She's Got Next: The ComboQueens Are FGC's Women On The Rise

In a small ballroom off the beaten path of Winter Brawl 12, after a full day’s worth of noise and intense competition, a small congregation meets to relax, play some fighting games, eat some food, and just enjoy each other’s company. A few screens are playing some Tekken 7, where one player teaches another the ins and out of Asuka while to the left a furious battle ends in friendly cheers and jeers. A livestream setup is showcasing some DragonBall FighterZ, the two combatants talking and laughing their way through the matches.

Sounds like a typical night in the world of the fighting game community, right? What makes this group of gamers and fighting game fans so special and, to some casual competitive gaming fans, so surprising?

Simple: they’re all women.

These are the ComboQueens, a year-old upstart group promoting inclusion and providing a place where the women of the FGC can sit, relax, and unwind amongst peers. ComboQueens was the brainchild of Carolyn “"Mamadao” Dao, who hosted the first ever meetups at a Red Bull event last summer and then at EVO 2017. Since then she has added two co-founders, Emily “Jemmillion” Ginnona and Sheila “dapurplesharpie” Moore, and the group has expanded to the East Coast with events at Summer Jam 11 and this past Winter Brawl.

Ginnona was immediately attached to the idea when she heard of it, and when Twin Galaxies asked her about it she described how she and Moore were essentially on the same page. “Around that time Sheila was also contacting Carolyn about doing something at Summer Jam at the same time,” Ginnona tells us. I had found out about it, linked up with Sheila, and put the Summer Jam event together. After that I had more ideas for the group so I approached Carolyn with them, apparently Sheila was doing the same thing, so Carolyn approached us both about being co-founders.”

What drew Ginnona to the idea of ComboQueens in the first place was the idea of bringing more females to the FGC, a notion that many of the attendees this Winter Brawl meetup acknowledged was an opportunity for growth. A few of the women we spoke to all expressed the same thing: more female representation will only boost the entire FGC. As Nina “Destra” Sumter puts it, “I am well aware that fighting tournaments are male-dominated, which I personally don’t mind at all, but I think having a meeting like this gives an opportunity for women who may be uncomfortable to have some support, and for us to encourage other women to compete in FGC events and not be afraid to attend them.”

Ginnona’s own first experience at a competition echoes that uneasiness, as she admits there were a lot of concerns going through her mind as she prepared for that first Summer Jam. The internet can be a terrible place when it wants to be after all, and what she was seeing online was giving her pause. “I found out about Summer Jam in 2012 and really wanted to go, but I was afraid because of how much hate the females of the fighting game scene were getting at the time,” she says. “I had watched people getting harassed, made fun of, objectified, and it made me afraid. I really wanted to compete though, so my passion for fighting games eventually overrode my fears and we went.”

She is absolutely glad she did, and that first experience is what has fueled her drive to make ComboQueens a premiere place for women in every part of the FGC. “The scene was completely not what I was expecting: not one person was rude or mean or anything, everyone was nice and helpful and very welcoming,” she explained. “After I left, I realized how much this community meant to me, it was COMPLETELY different than what I expected it to be in person, and I don’t want any other girl to feel the way I felt going into that first event and so many other girls have felt.”

As for the girls in the room, the level of comfort and relaxation among was palpable and everyone we spoke to hoped for more growth in the future. Katy “CujoKate” Petousis, an FGC commentator who called her first ever Tekken 7 matches at the event, was one of the attendees. “This is my first meeting here with ComboQueens, and I think it’s really great,” she said as she scanned the room. “The thing is, you come to these tournaments, and they take place in huge rooms where everyone is spaced out so it’s hard to really meet people and make some connections. It’s nice to know that there’s a place where the girls can meet up and they can just talk and play and sit and relax for a while.”

While this Winter Brawl 12 meetup was a good start, everyone we spoke to realizes there’s a ton of room to grow and expand this group. So what needs to be done? For some, like competitive Killer Instinct player Diamond “PinkDiamond” Freeland, it’s a simple as bringing more women to the events. “Bring more gamer girls,” she said plainly. “I know they’re out there but they’re shy or haven’t come out to an event before, but there’s a group of girls here that can actually help them.”

CujoKaty had another idea, one that would easily land ComboQueens right in front of a lot of eyes: a mention of a meetup on an event’s registration page. “Maybe on the tournament online registration page mention the women’s meetup for some exposure. If you aren’t ingrained in the scene, you might not know this sort of thing exists.” Fellow attendee Katelyn O”Connor of Keito Krafts shared a similiar sentiment: “I’d like to see it mentioned right alongside all of the other things happening at an event like this, to let people know that we’re doing this and, dare I say it, maybe doing it better.” As for anyone thinking about coming to an event, O’Connor has a simple solution: “Put yourself out there. Even if the only game experience is getting your butt kicked by your big brother and his friends, there’s probably a lot of other girls out there with the same experience here, some of them competing as pros.”

As for co-founder Ginnona, she tells us that the core group of ComboQueens have a lot of big plans for the future, and while she can’t share all of them with me, there are a few meetups planned for future FGC events. Final Round in Atlanta will be hosting an event, as will a few other tournaments throughout the year. There are also plans for a standalone ComboQueens event in the Philadelphia area, one that Ginonna says will hopefully “provide more support for the women in the FGC, provide more opportunities for them to grow and to learn and to be successful in whatever area they’re interested in - content, competition, streaming, etc.”

In the end though, the goal for Ginonna is and will always be the same: let the female gamers of the world know that they are welcome too. “’I’ve spoken to a lot of local female gamers who are nervous about coming to an event, and I always tell them it’s not as bad as you think, all of that bad stuff is just online, and ComboQueens can help them get over their fears. I want them to know they are not alone, we are here for you, and I want to give them the opportunity to be successful.”

The ComboQueens are here to play, and the fighting game community better get ready for them. It’s only a matter of time that one of the ComboQueens becomes Grand Champion ComboQueen, and the FGC will be better off for it. If you wish to support the group, they can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and donations can be made to their Ko-Fi site. A group that lets women know that they are included can only make the world a better place, and the ComboQueens are on the forefront of making that happen. 

Want some tips for your first time at a public fighting game tournament? We met with some newcomers at Winter Brawl that had some very helpful general advice for anyone who wants to compete.