Want to check out which articles I have written? Check them out here!
Additionally, if you would like to see my work experience you can do so here.
Self portrait
The inspiration for this site:
I wouldn’t call it so much inspiration as frustration. A girl named Raychul (yeah, that’s how she choose to spell it) reviewed Saint’s Row 2. The article was horribly written and didn’t really show what the game was like at all. And no, this isn’t me being biased because I work(ed) for Volition. To make matters worse, she was an attention whore, not a gamer. Reading her article, biopage and seeing Raychul repeatedly reference herself as a gamer girl nearly made me have a conniption fit. Being a “gamer” was nothing more than a way to get more people to check out her homepage and comment on how hot (or not) she was. Her biopage included information on how she models in her spare time… plus pictures of her in her underwear and pig tails. I was sick of attention seeking girls like her giving normal girls who happen to be play video games a bad name. I decided I would just make a site myself. I wanted a site where a girl gamer could write articles and be respected for her awesomeness, not her attention seeking.
About the creator:
I’m Tara. 
I just think this picture me is cool. It was one of those helping a friend with her photography homework sort of things and it turned out awesome. And sorry about the glare on it, that’s my bad. Photo credit to Kate McComas.
So, about me.
I have a strange obsession with the Silent Hill series. I analyze the games far too much for one’s own health and have had serious conversations about the symbolism about the monsters in Silent Hill 2, and I think that Silent Hill: Homecoming was much better than most people gave it credit for. One year I even dressed as a Silent Hill Nurse for Halloween.
I got my start in the video game industry by working as a QA tester for Volition. (No, I don’t count my nearly 3 years of working as a Game Advisor at EB Games/GameStop as working in the industry.) I worked there for about 14 months before the recession hit and I was laid off. But, it worked out though. I met a lot of awesome people (including Kristianna!) and learned that I wanted to work with passion- video games. And if I hadn’t gotten laid off I wouldn’t have been able to start this site, so things all worked out in the end.
In addition to writing for Thoughts from a (Girl) Gamer, I currently work for AbleGamers.com – News, Reviews, and Community fo the Disabled Gamer as a Game Journalist where I report on gaming news, interview members of the game industry, and review games generally and for accessibility. I also work for the AbleGamer Foundation, the non-profit organization by attending and organizing events and fundraisers. I’ve always been passionate video games, so it was really easy for me to become passionate about making games for everyone. I really recommend you check out their site, or at least check out the info about them on the AbleGamers tab.
I am also the VP of Game Industry Relations for the Right to Fun Foundation, a non-profit organization that was just recently founded my friend Michelle Hinn. She’s a pretty kick ass lady.
Partially started through working for AbleGamers, and also partially by Michelle, I really push for game accessibility and I am a member of the IDGA SIG for game accessibility and will be hosting a poster session with her at this year’s (2010) GDC called”Accessibility Arcade: Bringing AAA Game Titles to Disabled Gamers through controller Hacks” in addition to being the discussion leader for the Gaming Accessibility SIG round table.
Further more, I am the event coordinator the this year’s “Bring the Paign” Fighting game tournament in Champaign, IL.
I attend a lot of fighting game tournaments, although it’s rare that I actually compete. I get a sort of stage fright when I compete sometimes, so I tend to just show up and play casual matches. I’m not very good at fighting games anyway. I have competed in Tekken 6 and Street Fighter Third Strike, but I’ve played casuals for about all the Street Fighter Games and Tekken 5 at tourneys… I’ve even played against Daigo Umherara. My apartment is the HUB for the Champaign fighting game scene, and I totally don’t even take advantage of it.
And finally, I’m a huge Zelda fan with a Zelda Tattoo.
List time!
Favorite Video Games: (There are too many to list so I’m only naming a few)
Zelda(s)
Silent Hill(s) (I OWN THEM ALL!)
Left4Dead(s)
Bioshock
Resident Evil 4/5
Portal
Activities:
school
writing
local bars
my cats
my boyfriend
singing
video games
Random Facts:
I have a compulsion to dye my hair. That’s why I have been a blonde, brunette, red head in addition to having any color highlight you can think of.
Once I got drunk with Ty Pennington.
I am the oldest of four kids.
I was in the running for prom queen in high school.
Before going to Parkland for Digital Media, I went to U of I for biochem.
I have two cats.
My name is in the credits for Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon (unfortunately) and will be in credits for Red Faction: Guerrilla (luckily).
I used to be on a competitive dance team.
Fav TV Shows:
Daily Show
Colbert Report
A Haunting
Adult Swim in general
Fav Movies:
Brick
28 Days Layer
Sunshine
The Original Indiana Jones Movies
Pan’s Labyrinth
Finding Nemo
Fav Books:
The God Delusion
Mr. Popper’s Penguins
I am America (And so Can you!)
Dracula
World War Z
Fav Music:
I don’t really have a fav, it just sort of shifts around. I’m currently listening to:
Daft Punk
Lady Gaga
Christina Aguileria
Akira Yamaoka
Random and local Hip-hop tracks
Hey, Tara
I couldn’t find a direct easy to follow link for your email (read: I didn’t look past this page) so here I am! You got a nice site, I dig the motivation to do something. I put my email address that I check in the comment section. I’ll see you at school.
josh
Ya I just found this Raychul and she’s a tool, ugly and leaves little to the brain about how she reviews games. I can understand your frustration. But at least the site is great and showing what real girl gamers are!
[...] like a refreshing breeze. But I’m not here to talk about those girls so much. I was reading Tara’s bio on the website and came across the reason why she is doing the blog. I was a little thrown off to [...]
You’re a hypocrite. If you have a problem with combining looks with gaming, perhaps you ought to remove all photos of yourself from the website.
Oh, and the “OMGZ girl gamerz?!” argument is sooooo 2008.
I think you may have missed my point. I have a problem with using your body for attention, especially if you don’t have anything worth paying attention to besides suggestive pictures (which I don’t have posted.) But, that’s a discussion for another day. I don’t feel getting into that again right now.
Gaming is one of the few industries that openly encourages female intelligence. When women start posting clad and tasteless photos of themselves to feel heard it sets back the hard work of those who work so hard to make it based on that, hard work. We’re not against photographs, we’re against degradation in the gaming industry (especially the female gaming industry). Please, by all means post a photo of yourself, but make it tasteful, make it classy. I can think of 10 different people I know close to me who actually have valuable input on the gaming industry who don’t need to show their body to be heard. This is the type of message we’re trying to deliver. And, from female to female, I really hope you can embrace this type of message and even more, share it.
We can talk about it more in depth later. Thank
I understand your point completely, but I think you’re failing to execute a point that was made over and over again in 2007-2008. It’s the slippery slope argument: You say you started this site due to Raychul Moore, and she chooses to post pictures of herself alongside her gaming hobby. But where do you draw the line? You’ve posted pictures of yourself… do you think for a moment that even so called “classy” photos don’t have some impact on your hits or the attitude of others towards you? What about the fact you’ve announced from even the URL that you are “girl gamers,” thereby implying you have all the girl parts AND play games? Is that not nearing the same thing?
If this was a point you truly wanted to make, you would’ve chosen writing handles that were non gender specific, never mentioned “girl gamers,” and never posted photos of yourselves. You would’ve left in the anomynity, and allowed your writing to be judged soley for writing’s sake, and not in any connection with your gender. If you truly felt strongly about your point of view, you would’ve removed all personal aspects and simply put your writing out there first and foremost, and allowing only that to be observed by the gaming community.
This is why I used the word hypocrite.
Frankly, it’s not a message I embrace at all. Having been an active member of the gaming community a few years ago, I learned from my mistakes. It isn’t about taking the power back, empowering other girls to be “loud and proud,” and it’s not even about trying to be treated as equals. Gaming is genderless, and should’ve remained that way. But I forever left the “scene” because the community grew so toxic to be apart of for the obvious reasons. No, I will have my gaming anonymous and genderless, and people are free to make their own assumptions. I would encourage anyone else, male or female, to do the same.
I didn’t like the point that Raychul used her body to call attention to her gaming hobby… not that the both existed. And then I was upset that once she had your attention she had nothing to say. I was upset the mindless, part time models, and not the real women gamers, were the ones who were in the media. I know that being a girl in the gaming industry can get you ahead if you work it right. I mean, you’re a girl in a sea of boys and that makes you stick out and easy to remember. It you want to use it, fine. I just wanted to prove the point the when you have a girl that games, the most likely outcome isn’t people like Raychul. And to prove that, I would have to show I was a girl. So anonymous isn’t for me.
And, I’ve only written one article that was gender specific, so I’m not sure why you brought that up. And I’m not sure why you think that I feel like girls should “take power back.” Because I haven’t said anything like that at all.
Either way, I do respect your opinion and I love hearing other people’s points of view, even if they think I’m wrong. Thanks for sharing.
I think Tara really covered most of what I wanted to say, but I do have a few more things to add.
This site takes a huge chunk of time to manage. We put a lot of ourselves in the things we do. While the site is mainly directed towards gaming, we do write on other subjects as well. With all of these factors, we want to share with others who we are. One of them is that I’m a female. Should it matter? No, but will it realistically affect someone’s opinion at one point in time or another? Probably. When I read an article (on any subject) I love to get to know the person behind it’s content. Not because it affects my opinion on the article’s content, but rather just understanding someone and their point of view more. I don’t feel it’s necessary to hide who I am in the dark. I’m not throwing it in anybody’s face either. My profile is there, and if someone chooses to read it, so be it.
In no way am I pursuing the “loud and proud” road. I’m pursuing a positive image of women in the gaming industry. They’re fairly different. Things will never be equal, and I understand this. I advocate a positive image of men in the industry as well. I speak more on the behalf of women because I feel there are many women who don’t understand the negative effects of exploiting their bodies for gaming media. Does this mean hide who you are? No, but you don’t need to skip around nude in a quest for ratings. They are different, and I think that is a fairly obvious line to draw.
Great point and thanks for your input.
You are lovely and I agree with what you said about the Ray..chu..l? girl… haha I vouch for your realness and your gaming ability! Also the fact that you have professional experience, not just some girl who likes to show hr boobs and mentin video games once in a while. Your technical ability is what will set you apart, and not taking yourself super seriously is perfect hhaah
And a note to others, I vouch for Tara, I have seen her work firsthand – our companies worked cooperatively on a game a few years ago for a looong time.
Go Tara. Love your work
Katie
Oh, Katie. I love you. You’re so awesome.
Pretty new pictures
I think I may try getting into Street Fighter… I know practice must be had.. When is the tounrey you are coordinating?
It wouldn’t to be for a while… couple months away… We just started looking for venues this week. If you are interested in learning Street Fighter though you should come visit at my apartment. Mike is crazy good at it, and so are a lot of my other friends. They can whip you into tourney shape in no time.
They’re good, real good.