Diversity in development

Hello friends!

Wow, it's been so long. I've got some great news to share with all of you, but first, let's talk games. Specifically, game development. It was a big week for the industry last month. GDC, the Game Developers Conference, was held in San Francisco at the end of March and attracted more than 22,000 gaming professionals. The conference features lectures, panels, tutorials and round-table discussions relating to industry issues and development topics. The conference is also known for networking opportunities and award shows, including the Independent Games Festival and Game Developers Choice Awards.

I'm not planning on summarizing the entire conference for you, because it would take wayyy too long, and you have the rest of the internet for that. I wanted to focus in on a particular issue currently plaguing the industry. One of my Facebook friends shared an article from PC Gamer that detailed a discussion from BioWare Senior Writer David Gaider. The talk was titled "Sex in Video Games" and covered how sex and gender are portrayed in games and what role the industry has in messaging to specific groups. Whenever I go to conventions, I love attending panels like this, because they offer great insight into current events and the state of the industry.

BioWare Senior Writer David Gaider

Now, I wasn't able to find a video of his talk on the interwebs, but some gaming news sources provide a good summary of his main points. Basically, Gaider states that it is up to the industry to stop repelling women and minorities and take responsibility for sexist or homophobic gaming environments. Gaider offers a fresh perspective by criticizing some of his earlier decisions with his studio, with many of these decisions being determined by an incorrectly perceived audience. It is frustrating enough that mainstream society doesn't seem to understand that it isn't only straight, white males playing video games, but it is even more frustrating when the game companies are in denial about gamer demographics too. I did a lot of research on this for case studies in college, and the statistics are surprising. For example, 47 percent of all players are women, and women over 18 years of age are one of the industry's fastest growing demographics, according to the Entertainment Software Association. You can learn more about game player data here.

Gaider addresses the lack of diversity (gender, race, sexuality) in gaming by talking about the concept of privilege. He explains it best himself:

“Privilege is when you think that something’s not a problem because it’s not a problem for you personally. If you’re part of a group that’s being catered to, you believe that’s the way it should be. It’s always been that way, why would that be a problem for anyone?"

It just so happens that some of the comments for the article provide a perfect example of this:

Mass Effect's FemShep

I can't tell you how many online arguments go this way. It is a shame that so many gamers feel threatened by the growth of gaming itself. Gaider is not stating that the industry needs to stop using male leads and replace them with female or black protagonists. This would be a silly and insincere move. It's about making a genuine effort to welcome others into the gaming sphere. Yes, this may include making those individuals a more integral part of the games themselves, but I think it goes much further than that. As Gaider says plainly, we can at least try not to repel women.

The business side of gaming and false industry standards play a large role in this phenomenon. Many claim that female protagonists simply do not sell, but if there are so few examples to compare these sales to, how are we even able to support this assumption? The gaming community as a whole - those who play the games and those who create them - need to face the reality that everyone can be a gamer. Let's start acting upon that knowledge.

The reason that this article caught my eye in particular is it's connection to my future research plans for graduate school. Please excuse my sweet brag, but I have officially been accepted to Kennesaw State University for the Master of Arts in Integrated Global Communication. My graduate applications have kept me pretty busy and away from the blog, but this article helped refuel the creative fire. In order to be accepted into my program, I needed to outline my study plans and really think about what I want to contribute to the gaming world. My ultimate goal is to hold a leadership position with a major video game developer/publisher as a communications professional. In this role, I hope to bolster the reputation of the industry and influence decisions
on how companies can portray gaming as a positive outlet for society. I do not believe that this can be accomplished unless the issues of sex and diversity are addressed.

In all honesty, I am most interested by these topics due to my personal experiences with gaming. At times, I feel accepted by my gaming peers, but on other occasions, I feel like an outsider. I want to make sure no one has to feel that way, so I plan to eventually tackle it from the top! The most difficult part of fixing this problem will be communicating that efforts toward inclusiveness are in good faith. Yes, it will make the industry look good, but it's also the right thing to do. I don't have all of the answers for you right now on how exactly to accomplish this, but I'm hoping that my graduate work will help me provide some of them soon. Stay tuned for these academic adventures!

Thanks for reading :)

-The Girl Informer