Women in Podcasting: Interview with EJ from Girls Gone WoW

Girls Gone WoW logo Podcaster NewsEJ is one of the hosts of the Girls Gone WoW Podcast. The show is mostly aimed toward female World of Warcraft players, but they do welcome male listeners and guests as well. You can follow the podcast on Twitter @GGWshow.

When did you start podcasting? What’s your experience in podcasting from then to now?

I was in a World of Warcraft guild with Sil – a guild is like a club in the game and you have to be a member of the club to do certain things in game. She started a podcast called Girls Gone WoW at the end of 2010 and asked me along as a guest on the 6th show. A couple of months later, she lost a couple of her co-hosts and she asked me if I’d be interested in becoming a host, and as I’d had a blast being on the show I agreed. Since then, Sunday nights are podcasting nights with Sil and Raven.

What inspired you to become a podcaster?

Before I’d been on GGW I’d been listening to mostly gaming podcasts for about a year and I really liked the way they gave a chance for the gaming community to meet and talk about what was going on in the game. For me, it seemed like an extension of hanging out online with friends in my guild and also a chance to get to meet more like minded people.

How did your podcast get the name “Girls Gone Wow”? What kinds of topics do you cover?

Sil came up with the name, she wanted something quick and catchy to sum up the feel she wanted the podcast to have. We try and promote an understanding that gaming can be as much a woman’s choice of entertainment as a chap’s and that we can all play together and have a lot of fun. Of course we don’t exclude chaps from our show but we hope that we show another side to gaming. Our topics can be quite wide ranged: although we focus a lot on what we are doing in game at the moment, or upcoming additions that are being included with the game, we also discuss topics that run alongside gaming, such as cosplay, roleplaying and how women can be perceived or portrayed in games and gaming culture.

What words of wisdom do you have for women who are thinking of starting their own podcast?

Just do it! If you have an idea, then give it a go. Twitter is a really good way to promote your podcast and get conversations started. Invest in a good microphone and headset, there is nothing worse than listening to poor quality sounding podcasts. Expect to make mistakes and just learn from them – a lot of podcasters look back on their first 10 episodes or so as trial runs so don’t expect to achieve everything you want in episode one. Most importantly, have fun and if it’s not fun, then stop.