The editor behind MTV.com's Mulitplayer Blog has posted a series of interviews with women from all different areas of of the gaming industry in response to the internet humiliation of Assassin's Creed producer Jade Raymond (pictured). When Creed was released last month, Raymond was often in the public eye as she was actively promoting the game. Internet geeks 'round the world felt the need to weigh in on Jade, often denigrating her competence because of her attractiveness. The buzz reached a fever pitch when a website called Something Awful posted a defaming comic, which showed a cartoon named Jade fellating a trio of gamers, and according to our brother site Kotaku, it got worse from there.
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.
Sigh. At least working in gaming is better than working for Halliburton. Am I right or am I right, folks?
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]