Building a fair playing field is a guide that highlights good practices in the field of gender equality in the video game sector: the international guide, 150 pages that can be downloaded from the Iidea websitewas made by Women in Gamesa UK-based non-profit organization that supports and engages a global community, with the support of the European federation Interactive Software Federation of Europe (of which Iidea is a member) and InGAME, a research and development center for the video game industry based in Dundee.
We met Luisa Bixiovice president of Iidea and CEO of Milestone, e Micaela Romaninifounder of Women in Games Italia, to comment on some relevant data on gender equality in the game industry.
Interview
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Research shows that the video game industry employs around 90,000 people across Europe and that women represent 20% of the workforce, according to the data provided by Egdf. The slow progress in female representation was highlighted by the Game Developer Conference’s annual report of 2021, which showed that only 21% of the videogame studio workers interviewed presented themselves as women; in 2005 it was 11%, rising to 22% in 2015 and to 24% in 2019.
In Europe today it is at 20%, so there has not only been a setback, but one contraction, as Romanini pointed out: “There is no measure of the reason for this reduction, but it is probable that the figure may have been influenced by the pandemic. The hope is that from the pandemic onwards, with the growing interest in the themes of inclusionalso present in the United Nations 2030 Agenda, the figure can be reversed, returning to the pre-Covid percentages “.
The pandemic has influenced female employment in the video game industry and not only that, according to Bixio: “In recent years our market has changed, a lot. In Europe some companies have moved, for example to Canada, and this has an impact on women’s work. Then we are moving more and more towards digital distribution channels, which involves divestment by publishers. The impact of digital at the expense of retail channels has resulted in the closure of some commercial offices. These structures had a strong female presence, sales and marketing staff, rather than technical ones. A combination of factors brought the figure to 20%, but I expect a recovery ”.
In Italiawhere the video game is a relatively recent sector, we are bucking the trend: we have 23% female employment. From the latest census on local game developers, carried out by Iidea in 2021, it emerges that in the coming years the studios intend to increase the staff, and therefore to hire. But the census also says that the female component is concentrated more in artistic areas of video game developmentwhile that related to technology is still almost completely populated by male professionals.
An obvious gap to be bridged, according to Bixio: “In the most technological part of development we are looking for people specialized in the world of physics or engineering or, in part, mathematicians and computer scientists. I don’t know what the percentage of women is in these universities, we should understand this to understand if the industry is receptive in proportional terms. Taking the example of Milestone, we have noticed that when we look for figures related to the world of graphics, management or services in general, we receive a good number of female candidates. When we are looking for pure programming or physics, far fewer come, but the few that come are extremely good. So I don’t think there is an industry foreclosure, the question lies upstream ”.
Again, in Romanini’s words: “A study conducted by an English researcher shows that the girls engaged in studies in the Stem area (things?), scientific-technological disciplines, are 3 times more inclined to consider a career in the world of video games. Compared to boys, girls from an early age are encourage you to excel rather than risk or to get involved. There is a nice TED by an Indian researcher who suggests teaching girls to be brave and not to be perfect ”.
The courage to get involved could be the key element, according to Romanini: “David Bowman, vice president of Telltale Games, he said years ago that when he arrived at the company he had a percentage of women of 5%. Wanting to increase the component, he decided to give everyone a chance female nominations who came with a first interview, because he had noticed that the girls, in the curriculum, tended to underestimate and downsize their skills ”.
Training
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The guide Building a fair playing field it also contains some recommendations developed by Women in Games to help companies and organizations take advantage of the cutting-edge training work that is taking place to build a fair field. Among these, we find as a first indication: make full use of key information gender-sensitive, age-sensitive research drawn from existing research on Stem and Steam to inform and develop impactful programs and initiatives.
And second very interesting point, which could however present some critical points is: to fully include games, their history and their game in basic school curricula at all levels, working to influence the design of programs at the highest political levels. According to Bixio, “it is a very complex issue: whenever in Italy we dialogue with the institutions, we are confronted with many barriers. In the institutional context Iidea’s work was long and complex, not only to get the tax credit or the financing of video game prototypes, but to credit the game as a growth tool. Of course in the right quantities. School and curriculum reform is a very broad and sensitive issue. Surely what we as an industry must and can do is show that the video game is a tool that children know and with great educational potential “.
Building a fair playing field is not exclusively a question of numerical representation. Despite a series of research conducted by Ukie in the UK, Isfe and Egdf in Europe, there is a lack of current and detailed data on the specific roles occupied by women in the sector: find out the experiences lived of women who are an integral part of the game creation process is essential. Much has been done in recent years and much remains to be done. And the guide Building a fair playing field it could prove to be a good starting point.