PixlBit

Excellent article. Thanks for sharing this, Blake. Brenda Gershkovitch is doing something rather than soapboxing, unlike certain other women I could mention but won't. I'd be interested in checking out EverLove if it evercame to a platform I could play it on.

Glad you liked it :) I agree, more women should take steps towards actively changing the gaming landscape rather than merely criticising it. 

Really great share Blake. I really wish good luck to Brenda and Silicon Sisters on their endeavor. I'd be interested to play a game with Autism focus as i'm an Asperger.

 I'm pretty sure there's a game about an autistic kid at school trying to deal with social situations for pc soon :) I just can't remember what it's called.

Hopefully they rise above the romance novel, which is the equivalent of a mindless frag fest in video game terms, or it's really just a different side of the same coin.

Yeah, but for a first game? I think it's a step. Even just pulling in new audiences is a plus. Who cares if it's mindless fun, it could potentially bring a whole new market. And if it's done intelligently, it could do even better.

I didn't read the whole thing, but it wasn't necessary.  She says they're making the games themselves and that's freaking awesome!  The gaming industry is the way it is because people make games they think other people want to play.  You want a certain kind of game made then the best thing to do is make it yourself.  If it's an actual good idea and people want to play it, then it's going to work.  

Damn straight. Hopefully they get their message gets out and more people start to think like them. The more different groups that play, the bigger variety of gameplay. The more inclusive we are, the more we'll get out of gaming as a whole. This is wholly positive!

Great interview. I'm excited to see what comes out of this. It's a much better idea than to take the challenge out of Mirror's Edge 2.

Lol yep. Part of me wants Anita to make a game so she can actually make a statement and try to say something...

She actually pitches one in Tropes vs Women part 3. Other than the princess escaping though, it's as cliched as you can get.

Funny this should come up because yesterday, after reading Rangergirl's blog on women and games and making a joke about games needing more social interaction in them (part joke, part serious), I got to thinking of all the Romance novels I see on Barnes and Noble's new book release page every week, and thought that this is a wide open area for growth in games. I'm not saying all women are going to like this. Some women want to frag dudes in COD and that's cool too, but sometimes ya gotta cry or sigh over something and get emotional. I'm down with that. She can frag some dudes, and I'll weep as Oliver gives another heart to save another soul in trouble in Ni No Kuni. Bring on the emotional games! Umm... just not when my friends are over.

Lol. Seriously though, fuck gender roles. I mean women and men are different, but not univerally speaking. There is no on specific thing all women like, and often the majority like the things they like because they feel pressure to like them. Women like romance and men like action because society dictates it should be that way.

Yea, it's dangerous to generalize especially about gender, but still... ROMANCE GAMES! Ya think that'll happen?

This might be a bit random to say but you know what would be a good game for a Silicon Sisters to try? An adventure game based (or even spoofing) those rom-com crime dramas like Castle and the like. Its weird: most of the those shows are geared towards women and many shows like CSI and Law and Order have adventure video games out there. However most of those games are really subpar and have crappy UIs. If they could make a game that had a really good presentation plus good game play elements, I'm sure it could both reach their target demographic as well as a broader audience. That seemed to work for Taletell's The Walking Dead. Sorry just a random thought.

I really enjoyed the read. I think gaming needs more companies like this that aren't afraid to go out and invite more people into gaming. My only hope is that they don't fall into some of the horrible pratfalls that other game companies do when they have tried similar things. I remember how hard EA used to go after the Black/Urban demographics in the early 2000's with alot of their games like The Urbs and Def Jam Vendetta. Most were never really good and sometimes wobbled the line of being racist or just to harshly stereotyping. I'm a Black guy and while I loved Def Jam Vendetta but man does it ever have many of its moments where its just too much and is almost racist. Brenda seems to acknowledge this fear and I just wish her and her company well.

 You're game idea sounds hilariously awesome! I'd play that! Also, I kind of liked Def Jam, but that's only because I could beat the ever loving shit out of DMX.

 I do see where you're coming from, but the difference is that Silicone Sisters are run by females. They have a better chance of understanding their demographic than a fat white dude trying to appeal to "da hood"

I have heard in more interveiws than I can count by relevant artistist, writers, and musicians that they make the music, stories, or painting that THEY want to see, hear or expirience, not what they think the general public is going to want. And that is why their stuff is almost always good and pushes the limits of said medium. Sadly a lot of mainstream games are basically the equivelant of Lady GA GA or LIL Wayne. Anyway glad to see some women who are not just pissing and moaning and actually bring something to the table.

Fair play to her, she is certainly proactive when it comes to making changes which is the kind of action an industry like this needs. She did mention something that I hadn't really thought about until now which is genre and it's ability to be covered by something else. What I mean by that is if a first person shooter is developed and the story isn't that great but the design/ gameplay mechanics etc are amazing, the lack of story, whilst a minus point, doesn't impact too much on the experience. Males focused games seem much easier to cut corners with because we are pleased pretty easily. Games that have rich and detailed stories walk a dangerous line and must be done well.... and to do that you need great writers, actors and the like. It appears that a major obsticle in decent lady focused games (at least for genres such as romance) is that off the bat it quite possibly needs a lot of financial commitment and parting bigwigs with their money is never easy. It's great to see that she's having a real go at developing the user base though, good luck to her!

 Yeah I'm glad she's trying! And yeah, I know for me, a game can have an awesome story but terrible gameplay. I mean look at Bioshock Infinite. Storywise? Fantastic. Gameplay? Bland and generic. The story saved that game from being a mediocre pile of shit in all honesty, and it's stopped me from playing that game again.

 But yeah. I have kind of noticed with female gamers I play with or talk to that they prefer and awesome world and characters over gameplay. While I value those things too, they seem to put a higher emphasis on it. When I talk to women about gaming, they often play Bioware and Bethesda games, or final fantasy games or MMO's. That's just my experience though.