Although the urgency of reporting “what happened” at the AGC and WGC has passed, I’m finally getting around to organizing my thoughts on these two-day events.

In a way, maybe it’s better that I waited. Now I have a better idea of what is worth reporting. Or, to put it another way, here’s the stuff that was meaningful enough to hang around in my head, waiting for a chance to be heard.

My primary attraction in heading to Austin was the WGC. While there have been several international events, and GDC ran a track on women in gaming this year, this was the first dedicated WGC in the US that I know of. And even as the industry continues to do lip service to the idea of getting more women into gaming, I was curious to see what this looked like in practice.

By the numbers, I was told there were about 1200 attendees and, by the looks of things, about 10% were women. The WGC drew a reported 125 people, which makes my guestimate percent stack up nice and neat. In stark contrast to the rest of the AGC, about 90% of the participants at the WGC were female.

As I mentioned elsewhere, being surrounded by women at a game conference was a bit odd. I wondered, “Do they think I’m here to meet girls? Exploring my feminine side? Do they think I’m just trying to figure out how to develop women as a new market? Am I an enlightened feminist? “

In fact, I don’t think the attendees really noticed me much at all. I was just being self-conscious. But that quickly turned into the point. In a flash, I realized what it must be like for the dedicated woman gamer or developer. Sitting in a room surrounded by boys, it must seem awkward, even if no one is actually saying anything. Even if everyone is pretending that you belong.

Want to know why there are not more women in games? Because there are not many women in games. It’s a classic vicious cycle and one that is terribly obvious, but not one the industry at large is doing much about. Until the powers that be are surrounded by women and feel that through-the-looking-glass-feeling of not fitting in, I’m not sure much will change quickly.

With that context, I felt I could get my head around the issue. And it didn’t take long for the issues to emerge.

Kicking off the WGC, IGDA chair emeritus and Infinium Labs VP Kathy Schoback stood up and started to talk about courage.

In her energetic and up-beat keynote, Schoback defined courage not so much as a lack of fear but rather as facing fear. She pointed to examples of courage in creativity—such as Nintendo’s willingness to gamble with one of its key franchises when they released a cell-shaded Zelda—courage in dealing with the diversity of human experience—such as Oddworld’s new game “The Stranger” -–and of the courage to stand up for diversity in the work place.

As she worked through her examples of courage, Shoback slowly turned the theme into a call for diversity. And, surprisingly, the theme of the WGC emerged early—diversity. It’s not just that the game business needs more women. It needs more diversity in race and age and point-of-view. In fact, it just needs more, well, more.

The tactical solution that the room seized on was to get more women into the business. This ERA for entertainment software was offered as quick way to build a broader audience and to generate more diverse content.

If you listened carefully, though, there was a strong sense that the problem is much more complex than feminizing the boys club of game development. Certainly, getting women into the business--and not just the marketing , PR or clerical departments--is a big part of it. But this effort also includes changing social norms and behaviors including thinking about how we treat girls and technology. As it was pointed out, girls steer away from technology at an early age. They are told in advertising , by their peers and their culture—technology is not for you. NCsoft designer Starr Long told me he felt the problem was “Matchbox Cars and Barbies”. Young girls just don’t see machines and technology as something that is theirs. So they grow up on the outside of the problem. Making a Barbie Matchbox car just misses the point.

This systematic problem of bringing women into games slipped into the conversation over and over again. My pal Mia Consalvo, assistant professor at Ohio University, looked at developer quality of life data to try and find some preliminary difference between men and women in the game development workplace. Some key points (at least to my mind) included the fact that women have spent less time in the industry than men, they are less likely to start their own companies and that they feel they work fewer hours than their male counterparts, even though they work about the same hours.

Breaking these issues down I see a number of systematic maladies. For one, women are still building their professional networks. This is not to say that women cannot or should not have men in their career networks. But a young women trying to get into the game business is more likely to be inspired by a woman who has risen to the level of a senior designer, producer or programmer. This is something that will take time to solve.

Underlying the issue of women stating their own businesses is a whole raft of social issues about women in business. I haven’t studied the area. But you don’t have to be a social scientist to see how women are discouraged from being entrepreneurs. Many of the biggest names in gaming came from small companies or studios they founded or helped start. With fewer women starting business, it is that less likely that women will find themselves sitting on a creative property that will rocket them to heights of game celebrity.

And the perception of workload is particularly troublesome. Why do women have a low estimate of the hours they work? Why do they think their male counterparts work more? I’m not sure, but other suggestions in the course of the conference lead me to believe that women are more likely to get the work done during the set workday without dragging out long hours. Why? Women tend to carry a larger burden in the household. So, if mom has to go pick up the kids, you can bet she will be leaving at 5pm. Dad might just call mom and say he’s staying a little later. He thinks he working more or longer, but really he's not. I don’t know of this is exactly true, but it matches up my anecdotal experience a little too well to simply toss out.

Aleks Krotoski, a well-known television, Web and print journalist from the UK who is working on her PhD in social psychology, presented some of the findings from a whitepaper she prepared for the ELSPA. One in particular elicited a strong reaction from the crowd. Aleks drew aim point blank on game advertising targeted away from women. It’s not just that ads don’t appeal to women. In too many cases, they are antagonistic toward them. In a sense, the game industry marketing machine works at producing messages telling women that videogames are not for them.

Aleks also argued that due to well-known wage discrepancies between men and women, women were more price conscious when shopping. This discrimination coupled with a negative marketing environment is yet another barrier to women finding any fun in the games industry.

And, of course, women face the issue of the biological clock and the issue of kids. Women simply face an uphill climb when considering games as a career or even as a pastime.

I also found T.L. Taylor’s, perspective quite helpful on the grand issue of women in games. She pointed out that diversity in games was more than just women; it is also about race, social class, culture and age. And to that end, even talking about “women’s games” was a bit misleading. We need to think about games for young girls, games for teen girls, games for young women and mature women. I found T.L.’s thoughtful social perspective a needed antidote to the usual market segmentation that typically rules at a game conference. Listening to her ideas, it made me realize that if videogames are going to continue to grow as an art form, they need to continue to tap into human issues and touch people, not just simply fill market niches!

With all that said, what kinds of conclusion can you draw? Well, most certainly, the games business needs to continue to grow and in many respects grow up. A growing diversity in the workplace is probably a good place to start in terms of helping seed ideas of diversity in content. Meanwhile, women trying to break into the games business will find a real asset in their uniqueness (being a girl in a boys world) and an incredible support network from the women who are already there. But likewise, as Schoback spelled out, it will also take a lot of courage to plow through the inevitable obstacles.

That summary was crystallized during the “Getting to the Top” panel where Microsoft’s Laura Fryer, Monolith’s Ellen Guon Beeman and Shoback talked about how they got into the industry. Each of them started their story—“When I was a kid we used to play lots of games including D&D”. Their career paths had gone in different directions and they’d made different choices. But it all started with a love of games. In that sense, these three successful women could have been any three successful people from the game business, men or women. Their stories were about being in love with games and the game business. Still, it was good to see women telling their stories, talking about how, despite the odds and obstacles, it was still possible to make a living doing something you love. Even if you are a girl.

Top Quotes from the WGC

“I think the love of games is where it starts,” Denise Fulton, executive producer at Ion Storm/Eidos, on how to get women into games

“I realized a long time ago being a loud, obnoxious bitch is helpful in this industry.” Nicky Robinson, Technical Director, Stunt Puppy

And because you’ve come this far, don’t miss the pictures! (Or check out Robin Hunicke’s images . They’re better than mine anyway!)

COMING SOON:

Where’s the wonder?: Notes from the MMORPH side of the Austin Game Conference

Women in Journalism: Notes from the journalism panel at the WGC