Look Ahead To Women in Games Conference

The Guardian Gamesblog has a look ahead to one of the two conferences to be held in Edinburgh this August. In the first look at the Women in Games conference, some of the headlines speakers share what their expectations are for the event. From the article: "It is not enough just to get more women making games. Game developers have long tended to make games for themselves, and the problem is that they are an atypical audience. This will be true of women too...The kinds of women who want to make videogames are rather different from the kinds of women whom I hope to attract as consumers. I'd like to reach out to female consumers who don't have any interest in making games, and just want to play them. That means thinking beyond the female developer to the female customer."

Comments

The Problem isn't "women", it's "people"

[EvilMagnus]

The barrier that's preventing more women from playing games is the same thing that's keeping a wider audience from computer games - they're perceived as childish passtimes. I have a sister-in-law who is perfectly normal and intelligent (holds two advanced degrees) who absolutely refuses to play computer games - calling them 'childish' and 'a waste of time'. She'd rather spend her time partying, mountain biking or watching TV.

Part of this is a perception problem, sure, but she's otherwise a perfectly well-adjusted, 'normal' member of society.

It will take many more years for the stygma of computer games to erode and for them to be seen as a socially-acceptable passtime on equal footing with watching TV.

wtf?

[oblivionboy]

Game developers have long tended to make games for themselves, and the problem is that they are an atypical audience.

Actually I work for a major video game company, and I know very well that video game companies DON'T make games for themselves. Video games are a business, and lately a very serious one at that. I was recently talking to the big guy here in charge of releasing games (the chief editor you might call him), and I asked him where new games and ideas come from, how did they decide on things. Well you know what? It comes from Marketing. Now this is not a surprise, because thats how its done everywhere else too (and yes I'm not saying its a GOOD thing).

Whenever this topic comes up, being a humanist, I say everyone is equal and you go do whatever you have to do. So men can go run around and push for their stuff, and women can do the same. But don't EXPECT me or anyone else to do it for you. I'm not a feminist, and when women ASK me why not, I basically tell them that because I'm a guy.

Now the reason I bring all this up, is because I haven't been convinced that there are a lot of women who WANT to play games. There certainly is a vocal minority. And I think that the video game companies know this too. There are ALOT of female produces on our games (out of say eight or nine producers at least four are women), and its not because we're lacking "femaleness" that "female" games aren't made.

But in staying with the paragraph before last, I say go for it. Go and make your lesbian hot tub racing -- er your bikini lounge---um...well whatever game you'd like to make, and we'll see.

But don't say that the video game companies sit in a vacuume and make games for themselves.