In the past few years, the video game industry and gaming community has faced harsh criticism and backlash in response to the deeply rooted sexism that is apparent within industry practices and throughout the community. The proverbial “no-girls-allowed-sign” that looms over the video game industry has made it abundantly clear that the only way to combat the misogynistic and exclusionary attitudes that are so pervasive in gaming culture is for more women to become included in the industry. Gaming culture, however, is notoriously unwelcoming towards women and the industry is often male dominated making it difficult for women to break through the glass ceiling.
Despite the skewed perception of the video game industry and community being the …show more content…
Female characters are all too often sexualized and treated like objects, but the tide is beginning to turn as more and more games are featuring female protagonists and playable characters as the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo proved by the unveiling of half a dozen female protagonists (Kubas-Meyer). This is in spite of the reservations and obtuseness of prominent industry leaders such as Ubisoft’s creative director Alex Amancio who was quoted as saying in regards to adding more women to Assassin’s Creed: Unity in 2014 that: “It's double the animations, it's double the voices, all that stuff and double the visual assets. Especially because we have customizable assassins. It was really a lot of extra production work” (qtd. in Kubas-Meyer). His comments were met with outrage, skepticism and were refuted outright in a Tweet by animator Jonathan Cooper, who had also worked on the Assassin’s Creed franchise (Kubas-Meyer). Amancio’s comments merely reflect the problems that are so deeply embedded throughout not just the gaming industry, but the tech industry as a …show more content…
One in four women are game producers and that is one area they are best represented (Chmielewski). Women are often discouraged from the start as recruiting tactics are often aimed more at attracting men than women, and once in the field there is very little flexibility for women to raise a family due to the long hours (Pham). However, there is hope as despite these problems in the gaming community and industry women still continue to play games and the numbers continue to grow, especially on mobile platforms
Despite the skewed perception of the video game industry and community being the …show more content…
Female characters are all too often sexualized and treated like objects, but the tide is beginning to turn as more and more games are featuring female protagonists and playable characters as the 2014 Electronic Entertainment Expo proved by the unveiling of half a dozen female protagonists (Kubas-Meyer). This is in spite of the reservations and obtuseness of prominent industry leaders such as Ubisoft’s creative director Alex Amancio who was quoted as saying in regards to adding more women to Assassin’s Creed: Unity in 2014 that: “It's double the animations, it's double the voices, all that stuff and double the visual assets. Especially because we have customizable assassins. It was really a lot of extra production work” (qtd. in Kubas-Meyer). His comments were met with outrage, skepticism and were refuted outright in a Tweet by animator Jonathan Cooper, who had also worked on the Assassin’s Creed franchise (Kubas-Meyer). Amancio’s comments merely reflect the problems that are so deeply embedded throughout not just the gaming industry, but the tech industry as a …show more content…
One in four women are game producers and that is one area they are best represented (Chmielewski). Women are often discouraged from the start as recruiting tactics are often aimed more at attracting men than women, and once in the field there is very little flexibility for women to raise a family due to the long hours (Pham). However, there is hope as despite these problems in the gaming community and industry women still continue to play games and the numbers continue to grow, especially on mobile platforms