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Women in Gaming – More Than Meets the Eye
Does Lara Croft represent the face of women in gaming?
Is this the face of women in gaming?
How about this?
Perhaps this better describes what women in gaming are all about.
None of these so-called "women" are real. As much as we all love Peach, the real women in gaming are the people you never see. They're the ones who sit at a computer, punching numbers so that you can pick up a game controller and be entertained for hours. They're the ones who oversee the structure and design of a game, making sure that every last detail is correct. They're also the ones who manage the business side of things so that developers know they have a deadline -- and so gamers know what's coming.
This summer GameZone Online spotlighted several of the most important female figures in the game industry.
Sheri Graner Ray (Game Designer, Sony Online Entertainment)
Writer and designer Sheri Graner Ray is best known to gamers for her work on the Ultima series. That's only a fraction of her accomplishments though. Sheri has conducted research at Her Interactive; served as President for Sirenia Software (which she also founded); and wrote the book Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market.
Currently she's working at Sony Online Entertainment, and in September she helped bring together the first annual Women's Game Conference.
When asked how to make the perfect game for women, Sheri commented: "Women are not a genre. They're a market. And they've got diverse tastes and interests and wants and desires in their entertainment. So it's really hard to say this is the women's game, or this is the game you want to make when you want to make a game for women."
Sheri says that content barriers are the real issue that needs to be conquered. "It's more important to look at what things we're putting in our games that are barriers to access for the female market. Address those things, and simply make the titles that we're making today more accessible to the female market."
In researching gamers, Sheri uncovered a significant difference in the way boys and girls play.
"Probably the most interesting thing I've found is the difference between young boys and young girls, little children, play. There's a definite break on gender line.
"When boys play in a group, the way they play is each person, each young boy, attempts to dominate the playtime, imposing the way he thinks they should play upon the group. In other words, trying to get the group to play by his rules. Each boy in the group will do this.
"On the other hand, girls will spend more time setting up the rules, working together to come up with a common rule set that they're all going to play by. The girls very often don't actually get around to playing, they spend more time making the rules. Whereas the boys do spend the time playing but are more concerned with trying to make sure it's played their way. I thought that was very interesting."
Ellen Beeman (Live Team Producer, The Matrix Online)
From Microsoft and Disney to Sega and Electronic Arts, Ellen Beeman has written, designed and produced video games for a number of companies since 1989. Her latest project is based on one of the most successful films in the world: The Matrix Online.
As time-consuming as a project like that is, she managed to save a few moments to serve on the Steering Committee for the Women's Game Conference.
I had the pleasure of interviewing Ellen Beeman this past June. She had so many good things to say that I don't even know where to begin.
The following is an excerpt from our Q&A.
Imagine I'm a woman looking for a good career, but I don't currently have an interest in the game industry. What would you say to spark my interest in it?
Ellen Beeman: Would you like to work with brilliant, creative people on projects that will challenge you to the utmost? Would you like to try things that have never been done before, and break new ground in technology and computer art and game design? Then do I have a job for you...! <g>
Here's another scenario: If I were a woman thinking about working in the game industry, which aspect should I pursue? Which part of the business is prime for women?
EB: Every possible job area is one that should be pursued!
Historically, more women have worked in the game industry in areas of art creation, Marketing and PR, HR, and Sales, but there are amazingly talented women working in the game industry in programming, design, producing, and executive management. Good companies recognize that employee diversity is a benefit to their teams, their products, and their bottom line.
Where is the best place for both men and women to start working in the industry?
EB: I'm a big fan of internships, as I should be, since I've spearheaded the growth of Monolith's internship program! If someone is having problems making that leap from college to a good game industry job, I highly recommend exploring the possibility of an internship.
Laura Fryer (Director of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group)
Producing Crimson Skies and Fighter Ace gave Laura Fryer the experience she needed to become Director of Xbox Advanced Technology Group. As Director she helps ensure that everything goes smoothly so that you, the gamer, can play the latest and greatest games each year. She does this in part by putting together Xbox game developer events.
Prior to that she helped launch MSN Zone.com. Most recently she joined up with Sheri Graner Ray to produce this year's Women's Game Conference.
Laura's love of games doesn't end with producing them – she loves to play them, too, taking video game vacations (all-day marathons of non-stop gaming) whenever she has the time.
"NHL Hitz, Age of Empire II, Dungeon Siege - we play a wide variety," comments Laura, referring to one of the gaming marathons she had with her brother.
What struck me the most about Laura is her attention to detail. I asked her why so many games have great gameplay, graphics and music, but fail to incorporate good voice acting. Here's her response:
"I don't think that people are failing to see the importance of it necessarily. I think it's that some games have really focused on making that happen, and others are just getting into that. We went out and hired voice actors for Crimson Skies. We had a lot of voice-overs for that, and those people had to actually play in character as well. So I think it's more that some games decide to focus on things other than that. I think what you're going to see in the future is that games are going to have to focus on all of it. And all of it is going to have to be right, because the problem is, every time a game comes out that does have good voice acting, they've just set the bar for every other game."
Mia Consalvo (Assistant Professor, Researcher of Cheating In Games)
Is it wrong to cheat? That's just the question Mia Consalvo, Assistant Professor and Major Game Player, asked herself. To find the answer she went straight to the source: gamers. She wanted to know what they thought of cheating. Is it good? Is it bad? Should it be accepted under certain circumstances? Or should cheating always be shunned?
"Cheating is like porn -- hard to define, but we know it when we see it," she says.
Mia is an Assistant Professor in the School of Telecommunications at Ohio University. She served on the Steering Committee for this year's Women's Game Conference in addition to being a part of the panel at the Game Developer's Conference.
Her research findings have been very interesting. There's always going to be someone who believes cheating is okay no matter what. But what about the guy who takes it to the extreme in the opposite direction?
"I actually talked to one guy who even said, he was playing Max Payne, you know it uses bullet-time in it, he felt like that sort of game him an unfair advantage."
Surprisingly, Mia believes that cheating has actually helped the game industry.
"If you look at things like strategy guides, game magazines and online walk-thrus and cheat codes, a lot of this stuff increases replayability of the game. So when people, once they know about Final Fantasy, they have to play through the game several times to find everything. [But they can] go to www.GameFAQs.com, or buy strategy guides to get everything. So it's increased the replayability, the satisfaction people have with games, and it's made the industry a little bit more sophisticated. They have to respond and make things more secure. Some people would argue that they're more fun, you know, with cheat codes it allows for people to play in different ways. Some people don't want to beat the game, they just wanna goof around."
Once Mia's research is complete she intends to compile the information for a book on cheating.
Kathy Schoback (VP of Content Strategy, Infinium Labs)
Prior to joining the ambitious team at Infinium Labs, Kathy Schoback worked at Sega and Eidos Interactive, gaining invaluable skills and experience.
"I started at entry-level at Sega, training the people answering phones in the consumer service department," she said in regards to her career and her move to Infinium Labs. "My other offer letter was for an admin position at Oracle. I can't help but think I'd be richer at Oracle, but relational databases aren't too fun."
She too was a part of the Women's Game Conference, serving on the Steering Committee and as one of the speakers.
GameZone Online: How do game development jobs (programming, graphic arts, etc.) compare to business positions (marketing, PR, etc.) in terms of salary and potential growth?
Kathy Schoback: "They are separate but equal job paths, and a lot depends on your ultimate career goals. Most major publishers are headed by folks with sales/marketing backgrounds. Most heads of development or independent developers have engineering backgrounds. Plenty of people take pride in being an industry-leading graphics programmer, or the best brand thinker in the business, and have no interest in management. The trite but true answer is to do what you're interested in, and get really good at it - but decide what you want out of your life first."
Next to beta testing or PR, what is the best way to break into the game industry?
KS: "Start with the Breaking In page on the IGDA website: http://www.igda.org/breakingin
"After that - show up at industry events like GDC (Game Developers Conference) and local IGDA chapter meetings, listen, and meet people. This is a small industry and relationships matter."
Her final words of wisdom are just what the skeptics of games like Rez and Pikmin need to hear.
"At least once a month, buy and play a game that you wouldn't ordinarily choose. You'd probably be pleasantly surprised, and you'd also be supporting creativity from unexpected places."
Mary-Margaret.com (Recruitment Agency, Women’s Game Conference Sponsor)
Need a job? Need to fill a job? If it's game or entertainment industry-related, Mary-Margaret.com can help. They have a unique system for bringing together the best game developers and business professionals with the best publishers and development studios.
What are their requirements? What kind of skills/education are they looking for if I were, say, a programmer?
Mary Margaret: I would say a minimum of 3-5 years of experience. Some clients are very particular. If they're trying to fill an engineering position on a console game in a particular genre, they want someone with several years of experience, or two or three published titles on that console in that genre.
Robin: …Which as you can image is difficult to find for the client. Clients come to us when they have a hard to fill position. We work very hard to find the people they need through a variety of means. Our large database and personal network help us fill these positions.
In general we see the most movement [in programming].
Unfortunately, it's very difficult to break into the game industry. As an entry-level programmer or artist you basically have to show that you can do the work. And the only way to do that is to get out and work on your own game stuff, or do mods, or make demos, whatever. You have to be able to show that you can do the work and that you can qualify for the entry-level position.
Mary Margaret: …And network to get the job.
Robin: It's very important to be in the right place at the right time with the right skill set and know the right people. It takes a lot of work. You can't just fall into a game company job. Certainly not anymore.
Constance A. Steinkuehler (MMOG Researcher, University of Wisconsin-Madison)
"Microsoft. At GDC this past year, their attempt to sponsor a 'women in gaming' social hour was obnoxious. After showing clip after clip of interviews with gamers in their keynote without a single woman gamer included, they then hang posters everywhere with this silly avatar (all T&A and the only facial feature showing being a big red puckered mouth) and claim they are 'promoting women in games.' I was embarrassed for them."--Constance A. Steinkuehler, answering the question: If there was one thing you could eliminate from the game industry, what would it be?
Constance is a researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As you can probably tell, she doesn't have any qualms about sharing her opinions.
"I have a real ambivalence toward separate conferences for women and games," she said when asked if she was going to attend this year's Women's Game Conference. "I'm not sure it's a solution, but then I can't come up with any better idea. I'm a gamer, a games researcher, and then women gamer/researcher. I would hate to see gender and gaming treated as a wholly separate conversation from the broader industry. All that said, though, I do admire what the organizers are trying to do."
Hit the link for more of Constance's eye-opening comments.
Celia Pearce (Research and External Relations Manager for the Arts Layer of Cal-(IT)²)
"I'm especially encouraged by the level of creativity and initiative today's game players take. They are all about creating their own entertainment experience, which makes my job even more fun."--Celia Pearce
Designer, Artist, Author, Teacher, Researcher -- Celia Pearce has done it all. That doesn't mean, however, that doesn't mean she's content with the way things are.
In our recent interview, Celia told me that her biggest disappointment is that the game industry has become boring. "Ten years ago, it seemed like every new product that came out, for better or worse, invented a new genre," she said. "Some of the stuff was awful, but you know Myst, Doom, 7th Guest, all the Indiana Jones games -- those games were watersheds. Now it's just the same old thing but with more polygons and better textures. I'm always glad to see something like The Sims suddenly appear, which defies all the odds and breaks into a new audience."
And that's not all she has to complain about. She isn't too happy with the male to female ratio either.
"I still can't believe it when I walk into game studios and see one woman for every hundred men. It feels like we're still living in the dark ages. And I don't mean the Dark Ages of Camelot. This is one area where game research has a leg up -- there are a lot more women in the academic side of gaming. Believe it or not, it's a lot less hostile environment for us."
Game Not Over
The first annual Women’s Game Conference may have come to a close, but that doesn’t mean these gaming gals are anywhere near finished. We’ll continue to spotlight the industry’s most prestigious women, bringing you the latest details on their video game innovations.
If you missed the Women’s Game Conference, don’t fret – the 2nd Annual Women’s Game Conference is scheduled for October 26-27, 2005.
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