We need more female leaders in gaming, says Indian game designer Poornima Seetharaman
We need more female leaders in gaming, says Indian game designer Poornima Seetharaman
We need more female leaders in gaming, says Indian game designer Poornima Seetharaman
By Divya Kala Bhavani
March 08, 2021
Summary
The lead game designer at Zynga Game Network first fell in love with video games through Dungeons And Dragons, which catapulted her from gamer to programmer and designer.
Higher education sees more women signing up for game design as a full-time course - a departure from its former status as a casual elective as an extra credit.
Poornima, who happens to be a visiting faculty at National Institute of Design, explains, "Families and parents should also be made aware of the career growth that can come in game development. Like acting or fashion, there will be some hesitation to invest in education but we need to have more awareness studies for parents, too."
Poornima Seetharaman with her induction award for 'Women in Games - Global Hall of Fame'.
Poornima believes in a "Broad-minded spectrum of player types." It varies from player to player, she says, as well as game experience.
She started as a game programmer and progressed to game designer in the same company.
Is there anything audiences can do to encourage more diversity within the gaming company hires? Poornima says it should start at the hiring level and the company's perspective on equality.
"Many companies have diversity initiatives, but in India, it is hard to find a female game designer at certain levels. We need more female leaders in gaming. There is a shortage in the resource pool and a general lack of talent in the country since many feel that the opportunities are greater abroad," she states.
At a gaming conference where she was part of a panel on women in video gaming, when the topic veered towards misogyny, Poornima says some panelists were hesitant to talk about their experiences.
"A lot of the women ambassadors often start communities and funding channels to help game developers from minority communities to scale up. Diversity does come from socio-economic backgrounds and a lot of them cannot afford a gaming system to even get started. We are missing out on incredible talent if we do not create these pools, and get these people seen, trained and funded!".
Reference
Bhavani, D. (2021, March 08). We need more female leaders in gaming, says Indian game Designer poornima seetharaman. Retrieved June 08, 2021, from https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/poornima-seetharaman-interview-video-games-gender-equality-india/article34017986.ece