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Girls on Games: A Look at the Fairer Side of the Tabletop Industry
Girls on Games is written by a compilation of female game industry professionals, with the aim to engage, entertain, and educate both seasoned gamers and game-makers as well as novice game inventors and those seeking positions within the tabletop game industry.
When Elisa Teague first began working in games 16 years ago, the climate for women was very different than it is now. Even with great strides being made in the name of gender equality and numbers of women in the industry increasing, female game makers are still in a great minority and face amazing challenges in an otherwise inclusive field.
After compiling stories and advice for years, she decided to write a book on the matter, and there is no better way to discuss such important topics than to include many voices with important viewpoints on the subject. This book features amazing contributors who each add a chapter on various game topics for a book that has never been seen before!
Chapter topics include:
* Anecdotes or stories about being a woman in the game industry
* Advice for women on overcoming challenges women face in this field
* Advice for men on how to make inclusion a reality in our great industry
* Glass ceilings and general inequality of women in the field
* Creating balanced game design for both men and women
* Dealing with "fake geek" or "real gamer" comments when playing games
* Female representation in games
* Being taken seriously as a professional in a male-dominated category
* Tips on getting your foot in the door at a game company
* The pros and cons of games "for girls" and so much more!
When Elisa Teague first began working in games 16 years ago, the climate for women was very different than it is now. Even with great strides being made in the name of gender equality and numbers of women in the industry increasing, female game makers are still in a great minority and face amazing challenges in an otherwise inclusive field.
After compiling stories and advice for years, she decided to write a book on the matter, and there is no better way to discuss such important topics than to include many voices with important viewpoints on the subject. This book features amazing contributors who each add a chapter on various game topics for a book that has never been seen before!
Chapter topics include:
* Anecdotes or stories about being a woman in the game industry
* Advice for women on overcoming challenges women face in this field
* Advice for men on how to make inclusion a reality in our great industry
* Glass ceilings and general inequality of women in the field
* Creating balanced game design for both men and women
* Dealing with "fake geek" or "real gamer" comments when playing games
* Female representation in games
* Being taken seriously as a professional in a male-dominated category
* Tips on getting your foot in the door at a game company
* The pros and cons of games "for girls" and so much more!
132 pages, Paperback
First published July 2, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 5, 2017
I'm glad this book, which draws together a wide range of perspectives on women and the gaming industry, exists. That said, I wish it had been done better. As a physical artifact, the book is fine--good cover design, good print production values--but the inside betrays painfully amateur typesetting and a lack of proofreading. I understand that it was a Kickstarter self-pub project, but many of the women involved have careers in publishing (albeit games, not books).
But, okay, not everyone shares my background as professional typesetter or my bewildered horror at the choice to mark paragraphs both with indentations and with lines of whitespace. Let's talk about the contents. Stand-out essays for me here included Teague's "Pitching (a Game) Like a Girl," which in seven short pages told me more about how the game industry works on a nuts and bolts level than I'd gleaned from years of panels and online reading; Garritano's "The Greatest Game of I Never," which made me laugh and offered a unique twist on ways to rebut the "fake geek girl" narrative; Brown's "Pushing Back," which describes high-level industry discrimination and ways to fight it; and Frasier's "Being Iconic," which discusses carving out space for trans women. And I appreciated the inclusion of Zetty and Darling's explicitly "girly" perspectives. There are many, many ways to be a woman, and Girls on Games profiles a surprising number of them for a book that barely cracks a hundred pages.
Some essays would definitely have benefited from a stronger editorial hand to help the authors find their central theme or focus their narrative. I can't say there's much here that I crave to read a second time. But even the less readable pieces provide valuable primary source material for any future research or more in-depth books on women in the field of gaming--and those are books I'd like to read.
But, okay, not everyone shares my background as professional typesetter or my bewildered horror at the choice to mark paragraphs both with indentations and with lines of whitespace. Let's talk about the contents. Stand-out essays for me here included Teague's "Pitching (a Game) Like a Girl," which in seven short pages told me more about how the game industry works on a nuts and bolts level than I'd gleaned from years of panels and online reading; Garritano's "The Greatest Game of I Never," which made me laugh and offered a unique twist on ways to rebut the "fake geek girl" narrative; Brown's "Pushing Back," which describes high-level industry discrimination and ways to fight it; and Frasier's "Being Iconic," which discusses carving out space for trans women. And I appreciated the inclusion of Zetty and Darling's explicitly "girly" perspectives. There are many, many ways to be a woman, and Girls on Games profiles a surprising number of them for a book that barely cracks a hundred pages.
Some essays would definitely have benefited from a stronger editorial hand to help the authors find their central theme or focus their narrative. I can't say there's much here that I crave to read a second time. But even the less readable pieces provide valuable primary source material for any future research or more in-depth books on women in the field of gaming--and those are books I'd like to read.
August 13, 2016
This is a collection of essays about women and their love of games, inside and outside the tabletop industry. Some also have video game industry credentials as well.
Some essays were uplifting, some depressing. They all show where we came from, and where we need to go. We are not yet all equal in gaming, and we have the power to change that by welcoming all with open arms. Gate keeping only serves to insulate the community - for a group that gets together to have fun, I for one fail to see why we should try to exclude anyone from having fun with us.
The frustrating thing is there is no magic cure-all in these pages. We are left to slowly but surely work towards the future that we want to see. I am proud to stand as an ally, for feminists, for gaymers, for trans individuals. We're all here to throw dice, draw cards, and have fun.
Some essays were uplifting, some depressing. They all show where we came from, and where we need to go. We are not yet all equal in gaming, and we have the power to change that by welcoming all with open arms. Gate keeping only serves to insulate the community - for a group that gets together to have fun, I for one fail to see why we should try to exclude anyone from having fun with us.
The frustrating thing is there is no magic cure-all in these pages. We are left to slowly but surely work towards the future that we want to see. I am proud to stand as an ally, for feminists, for gaymers, for trans individuals. We're all here to throw dice, draw cards, and have fun.
March 6, 2017
Think of this review as a four star plus one star as a bonus because the book was a) a kickstarter project; 2) prefaced by a man that is willing to recognize there is a problem in the industry that his company has addressed to further the fight for equality; and 3) it is about women in an industry that is so ubiquitous and mainstream we forget it is male dominated. These are the stories of women who have broken a glass ceiling a few inches thick and deserve to be recognized outside their workplace and workforce for acting and becoming agents of change, inspiring young females to dare to dream the impossible dream.
Must read for those who claim feminism is no longer required.
Must read for those who claim feminism is no longer required.
August 1, 2016
An eclectic collection of essays by women on their experiences in gaming. I wish it included bios of the authors, but most can be found on the Kickstarter page for the project:
December 4, 2018
A book filled with anecdotes from women in gaming.
I read it to get some extra info, but it was clear that I was not the target audience. I’m not sure what I would have wanted to see, but I got some insights.
I read it to get some extra info, but it was clear that I was not the target audience. I’m not sure what I would have wanted to see, but I got some insights.
July 19, 2024
CW: r*pe mentions
Excellent book I bought years ago and finally finished reading. I'm sure I would've gotten more out of this book if I were a game maker and not just a gamer, but I greatly appreciate it for what I did get out of it. And it's interesting to study from a feminist academic point of view. I looked up some of the authors and was totally impressed at their accomplishments, these are some very heavy hitters!
Excellent book I bought years ago and finally finished reading. I'm sure I would've gotten more out of this book if I were a game maker and not just a gamer, but I greatly appreciate it for what I did get out of it. And it's interesting to study from a feminist academic point of view. I looked up some of the authors and was totally impressed at their accomplishments, these are some very heavy hitters!
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September 22, 2016sdasda
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews