|
May 2002
A
CHAT WITH ELONKA DUNIN
<<<Continued from previous page
MC: I looked at the other IGDA Online
Games Committee members and out of 17 listed, only 2 are
women -- you and Jennifer MacLean, Programming Director
of AOL Games. I know of one game development school
where current enrollment is close to 90% male. Why
aren’t more women getting in the game industry?
ED: I think
more women are getting into the gaming industry.
I've been attending the Game Developers Conference
since 1994, and each year that I go, I see more women.
I think that one reason that it's still mostly male
though, is because many of the games that were written
in the past, usually (but not always) were appealing to
a very narrow segment of the population: the male teen
"if it moves, shoot it, and if it doesn't move, shoot it
anyway since it may be worth points" kind of game. So
since the biggest-selling games were games that appealed
to male teens, the largest customer segment was male
teens, and, as those kids grew up and applied for jobs,
the demographic stayed constant: It was mostly males
who were primarily interested in "shoot 'em up" games.
Bit by bit though, more games are coming out that are
appealing to a wider variety of personality types -- Go
Sims! -- so the player population is getting to be a
much more balanced spread of males, females, and
different age groups. So I believe that it'll follow,
that as the people who play games become a more
demographically diverse group, so will the pool of
people who apply to work at game companies also become more diverse. I don't think it'll ever be an exact
mirror image of the population as a whole, but I
definitely think it'll become more balanced than it's
been. Again, our own games are a good example to look
at, we’ve got a high percentage of female players, around 40%, and our ratio of female to male GameMasters,
employees, and even product managers is similar, because
we tend to hire people from our customer-base.
MC: Do you think
women have something of a "sisterhood" obligation to
help each other out? Or is thinking in
terms of "sisterhood" somehow self-defeating in itself?
ED: Wow, that’s
a really controversial question, but let me give it a
shot: First of all, I can already hear a bunch of people
-- both men and women -- out there screaming, "No, having a
‘sisterhood’ is just as sexist as saying that women are
discriminated against in the first place!" Then again,
on the flip side of the coin, I have definitely seen
firsthand how there are a few male-dominated business
cultures out there that will encourage -- subtly and
sometimes not so subtly -- defensive behavior on the part
of the women within their ranks, such as encouraging the
women to compete against each other for "favored"
status. Also, I’ve many, many times seen guys in the
technology sector who’ll say, "Yeah, we need more women
in our group," but then they'll turn right around and
add the qualifier, "As long as they’re good-looking
women, that is."
As a woman in the industry, I think it’s important to
find a balance. On the one hand, I don’t think women
should do business with other women solely because of
their gender. But I think it is important to be
aware of some of the extra challenges that women face, especially when a conflict emerges. So in those cases,
instead of saying, "Hey, you’re on your own, babe," I
think it can sometimes be useful to change the thinking
to, "Damn, there are few enough women in this industry.
Maybe I should look a little harder to see if there are
ways that we can share help and expertise." It doesn’t
mean bending over backwards to help, or doing someone’s
work for them, but it does open the possibility of more
opportunities to help each other in a business context,
and maybe even make a solid business contact for future
endeavors. To be honest, I feel that’s good advice for
everyone, both male and female!
MC: You’ve
been in the industry for over a decade, if you could
narrow your success down to three key elements, what
would they be?
ED: (1) A very
broad background of experiences and skills; (2) Sheer
hardheaded stubborn persistence, and the self-confidence
to keep on trying to do something even when other people
tell you that you can't; and (3) the flexibility to make
quick course changes and completely change our way of
doing things, to adapt as the industry changed around
us.
MC: Finally, as a
person who has traveled to every continent, where, in
your opinion, is the greatest place on earth?
ED: Heh. I
don't think I have any one favorite place, but I can
definitely point out one or two per continent that were
very special experiences for me. In Asia, it would be Kathmandu in Nepal, Angkor Wat in northern Cambodia, and
for sheer magnificence, I would have to say the Taj
Majal in India, which really is as beautiful as everyone
says it is. In Europe, I'd pick the Vatican Museum, and
pretty much anything in the U.K. In South America, I'd
pick Manaus in the Amazonian jungle, Rio de Janeiro
during Carnaval, and Cuzco, the capital of the old Incan
Empire, in Peru. In the area around Australia, I'd pick
New Zealand in the Spring, when there are thousands of
adorable little lambs frolicking around rolling green
hills. It's like being in a storybook. In Africa it
would be the "Treetop" hotel which is literally in the
branches of a tree in the wilds of Kenya, and the Cairo
Museum in Egypt. And for Antarctica, I'd list Neko
Harbor, which is a beautiful little bay on the Antarctic
continent. When we were there, the weather was perfect.
It was cold, of course, but the wind was calm, the water
was clear, the penguins playful, and the icebergs tall
and majestic. And we could hear their deep rumbles and
cracks as the ice sheet slowly inched forward into the
bay. Good stuff! Lastly, for North America, I would
probably pick Washington DC for its architecture,
museums, and history; and Lake Powell in Arizona for
both its spectacular scenery, and because it’s where I can visit with my sister and my nieces and
nephews, who I adore.
BIO
Melanie
Cambron is a recruiter for game industry leaders
such as EA, Sony, and Infogrames. Featured in
Game Design: Secrets of the Sages for her game
industry knowledge, she also wrote the foreword to the
successful book, Game Programming with Direct X 7.0
and its follow-up. Melanie speaks each semester at the
University of Texas at Austin and the University of
North Texas on the game development industry, and is
frequently interviewed by major media such as the Dallas
Morning News for her industry expertise. She also serves
as a consultant to the City of Austin's Interactive
Industry Development Committee. Learn more about the
"Game Recruiting Goddess" at
www.melaniecambron.com or contact her directly at
melanie@melaniecambron.com
 And
don't miss Melanie at this year's
E3
where she will be moderating Design Secrets, Part 1:
Japan and the USA with Yu Suzuki and Will Wright --
Wednesday, May 22, 2002, 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
<<<Back to
previous page
Past
Interviews:
Interview With Will Wright
(April 2002)
Interview With Stevie
Case and John Romero
(March 2002)
Interview With Richard
Garriott
(February 2002)
Interview With George
Sanger
(January 2002)
Interview With Josh Resnick
(December 2001)
Interview With Paul
Steed (November 2001)
Interview With Marc
Saltzman (October 2001)
Interview With Rick Hall,
Senior Producer, Ultima Online (September 2001)
<<Back
to GIG Spotlight home
|
