Girl Gamerz At E3

As I was walking around E3, I happened to run into some of the Frag Dolls, a group of female gamers, and local girl Kari Toyama from Aiea. It was good to run into fellow girl gamers and, even better, one from Hawaii.

When I saw her, twenty-one year old Toyama was playing a game of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfigher, one of the newest in the Ghost Recon series, and a first person shooter (FPS) title. It’s not a typical game that you would see a female playing, but hey, that’s how I roll too! It was refreshing to meet another female that shares my interest in FPS games.

Toyama’s mother, Suzy Mehlhorn, was one of the first females in Hawaii to run a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon) out of their house for the ever-popular game Dungeons & Dragons in the mid 1990s. This explains her love for gaming that began at a very early age. Toyama loves gaming so much that she plays more video games than her boyfriend! I don’t know about you, but I find great humor in that.

For the past few months, Toyama was trying out to join the Frag Dolls, came very close, but unfortunately did not make the final cut. This still won’t stop her from her love of video games and her favorite Halo 2 on the Xbox. In the meantime, Toyama is transplanted in Seattle, Washington while she continues to pursue her psychology degree.