Let me begin by saying I know this subject is a zombie dead
pirate ship with a crew of clichés. But there’s something I really wanted to
discuss about this subject, which rises up more than it appears to ever exist
and that’s the approach and attitude people have towards raising awareness and
creating actual change.
Unfortunately because most media articles are designed to
grab the attention of the viewer and relate to their readers emotions they play
out this fictional drama, which in my opinion has a negative impact on women in
the games industry. I'm going to start off by discusses the benefits of raising
awareness to a subject, then talk about the benefits of the actual content and
the impact of such content.
So there are obvious advantages which come to raising awareness to a subject,
in that support for the issue can appear more legitimate and people are more
willing to acknowledge and discuss how to deal with the issue, even if they
would otherwise wish to look the other way. I think most of us in industry have
acknowledged the gender gap as an issue for a long time; it’s not only
something that’s been a recent concern. It has been a rising concern with the
increased numbers of women playing video games in general.
So do I agree it’s good to raise awareness to
acknowledgement of the subject? No. Now before you ready your rifles carry on
reading, the reason lies entirely on the content and approach you are raising awareness
towards, it’s not important to simply raise awareness to something people are
already aware of. What is important however is raising awareness to help create
a community, which helps avoid this issue for the future. This brings me on to
what I have to discuss about content.
The content and approach to dealing with the issue is far
more important than just awareness. It doesn't help to remind people of
something they’re unaware of how to improve and unfortunately most the content
I have read and seen does very little to discuss how you can actually address the
issues raised in the long run. I sympathise that this isn't entirely the media's
fault, as the solutions aren't going to come from people who are only in the gaming
or gaming media community. The real solutions lie in the game developer
community.
Now before people start pointing fingers and gnawing away at game developers
and companies let me make it clear. The game development community is exactly
that, a community it’s not some hierarchical structure or dictatorship and it
involves a lot more than the average person not involved within it realises.
This is why I feel compelled to write and discuss about it, it’s something I've been part of and have been involved in online for 14 years.
You see people fail to address how people become game
developers and get involved in the community in the first place. So let me
start by mentioning the average person I know in a none QA role in industry has
spent at least 4-5 years practicing to become a game developer. Many more have
been part of the community for over 5 years like myself, it is a difficult
creative community and industry and developers usually become part of it long
before being involved in the commercial side of it. I mention this because is
the point where people start to become game developers and this is the stage in
which the problem people have with the gender issue begins. It doesn't begin in
the job sector, it begins in people choosing to live the lifestyle of creating
video games.
Being from the UK the best none video games example I can give is
football, ignoring the physical differences involved in sports. If you’re
hiring football players regardless of gender, you’re far more likely to
interview more men. This is because their are far more men to choose from, who have likely played football from an earlier age. This mainly because the environment, community and male role models involved in
football has developed this way and inspires more young boys to play football than it does girls, the only way you can address this if it’s an
issue is for women to help contribute and build a community for female football
players who can also become female role models for the future.
If you are looking to create a more gender balanced community this is the place
it must start, you can only unfairly alleviate the symptoms to create equal numbers
from there otherwise. When those boys and girls grow up into awesome
developers the only thing that should get them through their job interviews is what they’re
capable of, there experience and their character.
The average person can have a great impact on both society’s perception of and supporting
a community, just as they can be at tearing it apart. So I ask you before you
throw you negative actions towards people you don’t even know, be considerate.
Don’t intentionally go hating upon a community which isn't seeking you harm and
if you’re a women come and contribute to it. After all isn't that what the
people concerned want? If you want the issue to change, that is what it will
take.
