EA Wants Girls To Spend Summer Playing Video Games
from the it's-in-the-game dept
EA wants to send a lucky high school female to a video game camp at USC this summer. Apparently, last year’s summer camp attracted ZERO girls. So, in an effort to give the male campers some girls to act awkward around, EA is trying the scholarship route. Since ZERO girls went to the camp, something tells me that it’s not that the girls didn’t have enough money to go to summer camp. Maybe they’re just not that into EA video games. Hey EA, here’s an idea: if you want more girls to be interested in games, how about making more games that girls actually like?
Comments on “EA Wants Girls To Spend Summer Playing Video Games”
maybe environment over interest
Speaking as a woman who attended computer camps as a kid and was often the only female in the class, I think their single scholarship is an awful idea. I can think of plenty of girls who would think of a computer camp as a hostile environment, and I don’t doubt that that played into their decision not to attend, rather than economic factors or interest.
I guarantee that many high school girls play EA games, but that doesn’t mean that they want to put themselves through this. Doesn’t it just make sense that having four or five girls in a class would encourage more girls to attend, rather than feeling isolated and extremely different? Whoever gets this scholarship is going to be “the girl.” As soon as that title becomes impossible, it will be a more welcoming environment.
Re: maybe environment over interest
Oh God help us… Can anyone say “title 9?”
But...
Isn’t The Sims series an EA Games series? I don’t think it has ANYTHING to do with girls not playing or liking EA games, and it has EVERYTHING to do with girls not wanting to be around guys who would go to a video game camp.
I married a geek girl
Somewhat anyway. She was interested in computers/gaming before meeting me and that interest blossomed (for lack of a better word) in our time together.
I can definitely say, just by observing normal geek guy behavior around her (even after its known she’s unavailable), I can see why girls would NOT want to go to such a camp. Adult mature geeks have a hard time relating to women (they tend to fall into 2 categories, outright fawning and adoration, or macho, insulting posturing a-la “you can’t play games, you’re a girl!”) I can only imagine the situation with younger teens.
Its sad because I find it turns women off of IT altogether. Before my wife, I met many women who played games online for varying amounts of time and most quit simply because of the attention (positive or negative)