Xbox Is Launching A Mentorship Program To Help Women Develop Careers In Gaming

Very empowering. If we could get a few more women in gaming like Amy Hennig, it would be awesome.

Good! I'm very glad to see more equal representation in gaming.
I made games from 1990 to 2010 and it was clear that we did not have enough female views in the teams.
Some of the most creative developers I've ever met were female,
and getting as many disparate views as you can around a table definitely helps to produce a better conceived title.

Its also a good counter to the fact they are buying the misogynistic Activision. Its worth putting your decent values front and center if you are buying into that mess.....

I wanna ask a question but I'm gonna probably get lynched for it: (if you read this and get offended, it's your fault)
Is this for women or people who identify as women? Like, can I theoretically gender swap and get the mentorship (yes it's stupid, but I'm really intrigued)

This can only be seen as a great thing. Kudos to Microsoft and to all our men and women in the industry, I personally thank you for the hard work and enjoyment it brings to all us players!

@lolwhatno uncle Phil is extremely progressive. So, I don’t see why not.

This obsession over percentages and the way people look has always seemed a bit regressive to me, but I guess opportunities are good for people, I just wish it would be extended to everyone regardless of superficial details.

I wonder how this would work...
If a guy and girl are equally matched, the deciding factor is a sexist one when choosing the female?

If the guy is clearly the better choice, but it goes to the girl, it's also sexist.

This stuff based on sex or race needs to stop. It isn't progressive, it's regressive.

@Savage_Joe I think they should redefine the term woman in your guys' society. Because, now everyone can join this mentorship program for "women", which basically means it's a mentorship program for everyone (which renders it useless).

This is some really weird stuff (also really interesting from an outsider's perspective).
Thanks for the info!

@Spider-Kev It's reverse sexism, trying to stabilize the balance.

I would prefer we fix the people rather than force them, but that would be too much work (and btw who tf looks at an applicant and says "nah, it's a woman". like wtf).

Edit: It might be because they have more paid leaves?

@lolwhatno Whatever people claim is reverse tends to be the thing people claim is reversed.

I'm guessing if there was something similar for men and boys there will be outcry and rage?

@GunValkyrian yes. Exactly

@JayJ I'm sorry, my brain died. Could you please explain your reply?

@lolwhatno Simply when people claim their are pushing "reverse racism" or "reverse sexism," the likeliest scenario is them being a racist/sexist, it's just that putting reverse in front of those words fluffs it up and makes it sound better.

@JayJ To preface this, I just want to say I have yet to find a good stance on this subject. I was just explaining to the other user what the idea was.
With that said: You think that reverse sexism is wrong then? There is no way for it to work?
Because as an idea it sounds great, we have been "oppressed" (didn't find a less powerful word), so we will give ourselves an advantage until everything gets balanced.

@lolwhatno Problem with that mentality is how you're becoming the thing you apparently tried to oppose, turning yourself into the latest bad guy. It's a vicious cycle, proving how everyone wants to be on top.

@JayJ That makes sense. But it's the only seemingly viable way, I didn't hear of a better way being proposed yet.

@lolwhatno I think a better way is simple. Just respect people, and stop it with all the race/gender obsession. Value people for the content of their character and what they have to offer. Stop valuing them for the political boxes they can check off, stop obsessing over this highly flawed concept of needing everything to be perfectly "diverse," especially if you are only seeing it from a superficial perspective.

There is a whole wonderful wealth of diversity out there if you can look past the way people look. So many different personalities and strengths, so many people have so much to offer if you just stop thinking of the world where you need X amount of people with certain skin pigmentations and genitals perfectly ratioed.

We used to be able to do that, but somehow, somewhere along the way we lost sight of what really matters.

@JayJ Yeah, but back then racism and sexism existed, even though there wasn't this idea of "thinking of the world where you need X amount of people with certain skin pigmentations and genitals perfectly ratioed.".
But I'm with you on the idea that we need a perfect ratio of everything, recently read an article of former Activision devs making a company. These people were primarly men (IIRC) and all of the comments were hating on them, like it's not their fault if no women want to work with them.

It's a weird issue. I don't know if you want to continue the discussion (since you probably noticed, my knowledge of the subject is quite superficial), I sure want to continue it, I like listening to opinions.

@lolwhatno Yeah I enjoy your open mindedness towards this situation, it's seems to be rare these days. It feels like we have been moving in the wrong direction lately, that's for sure.

I feel like all of this is why I have long since given up on trying to be a part of this world. While I have a lot of passion for gaming, it's just become a mess. Even when it comes to journalism, it's like you gotta be towing a line or your will get ousted from the whole scene. I miss the days when people were simply focused on what matters.

@JayJ "given up on trying to be a part of this world" Took me some time to understand this sentence lol! You mean a invested member in the world right? As in, try to create change.

"it's like you gotta be towing a line or your will get ousted from the whole scene. I miss the days when people were simply focused on what matters." Yep, there is no denying the new internet brought a lot of improvements but there are some things that are going downhill, liberty of opinion for example. Sure, I can say x thing that the masses doesn't agree with, but later down the line that sentence will be used against you, irl or in an internet debate. Either have the opinion of the masses or don't talk about it.

This idea of yours of a society where we don't look at you from your color/gender/shape/belief is great, but I don't see it happening anywhere in the near future. Simply because some people gain from this (politicians trying to be controversial for example), like people gain from war (oil companies).

@lolwhatno Yeah well said, what I said was very in tune with MLK's "I have a dream" speech, I felt like we were closing in on that sort of world, but then, sometime in the 2010's for whatever reason, we completely lost it and took a sharp turn back towards all the divisiveness that we tried to leave behind.

When I said not wanting to be a part of this world, I mostly meant the whole professional world that we now find ourselves in, sorta like you said, where we are constantly having to tiptoe around the ever-changing standards and prejudices imposed upon us. You never know when something you say might be used against you, even if you had the best intentions, even if you thought you made it clear how you weren't trying to offend anyone, it seems like there will always be someone who will gladly take everything out of context just to one-up you or berate you for whatever reason.

It's like I grew up thinking I could maybe make an impact in some way, but now a days it just seems like there is far too many big entities working against us. It's kinda crazy how looking back at the 90's and even the earlier 00's tech industry it felt like this place where anybody could come out with some great idea and make something of it. However now a days it seems like everything has been monopolized, and any efforts to break free from the massive corporate entities simply puts a target on your back. It's easy to eventually feel like it's pointless to even try to put yourself out there and accomplish anything, everything just tries to judge you by how many boxes they can check off.

Even on smaller websites like this, simply being anonymous users like we are, you can't be too controversial without being targeted and eventually censored. It's a strange time we are living in, we have so much instant access to information yet the internet has never felt more constrained and restrictive. I've heard people talk about things like "dead internet theory," suggesting how there just isn't much going on anymore. While there has apparently never been more people online, it has never felt harder to make any real connections with people. Like for example I have been going to these sites (purexbox nintendolife) for years, and you're probably the first person I have really had a deep conversation with around here, where I am having a good connection as opposed to an argument. It seems like so often the people I encounter are either trying to enforce their biases or attack others over their differences. Comments are just left to a quick thought, most of the time simply being ignored. It's hard not to have a negative outlook now a days.