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(an easy) call to action to game developers
I Make Games Project - video campaign
I Make Games
The games industry has 3 related problems:
1. too few female game developers (all disciplines)
2. shortage of software engineers (male & female)
3. perception that women are unwelcome
problems
problem 1:
There are too few female game developers.
problem: shortage of female game developers
2007 2014Programmers 3% women 5% women
Game Designers 7% 13%
Artists 9% 9%
Producers 18% 22%
problem: shortage of female game developers
Gamasutra Salary Survey 2007 Gamasutra Salary Survey 2014
Research shows that gender diversity improves the bottom line.
The lack of women in game development is bad for the games industry.
problem: shortage of female game developers
Gender Diversity and Corporate Performance, Credit Suisse Research Institute, August 2012.
The lack of women in game development is bad for women, too.
Women are missing out on great jobs in a creative and well-paid industry.
problem: shortage of female game developers
problem 2:
There is a shortage of software engineers.
problem: shortage of software engineers
New jobs in computer science added to American economy every year:
problem: shortage of software engineers
National Bureau of Labor Statistics
140,000
New graduates in computer science every year:
National Science Foundation
40,000
A contributing factor to the shortage of software engineers:
Half the population tends to avoid the field.
problem: shortage of software engineers
Percent of Computer Science undergraduate degree recipients who were women:
problem: shortage of software engineers
National Center for Women in Technology
37% 18% 1985 2012
If we could get
more girls motivated to make games
problem: shortage of software engineers
we’d get
more girls studying computer science which means
more software engineers
problem 3:
Controversy over sexism in video game culture begs the question:
Are women welcome in the game industry?
problem: women are being attacked in the game community
See http://www.gamersagainstgamergate.com/ for information about GamerGate and the fight against it; see also Washington Post, New York Times and Wikipedia.
We can do something about this.
Inspired by the “It Gets Better” campaign...
the “I Makes Games” channel willprovide role models to girls
role models make a difference
I Make Games Project - video campaign
“It Gets Better Project”: lots of videos of inspirational role models. Campaign has had over 4 Million views.
video campaign showcasing female game developers
role models make a difference
I Make Games
I Make Games Project - video campaign
The new “I Make Games Project” YouTube channel will also provide inspirational role models.
* Mock up of the new I Make Games YouTube channel, including mocks of some of the videos
“I Make Games” will be a new YouTube channel
hosting an ever-growing number of videos about female game developers.
role models make a difference
Primary target audience:
middle school girls & high school girls
role models make a difference
How will that help?
role models make a difference
Studies show that girls lose interest in math and science during middle school.
understanding why girls avoid STEM
Generation STEM: What Girls say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A report from the Girl Scout Research Institute. 2012.
Why do girls start losing interest in STEM in middle school?
(STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
understanding why girls avoid STEM
The research points to many reasons.
The “I Make Games” videos can help combat some of those reasons.
understanding why girls avoid STEM
Nearly half of all girls say that they would feel uncomfortable being the only girl in a group or class.
understanding why girls avoid STEM
Generation STEM: What Girls say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A report from the Girl Scout Research Institute. 2012.
Many girls prefer working in groups and collaborating with others to solve problems, and they believe that STEM work culture is isolating.
understanding why girls avoid STEM
Generation STEM: What Girls say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A report from the Girl Scout Research Institute. 2012.
57% of all girls say that if they went into a STEM career, they’d have to work harderthan a man just to be taken seriously.
understanding why girls avoid STEM
Generation STEM: What Girls say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A report from the Girl Scout Research Institute. 2012.
Entertainment culture appears to make it “uncool” to be smart in subjects like math or science and a barrier to being noticed by boys.
understanding why girls avoid STEM
Generation STEM: What Girls say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A report from the Girl Scout Research Institute. 2012.
The rise in the “brogramming” culture has made computer science less attractive to women.
brogramming: “a term that seeks to recast the geek identity with a competitive frat house flavor”
Brogramming: The disturbing rise of frat culture in Silicon Valley, The Week Staff , April 30, 2012
understanding why girls avoid STEM
Changes in university policies to limit CS enrollment during tech booms had a disproportionately negative effect on women.
Encouraging Women in Computer Science, Eric S. Roberts, Marina Kassianidou, Lilly Irani. Department of Computer Science, Stanford University. June 2002 issue of Inroads, the quarterly bulletin of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
understanding why girls avoid STEM
The “I Make Games” channel won’t solve all of those problems.
But the research suggests that game development has distinct advantages when it comes to getting girls into STEM.
role models for girls
Girls like collaboration.
Game development is a team sport.It is all about collaboration among people
with different skill sets.
game development should be a great field for girls
Girls fear that doing “smart” things makes them uncool.
Game development is “smart” work that leads to cool and popular products.
game development should be a great field for girls
Girls are already interested in game development.
game development should be a great field for girls
Generation STEM: What Girls say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A report from the Girl Scout Research Institute. 2012.
57% percent of girls agreed “I think it would be fun to create an iPhone app or design a computer/video game.” (Goes up to 67% for African American and Hispanic girls)
game development should be a great field for girls
Generation STEM: What Girls say about Science, Technology, Engineering and Math. A report from the Girl Scout Research Institute. 2012.
Game development is● collaborative● cool● interesting to girls
Now let’s add Role Models
game development should be a great field for girls
Research shows that role models bolster confidence, especially when they exist at every step of the career ladder.
role models make a difference
Encouraging Women in Computer Science, Eric S. Roberts, Marina Kassianidou, Lilly Irani. Department of Computer Science, Stanford University. June 2002 issue of Inroads, the quarterly bulletin of the ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE)
ConfidenceIt’s a big deal
role models make a difference
For 20 years, work has focused on boosting girls’ interest in STEM.
Recent research suggests that a big focus should be on confidence.
Nadya Fouad, Tracking The Reasons Many Girls Avoid Science And Math, University of Wisconsin, Sep 8, 2008
role models make a difference
Confidence leads to interest.
"If they feel they can do it, it feeds their interest."
role models make a difference
Nadya Fouad, Tracking The Reasons Many Girls Avoid Science And Math, University of Wisconsin, Sep 8, 2008
Kids can be very impressionable; stereotypes can be self-fulfilling prophecies.
role models make a difference
When girls believe they are expected to be bad at math, they do much worse on math tests than the boys.
When they are told that boys and girls are equally good at math, then they perform as well as the boys.
understanding why girls avoid STEM
"Constraints into Preferences: Gender, Status, and Emerging Career Aspirations", American Sociological Review, Correll (2004)
Show female role models in game development:
Give girls confidence that they can succeed in game development.
role models make a difference
Goal of this presentation:
Get game companies to make videos showcasing their female developers and put them on the new “I Make Games” YouTube channel that will launch in March 2015.
role models make a difference
The videos will come from game developers large and small:
from Electronic Arts and Zynga, to indie studios,
to universities and high schools
I Make Games Project - video campaign
The videos will be similar to the producer-narrated trailers that game companies already make,
with talking heads and video game footage.
I Make Games Project - video campaign
These videos will show women
at every level of game development, and in every discipline,
talking about their work
I Make Games Project - video campaign
Short videos. Moderated.
No comments.
I Make Games Project - video campaign
Take a stand
Celebrate the women who are already making games
Encourage a new generation of girls to join their ranks.
I Make Games Project - video campaign
Contributing videos to “I Make Games” is good for your company:
● Recruiting women● Promoting your games● Taking a stand
I Make Games Project - video campaign
OK, I’m in.
How do I get my company involved in “I Make Games”?
1. Email [email protected] to say that you are in! We’ll send you some video assets and guidelines for an outro slates
2. Create videos featuring your female developers (see guidelines below)
3. Share the your videos with us so we can put them on the channel
4. Also host the videos on your company site
5. Keep making videos after that, and adding them to the I Make Games Project YouTube channel
I Make Games Project - video campaign
Video guidelines:● Who
○ Women - the first set will be all women○ Developers - all fields of game development ○ All levels - junior women and senior women
● Content○ Each woman tells a story (see next slide for story ideas) ○ Show game footage and game assets○ Use provided intro & outro slates
● Length: ○ 1 - 3 min is ideal
● Names: ○ Giving the full name is optional. ○ Warn people that being a woman in a video saying you are game developer might
make you a target for hate groups.
I Make Games Project - video campaign
Story ideas● A (constructive) war story of a near disaster during development● A funny or unexpected or marvelous thing that happened during
development● A game she worked on that got little recognition but she was still
pleased about● When she first realized she wanted to make games● Her favorite feature she designed, or coded, or favorite piece of art or
audio she created
I Make Games Project - video campaign
Don’t glamorize: just let the developers be themselves on camera.
I Make Games Project - video campaign
"Do Female and Male Role Models Who Embody STEM Stereotypes Hinder Women's Anticipated Success in STEM?", Social Psychological and Personality Science, Cheryan, et al. (2011)
I Make Games Project - video campaign
These producer walkthroughs (from The Sims Medieval and The Sims 3) shows multiple speakers and lots of footage from a game in development.
Imagine something like these, but featuring women telling interesting stories about game development.
The I Make Games Project is sponsored by IGDA and WIGI.
I Make Games Project - video campaign
