The annual Women in Games event provides unique access to some of the best game developers in the country. WiG is one of the few UK-based events to provide such an opportunity for students interested in working in games. I recently caught up with a University of Wales, Newport graduate to see how the event had helped him.

“I attended the Women in Games conference in 2007, and the organizers were kind enough to give me a slot to demonstrate my student project ‘Reunion’. I also did some one on one demoing on the show floor. The experience helped me get word out about my game, and build a number of industry and academic contacts that were a great help in job hunting. I also received a lot of very useful advice from attendees, which in turn made the game better and increased my confidence. Women in Games covers a wide range of industry and academic led topics, which were incredibly useful to an aspiring game developer. There was also a fresh take on gender issues in videogames, which I now apply to my professional work. I now work at Blitz Games Studios, a company who have not only been very supportive of the conference, but actively work to encourage more women to work in game development. I feel that Women in Game’s support of my student game, and the confidence boost I received from taking part directly contributed to getting a great job at a fantastic company.”

Mike Bithell, Junior Designer, Blitz Games Studios

I was thrilled to see Karen’s presentation on Scratch, I first heard of this innovative toolset for teaching programming some years ago and was curious to see how the project had developed. Originally conceived by Mitchel Resnick LEGO Professor at the Lifelong Kindergarten group at MIT Media Lab (what a job title!), Scratch was designed to help young people develop modern learning skills. A freely downloadable environment (published under GPL), Scratch has benefited substantially from Web 2.0 community tools and consists of a thriving development community using the tools in a variety of contexts and application. Karen gave a fascinating presentation on a unique toolset that should be more widely used in an educative context.

Paulina shared her experience of developing Singstar over the past 4 years. In discussing the evolution of the product she emphasised the need for inclusion of the target market in the design process. Initially Singstar started as a narrative-based game in which the player sang to bring the world to life, it soon became apart that singing was seen as compelling enough in itself to not need this framing. Singstar is a social, competitive and authentic (i.e. real music) product influenced by media and pop culture. The initial market was imagined as female, but the product appeal was widely seen to be much broader. Music is universal. The development team used music as a way of segmenting target audiences, i.e. through music genres. The key lessons Paulina has drawn from Singstar is that it is all about the user and their experience and that it is central to innovative game design to prioritise what brings most value to the experience.

Paulina then moved to the second section of her keynote and talked to the future of gaming, user generated content (UGC). After name-checking Clay Shirky’s book “Here comes everybody” to lead into her emphasis on social networking potential to allow users to coordinate themselves. Old notions of amateur and professional are changing and access to re-creative tools for distribution is significant. The games industry is rapidly reorienting itself to include the player in the gaming experience.

Thursday kicked off with an inspirational presentation from Eileen, a senior Microsoft Evangelist. Eileen emphasised the importance of personal stories in encouraging girls and women to engage in the IT sector. She pointed to the rapidly diminishing female IT work force and stated that Microsoft currently have 13000 job openings! I hadn’t realised the IT skills issue was so massive! The promotion and focus on role models for women in technology is central to opening the area up for women as re-entry to work targets as well as for girls at schools. Microsoft runs a MVP (Most Valuable Person) programme which looks to engage, and indeed employ, product fans in evangelical and support roles for the company. This is one small step in including the community with the IT sector. Eileen talked to the need for us all to act as role models for others on an individual and personal level.

In her opening keynote on Wednesday 10th, Sara presented her work running Coventry’s Serious Games Institute. SGi is building a stable of games, projects and companies that evolve the field of serious games within the UK, taking a world-class position in the sector. Serious games stands for the emergent field of using games as a mechanism to drive non-entertainment sectors, as a starting point do look to the Wikipedia entry. Although initially framed as a research, innovation and business activity, the field of serious games offers a lot of potential to games companies and universities alike to diversify the reach and impact of game form to new application.

I am sat in Karen Clark’s final keynote listening to her advice on working in the games industry. Karen is Project Manager at BioWare and is currently working on Dragon Age. She has talked to the common myths about the games industry and reminds us of the importance of IGDA membership for those interested in supporting the evolution of the games industry. Karen is active in the Women in Games International initiative and is passionate about developing the forthcoming Mentor Program. Karen is looking to improve the working life in the games industry, whether it be increasing diversity, evolving process or creating a good work environment.

She points to sites like Glassdoor.com as a way of ranking employers that could be useful in our industry to get a sense of who the best companies are.

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…

This just in from Conference Central:

The Women In Games conference encourages research and seeks to promote careers for women within the games industry. If games are to become a true sibling medium to music and cinema, the industry needs greater balance in its audience and its workforce. The Women In Games conference welcomes participants from both industry and academia, providing a forum for presentation and discussion of issues relating to all aspects of women’s involvement in games, including game development, game playing and women as portrayed within games.

Although this conference is concerned with women and games please note that men are also very welcome to participate! The industry needs a meaningful dialogue between the sexes as it moves forward.

This year’s conference is co-organised by games company Rare Ltd (www.rare.co.uk) and the Computer Science Department at the University of Warwick (www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk)

Further details of the conference and this year’s themes are available at the conference website: www.womeningames.com

The Speaker Submission deadline has moved to Monday 23^rd June 2008

Thinking of submitting a talk, or offering to participate in a panel, but thought you were too late? Think again! We have extended the deadline to Monday 23^rd June to allow you some more time.

We are keen to have more offers on the themes, “Dressing up Programming” and “Technology in Schools” in particular, but submissions on any of the themes still welcome.

For more details on how to submit, please check out www.womeningames.com

Keynotes Announced

I am pleased to announce our Keynote speakers for this year’s Women In Games conference:-

Karen Brennan (Scratch, MIT)

Sara de Freitas (Serious Games)

Eileen Brown (Microsoft)

Karen Clark (Bioware)

Paulina Bozek (Sony)

I invite you to check out www.womeningames.com for more details on these excellent speakers.

Conference Dinner at Warwick Castle

We have a fabulous conference dinner, a mediaeval feast arranged at Warwick Castle, sponsored by Blitz Games Studios (www.blitzgames.com). It is included in the conference price, and is sure to be an excellent night!

Sign up Now

Registration for the conference is open, sign up now to ensure your place. Conference-standard accommodation is available on campus – no need to drive during the conference, parking is free, and evening meals and entertainment all included!

Advertise

Got something to advertise? Get in touch to find out what sponsorship options we have on offer. The conference relies on the generosity of our sponsors.

For further details see www.womeningames.com or contact nicola@womeningames.com

Just what it says on the tin…

There are only a few more days before the deadline to submit your paper/poster/panel ideas or your speaker availability is up, and we’d like to add you to the growing list of top-flight content!

We’re looking for papers and speakers on the following areas:

*Dressing up programming – is this the way to go?
*Perception of Games Industry – what is it like to work in games?
*Technology in schools – why do girls get turned off?
*Development and Play – do women do it differently?
*Education for Games, Games for Education
*Seriously applying games for fun and profit

More information can be found on the Women in Games website. Look forward to seeing you there!

The Women in Games Conference 2008, which Microsoft is helping to organise, is now issuing a call for speakers and submission of papers!The conference will be held at Warwick University on the 10th – 12th September 2008. If you would like to know more, please visit the Women in Games website.

The goal of the conference is to promote careers for women within the games industry. If games are to become a true sibling medium to music and cinema, the industry needs greater balance in its audience and its workforce. How can more women be encouraged to get into games? How can female perspectives provide fresh gameplay experiences? The Women In Games Conference 2008 aims to answer these questions.

Keep reading for the Call for Papers:

Please keep in mind the themes when submitting papers.

Key Dates:
31/05/08 Submission deadline
15/07/08 Notification of acceptance to all contributors

Types of submission:
Submissions can be made within the following categories: full paper, short paper, poster, panel or student forum. All submissions will be anonymously peer-reviewed by the Women in Games steering committee.
The conference materials are intended to be published in two different ways this year. Firstly, we are hoping to secure a contract to publish a selection of papers that closely address our theme in an appropriate academic journal. Details should be available before the anticipated submission deadline so check the website regularly for updates. Secondly, we are gathering selected papers from this conference along with selected papers from the three preceding Women in Games events in order to publish these in a Women In Games digest again we are still working out the fine detail of where and when this will be published. There will be no automatic publication of conference papers but we are requesting that you follow a specific set of deadlines in relation to your research/contributions if you would like to be considered for either of these volumes.
Full papers
Full papers are reports of research that should be ongoing and complete or near to completion at the time of the conference. Submissions under this route will be entered in to a peer review process for both of the publications. Papers may address any of the areas identified in the conference topics. Previously published work is not eligible. You should expect to have around 20 minutes to present your work and 10 minutes for questions and discussion.
Electronically submit a cover sheet, which includes the paper title, the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and email address of each author and a 30 word summary that will be suitable for inclusion in the programme and on the website to introduce the paper. Submit an abstract, not to exceed 1200 words, which must include – at the top of the first page – the paper title and a statement as to whether the research is completed or the anticipated date of completion. Any paper proposal extending beyond the 1200 words will be excluded from consideration.

Short papers
Submissions are solicited of short papers that address any of the conference topics. Authors are encouraged to submit late-breaking research results and work in progress that show the latest innovative ideas. Short paper submissions should report original work and must not have been published previously nor be a condensed version of previously published papers. Short papers will be considered for inclusion in the Women In Games digest. You should expect to have around 10 minutes for the presentation of your work followed by around 5 – 10 minutes for question and discussion.
Electronically submit a cover sheet, which includes the paper title, the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and email address of each author and a 30 word summary that will be suitable for inclusion in the programme and on the website to introduce the paper. Submit an abstract, not exceeding 600 words, which must include – at the top of the first page – the paper title and a statement as to whether the research is completed or a work-in-progress. Any paper proposal extending beyond the 600 words will be excluded from consideration.

Posters
Poster submissions addressing any of the areas identified in the conference topics are invited. Authors are encouraged to demonstrate work in progress and late-breaking research results that show the latest innovative ideas. Electronically submit a cover sheet, which includes the poster title, the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and email address of each author and a 30 word summary that will be suitable for inclusion in the programme and on the website to introduce the poster.

Submit a two-page summary, which will be used as the basis for review. Posters will not be included in the proceedings.

Panel, Workshop, Masterclass
Suggestions from industry and academia are welcomed. Electronically submit a cover sheet, which includes the theme for the panel discussion, the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and email address of the chair for the panel and a 500 word statement explaining the panel with 250 word individual abstracts for each panellist. Successful candidates will be responsible for enlisting panel members and chairing the panel. Panel should normally involve 3 – 4 participants and you will have around 90 – 120 minutes for all presentations and discussion.
Student Forum
Under-graduate and Graduate students are encouraged to present at the student forum to be held during the conference. Electronically submit a cover sheet, which includes the presentation title, the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and email address of each author and a 30 word summary that will be suitable for inclusion in the programme and on the website to introduce the presentation. Submit an abstract no longer than 1000 words summarising the research activity, which will be used as the basis for review. Successful candidates will present their work at the conference.
Conference Language
WiG 2008 is an international conference and contributions are welcomed from all parts of the world. However, the official written and spoken language of the conference is English. Please remember that the delegation will include international representatives from industry and academia and appropriate (“jargon-free”) language should be used at all times.

Important dates:
31/05/08 Submission Deadline in all categories
15/07/08 Notification of Acceptance sent to all participants
22/08/08 Speakers/Contributors Registration Deadline
05/09/08 Deadline for Open Registration
10-12/09/08 Women in Games 2008

All participants will be provided with further details and guidelines on the publication procedures at the event. It is our hope that we will be able to provide a free copy of the digest/proceedings to all attendants but there is a possibility that there may be a small charge for this publication – again we will notify participants at the event.