Big Fish online games bring women, lives together

Watch out gamer Fanboys.

Here comes the Big Fish Babes.

The Babes are a group of nine, mostly retired women from across the country who met online nearly three years ago while playing "Mystery Case Files: Madame Fate," one of the hit computer games published by Seattle's Big Fish Games.

They met in game forums where players trade tips, helping each other find clues and hidden objects that the downloadable PC game revolves around.

Now and then, one of the women would mention something personal, such as the loss of a pet or a sick husband, and soon they were talking about each other as much as the games.

"They're the best support group you could ever find," said Karen Ketchum, a 61-year-old medium in LaPorte, Ind.

"We've kept up with our families, marriages, deaths, births. We've formed a very intimate group, and we've never laid eyes on each other except for pictures."

Until Monday, that is, when the Babes flew to Seattle to meet in person for the first time and spend a week together.

The women, mostly older than 40, were coming from Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.

Their visit coincides with the Casual Connect conference in Seattle, the hub of a $2 billion industry creating and distributing downloadable games played mostly online and on the PC.

Big Fish CEO Jeremy Lewis swore this wasn't a publicity stunt, truly, but he's thrilled they're coming.

"It's as powerful and humbling as it gets, what these women have accomplished together," he said.

After the Babes called and asked if they could stop by the company's headquarters, Lewis and his team rolled out the red carpet, inviting them for a full tour this week, including an opportunity to test upcoming games the company is developing.

Lewis couldn't ask for a better focus group.

Millions play casual games, generally easy-to-learn challenges that may include puzzles, word games or trivia. They usually are available in free, downloadable trial versions.

But of those who actually pay for full versions, 74 percent are women and 72 percent are older than 35, according to the Seattle-based Casual Games Association.

At Big Fish, which has about 360 employees and 2008 annual sales of more than $85 million, more than 80 percent of the customers are women mostly older than 30.

"As we build out our portfolio of interactive-entertainment properties, the common focus across each of them is the chief household officer — or what I like to call the chief household influencer," Lewis said.

Players like Renate Beedon, 62, a retired Boeing project manager and one of two Seattle-area Big Fish Babes.

Beedon said she was one of the regulars on the game forum created for "Madame Fate."

"It was an exceptionally well-made game, very nice graphically — and it was hard," she said, explaining why players spent so much time sharing tips on the forum.

Video games today have become a largely online phenomenon, with all sorts of interactivity and communication options for players.

But what's different about the Babes is that their loyalty grew from a particular game and transferred to the players themselves.

The conversations eventually became more personal and the forums more public, so they switched to a private Yahoo group page where the relationship continued to grow.

"We've become really close over the last year or so — there were some illnesses and other problems," Beedon said. "We really helped each other out."

Beedon and Gena Yousoufian, a Seattle resident who retired from a career in computers and teaching, spent Monday going back and forth to pick up Babes as they flew into town and shuttling them to a hotel in Renton.

"It's a bunch of mixed emotions," Yousoufian said en route to pick up the second arrival, explaining they're all wondering what it will be like to be together in person after all those hours together online.

They chuckled about it being "fateful that 'Madame Fate' brought us all together. We just went there to get information on how to play the game."

Yousoufian plays casual games almost every night — "that's how I fall asleep; it relaxes me" — but she's doesn't use social-networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace.

"I'm not into that kind of thing," she said. "At this point this is more than social networking — these are actual friends.

"You know you can see people all the time, your neighbors, co-workers, and not know them? These are people we haven't seen but we really know each other. We feel like we're good friends without ever meeting."

Brier Dudley: 206-515-5687 or bdudley@seattletimes.com