games: a good place to work

1
games a good place to work?

• Lizzie Haines
• for IGDA London
• 26-Jan-05

2
first of all the statistics

• only 17 of the games workforce is female
• and only 27 of women actually make games
• 2 of programmers are women. 5 of audio, 5 of
  designers and 9 of artists
• companies vary from 1 women to nearly half
• why?

3
what is it like for women?

• 3 out of 5 developers work over 46 hours in a
  normal week
• over 50 see crunch times as a normal part of
  business
• many women complain of sexism
• women feel very outnumbered

4
what would women like?
5
changes in the air?

• yes
• mobile games
• on-line and iTV games
• mass market and console games
• ?more games women and girls want to play
• ?more respect from developers

6
garage-hacker culture

• elevates the nerdy but heroic founder and sees
  him as a role model
• likes to work with hard core gamers, people like
  us
• resists professionalisation and values
  creativity
• celebrates the long hours and pizzas
• believes sincerely that it is gender-neutral

7
what does this mean for women?

• less likely to get seen
• less likely to get employed
• less likely to get promoted

8
but

• more companies actively trying to employ women
• companies maturing and looking to the outside
  world
• ?more outsiders
• ?more women
• ?more comfortable

9
different styles of company
10

• what do you think?
• what is your experience?
• contact me at lizzie_at_lhresearch.co.uk for a link
  to the full report