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Here's the problem: I still hear comments at industry events that run like this: "Women have never played a major role in the games business apart from isolated examples."
"Women have never played a major role..."
Problem #1: It's not true. About half the games I've shipped have had women in the role of Producer, or in a similar leading position. That's not just since 2000... it's since 1980. That's 50% of my titles over almost three decades.
Problem #2: If you're a woman considering a career in games and you hear "Women have never played a major role," how are you going to feel about your career choice?
Now, there are many topics about women in games that we can debate. ("The Glass Ceiling has shattered in some places but it's still alive and well in others.") That's how we compare ideas and move ahead.
So what am I ticked off about?
When we over-simplify and over-dramatize issues in our quest to bring attention to them, we produce damaging side effects. Like discouraging the very people we're trying to recruit into our industry.
What messages should we give to women planning a career in games?
- Acknowledge the problem: we have not reached gender equity in games... and there are many thoughtful opinions on what "gender equity" should mean.
- That said, women have had a major impact on many games in the history of our industry, going back three decades.
- Over 20 per cent of the Intellivision programming team in 1983 were women. That's a higher percentage than some university engineering majors.
- A long list of major titles have had women leading the production teams, including core games like God of War and Bioshock.
- Sony in particular has strong female producers throughout their North American operations, at all levels... and this has been true for years.
- The Chair of the IGDA is a woman. So is the Director of GDC.
- The evolution of the powerful Development Director position at EA was deeply influenced by a core of top women who were among the first to take on the role.
- These are not isolated cases. The list goes on and on, so long that it is impossible to dismiss as isolated examples.
To some people this may seem like "Don's getting carried away with subtleties of language. No big deal."
But I still remember worrying endlessly about my career choices. Chasing my dream and making a living. Trying to plan my career so that I wouldn't regret my decisions.
And there was no one telling me, "Don, people like you don't really make an impact on this industry."
Publishers need to sell more games to please Wall Street... especially now. To do that they need to reach a more diverse audience. To do that they need more diverse game development teams.
I've had several major publishers tell me that's why they're especially interested in bringing women into their companies.
Want to get involved, debate these issues and help make the future of our industry better? Check out Women in Games International (WIGI), a large and broadly-based organization founded by Sheri Graner Ray to support the professional development of women in games.
OK, I'm done. I've cooled off and I'm putting the soap-box away.
But the next time you meet a woman at a games conference who's looking to enter the field, do me one favor.
Encourage her.
Copyright (c) 2008, Don Daglow
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