Women and Diversity In Gaming

Organizer: Chris Bowen, Microsoft

Johnny Richardson's Notes:

Women seem especially attracted to jobs in art/design in games and not engineering/etc.

Diversity in the workplace is not the same thing as creative diversity. We need to make that distinction.

Making games for women or made by women? What is the effect?

• Current marketing methods for girls is panned by the whole group
• Everything is “pink-ified” instead of actually made for women
  • Barbie, cheerleader, etc.
  • New PSP for girls

Girls seem more into role-playing

• They like managing things, learning, social atmosphere
  • Character development, situational environment
• The Sims is huge w/ women because of this
• FPS games are inaccessible for everyone, not just women
• Gamepad
• Strong women professional gamer groups
  • e.g. PMSClan on Xbox Live (offensive name, possibly), Gamer Girlz (I think)?

Webkinz tangent

• We seem to have delved more into marketing for kids as opposed to women
• Eastern vs. Western culture with how kids can behave online/allowed chat mechanisms and censorship

Casual gamer no longer casual?

• Mostly women
• The average gamer
• A lot of “casual” gamers play more than 30 hrs a week, much more than ”hardcore”
• Facebook games
• Everyone is a gamer whether or not they call themselves one
  • Anyone who calls themselves one is hardcore
  • It’s all about how you identify yourself

Some games are possibly intimidating to girls

• Space marines shooting things
• Women might be into that if a hardcore gamer
• Publishers don’t know what makes a girls game
  • Developer in room says that Dora the Explorer is hard to work on if you’re a woman because it’s got nothing to do with being a girl
  • Purely pink-washing!
• Basically brainwashed by marketing
  • And it WORKS!
• Studios not willing to experiment
• Want/need to attract the parents
  • Parents are ones buying them (blue for boys, pink for girls)
    • EXCEPTION: sometimes girls want the pretty/pink-washed game?

How to attract more diverse developers?

• More women in industry would help to alleviate stereotypical marketing
• Somebody claims that way more males play games than women. Everyone disagrees.
  • Clarification: marketing $$$ spent on males (18-24 is the holy grail)
  • Fact check time: according to a study conducted by the ESA in 2008, women now comprise 38% of all gamers
• Letting women know that there’s opportunities for them in the industry
• IGDA Women in Games SIG
  • Just launched Game Mentor Online (not just for women but ideal for better reaching out)
  • Right now only open to students
  • Newsletter
  • Trying to do a Women’s Indiecade Competition, work w/ Girl Scouts on technology
  • Showing women in the Preservation SIG; founders of industry like Lovelace, etc.
  • Natural progression/generational?
• All women have been on computers post-1980s
• Women will just want to start to be in industry more because they play games more
• Grandparents don’t know the games, just whether or not they look like they’re for boys or girls
  • BUT if you’re a parent who plays games, you might know better
• Academia definitely helping getting women into the industry
  • Take a course, etc.
  • Discovering what’s out there
  • Working with schools
  • Hiring women for projects, etc. (MIT is hiring lots of undergrad engineers for Game Lab research)

Gender of protagonist

• Females are always busty, sexual, and brutal
• Beyond Good & Evil had a “real” woman character, so did Oni
  • Not marketed properly, however
• What would happen if a game like Heavenly Sword were marketed specifically at women? Would it be offensive?
• Fallout 3 has a lot of female characters who have a lot of actual conversations (not related to just talking about guys)
• We talk and chuckle about the awful Dante’s Inferno marketing campaign
  • Turns women away from industry?
  • Booth babes AT GDC!!!
• What about going to expos and more public gamer events to educate women about possible jobs?

For further review:
Cassell, J. and H. Jenkins, "From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games", Boston, MIT Press, 1998

Bryce, J. and J. Rutter, “Killing Like a Girl: Gendered Gaming and Girl Gamers’ Visibility”, in F. Mayra (ed.) Computer Games and Digital Cultures Conference Proceedings, pp. 243–55. Tampere: Tampere University Press, 2002.

Winn, J., & Heeter, C. (2009, July). Gaming, Gender, and Time: Who Makes Time to Play?. Sex Roles, 61(1/2), 1-13. doi:10.1007/s11199-009-9595-7

Session Audio

From Johnny Richardson:
.mp3 Audio, 4.48mb (Ok to decent quality, may need to crank your volume)