Mon, Jul 11, 2011 | 05:15 BST
Viking editorial rebutted: “Making an issue of gender is the issue”
Former senior Pandemic staffer Quinn Dunki has said Clint Hocking’s call for more women in the games industry fails to acknowledge the gender emphasis contributing to unbalanced workplaces.

“I like the sentiment, but framing the debate this way is an aspect of the problem,” she said.
“The only way women are going to be comfortable in the industry is knowing that people don’t care about gender. Making an issue of gender IS the issue. We need to get past that. Strive to be the pure meritocracy that most people agree we should have.”
The eponymous One Girl, One Laptop believes more effort needs to be made to encourage young women in male-dominated disciplines.
“This is bigger than an industry problem. The outreach needs to go down to the middle school levels,” she said.
“That’s where the research shows girls stop studying math and science due to pressures from peers and other sources. The only difference between me and my math-inclined, game-loving friend who does advanced needlepoint instead of engineering is that she succumbed to the peer pressure. Fix this problem, and everything else will come out in the wash in a generation or two.”
Dunki called on other female developers to make their presence felt.
“In the meantime, the best thing we can do is provide role models. If you’re a female engineer or scientist, put yourself out there. Give young girls someone they can look at and say, ‘hey, I can do that too!’”
Hocking had compared the current culture of gaming to the Viking expansion, declaring it unsustainable and calling for greater female presence in the workplace as a solution. Response has been mixed.


16 comments
#1
Christopher Jack
11/07/11, 6:02 am
Completely agreed, I’ve seen young completely do a U-turn on their future because their ‘friends’ convinced them that they wouldn’t belong there. Screw stereotypes.
#2
ultramega
11/07/11, 6:51 am
True dat.
#3
Christopher Jack
11/07/11, 7:33 am
@1, “I’ve seen young *woman* completely…” my bad
#4
dragonsight
11/07/11, 7:42 am
we need more trannies, sexy trannies.
#5
Espers
11/07/11, 11:39 am
@ 1 Screw you since you’re a stereo type of transgender by force. What’s happening to the world !! why do you want to change woman nature by force. The women who rise such issues are really retarded, just take a look at them, I bet they never had a boy friend in their life !!
If a women want to be equal to men why do we need women in the first place ?! was God stupid ?! is this what those feminist fags are trying to say !!
Girls are made for pleasure !! to please !! to be beautiful more than to try solving a complex mathematical equations, God made them that way !!
If my girl doesn’t like to play games, why should I drag her into it. Let alone that retard saying it should begin from middle school !! Yeah please sprout us more retard geeky ugly looking women and throw super models in trash cans !!
Games are everywhere in Japan and the biggest girlish gaming population exist in Japan, however those game companies make games designed essentially for women.
Let’s be frank, in general what is the number of women who would play Demon’s Soul ? or BF 3 ? Come on !!
bastards retarded editors !!
#6
Christopher Jack
11/07/11, 12:16 pm
@5, Fuck off with your intolerant bullshit, just because one is born differently that doesn’t entitle them to any less rights.
we are all but human, men are in no way superior just because they developed penises inside of the womb.
I think that the most pathetic part of your sentence is that you use unproven religious theories to justify your ignorance.
My entire point is that woman should be just as free to make their own decisions as I am, rather than let society dictate what’s right & what’s wrong, if society has a problem with it, then society can go fuck itself.
“If a women want to be equal to men why do we need women in the first place”
To breed with, they are our other half, that’s right, half-you know, 50%, they are our Ying to our Yang-or vice versa.
Have you ever once thought of life through a female’s perspective in your backwards vision? How would you feel if you were in that restricted situation woman are/were in? Remembering that there was at least half a chance of you turning out to be female.
#7
viralshag
11/07/11, 12:40 pm
5′s not actually being serious… right? o.O
Nothing wrong with encouraging young men/women to try their hand at different things.
However, living in the UK and seeing the next couple of younger generations I don’t really have any hope for most of them to strive to become more than… well, whatever it is that they are now.
#8
mathare92
11/07/11, 12:45 pm
#5 You’re trying to hard, man/troll.
#6 You’re taking him way too seriously.
#9
Christopher Jack
11/07/11, 12:45 pm
@7, If he is, & I truly hope that he’s not, then he must be from a backwards country that still forces religion into politics & society.
There’s nothing wrong with religion, other than when it’s influence is used to dictate peoples’ lives.
#10
xino
11/07/11, 5:36 pm
“Girls are made for pleasure !! to please !! to be beautiful more than to try solving a complex mathematical equations, God made them that way !!”
hahahhahaa
you sound like a peado man
#11
Phoenixblight
11/07/11, 5:40 pm
@5
Yeah good luck with getting a girl with that mentality. BTW I am in a Game Development program and I would say 1/3rd of my classes have females that play video games and not a particular type but all types so what say you now?
#12
OlderGamer
11/07/11, 5:46 pm
Wow is all I can say. Attempting to be funny or not(and really its not funny at all), that type of crap (@Espers) is not cool.
#13
Christopher Jack
11/07/11, 5:46 pm
@11, That they should instead be in the kitchen making him a sandwich or pleasuring him.
#14
OlderGamer
11/07/11, 5:48 pm
@PB
That and we just saw a study done a bit ago that says females are 40something % of the gaming population.
#15
Phoenixblight
11/07/11, 5:55 pm
@13
Both
#16
silkvg247
12/07/11, 1:55 pm
@5 I don’t play BF3 because it isn’t out yet, but I’ll be happy to shoot you in the head on BFBC2.