Possibly true, but a 2008 survey showed that 94% of girls now play video games (compared with 99% of boys). Maybe these Wii-loving kids aren't old enough to get jobs just yet, but then again, maybe there's another reason their big sisters aren't clamoring to work for EA. Like the fact that working in the video game industry sounds like it kinda sucks.

Game companies can have a fratty atmosphere, says game developer Brenda Braithwaite, "and there are still companies that throw recruiting parties with strippers." An even bigger problem is scheduling. "When you sign on to a game," says former EA exec Bing Gordon, "that's a two- to three-year commitment, with a crunch mode of about 12 to 26 weeks at the end of that. It's hard to be one of the top 10 leads on a team and not put in the time. I know mothers in key line positions, and they have pretty difficult choices to make every single day."

Horror stories about gaming schedules abounded a few years ago — an essay by Erin Hoffman, whose husband's "crunch time" at EA in 2004 consisted of twelve-hour, seven-day workweeks, is a chilling cautionary tale. Things have supposedly gotten better, at least in California, where a minimum hourly wage is now enforced (before that, game developers didn't even get compensation for their extra work during crunch time). Nonetheless, discussion on the website GameWatch implies that unreasonable work schedules are still a big problem, at least at some companies.

If women really are less willing to put in twelve hours, seven days a week, maybe game companies should take it as a sign that such a system really isn't healthy for anyone. Interactive media professor Tracy Fullerton thinks companies can restructure their projects to avoid excessive crunch time. The fact that they haven't done so may have more to do with workplace culture than with the true requirements of game development. If more women enter the video game industry, this culture may change — and that would be good for everyone.

Women Left On Sidelines In Video Game Revolution [LA Times]

The article suggests that the reason there aren't more female gamers is twofold: Men are uncommunicative jerks while playing video games, and women are intimidated by complex, violent games like Halo and operating a machine with so many confusing buttons. Specifically, the women on the panel explained that when guys are so immersed in a game that they throw the controllers, curse at the screen, and ignore company, women can feel put off, and, according to Xbox Live community manager and panel member Christa Phillips,"the game becomes the enemy, like sports." The panel's recommendation? Let women participate in the game by playing in two player mode. And if that's too "intimidating," women can always sit with their boyfriends and watch them play. "Ask her to help you spot snipers," said Phillips. "Chicks like flattery. If she feels like she’s helping, then you’re making it a positive experience." Ugh.

Another recommendation: men shouldn't impose their favorite video games on their girlfriends, since women may be turned off by all the violence and explosions. (One man in attendance at the panel mentioned that his girlfriend played Halo for five minutes and got dizzy.) The best way to make games appealing to women, they claim, is to play those recognizable characters like Harry Potter and Spiderman. Pink, apparently, doesn't hurt either: the article's author, Kristin Kalning, points out that "Heck, Carrie Underwood has a pink [Nintendo] DS, right? And the Wii made being a gamer as easy as operating a TV remote."

Still: Thirty-eight percent of American video game players are women. That number probably could be higher if the industry weren't so sexist. Maybe developers (and frustrated boyfriends) should check out WomenGamers.com to get a clue: The site reviews games of all genres, features articles from women who work in the gaming industry, and scholarships and resources for women pursuing careers in video game design. A note to ladies: The site doesn't have a girly, pink color scheme, so it may be a little, well, confusing at first, but if you can handle an intelligent female perspective on the gaming industry, it may make you want to pick up a controller and start blowing shit up.

How To Get Your Girlfriend Into Gaming [MSNBC]
Related: WomenGamers.com

Beyond fetishizing nuptials, the incorrect assumption that all women love weddings and the subservient role of wedding panning, this game is more annoying than fun. First of all, it plays Pachelbel's "Canon in D" incessantly, like you're in some endless bridal nightmare. Second of all, some of the shit you have to do makes no sense. The first challenge: "Find hidden items at Jenny's engagement party: Help Jenny get ready for the party by picking up items around the room." It's kind of like Where's Waldo or any other search game: There's a checklist and a bunch of illustrated crap lying around, and you have to check things off the list: Pepper! Jar of pennies! Doughnut! Fireworks! Wait, what? After that was a Concentration- type game requiring you to turn over cards and match presents to each other based on wrapping paper. Fun? No, not really. And certainly not a wedding planning skill. And apparently, it gets worse: Writes Saltzman:

Every few levels you will solve adventure game-like puzzles: in the bride's bathroom, for example, you'll click to open the shower curtain and see a magazine you need to read, but it's too wet. So you'll pick up the hair dryer and use it on the magazine. Now you can open the magazine and you turn to a page with a photo of a light fixture that matches one in the bathroom. When you click on the light, it's too hot to touch, so you must turn off the light (the switch is behind a hanging pink robe) and after removing the light fixture you see something hidden behind it, but your hands are too big — tweezers are needed to retrieve the note.

Gah! That's not a dream wedding, that's like a shitty Monday. It's insulting, frustrating and pointless — qualities I don't look for in a video game.

'Dream Day Wedding' Sequel Sticks To Winning Formula [USA Today]

Dream Day Wedding [Shockwave]

The Most Ridiculous Girl Gadgets [NPR]

Related: Watch Liv Tyler Promote The Nintendo DS
Metallic Rose DS Gets Superstar Launch

Raymond's employer, Ubisoft, sent a cease and desist letter to Something Awful, and although the comic was taken down, Jade's reputation took a hit. According to Multiplayer editor Tracey John: "[The comic] basically caused attacks on her integrity and her talent. Some thought that Ubisoft used her looks to pimp the game, and had her be way more public than most producers of other games. Some also said that she had no talent at all and got to where she was based on her looks. The thing is, she actually has a programming degree to back it up."

Ms. John tried to interview Ms. Raymond for Multiplayer, but was told by Ubisoft that Jade was "not interested at this time." Instead, Ubisoft project manager Elspeth Tory spoke with John, who, unsurprisingly, explained that she, too, had encountered quite a bit of sexism, explaining that, coming up in the ranks, she felt that she had to prove her technical ability more than the average worker. She also told the following anecdote about something that went down when she was at a company called Microids:

At some point, there was a woman who came in for an interview, and she was an attractive woman, apparently. We had these windows in our meeting room that were high up. And the guys, at some point, I so clearly remember this, they actually got up on their desks to look in on the woman in her interview. And they were making comments. Like, that was the kind of working environment that I was in.

Women Working in Games: 'Assassin's Creed''s Elspeth Tory on Jade Raymond and Entering the Boys' Club [Multiplayer]
Ubisoft Threatens Something Awful Over Jade Comic [Kotaku]

Those games were really designed for young girls who are just looking for fun games and ways to explore their favorite hobbies... From what we've seen, [the girls] didn't mention anything about being a police officer.

Taylor responds:

Research is a funny thing. If you say to someone, what's your favourite food, they'll list three things they love. If you then say, you didn't list chocolate cake, don't you like chocolate cake? They'll say, oh SURE! I love chocolate cake! I just didn't realise you were asking about chocolate cake.

Ubisoft's Imagine Series For Girls [Wonderland]
Girls So Want Babies, Clothes and Cooking [Kotaku]
Can "Girl Games" Transcend Shopping, Fashion And Babies? [Boing Boing]
Earlier: Yup, It's True: Girls Play Games

But for some women, gaming isn't new. This writer had a childhood shaped in part by Ms. Pacman and Intellivision's Burgertime. Later, Yoshi's Island, then Tomb Raider and Resident Evil were major obsessions. These days, according to Mack, "You're seeing women playing games like 'Dance Dance Revolution' and 'Guitar Hero'—women under 35 who want to do something fun and social."

Except gaming is not always social. There are women who like to hole up and escape inside of a game just like the guys do. (One of them happens to be my mom, who's addicted to the game Bubbles inside her Motorola Q.)

But this is about marketing dollars. And the budget doesn't go toward advertising to women, says Mack. "The money is where the hardcore gamers are. They're the ones who are really passionate about it and the ones who are going to go out and buy the beta version in order to be part of the next 'Halo' game," she explains. "But more and more, as these consumers groups open up, [marketers] will focus on these growing segments." Fine with us — as long as they don't feel they have to make the console pink.

Survey Finds Women Own More Game Consoles Than Men [Online Media Daily]
Earlier: The Do's And Don'ts Of Chick Gadgets, According To 'Wired'

And they all magically caught up to the boys' scores!

When the volunteers were tested again after five months, both the improvement and the lack of difference between the sexes remained. Though it is too early to be sure, it looks likely that the change in spatial acuity—and the abolition of any sex difference in that acuity—induced by playing "Medal of Honour" is permanent.

Nurture Strikes Back [Economist]