Why do girls avoid us?

French, F. (2009) Why do girls avoid us? 
Presentation for British Computer Society on Feb 12th, Southampton Street, London

Here's a brief synopsis of some of the points:


1. Consuming not creating
Although women seem to be using computers as much as men, they tend to be utilising software rather than actively developing it. 
2. Back to school
Problem - we don't recruit as many women as men into computing at higher level.  Distance from technology kicks in around age of 12 - why?  Peer pressure, angst, snobbery (technical not professional), lack of role models.
3. Teaching
The ICT curriculum...
4. Poor image
Games programmers can't win - they're either too "geeky" or too "macho" - either way they're all men, aren't they?  Crunch time!  But industry is maturing, isn't it?
5. The nature of games
Look at what's predominant, check out the characters and the action.  Who designed it?
6. What do girls like?
Same as what boys like + social stuff (chatting, dating) + girly stuff (hair? handbags? you tell me) + personalisation (stretch to fit)
7. Media representation of women
Say no more...

Grl Gmrs Tournament

www.thinkmakeplay.co.uk/grlgmr

The Rocket, Holloway Road - Saturday 25th Oct 08
5 games, 5 winners, 1 champion

Inviting all female gamers to an action-packed celebration of prowess in the virtual arena - the Grl Gmr tournament will kick-start the annual London Games Fringe, a week-long festival where you can enjoy all that is great about games and interactive entertainment.

Winners 2008:

- Wii Tennis - Simone
- Tekken 5 - Jennevive
- Unreal Tournament - Andy - Supreme Champion
- Kuri Kuri Mix - Andy
- Mario Kart - Jennevive

The event garnered positive press coverage from Dollymix, BBC London, Islington Tribune.  It also provoked an extreme reaction from dozens of game fan sites as soon as the press release went out. Thousands of posts protested about the very idea of holding such an event, siting reasons such as the inability of women to play computer games with any competence, the sexism inherent in a "girl-only" event, the poor choice of games on offer and the strange design of the flier...

On the other hand, Nintendo TV covered the event for their channel and the footage appears to show a mixed crowd thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Flickr pix

The Pink Wink Workshop

Ice-breaker workshop for Women in Games 2008, 10-12 Sept at University of Warwick. 

I ran this with Barbara Zambrini from http://www.gamelablondon.com.  We presented conference participants with the challenge of designing a new character for a new computer game.  Working in teams, they were given character profile forms to fill out, with back stories to develop and details to fill in.  And felt-tips for the graphics... 

TIFFANY has an epiphany, making quality makeup without animal testing.

KATRINA: NET TRAX - Cross platform ARG – rhythm action game, DS/web, collect sounds and geo-tagged images, record train sounds, find way home through audio cues – AIM – to find your sister and make her cool (but she’s really a DJ anyway)

 

MORPHY MASH-UP: Live your bubble – bouncing thru life - morph with your friends

ALEX: In a world where anti-knife-crime robots have run amok, invading homes and preventing cutlery use, only teenage parkourists and Alex can stop them – and stem the tide of similar robots (eg a recycling robot that picks up people’s cups before they’re finished…)

ANDRO, m. Age – 1020.  Can give birth. Physical strength and caring nature, good listener and advice giver. Can’t multi-task, can’t identify with a gender, has stretch marks and swollen feet. Goal – to populate earth in his own image; to be accepted into culture

EVE: After being repulsed by her skating companions who only want to date her, Eve meets a mentor (Dr Octavios) who steers her towards a career designing skateboards for women, incorporating rigorous physics research.

     

CAT WOMAN – CATKIN:  Hard, superhuman, fighting (when necessary) using detachable false nails (also retractable). Lives in large basket in a basement – very stylish warehouse. Made by being over-licked by kittens as a baby. Likes – large shoes, catnip, diamante collars. Dislikes – dogs, rain.  Purpose – to save cats! She is their superhero.

Dr Zoogles Bestiary

http://www.txt4treasure.com/

Dr Zoogle's dangerous bestiary escaped into Central London but intrepid treasure hunters tracked down some of the fiercest beasts over the weekend, during the London Games Festival Fringe.

The treasure hunt ran on Saturday and Sunday 27/28th Oct 2007, from 11am. There was no time limit, and everyone who reached the warm and exciting finish received a goody bag. Some teams started hunting on Saturday and came back on Sunday in the rain to finish. Dr Zoogle was impressed.

Winners and runners up have been sent a selection of games, including Sims 2, Fifa 08, Wii Boogie, Burnout, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon.

This event was sponsored by London Games Festival Fringe; developed in conjunction with Gamelab London (http://www.gamelablondon.com/) and Genius Telecom.

Mobile Learning Adventure

Emerald-funded project, therefore strictly hush-hush for copyright/IP reasons.  How annoying was that. 

The most interesting part was a visit to Hayling College, early in March, to talk to a focus group of 11-year-olds and a selection of teachers.  The original concept changed dramatically in scope after chatting to the kids, who were full of excellent ideas for mobile resources they would like to use (no surprise there).

Some staff were hoping for mobile quiz apps to use as revision aids, but there would have been problems with content copyright and data administration.  However, there were other concepts to play with and we built a prototype based on one suggestion.  The PE teacher tested the system for us for the first time in June.