‘Role of Women in Gaming’ discussed at the Indian Gaming Conference 2021

Today in a fireside chat in the Indian Gaming Conference 2021, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry, the topic “Role of Women in Gaming” was discussed where Rahul Puri, Editor of The Gaming Reporter had a chat with Poornima Seetharaman from Zynga Games.

Poornima Seetharaman is the lead game designer at Zynga Games. She is a WIG(Women in Gaming) Global Games Hall of Fame Winner.

Throughout the conversation topics such as challenges faced by women in the gaming industry, how to increase women participation in gaming, etc. were touched upon where Poornima Seetharaman shared her insights and gave some interesting advice to women.

Poornima Seetharaman says, “Gaming as a pastime needs to become a more commonly accepted phenomenon”. This goes beyond gender she says, just like we have normalized watching television, in the same way playing games has to be normalized. 

Parents are often worried about gaming because of the violence aspect that comes with most action games. Bringing awareness is important.

We all know it is important to bring awareness to the field of gaming. So Rahul Puri, asked Poornima Seetharaman, “What steps do you think can be taken by the gaming industry at large to ensure proper representation and bring diversity in this male dominated sector?”

Poornima says having more women leaders at the top is important. Because, what happens, what a woman goes through while facing the hurdles of a male dominated industry is what only a woman can understand. For instance, one can only empathize for a transgender person, not being a transgender themselves they cannot truly understand what a transgender person goes through. Similarly only a woman can understand what problems women face. And this is why it is important that you need someone at the top who can relate and help women by focusing on the right issues.

To this Poornima replied saying, women that play casual games are often looked down upon. Women gamers are often judged for not being hardcore gamers. There’s a sense of elitism attached with hardcore gaming which makes other gamers think that they don’t belong here or that they are not a gamer. The image that comes to mind when one talks about a gamer is over the ear headset, a gaming room, RGB gear and what not. This makes people that aren’t hardcore gamers think that they don’t fit into gaming, There are multiple parts of the spectrum and all are just as important.The elitism around hardcore gaming needs to be broken, Poornima says.

Poornima was asked that gaming being a very strong medium of expression, does it have the power to affect/influence the society?

To this Poornima had a very interesting reply. “I would say yes and no”, she said. What games can do is create an impact and bring change in thinking. Whether one enforces upon the thinking is up to them. Gaming is more of a guidance system, but it totally depends upon how the end consumer perceives it.

Talking about the impact of games, do games have the power to address social and psychological problems that people face in society such as gender bias, peer pressure, bullying, racism, etc. was another discussion on which Poornima gave her insights.

“Games are a lovely medium of communicating ideas, narratives and storylines”, Poornima said. People are able to relate with games.

Besides other mediums what gaming also provides is the interactive element. You are a part of it and you take your decisions yourself. People who are closeted and not able to talk to someone use games as a medium to come out, explore themselves and become better in real life. Gaming can help deal with issues such as anxiety, depression, racism, etc.

There are games that help with autism, ADHD, physiotherapy, etc. which is huge. 

“I think games are a lovely medium, from pure entertainment to every aspect of emotions, aesthetics, sensitivity, etc. It really depends on what we pick and choose to play.”, Poornima said.

When asked about advice for women who want to enter the gaming industry, Porrnima replied saying, “Step out of your comfort zone and don’t give up“. This advice has worked for her, she says.

Poornima was quick to use the analogy of ‘Life is a game’. Comparing “Capture the flag” with capturing different domains in real life. For instance to capture the flag you have to step out of your base and enter an unknown territory. Similarly in life you have to step out of your comfort zone and enter a different domain and try to make it work. You cannot stay on defense your whole life, at some point you have to go on the offense.

“It’s hard, it’s gonna be difficult, it’s gonna be challenging, but that’s what is going to nurture you, that’s what will make you stronger and better”, said Poornima.

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