GW2: Cathedral of Zephyrs on Crack

This video makes me straight-up cackle. The blistering speed with which these players assault the temple and lay low the possessed Dwayna statue is hilarious. So different than I imagined it as I wrote the text. Malchior's story is supposed to be heartwrenching, a reimagined Pygmalion tale ending in pure horror, but it plays out as pure comedy for this guild. I've seen some other videos where the players progressed slowly throught the entire event chain, and events unrolled at the pace I envisioned, but this group is a wonderful reminder that players determine their own game experiences.

 

Girl Scout Badge

I was in the Girl Scouts for all of a few months as a kid. It wasn't for me. I tried, god knows, because scouting was such an important part of my mom's childhood and she wanted me to have that experience, too. But I've never been much of a joiner, and none of their activities interested me. After a miserable camping trip at the aptly named Skeeter Hollow campsite, I gave up. So, when I saw today that the scouts are offering a badge for girls who make their own video games, I was excited for all those young girls out there like the younger me. Now there's something for girls whose interests aren't crafty or campy! (Well, not in the  sophisticated sense.) And maybe those girls will join me on a video game project someday, and we can laugh about how much camping sucks.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57580170-93/girl-scouts-to-award-badge-for-video-game-development/

The Creative Process

I have to laugh at this, because it's true for every creative person I know. I've worked many teary all-nighters.

 

Yet everything gets done in time for the deadline. And then you collapse.

Gamer's Revenge

This story is making the rounds and it's worth posting about. It shows how the perception of women in gaming by gaming culture lags behind the reality. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/carolpinchefsky/2013/04/12/girl-gamer-and-troll-fight-over-bioshock-infinite-girl-gamer-wins/

It's hard to believe that  there are still people out there who think girls don't play video games. Or that they are poseurs trying to fake their way into the scene for some sweet, sweet geek action. I guess? I mean, I've never been able to understand what people think women would get out of pretending to be geeks if they weren't.

Statistics show that women make up nearly half of the gaming audience. It's a fact that game companies are slowly coming to realize. Yet moments like the one Rae experienced still happen. I can still walk into a game store and have the clerk  condescendingly lecture me about the merits of a game I wrote for. Even the Forbes article, while celebrating the victory of Rae over the troll, distinguishes between gamers and "girl gamers." We are all just gamers. The sooner everybody understands this, the more fun we can all have together.

2013 Game Developer Salary Wage Gap

These statistics are so depressing that I'm just going to put them here with no comment. The numbers say enough.

 http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=10567