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General: Gamers in Real Life Profile
Stradden
Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
MMORPG.com's Carolyn Koh headed back to the Sony Online Entertainment offices to speak with the last two years' winners of the G.I.R.L. scholarship, designed to promote women in the gaming workforce. In this article, she speaks with previous winners and encourages potential applicants to put their hats in the ring this year.
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Sony Online Entertainment recently announced that applications were open for their third annual G.I.R.L. scholarship and MMORPG caught up with SOE and the last two winners to see how well the program has done and where it's gone since its inception in 2008.
G.I.R.L is an acronym for Gamers In Real Life and was created with the goal to positively impact the way females are depicted in video games, and to create and influence content to be appealing to women. The scholarship program is designed to educate and recruit more women into the field of video game production and design, although it is not strictly limited to women. The chosen scholar receives $10,000 that is paid to their school for their program expenses such as tuition, books, room and board, and a paid internship to an SOE studio of choice.
Read the Gamers in Real Life Profile.
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Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com
Comments
I read the statement "G.I.R.L is an acronym for Gamers In Real Life and was created with the goal to positively impact the way females are depicted in video games" and then look over to the ndoors game ad background and see the pre-pubescent female character with massive cleavage falling out of her tiny shirt....... Maybe we do need more programs like this.
The in article add for Age of Connan has a big animation that says, and i quote,
"Cleavage" with a busty chick in leather armor, followed later by a guy greeding a chalice of beer, then some war scene and "carnage"
everyone needs a cause
so...
Kudos to Rebecca for what has to be a great thrill, albeit a well deserved one.
Best of luck to her in the future.
How bout male characters with really big bulges...
Getting old is mandatory...growing up is optional.
Interesting read. I do agree that females are taken well out of context in some games (hawt bulging bikini cla- Ahem!) and it'll be great to see some real, fresh gem's in the industry beginning to shine through this scholarship.
Is this available worldwide, just as an afterthought?
why dont they have something like this for guys? o.O
ROFLMAO, L2R.
"G.I.R.L is an acronym for Gamers In Real Life and was created with the goal to positively impact the way females are depicted in video games, and to create and influence content to be appealing to women. The scholarship program is designed to educate and recruit more women into the field of video game production and design, although it is not strictly limited to women. The chosen scholar receives $10,000 that is paid to their school for their program expenses such as tuition, books, room and board, and a paid internship to an SOE studio of choice."
++++++++++++++++++++
Soon as they come up with a " rooney rule " directed towards women, then I will start to take their efforts seriously. Although I think it is kind of sad that companies have to come up with these sort of gimicks to improve their image.
Yes SOE ruined SWG 7 or 10 years ago. Get over it already.
I hate positive discrimination.
“The scholarship program is designed to educate and recruit more women into the field of video game production and design, although it is not strictly limited to women.”
Is this an admission that the programme, by be limited to one gender breaks equality laws?
Oh and they are trying to move away from caling it PD now, I think using the word ‘discrimination’ in something that was supposed to be a force for good rather gave the game away.
Positive action is a term found in the UK, I am not sure about elsewhere, it has a feel good factor that appeals to those for whom being politically correct is a religious conviction.
I agree, just because girl gamers have some magical air about them to men. I don't care if the person I am killing has boobs or balls. I also acknowledge the fact that most games are demographically created for men, huge boobed women, lots of killing and explosions! Not saying women dont like that ofc.
Just to put this into retrospect, would a man play a female avatar and relate to that character? Do females relate to male characters such as Geralt in The Witcher, a man who sleeps with every woman he can see and the women he sleeps with fall madly in-love with him the second they see him. Its a male's wishfull day dream.
Once games become unisex in character development, then we will see an equal demographic in gaming. (But I dont see that happaning soon. Why Alienate 80% of the gaming community with games which are not aimed for them)
Nice to see the gaming job market finally targeting to hire the other half of the population. I wonder how long it will take them to start handing out Neuter, Hermaphrodite, and Transgendered scholarships?
"Gypsies, tramps, and thieves, we were called by the Admin of the site . . . "
As do I. But read it on its merits...
It's great to see a huge corporate-grade titan getting involved with more of the grassroots aspects of gaming: those looking for a way in the door of studios. Sure, I'm not naive enough to believe it's all sunshine and rainbows and that Sony doesn't have agendas unseen by the media, but it is a stroke of positive light for the gaming industry in general. Hopefully, we might even see more open-door policies with large-name producers and studios between fans, aspiring employees, current employees, and product that brings them all together.
That is exactly right, and we're not saying NO to save WoW, because it is already a lost cause. We are saying NO to dissuade the next group of greedy suits who decide to emulate Blizzard and Cryptic, etc.
We can prevent some of the future games from spewing this crap, but the sooner we start saying no, the better the results will be.
So - Stand up, pull up your pants, and walk away.
- MMO_Doubter
Wait...wasn't G.I.R.L originally Guy in real life? xD
Take boobs out of games? Sure. No playable game should have to use sex to sell. I've never understood it anyway. What drives me to want to play games is a completely different chemistry than sex drive--it's all about comraderie and violence, man stuff. Think boxers being told not to screw before a fight... Sure having a girl in some rpg story can be relevant but it shouldn't be the point.
But exploitation? If it weren't for women's boobs and butts attracting men we wouldn't be here so that's just dumb. They all do the same thing in real life. So what? Now they feel insecure because some pixel slut looks hotter?
And the big one, having to raise some banner to get a group of people to feel welcome in a particular work arena just shows how lame our culture is. Why not let women just do what they feel is natural? Women at large would rather beat their men over the head for playing video games, not join them. It makes the world go 'round. I personally I enjoy listening to the scalding phone conversations at my lan parties and knowing I had something to do with it.
... so much W.R.O.N.G. stuffed in so few lines...
I think the problem is that women need to make up their mind about what role they want to take in modern society. Let's face it, the world would be a better place if they could make a decision between shutting up and doing the dishes, or learning to lap dance properly.
Sounds like a great program and seems very encouraging to those interested in the gaming field.
The Old Timers Guild
Laid back, not so serious, no drama.
All about the fun!
www.oldtimersguild.com
An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it. - Jef Mallett
I've always thought Girl meant.... Guy In Real Life...
Just what I've always known... weird seeing this acronym now.
Guy In Real Life. LMAO.
+1
Girsl I recommaned to you hello kitty online!
Fucking apealing sht
Basically clicking away text windows ruins every MMO, try to have fun instead of rushing things. Without story and lore all there is left is a bunch of mechanics.
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Yes SOE ruined SWG 7 or 10 years ago. Get over it already.
I think you missed the point, name us one laudable thing SOE has done since then. 7 years is a long time in this industry without producing anything mentionable. No wonder that subject keeps popping up!
In response to G.I.R.L. I say G.A.R.L.I.C. Games Are Real Life Internet Computing. I'll be laughing all the way to the bank with that one. *grin*