On Tuesday night of the Game Developer's Conference, the team from Sony Online Entertainment announced that they would be providing money for a scholarship that will see one potential female developer awarded $10,000 toward their education at The Art Institutes.

On Tuesday evening, MMORPG.com attended an SOE gathering at the Game Developer's Conference. There, the company announced a new initiative that will see a $10,000 scholarship for The Art Institutes awarded to a deserving female candidate. On top of the tuition money, the winning candidate will receive a paid internship at one of SOE's numerous studios.

The purpose of the scholarship program is to try to draw more women into the gaming industry, an industry that is currently male dominated. It is the hope that the scholarship, named G.I.R.L. (Gamers in Real Life) will eventually help to close the gender gap that currently exists on the development side of the industry.

According to a press release, Torrie Dorrell (VP of Global Sales and Marketing for SOE) had this to say:

Read it all here.

Im getting tired of Being a White Middle aged male....

Originally posted by Ekibiogami

Im getting tired of Being a White Middle aged male....

Doing it one way is wrong, doing it the other way is just as bad.

Originally posted by pyrofreak

 

Originally posted by Ekibiogami

Im getting tired of Being a White Middle aged male....

Here's to sex discrimination!

 

 

Doing it one way is wrong, doing it the other way is just as bad.

Amen to that!

The world is just one big politically correct mess isn't it?

One Question , will there be a swimsuit competition?

So, that's why SWG just got a female Assistant Producer :P

... sucks being a white male. :p

Rumor has it they're just doing it so that they have someone around to make them a sandwich.

More sandwiches = more hours at work = better games

Celebrate this diversity you facist pigs

yay, more "There are girl gamers too you know!" being pushed into our faces. what bullshit.

Because that's exactly what a woman needs in a male-dominant business... more discrimination. "Yeah, I got this grant not because I'm talented and intelligent, but because I'm a girl!"

Here's a novel idea... how about setting up a fund for someONE who is deserving of such a grant?

Interesting ideas.  Execution of it is...questionnable.  Not too sound like a jerk but...  If you have women and men working on the same project, do you think the project will be better than if you have solely men or solely women on it?  LOL.  Your employees will be more motivated, but perhaps for wrong reasons.

I don't think it will change much.  You need the lead, the drive, the ideas of these "particuliar" aspect.  But the basic-work could be done by monkeys.  See, many of the WORST products for "girls" are designed by "other girls".  What you need, it is the drive, the lead, the ideas.  Putting a label of "game designer" and forcing that person to "design" from 8 to 16 won't bring the expected results.  The ideas, the lead, the drive of the game...it has to be creative.  It may be completed in 1 hour...or in 300 days of refining 1 idea...there is no way to control that.

Most "creative employees" will have perhaps the concepts and ideas for 1 game if they are lucky...2 or 3 if they are exceptional...4+ is a legend.  Sid Meier only has 1 game concept which he refines...and this is awesome and we all like him a LOT.  You cannot command love.

The main problem here, it is that guys...are more likely to write it down, because we are simple folks.  Girls, been social goddess, well, they will harvest their ideas in another way...and getting them on paper will be...harder.  Writing in itself won't be harder, but the process of wanting to write THAT down on paper will be harder.  See, an average guy like me, I write how many ideas soo far on this website?  I can't count them, and good luck if you try.  Making a girl thinks like a guy, will only result in having a girl that think like a guy.  The gathering methods are lacking, for social ideas.  :)

And for god's sake...don't you even dare thinking that better design ideas will come from school, they won't.  Best design ideas might very well be in the beggar you almost stomp today.

White males sleep on mattresses stuffed with money since they were babies.  Didn't you know that? 

Now why would a white male need a scholarship when ceo's of major corporations are probably stopping by the house or calling nonstop to recruit them merely because they are white.  Just the other day I had 15 offers from various high level manager types that heard I was white and decided to recruit me.  They said they need more white men and could I please accept:  they will pay me $1 million per month just to sit at a desk and be white.

I turned them down though.  Being a white male, I am so rich and well connected that I don't need money working a job.  My ferari and 10k square foot house is comp'd by society which gives me free stuff every day, so working would just be a distraction.  This is the curse of being white and male in our society.

Originally posted by MickeyMann

One Question , will there be a swimsuit competition?

HAHA my thoughts exactly!!!!

Originally posted by Terranah

White males sleep on mattresses stuffed with money since they were babies.  Didn't you know that? 

 

Now why would a white male need a scholarship when ceo's of major corporations are probably stopping by the house or calling nonstop to recruit them merely because they are white.  Just the other day I had 15 offers from various high level manager types that heard I was white and decided to recruit me.  They said they need more white men and could I please accept:  they will pay me $1 million per month just to sit at a desk and be white.

 

I turned them down though.  Being a white male, I am so rich and well connected that I don't need money working a job.  My ferari and 10k square foot house is comp'd by society which gives me free stuff every day, so working would just be a distraction.  This is the curse of being white and male in our society.

Well stated ^^

oh not them too, first diamond insurance company only for woman now even game industry discriminate men....

I am sure that if  the advert was for men only..... then someone would have already sue them,, but it seems that discriminating men is ok

Once long ago I also was new freshly graduated student with a first class degree in animation and game design, had also an industry award for my animation .it used to be my dream to work in the game industry ..  ... but guess what i never managed to get a job ......

Every single game Company  was asking me  for at least 2 years expirience in the game industry or least one realised title which of course, as a student did not have ...

after 2 years of trying i had enough  and went back to uny to get MA in film industry ,

at the moment i am directing a film and I love my job ... but I tell you men good luck with getting that gaming job ....for someone does not just simply get in because he is talented or has many ideas..firstly they dont want someone with ideas ..gaming companies are too scaried to invest in something new ...they d rathar make a game similar to any game alrerady out there making money ... and it simple as that ... 

Anyway what I am traying to say you need to know someone withing the industry or be lucky to start from the bottom ........

ps .. oh i forgot here is the new one ; to be a woman he he he he

I don't know how many women mmo devs their are.  I don't know how many woman mmo devs their are at SOE if any at the moment.  With Sonys rep if there is none maybe thats what they need a womans eyes and creativity.  Either a woman will cave like the men there and make a crappy game or they will tell the truth and say "you messed up on quite a few games, let me make a game and leave me alone".  Thats what someone needs to do at SOE and if they get fired then maybe she'll sue for discrimination.  It'll be interesting to see what comes of this.

Can America's businesses finally move past race and gender?  This gender-based scholarship might have sounded progressive back in 1968, but this is 2008, People.

How about a scholarship for the most promising student, regardless of race or gender?

I hate that in the Game Industry 98% of the applicants are male, but 30% of the people who get jobs are female.  Most often times not even the most or even a contender in the most competent applicants.  In general if 98% of the applicants are male, we should see 98% of the jobs taken by males in a purely equal setting.  However, we aren't seeing this.  It isn't even who is the best worker.  Its just she is a woman we must hire her mentality.  I think the reason most SOE Games suck artistically and in animation is because they hire based on sex rather then actual competence.

If one is confident in ones abilities the money isn't the issue, the gender isn't the issue. $10k is likely to help the recipient out for a few semesters and might give her the incentive to make a decision and make a career choice, to change her life for the better. If you as whatever race or gender are destined to enter that field, you will. Either way you will benefit in your world.