How to get more women working in the games industry?

[EmphaFish]

As you all might know, the games industry has become big over the last couple of years, but it has been catering to males for the longest time. However, that doesn't stop the female gamer population from going up (even if that includes your mother playing Just Dance), too. Then again, many game developers are males. Not to say there aren't female devs, but, correct me if I'm wrong, there are no big female names out there. (Not going to start spouting names to prove my point lest I misspell their names.) The reason why I bring this up is because I believe women can bring something completely spectacular to the table if only they were given the chance. And why they aren't given one is because, again, games tend to be male orientated. I don't think one can be passionate enough to do something if it at first it just doesn't grab their attention to do so. Would you try to make alien toys when the market seems to just want solely robot toys? Not the greatest analogy, but I'd hope you get the sense of what I'm getting across.

Gender shouldn't be a big ol' deal but it is, probably because of the way some female characters are portrayed and the secrecy of the gaming community. It's hard to admit, but gaming is like one humongous inside joke. Many know it, but very few get it. You see it all the time, and they're called easter eggs. You all know where it is because you googled it, but you don't get what the reference is. That's what gaming looks like to people who don't "get it." Yet another reason on top of what I've given.

I know there have been quite a few threads dealing with females in gaming, but I wanted to bring up the topic of them WORKING in it. I personally would love to see female devs. I've come to the conclusion that things get done best by those know it best, and that's why we don't see an abundance of great character design. I feel as if female and male characters are hindered because lack of female writers, let alone of good quality. If we can get over the cliched bulky white man named Bill wielding oversized swords (emphasizing the plural)saving the delicate but totally romancable option we can finally say we have a fleshed out character. I myself would enjoy a strong female lead, as recently 80% of my torchlight 2 characters are female.

So Escapists, I finally present you with the long awaited question; how do we get women working in the games industry? Nobody is going roll over and start creating games truly catered to women and not just those barbie things or fitness "games." This will sound cheesy, but how can we have truly have harmony between the two genders? Or will the current demographic of gamers not accept it yet?

EDIT: I wasn't very clear on what I was asking or what my points were. I may or may not have pulled a couple out of my arse. I had this whole, "What if?" thing going on in my head and came up with the question. I injected this whole thing with too much of my own opinion and was in a "in a perfect world..." Look, I'm not one for forcing women into working in the games industry just to have women in the games industry. And having mostly males in the games industry isn't a bad thing. I'm not saying men are as good as women, or the other way around. I feel as if women can improve upon an already good thing. I think we can make video games better than they already are.

I think this is a better question.

That's a bit of a funny bone question you're throwing there.

I think a more appropriate question would be: Are females (gamers or not) actually interested in working in the games industry?

 

[Dire Sloth]

It's not that they aren't being given chances or equal opportunity - far as we know anyways - because they're women, and I don't think that gender has anything to do with what someone 'brings to the table'. I'd like to think developers are hiring people based on their work performance. Or whatever. Not for the sake of balancing out the male:female ratio just no one is left out at the company dance... lolz.

You're not wrong about gaming being largely made up of a male demographic. There's no doubt about that. But I don't think that's any reason to think that there has to be some sort of balance. Maybe there's just not that many women looking to get into the gaming industry. Simple as that.

 

[krazykidd]

As you all might know, the games industry has become big over the last couple of years, but it has been catering to males for the longest time. However, that doesn't stop the female gamer population from going up (even if that includes your mother playing Just Dance), too. Then again, many game developers are males. Not to say there aren't female devs, but, correct me if I'm wrong, there are no big female names out there. (Not going to start spouting names to prove my point lest I misspell their names.) The reason why I bring this up is because I believe women can bring something completely spectacular to the table if only they were given the chance. And why they aren't given one is because, again, games tend to be male orientated. I don't think one can be passionate enough to do something if it at first it just doesn't grab their attention to do so. Would you try to make alien toys when the market seems to just want solely robot toys? Not the greatest analogy, but I'd hope you get the sense of what I'm getting across.

Gender shouldn't be a big ol' deal but it is, probably because of the way some female characters are portrayed and the secrecy of the gaming community. It's hard to admit, but gaming is like one humongous inside joke. Many know it, but very few get it. You see it all the time, and they're called easter eggs. You all know where it is because you googled it, but you don't get what the reference is. That's what gaming looks like to people who don't "get it." Yet another reason on top of what I've given.

I know there have been quite a few threads dealing with females in gaming, but I wanted to bring up the topic of them WORKING in it. I personally would love to see female devs. I've come to the conclusion that things get done best by those know it best, and that's why we don't see an abundance of great character design. I feel as if female and male characters are hindered because lack of female writers, let alone of good quality. If we can get over the cliched bulky white man named Bill wielding oversized swords (emphasizing the plural)saving the delicate but totally romancable option we can finally say we have a fleshed out character. I myself would enjoy a strong female lead, as recently 80% of my torchlight 2 characters are female.

So Escapists, I finally present you with the long awaited question; how do we get women working in the games industry? Nobody is going roll over and start creating games truly catered to women and not just those barbie things or fitness "games." This will sound cheesy, but how can we have truly have harmony between the two genders? Or will the current demographic of gamers not accept it yet?

So you assume that they are no women in the industry because people don't hire women? What about , there is no women in the industry because women don't want/apply to work in the industry .

Also why do you think they can bring something new to the table? Do you think gender affects creativity . Basically your saying men and women view things differently based soley on their gender .

You see men and women aren't that much different . We aren't going to get NEW AND EXCITING ideas just due to genre . While we are at it , we need more ethnic and sexual diversity in the industry ! Maybe throw in a priest and a rabbi !

My point is , this whole man/women thing is getting out of hand . I do understand that some people are up in arms about how women are portrayed in games , but there is also how men are portrayed in games. Hell everyone portrayed in games are pulled from different stereotypes/tropes . It's just that everything is in the image of the developper . He creates and designes characters how he sees fit . If there is such a problem then someone should go out and make games in the image they want themselves .

Anyways that's my 2 cents . I'll just sit back and wait to get flamed like i know i will .

 

[Keoul]

So you assume that they are no women in the industry because people don't hire women? What about , there is no women in the industry because women don't want/apply to work in the industry .

Also why do you think they can bring something new to the table? Do you think gender affects creativity . Basically your saying men and women view things differently based soley on their gender .

You see men and women aren't that much different . We aren't going to get NEW AND EXCITING ideas just due to genre . While we are at it , we need more ethnic and sexual diversity in the industry ! Maybe throw in a priest and a rabbi !

My point is , this whole man/women thing is getting out of hand . I do understand that some people are up in arms about how women are portrayed in games , but there is also how men are portrayed in games. Hell everyone portrayed in games are pulled from different stereotypes/tropes . It's just that everything is in the image of the developper . He creates and designes characters how he sees fit . If there is such a problem then someone should go out and make games in the image they want themselves .

Anyways that's my 2 cents . I'll just sit back and wait to get flamed like i know i will .

I totally agree with everything you just said!

OT:Realistically gender won't bring anything new to the table, creative individuals will. Guys won't make better games than girls and girls won't make better games than guys, it's the individual that makes the difference. There's no reason to cater to women specifically, after all, the beautiful thing about gaming is that there's something for everyone, you just have to look a bit harder.
Also the way you wrote your question, I feel like you want to force women into the industry, probably just me though.

 

[Kallie]

Maybe there's just not that many women looking to get into the gaming industry. Simple as that.

I'm pretty sure it's mostly this.

What about , there is no women in the industry because women don't want/apply to work in the industry .

And this.

I did a degree in computer game programming, and of the 250-300 people on my course, less than 10 were female. I now work in the games industry, and would say that the proportion of female employees in the company I work at is somewhere around 10-15% - and a lot of those are in more admin-related roles rather than actual development.

I don't think anyone can be suprised about 90% (or whatever the actual proportion is) of people being hired for jobs in the games industry being male when 90% of the people applying for those jobs are male. So really, the question is not 'how can we get games companies to hire more women?' - it's 'how can we get more women to want to work in the games industry?'
And the answer? I really don't know, sorry.

 

[Palademon]

It's not that they're not getting chances, it's that there literally are very few.

There's hundreds of people in the first year of my department in uni for games courses. I've seen so few girls I do not require to borrow someone else's hands to count them.

I'd the suggest the best way to bring them in is to remove the social stigma that girls don't play games. I've literally heard this as an excuse for complete ignorance on the matter by a female acquainance, whilst she was surrounded by a group of females gamers. However, doing that is going to be very hard. Once we reach a world that stops having gender roles it will more likely happen, but until then, I think we're stuck.

 

[Arakasi]

I honestly don't know why it matters that there are less women in the industry so long as they are given equal opportunity to do so.
It strikes me as a little sexist.

 

[blackrave]

Give them a time, maybe?
Number of women in gaming industry are increasing, so in 10-20 years things will get there.

I honestly don't know why it matters that there are less women in the industry so long as they are given equal opportunity to do so.
It strikes me as a little sexist.

Yes, also this.
It's like asking why there are so few women amongst firefighters.
Opportunity is there, but women simply prefer other professions.

 

[Not Matt]

LET ME STOP YOU RIGHT THERE!

this is something that has to happen naturally. you can't force people in to picking this line of career. it is just like with mechanics. it WAS male dominated. now, more women is in it. we just have to wait. women will soon get in to the industry. all we need to do is wait. the world is changing. we are almost at the point where we can say that all human beings are equal and people are judged based on their actions rather then their....... okay i fell of topic here

 

[MetalMagpie]

I honestly don't know why it matters that there are less women in the industry so long as they are given equal opportunity to do so.
It strikes me as a little sexist.

This I agree with. ^

I'm a female software developer, and if I had any suspicion that I had been hired because of my gender instead of my skills, I would be mortified. Suggestions that tech companies should "make an effort to hire women" (as one British newspaper said recently) completely devalues women as technical workers. Hire us because we're good. Don't hire us just because we have breasts.

As for whether women can "bring something completely spectacular to the table"; I'd like to gently remind everyone that we're a different gender, not an alien species!

(Apologies for the slight rant, but "how can we get more women into tech and games compenies?" has been bobbing around the news lately and it's starting to irritate me.)

 

[Daystar Clarion]

The only solution is to offer ponies wrapped in pink ribbons and feminine hygiene products as an incentive to get women to work in the industry.

That's what girls want, right?

 

[Hagi]

Give it time. Lots of time. And even then you probably won't see equal representation.

Game development isn't just an artistic business, it's also an ICT business.

And whilst women are certainly capable of succeeding in that business many of them choose to go in other directions, which is totally up to them.

But it does mean we won't see equal representation for a long while yet because before we get more female game developers we need to train more female game developers and before that happens women need to choose for that education.

And for whatever reason, be it societal or biological, women aren't choosing an education that clearly matches game development. Programming courses are generally 90% male, if not more. Graphic Design is better, but even there, especially when it comes to game-related aspects, the majority is male. Design itself can draw from a very large variety of backgrounds, but I think you'll see again that when it comes to people with ambition towards game design you'll see a majority of men.

Before the games industry can change there need to be many talented and educated women ready to fill positions. And whilst I'm certain there are most certainly a number of female game developers who've more than proven themselves the vast majority of women aren't choosing to take their lives in that direction. And we can't force them. So we have to wait until that changes.

 

[Smooth Operator]

OP you do understand this has to happen on peoples own accord?
People might be hell bent on proving gamers sexist but if one looks around they might notice gender roles are deeply ingrained in society, so when kids/young adults choose their line of schooling it is mostly decided from the selection they were taught is appropriate for their gender.

And this means most engineering schools end up with 80-90% male population, which you can imagine bleeds down to game making in a very similar way.

The best you can legitimately do is to educate people it's alright to go for what they want, otherwise pushing people into jobs that fit your grand design will end up in the same problem we are experiencing now.

Also "games for women" falls into the exact same gender role nonsense that is the source of all this.

 

[Traun]

I believe women can bring something completely spectacular to the table if only they were given the chance.

Well, that's incredibly sexist of you.

It's hard to admit, but gaming is like one humongous inside joke. Many know it, but very few get it.

Have you seen how gaming counterparts - comic and movie industry - portray women? If gaming is a joke it's not because of sexism.

I know there have been quite a few threads dealing with females in gaming, but I wanted to bring up the topic of them WORKING in it. I personally would love to see female devs. I've come to the conclusion that things get done best by those know it best, and that's why we don't see an abundance of great character design.

So you're saying that male game designers CAN'T make a great character design?

I myself would enjoy a strong female lead, as recently 80% of my torchlight 2 characters are female.

Are you saying there aren't enough strong female lead characters? Because I'm pretty sure you're pulling this out of your ass.

So Escapists, I finally present you with the long awaited question; how do we get women working in the games industry?

I don't know, but if it includes giving them more opportunity for scholarship, preferential place in the workforce or anything based solely on their gender than I am against it.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

You could offer free Jimmy Choos to any ladies who complete at least 1 year of a programming/game creation course, and a spa weekend for applying to a game studio. Other incentives could include GHD hair straighteners, a new Visa or the promise of guaranteed weight loss.

 

[SlaveNumber23]

Why is there the need to balance the number of males and females working in the game industry? That does not equate to gender equality. Gender equality means males and females are both given the same rights and I'm pretty sure that no one is preventing a female game developer from working for them simply because they are a woman, or at least doing so would be illegal so there isn't really an issue here.

We do not need more women working in the games industry, we need better game developers working in the game industry, regardless of gender.

 

[Burnswell]

If you want to change the number of women who get into game design you have to change the culture around it to make games more appealing to female demographics. The same question can be asked about how we get more men into the fashion industry because it's dominated by women. People do whatever they want.

 

[Dr. Doomsduck]

I think that you'd have to start with education, like, give art or literature students a few courses in game design or story development on that level, so that the women there will come into contact with the gaming industry without having to apply specifically for a complete college-grade in it. Those who are then intrigued will probably have a less biased image of gaming and might apply for those jobs more.

Though I don't think it's necessary to specifically aim for women in the gaming industry, but rather a more diverse crew in different areas of expertise. If we can integrate art, literature, physics, biology or whatnot into different games, they'd become broader platform which might interest a larger audience. Leading to a decrease of 'games are for 14 year old boys'.

That would be good...