Lady Gamers for the Month of July: HannahPwntana and Mcdizziness

It’s that time again! The ladies interviewed were so giving that they actually asked if they could BOTH be lady gamer of the month!

Wish granted.

These two gamers joined forces after a Twitter conversation to create a podcast, 2 Girls One Pod. HannahPwntana is a Nursing student from Atlanta going to school in Orlando. Mcdizziness is an operations manager in an Ohio guitar store.

These two ladies don’t just game, they game and then they give back. I was humbled and inspired by their messages. When I asked them if they wanted to share anything else, instead of the normal website and Twitter plug, both girls immediately pointed me towards charitable causes. They are TRUE gamer ladies in my book! With great gaming comes great responsibility. 😉

1. What’s your favorite game of all time, and what’s your favorite game right now?

Hannah:

Shiiiit, thats a tough one. I will have to go with World of Warcraft, simply for the time and dedication I put into it. I was seriously addicted. I’ve seen documentaries about people who weren’t nearly as bad as I was. I could not help it, I just loved to PvP soooo much. My current favorite game is DotA2 and MtG. I have been playing both for 10+ years and am still addicted.

Mia:

Making me chose one! I’ll have to go with Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It has everything I love about a game: amazing story, great locations, character and weapon customization…and I get to be a Jedi.

2. What is your most interesting game achievment?

Hannah:

I was ranked #72 MtG player in the state of GA at one time. Also, I was once kicked out of a gaming center in Korea after playing WoW for 27 hours.

Mia:

Beating Unreal Tournament 100% on that hardest difficulty, then going back and beating the first level with my feet! (True story)

3. Who is your gaming heroine?

Hannah:

FEMSHEP! Now, theres a bitch who knows what she wants and takes it. Well, at least the way I play her… 😛

Mia:

This might be a little typical, but it would be a toss up between Lara Croft and Tifa Lockhart. Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy VII are still two of my favorite games, and they’ve been my favorite characters since. I’m beyond excited for the new Tomb Raider last year!

4. If you could change one thing about the way the gaming community views/treats women, what would it be?

Hannah:

I’d stop the girl-on-girl hate. And I would love nothing more than the term “gamer girl” to drop to simply “gamer.” (I could go on and on and on and on….)

Mia:

I had something long written out, but I’ll shorten it up a bit. Stop being an asshole online. I don’t tolerate sexism, racism, homophobia, or mistreatment of anyone in the real world. So why should I have to put up with it while online playing games meant to be enjoyable? I’m not going to go on a “gurl gamerz pwn noobz” rant, because in reality…GOOD gamers make the difference. A thirty-two year old old man and a twenty year old woman could be on the same level in the same game, and it has nothing to do with their gender. It has to to everything for their love of gaming, which without people being assholes, would be that much more enjoyable.

5. Is 2 Girls 1 Pod still going on? I’d love to hear more about it.

Hannah:

2girls1pod is the brainchild of mcdizziness and I. She came up with the name, which is awesome, IMO. Her b/f craigums helped set up all the equipment on her end, and we just talked a few minutes beforehand and went live. I loved talking with her about our common passions, and we blend well because while we are both passionate, we tend to be the counterpart of each other. She’s a GoW chick, I’m CoD, she’s Droid, I’m iOS, etc. Our discussions are awesome, if you ask me. The podcast hasn’t been around so long because of the demands nursing school has put on me. We have always stayed in touch and fully intend to start back up, very soon. We’d love to be on your blog. 🙂

Mia:

2 Girls 1 Pod was started by myself and Hannahpwntana. We tweeted to each other a lot, and got to talking about gaming podcasts. There are hundreds out there, so there really wasn’t a discussion. It really started with this: @mcdizziness: @hannahpwntana we need to have a podcast…12:01 AM Jun 24th, 2011 from txt 🙂

We game, we’re girls, and we can be a bit crude. We wanted to try our hand at podcasting. I had all the equipment and she had all the pwntana, so we just went for it. There was a quick twenty-minute meeting where we talked on Skype for the first time ever, then just went live. We only had three shows, but they were really fun to do. We’ve talked a bit, only on twitter of course, about really starting it up again. I think 2 Girls 1 Pod needs to live on, if only because we love games as much as bitching about them.

6. Anything else interesting you would like to share?

Hannah:

I am actively fundraising for my best friend’s son, Julian. He is ten years old with several disabilities, including being deaf. She is no longer able to home school him, and the one school that will take him is $7,000 a year. I am going to be holding a Twitter marathon for donations and giving out prizes throughout the day from amazing donors, all from Twitter. If you would like more information on Julian and how you can help, please go here. I am still looking for more donations of anything, such as codes, swag from events, etc. I have seen the gaming community come together so many times and make amazing things happen. I know this is going to sound cheesy, but just treat each other like you’d wanna be treated, it’s common sense. It only takes one person to make a difference. Oh, and BACON!

Mia:

I stream gaming marathons on Twitch.TV/DedicatedServers for various charities. We’ve helped raise money for Child’s Play, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, and more recently, The AbleGamers Foundation. I love helping people, so combining that with my love of video games was easy.

I started doing charity streams with my boyfriend Craig in April 2011. He got me into Gears of War 2, so we did a twenty-four hour marathon playing the stories of Gears 1&2, then the new beta for Gears 3. We were the first streamers to benefit the AbleGamers Foundation, which help children and adults with disabilities play the games everyone loves. It was a small scale production: only myself, Craig and his brother Ethan, a few 360s, and a laptop, but we were able to raise $200 for the foundation. Since then, we’ve helped raise over $10k for charity, and hopefully that number will keep growing.