Careers in Gaming: The Women Behind the Scenes
When I was a senior music major in college, I spent a bunch of time applying to video game jobs instead of facing the major I’d worked so long at reaching. Video games are one of my passions, and I thought that was enough to land me a dream job at one of the major companies. I was 21 and believed that just playing video games made me qualified to be in a gaming career.
Of course, we all know that isn’t true. There are so many of us that love and enjoy games, and the industry needs a bit more information than just “likes video games”. I ended up going into the music career which has been amazing and everything I wanted, but I still was very curious as to how one could join the gaming sphere and if there were any steps I should have taken before openly applying. Luckily for me, there were excellent panels at PAX East this year and excellent women in the field ready to answer my questions!
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The first panel I was able to sit in on was the ‘Women in Esports’ panel. The panel featured 5 female journalists who have made careers covering Esports and had wonderful insights into the field (and importantly, how to get more women into professional esports). They answered questions on what is left for us to do to support more women in the field, and what words of advice they have for those wanting to start their careers.
What’s left to do for women in the gaming industry?
- Focus on how we keep women in gaming; there are many already involved in the gaming sphere, but we need to find more ways to support and encourage them.
- Figure out ways to make esports a more comfortable space.
- Recruit and support organizations that mentally support the well-being of esports.
- Promote treating women normally so they feel secure in the space.
- Raise up and celebrate the women already in esports. They are paving the path for more women to be able to join the industry, and can be found all over (pros, hosts, analysts, journalists, make up artists, programmers, producers, designers…you name it and there are women in the sphere).
Words of Advice for Those Considering Joining the Industry
- If you see another woman doing what you want to do, say something to them! They’d probably love to share their jobs and how they got there with you.
- Network with other women in gaming. As with any career path, the more people you know the more opportunities you can find for yourself.
- Don’t be afraid of your gender!
- Create a support network for yourself.
- Want to get into journalism? Start writing! Many of the women on the panel got their start just from blogging and writing on their own about esports.
- Don’t be afraid to apply for any and all jobs you’re interested in.
- There are lots of jobs out there that aren’t on the pro level; work your way through esports if you’d like to get to the higher up positions.
The journalists on the panel were all amazing, supportive women who have worked their way to where they are through hard work, perseverance, and dedication to gaming. They noted wanting to help aspiring journalists and other women who want to get involved in esports, so check them out on Twitter and send them a note if you’d like to learn more!
Sabriel Mastin — https://twitter.com/Sabriality — Writer for Overbuff and speaker
Victoria Rose — https://twitter.com/riningear — Polygon, ex-columnist PC Gamer
Amanda Stevens — https://twitter.com/AmandaTNStevens — Editor at Provinggrounds.tv, freelance writer
Nicole Carpenter — https://twitter.com/sweetpotatoes — Writer and reporter at dotesports
Tatjana Vejnovic — https://twitter.com/Digital_Vix3n — Senior Editor at Overwatch Wire
Sabina Hemmi — https://twitter.com/lawliepop — Product Designer and Co-founder of Dotabuff
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While at PAX, I also had a chance to sit down with Mallory Loar of Discord. For those of you who don’t know this amazing person, Mallory is the Community Manager of Discord, and is herself a huge gaming nerd (some of her favorites include Fallout New Vegas and Bioshock!).
For me, Mallory is a massive inspiration. She’s a popular figure in the scene, and everyone I’ve ever met only has nice and wonderful things to say about Mallory. From sitting with her, she’s also one of the most down to earth people I’ve met in the field. As someone who is working in an organization that is meant to raise up women in the sphere, I learned quickly that Mallory has made it her personal mission to lift up all content creators to new heights with her platform.
She had her own humble beginnings as a tumblr blogger, just writing on her own about games and the gaming culture. From this freelance blogging, she found herself invited to E3 (which as many of us in gaming know, is not an easy feat!) and from there was able to network with other people in the industry. Her networking helped land her a senior-internship at SteelSeries, where she was later hired full-time. Mallory decided to take her new platform and began to use it to work towards her own goals, and began pitching ideas to have SteelSeries work more and more with influencers. This dedication and passion led her to being scoped out and later hired by Discord. Mallory is proof of the age-old idea that if you love something and work your ass off to reach it, you’ll achieve your dreams and then some.
For Mallory, the thing she most wants people to understand is that there’s a lot of work that is put in to make programs like Discord’s partnership program work. There are human beings working diligently behind the scenes, so when people leave negative comments it can be hurtful towards those that are trying their best. She does note though that for every negative comment, there’s also an army of Discord superfans that make her job amazing.
If you’d like to get to know more about Mallory, Discord, and her love of Squishables, give her a follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MalloryLoar .
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Both the ladies of the ‘Women in Esports’ panel and Mallory showcase the absolute best of what women are already doing in the gaming industry. They are writing, speaking, and sharing their experiences and love of gaming with everyone who will hear, and have been doing it for years (including many years of small blogs and not being noticed). They show us that if we can dream it, we can do it, and that if a career in esports or gaming is your goal and passion that you should get started with it and work towards the ultimate job you want.
There may be thousands of us vying for future spots in the gaming world, but don’t focus on that. Focus on what you bring that is unique to the sphere, and own it wholeheartedly. I can’t wait to see what you all will bring to this field that we all love and cherish!
Author: iLuffhomer — https://twitter.com/iLuffhomer
