Through a Pensieve Darkly: Women & Games, Patterns & Links

Jennifer Jenson, Suzanne de Castell, Kelly Bergstrom and Emily Flynn-Jones

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of a survey on diversity in the games industry that immediately preceded the eruption of the “gamergate” wars, then contextualizes contemporary ‘women and games’ debates within a more expansive historical analysis of gendered inequality. Its purpose is to retrieve and recuperate feminist strategies and tactics that risk being overlooked or forgotten as public interest in the gamergate phenomenon wanes, leaving in its wake a reductive and misdirected understanding of both the problem and its possible solutions.