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

[William Huber]

Ian,

Ultimately, it is the narratives of LGBTs in the industry that matter. While
I've used the 2005 IGDA survey for courses myself,  we all know its
problems. That said, if you add 2.7% L/G to 2.7% B, you actually get 5.2% -
much higher than the reported incidence in the US (3.5% LBG : see
http://services.law.ucla.edu/williamsinstitute/pdf/How-many-people-are-LGBT-Final.pdf
which
does some meta-analysis on the demographic measures.)


>From my courses, I see a lot of "boy's club" gatekeeping behavior and

discourse. ("Mansplaining" being much too commonplace.) But I also think
that I see a safe and welcoming environment for LBGT without need on my part
to intervene. (I have to intervene much too often to keep women from getting
drowned out by male gamer/geek "expertise," I fear) The problem which is
greater - I think we'd agree - is the heteronormativity of content. I feel
that the perception - and it may be accurate - is that the game market is
much more homophobic and heteronormative than the industry is, and market
imperatives are dictating content. And my perception is also that gay and
bisexual men in the industry are frequently disappointed about that
intractable heteronormativity, but attribute that to the problems of the
market rather than thinking that this means they don't belong. But, I'm
teachable on this issue.

As far as transgender goes, I only know of this interview with Jamie Faye
Fenton which names some transgender designers:
http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/files/Next-Generation-Online-Game-Designers-Just-Wanna-Be-Girls.htm
-
but it seems much higher than the representation in other sectors by my
impression (certainly, based on my impression for the various sectors I have
worked in, higher than academia or software.) That interview - 12 years old
though it may be - includes some speculation on the reason for this, but I
think it would actually be a very interesting to discover more.

William Huber

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 8:36 PM, Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com> wrote:


> Are LGBTs underrepresented in the game industry? Only data I have is from

> the 2005 IGDA Diversity Survey (sadly the most current info we've got) which

> shows 92% straight, 2.7% L/G, 2.7% B, 2.6% refused to answer, which is a bit

> below LGBT incidence in the general population. So unless we've had a large

> influx in the last 6 years, yeah, it's still an issue. (Other more subtle

> clues would be the continued presence of an LGBT roundtable at GDC, and

> general lack of believable LGBT lead characters in games, even moreso than

> strong female or minority leads.)

>

> I should also note that when Brenda and I were writing our "Breaking In"

> book, one of the questions we asked to the industry was specifically

> regarding LGBT issues. Of the three contributors, two specifically asked to

> be anonymous. Out of 100 questions we wrote on, this was the only question

> where we had such requests. Not scientific by any means, I admit, but it's

> all the data I have.

>

> I'm curious - you mention "some of the most noted game designers" being

> transgender. Aside from Dani Bunten, who else? She's the only one who

> regularly comes up in my design classes, would love to include more.

>

> - Ian

>

> ------------------------------

> *From:* William Huber <whuber at ucsd.edu>

> *To:* Ian Schreiber <ai864 at yahoo.com>; IGDA Game Education Listserv <

> game_edu at igda.org>

> *Sent:* Wednesday, September 21, 2011 3:13 PM

>

> *Subject:* Re: [game_edu] Implications of students going into a

> male-dominated industry?

>

> 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

>

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