It’s difficult to group the average gamer into a common stereotype, since gamers are so diverse. Today’s gamer may be the mother of five standing in line in front of you at the grocery store or the swimmer up at five a.m. each morning for practice. For some people, gaming takes on a life of its own, separate from any day-to-day activities people find themselves involved with, while others have made a career out of gaming. But one thing gamers have in common, besides their love of games, is that they have a wide variety of interests and hobbies. Videogames aren’t what made them who they are; they are just an important part of their already full lives. Welcome to “The Other Me.” Each month we will take a look at some of the more interesting hobbies and activities people find themselves doing when they aren’t gaming. This would include things such as flying airplanes, playing paintball, volunteer work, collecting coins, or even amassing the largest matchbook collection ever. So if you have a hobby or interest you want to share, send an email to kiki@theblueskittle.com.

by Kiki Lewis [kiki kat]

I have known our next profiled victim for numerous years now as I convinced her to include my son in one of her world famous Gamer Spotlights, threatened to “own her n00b ass” in arcade games on Xbox, eagerly joined her in the first batch of Xbox Gamer chiX (XGX), joined the Xbox Ambassador program she created, and eventually moved to a new state to work for her for a absolutely wonderful five months.  I am talking about the one and only Trixie360, otherwise known in real life as Christa.  Without her I doubt I would have become so engrossed in the Xbox community.  She has a way about her that pulls people into the Xbox community and keeps them there.  But the main reason I am happy to write this profile on her is that I consider her a real life friend (and neighbor)!

Christa grew up in Bellevue, Washington but traveled around during the summers living the hotel life since her parents were musicians.  She also has a younger brother who met his fiancée playing Asheron’s Call.  After dropping out of three colleges, Christa is only 15 credits short of a Bachelor of Arts degree. After the first time she dropped out, she dropped into New York City ‘to be a writer’. And as most aspiring writers do she worked a wide variety of jobs from nanny to an apprentice film editor to receptionist, finally as an office manager during the four year stint.  But she still wasn’t ‘a writer’.

The second time she dropped out of college was to take a full-time position for her first job in the games industry… as a writer!  After several years working at Sierra On-Line they asked her to move to Los Angeles since her department was merging and she declined.  The was a fortunate decision for the Xbox Community because she took a contract job at Microsofts Xbox division writing documentation on the brand new Xbox LIVE service.  After only three months of working there they hired her on full time and on July 1st she will have been there for seven years!

Enough of me talking about Christa… let’s hear what she has to say!

Name: Christa
Gamertag: Trixie360

“The Xbox Community Manager”

Easiest way to describe my job is to think of Xbox LIVE as a ship with 17 million passengers….and I’m the Cruise Director. I don’t drive the ship, or swab the decks; it’s my job to make sure everyone has a good time, meets cool people, stays safe, and plays nice. I get to think of fun activities for them to do, and introduce them to people that I think they would like and get along with. To this end I’ve created a fair number of Xbox LIVE programs: Music Monday, Family Game Night, Ladies Night, Co-Op Night (in partnership with BA Penguin from Co-optimus), Frag Doll Friday (with Ubisoft), Xbox All-Nighter, Community Playdate, and Arcade Afternooon. I also manage what my boss calls social programs: Xbox GamerchiX (co-founded by DirtyDiva and PMS Kitty) and Xbox Ambassadors. I have a weekly show on Inside Xbox called “Community Close-Up” and I run the Community ‘channel’ on Xbox.com.

Creative
Frustrating
Sisyphean

I got a job as a part-time Assistant Editor at Sierra On-Line’s quarterly in-house magazine. I really wasn’t very interested in videogames since I outgrew the Atari 2600. I’d played King’s Quest 2 on my brother’s computer. I got the gig because John Williams (brother of game legend Ken) liked the snarky editorials I wrote for my college newspaper. He wanted attitude, and he got it!  Right now I am struggling just to stay in place with the recent and tragic loss of half of Team Trixie, so my big plans (and believe me I had some doozies!) are on hold while I rock back and forth in my empty office weeping quietly.

Favorite snack food/drink: Diet Coke

Time Commitment: Eight to nine hours a day in the office, two to three more at home on weekdays. Weekends I spend six to eight hours working.

Future Plans: I want to be a novelist.

Injuries while gaming: Not yet, though I have partied myself sick at many gaming events.

Most Exciting Moment: Front page of the LA Times business section, baby!

Most Embarrassing Moment: Getting recognized when I’m out with my kids. It’s flattering of course, but half the time I look like a freakin’ scrub and once we’ve done the “are you Trixie360?” “Yes” there’s an awkward moment where I’m not sure how to proceed. If they say they like my show then I say thanks of course, but then I feel dumb and want to put them at ease and start asking questions about what their gamertag is or what they’re playing and really, where do you go from there?

Real Life and Gaming Interaction/Overlap: Everywhere. I met my husband through my job (he was a Trixie stalker). We got more wedding presents from the Xbox LIVE community than we did from family members. Apparently his family hates me already.

Number of times you wish you never got involved in the gaming community: How many times a DAY, or how many times overall?

Gaming community associations: I’m a Facebook and Twitter addict. But it’s all kinda Xbox-related. I did just join LibraryThing, but immediately created a book club for GamerchiX.

Words used only in the Xbox Community:
Trixiedust
Trixillation
Wrath of Trixie

Gaming preferences: Xbox 360 is my every day go-to machine. The whole family digs it. As you know I’m a Zuma girl. I use it to wind down at the end of the day. Sometimes when I’ve got the house to myself I’ll listen to the Saturday night opera on classic KING FM and have a Zuma marathon…see how many times in a row I can beat it. And I also like Guitar Hero, Rock Band and Scene It. I don’t much care for shooting or sports. As for other consoles, I do enjoy my DS. I got the ice blue one recently and gave my pink one to my husband. He’s a Marine, so no one makes fun of his pink DS.

Joke: God is in the Garden of Eden giving stuff to Adam and Eve. God says, “I’ve got two things left in the goodie bag… who wants it?” Adam says “Well I was created first and you have made me superior to Eve. I will go first, as is my right.” God reaches into the bag and hands something to Adam. “Ah, the ability to pee standing up,” he says. “Have fun with that.”

God peers into the bag and says, “I’m sorry Eve, all I’ve got left is multiple orgasms.”