Gender Me Softly: or Why on Earth Should I Worry about Gender in Game Design? Marina Rossi @marinaponders [email protected]
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Gender Me Softly: or Why on Earth Should I Worry about Gender in Game Design?
Marina Rossi @[email protected]
– Elizabeth Sampat
“No one else has your exact lived experience, and when you bring your lived experience into a game in a real and intimate way, you create a
game that no one else could make.”
Cibele Nina Freeman, 2016
Nina Freeman, 2016
Depression Quest Zoë Quinn, 2013
Zoë Quinn
dys4ia Anna Anthropy, 2012
Anna Anthropy
Beyond Eyes Sherida Halatoe, 2015
Sherida Halatoe
Gamer Mom Mordechai Buckman, 2012
Mordechai Buckman
LIM Merritt Kopas, 2012
Merritt Kopas
10 Seconds in Hell Amy Dentata, 2013
Trigger Amy Dentata, 2015
Amy Dentata
Coming out Simulator 2014 Nicky Case, 2014
Nicky Case
Mainichi Mattie Brice, 2012
Mattie Brice
Photo credits: Bethesda
Photo credits: Naughty Dog
Photo credits: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Photo credits: Activision
Photo credits: Ubisoft
Photo credits: Rockstar Games
Photo credits: Rockstar Games
Photo credits: Bethesda
White
Cisgender
Heterosexual
Middle-class
Able-bodied
Neurotypical
MalePhoto credits: gamerant.com
– Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
“The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are
untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.”
(The Codes of Gender, directed by Sut Jhally, 2010)
”My name is Dianna Agron and I am not a gamer.”
Source: ESA
Source: ESA
“Games are the ultimate expression of immersive empathy, because systems are the purest way to transfer feelings and mindsets
between one person and another. Be intentional with your systems, honest with
yourself and true to your experiences, and I promise you— you will make games that your
players will never forget.”
– Elizabeth Sampat
Why should it matter to me?
If it doesn’t, you are part of the problem.
Sheri Graner Ray, 2004
Source: GDC
2012 Game Industry
12% female
Source: GDC
2017 State of the Industry Survey
78% male20% female
2% other
Harassment & Hate Campaigns
False Consensus Effect
Best Practices
Life Is Strange Dontnod Entertainment, 2015
Lifeline Three Minute Games, 2015
“All of the choices in the game are binary choices: you make a choice to go left or right,
[gender] is a choice that we asked the player to make without actually asking them to. It's silent and implicit, but it gives the player ownership
over how they view Taylor.”
– Mars Jokela
Journey Thatgamecompany, 2012
Sunless Sea Failbetter Games, 2015
Fallen London Failbetter Games, 2009
Dominique Pamplemousse Squinky, 2013
Ok, but why should I worry?
We Become What We Behold Nicky Case, 2016
The Birth of a Nation DW Griffith, 1915
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