Beyond First Person Shooters. Women in Games: Part 1

Film Victoria has announced the five recipients of its 2018 Women in Games development grants. We ask about the rationale for the program and the problems it seeks to address.
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Image: Hands up if you play video games? You probably do, even if you’re not a teenage boy. Source: Creative Commons.

If you’re the mother of a teenage boy (as I am), you’re probably tired of the sound of guns going off in your living room as Fortnite wars are waged and Rainbow rages. These are the first-person shooter games that dominate our kids’ lives, and the ones that first come to mind when you think of video games in general. The reality of the industry – the people who play games and the people who make them – is of course far more gender diverse. Think of all those middle-aged women you see on the train, playing Candy Crush or Words with Friends on their mobile phones. They’re all part of the picture.

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Rochelle Siemienowicz is the ArtsHub Group's Education and Career Editor. She was previously a journalist for Screenhub and is a writer, film critic and cultural commentator with a PhD in Australian cinema. She was the co-host of Australia's longest-running film podcast 'Hell is for Hyphenates' and has written a memoir, Fallen, published by Affirm Press. Her second book, Double Happiness, a novel, will be published by Midnight Sun in 2024. Instagram: @Rochelle_Rochelle Twitter: @Milan2Pinsk