A ground breaking study is being undertaken by Julie Prescott, a PhD student, from the University of Liverpool. The research will assist in providing an accurate understanding of the role women currently play in the gaming industry and the problems and opportunities facing current and future recruits. The results of the research will be of use to women’s career development in the industry and for their employers seeking to attract and retain women. In 2006, only 12% of women were employed in the computer games industry.

http://www.survey.bris.ac.uk/breakingbarriers/games

Email the info at women in games address to let us know you are coming along  so we can get enough food and drink.

Again there was a very strong industry presence, mainly from 2K Australia, but also from a start up company in Tasmania. We also had an attendee who was visiting from Perth and had heard about the event.

Talks from Penny Sweetser ( 2K Australia ) and Kristina Drzaic ( Self employed ) helped clarify what designers do and the pathways they took to get there. Interviews, via web camera, with Jayelinda Suridge ( Archeron Design ) and Jessica Brett ( Red tribe ) elabourated on the range of specialisations programmers and artists can focus on and the types of school subjects that would help gain the knowledge required to get in. Answers from the 2 girls interviewed via web camera are being emailed out to those who requested it.

We would like to thank the speakers and all attendees.

The Canberra winter was very present, only outside of course, but the next event will be a large one with a BBQ on September 13th.

More information coming very soon.

6pm – 8pm Thursday 3^rd July

Academy of Interactive Entertainment

Canberra Technology Park

Phillip Ave, Watson, ACT

The Academy of Interactive Entertainment is hosting it’s second networking event for Women in Games, an organisation created in order to increase the numbers of women in the game industry in Australia, and to promote game development as a viable career path for women.

This event is open to anyone interested in supporting and increasing the numbers of women working in the game development industry.

The focus of this particular evening is the areas of study useful for pathways to the industry and the different specialized job styles the industry offers.

You should definitely come if you are involved in:

• Playing games

• Developing games

• Education

• IT & Software Development

• If you are seeking information about careers pathways into the games industry

There will be a number of speakers during the evening from the game development industry and games educators on the pathway into the industry.

To find out more, please contact:

enquiries@aie.edu.au

This event is proudly sponsored by

Academy of Interactive Entertainment

www.aie.edu.au

35 – 40 people attended and there was a very strong industry presence, mainly from 2K Australia.

Thanks to the heaters, platters of food, hot drinks, marshmallows and the all important chocolates, the Canberra winter was warded off long enough for all attendees to be warm and enjoy the fantastic talks, followed by plenty of networking.

The talks from Ali Hinton (HR Manager from 2K Australia ) and Penny Sweetser (Games Designer from 2K Australia) were informative and prompted discussions amongst all present about where the women are at the moment. A short interview with budding artist, and AIE’s Sony Foundation Interactive Scholarship winner of 2007, Marie Walden was also inspiring to many of the attendees.

We would like to thank the speakers and all attendees and look forward to the next event on Thursday July 3^rd.

You should definitely come if you are involved in:

• Playing games;
• Developing games;
• Education;
• IT & Software Development; or
• Seeking information about careers pathways into the games industry.

There will be a number of speakers during the evening from the game development industry, games educators and people on the pathway into the industry.
To register for the event and a chance at winning a prize on the evening, please follow this link:
http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e29talg2fem3zplr/start

To find out more, please contact:

enquiries@aie.edu.auThis event is proudly sponsored by

Academy of Interactive Entertainment

www.aie.edu.au

Event time and location:

6pm – 8pm Thursday 1st May
Academy of Interactive Entertainment Canberra Technology Park
Phillip Ave,
Watson, ACT

Now that 2008 is here - and it already seems like it’s flying by - I’m turning my attention to the Game Girls event. For those who don’t know, Game Girls will be held at ACMI on the 18th March, and will raise awareness of the game industry to female high school students.

I’m about to start working on developing the program of the day’s events, so if anyone wants to help/speak/whatever, or even if you wish someone had sat you down at 16 and said, ‘hey, look! It’s the game industry! Cool, huh?’, then just drop me a line…

From the outset, it was clear that everyone had a lot to talk about. As part of the breakfast, we had a few questions as discussion starters:

1. What issues relating to being a female in the game industry, if any, do you face?
2. How is your organisation promoting careers for women in the game industry?
3. How can we work as a group to promote careers in the game industry to women?

Several issues came up again and again, such as attitudes of male developers, maternity pay, what games women want to play, marketing and education. Perhaps we should have gone on camp for a couple of weeks, rather than done a breakfast! These issues are all pretty large so they’ll all be covered in their own blog posts later.

Women in Games received a lot of offers to help from everyone there - believing that many hands make light work, our aim with this breakfast was to galvanise support and to create a group that women developers would a) feel comfortable in, and b) have some ownership of, and I think - hope! - that we set the ball rolling.

Many thanks to the AIE for funding the catering, and the GDAA for the use of the room.