Tippy said:
Read. Consider.
That's an industry insider talking about the 'Boy's Club' and why that - and the attitude that perpetuates it - is a bad thing for gaming.
Amazing read, thank you!
That article seems to suggest that women are driven away from the gaming due to our (men) immature/childish attitude towards seeing women as nothing more than boobs+ass.
My theory was that since the overwhelming majority of game developers are male, the games themselves are obviously going to be written from a heavily male-influenced perspective. If I read that article right, it's saying that the solution to invite more women into the industry is for us males to back down first - that is, first WE need to stop portraying women as sex dolls, and THEN more women might consider getting into game development.
Blizzcon developer panel:
(and these guys don't even make any blatantly sexist games, Blizzard games portray women fairly respectfully)
My suggestion was that instead of men backing down, women should take up the responsibility of showing the other side of the picture by extensively developing and leading games on their own. The problem is, I can't think of the "polar opposite" of what a typical masculine game (boobs everywhere) would be. Men getting dominated? Pink unicorns? I have no clue.
Practically every game has been about men beating/assaulting each other, some even half-naked while doing it. But if a man assaults the wrong gender (i.e. woman) it's immediately labeled "rape" or "violence against women", and murder/genocide of males is fine as long we stay away from those touchy topics (yes I've seen Jim Sterling's video). The safest path IMO is to not include women at all in violent games, since I can't think of a single way that the presence of a woman in a violent situation WON'T get turned into a "you hate us" topic by feminists.
So if an extremely biased female developer existed, what sort of game would she create that would show men as the "sex doll"? I have no idea because I don't know of any such game. Women developers haven't even fought back yet, their presence is barely felt. They are in the extreme minority. Would such a game even well? Well, according to Moonlight Butterful 43% of gamers are women so such a game should be a smash hit!