Research Triangle Park, NC : WomenGamers.com has teamed with The Guildhall at SMU (Southern Methodist University) to achieve more female representation in the game development industry by designing a women’s only, industry-funded scholarship to attend the school, a one-of-a-kind digital games education program in Texas. An official announcement is planned for the Austin Women’s Game Conference September 9-10.
A recent study by the Entertainment Software Association found that about 39% of gamers are women, and according to WomenGamers.com co-founder Phaedra Boinodiris, this growing diversity among players calls for more women to be working in the game development industry. “We feel strongly that more women should be working in the industry, but unfortunately it’s not a simple problem to solve,” she says. “ Even in this day and age, women are being dissuaded from pursuing careers in math and science.” Boinodiris explains that’s why her work with The Guildhall is so important. “We established this scholarship to encourage women who wanted an opportunity to enter this challenging field of study .”
Guildhall at SMU Executive Director Peter Raad, PhD, says bringing more women into game development is also a simple matter of doing good business. “Game development studios and publishers must learn to capitalize more effectively on the increasing numbers of women playing games,” he says. “We believe the first and most important step toward achieving that goal is for professional game developers to be more reflective of the growing market of female gamers.”
Applicants who meet The Guildhall’s entrance requirements will be eligible to compete for the scholarship beginning in the fall. The fund will help female students cover tuition expenses incurred during the 18-month Guildhall program, which costs $37,000. The scholarship awards will be funded by game industry businesses that recognize the need for adding more women to the game developer workforce.
Sheri Graner Ray, senior game designer at Sony Online Entertainment and steering committee chair of the Austin Women’s Game Conference says she was delighted to hear about the announcement at the upcoming conference. “Supporting this scholarship was an easy decision for conference organizers, because it’s what this event is all about – women working in game development, women who want to work in game development, and in general, women supporting other women in this business.”
MaryMargaret.com, a professional recruitment service for the interactive entertainment industry, is currently working with WomenGamers.com and The Guildhall to help locate publishers and game development studios interested in donating to the fund.
Ray says she expects many businesses will be eager to support the effort. “It seems game development companies are finally realizing the lack of diversity in their workforce is actually hurting the quality of their products,” she says. “Over the past several years, especially, I’ve noticed more people in the business asking me for advice on how to get more women interested in working at their companies – supporting this scholarship will be a great opportunity for these companies to help the industry grow in the right direction.”
Scholarship applicants who have successfully completed The Guildhall application process must also submit an essay to a joint WomenGamers.com and SMU panel answering a set of questions about how they, if given the opportunity, would impact the industry. Details regarding the scholarship including the essay questions and the essays themselves will be posted on WomenGamers.com.
“ The industry’s support of this scholarship is vital because today’s gamers are an increasingly female population. For studios to capitalize more effectively on this phenomenon, we believe professional game developers should be more reflective of this growing market of female gamers,” says Guildhall at SMU Executive Director Dr. Peter Raad.
For more details regarding this scholarship, visit http://www.womengamers.com or http://guildhall.smu.edu
WomenGamers.com
Since its launch in July of 1999, WomenGamers.Com is expanding the $6.3 billion market opportunity of the interactive entertainment industry by specifically addressing the needs of a currently untapped and eager market segment-- women-- with a unique gaming portal on the internet. Their ultimate aim is to establish an environment where women gamers can be integrated with the rest of the gaming community. WomenGamers.Com provides in-depth, accurate information about gaming and game contents to gamers, and to those who have the responsibility of buying games for their families.
The Guildhall at SMU
The Guildhall at SMU is a unique game development education program offered in Dallas by the Hart eCenter at SMU. The Guildhall’s 18-month certificate program responds to the industry’s need for professionals who are immediately productive upon graduation and whose education prepares them to become gaming innovators of the future. Course project requirements give students three completed games for their portfolios. Game development luminaries such as Graeme Devine, Levelord, Tom Hall, Paul Jaquays, John Romero and more, came to the Hart eCenter with a vision for this new kind of program and have been closely involved with the Guildhall's concept and design. These experts and others remain involved with the program as teachers, tutors and mentors. More information about the Guildhall at SMU and how to apply for admission is at http://guildhall.smu.edu.
The Women’s Game Conference in Austin
The Women’s Game Conference focuses on women in the computer and video game industry. The conference program includes career paths for women in the industry, gender inclusive game design and women and girls as consumers of games. The conference runs concurrently with the Austin Game Conference September 9-10, 2004 at the Austin Convention Center and is open to anyone interested in the game industry and game development. More information is available at http://www.womensgameconference.com.
Mary-Margaret.com
Mary-Margaret.com is a leading recruitment firm in the entertainment software arena, handling the hiring needs of clients in the games software and hardware industries. With offices in Los Angeles, Boston, Austin, Washington D.C. and London, Mary-Margaret.com is continually seeking and placing highly-qualified creative, executive and technical talent for clients in the U.S., Canada and Europe.
http://www.mary-margaret.com
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