Microsoft hired her in 2002 to write Xbox product manuals. She also wrote articles for the Xbox website and started doing community outreach, writing a blog and posting interviews with Xbox gamers. After Xbox Live launched, she hit upon the idea of creating an online persona named TriXie.
"The name's a tiny bit naughty, but playful," Phillips said. "We knew our audience."
TriXie became Microsoft's female face in the gaming world. She reported on game events, answered questions from players and chatted with online gamers.
Through GamerchiX, the sassy mother of two has become part camp counselor, part sorority sister and part den mother.
While playing on Xbox Live on Wednesday night, Phillips fielded a message from a GamerchiX member who had been stalked with derogatory e-mail messages. TriXie fired off an order for the male perpetrator to be kicked off the service.
"You can't harass my girls," she said.
It's not just male aggression that Phillips monitors. Sometimes the nastiness comes from other women. GamerchiX members must agree to a code of conduct that she calls a "manifesta."
"You cannot talk trash about other women, ever," Phillips said. "Some girls make your eyes bleed, they're so nasty. The girl cat-fighty stuff brings us all down. But those girls are the exception. Most of them are amazingly supportive and cool."
Female gamers have formed several all-women organizations. UbiSoft Entertainment sponsors Frag Dolls, a group of nine women age 20 to 32 years who play professionally. PMS Clan counts 750 members.
Those who band together say they crave the support of a larger entity. "When you're a minority, it can be daunting and frustrating," Dalton said. "Having a unit there you can network with is an empowering experience."
That desire to bond is natural, said Louann Brizendine, director of the Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic at UC San Francisco and author of "The Female Brain."
"The one question I always get from boys is why girls always go to the bathroom together," Brizendine said. "They do it because it's a safe and protected place they can go to exchange information.
"It's the one place where boys can't follow them," she said. "Microsoft is creating the Xbox version of the girl's bathroom."
That doesn't mean women aren't competitive. Dalton quit a job in finance in San Antonio that paid $150,000 a year to launch her career as a competitive game player. She is ranked among the top 10 players of a boxing game called "Fight Night." She also plays "Gears of War," a rough-and-tumble shooting game.
