21 Struggles Only Women In The Video Game Industry Will Understand
[eye roll intensifies]
posted on April 28, 2015, at 2:59 p.m.
2. Being assigned titles like Critter Crunch or Pet Rescue Saga for review as a games writer because it ‘fits your demographic’.
Screen Gems
3. Having your male coworkers talk over you during heated debates over the next DLC release or additional character.
NBCUniversal
4. You’re sick to death of sitting in marketing meetings with pink products everywhere.
Via
giphy.com
5. You’re the go to person for advice on building ‘nurturing’ character roles like healer, white mage, etc.
NBCUniversal
6. Being called a variety of disparaging names when discussing any sort of sexual matter in games in a positive light.
Microsoft
7. Applying for a reporting job and then getting shoved on camera because they don’t want to hear what you have to say about gaming, they want you to be the face of the things they want to say about gaming.
NBCUniversal
8. Not getting said reporting job because you were smart enough to understand the difference between those two roles.
Fox
9. You can’t be too pretty or too ugly because that obviously has some mystical, mythical connection to how much you know about gaming.
Fox
10. Somehow your token female status carries over to other minorities. How are you supposed to know what an Asian character would say if you’re not actually Asian?
Via
giphy.com
11. No matter if you’re a blogger or a journalist making bank at a major publication, you still slept with someone to get there, even if you’re an expert on the subject.
Fox
12. All of your side-projects are ‘casual’. That 50,000-word visual novel you’ve been working on? Casual. The platformer you coded yourself? Just a hobby.
Via
giphy.com
13. It doesn’t matter where or how easy to read your byline is on an article, because you’re always a he in the comments. No one bothers to think a woman may have written about the sacred world of video games.
Via
giphy.com
14. You’re delegated the tasks that it’s assumed you’ll be good at, like social networking articles instead of playtesting or coding.
Via
giphy.com
15. You’ve either got to be zany and sUpEr RaNd0m! or reserved and polite when dealing with members of public relations or the games press or you’ll be forgotten entirely.
Lifetime
16. When checking out games at trade events, PR hovers over you and either tries to play the game for you or (in some rare cases) attempts to take the controller and demonstrate the title for you.
Fox
17. Questioning an idea or concept within a game and during discussions with coworkers often ends in someone explaining said concept to you and dismissing your criticism entirely.
Fox
18. People have no qualms about white-knighting you online when you’re engaged in debates with others because they feel you need protection.
NBCUniversal
19. Attending events like E3 becomes an exercise in how unprofessional others can be to you under the guise of making you comfortable. How many creepy dudes are going to gently touch your back or arm before you can leave?
Via
giphy.com
20. Others are afraid to offend you with video game content, which they’ve somehow forgotten is your job, so you end up getting excluded instead.
CBS
21. Finally, if you decide to join a professional gaming team, you’d better aim for some composed of exclusively women.
Warner Bros.
Because gamer boys can’t handle women who are better than them on their team.
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