19.09.2024 / News

Participants of the Eurasian Women's Forum discussed the role of women in the video game industry

On September 19, the second day of the fourth Eurasian Women's Forum, the Tauride Palace hosted a thematic session "World of Opportunities and Influence: The Role of Women in the Development of the Video Game Industry." Experts assessed the role and prospects of women in IT and game development in Russia and other countries.

Moderator of the session, General Director of the Association of Cultural Centers of the North-East of Moscow Marina Burmistrova noted that the role of women is noticeably growing in many industries, including IT and the gaming industry. Thus, if earlier games were predominantly a male occupation, today women are increasingly creating games and playing them, participating directly in the development and popularization of games, she added.

According to the head of the video game and animation cluster of the Moscow Agency for Creative Industries, deputy general director of the Russian Video Game Industry Development Organization Alexander Bodrov , today, girls are predominantly involved in development and game design, the role of women in the global video game industry is noticeably growing, and the undisputed leader of the industry is China.

Anastasia Valova, executive director of the Russian company Sinoruss, spoke about positive trends in the industry, typical for both Russia and China: more and more women are starting to work in game development, and most often they are engaged in creative professions - they work in art departments, support and promotion departments, are responsible for game design, scripts, game mechanics.

"In China, women more often occupy management positions: it is believed that they can cope well with management and project management. In general, developers in Russia and China are mainly men, and creative professions are for women," noted Anastasia Valova .

The head of the center for development of distribution of games and mobile applications of MTS (Novosibirsk region) Anastasia Matrokhina spoke about women in the gaming industry . According to her, both men and women can realize themselves in the gaming industry - here, flexibility and adaptability are required from a professional of any gender. The expert noted that the video game industry is an advanced sector, and many employees have the opportunity to work remotely, realize themselves and benefit society.

Alexey Koptsev, CEO of the Russian company "Siberia Nova", shared the experience of his company, where comfortable conditions have been created, and women occupy several key positions. He noted that there are more and more women among programmers and developers, and women successfully cope with work in complex roles. According to the speaker, the company's development - the game "Smuta" - uses bright active heroines, for example, the noblewoman Anastasia Kruchina-Shalonskaya.

The development of the gaming industry has undergone significant changes in recent years. Svetlana Karacharova, PR Director of the Lesta Games Group, spoke about these changes at a session . The company, known as the developer of the legendary games World of Tanks and World of Ships, currently employs more than 2,000 people, including 604 women. In 2004, when Svetlana worked at the Technomir publishing house, there were almost no women in the industry.

"Twenty years ago, the industry was different - extremely male and even somewhat marginalized. Now, a lot has changed, and I also associate this with the arrival of women. If a woman leads something, she leads it perfectly, a woman comes - order, system, understanding comes, and everything starts to go a little differently. The attitude towards games on the part of the state has changed, we can talk to federal media about serious topics," said Svetlana Karacharova .

Coordinator of the Eurasian Women's Forum Council project "Study of the socio-economic status of women: Russian and international experience", General Director of the National Agency for Financial Research Guzeliya Imaeva shared statistics on the development of the video game industry, which has transformed from a marginal industry into an important part of the creative economy, where you can develop, create a career, develop new technologies and with the help of which you can broadcast a cultural code.

Thus, according to all-Russian studies, about 60% of the population play games with varying frequency, among women it is 46%, and the share of women has increased by 1.5 times since 2018. Women more often play games on smartphones and tablets, every second one - on the computer, and women prefer casual games, puzzles, quests, adventures, strategies. At the same time, G. Imaeva emphasized, every fifth female gamer faced discrimination, 47% percent received negative comments of a gender nature.

According to the speaker, in order to develop women in game development, it is necessary to popularize models of successful women in game development and IT, and the participation of public and educational organizations is necessary, including the creation of targeted educational programs for girls.

The panelists noted that balanced teams in the video game industry are the most effective teams, and women's empathy can significantly improve computer games and make them more understandable. The experts noted that it is not easy to enter the gaming industry - it is an industry of maximum risks and a high degree of uncertainty, and a woman who wants to work here must have the "character of a fighter."

The Fourth Eurasian Women's Forum is taking place from September 18 to 20 in St. Petersburg. The organizers of the EWF are the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation and the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States. The operator for the preparation and holding of the event is the Roscongress Foundation.

Official forum website: 2024.eawf.ru