GamerchiX

Having been a fairly competitive gamer during the first years of the Xbox release (around 2003), I came across a fair amount of female bashing. Of course, it wasn’t my fault that my 7.62 rifle round found the middle of the offender’s forehead but after a while, it got to be really tiresome. Trust me, I’m not one to complain at every little verbal smack given to me but it was constant and began making what should have been fun, well, not so much.

When I met Christa Charter from Microsoft and Chloe Brown from PMS, we all complained about this treatment and decided to do something. We understood that many people felt bashed by the “anonymous” bullies online but we concentrated on what we knew first hand – female gamers. In 2006, we banded together and formed GamerchiX – a group female gamers could join to find other female gamers. We created this for the girls and it was pretty much run by them. We had few rules but they were enforced strictly. Mostly, it just consisted of respecting your fellow gamers.

Microsoft graciously gave us our own space on Xbox.com and we got our own community gaming night that was advertised on the Community Channel on Xbox Live and on Xbox.com. We also had a special GamerchiX leaderboard started on mygamercard.net to make it easier for girls to find each other. This was a night for the girls to get together and play without having to deal with the annoyance of less than stellar players.

• GamerchiX Ladies Night on Xbox.com

Microsoft also allowed us to create avatar clothing for girls to not only promote the group but to just give more options for female gamers. My contributions were the logo hoodie, the jeans and the black sneakers with purple stripes:

• Female Avatar Clothing

We now have over 10,000 members and have moved on to create a space for them to have an even louder voice by allowing them to contribute to the running of their own site. (see PopChiX)

We have hosted a variety of events for ChiX in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and New York where girls were invited to come out, meet each other and play some games.

An offshoot of the group, GivingChiX, run by Kiki Lewis and Nori Grismore has raised money for different charities across the United States.