Women in gaming: The big divide between players and professionals

By JESSICA ROBERTS

The rise in mobile gaming has seen an unprecedented number of female gamers, however they remain far less likely than men to be employed into the gaming industry.

A study by Google Play and gaming intelligence provider Newzoo found that women made up 49 per cent of mobile gamers, while at industry level, only 27.8 per cent were  female, transgender or another gender identity.

Melbourne-based craft games studio Mountains is helping combat the lack of diversity in mobile gaming through its game Florence.

This interactive narrative about life and love follows Chinese-Australian Florence Yeoh, and her first serious romantic relationship with Indian-Australian Krish.

Mountains producer Kamina Vincent said games could pose a huge barrier to entry, and Florence wass helping to break down that barrier.

“Having diversity in the teams that create games means that different stories are being told and that's really exciting to me,” she said.

“It's always great to see yourself in a game, whether as a World War II soldier or going through life, and I'd like to think that we're helping that shift happen.”

Released this year, Florence was well received by critics and was yesterday named one of the "best 50 iPhone games ever" by PCMag, coming in at #37.

A follow-up study by Google Play and Newzoo found that although nearly half of teenage gamers were female, they make up only a quarter of industry professionals in adulthood.

They found that as girls grow older, their passion for gaming declined because they feeling insignificant or unwelcome in the industry because of their gender.

The research by Google Play found that women saw game-making as a male-dominated field, a perception that only increased as they get older.

Game developer Leena van Deventer, a writer and educator in Melbourne, said the disparity between female players and professionals was connected to the hostility women faced in the gaming industry.

“It’s hard to stick around when we could do similar work in other contexts with a much higher quality of life,” she said.

To help support women in gaming, she co-founded WiDGET (Women in Development, Games and Everything Tech), a non-for-profit organisation for women and non-binary game developers with over 800 members.

“WiDGET came about … when my friend Liah Clark and I were lamenting a lack of a space in which to commiserate, get support and share resources among women in tech. So, we started it together and it’s grown ever since.”

The organisation creates support networks for women in the industry through their Facebook group, various events and group mentoring sessions.

Co-founder Liah Clarke said that the goal of WiDGET was to make women feel comfortable and relevant.

“We want to concentrate on retaining.

“We think we can help in a unique way to help women and non-binary folk stick around.”