Gaming in America

A Mediaplanet Guide to Diversity and Innovation in Gaming

Gaming In America

Felicia Day Learn what the “Supernatural” actor says about welcoming more women into gaming culture

Learn why Aisha Tyler says she’s not a gaming “tourist” Check out our expert panel to discover what’s next for gaming in higher education MARCH 2021 | EDUCATIONANDCAREERNEWS.COM

Tackle today’s most pressing issues with gaming.

B.S. in Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences M.S. and Ph.D. in Critical Game Design

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Enhancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Video Game Industry As video games grow in popularity and dominance across all demographics, the need for more opportunities for diverse creators in the industry has never been clearer.

Video games now constitute the dominant form of entertainment in the world. One in 3 people on the planet play video games, as do 2 in 3 Americans. Indeed, a growing number of people across age, gender, and other demographic measures indicate that they find tremendous value in video games, as outlined in the annual research

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report 2020 Essential Facts About the Video Game Industry. As video games become more influential in society, a key challenge remains: Enhancing opportunities for diverse creators and innovators looking to join this vibrant sector.

The need to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in the video game industry is not new.

The video game sector has long championed corporate policies and practices that encourage diverse candidates to join its workforce while supporting organizations and institutions that prepare such candidates for these opportunities.

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Stanley Pierre-Louis President & CEO, Entertainment Software Association

These efforts received renewed urgency in light of the societal awakening on racial inequity prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020. In the immediate aftermath, the video game industry contributed nearly

$20 million to social justice organizations including Black Lives Matter, the Equal Justice Initiative, and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. However, growing opportunities for diverse candidates to join and flourish in this dynamic industry must remain the priority.

In recent years, several video game companies have supported organizations that train and mentor young innovators of color in technology skills, such as Black Girls Code, Gameheads, Girls Make Games, and Hidden Genius Project. Others are working with historically

Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to hire more interns and full-time employees from underrepresented groups. And, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) Foundation, which was founded more than two decades ago, has awarded more than 400 scholarships to power the dreams of underrepresented students earning a degree in computer science or video game arts and sciences.

As video games gain an increasingly diverse audience, look for the industry to continue making a sustained and focused effort to welcome and encourage diverse talent into the workforce. n

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Publisher Joanna Tronina Business Developer Gretchen Pancak Managing Director Luciana Olson Lead Designer Tiffany Pryor Designer Celia Hazard Lead Editor Mina Fanous Copy Editor Kathleen Walsh Partnership and Distribution Manager Jordan Hernandez Director of Sales Stephanie King Director of Product Faye Godfrey Cover Photo Christina Gandolfo All photos are credited to Getty Images unless otherwise specified. This section was created by Mediaplanet and did not involve USA Today.

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Boosting Diversity and Visibility in Gaming Through Mentorship Collaborators Susan Paley, CEO of DropLabs, and esports gamers like FaZe Ewok, believe mentorship and creating platforms for others can steer tech and gaming towards more inclusivity.

Susan Paley, former CEO of Beats

by Dre, founded the tech company DropLabs in 2019 with a first-of-itskind sneaker that lets people feel sound. The tech company also partners with leaders in the gaming community, with a particular focus on meeting the needs of gamers who are advocating for greater accessibility and representation.

“We’ve worked a lot with the Deaf Community,” Paley said.

“Everyone needs access. If you are getting immersed in a game and you can’t hear gunshots or footsteps, what does that do to your experience? Even PC players, they have to use voice if they have issues with their hands. How do you give people access and then democratize that access?”

Paley consulted with FaZe Ewok, a Twitch gamer and advocate for accessibility in gaming. “Being a deaf gamer, it’s hard to type to my teammates during the action,”

Ewok said. “I am excited that companies are working to provide better accessibility for deaf gamers through the conversion of audio cues, like footsteps, into vibrations that you can feel,” Ewok said. “By working [with teams like this], I can start to shape the gaming experience for the Deaf and HOH gamer Community.”

This kind of mutually beneficial collaboration is exactly what Paley hopes will drive accessibility changes in the gaming industry.

Many young gamers enter the gaming community and can quickly become overwhelmed. Paley and Ewok both said that mentorship is vital, not only to support individuals but as a means to changing the landscape of the games industry.

“I think that a lot of young people in the gaming industry could use mentorship,” said Ewok. “We all make mistakes. However, with more guidance and shared knowledge we could make better choices.

Because mentors help improve our chances of success, the better chances we all have to represent ourselves.”

Paley sees mentoring, in particular giving women a platform, as a crucial part of her role as a

leader in tech. “I think it’s hard when you feel like you’re the only woman in the room,” Paley said.

“You feel that you have to prove yourself not just for yourself but for women in general. Women put a tremendous amount of pressure on themselves to not only succeed but to overachieve to clear a larger path for others.”

Mentorship need not be a person-to-person engagement.

Greater visibility in representation can be a kind of mentorship in itself. “People need to see representation,” Paley said. “For companies that really want to walk the walk and talk the talk, they need to look at their HR and hiring processes and make sure they’re open and accessible to everyone.”

“I am excited that gaming has brought people together from diverse backgrounds, and I feel that the more representation comes in the picture, the better we can tolerate each other,” said Ewok. “Not only tolerate, but actually embrace and celebrate it. I want them to see that diversity makes it more interesting, and prove it to them that the experience, content, and everything are enhanced.” n

A New Era of Gaming Starts With a More Diverse Industry As one of the UK’s most followed female broadcasters on Twitch, Djarii embraces her work as a full-time content creator.

It’s a career choice she seemed destined to make.

Part of an extended family For Djarii and countless others, gaming has served as a much-needed respite from life’s daily problems.

“As a kid, I was bullied and excluded a lot, so gaming became my escape,” she said.

“Even in high school I was bullied. I would so look forward to going home and logging on and playing with my guildies, and feeling like this is some place where I fit in.”

Girl power Women supporting other women is personal for Djarii. It’s no secret women face their own set of challenges when it comes to the gaming space and content creation.

It’s so important to stick up for them, and call out toxic behavior. “It’s really tough being in this space. I should know,” Djarii said. “At the start, I didn’t have many allies. It’s lonely, so be an ally, and create this network of women.”

Reaching out to others Djarii says it’s essential that minorities in the gaming community be recognized.

“I think it’s super important to see LGBTQ characters. You know, there are a lot of games where you feel like you can’t relate to the protagonist, and that’s isolating. That’s why it’s important to create characters that relate to all of us.”

Cindy Riley

Ross Elliott

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minority of gaming community influencers.

And she argued there’s much room for improvement in her career field.

Calling for diversity in gaming “From the outside, gaming can appear more diverse, accepting, and inclusive than it actually is,” Day said. “Front-facing characters and stories have become much more diverse, and that’s a wonderful thing,” she said. “Streaming culture has also introduced a ton of new faces and voices.”

However, she cautioned that this can be deceiving.

“Digging deeper, you see gaming companies being upended by whistleblowers and reports of harassment and prejudice amongst their cultures. It’s endemic.”

Indeed, according to an October 2019 article in “Arts Management & Technology Laboratory,” harassment and

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“social toxicity” aren’t foreign within gaming. You can even see these trends in multiplayer online role-playing games, which are environments that tend to be more inclusive to women and people of color.

A “top-down” makeover may be what gaming needs for real, meaningful change, Day argued. This step could change the gaming culture for the better. “Until the corporate structures are improved and truly diversified, you’ll see this happening again and again. The push for diversity can’t just be window dressing,” Day explained.

Promoting inclusivity Day expressed a desire for companies to organize in a way that promotes a wider array of voices and faces in the gaming industry. Mentorship, scholarship, and real investments may aid this effort, she explained.

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Making change from the inside-out For those who are already gamers like Day, speak out and seek to inspire. In doing

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“I’d love to see more responsibility amongst the social media and front-facing personnel of those companies, too, drawing the line at harassment and hate speech in very clear ways,” Day said.

“A culture is created by what it allows and encourages.

Take responsibility for the world you create around your virtual worlds, and it will pay off in helping diversify your fanbase.”

Aspiring female gamers aren’t powerless in the meantime, though. “I would encourage female gamers to seek out mentors. And to form groups among themselves to support each other and fact-share about finances and career advice,” Day advised.

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elicia Day is also an influencer in the gaming world, and the creator of the web series “The Guild.” And she is living proof that change is possible.

The 41-year-old Huntsville, Alabama native has been a gamer since she was 7 years old, back when she played text adventure games on her mother’s lap. “I was homeschooled as well, so most of my social contact in my early years happened with people on MUDS and early internet sites, discussing one video game I loved or another,” said Day, referring to multiplayer, real-time virtual worlds. “As an adult, gaming has become a big part of my career.” She added, “It’s my passion and part of my identity. I’m a gamer. And thankfully, the world now supports so many pathways to making gaming part of our lives.”

As a woman, Day is in the

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The gaming culture is still overwhelmingly male-dominated, but “Supernatural” and “The Magicians” star Felicia Day wants to change that.

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Felicia Day Talks Making Gaming More Diverse

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so, you may help pave a brighter future for others like yourself. “We don’t have enough role models in media (or in life) to show women and girls that programming and gaming culture can be fun or making games can be a career. Talk about the good and bad of your career publicly,” Day said.

Finally, she encouraged female gamers to “pay it forward” and educate others about the gaming industry — a step she considers the “key” to changing this culture.

“Mentor younger girls and cultivate the maker-spirit in them, too,” Day said, speaking to other female gamers. “The idea of ‘scarcity of success’ in male-dominated fields tends to drive women away from each other. Fighting back against that is key.” n

Melinda Carter

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Aisha Tyler Wants Gaming to Level Up Actress Aisha Tyler has seen gaming culture change dramatically since she was a gamer as a kid, but she still sees room for improvement.

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isha Tyler still has to convince people she’s a gamer.

Despite having played video games since she was a child, as well as voicing characters for some of gaming’s biggest franchises such as Gears of War, Halo, and Watch Dogs, the actress and comedian says there are still certain stereotypes of who a gamer can be.

“I’ve played video games all my life,” Tyler said. “I still have to keep explaining to people that I’m not a tourist.

I love gaming, you love gaming — that is what makes us a community, and that in and of itself should be credential enough.”

Tyler has fond memories of the games she would play as a kid. “The first console game

I played was actually Pong at a friend’s house,” she said.

“Classic arcade games like Defender and Tempest, and then the LCD handheld Donkey Kong game that I begged my dad to buy me for Christmas in the third grade.”

Along with providing voices from some of gaming’s biggest titles, in early 2020 Tyler launched ready-to-drink cocktails with her new brand Courage+Stone, (offering a premium ready-to-drink Classic Old Fashioned and Classic Manhattan, the company grew over 600 precent in its first year). She also voices Lana Kane on “Archer,” currently preparing to air its 12th season. She continues to host the improvised comedy show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and directs for TV and film,

When you cut an entire audience out of your strategy, you are leaving money and growth on the table.

including an episode of “The Walking Dead’s” most recent season and the feature-length thriller “Silent John,” which will shoot in Galway, Ireland this summer.

Even with all her responsibilities, she still finds time for gaming, which she says is a great way to unwind. “Gaming is a great way to relax, to use different parts of your brain, to problem solve, to blow off steam,” she said.

As games have become more sophisticated and the population of gamers has diversified, the industry has needed to change, to expand its scope and tell diverse stories, and to create more inclusive workspaces for game development teams.

“All industries are slow to change,” Tyler said. “The

gaming industry is no different. Things have been done a certain way for a long time and it’s been lucrative, so companies keep repeating old patterns.”

Tyler said that creating a more inclusive industry makes for a better business model. “The truth is that inclusivity isn’t just about fairness, it’s good business,” she said. “When you cut an entire audience out of your strategy, you are leaving money and growth on the table. Hopefully as more women move into game development and gaming company c-suites, and female gamers continue to speak out as well as vote with their money, that will change.” n Ross Elliott

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What Advice Would You Give to Students Interested in a Career in Gaming?

A student and a professor give two perspectives on gaming in higher education, and what comes next after earning a degree in this growing industry.

Lynzie Wagaman: The first piece of advice I would give to students interested in a career in gaming is to be passionate.

Entering the gaming industry can be a daunting task as there are many ways to go about it, but having an intense passion is necessary to be successful. You can learn new skills, but you can’t learn passion.

Another piece of advice I would give is to be able to take and give constructive criticism.

In esports, most people you talk to want to see you thrive.

Any advice or criticism given will strengthen your work and skills, helping you even more as you grow in your career.

I didn’t always know I wanted to enter the gaming industry; I almost became an architect. I’m still currently carving my path within the gaming industry, however, I know I want to work in the esports (competitive gaming) side of the industry. When I learned about how big esports had become a few years ago, I found I really wanted to work in the esports industry to ensure its longevity. From there, I decided my career goals would involve esports and gaming, which is why I enrolled at Harrisburg University where I feel I can achieve

those goals during my undergraduate studies. Currently, I am researching more roles in team management, partnerships, and live events to try and find my eventual end career.

Lynzie Wagaman Sophomore, Major: Esports Management, Production, and Performance, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

Michael J. Lee Ph.D., Asst. Professor, Dept. of Informatics, New Jersey Institute of Technology

Michael J. Lee: When talking to students, most only think about the development/programming, testing, and art careers.

There are so many additional aspects of gaming that they overlook. The lesser known jobs that students gravitate towards after they learn about them include game designer (concept, storyline, characters), animator, and user experience designer (controls, interface).

I have also seen some students go into localization (i.e., translation), and audio engineering

(sound effects), and composition (music). One last thing that students tend not to realize is that they do not have to necessarily make games themselves, but they can create the tools that the industry uses to produce games.

Games themselves are becoming more diverse, complex, and immersive. No matter your interests, there is probably some part of the gaming industry that can benefit from your expertise.

While there is currently a lack of diversity in the industry, it is something that they are aware of and (many) are trying to address. You can be a part of the solution by pursuing a career in gaming and actively advocating for more diversity. n

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The Reality of Being a Woman in the Gaming Industry Lucy Rissik, the marketing and partnerships director of Women in Games, shares her experience as a woman in the gaming industry, while giving advice for those looking for mentorship in a male-dominated field.

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efore joining Women in Games in March of 2020, Rissik had been working in the gaming industry for 10 years in a variety of roles. She worked at several different agencies and was a brand partnerships manager at Electronic Arts before co-founding her own agency.

Throughout all of these ventures, Rissik has been involved with the women-in-gaming community, surrounding herself with others who aim for

equity and parity for all women in the video game industry.

Despite the fact that 46 percent of gamers are women, there are very few who work in the gaming industry, let alone in leadership positions.

“Women and girls don’t openly talk about being gamers. Often, this is a reason why they dismiss the industry,” Rissik said.

According to Rissik, there are only two ways that this will change — either women in leadership roles have to transition over from other

industries, or women have to be educated about the jobs that are actually available to them in the gaming world.

“There are many varied roles [in gaming],” she explained. “For example, outside of Women in Games, I have a brand partnerships agency focused on the industry.

I am someone who puts brands into games and creates marketing campaigns outside of them.

Beyond marketing, there are people who work on the music in games, create amazing

concept art for characters, or develop beautiful worlds where the games are set.”

Rissik acknowledges that the lack of women in senior roles is an issue across the tech fields in general, but hopes that with further education, more girls and women will see gaming as a thriving career opportunity.

Another area of potential influence is inside the content of the games themselves. Strong female characters and storylines may help draw women

into the community, but there are surprisingly few out there.

“Seeing diversity in any form across video games is an amazing thing,” Rissik said. She mentioned that the gaming industry can take notes from other marketing campaigns, such as Dove’s campaign for “real beauty,” where all types of bodies are celebrated. After all, as Rissik said, “Not all women are built like Lara Croft.” n Lauren Hogan

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Making More Space for Women in Gaming Women are creating more opportunities for themselves in gaming, and small studios make for diverse working environments.

Jessica Horton, a digital environment designer for IllFonic, a video game developer, had no idea that gaming could be a legitimate career path for her.

“It wasn’t until I had gone to school for a little while and was accepted into an art program that I realized that gaming was actually an option for me,” she said.

From the beginning, Horton noticed the clear gender imbalance in the games industry.

“When I first started in games, me and my friend Felicia were two of three women in a company run by a woman,” she said.

“That was it in a company of 60 or 70 people.” This imbalance persists today. In 2020, women made up 46 percent of gamers but only 24 percent of those were working in the gaming industry according to Forbes.

Game control When Horton moved to IllFonic in 2018, she recognized

the appeal of working at a smaller studio, where relationships within the company are paramount. “Everybody seems set on having the best working environment as possible and hiring people that would work out,” Horton said.

Since Horton began her career, she has seen improvements in opportunities for women in gaming. “There’s a lot more women in games now than from when I started, but there is still room for smaller improvements,” she said. “Give women a few more chances to interview, or maybe seek out

talented women. I do think with men and women, there are different life experiences so they can approach things differently.”

While encouraging women to make more room for themselves in gaming, Horton wants the quality of her work to come first. “I don’t want to be discriminated against because I’m a woman, but I also don’t want to be given any special treatment just because I’m a woman,” she said. “I want my work to speak for itself. I know a lot of women who work in games who feel the same way.

It’s not fun to feel like the only reasons you were given an opportunity is because you’re a woman. It can take away from that feeling of [having] worked really hard to get here.” n Ross Elliott

To learn more about opportunities in gaming and to explore other titles, visit www.illfonic.com.

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