#1ReasonWhy
 

Last night on Twitter, somebody asked a seemingly simple question: "Why aren't there more lady game creators?" It's a really good question, and one I wish wasn't a problem. However, sexism is a huge problem in the gaming industry, and in response to one person's curiosity, many women in the industry have been speaking up.

#1ReasonWhy is the hashtag that popped up in response to the question, and soon many women game designers, animators, journalists, and other professionals told their stories about the challenges they have faced concerning sexism in their careers. Some of the experiences are heartbreaking, some are sickening, and some are inspiring. I've loved reading through the twitter feed about these women.

I wish that there were more females in the professional video games industry. I've seen too many examples of games where women are portrayed in oversexualized ways in order to "appeal to teenage boys" who are supposedly the richest market for games. Perhaps surprisingly, there are more adult females playing video games than teenage males! Even worse is the treatment of female professionals in the gaming industry. Having more female game creators would help to broaden the industry, but there needs to be an increased awareness that women are not only interested, but also good at making games!

We shouldn't have to specify that we are "girl gamers." We don't call anybody a "boy gamer." We should be seen and treated as equals in both playing games and creating them.

Girls, what are some of your favorite games? Would you ever consider creating your own game? If you could make your own game, what would it be like?

I've wanted to create videogames for almost all my life, to be honest...Still am, even though I realize I'd probably have to learn a decent amount of coding before I can really be serious about pursuing that.

So I ran into the gaming section in some store (forgot which), and noticed a huge array of Halo, MW, other various FPS games, fighting stuff...There were shelves of this stuff, and quite a few of what looked like M-rated games, based on covers.

...And then there was a "Girl's Games" section. About a 4x3 shelf with games on virtual pets, virtual dating...

...I mean, seriously? Granted, I'm not exactly the usual "girl"...but I can still plop down on a sofa (or ground) full of my guyfriends...or occasionally guys that I don't know very well and are three years older than me...and play Modern Warfare or Halo. And then at home, I play Assassin's Creed and MMORPGs. I found that shelf to be insulting as hell.

I've been doing character designs for my friends, and we've been rather naively chasing after the dream of making a 3D RPG. We've two girls and two guys on the team; I and the other girl do all of the art because my guyfriends have not a single artistic hair on their heads, but they also come to me for storyline and character personalities. Once, the main storyline guy joking asked if we should add a stereotypical sexualized female character in the plot just to gan interest, and the lead programmer (I love the guy. He's amazing) shot down the idea immediately while I just brushed it off.

...Which brings up the point, why do people seem to think that games NEED this sort of "hook" to reel in interest?

On a tangent, but I mentioned to my dad over Thanksgiving break that I might seriously consider buying a longboard so that I can get around a bit more easily (CMU is hilly and my backpack is often a quarter of my own weight). His response was "I've never seen a girl use those before. Aren't those usually a guy sort of thing?"

...I was not a happy camper that day.

ANYWAYS.

ENOUGH RANTING FOR NOW.

My favorite games are fantasy MMORPGs, although I've recently started looking into sci-fi MMORPGs and single-player RPGs like Assassin's Creed.

Good for your lead programmer! That's the kind of attitude that more game designers need to have! I don't think games really "need" that kind of hook for them to be interesting, but many oblivious game designers believe that it's necessary. Penny Arcade did a great article on games with female leads here. I was shocked at the numbers. It's total BS that games with female protagonists are given half the marketing budget of other games.
Anyway, best of luck on your game! I hope to see some hardcore female heroes out of you! I'll definitely buy it when you guys get it published. :)

I'm not a huge fan of shooters, but that's just my play preference. Any game with a rich story and background and art, I'll at least sit and watch somebody play, if not play it myself. Virtual pet/dating/garbage games are terribly insulting. They shouldn't even exist. The only virtual life game that's any good is The Sims, and that game is very rich and well done and I not only like making up great characters, but also burning them to death.

I suggest you get a longboard. A girl that lived in my old apartment complex/neigborhood/thing rode one up and down the street on a longboard for fun all the time. She was really cool and I didn't feel like it was a "guy" thing at all. LIVE YOUR DREAMS.

Lucid, I think you're missing a major issue here: The lead programmer and storyline...-er are both YOUNGER than me. Hence, naiveté. That thing has a minuscule chance of ever reaching completion.

Meeh. If you push it and get everyone really dead-set on finishing it, I bet you can make it happen. Sometimes naive dedication is the very thing you need.

Dude, we've got four people on the team XD Not nearly enough when we (mostly the lead programmer and storyline-er) are bent on producing something on par with...like...Final Fantasy.

I will say this. I love games.

I like MMORPGs and RPGs.

When it comes to MMORPGs, I look for the 3d anime style but i get pissed if a class or a race only comes in one gender. Like EE for example, they had female Bear and Mice NPCs but when it came to the playable Bear and Mice races, it was male only. There was one MMO where girls could only be the Cleric or Mage where the males got the classes with all the guns, sharp and pointies and everything else. =/ so pissed and didnt even start playing that one.

when it comes to RPGs on the game consoles, i like things like Tales of the world, Final Fantasy, Grandia, Pokemon, Digimon, (OKAMI :< ) .hack, Zelda, ect. Games that have a story and a point. Tho there is a few games with an exception. Evil Zone. its basically like those mortal combat games but with anime graphics xp

Someone got me a game for Xmas tht wasn't on my list of games to get. The reason he got me this game... was because the girl on the cover had big boobs and wanted to watch me play it. during the game as the character fights, her clothes get more and more torn up. To be honest i hate the game, but i refused to give it away till i've beaten it xp. I'm all for games were the hero is a female and stuff.. but not when their clothes get torn just to excite the males who are playing it. =/

I too love gaming xD
me and my little brother will sit downstairs and play games and comment on each others game, or tell each other when something happened.
If I could id play games all day.. they are just so addicting.
Some of my favorites are pokemon, digimon (especially worlds1-4 and dusk), skylanders, kingdom hearts (absolutely love 358/2 and all the others xD), LoZ(my favorites are minish cap and windwaker), and so much more. Though honestly I like watching others play gamed more than playing them myself. x3 its just fun to me.

Personally I believe the name girl gamer describes the "cute" girls posing with controllers and such who don't know bow to play a game. The rest of us are just gamers.

Asami's post reminded me of this -w-

http://main.makeuseoflimited.netdna-...rls.png?54b313

Actually I'm going to be one of the artists for the company a group of us are making. That's what I plan to change my major to when I get back into college as well. As far as games I play.. I tend to play MMO's the most or games that my husband and myself can play with our friends through a private server. As far as non MMO's mainly Harvest Moon, though I do enjoy a slue of other games. (I tend to stay away from games where the woman all dress as sluts -.- that or it better have a darn good story for me to put up with the eye sore.) As far as my thoughts on the label... I normally don't go about blabbing I am a girl in MMO's your asking for trouble than and any of the females who do that just want attention if you ask me. I use to work in GameStop and I know very well how I was treated by my fellow co-workers. At the least the customers were mostly nice. Seeing as I knew the material I was talking about a lot of times I think I scared the guys off actually... Though it is funny to watch some guy walk from one end of the store to the other just to talk to a male that was working. x'D

its more fun to let them think you a boy then when you get in raidcall or teamspeak and you start talking and they be all 'wait what the fuck your a girl!?" x'D so amusing =w=

HAH. So I play as a guy on Vindictus (I play as a guy on most MMOs), and the other two guys in my party decided to use voicechat. (Keep in mind that Vindictus is a 13+ game.) The other male character was a ten-year-old boy. The female character was a 19-ish guy. I was asked to prove that I'm a girl, and so I tried. I seriously tried, but the older guy said "...That sounds like a guy."

I got a decent laugh out of that.

eh i got to the point where i got use to the response. XP or people acted stupid so i tend to not speak in mmo's unless its my home guild. Though it was funny a few times when i raid lead some pick up groups and they were like wait its a chick? I was like yes, my character is a chick and my username of rosekitten.. i hope im a chick D;

XD that is perfect.

Oh I actually just got a new game. And im super excited to play it but I have to wait until after we are done moving my gma.

apparently demon like names are male names so there are no such thing as female demons or so i am told on mmos xD

I usually pick gender-neutral and/or made-up names. Most the time I don't try to call attention to my gender, though a time or two I've skyped with a group and they're like, "oh, you're a chick. :O " and don't make a big deal out of it.

*lurk lurk lurk*

Last time I checked I was male (but you have to keep an eye on these things, y'know?), but that doesn't mean I don't agree.

As a male, I find it demeaning that publishers think they need to flash cleavage and curves in my face to get my attention. It's not NECESSARY.

Now, I do think a game with character customization options should PERMIT creating a "sexy" character. Plenty of players -- male and female alike -- DO like them. It was a big surprise when I found out that some of the biggest defenders of revealing female armor on the WoW forums were FEMALE players. I had to modify my understanding of the issue to account for this fact.

Off on a tangent, but holy fuck, I hate it when you play as a girl and guys try to give you gifts and shit. I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF, THANKYOUVERYMUCH.

o.O I never had that problem..

Now (as a male usually-assassin-type), I get people chasing after me for parties.

What games do you play, DK? I've seen it happen in WoW, both when my wife rolls a new character and on the occasion that I play a female toon myself.

I play the free to play anime style mmos like Eden Eternal, Cloud Nine, Spirit Tales, I'm waiting for Lime Odyssey. I've also played, Ether Saga, Asda Story, Asda Story 2, Mabinogi, Kitsu Saga.. probably others i cant recall xD

each time i'm a female character too I don't play males unless they are adorable >.>, like on spirit tales.. i played a male on there xD

... this is very accurate. People are always surprised in online games that i play (like wow for example) when they realize i truly am a real live female. And my guy friends hate that i kick there butt at all fps and fighter games they challenge me to.

there are so many games out there that are "male" only and i own at them. its very angering that we aren't considered gamers. and i call myself a gamer, not a girl gamer.

also dungeons and dragons, magic the gathering, board games... why in the world are these considered male only. i get stares when i walk into gaming stores. -.-

It's not so much that the GAMES are male-only (most people realize that girls play D&D -- but the stereotype is that they play social intrigue instead of combat) as it is that the ENVIRONMENT is. Boys claimed the "geek" archetype first (again, the stereotype is that girls have other social outlets and therefore don't turn into geeks) and band together for solidarity in that pursuit, and a girl entering that environment is treading on the subconsciously-sacred area that geek-boys have carved out for themselves.

And both because boys DO outnumber girls in those pursuits, and because the attitude reinforces itself by shunning those that don't fit the preconceptions, the environment also reinforces that perception, because girls ARE a comparative rarity.

i actually call myself a Neik :D
its nerd and geek using the spelling sheik from ocarina of time :D

and oh well. I shall stay in the group no matter how "out of place" i am. ^-^

Another tangent: There was a Nerf War yesterday. The people there were me and eleven guys, mostly upperclassmen. Granted, I'm a small person and prefer to travel light, so I didn't have the firepower that some of them had (...three rifles and three 25-round mags), but I still played better and downed more than a few of them.

I think Nerf stuff is even more exclusively a "guy" thing. Have you seen the boxes for Nerf guns and such? There isn't a single one depicting a girl.

i love nerf guns. xD i jsut don't have the money for them. Hubby and I are planning to have random nerf wars when we can afford them :]

Oh, random nerf wars have happened more than once during study sessions, haha...

I mean, you can't blame college kids jacked up on Pixie Stix before Halloween.

like he comes home from work and there will be a sign on the window "you are targeted! get your nerf gun :D "

I'd be way too tired after work to get a nerf gun and run around XD

It'd be worth it though wouldn't it :D

Hah, true.

...Back on topic. I was looking at characters designs for MMORPGs and stuff some time ago. Someone needs to explain to me why anyone would fight in a bikini top and very short shorts/skirts...If you're in any sort of battle, you'd want to wear at LEAST some leather armor, right...? And TBH, your torso is a highly vulnerable area.

well... i think it used to be the stronger you were the less armor you wore because you were so awesome you didn't need it?

I do hate the whole "chainmail bikini" trope. >B| Nobody can fight in that crap.

As I said, I had to modify my understanding of the situation in order to account for the fact that some girls like chainmail bikinis. Not just accept them, but like them and seek them out.

The chainmail bikini isn't intended to be armor at all, thematically speaking. (That it provides statistics is simply game mechanics and isn't necessarily correlating with why such equipment is desirable.) It is, rather, psychological -- it says "I'm powerful and confident, I don't need armor to beat you, and I like being sexy."

I wouldn't be surprised if these women are in the minority, but they exist and they deserve a voice too.

But I would love to see more women like Samus Aran or Sgt. Calhoun who wear full body armor yet still know how to hold onto their femininity.

xD I like to try and get the item mall/shop costumes because half the time the female armors look ridiculous.. besides fighting in a chinese dress wearing cat ears is awesome =o

I'd fight in the Japanese and Korean outfits that I have in Aion if only they ddn't take up the Tops slot and have no stats attached to them.

I hate the costume items now have certain stat boosters to them =(

i'm one of them... but it still is ridiculous to assume xD and i'm pretty sure [It was something in real history that less armor meant you were more bad ass