How to reach out to women devs for your article/panel/interview
By Kate Killick, independent video games developer
Photo by Christina Morillo from Pexels
If you’re reading this, it might be because I sent you here. Maybe you reached out by email or LinkedIn, asking me to talk to you about women in games. About sexist portrayals of women in games. Or how we are treated by the industry.
These are questions I get asked a lot. Sometimes by students for some kind of research essay, sometimes from journalists. They are usually well-meaning, and they usually go something like this:
What’s it like being a woman in games?
What issues do women face?
Is the games industry sexist?
Is it horrible?
Tell me how horrible it is.
Tell me about the horrible things that happened to you and the women you know.
Why are you even here?
I paraphrase, but I’m not exaggerating. The first time I got asked about being a woman in games was in 2010, for a Channel 4 documentary following a student competition I was in taking part in. Yes, I answered, drawing on my zero years of actual industry experience, I did think the gender imbalance in the industry could even out in say, ten years. Oh, to be young again.
I still try to answer these requests politely, to remember they come from a good (if often sorely under researched) place. But every year my patience slips a little more, my responses grow increasingly curt and I get more tired.
I am tired of answering the same questions. I am tired of the fact that women in games only ever get asked to speak about being a woman, and not about their achievements, their expertise, their years or decades of valuable game dev experience.
I’m tired of people assuming that every woman is somehow a representative of their gender, willing to spend time and emotional labour explaining the very blatant and very well documented facts about gender diversity in games again, and again, and again.
I’m tired of rehashing the same issues repeatedly, in the new but not-so-different context of whatever latest scandal has cropped up. I’m tired even of the assumption that I spend all my time following these scandals, as though my job is to read up on this stuff as opposed to, for example, make video games. As though some particular report of toxicity in games is somehow news, somehow unique to the games industry, and not just the most recent episode in a long, tedious soap opera, a tiny drop in the ocean of gender inequality that affects every facet of every woman’s life, and has done since well before our lifetimes.
I’m tired, and I know I’m not the only one.
Still, I take a deep breath and I write a slightly re-worded set of the same answers to the same questions, each iteration becoming more weary, more candid, less optimistic than the last.
But today, I have decided something.
I am no longer going to answer these questions.
What I am going to do is write them here. One time, for the last time - or at least until some kind of seismic shift happens in the industry and there is something new to say.
Before I do, though, I want to ask you a favour. Before reaching out to more women on your list, take a moment to consider a few suggestions:
Don’t make assumptions about their experiences and level of interest or knowledge on gender diversity topics. Don’t try to shoehorn your narrative into their experiences.
Research your topic and don’t write the same article that’s been written a thousand times – and don’t ask people to spend their time explaining the fundamentals to you.
Research your interviewee and make the questions relevant to them. Don’t ask them questions you can already find their answers to in other interviews.
Don’t ask them about their personal experiences of gender-based discrimination. It’s kind of just rude to expect them to share that stuff with a stranger for publication. Their struggle is not your clickbait.
Unless you’re reaching out to people or organizations who have clearly indicated they’re happy to discuss diversity and inclusion, ask yourself this question: instead of interviewing these women for a piece about gender diversity, could you instead write an article about all the amazing contributions these women are making to game development?
Ask us about design, about code, about teamwork, about art. I guarantee you will get a more enthusiastic response, and you will be able to write something in your article that hasn’t been said before.
Ask us anything. Anything except: what’s it like to be a woman in games?
Answers to Qs
What’s it like being a woman in games? Is there sexism? What are the issues they face? It’s hard, isn’t it?
I can’t tell you what every woman’s experience is like, but the general issues are well known and well documented, and there’s a wealth of material on the subject. There are some toxic people and places, though this of course is not a problem unique to the games industry and women face systemic discrimination in every area of society.
Can you quantify exactly how hard it is? How often does this occur? How many women does it affect?
No, I can’t, because I don’t personally have the data for that.
What’s your experience been? Have you faced obstacles? Harassment?
Let’s break this one down a bit, because it’s complicated.
Have I experienced harassment in the workplace?
No. I’ve worked mostly in small mobile startups, some games and some non games, with generally even gender splits and honestly I’ve never faced explicit issues personally. I know plenty of women who have.
Have there been times I felt I wasn’t being taken seriously in games because I am a woman?
Yes, there have been those moments - mostly when I was starting out, and mostly from other students and inexperienced people. I have learned to give such people short shrift.
Have I had to deal with inappropriate behaviour?
Yes, I’ve dealt with inappropriate behaviour from men at industry events. And in pubs. And when I walk down the street, and sit in the park, and get public transport, and drink my coffee, and leave my front door. None of these examples is acceptable.
Have I felt out of place in the industry because of being a woman?
Yes. Not at the companies I’ve worked for, but certainly as a student, and certainly at industry events and expos. When I first started going to Gamescom and seeing “booth babes” everywhere. When I go to a conference and don’t see a single woman talking about their work. When I apply to companies that have team photos of 30 men and a handful of women. When I see how women are depicted in the games they make. These are not places that give a welcoming impression to women.
Have I sometimes wondered, in the times I was struggling to achieve my goals, would it have been different if I was a man?
Yes. Would I have secured funding for that project if my male counterpart had done the pitch? Maybe. Would I have been part of more conversations, more late night networking, part of the boys’ club where important business connections are made? Have I been the victim of unconscious bias? It will only ever be speculation.
Can you tell me some specific horror stories?
No.
What about depictions and representation of women characters in games? Are they over sexualised? What do you think about it?
Yes, they are, we can all see that they are by looking at them. This is not contentious. I am not a big AAA gamer and the storytelling and character development in mainstream games don’t interest me. I see them as similar to blockbuster films - risk averse, full of tropes and mostly written by, for and about straight men. I am thankful for mobile and indie games, both of which do much better jobs in appealing to non-male gamers, which is sensible given that they are almost half of the audience.
Do you follow esports?
No.
Is the industry changing? Will it change?
I don’t have data to answer definitively on things like equal pay, workplace discrimination, etc. I do think games have a broader audience now than fifteen years ago, and I think companies developing with that in mind are more likely to understand the value of diverse teams. I’d like to say that those who don’t will ultimately be left behind - but that’s wishful thinking.
Finally, what would help women in games?
Give them a platform to talk about their work.
Fund their companies.
Promote them to leadership roles.
Let’s stop pretending that gender-based initiatives, mentoring programmes, and diversity panels alone will fix the issue. They are all great and necessary things to do, and I appreciate the people working hard to create those opportunities – but it’s time we stopped letting them distract us from the bigger changes that need to happen.
That’s it. That’s most of what I have to say about being a woman working in the games industry. If you want to talk to me about something else, then please reach out any time.
Women and organizations in video game Diversity & Inclusion that you can reach out to:
https://www.womeningames.org/
https://www.womenmakinggames.com/
https://www.girlsmakegames.com/
https://www.girlsbehindthegames.com/