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General: G.I.R.L. Game Scholarships Open
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Sony Online Entertainment has announced that applications for the G.I.R.L. Game Scholarships are now being accepted. Winners are selected from a pool of applicants and are awarded up to $10,000 in money to be used for educational expenses. Winners also receive a 10-week internship with SOE.
"The most recent industry studies show that although a large percentage of the game playing population is female, they make up only about one in every 10 game developers," said Laura Naviaux, vice president of global sales and marketing at SOE. "For the fourth year in a row, SOE is committed to encouraging women to pursue an exciting and rewarding career of developing fun and innovative games for everyone."
Read more here.
Comments
First I saw this and scoffed - then I clicked to see that it was set up by SOE. Sometimes I wonder if Sony raises their employees in-house from cultures, because their policies are always so short-sighted.
Make a scholarship just for women or some other specific group is nothing new (though I don't agree with that practice either) but "games women are more interested in playing"? Way to reinforce the mindset of sexual discrimination. It's a gender-driven mindset that gives us some of the worst games on the market already (the ones that are supposed to appeal specifically to men, or rather, pubescent teenagers with gender identification crises).
Is it a relative lack of funding that makes proportionately fewer women enter the industry, or is it the very "Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus" mindset they are afraid of encountering and which you are reinforcing, SOE?
Updating the title to "G.I.R.L. Game Design Scholarships Open" would help alot.
At first I was like "Why the hell would anyone, let alone a girl, need a scholarship to play games", then I read the article.
It's really easy, and popular, to bash SOE these days, but c'mon..
Shouldn't games be designed by people, and not gender types?
You say that as if that's how society works.
It seems like you agree with SOE that most games are male-centric and they could use a women's perspective which, in turn, seems you would be all for a scholarship like this. Is it just that you have something against SOE and that's why you don't like it?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
It's a tough one this. On the one hand people should be judged on merit and not gender, as such offering a gender specific scholarship is inherently wrong. But, the world doesn't exactly work like that and women may indeed be put off from the industry by perceived stereotypes and as such a case for promoting their entrance into the industry could be put forward.
The thing that bothers me is primarily, are your attempts to Benetton up the demographics removing the opportunity from more suitable candidates by either A) giving their potential 'rivals' a greater chance or
by simply refusing to accept them to fill a gender 'quota'.
Where exactly should this end? Does the game designer demographic exactly mirror the gaming consumerbase, is race reflected accurately? Should the developers even have to mirror the consumerbase, or should positions be filled by those with the best capabilities for the specific jobs?
Personally I think SOE (or maybe even a reputable company, sorry I couldn't resist) would have been better advised to have spent their money on promoting the games industry to women as opposed to giving individual candidates a head start over other potential candidates.
"Come and have a look at what you could have won."