With a name like “girlz of destruction” you’d be led to believe that these women would have a mean edge to them, but they were as sweet as could be and were a pleasure to talk to. I’d still fear them if I ever fired up a PC next to them. I can only handle failure so well, and I have the feeling I’d be losing against them…losing a lot might I add.

The girlz of destruction are a team of seven women who live and train in a house sponsored by VIA Technologies, Inc., leading supplier of high definition PC silicon for the gaming market, in Sweden, the first-ever year-round eSports training house. Dubbed the "Home of Chrome" after the Hi-Def Chrome computer hardware provided by VIA and S3 Graphics, the house provides both professional and amateur gamers with a unique opportunity to improve their competitive gaming skills in a focused environment.

These women really are an interesting story as they come from all countries (USA, Canada, New Zealand, and Sweden just to name a few) but all share one common love…competitive gaming. The team consists of seven women who live in a house (I refuse to make a Real World joke here…just refuse) and train to get better at these games that are their profession. The interesting thing is that this team of seven has been this way since the beginning, as they want to stress that this group really is a family and not just some kind of club where the members are always interchangeable. These women train everyday together and they have no plans to get angry at one another and split this family up. The house is essentially a dormitory for training so these girls can be the best of the best in their respective genre of games.

The three ladies I spoke with were:
Alana Reid – the clan founder and leader whose gaming achievements include:
Quake 4
4th @ Blind Date 2v2 05/06 TDM - Online
0 losses @ S3 Chrome booth shootout, CeBIT 2006 – Germany

Quake III Arena
2nd @ MsQuakecon 2005; 1v1 OSP - Dallas, Texas
1st @ MsQuakeCon 2004; 1v1 RA3 - Dallas, Texas
1st @ Dreamhack Winter 2003; 4v4 TDM - Jonköping, Sweden
3rd @ Run by Gamers 2003; 1v1 OSP - Online tournament
2nd @ MsQuakeCon 2003; 1v1 OSP - Dallas, Texas
1st @ Lanageddon West 2003; 1v1 OSP - Victoria, Canada
4th @ MissQ 2003; 1v1 OSP - European online (HPB)
3 losses @ razer booth challenge, WCG 2004 - San Francisco
0 losses @ razer shootout, Sitex 2004 - Singapore
0 losses @ razer booth challenge, E3 2005 - Los Angeles
0 losses @ razer booth shootout, Tokyo Game Show 2005 - Japan

Unreal Tournament 2k3
5th @ Lanageddon West 2003; 1v1 - Victoria, Canada

Livia Teernstra – whose gaming achievements include:
2nd place: 1v1 Unreal Tournament 2004 xLan, Auckland New Zealand Oct/04
1st place Oceania Unreal Tournament 4v4 Team Deathmatch Online Tournament
2005 New Zealand / Australia
1st place Oceania Unreal Tournament 5v5 Capture The Flag Online Tournament
2005 New Zealand / Australia
1st place NOZ Unreal Tournament Comp. 5v5 Capture the Flag Online Tournament
2005 New Zealand/Australia
1st place GameSpace TDM Online Ladder, Unreal Tournament 4v4 Team DeathMatch
2005
1st place Unreal Tournament 5v5 Capture the Flag- MGL CTF 2004
1st place Unreal TOurnament 4v4 TDM- MGL TDM 2003

Therese Andersson – whose gaming achievements include:
21 games played, 0 losses
CeBIT Chrome Shootout, Hannover, Germany Mar/06

26 games played, 0 losses - trito
VIA ESReality Invitational Shootout, London UK Jan/06

2nd place - trito
4v4 Quake III TDM Dreamhack Summer, Jönköping Sweden Jun/05

127 games played, 2 losses - trito
Razer 1v1 Quake III challenge, E3 Los Angeles May/05

2nd place - trito
4v4 Threewave CTFS Quake III Garpenberglan, Hedemora Sweden Mar/05

6th place - trito
4v4 RA3 Quake III Garpenberglan, Hedemora Mar/05

Look at those stats and tell me that isn’t some serious gaming right there. And stats like to say and show that women don’t enjoy the first person shooter genre, but apparently they haven’t talked to people like the girlz of destruction. These ladies live and breathe first person shooters every day in their House of Chrome. I also commend VIA Technologies for providing this space to these ladies so they can train. The commitment level of these ladies is just like that of any other athlete in the world. I hope stories like this continue to come out, as it really helps improve the gaming industry by breaking standards like women only play casual games and other such nonsense. The girlz of destruction break all those barriers down with a simple mouse click to your face.

I also love that the girlz have been gamers for years now, with many of them referring to their first gaming experiences as old Nintendo systems, King’s Quest, and other various games of that nature.

These ladies are also really down to earth and were very personable, and I’m on good authority they read the site, so hello ladies. And Livia…I hope you are enjoying your Pirates of the Caribbean bag I gave you.