In an effort to be a better video game development professor, I have been reading everything I can get my hands on. There is, of course, some small amount of imposter syndrome involved—I did my dissertation work in positron physics, not games—but mostly I love this job and the students at St. Edward’s University. I want to know all I can, so that I am able to best set them up for success. I teach production courses, so most of what I read relates to improving technical skills. The benefit of being able to better model game assets, design levels, or program are obvious. But there’s more to game development than just mastering the craft, so I picked up a copy of Women in Game Development: Breaking the Glass Level Cap, edited by Jennifer Brandes Hepler. I wasn’t sorry I did.

The book is a collection of over twenty personal essays written by women who have had success in games. These stories are mostly grouped according to the roles the authors have had in the industry. For example, people who were primarily game designers come first, then writers, then producers, etc. After each group of authors, the book contains a chapter about that game industry position. Those sections discuss what skills you need to do the job, what the day-to-day work is like, and what some of the downsides are. They reveal differences between doing that job in a large company or a small company. For example, if you’re a game designer in a large corporate environment, you will likely be doing a lot of game design by committee. If you go indie, that’s when you can have your focused, weird vision. They also share insights about how anyone, not just women, might succeed in games. For example, if you want to be hired as a game marketer, you need to come to the job with a network of contacts that you’ve already built.

The bulk of Women in Game Development consists of short personal narratives. Most of them relate how the author got started in games and her path to her current position (as of the writing of the book). It’s fascinating to read about the often fortuitous, oblique, unexpected, and circuitous paths they have taken through the volatile game industry. The first writer, Brenda Romero, got her start in the game industry through networking by smoking in a restroom in high school, for example.

There is no shortage of stories in this book about the rampant sexism and discrimination within the game industry. The authors relate tales of office parties held in strip clubs, being removed from lead positions to be replaced by an incompetent man, and assaults, mistreatment, and humiliation. Harassment and abuse are still commonplace for women involved in the game industry.

#GamerGate is in here too. While it isn’t the focus of the book, it is given its due time. Reading accounts directly from those who were targeted is powerful and more illuminating than the sanitized or manipulated version that has often been presented by the media. Howard Zinn is quoted in this section, which is apt, because this book is a means for a marginalized group to tell their side of the story. This book doesn’t just give women in game development a voice, it also makes a point to share perspectives from women who are members of other marginalized groups. In fact, Elizabeth LaPenseé, a First Nations game developer, said something that stayed with me. The fear of a post-apocalyptic world is fundamentally different for Native Americans. They’ve been living in a post-apocalyptic world for some time now.

Much of the advice in Women in Game Development isn’t specific to women. Prescriptions like ‘seek mentors,’ ‘make them say no,’ ‘keep in touch with people you respect’, and ‘follow your gut,’ are important for anyone to follow. But there is also plenty of advice primarily for women such as ‘don’t let anger steal your purpose,’ ‘outlive your enemies,’ and ‘speak up at meetings.’ When you read these things in the context of the greater narrative, they can be powerful motivators for someone who may feel all alone in an industry full of people working to drive them out. 

Women in Game Development also has recommendations for how to make a game development company function better and be more inclusive. One recommendation: have anonymous code and resume reviews. Studies have shown that when a submission is known to be from a woman, it is judged more harshly. A recommendation for men: Don’t leave it up to the women in the room to point out that a line of dialogue or a character’s outfit is sexist. Even simple acts like making a point to publicly praise the accomplishments of your marginalized employees will lead to a more inclusive work environment.

Many of those personal narratives also abound with specific information to help you (yes, even YOU) get into games and thrive there. Every author in the book got her start in the game industry, succeeded, and many are now in positions where they hire other developers. I’ll share a few tips just from Brianna Wu. She said that employers hire people to solve problems. It doesn’t matter how good you are, if your skills don’t solve her problem, she’s not hiring you. She also recommends that if you’re starting out, don’t focus on: music composition, concept art, game writing, or voice acting. Instead, learn ZBrush, C++, C#, material creation, lighting, VFX, or rigging.

Women in Game Development is a font of useful information presented well. Beyond all the praise I’ve heaped on it already, there were two specific things I learned from it that found personally helpful. The first was the term, ‘aggrieved entitlement,’ which is the frustration and rage felt by a dominant group when their special advantage is threatened. When we have a name for something, we can think more clearly about it. The other was the line, “what you tolerate, you encourage.” This reframed a few of my past teaching challenges as problems of my own making.

So, in conclusion, I loved Women in Game Development: Breaking the Glass Level Cap, and couldn’t recommend it more highly.