Cerise Magazine

Regina Buenaobra, aka. Brinstar, is video game blogger and Community Leader for Xfire. I first became aware of Regina through her blog, Acid for Blood. When Jade Reporting was looking to expand its archivers, Ariel suggested Brinstar and as one of the candidates and that’s how we officially “met”.

Andrea Rubenstein: First things first, can you tell us about your blog? Just something to give the readers out there a feel for what kind of blogging you like to do.

Regina Buenaobra: My blog broadly consists of the following: commentary on industry happenings, my gaming experiences, and my gaming interests.

A whole lot of the blog is devoted to writing about Guild Wars, because I really enjoy that series. I have also written about rhythm games, Metroid games, virtual worlds, gaming culture, gender and gaming, and so on. I try not to post too many news items, because I think people can get that at the larger game blogs, and at a higher quality. Really, I just write about what I like, and I hope that people may be interested enough in my perspective to read.

AR: So, what inspired you to start blogging online about games? Did you wake up one day and think, “I want to talk about games, maybe I should start a blog!” or did you lurk in the gaming blogsphere first?

RB: I didn’t start out as a game blogger. I had originally envisioned my blog as a place where I would write reviews for whatever media I had watched, read, or played. I participated in a few gaming communities for a year or so before starting my own blog. I read (and still read) many game blogs.

In this context, I began writing my own commentary and opinions on the games industry as well as anecdotes and observation. At the time, I was also working part time for a retail game store, so I wrote about work as well. My blog contained so much game content that I decided to focus on games and my gaming experiences.

AR: I know you consider yourself a feminist, but do you consider Acid for Blood a feminist gaming blog, or do you feel more that blogging about feminist issues is more of an incidental thing?

RB: I don’t consider Acid for Blood a feminist gaming blog because of its lack of focus on feminism. There are so many other gaming blogs that write about games through a more focused feminist lens, and they are much better than mine because of that focus. I suppose that whenever I do write about feminist issues, it is incidental, though my perspective is not.

AR: I would like to know more about your experiences as a woman blogging about games. Do you feel that you have received special attention, positive or negative, on your blog because of this? How, if at all, do you feel being a female gamer affects your blogging experience as a whole?

RB: I don’t think I receive any sort of special attention on my blog just because I’m a woman. I don’t advertise the fact that I’m a woman. My handle is gender-neutral (as far as I am aware). However, writing about women and gaming draws attention.

The fact that I am a woman sometimes emerges as a side effect of writing about gender. I have gotten negative feedback when I disapproved of the attention-seeking practices of some high profile women gamers, and I think it was greater because I had revealed my gender. In these cases, I was accused of jealousy or whatever.

Being a female gamer affects my blogging experience negligibly, I think. I may be more aware of gender issues and blog about that, but like all bloggers, I write about what I’m interested in.

In general terms, I have found that if I write from a more polarized perspective relative to the views of the majority of gamers, people will pay more attention and leave more comments. The posts I made about attention-seeking women gamers or about the whole World of Warcraft LGBT guild advertising controversy, for example, made people pay attention. I think that’s true of any topic, though.

AR: I know you’ve been involved in projects like Jade Reporting and Iris, but in general do you feel connected to the gaming blogsphere? Has your involvement with the projects I just mentioned changed your feeling about the blogsphere at all?

RB: I feel connected to certain corners of the gaming blogosphere, but not so much as a whole because the game blogosphere is so large. There are a lot of games blogs out there and the numbers are growing. There are niches and networks within the greater whole, and there are some that I feel more connected to than others.

I actually feel a bit less connected to the general gaming blogosphere these days because I don’t have nearly as much time to closely follow all of the games blogs, old and new, or to participate in commenting as much as I used to.

As I mentioned, the connectedness I feel to the gaming blogosphere is mainly in relation to certain pockets, such as the Iris Gaming Network and other communities. Beyond that, my feelings of connection are more diffused.

AR: Let’s take things offline — do you have what you feel to be a “gaming community” in real life? People you get together and play games with, or chat with about games?

RB: My work colleagues make up my offline gaming community at the moment. One of my colleagues has a regular game night where we play console games and arcade games. He also has a DDR arcade cabinet, which is great. I’m new to this area of the country and I haven’t built up a strong social network yet.

I have many many geographically distant friends, and I do speak to some of them about games, but unfortunately they are too far for in-person gaming sessions.

The in-depth discourse about games comes from my participation in various online communities. Offline, discussions are generally more casual.

AR: Do you find that you tend to play more with people or alone? Along those lines, among the recent games you played, or are currently playing, which ones would you say have captured your attention best?

RB: I tend to play console games with people and PC games alone. If I play a PC game online I make an effort to try and play with people. Sometimes it does depend on the game.

I’ve just started playing Final Fantasy VI Advance. I’m not too far into the game yet, but I like it a lot more than Final Fantasy VII, which I played for all of two hours. I may finish Final Fantasy VI, though it hasn’t yet hooked me to the point where I will play nothing else.

I also started playing Fallout. It’s early days still, but so far so good. The game is so well-regarded, even 10 years after release, so I’m trying to keep the praise separated from my gaming experience.

Guild Wars, though I have played it sporadically at times during the past two years, has captured my attention the best. I keep coming back to it. Parts of it now bore me, but I have yet to master all of my targeted Professions, explored every single corner of the world, or captured all the Skills I want. I think it’s good that I haven’t had the time to play Guild Wars to the point that I got burned out on the game.

AR: What about non-electronic gaming? Have you ever played, or do you have an interest in, tabletop, LARP, or anything like that? If so, can you tell me a bit about your thoughts and experiences?

I didn’t try my hand at non-electronic gaming until I started university. In my first year, a friend of mine was invited (more like gently prodded) into attending the first meeting of a LARP based upon White Wolf’s World of Darkness. I tagged along with her, because she was nervous and wanted a familiar face around. I was also curious and didn’t want to show up in a room full of strangers. She played in a few sessions, and though she eventually stopped attending, I continued to play. My first character was a human with telekinetic powers. TK was of the most combat-oriented powers in this particular game, but I hardly ever used my powers because I was afraid of making a mistake or accidentally breaking the rules.

After that, I was pestered into joining the Camarilla, which is White Wolf’s Official Fan Club and gives you access to the global Mind’s Eye Theater LARP campaign. I was dropped right into the middle of this new Vampire game by a hardcore LARPer friend who was in town visiting over the summer holidays. I had to create a character, think of a background, and quickly learn the rules during a 200 mile car journey ride to a big Cam gathering in Blacksburg, Virginia (at Virginia Tech). I was extremely nervous, and I had never been to such a big LARP. There were nearly 200 people there, I think.

I continued playing that character for a couple of years, though I have to say that my enthusiasm for LARP waned as my friend nudged me to devote more time to the game than I wanted. I created another Vampire character, one which I felt I had more control over, since the original was made with heavy influence from the aforementioned friend.

Later I joined a Werewolf game, which was fun and different from Vampire. I very nearly joined a Changeling game as well. At that point, I just decided to take a step back from all the LARPing. As much as I enjoyed it, the time it took to go to games in Edinburgh or national meets in England (I went to university in Scotland), was taking its toll. I wanted to get a good degree and focus on my studies more. I was also trying to get into graduate school.

After I graduated and moved to London to pursue a Master’s degree, I made a decision to take a break from LARPing, even though London has a really awesome and active World of Darkness LARP community. This “break” is still in effect. I do miss playing and the community from time to time, though. I met so many nice people, great actors, skilled politicians, and wonderful storytellers. The LARPers I met are some of the friendliest, most accepting, and welcoming people I’ve ever encountered.

In London, I started playing in my first ever table-top role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. I had wanted to play ever since I was in high school, but I was (more) shy back then and didn’t know anyone at school who played. The London D&D game was really fantastic, with a DM who focused on story depth and intricacy. I had a wonderful time. My first character was a human Rogue. After that, I tended to play Rogues because I was comfortable with them, and again — afraid of making mistakes and breaking the rules.

Right now, I don’t have a non-electronic gaming group, but a colleague is looking to start a D&D campaign. I’m probably going to play a Barbarian because it’s a departure from the Rogue Class.

AR: Is there anything you’d like to say in that we haven’t covered here yet?

RB: I can’t think of anything. Thank you for having me on Cerise!