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IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Hearing "Lady Game Creators" Tweet: #1ReasonWhy, Women and Online Discourse
in the Game Development Community
Bridget M. Blodgett Anastasia SalterSimulation and Digital Entertainment
University of Baltimore
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Industry Background● Game development remains a male dominated industry
both in actual composition and public perception● Women comprise:
○ 3% of programmers○ 13% of artists and animators○ 11% of designers ○ 6% of audio developers○ 5% of QA testers
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Industry Background● Discussions about why this occurs tend towards one of
two conclusions○ A leaky pipeline in which women drop out of the either the educational
pre-career or early career○ Women don’t naturally enjoy games and shun the academic studies
that lead to that career path● According to a 2013 study by the Entertainment Software Association, 45%
of game players are women○ This is an increase of 3% since the 2011 survey○ Women account of 46% of all game purchases
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
● It’s sad how many people in my company think I’m a secretary… and still do
● Because men still ask me if I play “real” games after knowing I’m a developer
● A manager in a full meeting said, “This character needs to be fuckable”
● My feedback is dismissed on games actually targeted at women because i’m not “normal”
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Methods● Tweets were collected using the Twitter Archive Google
Spreadsheet (TAGS) template (Hawksey, 2013). ○ A google spreadsheet scripted with a time based trigger automatically
collects twitter data from an owner-defined hashtag○ Used 1.0 Twitter GET Search API to pull all the data available
● The data was collected hourly from November 26th through November 30th○ ~8,000 messages were archived during this period
● TAGS Explorer creates an explorable visualization of Twitter interactions○ Allows for replay of conversations over time
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Methods Limitations● Twitter API does not necessarily return all tweets
between data collection calls● Tweets which exclude the hashtag are not collected● Google spreadsheet has a limit of 400,000 cells
requiring splitting collection between several spreadsheets
● Collected data excludes the March resurgence that resulted from GDC panel
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Mentions
One-sided messages were common
Intense conversation arose between dissenters and supporters of the hashtag
Overall there was little discussion among participants uninvolved with dissenters or news media
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
RetweetsDissenters talked and RT’d heavily amongst one another
Overlapping groups of supporters engaged with the dissenters
Others ignored dissenters and focused upon sharing as many messages as possible
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Women’s Invisibility● One major point raised repeatedly by dissenters within
the hashtag was that male nerds also have difficult lives and face adversity○ Within this viewpoint women speaking out regarding their experiences
was seen as whining or expectations of special treatment● Game spaces were framed as men’s retreat from the
stresses of their lives and as a form of deserved escapism○ The anticipated escape not only meant a lack of women’s voices but
continued inclusion of sexist and misogynistic content
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Women’s Invisibility● Rejection of the developer’s lived experiences in the
industry or false equivalence to male gamer’s experience of rejection help to render the lives of women in the game development industry invisible
● The strong reaction and echo chamber like support of dissenters underscores the desire by this group for a lack of women’s participation○ As an acceptable “compromise” women are allowed to exist but
should remain silent
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Resistance● The attempts by dissenters to end or derail the
conversation were met with heavy resistance by supporters of the hashtag
● Critiques were addressed in detailed responses and more obvious trolling behaviors called out
● New hashtags include #1ReasonToBe and #1ReasonMentors were created to answer more substantive criticism
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Resistance● Women and supporters connected and emphasized
their messages ○ Either through the use of alternative hashtags like #1ReasonMentors
or through Twitter actions like retweets● The interconnected graphs of retweets show that many
people were interested in supporting women’s voices even if they did not have a story of their own
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Patching the Pipeline● Themes including dismissal of skills, questioning of
legitimacy, sexualization/sexual hostility, and implied violence show that many issues arise not with the women
● Multiple messages of support from male developers and players began after the rise of dissension ○ “The ugly #1reasonwhy? Men are often guilty of silent complacency.
We need to speak up and tell others that sexism isn't cool.”
IR 14.0 @bblodgett
Conclusions● #1ReasonWhy showed that reports of bad experiences
weren’t related to one individual, time period, or company but systemic to the industry○ Helped to counter traditional methods used to rhetorically minimize
this view and cause those who speak up to doubt their experiences● Structure of communication over Twitter not only
allowed for amplification of messages but quantified support and resistance through mentions and retweets