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

[William Huber]

Most of this thread is taking a rather predictable course in response to
your post (if there's a record, and if I need to go on it, I'll just agree
with taking dramatic and effective measures to increase the representation
of the under-represented in all aspects of the game industry, and to create
a professional environment that is respectful of all its stakeholders) but I
do have two questions about one of the categories you mention.

Are gay men under-represented in the game industry? I actually think, on
this regard, the industry is doing alright. That many places within gamer
culture still feel like hostile places for LGBT gamers notwithstanding...

And, isn't the game industry, perhaps, something of a leader in providing a
good working environment for transgender men and women (especially the
latter?) It is my impression that some of the most noted game designers of
the past few decades have been transgender.

William Huber

On Sun, Sep 18, 2011 at 11:22 AM, Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Hi all,

>

> This (long but worthwhile) article has been making the rounds on Twitter

> recently, so I thought I'd bring it up here:

>

> http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/misc/22786_To_My_Someday_Daughter.html

>

> While it focuses primarily on the Magic:the Gathering player community (as

> that is what the author is closest to), I think the sentiment can be applied

> to just about any male-dominated industry, from video game development to

> mechanical engineering to business.

>

> Personally, in my industry survey class I make it a point to spend some

> time talking about gender/minority issues. Students in these groups need to

> be prepared for potentially unjust treatment. Students who are not, need to

> not add to the problem. (I would actually just as soon make Women's Studies

> or Minority Studies a required course for all game dev majors until such

> time as the industry fixes itself, but so far I haven't had the power to

> affect curriculum that much, so I'm left to just make a "strong

> recommendation" that my students will go on to ignore.)

>

> It makes me wonder though: the fact that the industry is predominantly

> white, male and straight, and that this lack of diversity is a problem in so

> many ways -- is this a problem on everyone's radar in the educational space?

> How do different schools handle this (particularly trade/vocational schools

> that are highly industry-focused)? Does anyone require students to take an

> entire class in understanding unequal societal power dynamics... or do you

> graft it on to a single class as an isolated topic, and hope it sticks... or

> do you try to integrate these discussions throughout the curriculum (say, by

> having game design students make games for target audiences other than

> themselves)... or does the topic never see mention in the classroom at all

> because it's seen to be outside the scope of game dev?

>

> In short: where are we now, as a collective? Is that where we should be? If

> not, what do we need to change to get us there?

>

> - Ian

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_edu mailing list

> game_edu at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu

>

>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/game_edu/attachments/20110921/ce29d084/attachment.html>