It has recently come to our attention that some believe that our connection to Ubisoft has not been sufficiently explained on our website.  This has resulted in accusations that we’re nothing more than an insidious stealth marketing ploy.  Since I’m the one Frag Doll who is also a full-time Ubisoft employee and, thus, have been around from the beginning, I am probably the best to help make this connection more explicit.

First, I have one point I’d like to clarify before I get into storytelling mode: we have never tried to conceal the relationship between the Frag Dolls and Ubisoft.  In fact, the Ubisoft logo intentionally appears on our website, we use and communicate via ubi.com forums, and we’ve shared openly that we were recruited by Ubisoft.  Neither we, nor Ubisoft, anticipated that some folks would be confused by the information that was (or apparently wasn’t) on our site.  In order to avoid future misunderstandings and properly educate site visitors, we are putting together an FAQ that will include the following information and more.

The Frag Dolls are a group of girl gamers brought together by Ubisoft to play and promote games.  It’s much like a sports sponsorship in which a company helps the athlete do what she does best.  Ubisoft asks us to be informed about certain games so that we can talk about and play them well.  In exchange, we’re supported in playing video games, competing, going to events all over the country, writing our own editorial blogs about whatever, being involved in online communities, and generally representing girl gamers by being ourselves.  Because this is a community outreach effort on Ubisoft’s part as much as it is anything else, we have a mutually beneficial relationship. 

The recruitment process was straightforward.  The Craig’s List “casting call” for girl gamers was posted.  Respondents went through a multi-stage interview process in which the coordinators and candidates discussed the project’s overall goals and direction.  In the final interview stage each candidate’s gaming skills were tested via Xbox Live.  The competition was intense and final offers were made to the cream of the crop. 

From the beginning it was obvious that the team’s success would be dependent on we girls contributing our own passion and purpose to the project.  It’s definitely nice to get a paycheck for playing games, but all of us see this as more than just a fun source of income.  Being women who have been gaming for years, we have plenty of experience with the stereotypes that run rampant in gaming communities.  By working in tandem with Ubisoft, we’ve gotten the opportunity to break down those misconceptions and show everyone from the hardcore gamers to the mainstream that girls not only enjoy games, we kick ass at them.

If you’re looking for more details, keep an eye out for the FAQ, and remember that there’s always an open invitation for people to come find us in-game.

Oh, and one more thing.  If we’re going to be known as the Spice Girls of video gaming, I get to be Scary Spice.  : b