Overcoming gender barriers in the video game industry? the experiences of female gamers in Costa Rica
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15517/vwt5tx95Keywords:
Women, Game Jams, Safe Spaces, Video Games, Gender BarriersAbstract
Introduction: Women make up less than 25% in technical and leadership roles in today’s videogame industry. This low representation is due to pervasive gender stereotypes in male-dominated spaces, and hinders diversity of ideas, fosters vicious cycles of oppressive conducts, and perpetuates narratives of inequality both in the fictional worlds of videogames and in the industry’s workplaces.
Objective: To study the effects of the Women Game Jam on the participation, learning experience and opportunities for women in Costa Rica’s video game industry.
Methods and Techniques: In August of 2024, 19 participants and 6 mentors of the three editions of Women Game Jam Costa Rica were surveyed about their perception of the video game industry and the event’s impact on bridging gender gaps in this industry.
Results: Most participants agree that the industry is male-dominated. They also emphasize the importance of events like Women Game Jam in creating opportunities for networking, learning, and gaining experience in video game development without restrictions.
Conclusions: The Costa Rican video game industry faces significant gender barriers that limit women's participation and leadership. As a result, the importance of safe spaces and the impact of WGJ are recognized as for their effects in helping to overcome these challenges.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Open Access Magazines Proposed Policy
The authors who publish in Reflexiones Journal agree with the following terms:
a. The authors preserve the article´s copyright and grant the journal its first publication. The work [SPECIFY PERIOD OF TIME] must be licensed after its publication under a:
a. The authors retain the copyright and grant to the journal the right of first publication, with the work [SPECIFY PERIOD OF TIME] as well as after publication is licensed under a Creative Common CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 Internationa) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of authorship of the work and initial publication in this journal.
b. The authors can separately establish additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the published version (for example, place it in an institutional repository or publish it in a book), but, as stated above, with the recognition of its initial publication in this magazine.
c. Authors are allowed and encouraged to circulate their work electronically (for example, in institutional repositories or on their own website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as an earlier and greater citation of their published works (See The Effect of Open Access).
d. Reflexiones Journal does not apply any fee or charge for the publishing process.
The authors who send their manuscripts to be evaluated by Reflexiones Journal, assign to it the publication rights for the article’s circulation in printed version or digital format. By being part of multiple indexers, databases and reference systems, the articles that are published by this journal will be available and downloaded from these websites, indicating, in all cases, the articles’ authorship, date of publication, and the number to which they correspond. All the documents published by Reflexiones can be downloaded on the journal’s website: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/reflexiones, and in all the databases where it is indexed.
The journal respects and follows all of the established by the Law No. 6683 Law on Copyright and Related Rights of the Republic of Costa Rica, as well as its reform in the 7979 Law.
Finally, Reflexiones applies in its publications the Creative Commons License, which can be consulted in the following link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en
