LOSTyGIRL is a pillar of the fighting game community, constantly hosting events for NetherRealm Studios titles like Injustice and Mortal Kombat. Outside of tournament organization, she competes, creates content, and streams.

This interview follows the first episode of Women of the FGC. We dove deeper into LOSTyGIRL’s early fighting game experiences, challenges, and lessons from overcoming personal hardship. Plus, advice for female players, dealing with trash talkers, and speaking out in the community.

When did you get into fighting games competitively?

It started when I was 19 around Mortal Kombat 9 in 2011. I remember trying the game and playing ranked a lot. That’s where I was really trying to get better. I started looking at every match to find what I did wrong or what I could do better. Back then I was so YOLO [laughs], but it was really fun. From there I started trying to compete and went to my first offline tournament in the Netherlands.

How was that first tournament experience?

Well, I remember I met this guy online that was really excited about getting me out to meet the community offline in the Netherlands. Of course, I was always thinking, “Hmm should I try to go?” since I might be the only woman. It didn’t help that I was so nervous back then. But after a while, I finally decided, “You know what? Why not?” 

Once I got there I saw the classic, “Oh she’s definitely a spectator. I don’t think she plays MK.” [Laughs] But then I had to start playing and that’s when everyone went, “Woah, she can actually play.” It was fun to prove it but I hate that there’s always this prejudgement that women are just spectating if they’re coming to participate.

I remember one specific match I played where they used Scarlet and I was Mileena. It was a hard matchup for me but in the end I won the set and he was shaking. Like he wouldn’t even look at me even after I said “GGs.” He went up to his friend and asked him, “Did I just get beaten by a girl?” It was just so awkward. Back then I had no clue how to handle that. I do remember thinking about just how being a woman fit into player skill.

How were things when you first became a tournament organizer (T.O.)?

After participating for so long I decided to do my own tournament. It took place when Mortal Kombat X was a bit dead and Injustice wasn’t being played as much by the Dutch community. My French community friends were saying that I just had to host something and that they’d show up. I had French, Belgian, Dutch, and more players show up.

To be honest, I got nothing but support from them. Even people from around that didn’t know me personally showed. It was really cool, they all came for my tournament. That’s when I realized I was really respected. There were people saying how cool I was and how good of a player I became.

Even now I get people telling me that they’ll show up if I host another even if they’re a bad player. It sucks that it’s been almost two years since the pandemic so I haven’t been able to do anything.

What kind of challenges does your content creation career present?

Comments and all that dumb kind of stuff. Whenever I livestream I still get those kind of interactions. I’ve gotten things from “You’re not playing,” and  “The gameplay is pre-recorded,” to “Your shoulders aren't moving.” [Laughs] I still can’t believe that one.

How do you handle that sort of thing?

On a daily basis whenever I play I see people notice my name, “LOSTyGIRL,” and immediately they’re like “Oh that’s that girl. She’s trash.” Blah blah blah. Whenever I see or hear that type of trash talk I try to ignore it, but sometimes I get triggered for sure [Laughs].

I really just think it’s kind of sad that they don’t know me or watch my content but feel the need to talk like that. I’m not the best player either since I’ve been just having a lot of fun with different players to have fun and learn until offline tournaments come back. 

But when I win with my mains and they try to talk trash I just let them go and teabag as soon as they win. Like anybody else though I try to Friendship them (A big sign of disrespect in Mortal Kombat which is basically a joke Fatality one can perform) or if I can’t I just teabag and Fatality back haha. Funny enough, one time when I did that Friendship on someone before he ended up trying to befriend me.

I just know I have to challenge myself to be better than them. I can’t lower myself to their level. And if they don’t change, just ignore it. That’s one of the best things you can do.

What advice would you give to female players that want to join any gaming community?

What I always say is if you want to be involved go and participate even if you’re not that good. You’ll always improve and even with there being bad seeds you’ll be able to make friends. If anything bad happens, always speak out about it which is important. Even just through a Tweet or something.

If you’re the only lady and you feel scared it’s fine. You can always talk about it with the community since we have so many Netherrealm ladies in the scene that constantly support each other. There are also male pro players that constantly speak out about it. I’m always up to help out.

How should people go about speaking out about these harassment situations?

I’ve seen it happen a lot where people are randomly calling the women playing and streaming MK11 the worst things. Expose those people, show their names and we’ll handle it by basically blacklisting them.

You start to really notice that those trash-talking players never show up at tournaments so thankfully you really only get your fill of them online where you can disconnect, ignore, and block them.

There are so many women in the scene that think, “Maybe I shouldn’t play since I went against that toxic Scorpion online that called me this and that.” I want to be that member of the scene that is able to welcome and have fun with everyone. I’d like to push more of these women to join tournaments and keep playing the game. I think I’m doing good at including them and more minority groups to keep playing.

Do you have any funny stories about trash talkers?

I know once I went to an offline tournament where there was this one guy that was always talking bad about player appearances and stuff online. I remembered his name and saw him there and was just thinking, “Oh my god, they exist.” [Laughs] 

I knew his friend, who was very sweet, and he introduced us. I asked him, “Aren’t you that guy that’s always talking bad in Twitch chat?” He was so shy and surprised. You could see he was cringing and trying to laugh it off. Since that day I haven’t ever seen him around again so I think I did the right thing. [Laughs]

Do you have any new goals for 2021 going into 2022?

Whenever it’s safe to travel again I’d like to go to a huge American tournament. I’d definitely train but I really just want to make more content, vlog there, and meet all the beautiful people I’ve been meeting online.

With content creation, I just generally want to do more. I’m really looking into making more that can help beginners out since so many have been asking me for help across my channels.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I just want to encourage ladies to play MK and join us to kick some male asses. [laughs]