While the numbers of women entering the game industry fray have undoubtedly increased over the past several years, those numbers can still appear remarkably low. A glance down the list of over 200 speakers at the recent Game Developers Conference revealed about one female for every twenty male speakers, and at least one game development school reports almost 90% male enrollment. So, why aren’t more women involved in game development? And what is being done to change those numbers?

Why don’t more women work in the industry?
Recruiter, Melanie Cambron, who also contributes to this publication, believes the discrepancy stems from the differential treatment of boys and girls in math and science classes. According to Cambron, research has shown that middle school girls view math and science less positively than boys, and are not as likely to take up hobbies or activities involving these two subjects. Additionally, she says, research indicates that social attitudes are often formed in middle school and continue through high school. In other words, she explains, "girls who don't enjoy math and science in middle school probably won't change their mind about these subjects in high school. Only three years ago, 1/20 of girls taking the ACT, compared to 1/4 of boys, indicated that they wanted to pursue majors in Engineering or Computer Science."

Game designer Heather Kelley (Thief 3) of Ion Storm- Austin, and co-chair of the IGDA’s Women in Game Development Committee (WIGD), agrees. "Traditionally, girls are not as encouraged as boys to develop their technical skills," says Kelley, "There are still plenty of deeply entrenched cultural barriers to overcome," says Kelley. "For instance, parents may buy a computer for their son, but not for their daughter."

Cambron notes, "since the game industry is so predominantly male, and consequently, not as popularized in female circles, many young women simply are not aware of game development as a career option. You just don't see many ‘The Ladies of Level Design’ features in Vogue or Seventeen."

An industry success story
While their numbers may be few, the industry does boast notable female role models such as Jaimee B. Wolf, co-founder of Xicat Interactive, Inc., publisher of games such X-Plane, nominated on Gamespot for the "Best Simulation" of 2000. An avid gamer who turned her passion into multimillion dollar company, Wolf handles financial aspects of Xicat’s business, as well as new contracts and media relations.

Along with Xicat co-founder Reto Bodman, Wolf’s business began in 1991 as a record company. It was, in Wolf’s words, a "hobby" that "turned into a business." Licensing from Sony, EMI as well as smaller labels, the company also gained distribution in the US and Europe. "We then began to release game compilations," says Wolf, "which, at that time were bundled with computer systems. Next, we began to release them as stand alone units through retail. Then we moved on to PC content and then to console games." Today, Xicat games are sold in 20,000 retail outlets in the United States and in 15,000 retail outlets in Europe.

And, when considering games for publication, does gender play a role? Does she feel an obligation to choose games that are not demeaning to women? Wolf finds that, for her, gender, as well as personality, and tastes come into play. "I guess it depends on your tolerance level," says Wolf. "While I cannot think of any game that we have released that was demeaning to women, I do remember one instance when I had a ‘gender’ opinion. In that case, I liked the strategy game we released entitled, Cultures, and I was a strong supporter of the title within the company. After playing and reading the manual, however, I wanted the women to have more interaction than just cooking and procreation. But, it was based on history and as women didn’t fight or work, ultimately, I felt I could let it go."

The fact that Xicat is run by a female, is certainly not promoted on the Xicat site. And articles where Wolf is quoted, while noting she is a female executive in a primarily male dominated industry, don’t really dwell on that fact. Wolf says this is not something she downplays, so much as something she simply does not bring up. In short, she feels, it is irrelevant. "I do still receive mail to Mr. Jaimee Wolf," she says. "Sometimes, when I meet people they say ‘oh, you’re Jaimee.’ That is funny."

Making changes
"While the San Jose Convention Center during GDC is still one of the few places where there is no line at the ladies room," Cambron laughs, "I've seen a wonderful increase in the past five years that I’ve worked in the industry. As more and more women are exposed to games and more games are being developed that appeal not only to males, we are seeing a steady increase in women in game development. I think most people with any business sense would love to see those numbers grow, not only to provide more opportunities for women, but also enjoy a diversity of game content."

But for those numbers to grow, Cambron believes the change must start in elementary school. "Parents and elementary school teachers may not even be aware of their subtle and subconscious differential treatment of boys and girls," explains Cambron. "Toys, games, books, and activities to which they expose their children make a huge impact on chosen interests, college courses, and ultimately on career paths." Cambron believes companies and game development schools likewise could encourage more females to join the game industry through career days, and the like, specifically, targeting girls' organizations.

"I used to drag my girlfriends to arcades when I was younger. Now they joke that I have made a business out of it," reflects Wolf. "The best job in the world is to do something you love. I think if more women played and were interested in the new technology, then perhaps there would be more in the industry."

Kelley concurs, "At the high school and college level, students, especially girls, need a better understanding of game development as a profession." In that regard, Kelley cites the IGDA’s education committee which put together a site called Breaking In for high school and college students to tell them more about the industry. Kelley says, for the site, a concerted effort was made to ensure women were represented in all areas of game production.

Targeted scholarships
At least one school has made a specific effort to encourage more women to consider careers as game designers and developers. Recently, the Center for Digital Imaging and Sound (CDIS) in Vancouver offered $35,000 in game development scholarships for females. And, according to Penny Cholmondeley, Communications Coordinator for CDIS, the response was "amazing."

"We received more inquiries for this scholarship than any other we have offered in the past," says Cholmondeley, "What has surprised us the most, is the number of inquiries from prospective international students. Often, word about our school spreads well locally and within Canada, but this has spread to Europe and Asia as well. This scholarship has taken on a life of its own that we couldn't have predicted, but are ecstatic about. Media coverage has also been overwhelmingly positive. The general tone of the emails we have been receiving from potential applicants is one of excitement, and the quality of applicants is quite high-caliber."

Cholmondeley admits that while the scholarship offer did provoke some heated "reverse discrimination" discussions on some of the gamer bulletin boards, that sort of discussion ultimately "got the word out about the scholarship, and actually helped us promote our other game scholarships." Cholmondeley also noted that the school has a $200,000 Top Gun Gamer scholarship which is open to everyone.

Kelley believes it is this kind of "proactive investment" that "will jump-start the next generation of female game developers."

"We have had a tremendous amount of support from the industry itself," says Cholmondeley, "Most are thrilled that we are offering this scholarship, as they see no reason why women shouldn't be encouraged to explore careers in gaming."

WIGD
Other industry initiatives are being led by Kelley and WIGD. Says Kelley, the committee’s first year-long initiative is to look at the industry to get some numbers, "a statistical snapshot, of sorts." The committee intends to use the collected information to "measure our progress later." According to Kelley the committee has a number of initiatives under discussion such as education, mentoring and a speakers bureau. "The idea is to have a series of discrete, concrete goals that we can work toward, with specific timetables and deliverables."

Kelley believes "just the fact that we (WIGD) exist is encouraging. There are women and men who are serious about the work, love it enough to actively evangelize it to newbies, and who want to diversify the field in the process." One of the biggest parts of the WIGD’s "encouragement network" is the women_dev mailing list which Kelley calls "our community." While no "membership list" per se is kept, Kelley estimates about 136 members are on the women-dev list today.

WIGD sponsored three sessions at GDC2002, all of which, says Kelley, enjoyed "great" turnouts. "But I think what’s best about what we do," she says, "is the sheer diversity of participants, covering a wide range of experience, disciplines, opinions, game genres, and more. There is no party line or dogma about who can participate, the only thing that’s essential is that you want to improve the gender balance in the game development industry. Everything else is fodder for lively debate."

In terms of encouraging women to join and stay in the industry, Wolf believes that mentoring, in particular, is a good idea. "While I have heard in meetings that some women are afraid to help out or mentor another woman, as they may take their job some day, I find that narrow thinking. That indicates a belief that women are only rising to the top as a token -- that there is only one spot. I don’t believe that is true."

So, are things changing? When asked what significant changes she has seen during her tenure in the industry, Wolf concludes, "We are taken seriously."