Women in Games International

Amy Allison of the Vice President on the Executive Board of Women in Games International (WIGI), an organization that promotes the inclusion and advancement of women in the global games industry. In collaboration with the Girl Scouts Greater Los Angeles, Allison recently pioneered the introduction of a video games patch, offering young women hands-on lessons in video game development and design over the course of two workshops held this fall at Sony Santa Monica.

In this interview, Amy Allison and I discuss the inspiration for this patch, and how it differs from badges, loops, and other marks of achievement used by the Girl Scouts of the United States of America and the Boy Scouts of America; how these workshops address a pipeline issue for getting women into the games industry; how developers and publishers across the country can partner with WIGI to expand this program nationally; and finally, Amy’s experiences at the recent IndieCade and Oculus Connect and IndieCade festivals.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, Spoke, Overcast, acast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Sheri Graner Ray is a game developer with 25 years experience in the industry and credits that include games such as Ultima and Star Wars Galaxies and co-founding Women in Games International. In 2003, she published the book Gender Inclusive Game Design—Expanding the Market, on how to make games that appeal to both male and female players. In this interview, Ray explains some of the differences between how genders interact with technology, why male gamers shouldn’t see her proposals as threatening, how her book was received in an era before Facebook and Twitter, and how the market has changed since the book’s publication 11 years ago.

Watch the video below, or download the audio edition from iTunes or Stitcher.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Introduction
- Opening music is "Full Speed Ahead", part of the Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin album from OCRemix, with voiceover from Annie Lynsen
- PAX Prime 2014 schedule
- Less Than Or Equal
- Super Bonus Gaymer World
- IndieSider — combines Let’s Plays and indie game developer interviews
- GX: Everyone Games (aka GaymerX3) on Kickstarter
- Matt Conn on Patreon
Interview
- Sheri Graner Ray on Twitter
- Schell Games and Zombie Cat Studios
- 5th annual Game Developers Choice Awards (2005)
- Women in Games International
- IGDA’s Women in Games SIG (also on Twitter)
- MentorNet: Mentor + Protégé
- Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market, by Sheri Graner Ray (Amazon link)
- Women significantly outnumber teenage boys in gamer demographics
- Hearthstone tournament explains why women aren’t allowed to play
- Female developers who race cars: Kiki Wolfkill, Jeri Ellsworth and Quinn Dunki
- Anita Sarkeesian’s Ms. Male Character
- Sheri’s upcoming appearances:
  - Game Developers Conference (GDC) (March 2-6, 2015)
  - South by Southwest (March 13—17, 2015)
  - East Coast Game Conference (April 8–9, 2015)
- Full Sail University advisory board
- Margot Comstock of Softalk keynoted KansasFest 2014
- Gamasutra interview with Dona Bailey, creator of Centipede
- Ernest Adams’ "A Call to Arms for Decent Men"

Polygamer explores issues of equality and diversity in the gaming industry. New episodes air every other Wednesday on YouTube and in iTunes and Stitcher.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 58:14 — 30.5MB) | Embed

Tag Archives: Women in Games International

Polygamer #54: Amy Allison of WIGI on Girl Scout patches

Polygamer #04: Sheri Graner Ray on Gender-Inclusive Game Design