A Very WoW Valentine

I’m back on track with the blog, and it all kicks off (again) with Valentines day … on-line.
World of Warcraft has had some big events on – besides the release of The Burning Crusade – namely Valentines day (and I’m looking forward to the up-and-coming Lunar Festival).

Just a quick run down of the special event: As a player you could buy valentines day items such as “love tokens”, perfume and cologne. When wearing a perfume or cologne, one could interact with NPC’s (Non Playing Characters) – however, the majority of the NPC’s have a gender attached to the “sex” of the character – so what happened was that a player wearing perfume could only get interactions from male NPC’s and likewise: cologne got interactions from female characters. However – as a player you could wear either the cologne or the perfume – regardless of the “sex” of your character.

There were a couple of interesting things that some guild mates took note of:

• The Undercity ghouls (City belonging to the race of the Undead) were non gendered/without a sex.
  Which leads to the question of whether this is a deliberate move by Blizzard to have an androgynous space in the game?
• There was a wandering Alliance male Night Elf who was programmed (or not programmed/a glitch) to interact with cologne instead of the traditional “male + perfume” interaction.
• That the hetero-normativity of the programming was highly visible – but non hetero interactions could take place – i.e. someone playing a female character could wear cologne and interact with female NPC characters

I found all of Blizzards programming decisions extremely interesting – and it made for some alternative role playing – as the odd (but not quite queer – as the male NPC characters I approached (Orcs of course) would not “flirt” with female characters wearing cologne) programming was certainly something to work with.

The major Valentine day Quest (handing in love tokens) was, in itself, pretty horrible – but that quest also opened up for public humiliation (in my case it was a nasty little female orc who kept on breakin’ my characters heart by laughing manically at her love token offerings); this humiliation was very visible and rather demeaning, but it was also followed up by mate-ship (A guild mate (playing a female character) who gave me several “friendship bracelets”, which removed the curse of heartbreak so I could continue on this quest). Interestingly enough, all of the meaningful Valentines day experiences ended up being an affair that was “women only”.

Perhaps the frustration of not having the full choice of who I wanted to interact with made the “loopholes” even more memorable.

I’m looking forward to the next festival – and will be sure to keep my eye out for more loopholes!!

Emma.

Or check out the official WoW fan art Valentines day competition here

Girls on Board

I have just returned from a quick hiatus down south, and noticed that many of the girls (9-12 years) that were on board for the 12+ hour flight had their own little device – namely a Nintendo.

The product of choice seemed to be the Game Boy Advance (none of them in lollypop pink), and on the flights that I was on, most of the girls were from the Netherlands. Note: these observations were just after x-mas – so perhaps these devices were the main x-mas gift. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to see so many focused girls playing their way through mazes and dungeons, and ripping the Nintendo out of their brothers hands with a gurgle of words that in my mind could only have said “It’s mine”.

- from Malaysia to Amsterdam

Women Board Game Designers

Whilst parked inside Kuala Lumpur airpoirt, the light sound of energy tapping on something in my brain activated whilst perusing the toy shop for wacky merchandise … the question came – Which women have been working/pioneering in the world of board game/traditional game design?

This was a question to be followed up upon at a later date due to my limited 20 minute access time on the net, but lo and behold, there is a highly visible game designer out there who is just starting a career in board games … Who is this you ask – none other than the coolest screen villain Elle Driver, aka Daryl Hannah .

Apparently Daryl has been moon-lighting on the side of her actressing career, having produced two games. The most recent game, Liebrary, uses Balderdash-esque game-play, and revolves around knowledge of literature and player creativity. The players listen to the synopsis of a book and have to guess what the first lines of that book might be, trying to convince the other players’ that your lines are indeed true.

Well done Daryl Hannah – A new role model for women and games!!

Computer Game receives Cultural Award

Games can be serious – right?

CEO of Serious Games Simon Egenfeld-Nielsen is making a good case and point with his Serious Games game “Global Conflicts: Palestine”. The game is the first of an intended series of games which focus on global conflicts. The experience is generated by the student players’ taking on the role of a freelance journalist that must cover the conflict in a neutral manner – something which is programmed to be extremely difficult to do.

I’m looking forward to seeing the final product early next year, and even more so, reading about which schools’ embrace the product (including which type of schools can handle the demands of a 3D generated game), which teachers are able to take on this alternative form of learning, and how the students’ engage in this form of learning. Very exciting times ahead indeed!

In any case, we can already celebrate the break-through of (serious) computer games as cultural products; “Global Conflicts:Palestine” has recently received the KEK award (The Danish Culture and Business awards) in the category of best Creative Product – congratulations.

- Emma

A little extra about Serious Games:

Game philosophy at serious games:

“…to create computer games that include well-proven game features found in most computer games like action, death and violence but adding an agenda beyond entertainment … We do not merely wish people to play the game but really engage with it – feeling, thinking, and discussing it – they may be shocked, appalled, and disgusted seeing the inside of conflict not just the surface so often portrayed in current stereotypical computer games. This is not the glossy game universes you know.”

My very first Very Big Cheque

Well, that special day has arrived. I was handed over my first over-sized cheque this week — Glorious glorious times, another thing to cross of the “to accomplish before I die” list.

Here is the footage of Tina and I receiving the cardboard mock-up from the Danish Bank (Den Danske Bank) who is sponsoring our initiative LetzPlay with the funds for computers to the LetzPlay-Lab, which will be opening its doors to young women in Copenhagen in February 2007 from the location of the Vesterbro culture house.

Wii’ve come along way baby!

It’s a while after the D3’s came to town (Danish Electronic Entertainment Expo) and I have been meaning to do a big write up, but winter preperations seem to have overtaken, and this space has suffered

However, I have mustered up the energy to do a tiny spot on the Wii experience from the D3’s, followed up by a little anecdote on the power of marketing (excited or what!) …

Whilst the D3´s themselves were fairly tame in terms of event size and wow-factor, the Wii zone was dressed to impress: minimalist style. The very 2001: A Space Odyssey white layout played the perfect background to all the physical movement going on by the anxious Wii players.

Wii Sports was the game of choice on the 10+ machines, and it was an attraction in itself to watch people happily make utter fools of themselves. My personal favourite was Wii Boxing, and it must be said that I was laughing at the pair of “air boxers” in front of us — right up until I got into the make-shift ring. I haven’t sweated so much in 2 minutes, since, ever! Needless to say that I think I pulled several muscles in my forearms from swinging wildly at the air. D3´s I could have left behind, but the Wii experience coloured me happy, 100% … (moving towards the anecdote) …

I was sold on buying the Wii, without having even thought about the PS3 (which was presented at the D3’s in a locked off area, protected by a lonely security guard). Nintendo had been doing everything right in my books – marketing towards women as players, innovative game-play, and easy on the wallet. But then, the terrible happened – a guild mate spoiled my Nintendo dream by sending me a rather provocative ad that set PS3 vs. Wii in the fine metaphor of “Serious overweight woman Vs. Silly skinny girlie”. Interestingly, after seeing this ad (real or not real – you tell me?), I found myself googling PS3 and all its doo-dads & games.

Whilst the PS3 is still out of my league in terms of cost – I am definately writing up a for and against list for “What I really want from a console”: frivilous and cheap or serious and engaging … hmmm … what kind of gamer am I?

Elitism in WoW

I was recently playing World of Warcraft as my little level 5 banker-character in the Orc city (which has extremely heavy traffic), and a glorious vision passed my eyes; A “champion” was standing right by me with the nicest looking gear that I had seen in a while. Whilst I was inspecting the champion’s gear, I must have clicked on invite (my laptop just doesn’t like those big cities and lags). What happened quickly, and before I had even registered what I had done, was that this so called champion had reported me, and proceeded to whisper it too me in a very blunt fashion.

Is this the attitude that “elite” players have these days? I too have been harrassed at a measly level 15 to group with a lowbie, but this was a one time invite – and an accident at that.

What do elite players contibute to the “world” of warcraft? I will continue to watch out for cases of elitism in MMOG’s – but do tell of your own incidents, or even reasons for acting in such manners as the profiled “champion”.

Woman at the Wheel **

Status symbols vary from country to country, but cars have always been a cornerstone. According to BBC news, post-communist Russia is one place that takes their cars very seriously, and more-so, cars have long been considered *cough *cough “a man’s business”.

Women driver’s and car owners are still seen somewhat as a novelty in Russia, but this is all about to take an abrupt change. The post-communist generations of female Russians have access to good quality jobs, which brings about purchasing power. These young professional women are in control of their finances and they are ready to use it … on motor vehicles.

However, it is not a walk in the park. Chauvinism seems to be unchecked in terms of women drivers. This excerpt from a BBC interview tells how one Russian driving instructor thinks women taking to the road:

“Women are by nature more shy. They might get scared,”

“They might close their eyes, like this.” Driving instructor covers his eyes with his hands.

Think of how it might be getting instructed by this person as a woman new to the world of motoring … spine-chilling!

A few things have happened to combat such narrow-mindedness. BMW has a female driving instructor who only teaches women, and a new magazine called “Woman at the Wheel” – a lifestyle magazine that focuses on cars and fashion – has hit the streets in Moscow. Whilst the magazine reportedly contains useful tips such as how to complete a perfect parallel park, it also contains tips on how to complete a perfect exit from your vehicle.

In any case, the magazine is an attempt to bridge the gap between women and driving, and I for one wish it the best of success. I am convinced that such efforts will help to empower women in Russia to “take control of the wheel” in the years to come.

PS. Another prominent motor vehicle magazine targeted to women has existed since the mid-90’s called Woman Motorist (USA publication)

**Completely off topic

Women on Board

A response has come!  ”Women on Board” is a new database created by Danish Industry and KVINFO (the Danish Centre for Information on Women and Gender) in response to the absence of women on IT-related boards & committees in Denmark.

The database is aimed as a recruitment list for those businesses that want more women represenatatives on their board, but often do not know where to find the candidates.

 http://womenonboard.dk

Women not on IT-committees – “a phenomenon”

If you’re hanging around Denmark these days, you’ll notice that there has been quite a bit of focus on gender and IT. Many girls stop playing computer games in their teens, teenage women on the whole are not aspiring for an education in IT-related fields, and women are not representative in IT-firms …and so on and so forth.

Computerworld released the news today that out of Denmark’s top 100 IT-firms there are:

no women in the position of board chairperson,

two women holding the position of administrative director, 

and only 9% of all board members are women
[Computerworld Number 38. 20. October 2006].

So the two poles are the idea of the “Old boys club” vs. the idea of a shallow “recruitment pool” of women. Networking does (weirdly) often happen in the “locker room” – a space where not exactly all the “players” are present. So when considering people for positions on the board, individuals may have a tendency to name someone from their own inner network – or as Caroline Søeborg Ahlefeldt noted to Computerworld,

“ …The fact is that there are adequate qualified women, but men recommend other men to head positions” (Computerworld – my translation of Danish text)

Where-as IBM’s vice director refers to another slant – IBM’s efforts in recruiting women to head committee positions has been without great success due to an apparent scarcity of women in the branch itself.

It sounds like a school-yard he-said, she-said – nevertheless, 20+ years down the road we stand and this “variance” has not truly started to be resolved. Norway has an affirmative action policy stating that each sex must represent at least 40% of the members, as noted in the Norwegian Gender Equality Act,

“Since it is not possible to achieve gender equality merely by prohibiting discriminatory treatment, measures which give one sex certain advantages in some areas in the short or the long term are regarded as necessary.” http://www.likestillingsombudet.no/english/act_scope.html

I find it disheartening to think that a law must be implemented to see official IT committees with diversified membership. For that reason, I look forward to seeing renewed efforts to diversify this sector not only by the government, but by the institutions of education (also focusing on how IT is being taught), and by the firms that would proffer from having diversity (thinking more about management training, advancement schemes, and mentoring programs from within).

Diversity is key to innovation. Let’s see initiatives that embed the roots for new growth into an innovative and transformed IT sector.

(Another post not directly related to computer gaming – sorry)