Gender Equality in the Gaming Industry

I am a gamer. I also have a small following on websites like YouTube and Twitch. Being in the public eye was a decision I made because I have a desire to share my deep love for gaming with everyone, and explore the possibilities of how it can change and improve the world we live in. So many wonderful things have happened and I've met so many amazing people through these outlets. I have no regret.

With anything in life, if there is light there is also shadow. An unfortunate side effect of being a female gamer on the internet is that I deal with hateful strangers who find entertainment in trying to tear me down, threaten me, make unwelcome sexual comments, and try to tell me that the only reason I am successful is because I am a woman. This a moderate disappointment in comparison to the large doses of joy that I get from being involved with gaming. For every douchebag there are about 20 loving and supportive people that I meet. Until I am a wrinkled grandma on my deathbed, I don't plan to ever end my involvement with the gaming industry.

It is difficult to have a conversation about gender equality in gaming without questions arising about the largest train wreck in Twitter history: the #gamergate war. Depending on what side you took (assuming you took a side at all), gamer gate was either a campaign for harassment against women, or about ethics in game journalism that started during August 2014. In summary, game developer Zoe Quinn was publicly accused by her ex of sleeping with several staff-writers in exchange for increased positive publicity of a game she developed, Depression Quest. This started a movement of people who demanded more transparency in game journalism, but also became breeding ground for a disgusting display of how low (parts of) the human race can go.

Although parts of the human race reared their ugly heads during this controversy, it is an incredible example of citizen journalism and involvement of individuals attempting a conversation, but failing miserably. I say fail because to my knowledge, no good solution was found. 

This article does an incredible job of going over the finer details of the impact this hashtag had on the physical context of the internet, particularly Twitter. Here are just a couple of the visuals the author made to represent the metadata he gathered on Twitter. This is only a drop in an ocean of information the author gathered during a 72 hour period. 

Each point is a single person in the #Gamergate universe, the lines connect who they follow. 

Psychological context: Reading the tweets that were sent & getting a feel for exactly how much civility, respect, and understanding was lacking is very depressing. The internet has been around for several decades. You would think by now we would know how to treat each other with respect, and be able to hear each other's opinions without catapulting insults at each other. I am sure I am not the only one who was frustrated and discouraged by this public display of gross incivility. Although #gamergate is not trending on Twitter anymore, the impact and angst it created is still reverberating throughout the internet.

What is even more frustrating, is that this train wreck went mainstream. News agencies like the New York Times, BBC, and CNN did obligatory articles trying to report what exactly happened. Of course they reported on  what would make readers' blood boil the most: the excessive, disgusting harassment of Anita Sarkeesian, Brianna Wu, and Zoe Quinn. Although I'm sure they were attempting some objectivity, their coverage (and other similar sites) swayed the public opinion to assume that most gamers are trashy, uncivilized, hateful internet trolls. The generalizing & stereotyping of a group as amazing and diverse as the gaming community is extremely frustrating, and is going to follow the industry around for a long time. It will probably discourage many women from entering professions in gaming. It could take years to undo and move on from the damage that was done. Here is a video from consumer activist and YouTuber "Boogie2988" that touches on a lot of the psychological and emotional issues surrounding the controversy. 

In case you don't want to watch the whole video, my favorite thing he said in regards to ethics in journalism was this:

“Be skeptical of game journalism but also be skeptical of all things you read. All types of journalism. All things you are told. Be skeptical of all things in your life. Skepticism is the number one most human trait in my opinion. And it is the one that served the human-animal very well in it's time. Absolutely there is corruption in all things you see and all things you are told in all things that you read. Never trust anything blindly. If Zoe Quinn is the one that made you realize that, she did you a big favor.”

.....but enough about gamergate

Why does the video game industry need more women?

Although about 52% of gamers are women, females are very under-represented in game development studios. In a temporal & social context, the world is really missing out on what could be brought to the table. Not just because there will be more females, but because including women will bring in a whole new pool of individuals with ideas that can help improve society thorough gaming. This article talks about a few brave individuals that are changing the world by using video games as a medium for social good.

Change is the only constant. In a world where technology is evolving faster than we are, it would benefit human-kind a great deal if we started celebrating and welcoming diversity of all kinds. For decades, men and women had different roles that served society. Things have changed, and those roles are changing. In regards to the cultural context of gender equality, we will need it more and more as the years wear on. Learning to cooperate and share each other's territory is vital.