I would have to say my #1 studio for women-inclusive gaming would have to be Bioware, whose KOTOR and Mass Effect series have had awesome gender parity without making the women into guys (although, in Mass Effect, they're tough military women). Bioware's DragonAge had bi and I think gay characters in it, and they took the heat for it.
Close second would be Turbine, makers of LOTRO and DDO -- who although they won't commit it to print, have warned and banned people for using "that's so gay" as a derogatory, and don't allow *any* in game marriage relationships supported by the system, so they don't have to take heat (being a MA company) for having inclusive marriage.
But Blizzard is just like Facebook -- they are too big to fail, they don't have to care about privacy and so on. They probably think they are saving time for their community managers. Some of the changes to network access and the OpenID question show me that they aren't concerned about negative feedback.
Of course, there's our little indy studio, which is doing a very different sort of game, but as CEO I expect we'll be very open to whatever sort of gender issues.
There's also WIGI, Women in Games International, which is the professional organization for women in development and administrative and art and whatever other roles in the games industry. WIGI has been bringing a lot of these issues to the fore, but it's slow to change.
56% of online gamers are women, now, including all the folks playing Zynga and various casual games. It's no longer ok to paint things pink or make pretty outfits to make it a girl's game or a game that will appeal to women. People are incorporating mature kick-ass female role models into games, without them having to have Laura Croft's boobs, or dance like a night elf.
WIGI and some studios...
Close second would be Turbine, makers of LOTRO and DDO -- who although they won't commit it to print, have warned and banned people for using "that's so gay" as a derogatory, and don't allow *any* in game marriage relationships supported by the system, so they don't have to take heat (being a MA company) for having inclusive marriage.
But Blizzard is just like Facebook -- they are too big to fail, they don't have to care about privacy and so on. They probably think they are saving time for their community managers. Some of the changes to network access and the OpenID question show me that they aren't concerned about negative feedback.
Of course, there's our little indy studio, which is doing a very different sort of game, but as CEO I expect we'll be very open to whatever sort of gender issues.
There's also WIGI, Women in Games International, which is the professional organization for women in development and administrative and art and whatever other roles in the games industry. WIGI has been bringing a lot of these issues to the fore, but it's slow to change.
56% of online gamers are women, now, including all the folks playing Zynga and various casual games. It's no longer ok to paint things pink or make pretty outfits to make it a girl's game or a game that will appeal to women. People are incorporating mature kick-ass female role models into games, without them having to have Laura Croft's boobs, or dance like a night elf.
But there's a lot of inertia.