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[Wellington]

http://equipped.msn.com/article.aspx?aid=13 <--- Full article.

The times, they are (finally) a changing, however. Already well-represented in marketing and public relations, women are now moving into the creative areas of coding, design, art and production.

Advocates say it's about time. The industry needs not just gender diversity, but a diversity of ideas they hope will lead to new types of games and, ultimately, new players. The challenge is finding the talent.

'People make games they like to play'
At stake are some big issues for an industry that grossed $7 billion in the United States in 2003.

Getting more women involved in creating games isn't just the right thing to do, it's good business, said Laura Fryer, director of the Xbox Advanced Technology Group at Microsoft.

"Half of the population isn't having input into what's being created," Fryer said. "And the one thing that I learned is that people make games they like to play. Having a diverse opinion helps games."

It's a point seconded by Sheri Graner Ray, a senior game designer for Sony Online Entertainment. The game industry, by virtue of its overwhelmingly male employee-base, is missing a big market, she said.

"The thing the industry is coming to realize is that its targeted male 15 to 25 demographic isn't growing like the industry is growing," she said.

The purpose of recruiting women is not so they can make games 'about pink fluffy kitties.'

Studies report that while women players dominate online arcade and puzzle games, the multibillion-dollar PC and console market is another story. All told, according to the trade group Entertainment Software Association, women account for 39 percent of all players.

 

[belgurdo]

*Is still waiting for the day a black owned game company (that makes good games, anyway) will show up*

 

[Naked Snake]

Good news!

 

[Rhage]

Good news!

Yep. Maybe now the industry will start maturing a little bit.

And never hurts to have different perspectives and more variety.

 

[suikodan]

I'm all open to those kind of news except that at one point, there will be exageration.

We have the christian developpers, then will come the gay developpers (Rainbow Games), then games developped "by kids for kids"...

Sometimes, there are details we don't necessarely need to know.

 

[rastex]

Already well-represented in marketing and public relations, women are now moving into the creative areas of design, art and production.

Fixed.

Which isn't bad. Girls are too smart to subject themselves to the torture that is programming.

 

[Eggo]

That's a really good article, although this portion I don't understand:

"All told, according to the trade group Entertainment Software Association, women account for 39 percent of all players."

39% of game players are women? Are they all playing the Sims or Bejeweled? In my experience, I've seen the ratio of men:women about 10:1 at work.

 

[psycho_snake]

I would have actually thought that a lot of women were artists for games.

 

[TAJ]

>>>That's a really good article, although this portion I don't understand:

"All told, according to the trade group Entertainment Software Association, women account for 39 percent of all players."

39% of game players are women? Are they all playing the Sims or Bejeweled? In my experience, I've seen the ratio of men:women about 10:1 at work.<<<

It has to be the percentage of women among people who have EVER played an electronic game, or some similar bullshit. I wouldn't be surprised if women even represented less than 39% of Bejeweled players...

 

[Azih]

I'm fairly certain that people who go "Oh I played Tetris once" get counted as gamers in these surveys.

Now if the survey tracked amount of *hours* put into games by men as opposed to women then it would probably be more accurate in terms of how involved the genders are in the hobby.

 

[Gek54]

Where is the REZ vibrator article from girlgamer?