{"id":48456,"date":"2023-06-19T10:11:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T14:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/?post_type=emagazine&#038;p=48456"},"modified":"2023-06-19T10:11:16","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T14:11:16","slug":"women-gaming-business","status":"publish","type":"emagazine","link":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/women-gaming-business\/48456\/","title":{"rendered":"Women&#8217;s growing inclusion in gaming has lessons for business"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At a TED talk in California in 1998, pioneer games designer <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Brenda_Laurel\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Brenda Laurel<\/a> asked why gaming companies weren\u2019t making games for little girls when the market was worth six billion dollars? She concluded the male-dominated games industry was missing out on so much money because it only knew how to appeal to its own demographic.<\/p>\n<p>The games industry may have heard her. Soon, the race was on to diversify game themes, characters and spaces. Most gamers welcomed diversity, but some saw it as a threat \u2013 typified by a <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gamergate_(harassment_campaign)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">large, highly organized misogynistic harassment campaign, #Gamergate<\/a>, emerging in 2014.<\/p>\n<p>Diversification in gaming was, however, unstoppable. Although today\u2019s gaming sector is still male-dominated, there is growing involvement of girls, women and non-binary people. In the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/tomokoyokoi\/2021\/03\/04\/female-gamers-are-on-the-rise-can-the-gaming-industry-catch-up\/?sh=28ca1dadf9fe\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">2020s, a rising four in ten gamers are women<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>I am the writer and presenter of Season 2 of Kaspersky\u2019s award-winning podcast Fast Forward, examining trends shaping technology from the perspective of the recent past. In Episode 2, I interview leading women in the gaming sector to discover how the industry is changing for women and non-binary people, and what other businesses can learn.<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"border: none;min-width: min(100%, 430px)\" height=\"150\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.podbean.com\/player-v2\/?i=q2yi5-142ba0c-pb&amp;from=pb6admin&amp;pbad=0&amp;share=1&amp;download=1&amp;rtl=0&amp;fonts=Arial&amp;skin=f6f6f6&amp;font-color=auto&amp;logo_link=episode_page&amp;btn-skin=2baf9e\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Women-centered events and targeted mentoring<\/h2>\n<p>In parts of the world where cultural and religious beliefs make it hard for women to game, some are working to create a smoother, safer path for young women who want to game or work in gaming.<\/p>\n<p>Many women\u2019s gaming events and networks have emerged worldwide. The expansion of game content and formats has helped \u2013 popular titles now include adventure games, role-playing games, cultural games that aim to solve local or global issues, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Ghada Almoqbel, Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Arabia\u2019s convention for women and girls in gaming, GCON, says that today <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/2161861\/sport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">women make up around 46 percent of Saudi\u2019s gamers<\/a>, but were once much rarer.<\/p>\n<p>Ghada tells how she got involved. \u201cI started playing video games when I was little. The only girls I knew that played were me and my sister. In 2012, I heard of the girls\u2019 convention, GCON. I didn\u2019t go, but the pictures and videos on social media were amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The next year, my sister and I entered this huge convention with tons of games and three-thousand girls. It was one of the best days of my life. I knew I wanted to be part of enabling this community.<\/p>\n<cite><p>Ghada Almoqbel, Chief Executive Officer, GCON<\/p><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ghada started with GCON as a volunteer, writing articles and helping organize events like \u2018game jams\u2019 \u2013 where everyone works together to make a game from scratch. She became Chief Executive Officer in 2018.<\/p>\n<h2>Ask women what they need to succeed<\/h2>\n<p>Through Ghada\u2019s leadership, GCON is growing and changing. \u201cOur new strategy involves three departments: Game development, eSports and entertainment. Before we plan events or activities, we ask questions like, what do women need in eSports or game development?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ghada elaborates on GCON\u2019s eSports program. \u201cIt aims to identify talent, support and empower. We want to make them role models. We want them to have more exposure in Saudi Arabia and internationally. But we\u2019re careful with eSports, because there\u2019s still lots of harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Have clearly communicated anti-harassment strategies<\/h2>\n<p>In its 2021 survey, global anti-hate organization ADL found <a href=\"https:\/\/www.adl.org\/resources\/report\/hate-no-game-harassment-and-positive-social-experiences-online-games-2021\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">five in six adults who played online multiplayer games experienced harassment<\/a>. Research has also found <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/31736097\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">hostile sexism is a significant motivator of in-game harassers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>If we look at broader society, women face abuse and discrimination. We shouldn\u2019t imagine it will be different in gaming environments.<\/p>\n<cite><p>David Emm, Principal Security Researcher, Kaspersky<\/p><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n<p>David advocates for clear ways to report harassment. \u201cIn situations involving trolling, abuse or anything harmful, players need to know how to report it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also thinks male-dominated game design may contribute to the problem. \u201cWe must see more women involved in game design and production so that the environment reflects all genders.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But gamers aren\u2019t always using all available security features. \u201cThere\u2019s a fear that protecting a device might slow down the computer, but that doesn\u2019t have to be so. Gamers should check internet security solutions will work around their gaming experience. Look for gaming or do-not-disturb modes, which turn off notifications while you\u2019re playing.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Ask non-binary people what they want from your products<\/h2>\n<p>Jennifer Donahue is Head of Publishing and Marketing at HiDef games in California, US. She\u2019s worked in gaming for 25 years.<\/p>\n<p>Jen believes players care about being able to be themselves through their character or avatar. \u201cGrowing up, there were no strong female Jedi in Star Wars, so I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. I ended up mainly being male characters because I wanted those powers. Today, you have more options. You can largely create a character that looks like you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, some groups are still largely marginalized from game character development. \u201cWe know <a href=\"https:\/\/transequality.org\/issues\/resources\/understanding-nonbinary-people-how-to-be-respectful-and-supportive\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">non-binary<\/a> folks have difficulty finding representation in avatars and gaming.\u201d Non-binary people are those who see themselves as neither male nor female.<\/p>\n<p>HiDef learned a lot from asking non-binary people directly what they wanted. \u201cWe did focus groups with non-binary players to understand what they wanted from game avatars. We found you have to let them do whatever they want with an avatar \u2013 whether it\u2019s accessories or customizing size and shape, or adding prosthetic limbs if you\u2019re disabled and want to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The non-binary players also suggested recording non-binary people dancing, as their dancing may differ from that of men or women. Jen says, \u201cIt\u2019s not just the avatar\u2019s appearance, but their actions. All these things help players authentically connect with their character.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Leaders ensuring other leaders are respectful of women<\/h2>\n<p>Jen feels the behavior of men in the workplace can still impact some women who work in gaming, but those at the top can change that. \u201cMany men in the industry have grown up behaving in a certain way. As I have status in the industry now, I can help the next generation by calling out actions in the moment, in a professional, respectful way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She thinks more accepting, nurturing workplaces will pay off for companies. \u201cWhen I\u2019m in a safe space, I can bring my authentic self to work each day. That means I can perform at my best, as can my coworkers. Representation from different groups can only make products better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The gaming sector is growing fast with the evolution of immersive virtual worlds. It\u2019s an important future work sector.<\/p>\n<p>Today, huge groups of diverse players collaborate in-game to make environments they want to be in and share \u2013 homes and social spaces, festivals and galleries, even governments and schools. This is called \u2018world building\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s opposite to the competitive, conflict-driven games of the last decades. There\u2019s more space opening for women and non-binary makers and players, and other diverse communities. Finally, games and virtual worlds could be part of the solution for some real-world problems we face.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite progress, there\u2019s more to do to better include women, girls and non-binary people in games and the gaming industry. What can business learn?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2740,"featured_media":48457,"template":"","coauthors":[4470],"class_list":{"0":"post-48456","1":"emagazine","2":"type-emagazine","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"emagazine-category-tech-for-good","7":"emagazine-category-women-and-diversity","8":"emagazine-tag-gaming"},"hreflang":[{"hreflang":"x-default","url":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/women-gaming-business\/48456\/"},{"hreflang":"en-us","url":"https:\/\/usa.kaspersky.com\/blog\/secure-futures-magazine\/women-gaming-business\/28515\/"}],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine\/48456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/emagazine"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/emagazine"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2740"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kaspersky.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=48456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}