[casual_games] Why We Need Women

Vinny Carrella vCarrella at iwin.com
Thu Jan 11 19:32:25 EST 2007

Thanks Lennard, I appreciate your candid reply. The story of Jinx would take way too much time here, but suffice to say that the women we did hire made significant contributions to our games. Feel free to email me offline to discuss more.

Vinny

-----Original Message-----
From: Lennard Feddersen [mailto:Lennard at RustyAxe.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 11, 2007 4:23 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Why We Need Women

Well... it wasn't my entire rebuttal but it did seem appropriate to point out given The Sims argument. Maybe a bit cheeky but I've had a good week at online poker so I'm punchy today.

I've seen lots of both sexes in the industry. Talent, brains and drive are where I have put my money and the money of others. In my experience, when people have been hired - of either sex - for reasons other than those listed the people have ended up being dead weight. The idea that the business needs to groom women because they are women or fans rather than folks who have risen through TBD just doesn't make work for me.

But since I've got the author of the article - what happened to Jinx and, from a business perspective - how did hiring women from your fan base pay off in terms of dollars and sense?

Lennard Feddersen
CEO, Rusty Axe Games, Inc.
www.RustyAxe.com

Lennard at RustyAxe.com
P. 250-635-7623 F. 1-309-422-2466
P. July & August 518-863-2317
5014 Walsh, Terrace, BC, Canada, V8G-4H2



Vinny Carrella wrote:

> Will Wright is a man? That's your rebuttal? The point is not that you

> should invest time and money in unproven talent, but that we should

> try harder to help groom that talent so that it will, one day, BE proven.

>

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

> --

> *From:* Robert Headley [mailto:Rheadley at op-games.com]

> *Sent:* Thursday, January 11, 2007 4:00 PM

> *To:* IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List

> *Subject:* Re: [casual_games] Why We Need Women

>

> A lot of big budget game developers like Epic Games (gears of War,

> Unreal series) and HumanHead (Prey, Rune) have profited well from

> recruiting from their fanbase, lets not rule the idea out, but I guess

> that depends on your fanbase.

>

> On 1/11/07, *Lennard Feddersen* <Lennard at rustyaxe.com

> <mailto:Lennard at rustyaxe.com>> wrote:

>

> I was a huge fan of The Police - I knew all of the words - but I don't

> think it would have gone well for Stewart and Andy if I had filled in

> for Sting when he left.

>

> My last corporate gig had a quote on the wall attributed to one of

> the

> bigs (think herd of sheep if you are curious) at one of the online

> companies that said, in colorful terms, what we want to know from our

> fan base is their credit card number. A little callous but it got a

> real lol from me.

>

> Let's say I have a 200K budget for my next opus. Should I spend

> 50K of

> that on an unproven person with no credentials or background? You can

> recruit people out of your fan base if you want. Sometimes it is

> going

> to work out. I would suggest that using somebody more experienced to

> make a good bet and then using a focus group on the result is a more

> efficient use of money.

>

> BTW, Will Wright is a man.

>

> Peace,

>

> Lennard Feddersen

> CEO, Rusty Axe Games, Inc.

> www.RustyAxe.com <http://www.RustyAxe.com>

>

> Lennard at RustyAxe.com <mailto:Lennard at RustyAxe.com>

> P. 250-635-7623 F. 1-309-422-2466

> P. July & August 518-863-2317

> 5014 Walsh, Terrace, BC, Canada, V8G-4H2

>

>

>

> Robert Headley wrote:

> > I agree, to a certain extent. Liking or being good at gaming.. does

> > not particularly lend itself well to game design. It can tho.

> >

> > Game designers that don't actually play theirs or anyone elses

> games,

> > is probably a singularly male trait.

> >

> > Whats the figure....60% of all casual games purchased are

> purchased by

> > women, might actually be higher, we certainly need more female input

> > on game design. Sims is the highest selling game of all time,

> because

> > it appealed to women.

> >

> > On 1/11/07, *Lennard Feddersen* < Lennard at rustyaxe.com

> <mailto:Lennard at rustyaxe.com>

> > <mailto:Lennard at rustyaxe.com <mailto:Lennard at rustyaxe.com>>> wrote:

> >

> > What happened to Jinx?

> >

> > Lennard Feddersen

> > CEO, Rusty Axe Games, Inc.

> > www.RustyAxe.com <http://www.RustyAxe.com>

> <http://www.RustyAxe.com>

> >

> > Lennard at RustyAxe.com <mailto:Lennard at RustyAxe.com>

> <mailto:Lennard at RustyAxe.com <mailto:Lennard at RustyAxe.com>>

> > P. 250-635-7623 F. 1-309-422-2466

> > P. July & August 518-863-2317

> > 5014 Walsh, Terrace, BC, Canada, V8G-4H2

> >

> >

> >

> > Brian Robbins wrote:

> > > There's a great editorial by Vinny Carella up on Gamezebo

> today

> > > entitled "Why We Need Women"

> > > http://www.gamezebo.com/2007/01/why_we_need_women.html

> > >

> > > I'd love to know what people think of this. Is Vinny right, or

> > is he

> > > way off target?

> > >

> > >

> > _______________________________________________

> > Casual_Games mailing list

> > Casual_Games at igda.org <mailto:Casual_Games at igda.org>

> <mailto: Casual_Games at igda.org <mailto:Casual_Games at igda.org>>

> > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

> > Archive: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/

> > Archive Search:

> >

> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

> <http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8>

> > List FAQ:

> >

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

> > <

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ>

> >

> >

> >

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> >

> > _______________________________________________

> > Casual_Games mailing list

> > Casual_Games at igda.org <mailto:Casual_Games at igda.org>

> > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

> <http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games>

> > Archive: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/

> > Archive Search:

> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

> > List FAQ:

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

> <http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ>

> >

> _______________________________________________

> Casual_Games mailing list

> Casual_Games at igda.org <mailto:Casual_Games at igda.org>

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

> Archive: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/

> Archive Search:

> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

> List FAQ:

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>

> <http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List

> _FAQ>

>

>

> ----------------------------------------------------------------------

> --

>

> _______________________________________________

> Casual_Games mailing list

> Casual_Games at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

> Archive: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/

> Archive Search:

> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

> List FAQ:

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_

> FAQ

>

_______________________________________________
Casual_Games mailing list
Casual_Games at igda.org
http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games
Archive: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/casual_games/
Archive Search: http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8
List FAQ: http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

More information about the Casual_Games mailing list