This just arrived in my inbox:
Female Programmer on Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise organising Women In Games conference
Nicola Bhalerao, a female games programmer on Rare’s upcoming title, “Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise” is co-organising this year’s Women In Games Conference with Jane Sinclair and Sara Kalvala, both Associate Professors in Computer Science at nearby Warwick University.
Nicola is in the minority as a female in the industry, and even more so as a programmer. She realised there were so few women working in games, and wanted to do something about addressing this issue. That is why this year’s conference will be looking at such things as what the perception of the games industry is to outsiders, and reasons why girls are turned off technology at a young age.
Sign up rates of students studying Computer Science have fallen in recent years and women are very much in the minority. This is why Jane and Sara wanted to get involved in the conference. Computing in games is one career choice available to Computer Science graduates, though not always obvious to all, but a very attractive and creative industry to be in.
There is plenty of research going on into why and how women play games, and the way they are portrayed, and this is another aspect of the Women In Games conference that makes it so fascinating. Bringing together academia and industry to discuss all these ideas, and explore ways in which more women can be encouraged to seek careers in games makes for a unique conference.
Although concerned with women this conference is also open to men! The industry needs a meaningful dialogue between the sexes as it moves forward.
THE CONFERENCE IS NEXT WEEK! Holy cow…
