There’s been a little storm erupting over Twitter regarding EA’s announcement of their new Charm Girls Club IP and corresponding line of “EA Girls” products, which suffer from pretty much all the issues that Michael Abbott so succinctly wrote about in a semi-recent Brainy Gamer post. Essentially, the vast majority of “girl games” promote a shallow, crass consumerist worldview that’s every bit as dangerous as the violence we see in games played by boys of the same age — perhaps even moreso, since said consumerism tends to be brushed off as perfectly normal and harmless. After all, you look at the magazines on the shelves and the TV shows and movies being targeted to young girls, and it’s pretty much the same thing, isn’t it? EA and co. are just giving these young girls exactly what they want… aren’t they?

Obviously, I can’t speak for everyone, but considering that I, unlike the majority of folks who work on these sorts of games, [1] actually used to be a pre-teen girl, I’d say my opinion’s got to be at least somewhat valid. Thus, here’s what I’d do if I were somehow given an opportunity to write a game for pre-teen girls.

But wait! There’s more…

Historically, I’ve been of the mind that actually going out and accomplishing things is far more important than simply sitting around and talking about them. It’s a big reason why this blog is more of a development blog than a criticism blog, [1] and it’s also a reason why I don’t spend a hell of a lot of time blogging in the first place. Lately, however, I’ve been wondering: is this the right way to be going about things, if I want to achieve the goals I’ve set out to achieve? In other words, should I be making better efforts to sell myself?

Ugh. Selling oneself. There’s a big part of me that recoils in disgust at that very thought. I’d rather believe in the notion that all you have to do is make a good game, and the rest will take care of itself. Thing is, while the industry worked this way in the eighties and perhaps the early nineties, this isn’t how it works now. A lot of mediocre games do quite well, a lot of good ones fail, and altogether too many wind up practically forgotten. There are just too many games out there competing for virtual shelf space for it to be nearly as easy to get noticed as it used to be, particularly if you’re young and relatively unknown.

But wait! There’s more…

I want to make games that don’t impress through their next-gen graphics, their sophisticated AI, or their innovative mechanics, but through, as a wise old man once said, the content of their character.

I want to make games that incorporate rather than reject the cultural traditions of other media, while at the same time adding something new and unique to said traditions.

I want to make games where the characters you play feel like old friends, not like puppets to be manipulated.

I want to make games that mirror the world we live in, but don’t painstakingly copy it.

I want to make games that are funny but not frivolous, and serious but not melodramatic.

I want to make games that are compelling, not addictive. I don’t want people to play my games every waking hour of every day. I want my games to inspire people to go out in the world and change their lives for the better.

I want to make games that people come back to after a few years, or even decades, and see them in ways even more profound than they did when they were younger.

I want to make games that speak of the injustices we face in our world, while at the same time inspiring us to make a difference.

I want to make games that I can discuss and demonstrate to my family and friends with pride, not shame and embarrassment.

I want to make games that inspire a little girl somewhere in the world to grow up and make games of her very own, just as the games my mentors created did for me.

I want my friends and other like-minded people to join me in this endeavour to make games that are more than just games. We’re not doing it to be famous. We’re not doing it because we want to elevate the medium to some abstract ideal of “art”. We’re doing it because we want — no, need — to express ourselves. Make our voices heard. Maybe even change the world while we’re at it.

Who’s with me?

I’ve thought some more about this month’s Round Table topic, and originally planned on doing a couple more posts on the subject throughout the month, but didn’t have very much time. So, here’s a short jumble of thoughts on two more “serious” topics I either have tried to address in games or would like to in the future.

I’ve no doubt talked at length about being a woman in the game industry before on this blog. It’s hard not to, when the field you work in is traditionally a big huge sausage fest. And it’s been getting to me even more these past several months than it did before; I’m currently one of two women working at Hothead out of 30+ people, and the only one who actually works on the games themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoy the company of the guys I work with. It’s just that, as I remarked earlier regarding my childhood experiences of being a brown girl amongst a bunch of white kids, I can’t shake off the feeling of being an “other”, no matter how much said guys treat me like I’m “one of them”.

But wait! There’s more…

Taking Games Seriously, Making Game Seriously: This month’s Round Table challenges you to design a game that deals with a social issue that personally troubles you. The recent months have seen controversy sweep through the video game industry. Whether people are objecting to the use of imagery widely considered to evoke racial stereotypes, or to the gameplay based on violent sexual crimes, or to the fact that anyone would complain about either topic–the discussion has been fierce. This month, contributors to the Round Table are invited to design a game that focuses on racism, rape, domestic violence, cruelty to animals, genocide, or any other serious, and potentially hot-button, topic.

I find this month’s topic challenging. It’s not that any of these difficult topics don’t interest me; quite the opposite, in fact. It’s not that I don’t believe these topics should be dealt with in video games in a mature manner. It’s just that the question I keep asking myself when I sit down to try to think of something is “what the hell do I know?”

You see, I’m a woman of privilege. I’m typing this blog post on computer equipment assembled in Malaysia, sitting on furniture made in China while drinking a mocha containing coffee farmed in South America. [1] I come from an affluent family, which allowed me to go to university [2] and acquire the necessary credentials to have a well-paying job in a creative field I enjoy, which in turn allows me all of these first-world comforts. Many people would say that my success is well-deserved due to my hard work and creative talent. While I’ll acquiesce to the fact that yes, maybe some of the work was my own, I can in no way deny that I had a lot of help getting there. As for creativity, well, the very fact that I’m even in a position to tell and share my stories — stories that draw upon the stories of privileged people of centuries and millenia past — really does say something about my own privilege, doesn’t it?

But wait! There’s more…

I was a little preoccupied last week, so I didn’t participate in the fourth and final week of IF Writing month, where the assignment was to implement a new verb, and get your game beta-tested. However, I nevertheless did get a lot out of the preceding three weeks, to the point that I’m now starting to flesh out an idea for a slightly bigger game that I can enter into a competition. The Annual IFComp looks like my best bet in terms of getting exposure, though Rikard also suggested the IF Art Show, which I’m also considering.

For those of you who prefer my point-and-click graphical adventure stuff, don’t worry; I won’t be abandoning GUIs and crazy artwork for good. I’m simply expanding my horizons a little bit, and my hope is that I’ll be able to design better graphical games the more I learn about what people have been doing in the IF community as of late. It is, after all, the community that’s produced the best examples of interactive storytelling I’ve seen over the past several years. IMHO, of course.