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

[Jose P. Zagal]

On the topic of GLBT content in games (and also tangentially on 
representation within the industry), Adrienne Shaw has a nice article in 
Games & Culture titled "Putting the Gay in Games: Cultural Production 
and GLBT Content in Video Games".

http://gac.sagepub.com/content/4/3/228.abstract


Jose



On 9/22/2011 12:44 PM, Ian Schreiber wrote:

> Maria writes:

>  >I don't know how anyone can breastfeed for a year (the minimal

> currently recommended period for baby health

>  >reasons; it's better to go for two) on the US-mandated maternity leave

> of several weeks. The expectation of overtime in

>  >all computer-related industries seals it. You may be able to

> procreate, but not necessarily experience some significant

>  >aspects of parenthood, as Anthony explained in his personal story.

>

> Since others were bringing up legal protections in Australia and UK,

> figured I'd throw in what I know of US: employers are required to give

> 12 weeks unpaid maternity leave at the new mom's discretion within the

> first year. Employers are also supposed to make reasonable

> accommodations for breastfeeding, although what's "reasonable" is not

> strictly defined and varies widely. Anything beyond this is pretty much

> the employer's choice. No mandated paternity leave, and for parents that

> rely on mom's income, the "option" to take unpaid leave isn't

> particularly practical (especially not at the same time that all the

> delivery medical bills are coming in). The "protections" here are pretty

> thin, and would seem on their face to favor the women who don't need them.

>

>  >Having a mother does not prepare one for the reality of staying up

> every night, a week or two in a row, with a sick child,

>  >then going to work and be expected to perform like everybody else. It

> affects you quite differently from staying up all

>  >night to play a computer game (I've done both). Two parents with

> full-time jobs significantly raise chances of childhood

>  >sickness for their babies, so the situation becomes more likely.

>

> Obligatory plug: just this year, the IGDA Parents in Game Dev SIG was

> launched. There's a mailing list (igda-devs-with-kids at googlegroups.com),

> and an "official" hashtag, #gamedevparents on Twitter. From what people

> have said there, it is possible to be both parent and developer, mostly

> by giving up the opportunity to work at studios that have more

> aggressive time expectations.

>

>

> Adam Parker says:

>  >The real question, from academia's standpoint, is how we are to help

> build a diverse industry right now - starting from a

>  >clear statement that diversity equals better economic sense, instead

> of arguing on the bigot's terms for the relevance

>  >of diversity.

>

> AFAIK, in industry, there are basically two methods to achieve diversity

> within a dev studio:

>

> 1. Make diversity a core company value from inception. If the workplace

> starts diverse, it is more likely to stay that way, and each new hire is

> more likely to not be like anyone already there. "That interview

> candidate is a little too much like Ted. We already have one Ted, we

> don't need another."

>

> 2. If the studio is already largely homogenous, grow a lot, quickly. If

> your 20-person team becomes 200 in a few months, any corporate culture

> you may have had will be disintegrated (or at least sufficiently

> diluted) as long as your growth is diverse.

>

> (Corollary: if your studio is homogenous and you're hiring one or two

> new people, you are basically screwed. Most likely, everyone will be

> looking for "team fit" i.e. "someone just like the rest of us." Even in

> a best-case scenario where you find someone different, they'll have a

> definite feeling of being a lone wolf... not exactly a happy place to be

> for a place where you'll be spending most of your day supposedly working

> on a "team".)

>

>  From our end, best I can see is:

>

> 1. Make diversity, equality, yadda yadda a core value within our

> respective departments. Example: an all-male Engineering faculty is just

> not going to be as supportive of women's issues due to ignorance and

> lack of exposure, no matter how "enlightened" they are collectively, and

> that will manifest in the symptom of lower female enrollment.

>

> 2. Transmit this value to the student body. Internalize it within the

> curriculum. I saw two wonderful suggestions earlier in this thread: a

> required "ethics in games" class that covers the topic from all angles

> so that students have an understanding of the issues, and including

> diversity-minded assignments ("create a game for a target audience that

> isn't you").

>

> 3. Encourage and support entrepreneurially-minded students to start

> their own studios. Low chance of success individually, sure, but at

> least there's also a low burn rate... and every success can spawn one

> more diverse studio.

>

> 4. Wait. Give students who internalize these issues the time to reach

> positions of prominence within the industry.

>

> I'm open to other suggestions, though, especially anything I can

> implement in my classes right now.

>

> - Ian

>

>

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-- 
José P. Zagal
Assistant Professor
College of Computing and Digital Media
DePaul University

http://www.ludoliteracy.com/
http://facsrv.cs.depaul.edu/~jzagal