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

[William Huber]

PS. Oops, I mean: 2.7 + 2.7 is 5.4. Even higher.

William Huber

On Wed, Sep 21, 2011 at 9:59 PM, William Huber <whuber at ucsd.edu> wrote:


> 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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