Exclusive Interview with Mark Donovan, of Miss Video Game

The pageant that isn’t a pageant, Miss Video Game, has moved into the second phase of it’s competition. The voting phase. Mark Donovan, the Director of Business Development of Miss Video Game took some time to answer our questions. The complete interview is here.

Mr. Donovan talked about how he wasn’t surprised by the attention that MVG has received. Although I would say most of the attention has been from GamingAngels.com as we tried to find out who was behind the contest last year. We left off with our answers from MVG being incredibly general and not specific about any details on the competition or the people behind it. But even with the almost complete anonymity, women gamers across the world rushed to submit pictures (of varying tastes of decency) with statements of how they would change the world of female gaming. With no idea of who is running the contest, what the prize actually is, exact details on where in montreal they will be staying, what the photoshot in Cabo is about, women threw caution in the wind and entered.

The contest will begin it’s voting phase on January 20th and runs until April 10th. The voting will be online. Mark explains that, "Users will be required to create an account on www.missvideogame.com and provide a valid email address and postal code/zip code in order to vote. We are taking these, as well as other standard precautions in order to ensure as much as possible that each person will vote only once. "

Then I asked some questions about Sponsorship to see if any other game companies have joined the competition. MVG stands by their statement that they don’t need sponsors. “Miss Video Game Incorporated is a privately held corporation that is funded through private equity. As such, we do not actively pursue sponsors to offset the costs of our event. That being said, we are open to all enquiries from interested sponsors, and are in the process of identifying strategic partners and reputable judges for the event.” At one time on the site I saw an ad for a mousepad, so I asked if that company was sponsoring the competition. Mr. Donovan’s reply was, “We are in the process of discussing a possible sponsorship for our event with representatives from Q-pad. Q-pad has a long history of sponsoring gaming events and teams, and we would be happy to have them come on board with our event if a beneficial arrangement can be made to suit both companies.”

There is still a question as to what the winner of this contest will actually be doing. So I asked if the winner is someone that could be used by any gaming company as a spokesperson. Mr. Donovan replied, “Miss Video Game has already gained a great deal of attention from the community, and we expect that interest to grow in future. As such, the winner of the competition will surely gain a great deal of media exposure and will be sought out by game publishers and marketers for her perspectives on the game industry and how it could more effectively market to female gamers. Nothing would make us happier than for Miss Video Game to be active in shaping the future of the gaming genre by participating in gaming events and working closely with marketers and publishers to make their efforts more pertinent to women gamers. But if Mr. Donovan has been reading this site or Girl_Gamer journal in Livejournal he would know that there are many opinions on gaming within the female gaming sphere. But Mr. Donovan has high hopes for their winner who he thinks, “will shape the future of female gaming”. In the interview there still doesn’t exist a clear picture as to what the first winner of Miss Video Game will actually be doing.

I then aimed some tougher questions at Mr. Donovan. Questions that were more direct in an effort to get direct answers. I first asked why the Mission Statement carried the following line, "Even if you don’t know anything about video games sign up and learn" when they have asserted that the contest is not a beauty pageant but a competition to find a female gamer spokesperson. How does one speak for all female gamers when they have no background in gaming? One compeitor from German has played a game on her cell phone once or twice. Can she really answer questions as to what we are looking for in next generation games? Maybe in casual gaming. But Mr. Donovan stands by the statement. “Unfortunately, not every person who enters a competition can win; however, that does not in any way mean that people who might not win shouldn’t join. In the same respect, the chances that a n00b will win the Miss Video Game 2007 competition are exceedingly slim, but that doesn’t mean that girls who are new to the gaming world should be afraid of signing up. Everyone has to start their gaming career somewhere, and if people want to start that journey at our event we would be more than happy for them to do so. In short, any woman can enter to enjoy the fun, competitive atmosphere of the event and to meet new friends with similar interests. But in the end she will have to bring game in order to become our champion. We feel that anyone who would restrict the entry of such an event to only people who have attained a certain intangible skill level would be defeating the ultimate goal of creating a real sport out of video games.”

I then tried to help them make a statement that establishes their background in the gaming industry. Only that did not happen. Mr. Donovan states that gaming has been a hobby of his, but he has only recently become involved on the business side. They are now making media kits to distribute to game publishers and other “industry insiders”. Those media kits probably should have been created and available before they created the contest and asked for women to submit their information.

So get ready to watch as the next phase of this contest starts. I still won’t endorse a candidate because I strongly believe the organizers of this contest should have been better organized themselves before starting this competition. They have yet to establish themselves as a legit contest with a title that has any actual meaning in the Gaming Industry. I could hold a contest on Gamingangels.com for best dressed female gamer. But that doesn’t mean that the world of fashion will suddenly care what GamingAngels.com winner says. I appreciate the time that Mr. Donovan took to answer the questions. It will probably be a fun contest in the future, but the lack of organization, the lack of openess in the beginning of the contest keeps me from supporting it fully this year. But good luck to all that enter. No clear picture as to what Miss Video Game will do or be responsible for, but in a few months there will be one.

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