Girls-only game dev camp going global

Good to see other efforts to interest girls in game industry careers.

Shabir says, "So, how do I get girls interested in making games? I know girls like playing games. Maybe a summer camp would do it."

The inaugural camp was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California in June, with follow-up camps hot on its heels. The next session is in Los Angeles. Then San Diego, Austin, Boston, Denver, Washington D.C. and Seattle. Later London, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Melbourne and Dubai. 

For full article, see Girls-only game dev camp going global with support from publishers

NY gender gap in tech jobs is widest in nation

 38% of NYC-area tech companies have women in top jobs.

"Women are still being "actively discouraged" from entering the tech field, said Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, a nonprofit working to close the technology gender gap."

For full article, see New York gender gap in tech jobs is the widest in the nation, report says

New Toys for Girls

Frustrated by the lack of non-Barbie-type toys for girls and armed with research on girls' play patterns, these entrepreneurs decided to create toys for girls that would ignite creativity, promote positive self-images, and interest girls in science and engineering.

In particular, I found the research very interesting:

"The play is also very precise with girls," says Kaskey, referring to the way in which girls set up the sports figurines on which the portable playing field and then add their own stuffed toys as spectators.

For the full article and to read descriptions of non-"pink" toys, see "New Toys for Girls" from Westchester Family.

Women in Military Video Games

With the Pentagon's recent announcement that all combat roles would be open to women, it has led to speculation as to whether or not military shooters like the popular Call of Duty series will now feature women more prominently.  The lack of female protagonists in such games has not gone unnoticed. 

In "Games need to address women in military combat," Caleb Hale describes this lack of female protagonists as an example of the game industry's "male-centric mindset" and urges developers to address gender equality in video games. Hale does point out that futuristic, sci-fi games do feature female protagonists, perhaps an indication of a more enlightened society.

Jared Newman in the article, "Women in Combat Roles:Who Knew Video Games Were So Progressive?" expresses the opposite viewpoint, praising the industry for the depiction of capable female warriors in several of these futuristic games.  The mechanics of the games give the same abilities to males and females, alike.

But will we see these female warriors in more realistic shooters?  In "Games likely to follow Pentagon on women in combat," Derrik J. Lang reports that game makers are already thinking of scenarios in which women would appear in combat roles.

Game changers: the women who make video games

"Women have, of course, always played video games, but in the past it was always as a minority. Yet a report by the Internet Advertising Bureau in September found that 49% of gamers in the UK are female; but that percentage is not being reflected in the makeup of the industry, particularly at senior levels."

For the entire article, click on the link above!

NYT: Zynga's Tough Culture Risks a Talent Drain

“We’ve learned that when companies treat talent as a commodity, the consequences are severe,” said Ms. Toledano of Electronic Arts. “It takes years to repair a reputation.”

For full article, click the link above.

The three biggest myths about women in tech

For full article, click on link above.

"One common response from the mostly male responders was that these data must be incorrect and misleading because they personally have not witnessed these issues. In other words, if I haven’t seen or experienced bias, it cannot possibly exist.

Interestingly enough, when presenting these findings at different companies and organizations, we got the same response time and time again from the women and people of color who work in IT: “This data doesn’t surprise me at all; it is perfectly aligned with what goes on here.”

For PapyaMobile, women are the "whales"

Papaya Mobile finds that "whales," or users spending more than $100 on a game, accounts for 60% of its revenue.

Excerpt:

As is customary in games, PapayaMobile depends heavily on the tiny proportion of users who pay for goods in social mobile games. But one of the surprises is that some of the most enthusiastic customers, known as “whales,” are for the most part women. Papaya found that 69 percent of its big spenders in games are women.

For full article, click on link above.

Gaming with Your Daughter is Good for Her

Link to full article above:

This study linked positive outcomes for parents playing video games with daughters, but did not find the same results for parents playing video games with sons. The authors theorize that it may be because sons have more video game time with friends.

In addition, parents (usually fathers) playing video games with boys played games like Halo while games like Mario Kart were usual when playing games with girls.

Another interesting note:

The BYU researchers found that 31 percent of the children reported playing age-inappropriate games with their parents (42 percent of boys, 15 percent of girls) and they report that "heightened parent–child connection was not found for girls who played these age-inappropriate games with their parents."

Where Are the Women in Tech, You Ask?

"So why don't we know about these women in tech? Simple. Women are far less likely to be in love with the technology for its own sake vs. their male counterparts, so they tend to be low key in talking about the technology itself. You're not likely to hear a woman say that her technology is "sick," though I've heard that term used by not a few men CEOs . These women are not likely to be found in tech meet-ups as they are far more likely to be found helping their kid with homework. All of which is to say, women tech CEOs may not have the brash bravado of her male counterparts, but their relative silence should not be mistaken for absence."

To see the full article from Advertising Age, click on the link above.

Young women possess characteristics of inventors, but do not see themselves as inventive

MIT study:

"Further demonstrating inventive traits, young women show a strong affinity for math and science — two of every five female respondents (42 percent) rate these as their favorite subjects in school. More than half of male respondents (53 percent) agree. 35 percent of young women also say they have a family member working in a field related to science, technology, math or engineering. The results reveal young women’s innate interest in inventive fields; however, recent statistics show while more women are entering college and obtaining degrees, less than ten percent earn them in technical majors such as computer and information sciences, engineering or math. This proportionately small group indicates a need to educate women about translating their skills and academic interests into inventive careers."

For the full article, click on the link above.

Inside the Minds of Girl Gamers

Click the title link for a presentation with stats on female gamers.

Gender discrimination linked to poor project management

There's also evidence of bias against women in recruitment and job assignment in places where high-tech corporate cultures thrive on this "hero mindset" that "rewards a 'last minute' crunch where 24/7 work becomes necessary to 'save' a project, failing to acknowledge family responsibilities and flexibility needs," the report says.

Women earn more than men in UK games industry

"Whilst women are still a minority in the sector’s workforce, they are earning more than their male counterparts, according to research conducted by MCV.

Average female annual salaries are £2,000 higher than the male wage, at £33,260."

Gender & Educational Computer Games

from Serious Games Interactive Newsletter:

"Designing an educational computer game is not a gender-neutral process. Understanding the relationship between gender and computer games is essential for creating games. For educational games to be successful, they must be of a high quality and contain themes that appeal to the game preferences of both genders.

Most researchers have come to agree that although boys and girls are equally skilled at using computers and computer games, boys are more likely than girls to play with them. This is a concern when considering incorporating computer games into a educational system. However, by understanding the causes of the gaming gender rift, educators and game developers, like us, can create successful educational computer games"

Read the rest of the article here.

Women are over-worked and under-served by businesses

Excerpt:

Mr. Silverstein added, “Companies are failing to meet the needs of women in five key ways: Poor product design and customization for women; clumsy sales and marketing; inability to address the need for time-saving solutions; inability to provide a meaningful hook and differentiation, and failure to develop community.”

Game Developers Gunning for Girl Power

"In the U.S. alone, video games for girls ages 2 to 12 generated sales of $1.4 billion for the 12-month period through April, according to sales tracker NPD Group. The girls segment represented about 7% of the total video game market for the period."

Industry comes clean on crunch

Results from Develop's Quality of Life in 2009 survey:

"Ninety-eight per cent of game developers across the world do not receive paid overtime, despite being frequently asked to work an extra ten to fifteen hours per week."

Beyond 'Sweetie'

New York Times Article that looks at female learning styles. Does the Socratic method put women at a disadvantage? How can we incorporate knowledge of female learning styles into our games? Now that there are more women in higher education, classroom dynamics have changed...

"The criminal lawyer Alan Dershowitz, an advocate of the Socratic method who has taught at Harvard for four decades, has found that classroom dynamics have ''changed dramatically'' with the increase in women's enrollment. After he commented in one class that rape was -- statistically speaking -- ''a rare crime,'' a group of women complained to Professor Minow. When their concerns were relayed to Professor Dershowitz, he asked them to teach a lecture on rape from the victims' perspective. The women assigned the class to read the standards of consent to sexual intercourse and argued that statistics on rape could be inaccurate because of underreporting."

Microsoft Recognizes Game Industry Women

This article originally appeared as part of Edge Online's coverage of GDC 2009.

Microsoft held its first ever Women in Gaming Awards Luncheon on Wednesday during GDC, an intimate event recognizing the accomplishments of all women in an industry currently dominated by men.

Winners in the four award categories were:

Art
Kiki Wolfkill
Executive producer, director of art, Microsoft Game Studios, working on the Halo franchise

Design
Robin Hunicke
Designer and producer at EA, working on MySims, Boom Blox!

Programming
Corrinne Yu
Principal engine programmer, Halo Team Microsoft

Production
Siobhan Reddy
Producer on LittleBigPlanet at Media Molecule

Attending the luncheon via video was Sims and Spore man Will Wright, who was unable to make it to the event in person. But in his message he said that in his experience in working with women, they aren’t necessarily any better than men at design, but they are able to see things differently, and bring new depth to game design. In all, he’d like to see more women in senior management positions in the games industry

Sande Chen contributed to this report.