Comments on: Why Women Don’t Write These Games

By: Tesh

Tesh — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 21:23:31 +0000

Perhaps you could look at it that way, but then, consider that the bulk of the industry is comprised of apprentices, and that they typically don’t graduate to mastery, they leave the industry and let another batch of apprentices in. It’s no wonder that we’re always reinventing the wheel and stuck in sequelitis and “me too” design. It’s all the apprentices know. Compound that with the suits in the corner office that are afraid of innovation, and is it any wonder that the industry has problems?

By: Analogue

Analogue — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:56:47 +0000

True, but… many see that grind as their apprenticeship dues. My father is in the same industry – not games programming, but software engineering – and I was born early enough in his career that I remember when he pulled 72 hours over a four day weekend to get a project launched. Hell they still abuse him and he’s close to 50 (but that’s because of the economy right now and another story). And yet it didn’t scare me off, probably because I always planned on an on-again off-again career with babies in the midst. But for a while he could go anywhere with his resume and get hired and NOT work those insane hours, because he’d paid his dues. Hopefully he’ll be back there again once this recession improves…

By: Tesh

Tesh — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 20:26:38 +0000

What you here call “drive” is commonly abused in the game industry. There is no good reason for an 80-hour work week, but when the company can use those “driven” individuals by leveraging their unhealthy interest (mostly by putting them on salary then mandating unpaid overtime), they will, without hesitation, throw people into the meat grinder. AFter all, there’s always a new group of unhealthily obsessed coders to take advantage of.

…this is also why the game industry is largely not just male, but young, stupid, imbalanced males. The smart guys with balanced lives find better work elsewhere.

By: Analogue

Analogue — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 14:12:45 +0000

Absolutely. Amen to that and good on you for encouraging your daughter over the “better ideas” of the “professionals”. What makes it a bad thing to be good at social sciences AND math?

We’re a pair of engineers and I am pretty sure our daughter will be math and science inclined. One more reason we’re going to homeschool her; I don’t want anyone telling her that girls don’t do math. I thought algebra was fun, calc was a nice challenge, and I’m not letting her graduate without both.

By: angry gamer

angry gamer — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 03:02:44 +0000

Yes, it starts in public school
My spouse teaches math in middle school
I taught math in grad school…

we are teaching a daughter how important math is to the sciences… she wants to be a scientist and invent things

When we as parents try to explain our emphasis on math progress to teachers/principals/counselors… they all look at us oddly – they say “but she is so good in social sciences”

To which I reply sarcastically “But if we emphasize that she might make a great college humanities professor but not be in sciences… because you know it’s hard for political science people to perform differnential equations”

To which the elementary teacher/principal (who all struggled at algebra no doubt) look at me like I grew a 3rd head

Why do I think that the conversation would be REALLY DIFFERENT if my daughter was a son?

Call me paranoid but I think that the ready made excuse of females not being good at science/math is just gender bias writ large.