Raychul: How long have you been gaming?
Jo Garcia: I've been gaming since I was really small. My dad was big on it when I was a kid, and he had just about every gaming system you can think of. But, I had Nintendo, Atari, and Coleco as a kid growing up. It was kind of like our daddy-daughter time. He kind of used that as the excuse when buying games. He was like, "Well it's for the kids," and we would do that together. So, I've been big on it ever since.
Raychul: What's some of your favorite games?
Jo Garcia: I'm a big RPG person. I remember my first RPG -- my very, very first one was on Nintendo, and I played it with my dad. I remember finishing it, going all the way through to the end with my father.. I'm big on stuff like Parasite Eve and Oddworld. Final Fantasy is my big one right now -- I play a lot of that. Xenosaga's a good one, I've played all three of those. Kingdom Hearts, I've played the first two of those... the third one hasn't come out yet, so I'm still waiting for it. [I like] games like Radiata Stories, it just really depends.
I've played a couple first-person-shooter games, but I'm not really good at them, so I don't play them that often. I like playing those when I'm playing with a large group of people. I remember when I was in college, we would all get together and bring our Xboxes -- the original Xbox -- and we'd plug multiple Xboxes into each other,with multiple televisions. We'd be in separate rooms fighting each other. We had the red teams and the blue teams, and we'd play in a large group, trying to take each other out -- which was more fun than just playing Halo by yourself.
Raychul: What are you currently playing?
Jo Garcia: Right now, I'm actually sitting in my room playing Final Fantasy XII. I just saved it. I'm going through some of the sidequests right now. You're chasing a bird around, looking for birds in different parts of a board, different worlds, different little cities, and you have to get them to all come back home. Which is stupid, because it has nothing to do with the game, but when you do the little sidequests, it gives you weapons and stuff.... I'm playing that on my PlayStation 2, and I'm playing Final Fantasy Core Crisis on my PSP.
Raychul: Have you tried any of the co-op RPGs, like Champions of Norrath or Baldur's Gate?
Jo Garcia: I've played Baldur's Gate. I actually have that. I like those styles of games.
Raychul: What's your favorite modern-day system?
Jo Garcia: It would have to be PlayStation. I had a PlayStation 3; I bought it. I literally did; I waited outside 22 hours in line outside of Best Buy to get the PS3. I was the only person in line that wasn't selling it on eBay. I played it for almost two weeks, and it just froze up on me and stopped working. I had to take it back, but I'm still loyal to PlayStation even though my PlayStation died on me. (Laughs)
Raychul: Would you say that PlayStation's one of your favorite systems of all time?
Jo Garcia: Yeah, I would have to say that.
Raychul: What other geeky hobbies or habits do you have?
Jo Garcia: I like to put together erector sets, believe it or not. I actually like building computers. I've built a couple of gaming computers, kind of like AlienWare, but with better stuff. You can buy better graphic cards, better sound cards, and make your computer a little more sophisticated. Almost like the AlienWare computers, and not pay half as much. I like to build stuff, just in general.
Raychul: Now, with guys you date, do you like them to be gamers, or would you rather not? Do you have a preference?
Jo Garcia: No, I really don't have a preference. The only preference I have is that they don'tt try to stop me from doing it. I was dating a guy that was really, really against the fact that I played video games. He didn't like it at all, and he was like, "I think that's kind of childish. It doesn't make sense to waste hours playing video games, blah, blah, blah, blah..."
I think everyone has a hobby, and to say that it's a waste of time to do something that makes you feel good is completely wrong. So, that'ss the only requirement I have, that they can'tt be against me actually doing it. A gamer dating a gamer, they tend to appreciate and understand what the urge is. A gamer would be ideal only because they understand the craving.
Raychul: Have you ever played the Playboy Mansion game?
Jo Garcia: No, I have not. I didn't even know they had a game. (Laughs)
Raychul: If you could have a video game character based off of you, what would she be like, and what would some of her abilities or powers be?
Jo Garcia: I wouldn't mind being a cross between Lara Croft and Yuna from FFX. Yuna had the ability to summon all these beasts, and they were her friends. There were some of the most vicious-looking characters in the game, and she had them on a leash. I wouldn't mind being her mixed with the athleticism of Lara Croft, where she just bounces off the walls, hangs off of ropes, and takes out big machines with guns. That would be my ideal character, if they ever make one that could do both.
Raychul: Fellow gamers can be pretty harsh to attractive girls who are gamers, especially if she's a model. So, have the majority of responses to you been positive and supportive, or negative and hateful?
Jo Garcia: Actually, I've been getting a lot of positive support, but a lot of negative, too. I get positive reinforcement after I read the negative stuff. I'll give you an example. Somebody wrote something on a website saying that Playboy probably put me up to this, and they're just doing that whole 'pretty girl spokesperson' Playboy-is-trying-to-get-involved-in-gaming thing...I was like, "Wow." All the skepticism in the room! I was like, "I'm a true gamer, I've been gaming for this long, the games I've played..." I pretty much went to the extent of some of the characteristics that are in games that could only be known by a person playing the game. It's not something that they can teach me, and tell me, "Hey, you need to say this or you need to say that."
So I went on there and was like, "Look, if you don't believe me, let's play StarCraft." And I was like, "You can compete against me, and I'll be the Zerg. You guys can be whoever you want to be, but I'm going to take that group, and we're going to fight, right?" I'm always going to be looked at as, There's no way that pretty girl plays video games. So, if I wasted all my time proving those people wrong, I could've finished a level in a game somewhere. So, it's just one of those things where you kinda have to accept it.
But, it's been pretty positive because they're writing me, and I'm writing back to them and getting active responses. But I think it's a 50/50 split. You always have those guys that say girls don't play video games. Those are the same guys that believe women should stay in the kitchen and be barefoot and pregnant around the house. So, now we have to accept that men are going to be that way a lot of the time. But, it doesn't mean we have to fall into the stereotype and just run off of it, just be mean about it. I'm going to keep playing video games whether they tell me girls don't play video games or not. And I'm just going to get better and better and better at it, and one day I'm going to go head-to-head with somebody that really believes that women shouldn'tbe playing video games. And they're going to feel sorry when they lose.
Raychul: Now, with the Playboy stuff, how did you get into the whole Cyber Playmate world?
Jo Garcia: Actually, through a Playboy Playmate. One of my friends happens to be the 2001 November Playmate, and she actually asked me if I'd be interested in shooting a special edition with her. Playboy has magazine that is just photographs, and she wanted to do a girls-with-girls edition. She had never done a girls-with-girls edition, and she figured the only way she'd do it is with somebody she really knew. So, I said sure, I'd shoot with her, so I went and shot the special edition magazine.
Since then, it just kind of blew up. People kept asking me to come in and shoot, and they ended up shooting me for a Cyber Girl of the Week slot.
Raychul: What's it been like being Cyber Playmate of the Year? Did you ever expect to be in this spot?
Jo Garcia: No, honestly, I didn't! It was a really big shock, because the way they usually do it is based on the votes. So, your Cyber Club members are the ones that are deciding your fate. And then, combined with the editors and the photographers and all the people at Playboy, it's one big decision. So, I was just honored to have won.
Raychul: Have you ever thought about cosplaying as an RPG character?
Jo Garcia: Yeah, that would be cool. Have you ever been to a game con, where you go and have all the people dressed up as the manga characters? I went to one of those, and I was dressed as KOS-MOS. She's kind of like a cross between a robot and a real person [from Xenosaga]. She's a programmed human being. She has the suited armor, and it's a real intricate outfit. I had a friend who was big on making costumes, she makes costumes for all her manga stuff, and she wanted me to dress up in this suit so she could sell it I guess.
For more of Jo, check out her new WiiFit videos at Playboy.com
