MCV/DEVELOP News, events, research and jobs from the games industry
The video game industry, especially in India, is largely considered a boys club, which is why at NASSCOM’s Game Developer Conference, there was a panel discussion to specifically talk about women in gaming.
The panel consisted of Moumita Paul (Lakshya Digital), Purnima Iyer (Pinaka Interactive), Laxmi Desai-Khanolkar (Apar Games), Arpita Kapoor (MechMocha) and Shaina Rajan (Disney UTV), NASSCOM’s Shruti Verma moderating.
The wide-ranging discussion mostly revolved around the challenges faced in educating women about the fact that gaming is a viable career option and a good alternative to pursuing a career in the IT industry.
Arpita Kapoor stressed upon the need for gaming companies to visit colleges to educate and encourage women to consider careers in gaming.
L-R:Arpita Kapoor,Laxmi Desai-Khanolkar, Moumita Paul, Shaina Rajan,Purnima Iyer, Shruti Verma
Asked about the challenges faced by women working in game development, Laxmi Desai-Khanolkar spoke about pressure from family members and the need to educate them about the gaming industry and its long-term stabiity.
With the growth of casual and social gaming, all panelists agreed that having women in the team would help in the development process, especially for games that are also targeted at women.
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