MONTREAL - Thousands of video-game enthusiasts who converged at a weekend festival witnessed a burgeoning force in the world of gaming -- women.
"Some people like to play sports or go shopping every week, but I just like to sit at home and play a new game," said Lauren Berggren, who was at Festival Arcadia in Montreal on Saturday to vie for the inaugural Miss Video Game world title.
"It's a thrill. It's the fun of the game. I just get so into them. I love the competition."
Berggren, 20, who has been playing video games since she was five, squared off against four finalists -- from a field of 48 -- during the three-day contest.
The computer animation student from Mandeville, La., said more and more women are joining the gaming ranks.
"The female community is growing so much with all the girls going to competitions," said Berggren, who calls herself an all-around gamer with a fancy for first-person shooter games.
"It's up to 40 per cent now, I think."
Festival Arcadia is a 7,400 square-metre video-game fantasy world where gamers can try new releases, compete in tournaments and catch concerts by up-and-coming bands.
Organizers expected 25,000 people to pass through the turnstiles during the weekend.
Titan Gaming, an Edmonton-based social networking site for online gamers, organized Miss Video Game 2007.
Titan's Mark Donovan estimates women make up almost half of the 100 million people worldwide who play online games.
"With women, it's actually fairly massive," he said. "This is a huge market."
The competition was designed to help create a supportive community for female gamers, said Donovan.
Four of the Miss Video Game finalists hail from the United States, the fifth comes from France.
"I like it because I like the time away from everything else you have to do," finalist Adelle Moore, 23, of Syracuse, N.Y., said of her gaming passion.
"It's a very tight community -- the girl gamer community -- once you find them. But it is getting a lot more prevalent now."
She also said female gamers get more respect from their male counterparts.
Some male players used to ask her for "lewd favours" during online competition, but things are different now.
"It's changing very rapidly now, especially that you have both genders playing different gendered characters (in games)," she said.
Meanwhile, Berggren said the Miss Video Game tournament is a great way to show everybody what they can do.
"When the guys are here watching they're like, 'Wow, there really are girls, let's give them respect because they're owning it up and they're doing good in their games,' and 'There's more girls out here there than I thought,'" she said.
As for the world title, Berggren feels confident it's in the bag.
"I can get competitive even if they're girls or boys," she said.
"Either way, I don't look at them differently, I just say, 'OK, another gamer, I have to beat you.'"
