Game dev strikes back on Female Armour Syndrome

Today Gamer Girls are an accepted part of the nerd landscape. They school you at FPS and then somehow have time to make amazing costumes for conventions. Somehow though the art departments of most game developers have really never gotten over Female Armour Syndrome and the need to sell games using sexy ladies.

A female data scientist at Meteor Entertainment pulled a prank to make a great point about their Hawken mechanic poster - by working with an artist Sam Kirk to create an equally sexy poster starring a man. With a simple non violent protest she highlighted how women were being portrayed in their marketing material and convinced the CEO to listen to her voice. 

What a great story and the outcome is some great artwork. Kudos to you.

More at http://thehawkeyeinitiative.com/post/50432219744/special-guest-edition-the-hawkeye-initiative-irl 

Ratchet and Clank animated feature promises Captain Qwark hilarity

I have lost countless hours, weeks even to the glorious gadget obsessive Ratchet and Clank Games. A game series I love so much it made me buy a PS3. It is also a game series with wonderful character design and delightful family friendly humour. I couldn't be happier to hear they're bringing out an animated feature with all the giggles of the games.

 

For bonus content here's a picture of some of the awesome nerd girl character design that the Ratchet and Clank team showed off at PAX Prime 2012

If you haven't played the games, start with the originals given an HD facelift with the Ratchet & Clank Collection . This is easily my favourite game series of all time, if  you haven't played it you must.

Girl Genius in strife after publisher closes

Phil Foglio author of one of the best female fronted action comic series ever made "Girl Genius" is at risk of losing his income and the rights to his own works.

He posted on Facebook and the Girl Genius site:

"So– Got a call from our agent, telling me that Night Shade Books, the American publisher of the Girl Genius novels, is folding. This made me sad. I became markedly less sad when my agent assured me that our sales were sufficiently good that any number of other publishers should be interested in picking us up, so– Hurrah! Well…maybe hurrah.

You see, there's the whole tedious business of disengaging ourselves from Night Shade, which has decided to sell our contract to another publisher in order to cover their debts. This other publisher, Skyhorse, is perfectly willing to buy Night Shade's assets (our contracts). However, they will rewrite them and everybody now gets paid a flat 10% of net sales. Let me put this another way; If I was a monkey, I'd be throwing this.

However it gets even better. A certain percentage of Night Shade authors have to agree to this hose job before the deal goes through. Yay! We're safe! You'd have to be an idiot to sign onto this! True– So let's bring out a stick and threaten you! If they don't get enough authors willing to eat this crap, then Night Shade has no choice but to declare Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

Then all the books in question go into a legal limbo. No one has the rights until the bankruptcy is resolved, which might take years- or possibly, NEVER! This has happened before to way better authors than us. This means that once said books go out of print, the authors can't resell them. Can't reprint them. Can't sell any adaptation rights. Can't write any sequels. And so, because a couple of wankers took two semesters of 'Creative Writing' instead one or two in 'Business Administration' before they started their little publishing house, a whole bunch of authors have the choice of deciding if they want to give their work away for free (scum who actually took Business Administration classes collapse in orgasmic joy when some fool agrees to get paid a percentage of 'net'. Seriously, that's insulting 'amateur night in Dixie' stuff) (Yes, I've been a freelancer for 30+ years, thanks for asking), or losing control of it, possibly for years, maybe forever.

So what's going to happen? Don't know. unlike many authors, I actually have an entertainment lawyer look over our contracts before we sign them, so I'm hoping we're covered, but this is by no means a given. Even if we are, it still leaves a lot of other authors in a bad spot.

Does this seem like a Bad Situation to you? Then you should say something. Mr. Jeremy Lassen, Night Shade Books, and even Skyhorse Publishing are on Facebook. I'm sure they'd love to hear your opinions."

Comic nerds, science nerds, creative nerds and just about everyone in between should be ashamed of the potential loss here. Think that this is terrible? Reach out to the publishers involved, support Mr Foglio directly or rally for a Kickstarter!

New Ghibli film promises up beat post war Japan nostalgia

When you think Ghibli and World War II you think Grave of the Fireflies possibly the saddest movie of all time. Thankfully this time around the legendary anime studio has turned its hand to a more uplifting story of a young girl whose hope never dies that her father might yet return from the war. Yet again Disney are distributing the English version with an amazing voice cast including Gillian Anderson, Chris Noth (oh Mr Big!), Beau Bridges and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Using Children's movies to teach chivalry and respect

Whether you're a parent, a writer or an artist this talk looks at the role of women in children's entertainment. It explore positive role models, the lessons of chivalry and respect that are taught to both boys and girls. Worth a watch.

If nothing else I hope this draws more attention to the Bechdel Test for entertainment:


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

It's sad how few films released today reach these very simple criteria.

Consumer Electronics Association petitioning to adopt an anti "booth babe" dress policy at CES

I personally am one of the people that finds booth babes insulting, for one thing as a high spender on consumer and industry hardware I am often ignored by booth staff for the crime of being a woman. Even assuming that this weren't true often marketing staff at trade shows are hired for their attractiveness rather than their knowledge of the product that they're representing. It's antiquated sexist and all in all lazy marketing and I'd like to see less of it.

Events like the Penny Arcade Expo have put the question to its attendees directly in the past and now have a ban on Booth Babes. Marketers fight for attention through other means - competitions, giveaways, high tech installations and interactive displays and no one is worse off for it.

CEA president Karen Chupka offered the following


“What does the concept of the Booth Babe say about women? It says that women's place at any tech-related event can only be as an attractive decoration to sweeten the event for the men,” former Eurogamer.net writer Florence noted. “It says that women aren't truly welcome in that world, because the moment you objectify something it isn't part of anything. It's just there. It's just something else to be consumed. Fundamentally, it depicts a woman as a product.

"What does the concept of the Booth Babe say about men? It says that we objectify women to such an extent that we will think nothing of attractive women just "being there" while we watch. It says that we are exactly what a corporate entity believes us to be. It makes us a predictable, easily defined and easily manipulated stick-man on a company whiteboard. It cheapens us. It cheapens all of us. It cheapens the event, and everyone at it, male or female."

I will not lie this started a heated discussion on the #pax IRC channel but what I find positive is the number of men that feel as strongly about this as the women. What do you think? Sign the petition on Change.org if you'd like to see less booth babes at CES and start the conversation about removing them as a necessary part of trade shows.

Sign the petition to enforce a dress policy at CES on Change.org

Girl Rising documentary highlights the struggle for women's education

Girl Rising is a documentary and movement designed to highlight the barriers to education experienced by girls around the world. Find a viewing or organise your own at http://10x10act.org/girl-rising/

Gamers going gaga over Ghibli Game

If you're a gamer you know that Ni No Kuni the game brought to you by Japanese anime legend Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli was released in the US this week. Gamers are going crazy for it, the collector's edition is long sold out with many petitioning for more to be released. Sadly only the PS3 version was released due to issues with the magic book required for the DS version but those lucky enough to get a collectors edition walk away with the book reardless.

With music and artwork completed by the Studio Ghibli team but just how pretty is it? Damn pretty.



For anime fans and RPG gamers this is the game to buy for PS3.

Dance your PHD 2012 Winner (Video)

Honestly I can't believe that I didn't know this existed, not since I first saw the world Air Guitar championships have I been so impressed at the awesome silliness of a competition.

In an attempt to bring some light hearted fun (and maybe some less glazed eyes) Gonzolabs bring the competition together each year with a cash prize and more importantly a free trip to TEDxBrussels for the winner.



This video has all the joy of slightly awkward nerds, dancing queens and people pretending to be atoms in an alloy.

What Male And Female Scientists Say About Women In Science

Portrait of Monsieur Lavoisier and His Wife (Wikimedia)

Men

• “morphological differences and biological differences [make men better at] hardcore math and physics.” — male assistant professor, genetics
• "[There are] some brain differences between men and women that explain it." — male grad student, biology
• “On balance [women are] just less interested in math.” — male professor, biology
• “Physics is more difficult for girls and you need a lot of thinking, and the calculation, and the logic. So that’s maybe hard for girls.” — male grad student, physics
• “Science has been a male-dominated field for a substantially long period of time, and it’s going to take a while for that shift to change.” — male grad student, biology
• "Women have to make a choice [because] the woman ends up being the primary caregiver if they have children.” — male postdoctoral fellow, biology

Women

• “I think women ... want to have more of a sense that what they are doing is helping somebody. ... Maybe there are more women in ... biology [because] you can be like ‘Oh, I am going to go cure cancer.’” — postdoctoral fellow, biology
• "Physics is more abstract and biology is more concrete. Women are less likely to like abstract things.” — female associate professor, physics
• “[A friend of mine] was always told, ‘Oh, you’re not good at math,’ until she found herself getting As in a multivariable calculus class. You know, she was scared of math all through high school.” — female grad student, physics
• “Male-dominated departments are really unpleasant for women. [...] Men can be huge jerks in those situations.” — female associate professor, biology
• “I know a lot of women who are in chemistry and physics who are excellent at what they’re doing, but are often sidelined or ignored by their colleagues because there’s just not very many of them.” — female assistant professor, biology
• “It’s not going to be solved until we figure out how to help mothers figure out how to do the career and the kid thing.” — female associate professor, physics

More at http://www.buzzfeed.com/annanorth/what-male-and-female-scientists-say-about-women-in

Geek print skirts for that feminine touch

One of the annoying things about the lesser number of nerd girls is the lack of gender specific merchandise - there's a lot more Batman boxers than Knickers that's for sure. Some companies have led the way like XKCD's regex skirt but there's growing realisation that girls are nerds too and like to dress that way! Etsy has some great geek crafts out there and one of my favourites for the ladies recently has to be these custom printed geek skirts from Etsy user GoChaseRabbits

Retro Gamer

TRON lightrails

The droid skirt I *am* looking for!

There's more designs ranging from lolita Alice in Wonderland styles to Mario adventures and at under $50 each these would make unique and affordable additions to anyone's convention wardrobe.

This is my world: Inside Google's Datacenters

I am lucky enough to work in Infrastructure at Google and know first hand the beauty of our fleet, for the first time Google is making video, photos and information on our data center design public.

You can view gorgeous photos, take a video tour or even self guide yourself using StreetView.

I for one have been waiting excitedly for this all to be made public so you can share in the nerdgasmic photos. For added kudos noted technical history writer Steven Levy was invited to speak to our infrastructure leads, you can see his story on Wired. 

More at http://www.google.com/about/datacenters/ where you can find all the newly released media as well as a historical look at our approach to ecological design and innovative platforms.

Happy Ada Lovelace Day!

An illustration inspired by the A. E. Chalonportrait created for the Ada Initiative, which supports open technology and women.

Ada Lovelace is touted as the first computer programmer, and a female one at that. On Ada Lovelace Day we aim to raise the profile of women in science and technology.

How can you get involved?

• Spread the word via social media
• Link to some interesting articles on Ada Lovelace Day
• Support the Ada Initiative
• Join the Anita Borg Institute
• Have a celebration at your company or local women's interest groups
• Take some time to think about the battles for equality still faced by professional women
• Celebrate the technical women in your life

Grooveshark knows what music gamers listen to

Grooveshark the massive music streaming site has developed Beluga which is to music trending what the OK Trend Blog is to social data. Great for music nerds, data nerds and apparently gamers as shown by this infographic they've developed.

A primer on Sexism in the Tech Industry

Net Magazine have printed a great primer covering concepts for sexism in the tech industry including common terms used by geek feminists and a link to a number of efforts to combat this issue (including our friends over at the Ada Initiative)

Not everyone is always on the same page when it comes to the terms we use in these debates, so let's start there:

• Feminism: the simple belief that women deserve to have the same social, economical and political rights as men, be treated equally and fairly, and given equal opportunities. Modern (third-wave) feminists make it even simpler: fair and actual equality for all, regardless of gender, race/ethnicity, religion, age, and sexuality.
• Privilege: Receiving benefits in life, however subtle or invisible they may seem to you, simply for belonging to a group you didn't work hard for to get in. In today's Western society, being male, white and straight gives you three huge privileges over everyone else. More on that in a bit.
• Positive action: Often incorrectly labelled 'positive discrimination', positive action is a measure imposed (usually by government) to enforce a change in the ratio of certain groups in systems. This act is the acknowledgment of the scientific and historical evidence that natural social progress moves too slowly, requiring overseeing entities to intervene (temporarily) as a way of speeding up this progress – so that we may actually enjoy the improvements in our lifetimes.
• Discrimination: Prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things, especially on the grounds of race, age, or sex.
• Prejudice: Preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience. Since positive action is based on both reason and actual experience, the label 'positive discrimination' (and the subsequent cries of "it's still discrimination!") is inaccurate and deceitful.
• Meritocracy: A culture or society in which power is given to people based on their proven abilities, as opposed to wealth, background, privilege, and so forth.
• Rape culture: The assessment of how today's society makes light of rape – a physically and emotionally painful, and often traumatic and violent crime – which significantly contributes to the mistreatment of women by making their mistreatment a seemingly accepted practice. Rape jokes and their ilk contribute heavily to this

More at http://www.netmagazine.com/features/primer-sexism-tech-industry

Education at Google Video on Women in CS

New Animal Crossing 3DS content revealed (video)

It's not secret that many gamer girls love simulation and community games and I like many of my female gamer friends am a total Animal Crossing junkie. I've owned it on 3 different platforms now and with the release of this new content you can believe I'll be finally giving in to a 3DS so I can play the new version.



The new game will allow the player to act as mayor of the town with greater control than ever before. You will be able to set the opening times and types of shops that are in your town, design town features like bridges and seats. All this on top of expanding existing features such as more clothing design control and better houses. Along with all the features announced with the Japanese release information on the US release has also surfaced.

My Little Browsies

First we had fashion based on large social networks and now My Little Ponies based on popular browsers. Kudos to ParallaxMLP and friends on Deviant Art for cute nerdy artwork.

Chrome

Firefox

Internet Explorer

Safari 

Information spread in the internet age (infographic)

Facebook bans cosplay profiles

Cosplay Angel as Hatsune Miku

Cosplay is one of the spheres in which geek girls have been welcomed and indeed celebrated with huge success and so it is a shame to hear this news.

Facebook are taking the same approach to 'legitimacy' of user profiles that caused all the ruckus with Google+ 'real names' policy and removing duplicate and fake profiles from their site. The main cause appears to be to to protect those posing as others and to reduce the number of fake celebrity profiles on the site.

Unfortunately in a mass data clean up they have targeted and removed the profiles of many cosplayers and deleted all accounts with the surname "cosplay" in an effort to reduce duplicate accounts created by fans for their cosplay efforts. The Examiner even claims that gamers with profiles for their characters could be targeted next.

The Cosplay community is understandably upset. Some have separate 'personas' they keep for conventions and competitions, others say they'd prefer not to share an unusual hobby (and possibly risque outfits) with their family and colleagues. Many have lost years of photo albums and online social networking.

"Professional" cosplayers such as Cosplay Angel have been protected by using Facebook pages rather than profiles, but for the lay man this didn't seem like a requirement and the deletion of accounts was without warning. Some blame adult content such as the infamous Venom Cosplay that was banned, others feel persecuted in a medium that has traditionally been very geek friendly.

For Cosplayers and supporters alike Change.org have created an online petition against the deletion of Cosplay accounts. What about you Nerd Girls? Have you had an account deleted? What do you think about the move towards social media profiles being used as an internet proxy for forms of ID?