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The top 3 competitors from the online tournament as well as two wild-card contestants will be flown to the finals in Montreal. In order to qualify for a wild-card spot at the finals, contestants must provide responses to both essays below. Contestants will also be judged on their participation throughout the event. The purpose of these questions is to gage the competitors:
1)Knowledge of the gaming industry
2)Ability to create and articulate a coherent thesis with substantiating arguments
3)Relevant knowledge of and vision for the gaming community as a whole
1. How could game publishers and developers modify or add to current games and genres to appeal to a larger female audience? Are there any publishers that have taken positive steps in this light? If so, what have these been?
2. Should parents be concerned with allowing their children to play potentially addictive games like World of Warcraft? What steps do you think parents should take to prevent their children from becoming addicted to video games?
Responses should not exceed 250 words – Any responses over the accepted word limit will not be reviewed. Please send responses to  no later than 2pm EST September 26, 2007. Any responses received after this time will not be accepted.
Update: MVG Wild Card Announcement
We at Miss Video Game, along with our judges Alissa Bell and Nai Saeyang are pleased to announce our two wild card finalists who will join the top 3 competitors from the online tournament at our finals event in Montreal this November. The two contestants selected are:
The judging panel thoroughly enjoyed reviewing all of your essays, profiles, contribution to the gaming community and participation. It was a tough choice to make, but in the end we feel that these two competitors were the best choices. We would also like to thank all participants who submitted essays!
Our judges:
Alissa Bell – Head of Public Relations, Atari USA
Nai Saeyang – Former Representative, Employee of SK Gaming
Mark Donovan – Executive Director Titan Gaming, Miss Video Game
Francisco Diaz – Director of Product Design, Titan Gaming, Miss Video Game
Below are the essay responses of the winners (please note that consideration was also given to factors other than essay responses, including profiles, participation, experience in the gaming industry, and other general factors)
Adelle Moore
Essay 1
One of the ways game publishers and developers can change games to appeal to female players is to include female characters in the games themselves. By having a strong female character in a game, developers are showing that women can be just as strong as their male counterparts. All too often video games fall into the stereotype of the strong male hero and the weak female damsel in distress.
There does not need to be a sudden change in the gender roles in order to have strong female characters. This would only push the industry into another set of exclusive opposites. Including female characters as active and dynamic parts of a game is a good step. Having female characters as more then simply a pretty face or as background fluff is one way to draw more people into the world of gaming. Inclusion and acknowledgement of female gamers is key to changing the dynamic and helping to appeal to a larger female gaming audience.
SquareEnix has always done a fairly good job at including female characters worth playing. Even though the lead character is usually male, there are always strong female characters to compliment him. Usually in your party of characters there are several female characters to include. In Final Fantasy X-2 you have an entire cast of female characters. In Final Fantasy 11 you can chose to be male or female which makes players like myself who prefer to play a character that matches their gender very happy.
Adelle Moore
Essay 2
Parents should be concerned when letting their children play potentially addictive games. Anyone who plays a game such as WoW has the possibility to become addicted to it. Games like WoW offer many activities to pursue and also offer opportunities for social interaction. They offer a chance to change who you are whenever you would like in the form of personas. This persona is an attractive draw to anyone, especially to children who are still working out who they are in life. Children are also more likely to have trouble discerning reality from a game yet there is no reason they can not learn to respect the amount of time they play. The key to this is parent involvement.
Parents don’t have to learn how to play a game or keep up to the minute with new technology to know how long their kids have played. They simply have to talk to them. We are also seeing a generation of gamers having kids of their own and there is an increase in the number of families playing games together. By playing together parents can know what their children are playing and how long they have played. This also allows time for parents and children to bond over something they enjoy. If young children see their parents limiting how much time they play a game the children will learn that you can play and have a good time but also that you can not lose your life to these games.
Yvonna – Essay 1
Increasingly, game developers and publishers have been taking steps to reach the emerging female gaming audience. Fundamentally, I do not feel that games should be developed specifically to cater to either gender. Making a special provision for females is a concept that is inherently sexist and patronizing. A cross section of appeal and measures of diversity should be implemented in each aspect of the game from inception to shelf.
If females are to revolutionize outdated misconceptions, this would best be done from within and during the beginning stages of game development. Developers like Ubisoft and gearbox software have been getting women involved in not only the soft skill set positions such as PR, but also the technical side, such as programming. This approach allows the female appeal to evolve naturally in an organic and diverse manner.
With every year, women are being considered for more prominent roles in game development. Miyamoto’s entire GDC07 keynote revolved around how his wife directly influenced him on numerous, great selling Nintendo games. In addition to working for developers, women like Anna Kang, CEO of Fountainhead Entertainment, are founding game development companies.
Why has the female perspective become increasingly important to publishers? Perhaps it is simply a matter of numbers. Hardcore and casual gamer females are an average of 33 years old and compromise a little less than half of all gamers. The future of gaming will be all about meeting the desires of both male and female gamers with rainbows and pretty, pretty unicorns.
Yvonna – Essay 2
Addictions of any kind are a concern of any caring parent. This dangerous compulsion stems from the psychological rewards of any number of childhood sports or activities. Some parents condone passive activities, such as intellectually dulling TV watching without judgment, while condemning gaming. Primarily they have miscorrelated violence in video games with violence in real life. Oddly, violence and addiction seem to be synonymous in most of their arguments.
Although top selling MMORPGs have been shown to be addictive, they also only compromise 13% of on-line games being played. The greatest majority of online games are in the puzzle/board/trivia/game category. The proven positive aspects such as the increased intelligence, problem solving abilities, and achievement-oriented aspects of children playing video games regularly will not be addressed here.
However, as gamers become parents, 66% of them see it as a good opportunity to socialize with their children. With games like Build-a-Bear from Game Factory for children as young as 3 years old, and numerous educational games, parents can start children on a healthy path early. Playing the games with their children, limiting playing time, and scheduling a real-life break between each hour of game play are some easy and preventive steps. These are not new ideas. As long as parents play an active role with in their child’s lives and set reasonable rules, video games can play a fun and positive role in a child’s life.
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