Ahhh…GDC. Barring Halloween, probably my favorite time of the year. This year was different than years past, because this was my year as a PGD (pregnant game developer). So I didn’t drink, I couldn’t stay out nearly as late before wanting to fall over in a coma, and I had the hardest time just trying to keep myself fed. (Which, as any pregnant woman can tell you is quite a chore in and of itself). But I still managed to have a really great time, and I’m here to share my highlights for GDC 2007. First though, WIGI.
My GDC week actually started with attending the WIGI (Women in Games International) conference at EA. A buddy of mine, Sheri Pocilujko, couldn’t make it to moderate a round table she was signed up for, so she asked me to cover it. It was kinda the last minute (not that she could help that given the circumstances) so I had to scramble to rearrange my work schedule and reschedule our ultra-sound. I also was nervous as I’d never moderated a round table before, but it turned out to be super easy and even fun! And I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity and the extra push to go to WIGI. It was really cool.
As a woman game developer, its easy to have bouts of lonliness. The people at my company are really fantastic when it comes to any sort of gender issues, in that it’s something that rarely comes up. When it does, its usually in reference to something someone outside the company has said and then my co-workers, men and women alike, will rail against the offending comment. My company is 20% female, which is much higher than the average game company. And yet, there are still those moments when you’re trying to explain an idea and its clear that the men you are talking to just.don’t.get.it. Which is sad and frustrating.
Anyway, that was a really long way to go about mentioning that the WIGI was really fun because here we are with all these great women, in all disciplines, with lots of awesome ideas. And I could contribute by moderating the roundtable I was on and giving advice and help to women who want to break in to the industry, or are from the educational sector and want more industry contacts, or just offering tips on social networking. I found it to be a very fulfilling experience.
OK, on to GDC — but maybe tomorrow. I think my little tummy friend and I need a nap.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
One Response:
March 14th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
I think it’s interesting that you talk about loneliness, because while working at Telltale, I personally found that as a woman, I felt *less* lonely than I do in most places, simply because I don’t have all that much in common with the majority of the general female population. What mattered most to me was not that there were more men than women, but that the women who *were* there were interested and games and other geeky stuff, just like me. I haven’t really been able to find that outside the game industry, to be honest.
Anyway, just something to think about.