6 ms·

Some women are put in game journalism roles because they are appealing to their audience for reasons other than their gaming knowledge. PR person misunderstood

Some women are put in game journalism roles because they are appealing to their audience for reasons other than their gaming knowledge. PR person misunderstood her silence and made a bad assumption. This misunderstanding could have been easily corrected. Saying, "No thanks I'll drive. What type of damage model do you use?" is plenty to show you mean business. People shouldn't judge books by covers, but they do. Best you can do is give them one good shot at understanding. This will separate the actual jerks from those who just guessed wrong. Most people don't want to offend you, so don't spend your time walking around with silent resentment over something that's done by mistake.

ekianjo 14y ago
> for reasons other than their gaming knowledge. Well said. It's fairly obvious when you see some of the women reviewing games online for famous publications/websites : they play by the looks. That Kotaku writer may be an exception. People reason with rules of thumbs, and the rule of thumbs is that women involved in gaming professionally are not all hired because of their skills and knowledge as gamers.
ceol 14y ago
It's easy to tell someone to give everyone a shot at understanding when you're not on the receiving end of it all the time. She had this happen multiple times, so she rightly assumed what anyone would: These PR reps assumed she couldn't play their games because she was a woman.
- EGreg 14y ago
  What about these PR reps, what if all the other girls they say that day weren't really experienced players of shoot-em-up games, how were they supposed to know she was different right away? Doesn't your comment apply equally to say she assumed things?
  - anthonyb 14y ago
    There's a simple rule of thumb: Would she have gotten the same treatment if she were a guy? If not, then calling shenanigans is the right response.
    - ovi256 14y ago
      Here's another simple "rule of thumb": Would she have gotten the same treatment after applying OP's suggestions (saying "No, thanks, I'll drive!") ? If not, then I feel that finally calling shenaningans is the right response. And, again, quid bono ? She certainly did, a bunch of people who would never ever read her column now just gave her a bunch of pageviews.
      - anthonyb 14y ago
        She probably would, at the next booth. And the next, and the next[1]. At what point are you going to stop blaming her for other people's idiocy? btw, it's "Cui bono" - the literal translation being "who benefits"? [1] - Actually, it did, if you read the article: It happened during one of my first appointments of the show, a half hour I’d booked to check out the sequel to a well-known military shooter franchise. ..later.. It continued to happen through the next few days of E3. Upon checking into a booth, I would often be asked by the PR rep whether I wanted someone to play my “hands-on” demo for me. During booth tours, I would more often than not be guided towards the Facebook games.
    - EGreg 14y ago
      What do you mean by calling shenanigans? Blaming the PR people? The thing is, the guys didn't get the same treatment... but my point was simply that the PR people were exposed to a certain pattern (someone is a girl => they aren't that experienced playing shoot em up video games) and it was repeatedly reinforced through subtle social feedback, that expecting them to just be good at the game was not producing great results for them or for your brand. And since the PR person wants to do their job and give a good impression of the game, they would just assume this girl was like the others, and offer to show her the best parts about the demo, so that she can write about them.
- gutnor 14y ago
  Yes and they are right most of the time. Not because women cannot play those games, just because the majority of the women that are sent there do not. As a foreign developer, I'm on the receiving end of that type of attitude all the time when there is talk about business, marketing, local trivia ... or most generally about a project they never thought I had heard before. People make assumption, you can set things straight in the first seconds of the discussion. So I say in this case, grow up: they don't know you, swallow your pride and just tell them you mean business. What would be more worrying is if their attitude do not change immediately after that. That is still a day-to-day problem for women in anything IT related, but I would except big show like the E3 to be quite smooth about that.
schme 14y ago
People do and should judge books by covers. They just should be more willing and quicker to correct their misjudgements.
- jasonwocky 14y ago
  Other people are not books, and they deserve better than to be treated like books.
jdbernard 14y ago
“I think I better play it for you,” is what she claimed the PR representative said. That is incredibly condescending, bad assumption notwithstanding. If I was a female gamer I would find that insulting, even if I was clueless. The assumption is not really the problem, the problem is the condescending and insulting attitude that the author ran into again and again. I would expect a PR rep for a gaming company to be more professional and be a better communicator. That is his job. "Would you like me to give you a tour of the game?" "Do you want me to drive, or just point things out as you go?" "Do you have much experience with first person shooters?" "It looks like you know what you are doing. Is there anything you would like to know about the game?" All those are better ways he could have started the conversation. They do not assume anything, they make it easy for her to let him know her level of experience, and they are not insulting or condescending.

ekianjo 14y ago

> for reasons other than their gaming knowledge. Well said. It's fairly obvious when you see some of the women reviewing games online for famous publications/websites : they play by the looks. That Kotaku writer may be an exception. People reason with rules of thumbs, and the rule of thumbs is that women involved in gaming professionally are not all hired because of their skills and knowledge as gamers.

ceol 14y ago

It's easy to tell someone to give everyone a shot at understanding when you're not on the receiving end of it all the time. She had this happen multiple times, so she rightly assumed what anyone would: These PR reps assumed she couldn't play their games because she was a woman.

EGreg 14y ago
What about these PR reps, what if all the other girls they say that day weren't really experienced players of shoot-em-up games, how were they supposed to know she was different right away? Doesn't your comment apply equally to say she assumed things?
- anthonyb 14y ago
  There's a simple rule of thumb: Would she have gotten the same treatment if she were a guy? If not, then calling shenanigans is the right response.
  - ovi256 14y ago
    Here's another simple "rule of thumb": Would she have gotten the same treatment after applying OP's suggestions (saying "No, thanks, I'll drive!") ? If not, then I feel that finally calling shenaningans is the right response. And, again, quid bono ? She certainly did, a bunch of people who would never ever read her column now just gave her a bunch of pageviews.
    - anthonyb 14y ago
      She probably would, at the next booth. And the next, and the next[1]. At what point are you going to stop blaming her for other people's idiocy? btw, it's "Cui bono" - the literal translation being "who benefits"? [1] - Actually, it did, if you read the article: It happened during one of my first appointments of the show, a half hour I’d booked to check out the sequel to a well-known military shooter franchise. ..later.. It continued to happen through the next few days of E3. Upon checking into a booth, I would often be asked by the PR rep whether I wanted someone to play my “hands-on” demo for me. During booth tours, I would more often than not be guided towards the Facebook games.
  - EGreg 14y ago
    What do you mean by calling shenanigans? Blaming the PR people? The thing is, the guys didn't get the same treatment... but my point was simply that the PR people were exposed to a certain pattern (someone is a girl => they aren't that experienced playing shoot em up video games) and it was repeatedly reinforced through subtle social feedback, that expecting them to just be good at the game was not producing great results for them or for your brand. And since the PR person wants to do their job and give a good impression of the game, they would just assume this girl was like the others, and offer to show her the best parts about the demo, so that she can write about them.
gutnor 14y ago
Yes and they are right most of the time. Not because women cannot play those games, just because the majority of the women that are sent there do not. As a foreign developer, I'm on the receiving end of that type of attitude all the time when there is talk about business, marketing, local trivia ... or most generally about a project they never thought I had heard before. People make assumption, you can set things straight in the first seconds of the discussion. So I say in this case, grow up: they don't know you, swallow your pride and just tell them you mean business. What would be more worrying is if their attitude do not change immediately after that. That is still a day-to-day problem for women in anything IT related, but I would except big show like the E3 to be quite smooth about that.

schme 14y ago

People do and should judge books by covers. They just should be more willing and quicker to correct their misjudgements.

jasonwocky 14y ago
Other people are not books, and they deserve better than to be treated like books.

jdbernard 14y ago

“I think I better play it for you,” is what she claimed the PR representative said. That is incredibly condescending, bad assumption notwithstanding. If I was a female gamer I would find that insulting, even if I was clueless. The assumption is not really the problem, the problem is the condescending and insulting attitude that the author ran into again and again. I would expect a PR rep for a gaming company to be more professional and be a better communicator. That is his job. "Would you like me to give you a tour of the game?" "Do you want me to drive, or just point things out as you go?" "Do you have much experience with first person shooters?" "It looks like you know what you are doing. Is there anything you would like to know about the game?" All those are better ways he could have started the conversation. They do not assume anything, they make it easy for her to let him know her level of experience, and they are not insulting or condescending.