SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Nov. 13, 2008 – Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE), a global leader in online gaming, invited all companies doing business in the video game industry to join SOE’s efforts to educate and recruit more women into the field of video game creation, design and production.
In a lunchtime keynote speech during the International Game Developers Association conference in San Francisco, Torrie Dorrell, senior vice president of Global Sales and Marketing for SOE, challenged companies in the video game industry to each make a $10,000 donation toward the G.I.R.L. – Gamers In Real Life – scholarship, with the goal of creating multiple scholarships and more opportunities for women.
“Today, I am challenging everyone to take action to help level the playing field for women pursuing a career in video games. By donating to the G.I.R.L. scholarship, we can encourage diversity in development and make a difference, hopefully creating more opportunities for women and ultimately making more video games women will want to play,” said Dorrell.
First awarded in 2008, the G.I.R.L. scholarship was created by SOE and encourages female students toward career paths in the creative and applied arts, with the ultimate goal of developing video games that are more interesting for women to play. In 2009, the program will be managed by Scholarship America®, a leading non-profit educational support program. SOE will offer students of undergraduate programs related to video games a chance to compete for the scholarship by submitting original artwork and essays to a panel of judges.
“SOE’s vision is commendable, and we fully endorse the G.I.R.L. scholarship program and look forward to the results of this initiative,” said Joseph Olin, president of The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. “Expanding the presence of women in video games reflects SOE’s foresight and acknowledges its contributions to the future of our dynamic entertainment medium.”
For more information about the G.I.R.L. scholarship program, please visit, www.girl.soe.com.

We realize it's a long shot and probably wishful thinking, but we've noticed Bungie playing the gender pronoun game when discussing the new "Halo 3: Recon" game. Interviews are rife with the utter avoidance if anything "he" or "him", which is fairly strange we think. Also things like "Instead of playing a super space marine, however, you'll play an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (ODST), one who's not quite so burly or bad-ass." are popping up, which may be innocent or it may be a hint.
Remember that babysitting game we mentioned a few days ago. Well we decided to contact the developers and ask a very simple question. "could you confirm whether or not it is possible to play a male babysitter in the title: My Dream Job: Babysitter". We got the response back today, and of course it was just as we'd suspected:
Games girls play are apparently all the same, you see it all the time, in marketing, design and also conversation. We 'girls' as a species - set apart from the boys - have a strange chromosomal freaky thing happening wherein it is only the Y chromosome that allows you free thought and the idea of choice in gaming. Women gamers you see ALL like the same thing, we all love the EXACT same titles and we all loathe the exact same titles. It's a scientific fact, argue as you might this baby is cast in stone and it was handed down to Moses on some mountain someplace.....

Leigh Alexander has a nice piece over at Gamasutra titled "


Recent Comments