- Crane's question, asked in total ignorance of the ongoing controversy around issues of sexism in geek culture, garnered a number of thoughtful responses, including one from Filamena Young, co-owner of Machine Age and writer for Dragon Age, Mistborn, and other games.
@Burning_Luke You realize that's more complicated than a tweet can answer, I'm very sure.- Young went on to elucidate a number of reasons over a series of tweets:
- @Burning_Luke @twoscooters @TriskalJM @boymonster boys are socialized to persue while girls should demur
- ...which turned into the hashtag #1reasonwhy:
- While a conversation about 'why so few women designers' was going on, I was taking my son to and back from the docs. #1reasonwhy
- When I first started playing DnD, I wasn't allowed to look at the book. Not kidding. #1reasonwhy
#1reasonwhy Because when I comment on game design, people still assume I don't know what the hell I'm talking about after 10+ years.- When it comes time to talk about new, exciting games and designers, I may be left out because I 'whine' too much. #1reasonwhy
- Because conventions, where designers are celebrated, are unsafe places for me. Really. I've been groped. #1reasonwhy
- In part because Young's tweets articulated experiences shared by countless women within the industry, more women on Twitter began to add their own:
My #1reasonwhy - because to most of my coworkers, anything women enjoy is a total joke. (Our studio makes games 'targeted at women!')
Worked on a team, all my input to art assets even guidance were completely ignored because I was the only woman on that team. #1reasonwhy
The hubs & I walk into a game store. He grabs GodofWar2, & the manager is surprised to find out it's for me, not him. #1reasonwhy
Because with #1reasonwhy trending, we have to be worried about the backlash & threats of violence that our friends will face.
Because of devs assume that "Our audience is 90% male" without any actual stats to back that up. #1ReasonWhy- Women weren't the only ones who spoke out.
#1ReasonWhy half of my friends list on XBL is afraid to use their microphones. This shouldn't be an issue in 2012. :|
Probably the most harrowing thing I've ever seen on Twitter, the #1ReasonWhy hashtag is positively shameful as a gamer with male genitalia.
How the LA Noire team was treated: kotaku.com/5818019/report… What hope do those guys have of making a good work environment for women?#1reasonwhy
I've got nothing to add to the #1reasonwhy discussion, other than the working environment from Mad Men is meant to be historical.- The conversation even branched out to other fields.
#1reasonwhy Not about gaming, but I applied for directing gigs, they told me none was available, then they soon hired three men to direct.
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