonFioS to the charity of there choice! This will take pace next month at the FiOsGrand finals.

I encourage all gamers to go download the game while it is free and sign up! It was specifically set in a short time frame so that ANY gamer could win… even a new one. The PROS were all in other games, so there will not be time for them to switch from the game they have been practicing since last year (like Quake4 or CS).

Our other “Gaming for a Cause” event will be featured at Digital Life in October. There, we will have PMS Girls playing as long as they can on the showroom floor, with gamers being able to donate for hours of straight game play. Although we have not confirmed which charities will benefit, organizations I would like to see benefiting are the “Get Well Gamers Foundation” and Women in Tech scholarships.

XBS: I know at E3 this year your clan was there to promote the clan but also had dual duties including interviewing people like Peter Moore. What were your overall impressions of the show and more importantly how do you think Microsoft did overall? What games were your personal favorites and why?

PMS Clan was actually working for 3 companies at E3 this year: Xbox, Pyramat & VerizonFiOS. We also had several members working for UbiSoft’s FragDolls (since several members are FragDolls). Honestly, and I am not just saying this because I love Xbox, but Microsoft stole the show. Three words: Gears of War. CliffyB did an amazing job with this game. I got to play the multi-player upstairs and I would not use anything but the chainsaw! It is the ultimate humiliation killing… like getting someone with a sticky on Halo, lol.

Speaking of Halo, the announcement of Halo3 got me excited, but was really disappointed no demos were available for play. I got the chance to play Shadow Run before at the FASA studios, and I must say I was completely impressed! I love all the options with Magic and the teleporting abilities. Also, I like high jumping (like in the first Halo), so I was glad to see this back in a game. A game that totally hit me from out of the blue was Lost Planet! I really can’t wait to see what multi-player is like, because the single player was AWESOME!

WSOP, staring my new H20 Chris “The Jesus” Ferguson, also gave me goose bumps. Chris is actually a heavy Half-Life player, which totally freaked me out! I got to play live poker with him at the ActiVison booth, and we hit it off. He ended up coming back to the show the next day to hang out with us. I he will be getting an Xbox 360 soon, in which he promised me the other night he would come whoop my butt in some of the games. A poker player AND gamer… yeah, they go so well together! I got to demo his game at the Xbox Press Party, and it was crazy! You can actually use the new 360 camera to scan your REAL face, and put YOU right in the game with Chris and the other PROS! For a poker freak like me, it doesn’t get any better then that!!!

XBS: I understand you give other girl gamers a chance to try out for the clan. Can you explain the processes and what all goes into picking a new member?

If a girl is interested in joining PMS, she goes into our recruit division. She can post for that in our forums at www.pmsclan.com. While a recruit, she will play with all the divisions in her game making sure she likes playing 1. with girls (not every girl does, and that is ok!) 2. Has right attitude (Our acronym is an oxymoron of what we want PMS girls attitudes to be), and dedication to game play (i.e. attending practices). If there are any issues in any of these 3 areas, a recruit will be removed. After being in recruits no shorter than 2 weeks, no longer than 1 month, the recruit will be moved into a division. She then has a 1-month trial period where she is screened by her new team for the same items. After that period is over, she is official PMS, and she is allowed to create her PMS tag, get member forum rights, and pick her 2 H2Os (each girl can endorse 2 guys for that group).

XBS: What is the best part of finally getting the spotlight and what is also the downside, if any, and how do you keep things in perspective?

The best part is we are getting not only ourselves, but also women gaming in general, in the spotlight! If girls are not joining PMS Clan, they are creating their own. So many more women are starting to create their mark in the industry, and I think that is amazing! I have seen casual gamers go to our best players; women once insecure in their gaming go to super-confident. They are starting to ENJOY it more! We did not create PMS Clan for this, it has simply just happened. As far as keeping it in perspective, we have always managed to stay grounded. We try to give the organizations we work with what they want, but we have never lost focus on each other.

There has been distention at times with so many girls, and obviously not every PMS girl can benefit from sponsorships or partnerships. However, I think most of the girls do a pretty good job at supporting those girls that have gotten the opportunities. We do not want girls joining PMS for publicity, joining for sponsors, or joining for the name. The girls who do come for that are quickly weeded out, or leave when it doesn’t happen for them soon enough. We want girls that are dedicated to EACH other.

XBS: This year at E3 Infinity made a few comments about professional gamers verses clans. Do you really think there is a difference and would you like a chance to take him on. If so, what game would you pick and why?

I never heard what he said, so I cannot comment on his remarks. I will say, however, that how you define a professional gamer is subjective. Many of us ran the ‘05 tournaments proudly, got some placements… but did not win a single penny. Would you define that as a Professional gamer? Some would. However, many of us get paid to demo games & endorse or market videogame products… so does that make us a professional gamer? Some would say yes to that, too. My definition is someone who makes money playing videogames.

I consider myself a professional gamer just because, if I chose to, I could game as full time job. The fact that I don’t is because I make too much money in my real job to leave, and PMS is an expensive passion! If Infinity disagrees, then so be it. I am not here to tell anyone how to define anything. However, if you think he wants a challenge, how about Joust? ROFL!

XBS: What else do you enjoy doing when you do need a break?

Break? What is that???
Anyway, poker is another passion of mine. I do live games and tournaments. I also play sand volleyball once a week, love dancing, and my new My Space! (http://www.myspace.com/AthenaTwinPMS). Dave Navarro actually asked me for my MySpace at e3, which I thought was totally crazy! Luckily, I had just created it, after much badgering from people, so I was actually able to give him the url!

XBS: Are you thinking of going professional or what are the long term goals of the clan? How would our members get more information on the clan and the other members?

I am juggling as much as I can right now. The 360 and PC has introduced me to so much more about gaming than the traditional shooters I had been playing. I am still competing this year, but I honestly don’t know how much longer I can handle it. I believe soon I will have to quit my day job in order to work PMS Clan the way it needs to be worked. I am traveling so much, that I don’t have much more days off… my work probably won’t like me much longer, lol. However, PMS has so many talented girls and women, and so many step up to help run everything. PMS would truly be nothing without it’s amazing leaders and members helping out in a group effort.

XBS: During E3 I know you also had the chance to play Shadow Run against PC gamers while on the Xbox 360 using the live anywhere and Windows Vista. What do you think of the new feature and will it change the way people think of Xbox live? If so, do you also think this may give girls that happen to enjoy the PC platform a chance to get noticed and would you open the clan to PC gamers as well then?

This is completely exciting for a multi-platform group like ours! We are already doing this with FFXI with Ps2 & Pc… and now Xbox is able to join! I think this function is AMAZING! We try so hard to keep our members together, so anything that pulls our platforms together in a game is something unique. The great thing about Shadow Run is it is not an RPG…it is now a FPS! I know some of the fans of the RPG are a little upset, but for an FPS lover like me it is great! The fact I will be able to play it with ALL my platforms gives me goosebumps! *shivers*

XBS: Athena, thank you again for your time. I would also like to give you a chance to mention anything I may have not asked or things you really want our members to know about the clan. Also, ever think of having an honorary male member of your clan? If so, I am available. I hope this interview will show that there are girls out there that take gaming seriously and are trying to promote gamers in a positive light.

Thank you so much! I would like to thank every gamer out there that has been supporting us from day one! It has truly been an amazing thing to meet so many great people in the community at events and online. As far as honorary members, we do have Team H20’s… there are only a few that has ever been given to. It is reserved for a guy that is extra supportive of PMS, but has not found a girl to endorse them yet (although almost every one has found a girl now). They basically are EVERY PMS girl’s H20… community shared. Perhaps you would be perfect for this!?! :p

Interview by XBS Head Writer Rich Reed.

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