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Sexism is alive and well in the game industry, #1reasonwhy tweets show us (Update)

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[Updated] Jane McGonigal, author of bestseller Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World, was one of the more vocal developers on Twitter. She told GamesBeat, “Twitter was the perfect medium for something like #1reasonwhy to happen. On one hand, it feels brave to speak out on Twitter, because you are standing publicly behind your story. It’s not anonymous or behind closed doors. You’re putting your social and professional reputation on the line. There’s a face, there’s a name, your real-life friends and colleagues are going to see your testimony.”

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She added,”I think it was freeing to just be able to say one thing, just one reason why. You don’t have to document a whole history, you don’t have to consider every angle. You can just share one thing that is true for you. That made it for me, certainly, feel suddenly it was more possible to participate in this conversation. And watching it pick up so much steam — all it takes is to see one friend or colleague speak the truth about their own experience, and you feel empowered and inspired to do the same.”

[Original story] Women in the gaming world are expressing through Tweets why there are so few females in the industry.

Luke Crane, who works as the games project specialist at crowdfunding site Kickstarter and self-publishes role-playing games, asked, “Why are there so few lady game creators?”

This sparked a wave of replies (via the hashtag #1reasonwhy) from women in the industry, with their first-hand accounts of sexism they have encountered in the business.

Here are just a few of the Tweets we read:

Interestingly, that last Tweet led to an apology by the person who wrote the article. He explained that he felt that John Romero’s name resonated more with gaming fans.

There is also a hashtag for #1reasontobe. It consists mostly of women in the industry explaining why they work in the games business:

Then, there were a fair share of trolls. Like the one below:

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Perhaps not but raising awareness can.

Gaming, both in the industry and as a pastime, is mostly dominated by men. The booth babes of the Electronic Entertainment Expo game-industry trade show not only help reaffirm that but also lend to the stereotype of that single, girl-hungry male gamer.

Regardless, there is a lot more sexism going on than I think any of us were ever aware of.