SAN FRANCISCO: An increasingly diverse fan base is challenging the video game industry to shake off its “boys only” image and better reflect the demographics of its exploding ranks of players.
At the Game Developers Conference, a hot button topic was the treatment of women in the industry, with female game makers facing frequent vitriol by anonymous attackers.
“If you are marginalized in any way; if you speak up in defence of marginalized people or progressive representation it is taken as a given that you probably have been harassed,” game designer Elizabeth Sampat said during a GDC session on dealing with harassment in the industry.
Horrific misogynistic abuse of females within the sector has ignited a long running debate over whether women are being accepted as equal partners in the industry.
During an ugly two month saga last year that has become known as “Gamer Gate,” threats of rape, murder and mutilation forced some women to flee their homes.
The touch paper was lit when independent game developer Zoe Quinn’s romance with a video game journalist became the subject of an angry online rant by her ex boyfriend.
What appeared to begin as a campaign for better ethics in video game journalism, however, evolved into a fierce debate regarding sexism and racism in video games and the male dominated industry that makes them.
Quinn became a target for hateful and threatening comments in online forums, ultimately prompting her to flee her home in fear for her life.
“If Gamer Gate was an atomic bomb, I was the person the bomb landed on,” Quinn said as she took part in the session with Sampat.
“I could have been anybody; all it took was one ex-boyfriend.”
An International Game Developers Association (IGDA) study last year indicated that 22 percent of those working in the industry are women while about 49 percent of players are female.
It was considered good news that the ranks of women game makers had risen from 15 percent five years earlier.
“There is an irrational fear that adding women to the team might be a problem,” said IGDA executive director Kate Edwards.
“It is extremely frustrating,” she continued. “There are a lot of women who are reconsidering even staying in the industry because they are tired of it.”
While video games may be thought of as toys for boys, women players in the 30- to 40-something range outnumber male teenage gamers, according to the IGDA.
The rise of casual play on smart phones or tablets has resulted in mobile games like “Candy Crush,” which was a hit with women, gaining popularity rivalling that of hard core shooter titles.
