So, I was reading a post by Deirdra over at the Border House called We Need More Women in Indie Games (I recommend going over there and reading it in full before reading this article). It raises many good questions regarding why women aren’t better represented in the indie game community, since there are no hoops related to “breaking in” and as long as you “make something cool and post it online” you’re in.
In her post, Deirdra discusses some possible barriers: lack of interest (in games and/or in making games as a hobby), trouble getting into STEM fields in general, lack of information/knowledge about indie communities, sexism in said communities, lack of women in said communities, lack of role models due to lack of proper promotion of games made by women. Although I’m not familiar with indie communities in particular, the kinds of barriers that Deirdra describes are pretty common for any male dominated field.
Although the focus of the post is more on identifying problems than proposing solutions, Deirdra’s flippant proposal to “[j]ust write a game. How hard can it be, right?” and the ensuing discussion piqued my interest. Particularly because, as someone whose life has been consumed by learning the ins and outs of game development for the past three years, I have to say that making a game is pretty damn hard. And I think that the complicated process of game development itself can be a barrier to women entering the field.
The second shift
An overwhelming majority of employed women are still responsible for the brunt of domestic duties and childcare, resulting in far less free time, and countless other things we could be doing.
Not surprisingly, a recent study shows that employed women are still six times more likely to be responsible for childcare and domestic duties (LBS, 2007). In other words, our “free time” is precious and limited. In a culture that values long coding hours and participation, perhaps we just don’t have the resources to stack up. Those who are able to spend more time actively participating in open source projects after hours are more easily integrated into the community (Lin, 2005; Krieger, 2006). As well, because our free time is so very precious, if our participation in these projects is not appreciated or readily accepted, we have not less than five million other things competing for our attention.
While most feminists and other anti-oppression activists are familiar with the term “second shift”, which refers to the second “shift” (work being the first) of unpaid domestic labor that a woman is responsible for, most people don’t think of that in terms of how it affects our hobbies. For instance, it’s not a coincidence that casual games — which are “usually played in a series of short time increments, from five minutes to 20 minutes” — are overwhelmingly purchased by women over 35 (for more information, see 2007 Casual Games Market Report [PDF]). The ability to play, and enjoy, a game in short bursts is a necessity for people with a limited amount of free time, and is certainly the main reason why I’ve switched to almost exclusively playing casual games.
Making games, even simple ones, is even more of a time commitment than just playing them. As Deirdra points out in her article, “most people don’t get paid to write indie games; it’s a hobby that takes up a large chunk of one’s free time, with little or no promise of any sort of concrete reward.” When one has a limited amount of free time at their disposal, it’s very easy to see development as a set of insurmountable barriers: first you have to find the time to research the tools, then you have to find the right communities who are experienced with said tools, then you have to familiarize yourself with said tools, and then, you know, actually do all the development stuff.
Game development is hard
Could it be that in our society, women aren’t encouraged to have seemingly pointless, solitary hobbies to the same degree that men are? Perhaps, but there are still a lot of women out there who work on novels, short fiction, blogs, visual art, music, crafts, and other time-consuming creative things in their spare time. Why should games be any different?
[Deirdra (Border House): We Need More Women in Indie Games.]
As someone who has written a novel, played an instrument, developed several web sites, created various kinds of works of art, and developed more than a few games, I have to say that making games is the hardest thing that I’ve ever done. There’s a reason why game development is primarily a team activity whereas the hobbies listed by Deirdra are primarily solitary activities: even simple games need a defined game system, graphics (including animations, effects, UI, etc), music (BGM and SFX), and text (tutorial text, dialogue, etc). Even on school projects that focus on the programming (where I often recycle graphics and code, and cut effects, music, and text completely), making a game by myself, even when I spend weeks of class time on it, always ends up in a crappy, poorly balanced product.
The flash game I made, Candy Heist, is a perfect example of why game development is frustrating in a way that, say, writing a novel isn’t. Both are time consuming, and both (especially if you’re going solo) are going to take hundreds of hours to complete. But, with a novel, after a few hours of writing you’ll have the first chapter or so. The first chapter is enough to hook someone and have them begging for you to write more. But, even if you have the bare bones of the system and maybe some graphics after the first few hours, it’s a lot harder to get hooked on a game without the bells and whistles — like special effects — that let you know how well you’re doing. I busted my ass for around 12 hours or so to make Candy Heist, but without elements like effects, cool SFX, and a high score board people are, at most, going to play it once and move onto something better.
Now, of course, using ready made development tools and free sound/graphic/etc resources provided by the indie community you’re in speeds up the process quite a bit. When you have a strong foundation already provided for you, it does mean that even a bit of time spent on a work can produce something that will hook players and have them clamoring for more. But — and I know this as someone studying specifically this aspect of game design — simply planning a game is a thankless, time consuming task. Granted, it’s not going to be as time consuming for a person who really doesn’t care whether green sparklies or pink sparklies are better for conveying a sense of accomplishment for players, but it still involves thinking about things such as the gaming system and mechanics, the UI, the graphics (to set the mood of the game), style of music and SFX, and the story (world development, characters, dialogue and other scripts). Even a simple game requires time to be spent on making it fun.
Don’t be discouraged!
So, now that I’ve sufficiently rained on the parade by talking about how making games takes time women don’t have and often feels like a black hole that sucks all your hard work in, it’s time to turn around and say to all the girls and women out there who want to get into game development but aren’t sure how: “Just write a game. How hard can it be, right?” Developing a game with no experience is hard. But if you find your niche — download the tools, participate in the communities, work as part of a team — it can be one of the best experiences of your life.
The great thing about making games is that it’s a hobby that goes along with the other ones in your life. Do you enjoy writing short stories and novels? Find a development project that needs writers! If you play an instrument, you already have a leg up for composing BGMs for a variety of games. Like to tinker with HTML and/or XML? Scripting might be the ideal position for you. Even if you give it a go and then decide that game design isn’t really for you, you’ll be walking away with a broader and/or deeper set of skills, and with the experience of knowing what you don’t want in a community/team/job/whatever.
Of course — and anyone involved with diversifying traditionally white, male-dominated (etc) fields can tell you this — the onus isn’t, and can’t be on, the women not yet in the field. In order for potential female game developers to not be discouraged, those of us already involved in the industry and communities need to continue working hard to eliminate other barriers such as sexism, a lack of role models, community resistance to newbies, etc.
For those interested in learning more, I’ve compiled a small list of resources below.
Resources
Female indie game developers:
- Not That Question (lists several indie developers)
- auntie pixelante
- Lively Ivy
Interviews with female indie game developers:
- Interview With Amanda Fitch, Indie RPG and Casual Game Designer
- Q&A: Thatgamecompany’s Santiago Talks flOw, Emotional Gaming
- Industry Interview: Britney Brimhall, Himalaya Studios
- Interview with Miriam Ruiz: Game developer
More on women in game development:
More on barriers in STEM fields:
- Gender in IT, OSS, & PHP, and How it Affects Us *All*
- FLOSS inclusivity: pragmatic, voluntary, empowering, joyous
- Role Models and Stereotypes
- Proof That Mentoring Matters
- Editor’s Note: Sexism in FOSS
- Diversity at what cost?
Andrea Rubenstein