args and women: moving beyond the hot brunette
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A video of the slides plus audio is now live: http://vimeo.com/11215047 ARGs are often trotted out as a shining example of woman-friendly games. They boast unusually high rates of female developers and players, and a slew of kick-ass female leads. But if you dig a little deeper, are they just the post-Buffy version of Princess Peach, always needing to be saved?TRANSCRIPT
Andrea Phillips * SXSW March 13, 2010
ARGs and WomenMoving Beyond the Hot Brunette
What’s an “Alternate Reality Game”?An alternate reality game (ARG), is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions.
Some Stuff I’ve Done
IGDA ARG SIGLearn more: http://www.argology.orgParticipate: http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/arg_discuss
“female” by DiscourseMarker on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution -NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
CloudmakersEstablished April 11, 2001
The first ARG brunette?
Laia Salla
SHE NEEDS
YOUR HELP
Internet Use by Gender
Data from http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d01345.pdf “Characteristics and Choices of Internet Users,” US General Accounting Office, 2001.
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/cloudmakers/message/5097
Recipe for an Alternate Reality Game✤ Some fictional websites✤ Some puzzles✤ A hot brunette
Brunettes of ARGdom
DO GIRLS PLAY GAMES?
DUH
Numbers Show That...
Two in five gamers are
female.
“The State of the Video Gamer,” The Nielsen Company, 2009.
Numbers Show That...
52% of PSP owners are
female.
“Gaming Device Profiles” NPD Group, 2010.
Numbers Show That...
Women over 25 play more gaming minutes than
any other group.
“The State of the Video Gamer,” The Nielsen Company, 2009.
GIRLSOR
BOYS?
GLITTER
GUNS
FIGHTING
DANCING
STEAK
CUPCAKE
SO WHY ARE GAMES
“FOR BOYS”?
“DSCF1925” by adubber on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution -NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
“Day 252 - Sibling Rivals” by Ken WIlcox on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivativeWorks 2.0 Generic license.
GAMES ARE
MARKETEDTO MEN
GAMES ARE
MADEBY MEN
More Men Make Games
Percent of women working
in the games business, by department
Game Developer Magazine salary survey, 2009.
Women Make Less Money
Gender pay disparity
in the games business, by department
Game Developer Magazine salary survey, 2009.
Women On My ARG Teams
Numbers Show That...
One third of ARG creators are female.
“The State of the Video Gamer,” The Nielsen Company, 2009.
FEMALE CHARACTERS IN GAMES
SUCK
Numbers Show That...
One in five characters on a game box is
female.
“Sex, Lies, and Video Games: The Portrayal of Male and Female Characters on Video Game Covers,” Burgess, Stermer, Burgess, Sex Roles, 2007
Brunettes of ARGdom
SO WHAT?
Sexism 101Intro to sexism with Mr. Kuntz
“Emily’s meant to be doing her homework!” by squarepants2004j/auntyh uia on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution -NoDerivativeWorks 2.0 Generic license.
“Blue Eyes” by jimmybrown on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
“Women-in-Uniform_Germany” by MATEUS 27:24&25 on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution -NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.
“Fairy Nuff” by left-hand on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution -NoDerivativeWorks 2.0 Generic license.
GIRL STUFF
SUCKS
“A Twisted Family Tradiition ~The Lime Jello Brain” by hurleygurley on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivativeWorks 2.0 Generic license.
THE SLEEPER
EFFECT
PRIMING
WE ARE THE
MEDIA
WE MAKE
CULTURE
WHY ALL THE BRUNETTES
?
“Asleep brothers” by fofurasfelinas on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivativeWorks 2.0 Generic license.
Archetypes & Stock Characters
Cheerleader Mad Scientist
Hooker With Heart Of Gold Hapless Husband
Alcoholic Detective Gold Digger Grizzled Veteran
Drill Sergeant Wise Elder Used Car Salesman
Mysterious Wizard Rock Star Kindergarten Teacher
Grumpy Old Man
Stereotypes & Stock Characters
Sassy gay friend Latino gangster
Asian convenience store owner Jewish mother
Italian mobster Dumb blonde Trophy wife
Homophobic Christian Jihadist Arab
Drunk American Indian Stoned Jamaican
Man-hating lesbian Ignorant Southerner
Racist Republican
How to Make Complex Characters
1. Pick an archetype
2. Give it atypical traits
Bonus: Mix and match
NOW YOUR TURN
STUFF YOU CAN
TRY
Pass the Bechdel Test
✤ Two or more women
✤ Who talk to each other
✤ About something other than a man
GIVE HER AGENCY
DIVERSIFY
“Vanishing pier” by Ravages on Flickr, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
STORIES ARE
TRUTHS
CHOOSE YOUR
MESSAGE
DISCUSS
Resources
✤ Wonderland http://www.wonderlandblog.com/
✤ Sociological Images http://contexts.org/socimages/
✤ Geek Feminism Blog http://geekfeminism.org/
✤ The Border House http://borderhouseblog.com/
✤ Tiger Beatdown http://tigerbeatdown.com/
✤ Feministing http://www.feministing.com/
✤ Game Girl Advance http://www.gamegirladvance.com/
✤ Jezebel http://www.jezebel.com
✤ Racialicious http://www.racialicious.com/
✤ Shapely Prose http://kateharding.net/
Andrea Phillips
✤ Game designer, writer, strident feminist
✤ Twitter: Andrhia
✤ AIM: Andrh1a
✤ Skype: Andrhia
✤ Deus Ex Machinatiohttp://www.deusexmachinatio.com