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    Dabbling with Video Game Diversity


    2010 - 05.07

    Tags: , , , , ,
    Posted in Disability, Diversity, Feminism, Miscellaneous, Society | Comments Off

    So, I am on this little tangent after watching Danial Floyd’s “Video Games and the Female Audience,” which I followed from “Considerations on Females as Game Consumers” at Border House (a feminist video gaming blog). One of the sticking ideas was that the marketing and design of female video game characters are exclusive towards women.

    Why are the breast physics so important? Why are strong, kick-ass women wearing next to no clothing and high heels?1 Why are the female leads always the romantic interest for the male lead? Why are women developers objectified rather than admired for their talents? Why do women leave the gaming industry?2 Why are there “girl editions”? And why are they always pink?3

    But women aren’t the only ones that are not included into the gaming culture. This includes: people of color, people with disabilities, transmen and transwomen, non-heterosexuals—well, it just sort of continues on.

    So, does any game at least do decent to promote diversity? Some. Not as many as I like, but some.

    Beyond Good & Evil (2003) stars Jade. Jade wears cargo pants, a tank top, and a jacket. While her midriff is visible it isn’t sexy; it just sort of is there (going to go with that being the fashion of the times). She is taking on the world… through photojournalism. There isn’t any romance to be found in this title. While not intended, Jade’s design is racially ambiguous.

    Mass Effect Series (2007—present) allows the user to build their own character. That said, all the marketing uses the default male character and the system enforces heteronormative romantic relationships. The women have personalities and objectives that are not necessarily best for everyone in the universe (just as the men do). It isn’t the portrayal of women that I like though.

    No. It’s Jeff “Joker” Moreau, the Flight Lieutenant (read: pilot) for the series. He also has Vrolik syndrome, meaning he has bones that break very easily. When he walks, he limps and is in apparent pain. It’s a character with a disability! But, how do we know he isn’t a token character? Well, I say the biggest indication is that he isn’t a “very special lesson.” Joker is sarcastic, arrogant, and makes jokes. He is clever. He brags about excelling past his normal classmates, “They all got their asses kicked by the sickly kid with the creaky little legs. One guess who was smiling at graduation.”4

    Final Fantasy XIII (2009) stars Lightening. For the main cast, half are women even. And they pass the Bechdel Test5. Hell, the only romantic subplot is between a lead male and a secondary character. The women themselves, well, they are varying degrees of sexualized and none of their clothes are particularly practical. But, they have opinions, beliefs, and secrets. Lightening punches people, as opposed to the more traditional slap; I admit it is more shocking with a woman than a man.

    Even better there is a black man, Sazh. While the chocobo–friendly afro is a stereotype, he breaks many others. He is a single parent who cares deeply for his son. While he cracks jokes and is the apparent comedic relief, he is still very serious and much more mature than the other characters.

    [Border House has great posts about Sazh and the women of Final Fantasy XIII.]

    Any other characters that are strong and diverse? Who are your favorites? What makes you feel they are a good character?

    1 Suspension of belief ends when you can’t stop thinking how little protection a garment offers and how many times you would trip if you ran in those heels.

    2 Especially alarming considering how difficult it is to get into the gaming market.

    3 I like pink, but give me red, green, purple, and all the other colors too!

    4 This particular line resonates a lot with me. Not only do people with disabilities have to be equally talented to their peers, we have to be better. To make up for our disability in society’s eyes. Not a rational thought, but internalized messages rarely are.

    5 The Bechdel Test says:

    1. It has to have at least two women in it,
    2. Who talk to each other,
    3. About something besides a man.

    The Experience Curse, or The Lie of Meritorcricy


    2010 - 04.28

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Industry, Personal, Rant | Comments Off

    I have a lot of experience. I have a lot of experience in different areas. And, because of my incessant perfectionism, I work really fucking hard to excel at these different tasks.

    Meritocracy claims that everyone earns their place. Technology fields like to spout about how they are so meritocratic. And this is complete bull shit.

    The team above the group that demanded the bullshit “prove you’re a programmer” to me posted an internship. An internship that was a combination of marketing, intellectual property law, and open source software knowledge. I haven’t heard back from them. My male roommate (who has no marketing or law background and I wouldn’t trust to program his way out of a paper bag) has gotten a request for an interview. The person who got the previous position effectively saying that my roommate would be getting a job offer.

    … Apparently, being talented isn’t good enough. Knowing the right person outweighs it substantially.

    And, I know I sound bitter. But, I think it’s understandable. I work my ass off to be the best. It’s really special to see someone that has proved that they’re unreliable, incompetent, and arrogant regularly to be seen as so much better than me. I wouldn’t be angry if they were on equal par to me. Subpar though?

    … Yeah, I’m not buying this company’s products. Why would I want to pursue the creations of a company that doesn’t want the best for a position. Only the one that has a good bud.

    Prove you’re a programmer


    2010 - 04.08

    Tags: , , , , , ,
    Posted in Computer Science, Disability, Diversity, Feminism, Industry, Personal, Society | 2 Comments »

    That was the major question for an interview I had yesterday. An interview where the only clear direction I had was that I would be doing a 15 minute presentation for. So, I, was expecting an interview focused on my communication skills.

    And a lot of it was.

    And then there was the “prove you’re a programmer” line. Codeless, in a dim-lit room, with no sign of paper or blackboard. How do you answer that? “Here’s my transcript,” “define ‘programmer,’” talk again on projects I’ve done, or what?

    I went with the simplest for me: I grade code; I would hope that’s a good indication that I know how to program.

    I left that interview feeling completely dejected over that one little statement. Nearly in tears, I started the drive to school. And at times like these, I am so glad I have ADHD. Because, while conscious me was trying not to get myself killed from being an emotional breakdown, unconscious me was working out what other paths I could take besides accepting it: the main interviewer had invited me to email him, and he sounded interested in the C class project I had finished, so maybe I was suppose to send him some code? Based on the feedback I got, right answer.

    That said, “prove you’re a programmer” is a very problematic request. I understand that it is a valid concern; there are plenty of coding horror stories. But it could have been phrased so much better.

    “Prove you can do X” is demanded of members of minority groups in varying degrees within “inclusive” environments. Even better, as a member of a minority group means that you get to represent an entire group and that you are only valuable if your contributions are better (not equal to) the majority group.

    Specifically for computing, women’s roles are relegated to technical writing and graphic/interaction design. Women that make contributions that are outside that realm are held as exceptions. Exceptions that are then neglected when discussed outside the bubble of “women in computing.” Seriously, technology isn’t gendered, so why the hell are things made by women viewed as nonexistent?

    Now, to put on my disabled person’s hat. I’m used to dealing with ambiguous statements. Asking “how are you” I’ve learned isn’t a genuine question: the response is a neutral-good sentiment that’s one or two words. But, the question itself is peculiar when I process it: “how are you doing/feeling” or “what causes your existence.” To a normal person, the second version is almost never intended.

    But, being disabled puts me at greater risk than assuming an able-bodied role. And, able-bodied people will overwrite the signs that I don’t hide. That constant twitching, jumpy motion? Obviously, I’m nervous, not hyperactive. (Can’t for the life of me work out what the perception is when I’m clearly not nervous and still twitchy.)

    Statements that are purposefully ambiguous? Well, now I’m fucked. Usually, reinterpret normal talk into their non-ambiguous world view. Now I have to match a question with one answer to one that intends diverse answers.

    Shit.

    It will take a while before I actually catch on that the question has multiple correct answers. At which point, I’ve already spit out whatever answer I came to first.

    Double shit.

    This story may or may not have a happy ending. But, take away the knowledge that speaking from a position of privilege doesn’t mean that you’re saying what you think you’re saying.

    Asking a woman to “prove they’re a programmer” is linked with sexist remarks slung at women. Yeah, the interview probably didn’t intend it to be sexist, but that doesn’t take away the connotations of the statement. If you intend to include women, first step is to remove non-inclusive phrasing.

    Expecting everyone to not have a disability is ignorant. People with disabilities are expected to compensate for a disability, rather than society accommodate that disability. Demanding that I follow societal interpretations and recognize when this “communication contract” (secret normal people talk pattern) is broken takes away my power.

    Words have meanings.

    They have lots of meanings.

    They have meanings that aren’t even written down.

    Fragmented OS


    2010 - 03.01

    Tags: , , , ,
    Posted in CS, Computer Science, Industry | Comments Off

    So, the Technical Account Manager for Android at Google came for the department’s seminar session. She’s basically in charge of Google’s relationship with manufacturers that use the Android OS. First off, Google is not the soul creator of Android. It’s actually a creation of the Open Handset Alliance, a group of handset manufacturers, software developers, cell phone service companies, etc.

    The Android OS, despite being less than a year and a half old, has fragmented to an appalling degree. Different manufacturers include varied screen sizes, sensors and actuators. So, application developers cannot predict what hardware is available. And consumers cannot easily predict if an application they download will function correctly.

    The operating system itself has even become fragmented. There are five different versions of Android available across different hardware. Developers now have to consider these different versions, not unlike working with different browsers. Developing for the latest version (as Google does), effectively tells anyone with an older version (79.6% of the Android market at the moment) that they’re out of luck.

    I will note that the speaker suggested using version 1.5 or 1.6 rather than 2.1 in developing. On the one hand, that does solve a short term problem of diverse systems. On the other, it makes an unsafe assumption of developers: that we’d want to use an older specification. For most programming languages, it is better practice and makes a person more employable to use the latest standard whenever possible.

    And, there are some genuine reasons for this fragmentation. With more varied hardware, it becomes increasingly difficult to include the appropriate drivers (needing to write one for every new feature for every individual piece of hardware). Some devices do not contain the memory or processing to be upgraded, which effectively keeps them trapped with their original version.

    It’s this fragmentation that will eventually lead to different flavors of the Android OS, more or less defeating the purpose of a unified operating system. Manufacturers may want to consider having an easy Lego-like means of upgrading hardware, but that still does not account for building the drivers (and assumes that manufacturers would even want open hardware).

    Ah well. It was a nice idea.

    New Goal


    2010 - 01.24

    Tags: , , ,
    Posted in Industry | Comments Off

    I have thought a lot over break about what I will be doing the coming year. While I have planned my life to be attending graduate school immediately after I graduate, I do not think this is the best choice for me anymore.

    I know I’d get into most schools. But, I don’t know that I would be happy in them. I can only point out something obvious before I just give up. (How many times have I heard people brag about the accessibility of virtual worlds? I guess only wheelchair users are disabled.)

    Getting into a school of choice doesn’t mean it’s where one belongs. Before entering computer science, I had been accepted into a top advertising department. While I liked my courses and profs, I didn’t belong there. Many of my peers did not relate to me. I don’t know if the stark contrast between my peers and my profs was from a maturity gap or what. Either way, it didn’t make me happy.

    … I have gotten disgusted by academia’s insistence that I prove I’m worthy of something without doing the same for me. They brag about papers and research, but never say what I get in return for joining them. Big deal if I get my name on publications; this assumes I don’t earn it. I get a degree that I earned. Yet, the university gets cheap research and teaching labor. While there is the employer-employee format, there is a lack of the cross-interview portion.

    In industry, I don’t know whether I will be happy either. Being a code monkey is a frightening prospect. But,I don’t want to believe that a company wouldn’t want to fully utilize it’s workforce. Would be a rather ignorant and inefficient format.