Gaming in the Media: Women Working in Games - 5 Viewpoints, 2 Ways to Play
January 2008 Issue
Features
- From the Editors
- Craft Check: Gaming Gloves
- Gaming in the Media: Women Working in Games - 5 Viewpoints, 2 Ways to Play
- Market to Me: Women as players
- Gamer vs Gamer: An old debate for the new year: casual vs. hardcore
Interviews
- Industry Interview: Naomi Clark
- Blogger Interview: Mighty Ponygirl [Feminist Gamers]
Articles
- Gender & Live-Action Role Play: Reality Repackaged
Author: Samara Hayley Steele
- Planning a Women-Only Gaming Group
Author: Robyn Fleming
- Celebrating women in the industry
Author: Andrea Rubenstein
- Choosing Imitation Over Innovation
Author: Richard Pilbeam
In this ongoing series, Samara shares her experiences as a female LARPer in a male-dominated LARP Organization.
Robyn outlines the trials and tribulations of organizing an all-women gaming group.
Andrea looks at some of the influential women in the video game and tabletop gaming industry.
Richard discusses ways in which imitation and a lack of innovation help to perpetuate sexist themes in games produced by the RPG Maker community.
Gamer Stories
Reviews
- Super Mario Galaxy
- Retro Review: Pitfall!
Odds 'n Ends
This piece was originally intended to be a wrap up of the year in games but it looks like every other blog has covered the topic - and, in a surprising twist, so did BBC. Apparently, the world of gaming has gone mainstream. Perhaps we will remember 2007 as the year video games came out of the fringe and into the realm of mainstream entertainment. (Or maybe not.)
At any rate, while reading through all the other year end wrap-ups, I came across an interesting series on the MTV Multiplayer blog.
The Women Working in Games Series features interviewer Tracey John asking various women in the gaming industry about their impressions working in a field that is male dominated and has some very sexist overtones.
(There are also racist/ableist/homophobic overtones but that is another post entirely.)
The results were illuminating.
Five women were interviewed for this series, but two major viewpoints became dominant. Either women believed that there were some problems in the industry, and spoke to what they had experienced or there was a complete denial about what women in the gaming industry (or even women consumers for that matter) dealt with when they picked up a game.
I must say, it reminded me quite a bit of the current division in female gamerdom. For every woman with a controller who looks at games, graphics, and jiggle physics, has a WTF moment and takes it to the blogs and the forums, there is another woman waiting to tell her to STFU and deal with it - after all, it’s just a game, right? If it bothers you so much, stop playing.
However, this simplistic exchange does not come close to the realities of women who work in video games and media. Tracey John’s series allows for a lot of different perspectives, including designers, writers, producers, coders, PR mavens and TV show hosts.
Here are some selections from each interview:
- G4’s Morgan Webb
- Game Girl Advance’s Jane Pinckard
- Elspeth Tory of Assassin’s Creed
- Brenda Braithwaite, designer, professor, and author
- Tali Fischer, Sega PR
People often try to get me… “Don’t you want to encourage young women to play video games?” I’m like eh. It’s not like anyone’s keeping them from playing games. They’re free to if they so choose and second of all, I think being in the gaming industry is great. There’s a lot of jobs for women, and I think that if more women are in the gaming industry, there’s going to be a lot more games for women… Men and women — and I’m an exception because I like to shoot people in the head in my video games — but they realistically like different video games. And I think women, when they look at games like “Soul Calibur,” where all the women are wearing spandex everything, a woman looks at that game and says, “This game isn’t made for me. This game was made for men and I can see that.” And whether that’s conscious or subconscious, it’s going to turn her off.
I think when Toby [Gard] designed Lara Croft, he did design her to be this basically over-the-top superhero. And then when marketing got a hold of her, they had her pose topless with Duke Nukem’s hands on her boobs, and they had her do these stupid pictorials. And Toby, the creator was like, “Lara Croft, my character, would never do those. She is a classy, strong woman.” He felt like he had lost control over how she was depicted and presented. And of course she’s virtual; she can’t say no. They can make her do whatever they want. Which is another interesting form of manipulation. Because at least Jade can say no.
I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily an advantage to be a woman in the gaming industry right now. I’d say it’s about even. But since there is that push for more women, I think that women have just as much opportunity to get in now as men, and I think that’s great. Disadvantages.. Sort of like the ones I was talking about earlier. The whole notion of trying to get into a boys’ club and being one of the guys, and how do you bond with a group of people when you don’t necessarily want to go out for beers with them every Friday night?
Sometimes I’m irritated because if you’re running around in a game, and you’re half-naked in a game, this is a choice that I may not have personally chosen to look like this to somebody I’m talking to in a game world, but I am. So I’m approaching them as this hyper-sexualized avatar, when I really would have rather approached them as something else. So that doesn’t help. So with this hyper-sexualized guys, one thing that I like to think of is, and I’ll point out to the guys—Sheri’s loaned me this slide so I can show this in my classes. And when I show this, and I go through Sheri’s lecture and I get to this particular slide, I say, “Just imagine, the way you guys felt here, this is how it felt for someone we worked so hard to get and they have finally purchased their first game, and this is what they turn it on and see. Just imagine.” And then after this I’ll show pictures of women in games alongside their male counterparts, “Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance” being one of my favorite ones. And it’s like, doesn’t that look silly now that somebody’s called your attention to it?
I feel like there is this constant scrutiny on everyone’s behavior looking for an indication of sexism here. Almost like people outside the industry hope there is more sexism to point a finger at. I don’t feel like there is. I do feel like every industry has its politics and every industry has its personality conflicts and every industry has its extreme example of bad interpersonal behavior. But when it comes to video games, there really is no dramatic story of women prevailing over the big bad men.
These quotes were chosen to be representative of the tone of each interview. Links have been provided to the full text. However, as we can see, there were two very different perspectives being articulated. Jane Pinckard, Elspeth Tory, and Brenda Braithwaite all spoke about some of the issues they saw in the gaming world. Quite a lot of this was spot on critique, yet they managed to stay upbeat and enthusiastic about gaming in general. Brenda Braithwaite mentioned that she was not bothered seeing women running around in g-string costumes - however, she quickly elaborated on why she did not feel it was strange as well as providing examples of where that costume choice would be considered odd. (Short version: Playboy bunny in a mansion? Thong. Warrior exploring an icy tundra? Thong, not so good.) There was a very broad idea of what could be considered offensive, and what was not, but all three of these women tried their best to express and understand viewpoints different to their own.
Morgan Webb’s interview was disappointing on a lot of levels, the quote above notwithstanding. While she occasionally discussed issues in the gaming industry, she was really too concerned about her show to answer any kind of question that could be construed as provocative. It becomes evident later in the interview that she really choose to answer the questions as a way to promote her G4 and TechTV projects - she was not interested in answering broader questions about the industry and trends.
I can’t really fault her for this though. The entertainment industry is quite fickle and provocative comments from Webb could turn her main viewer base against her. Also, it seems that Webb is playing it safe for business reasons - as the main architect of her brand, she appears to be actively managing her online and offline profile. So, while I wish she would have taken this opportunity to really air some of her perspectives, I won’t knock her hustle.
Tali Fischer, however, comes off as a master of spin. I suppose that is applicable as she works in public relations, but her answers were so vague and generic that Tracey John emailed her a series of specific, pointed follow up questions to clarify some of her statements. Despite John’s excellent initiative, Fischer continues to reframe the question until it suits her purposes, painting an overly bright picture of gamer camaraderie and diminishing the question of oversexualization in gaming down to a simple adage: beauty (standing in for sex) sells.
And as we know that is a problematic assumption to make, much less use as defense.
It does make me wonder why so many women are so quick to defend practices that are outwardly damaging or misogynistic. Is it because we are willing to trade a long term benefit for a short term game? Is it because we are enchanted with the novelty of being one of the “cool girls” or “one of the boys?”
Or, are some of us just to afraid to stand up for ourselves?
I’ll admit that my gaming experience more closely experiences that of Morgan Webb than anyone else. Gaming with men has been enjoyable, and they have been nothing if not encouraging and accepting. However, that does not mean that problems in the gaming industry that I did not personally experience do not exist. And it does not mean we should trivialize the challenges of women entering the industry because they do not fit the pretty narrative we would like to sell.
In 2008, here’s to hoping that we can further gaming dialogue to the point where people will be able to share their unedited experiences without the fear of blacklash or retribution.
