We Got Game
For those who think playing video and computer games is just a “guy thing” think again. A recent article by Matt West from CNN reports some pretty surprising numbers. According to the Entertainment Software Association 38 percent of gamers are females who spend over 7 hours a week on average playing games.
One woman by the name of Torrie Dorrell turned her passion for games into a very successful career in the field. Dorrell works as the senior vice president of global sales and marketing for Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). Dorrell asserts that women are definitely out there playing all different games including various action games, but then goes on to point out, “What is lacking in the equation are women behind the games.”
The International Game Developers Association reports that only 12 percent of the gaming industry is made up of women. When you compare this to the high percentage of women players, it would just make sense that by attracting more women to the industry developers can turn out new products to appeal to a much wider audience.
The lack of women game designers in the industry is precisely why Torrie Dorrell and her colleagues have come up with a program called G.I.R.L. (Gamers In Real Life.). G.I.R.L. is a scholarship program set up to give female students enrolled at an Art Institute school $10,000 toward tuition and a paid internship at an SOE studio.
Another employee, Courtney Simmons, from SOE who is involved in the scholarship program believes “there is a lack of understanding about how women play.” Simmons later goes on to say that she wants to see “more women making games, making games that women want to play.”
What do you think of the scholarship program set up to attract more women to the gaming industry?
Do you think more women in the industry would eventually mean more female-friendly games?
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Vikkitoria | Hollywood, FLCool
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Hisonka | Kyyiv, ALwow interesting
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unhmax | Mansfield, MAI love video games! My favorites right now are Kingdom Hearts (I & II) and CSI. I also enjoy playing Final Fantasy. I am more into the story games than the fighting or sports ones. But I do enjoy some good puzzle games like Tetris. I like to play Mario Brothers related games but I don't currently have a game system that supports those games. Sonic the Hedgehog is also raelly good. And the new Pacman isn't too bad either. Not the same as the old school game but still fun!
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GiovannaR | New York City, NYI believe this is a great idea...in order to get a certain audience to participate in gameplay, a member of this audience needs to be involved in the production of this game. I myself am an avid gamer, owning everyhting from Madden to NBA Live to Guitar Heroes. Many "guy" games do stand out to us woman, as they are typically ones calling for strategy, and logic. In making this opp. available not only is the consumer range broadened, but maybe even something ranging as big as future strereotypes to society roles may change. GAME ON CHICKS!!!
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MonCherie | Hawkins, WII have to agree with all the posters. Great to have the scholarship. I think women designing games would give a whole perspective. I myself, and nuts about Halo, Halo2 and Halo3 and I also like the puzzle/arcade type of game. I do think they need to make more educational games.
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MyySharona | Quincy, MAWow, I never knew that they created such a great scholarship program. Right now electronic games are popular all over the world for all ages. It's a great career move to be involved within the industry. GO WOMEN!! As for the "more feminine" games, I think we have plenty right now.. just look at all the games for little girls; my little cousin has all these DS games like Bratz, Little Mermaid, Dogs, etc.
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domesticgoddess_1 | Antigo, WII have never been a gamer. On any system at all. Recently the new Rock Band game came out and my son has it. Now that is fun! We play every chance we get and I really enjoy it. This kind of gaming is my idea of fun. The other type I just could never get a feel for and usually got frustrated and quit.
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cagbchee | AUSTIN, TXi think it would be more fun for women to develope more games. They have the intellect, drive and ambition just like everyone else. WE love to play games also.
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eboni13 | CLAYMONT, DEyears ago when I did not really get into video games until about I met my fiancee. Now we have 2 Xboxs, 1 Xbox 360, 2 PS2s, 1 PDOne, a PSP, 2 Nintendo DS, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, SNES and a Wii. We have everything except a Gamecube, which we will not get, and a PS3, which we will be getting soon. We both play World of War Craft on our gaming pcs - so you can see I have become somewhat of an addict. I think it's great females play and people start looking at them as fellow gamers rather than girls who play games. I have fallen in love with games that I started my own website dedicated to adults who play video games. I also think it is important for females to get involved in game development, because honestly the men don't always get the game play right to suit our needs.
My motto is:
iGame2, Do u?
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silverstreak | INDIANAPOLIS, INI've been playing games for a very long time. I currently own a PSOne, PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox. My spouse and I usually spend over 10 hrs per week playing and sometimes as many as 10 hrs per day on Saturday/Sunday.
Our game library is quite extensive, however there are not enough games that showcases "Girl Power". Sure, Lora Croft is maximum girl power but we need more games that show how powerful we girls really are.
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diamondcat | LAKE ORION, MII think it would be great to get more women in the gaming industry. I currently love playing Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy for the Xbox 360. It would be nice to have more games with a little deeper content other than seeing how many kills you can get.
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mommy2twogirls | SAN ANTONIO, TXI love playing video games, currently I am addicted to World of Warcraft. I think it would be great if more women were involved in creating the games, maybe there would be more out there that would be more appealing to play. Games are a really good relaxation technique for me after the kids go to bed and I would love some more options, I just wish I had some time to go back to school!
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draykus | CORINTH, TXI love the scholarship program! I'd love to see more women developing new games. It would really give the industry some new life and fresh ideas. I don't think many females are aware of the fact that it's an industry they could go into. This scholarship would encourage woman to explore an industry that really could benefit if games were made from a female perspective. I'm a gamer and I have been since I was a young child, so I have a real interest in this. I just learned about schools like Digital Media Arts College that have great programs centered around video game development. I had no idea that was an option when I was growing up. I bet a woman's perspective could really enhance all the game genres and create some new games based solely on women's interests alone.
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