Breaking the glass ceiling in the video game industry might not be as difficult as it is in the American White House, but that doesn’t mean the task isn’t daunting. My hat is off to Sony Online Entertainment for recognizing this and trying to do something about it.Torrie Dorrell, SOE’s senior VP of global sales and marketing, recently called on members of the International Game Developers Association to stand up and support the Gamers In Real Life (or G.I.R.L.) scholarship. Money given to this fund helps pay for college educations for women who want to enter the gaming field in such areas as design, creation and production.
"Today, I am challenging everyone to take action to help level the playing field for women pursuing a career in video games,” Dorrell said. “By donating to the G.I.R.L. scholarship, we can encourage diversity in development and make a difference, hopefully creating more opportunities for women and ultimately making more video games women will want to play."
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My congratulations go to Sony, and Dorrell, in particular for making an issue of the obvious, but often overlooked reality women gamers face. While there’s no denying we exist, all too often were aren’t taken as seriously as we should be. And, the simple truth is a lot of games aren't designed with us in mind - at all!
I’m not a bra burner by a long shot, but it would be nice to see a woman’s touch in some titles – especially in MMORPGs where it seems a lot of the action and design work is geared solely for male players. Conan’s anatomically correct women are fine, but it sure would be nice to not have characters look so perfect!
Here’s hoping the effort to get a few more women actively involved in the behind-the-scenes creativity will result in titles that are at least slightly more balanced for the sexes.
Labels: age of conan, girl, soe, sony
