Long Live the Chase
By Zara Williams-Nicholas
My gaming repertoire has mainly comprised of obscure free-to-play games from the RPG, strategy, and mystery genres. However, one game in particular has consistently stood out from the rest. Grand Chase, a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game( MMORPG), became the love of my gaming life. This is the story of how this love story blossomed, unfolded, and was unceremoniously cut short by gaming politics.
I began playing Grand Chase when I started high school( which, in Jamaica, begins around age 11). Every evening, all the boys in my community would meet up at the park after football and discuss games they were currently enjoying. Since I was a good friend of Nathan, one of the boys in this exclusive group, I overheard many of their conversations. I played many of the games they were into. However, since they did not invite any girls to play football or talk games with them, I was pretty much an outsider. That changed when Nathan heard about Grand Chase. He and his brothers came over my house one day, and he told me about the game. I remember watching wrestling with his older brother Adrian while we were waiting for the game to load for the very first time.
When Grand Chase finally loaded, I noticed something very unusual for an RPG. The game’ s story focused on the Grand Chase group, whose original members were three women: Elesis, the swordswoman; Lire, the elven archer; and Arme, the mage. What this meant was that every player had to start with a female character. There were no male starter options. I had only ever played games that had no female options, or that offered both. Controlling the stubborn Elesis as she bashed in the faces of countless enemies with her sword was empowering. Traversing difficult terrain with Lire, the quick-footed and nature-loving archer, was energizing. Dominating the player versus player arena with Arme, the opinionated and overpowered mage, was exciting. It was rare to see a game where strong female characters were not only common, but expected. The characters were not overly sexualized or weaker than the male characters. Their personalities were varied, and their plotlines were deep. If you wanted to be a swordfighter, a mage or