Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that Sylvia Liu of Milpitas, Calif., has been awarded the 2010 G.I.R.L.-Gamers in Real Life Scholarship. This marks the third year of the scholarship program, encouraging students toward career paths in the creative and applied arts, ultimately resulting in the development of video games that are more enticing for women to play.

Did you read the line, ” …ultimately resulting in the development of video games that are more enticing for women to play.”

Um… what?

My immediate thought was that an influx of Wii or Playstation Move compatible releases are about to hit the shelves, aimed towards women: Virtua Ironing 2010, anyone? Conquer those creases with with the realism of the Wiimote!! It’s like you’re actually ironing!

Women don’t need special female-friendly games! Guys just need to realise that gaming isn’t the male-dominated industry that it was in the past. Gah! Still feeling slightly indignant, I visited the official website and found this:

“Another purpose is to help raise awareness of the serious female gaming audience to the media in an effort to encourage the gaming industry to positively promote women throughout all facets of games, game production and into game management.”

There! That’s more like it! Seems I overreacted a little… *ahem*

The full press release:

Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) announced today that Sylvia Liu of Milpitas, Calif., has been awarded the 2010 G.I.R.L.-Gamers in Real Life Scholarship. This marks the third year of the scholarship program, encouraging students toward career paths in the creative and applied arts, ultimately resulting in the development of video games that are more enticing for women to play.

Liu, an entertainment design student, was awarded a $10,000 scholarship to be applied toward her tuition and other educational expenses at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and an optional paid internship of up to 10 weeks at SOE’s headquarters in San Diego, working on one of the company’s hit titles.

“I feel so happy and honored to be chosen as the winner this year,” said Liu. “I worked hard on my submission and am very proud of what I accomplished for this competition. This opportunity will help me a long way in my career so I can’t wait to get started!”

Liu was one of over 200 applicants vying for the scholarship. Finalists were asked to submit original concept art depicting a new game environment and new characters for either Free Realms(TM) or EverQuest®II, in addition to an essay discussing their views on women in the video game industry.

“SOE has now paved the way for three female students, giving them the foundation to pursue a career in the video game industry,” said Laura Naviaux, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, SOE. “We are extremely thrilled to have Sylvia represent the G.I.R.L program this year and we plan to continue our efforts in raising awareness of females in this business by unveiling additional initiatives we’re working on later this year.”

Julia Brasil, the first recipient of the G.I.R.L. Scholarship, has been a part of the SOE-Seattle team since her internship began in 2008. Due to her skills and talent as an intern, she remained in Seattle, transferred from The Art Institute-San Francisco to The Art Institute-Seattle and will graduate at the end of the year.

For more information about G.I.R.L., please visit girl.soe.com. To follow G.I.R.L. on Twitter, go to https://twitter.com/SOE_GIRL or to join G.I.R.L. on Facebook, go to http://tinyurl.com/SOE-GIRL.

Congratulations, Sylvia! :)

The seventh annual conference was due to run in Bradford (UK) 25-26 March. However, poor delegate take up has meant a reversal in plans and forcing the organisers to issue a cancellation only a week before it was scheduled to take place.

This is really disappointing news. Whilst full refunds will be issued, it’s nevertheless disheartening that such a valuable event has had so little interest. Personally, I think the cost of the event had to have played a major factor in its demise, and I know that I would’ve been there had it not been for the hefty admission price. What do you think?

“I was asked to do Lara nude. This was as close as I would allow myself to go,” Gard said.

The image is one of several that “didn’t make the cut” so it’s unlikely that you’ll see it in the upcoming The Art of Tomb Raider collection.

While it’s admirable that Gard is unwilling to demean Lara by drawing her naked, it’s nothing we haven’t seen before (Nude Raider, anyone?). At least if Mr. Gard was drawing it, it would have some chance of being tasteful – Tomb Raider art, in general, is gorgeous!

Hey! Maybe the creators of Nathan Drake would consider… nah, nevermind. ;)

Source: destructoid.com
Image: tobygard.com

Not to take anything away from the sausage contingent over at Naughty Dog but Amy Hennig’s role in the development of the multi award winning hit game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves should be noted with pride.

From Joystiq:

“The Los Angeles Times’ “How I Made It” feature has shined a spotlight on none other than Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig, illuminating the secret of how a 45-year-old woman can conquer the gaming industry and nab Joystiq’s Game of the Year with Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. She started out as a film student back in 1989 and says she had a revelation while working freelance for Atari that gaming “was a more interesting and pioneering medium” than even the movies.

She worked her way up the ladder and took chances when they came along. When the lead designer on the wacky Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City left the project, she stepped up and took the job. And having talent and intelligence can’t hurt either — she says that she puts her whole education into gaming, from English lit to film editing, and while she downplays her place as a woman in gaming (“This is a young enough and progressive enough industry” to avoid most problems with sexism, she says), she does admit that she, erm, moderated the male perspective on breast size with some of her developers. Because somebody’s got to, right? Excellent profile of one of gaming’s more unlikely stars.”

While I don’t consider myself a feminist, I do find it a little sad that articles like the one quoted above are only newsworthy because successful women in the industry are not the norm. How often do you pick up a game magazine or browse a website and see a female game developer being interviewed about an upcoming game? I don’t remember the last time I did.

Socially, gaming is becoming less and less a male dominated pastime (GGS can vouch for that). Let’s hope in the future, this will pave the way for more women to consider a career in the industry.

You can find the full article from the LA Times here.

Source: joystiq.com

Now in it’s seventh year, this UK conference will span 25 and 26 March and is ready to accept your booking. Keynote speakers include Professor Valerie Walkerdine (Children, Gender, Video Games) and Lorna Evans, Project Manager at TIGA.

Yes, it’s disappointingly expensive (a full conference pass costs £200/£125 (concession) or £125 per day). And yes, it’s a lame website. Think they’d stump me a free ticket if I offered a free re-design?

Created in 2008, the program aims to encourage existing art students – male or female – to apply their skills and talents in developing video games that are “more interesting for women to play”. The winner will win up to $10,000 towards tuition costs at their current college/university and a 10 week internship with a Sony studio.

“The past two G.I.R.L. Scholarship recipients were such a valued addition to our team that we are thrilled to offer this program for the third consecutive year,” said Laura Naviaux, Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing, Sony Online Entertainment. “Our goal is to continue to encourage and reward women who share our commitment and passion for developing cutting edge online games for all demographic groups.”

To be eligible to participate, entrants must be currently enrolled in an undergraduate program related to video games, including video game art, design, animation, production, programming or visual effects, must not graduate before the end of the 2011 spring term and must comply with the program’s official rules. Entrants are required to complete an online application along with an existing piece of art, and if chosen as semifinalists, submit two pieces of concept art and one essay that will be reviewed by a panel of SOE judges. Online applications must be completed and submitted on or before February 15, 2010. SOE will announce the winner on or about May 20, 2010.

Want to know more? Visit the G.I.R.L. website.

Via GamePro

“The women play more intensely than the guys,” said USC economist Dmitri Williams, who co-authored the study with Mia Consalvo of Ohio University, Nick Yee of the Palo Alto Research Center and Scott Caplan of the University of Delaware. “They’re less likely to quit, and they’re happier playing.”

The discovery is one of several stereotypes refuted by the study. Contrary to the image of the overweight nerd glued to his computer, gamers in the study were no less fit than the general population. In fact, women who played EverQuest II tended to exercise more and weigh less than the average American.

Another shattered stereotype: The pimply teenage gamer. The average age of the 7,000 players in the USC survey was 31, and gamers in their 30s outnumbered those in their 20s.

But the study also affirmed many gender tropes. For example, women …

… played less aggressively, while men tended to focus more on achievement. Those styles played into traditional gender roles of the nurturing female and the heroic male.

This was especially true when couples played the game together. The men played more aggressively, while their female partners toned down the violence.

Women are also more likely to play the game with someone else — six in 10 female gamers played with a romantic partner, but only 1 in 4 men do. Women were happier when they played with someone else, while men reported being happier playing by themselves.

Why does this matter? In part, because developers have puzzled for years to figure out ways to get women to buy and play more games. Figuring out what motivates them to play is a key step.

Here’s one thing that doesn’t seem to motivate women: Bragging rights. Women consistently under-report the amount of time they play. Women report playing 26 hours a week, but actually played 29. Men said they played 24 hours, but played 25.

Women “play more than they admit,” Williams said.

This isn’t such a shock to me, personally, because I play World of Warcraft like a part time job. Most of the die-hard players on there are women. It’s kind of interesting to watch another girl play and interact, and sometimes a bit sad. Often girls have to be mean and rough like the guys, or they act silly and overly nice to keep the group happy. Psychology at its finest!

Source: LA Times

According to a rumour at Destructoid, the team behind EA Active are busy putting getting a new version of the hit health game, only this time centered around NFL football, complete with a training drills and a oh-so-masculine football peripheral for the Wiimote.

Why working out with and/or as a male or female avatar makes a difference, I have no idea – although we do know that it is something that seems to bother some people. Nor do I understanding why we need to keep differentiating in what are essentially gender-neutral games. Do you? Surely I’m not the only person who really couldn’t give a crap?!

Via Joystiq | Picture credit: Kokatu

Citing primary players as those who are main consoles users in a household, NoA claim that of 45 million gamers in the US, 11.7m – about 9% – are female. And of that 9% of girl gamers, 11% have/use the XBox360 and only 9% a PS3 – leaving a whopping 80% of female users citing Wii as their main console.

This translates into 9.36m female Wii players, with just 1.29m and 1.05m on the Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively.

Talking at a BMO Capital Markets event earlier this month, Fils-Aime said: “This didn’t happen by accident. It’s the result of a deliberate attempt to expand the market.”

Source and Picture Credit: Kotaku

No, gamers wishing to play as a female character won’t have to lift their tops (or drop their pants) to confirm their gender. The Gender Identity System scans faces via webcam and then assesses whether or not you’re female. If it turns out that you’re a guy trying to play as a female – or if you’re a woman with unfortunately manly features, presumably – you’ll be banned outright.

Bizarrely, this intrusive – and kind of offensive – step has been introduced by Aurora Technology to make ‘females feel respected’. Can you understand why a guy playing as a female character is any more ‘disrespectful’ than me choosing a male avatar when I play? No – me neither.

Via Destructoid