Business Video Game Industry no longer a ‘Boys Club’

By Robbie Key [email protected] Contra elieve it or not, video games have “I can remember playing ‘Contra’* and A side-scrolling shooting game that come a long way since Pong machines ‘Duck Hunt’** for hours and hours as a originally released on the NES in 1988. Bswept American homes. Although the child,” Wager said. gaming industry has changed in many ways, “Borderlands 2” is one of Wagar’s favorite Duck Hunt one of the biggest differences is how it is no games because of how much the player can An arcade shooter where players plug longer a ”boy’s club,” as women are involved customize the experience and how well it in a plastic gun and shoot ducks on now more than ever. plays. “I have just over 200 hours played on home TV screens. It released on the Of the 155 million people who play video that game.” NES in 1985. games in the U.S., 44 percent are women, Kelley Rehmet, a part-time employee at which is about 65 million people, according the local Hastings and student at Angelina Borderlands 2 to a 2015 study by the Entertainment College, is also video game enthusiast. A cooperative shooting game from Software Association titled “Essential Facts “I’ve played them since I was probably 5. a first-person perspective with role- About the Computer and Video Game My first video game was one of those little playing game elements. Industry.” SpongeBob faces that you plug into your TV Toni Wagar, an SFA senior majoring in and the nose is a joystick,” she said. V: computer information systems, has been While women are welcomed in the Skyrim playing since she was a kid. “I was an only industry more than ever before, the An open-world role-playing game, child with a single parent, which I feel is why acceptance has not been without struggles meaning players have a wealth of op- I was so drawn to them. They were a great along the way. tions to choose what they want to do, how different tasks can be approached source of entertainment for me,” she said in An infamous event known as Gamergate and how to grow their character. an email. particularly focused on how women are

42 | January 2016 the Best of Nac 2 0 1 5 treated in the industry. It began with game designer Zoe Quinn, a developer FeelIng uneasY who is perhaps best known for creating “As a trope the Damsel about PrePlannIng? “Depression Quest,” a text-based game in which players experience what it’s like for in Distress is a plot de- Show your loved ones how someone to go through depression. Quinn’s vice in which a female much you truly care by offering ex-boyfriend accused her of allegedly great emotional and financial secu- cheating on him with a journalist from a character is placed in a rity. Your family will find great com- video-game-focused website so she could fort in knowing that you took the get better reviews for “Depression Quest.” perilous situation from responsibility for your funeral plans Gamergate not only sparked a which she cannot escape to reflect what you wanted. controversy over the ethics of gaming It will give your loved ones peace of journalists, but women’s presence in on her own and must mind not to have to make those im- gaming. Quinn has received death and rape portant but hard decisions at a most threats not only because of the question then be rescued by a stressful time and it will spare them of her ethics, but also simply for being a additional emotional grief. woman in the industry. Wagar has also male character, usually experienced harassment while playing providing a core incen- Preplanning provides cost protection games online. and freezes the cost to today’s price. “The moment I would talk to people tive or motivation for they would realize I was a girl and begin asking how old I was, where I lived, if I had the protagonist’s quest.” a boyfriend, what I was wearing, even ask Anita Sarkeesian, Blogger very ‘personal’ questions,” she said. “It got to the point that I would leave the (game).” Danny g. Mounger and lynn M. laird Anita Sarkeesian, who has an online blog or motivation for the protagonist’s quest.” called Feminist Frequency that critiques In the video, she gives various examples at Laird Funeral Home and explores the roles of women in gaming, of games that centralize around the idea we make it easy for your wishes has received similar threats. Sarkeesian that women are helpless prizes, including to be appreciated and honored. said she had to flee from her home because Princess Peach from “Super Mario Bros.” of threats. Rehmet believes viewing games in this Call us for your appointment at The description on the first part of one manner is what drives women away from 936.569.1366 of Sarkeesian’s video series, Damsel in gaming. Distress, reads “As a trope the Damsel in “Feminists think that video games are 2116 south st. • nacogdoches, tX Distress is a plot device in which a female horribly representing women, and so it www.lairdfh.net character is placed in a perilous situation seems some women just don’t want to be in taylor Corrigan from which she cannot escape on her the video game world. I think they should funeral home funeral home own and must then be rescued by a male be more open to not take everything so 511 ross graves Dr. 204 e. Front st. timpson, tX Corrigan, tX character, usually providing a core incentive literally,” she said. 936.254.2424 936.398.4141

January 2016 | 43 Business VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY

Overall, Rehmet believes women are well represented in gaming, particularly in “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,” a favorite of hers. “In ‘Skyrim’ and ‘The Elder Scrolls’ games, women are represented the best because … of the Nords. The Nords are based off of the Vikings. Viking women actually went out and hunted and were warriors just like the men. There wasn’t really discrimination there,” she said. Main character from game Rehmet has experienced both acceptance and resentment for enjoying gaming. “I have a group of friends that I play Outside the games themselves, a study MY TAKE with online, and for the longest time they from the International Game Developers It’s fantastic to see more women in gaming, didn’t know I was female just because we Association released in June 2014 whether they’re behind the scenes making didn’t ask those questions, because it didn’t revealed that 22 percent of the game the games or starring as protagonists in the matter to us,” she said. developers in the industry are female, next big hit. But in the grand scheme of the On the other hand, she has also been which doubled from a study conducted in gaming industry, I’m simply happy to see told, “I must really hate myself because I’m 2009. more people getting into video games. One of a woman playing video games.” This kind of progress in gaming pumps the coolest games I saw while watching E3 Despite males still holding the majority up Wagar. this past year was a PlayStation 4 game called presence and all of the disgusting attacks on “I am excited that women are taking “Horizon Zero Dawn.” In a quick summary, it people like Quinn and Sarkeesian, gaming a bigger role in the video game industry. features a female character in the stone age, is seeing a welcoming increase in women It’s breaking up the ‘boy’s club’ that it but simultaneously future-esque world where participants. This past year at the Electronic has been. One of these days the running robotic dinosaurs and animals roam the Entertainment Expo, or E3, saw the biggest joke that girls don’t play video games Earth. And honestly, I didn’t care about how inclusion of women leads ever. Out of the won’t be a thing anymore, along with the the game features a strong female lead who estimated 120-plus games at the expo, 13 awkwardness and harassment that comes can hunt these robotic beings. I cared because or more starred female leads, and that with being a girl when playing online. All the game simply looks awesome in several doesn’t include the dozens of games with it takes is more of us joining the hobby different ways. My excitement wouldn’t be numerous playable women characters. and making an impact.” ■ any different if it was a man starring in it. The video game industry – and the world in general – is taking small baby steps each day Game from E3 2015 to accepting and seeing women as equals, and it’s about time. I just hope that in this process, compelling stories or well-constructed mechanics in video games are not sacrificed for political correctness. Besides, I don’t know why anyone would want to shut the doors to the wonderful world of gaming. More people involved means more nerdy conversations. How could anyone not want that?

Robbie Key is the assistant news editor at The Daily Sentinel. With a passion for the gaming industry, his dream is to one day become a video game journal- ist; that and get superpowers.

44 | January 2016 INTERESTING Gaming FACTS

The first video game to ever feature a female protagonist was “Me- By 2010, the high- troid.” It first released est paid professional for the Famicom Disk female gamer, Katherine System on Aug. 6, 1986. “Tomb Raider,” a video game originally featuring a “Mystik” Gunn, earned Samus, who is dressed well-endowed woman lead named Lara Croft, received $122,000 for playing in In February 2015, a in armor throughout the a franchise reboot two years ago. The game, simply three tournaments. She 15-year-old PVplaying game, is revealed to be called “Tomb Raider,” was met with much praise from earned $100,000 for “Dota 2,” a free-to-play a female when players both critics and fans for its fresh portrayal of Lara as a winning a “Halo Reach” online multiplayer game complete the story. stronger, and more realistically proportioned character. tournament. on PC and Mac.

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January 2016 | 45 Business VIDEO GAME INDUSTRY VIDEO GAME STATS Source: Entertainment Software Association 155 million Americans play video games

There are an average of 42% 2 GAMERS 51% of Americans play video games regularly in each game-playing U.S. household of U.S. households own a dedicated (3 hours or more per week) game console the average game player is 35years old the average number of years gamers have been playing video games: 13 26% under 18 27% years 50+ years 56% male

4 OUR OF 5 44% 17% U.S. households own a device female 30% used to play video games 36-49 years 18-35 years age Gender of Game Players of Game Players

tOTAL Consumers spenD

2014 NFL sEASON: 2014 MLB SEASON: 2015 fACEBOOK pROJECTED: $12 billion $9 billion $16.3 billion

2014 Games Industry: $22.41 billion Source: The NPD Group/Games Market Dynamics: U.S. 46 | January 2016