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Gamers unite: Sophomore starts new club on campus
By Julia Patt ’09
STAFF WRITER

October 21. Reid Pit is quiet at first; people wander in, unsure if they’re in the right place. When we enter, Gaming Club founder Laura Genender ’08 greets us with a smile and an invitation to sit down. She’s brought Katamari tonight and has a surprise for the newborn gaming club. By the time the first meeting officially starts at 7 p.m., 20 girls have gathered in the Pit. Technicolor characters flash across the big-screen T.V. Laura welcomes the group, and everyone introduces themselves. The girls vary from long-time enthusiasts to curious newcomers, seniors to first years – there is no standard “gamer” type here at Sweet Briar.

“Personally, I'd say my biggest goal for the club is to have fun, and provide an environment where gamers can meet, play, teach, and introduce friends to gaming,” Laura said.

She reveals the promised surprise: three online accounts with the servers of the club’s choice and fifteen passes to Dragon Con next year (Sept. 1-4). As the website states, “Dragon*Con is America's largest, multi-media, popular arts convention—focusing on science fiction and fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film.” (http://www.dragoncon.org/)

How was this engineered? Through Laura herself, a veteran in the online gaming industry. This Sweet Briar sophomore has already built up a number of connections in the gaming world, including people associated with www.gamersinfo.net who provided the accounts and passes. The Voice’s staff writers conducted an interview via e-mail about her occupational opportunities on the web.

Q. What are your current jobs?
A: I have four current jobs.
I do some contracted editor work for IMGS, a company that does contract work for Prima Guidebooks. I was editor of the Lineage II: Chronicle 1 guidebook, the EverQuest II guidebook, associate editor of the original Lineage II guidebook, and contributor to the Guild Wars guidebooks. Google me; I actually made it to www.amazon.com search listings once!

I'm also a staff writer for www.MMORPG.com and www.gamersinfo.net. I do reviews, previews, and sometimes interviews. Basically this involves more playing games and talking to developers than writing what I think.
Finally, I've started doing articles for www.escapistmag.com. It's an online magazine that is way cool IMO, even if I didn't write for it! I had an article in Issue 10 and I should have another one coming up.
And of course, I work for SWEBOP

Q. How did you get into online article writing/editing?
A: I kind of got two starts into the online article writing world. Back when I was 13, I started playing Lineage I, around the same time that a new website, World of Lineage, opened their doors. I did a few articles for them, mostly humor. After World of Lineage closed, I moved to Lineage Compendium, the largest Lineage I fansite. I did some more humor stuff for them, but also did genuine articles. I'd cover sieges, interview high profile players/guilds, etc. When Lineage II came out, the Lineage Compendium website owner, Amer, got four of his writers internal closed beta accounts - including me.

I was putzing around in the newbie area, and I saw one of the Lineage 2 head GMs tutoring a newbie, decided he had better things to do, and took over. The newbie ended up being the editor of the guidebooks. He said I was good at teaching and asked me to write a paragraph or two. I wrote 40 pages, and I still wanted to do more, so he put me in charge of the panel. By the next book, I had reduced the panel of 14 or so to four, and was given the title of editor. And for the next book, I managed a panel of 43.

Q: What do you hope to communicate to non-gamers?
A: The future of entertainment is gaming; the present of entertainment is gaming. This industry is still in its infancy but it is growing!

Q. Anything else you'd like to share about gaming in general?
A: To anyone interested in gaming: At this point in the gaming industry's development, companies are starting to realize a very vital fact: they need women. They need women designers, they need women programmers, they need women advertisers. Gaming is not just for fun; it can also be a job opportunity. Take this chance!

Still confused about the difference between Final Fantasy VII and XI? Can’t understand the appeal of the Sims? Stop by Reid Pit on Friday nights – Sweet Briar’s gamers would be happy to share their enthusiasm and knowledge!