[game_edu] Implications of students going into a male-dominatedindustry?

[Nathan Runge]

Good day all,

I am going to be the person to disagree almost completely. I am not opposed
to women in games, let me clarify. Nor am I in support of discrimination or
the poor behaviour sometimes displayed by my contemporaries. Instead, I am
opposed to many of the measures considered, and differ in my opinion on the
magnitude of the problem. Firstly, some context: I am a caucasian male in my
twenties, and I speak from my experiences as a student and a professional
developer in Australia.

It is a simple and undeniable fact that the vast majority of game
developers, at least in Australia, are male. To argue otherwise would be an
untenable position. Viewing this as a 'problem' to be 'fixed' isn't
required, and nor is it necessarily productive and consistent. The imbalance
in the industry is simply the fact of the situation, and it being so is not
causing any harm. In these 'politically correct' times we often strive for
equal representation in all things, and that simply is never going to be the
case.

As an industry I feel we need to encourage women to be involved if they are
so inclined, and remove all significant barriers that might exist, but at
that point we should consider our role complete. It is our responsibility to
ensure equal accessibility, but not our right to attempt to enforce quotas
or ideal ratios. In this same manner, any education must remain focused on
student outcomes and industry-relevant practice, rather than compromising to
entice more females into classes.

On the, in my view, more legitimate concern of discrimination within the
workplace, I think it may be over-stated but it certainly does exist.
Basically, people are stupid. In my experience I have, very occassionally,
seen improper interactions between men and women in the workplace. Often, as
Anthony Hart-Jones has just recently said, the matter can be mostly
innocuous. In other cases, it can be hurtful or threatening, and I have seen
this from both men and women. In these cases I believe the legislation
already exists in most countries, and it is important for employers to
enforce anti-harassment laws.

On a similar point, my experiences have led me to believe there are far more
common forms of discrimination within the industry, at least locally. The
most common form of discrimination I have seen is religious persecution.
There exists within our industry a strong intellectual elitism accompanied
by an anti-religious dogma. I've seen numerous developers viciously torn
down when it's been brought to the colleagues that they hold religious views
of any sort. Whiel this form of persecution is no more damaging than gender
discrimination, the fact that it is particularly vicious, overt and never
(in my knowledge of the cases I have witnessed) rebuked by authority figures
makes it far more concerning in my view.

Regards,
Nathan Runge
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