Sexism in the Game Industry
April 21st, 2007All I really have to say is, I am so very thankful that my experience with Telltale was the exact opposite, in that I didn’t experience any sexism. At all. In fact, I’d say I experienced less sexism there than I normally do in the real world. Maybe I’m just lucky because a) I worked as a programmer and not a tester, meaning my skills were potentially perceived as more concrete and valuable, and b) I worked in a tiny company of 25 people making low-profile episodic adventure games, rather than at a huge company making AAA titles. Still, I’m very, very thankful.
April 21st, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Wow. The thing that strikes me is that the root problem is really immaturity. Manifesting itself as sexism. But manifestation really needs to be dealt with - but any company operating with that low level intellect and behaviour has got problems, no matter how it manifests.
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:44 am
I won’t argue with you there. In fact, I’d wager that some companies attract more immaturity than others, and those companies tend to be the ones that make the most popular (at least with the adolescent male group) games. I’m grossly overgeneralizing, though.
April 23rd, 2007 at 6:48 am
Would it be grossly overgeneralizing to say there’s probably a direct link between the level of geekiness and immaturity? To me, it seems a bit like a natural assumption to expect this sort of atmosphere in a, well, geeky environment — like, for instance, game development. And indeed, more in particular, developers that try to create something “cool”, rather then fresh…
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:11 am
I wouldn’t say “geeky” necessarily, because in my experience, there are indeed a lot of mature geeks out there. But I sort of see your point. Workplaces that have traditionally been masculine do tend to develop a sort of “gentlemen’s club” mentality that may seem unfriendly to women at first. Also, when it comes to creating games that are entertainment rather than creating games that are art, you may get a bit more immaturity there, due to the target audience.
Still, as with most generalizations, I’d be willing to bet there are counterexamples.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
See “She’s Such a Geek” by Annalee Newitz for some insight into female geeks and their struggles.
http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1366/talking-about-shes-such-a-geek
May 6th, 2007 at 3:46 am
hello hi from France,, hope one day u will take time to visit my blog about my book (about the female internet users , and sexism on the net http://worldwidewomen.hautetfort.com/
have a nice day
May 10th, 2007 at 9:43 am
My wife doesn’t work in the games industry, but does work with computers and hardware, one of her many jobs is to test and fault find, but she often.. well most of the time finds, males will not believe her, coz she’s a woman! actually even woman treat her the same, because its a techie “man’s job”.
She often has to have a telephone conversation with the system’s support to prove she’s right in front of the person…
It really p’s her off, a lot of these people don’t even know how to switch a computer on nevermind diagnose a fault to dispute her findings.
I like to think i’m not sexist.. i guess you’d have to ask my wife on that one, but you do get a rough deal.
its a thing thats inbred into males.. i’ve seen guys i know who are sexist and their kids turn out the same, really sad in this day and age.
May 10th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Oh man. I completely sympathize with your wife.
Most people who think in a sexist way don’t necessarily mean to harm people; they’ve just inherited a certain way of thinking that’s a remnant of centuries of living in a patriarchal society. The best thing we can do, really, is educate them to the contrary. It’s kind of hard, though, considering that such men, currently in a position of power, aren’t all that happy to give up that power.