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Find me on Instagram under @Slemhosta for some art B)

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I have been thinking about my place in the game development community in the last weeks. Ever since I created my professional Twitter account for game development I’ve started feeling excited about sharing my games and progress with others. Something I thought wasn’t necessary before. Because I’m not “good enough” yet.

But as a novice of game development how serious should I take my practice? When we are to create and design a game at this early stage of our careers, should we do it by the book? As any seasoned game developer would tell you it is not about the product and never about the game. When you design a game you are designing an experience (Hagen, 2018).

I myself am much more focused on making something that works rather than something that is fun because that is always a pleasant experience for me. But I know that if someone else was to play my unfinished broken games, they would not like it at all and certainly not enjoy it like I do.

So what would someone else enjoy and how do I create it? As Jesse Schell writes in the book The Art of Game Design there are three areas we must consider when designing an experience. Psychology, anthropology and design. Psychology is of course the study of the mind. Anthropology is the study of the development of humans and their behaviour. And lastly, design which is defined by the Oxford dictionary as “Purpose or planning that exists behind an action, fact, or object” (Oxford Dictionaries | English, 2018). After all, to be able to create something a person might enjoy we must first know what experiences the psyche rewards, what kind people generally like and how to successfully design them (Schell, n.d.).

So should “the rules”  of game design and creating an experience be followed when you are but a novice? I say yes. Not only do you start practicing what you will be doing early, but it gets you into the right mindset to become a successful designer. Something you make just for fun or a project that’s just for learning about particle effects could just as well have a clear experience it wants to deliver. However small it might be.

As I see it there are three different ways of designing an experience. You either make it up as you go and add in things to streer it in the right direction. Or you construct an idea, analyze a memory you have that corresponds with the game you want to make and pick out all of the essential elements that needs to be added to create the desired experience. Or you just work on something without a plan just to see what experience comes out of it. In a way it is impossible to make something that does not provide an experience. As abstract as experiences are, they are also all we know. Might as well make it a good one!

Bibliography

Schell, J. (n.d.). The art of game design.

Hagen, U. (2018). Designing for Player Experience How Professional Game Developers Communicate Design Visions. [online] Available at: http://www.digra.org/wp-content/uploads/digital-library/10343.03567.pdf [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Oxford Dictionaries | English. (2018). design | Definition of design in English by Oxford Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/design [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

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Emotional labour is something that has sprung up in social media around me a lot lately. I started following a Swedish account on Instagram called “Mansbebisar” (man-babies). They post daily follower submitted stories from women about their male partners behaviours and how they force her into “emotional labour” one way or another. They are also about how men in general treat their female relatives, colleagues and others like maids and project managers and expect them to do the dishes and remember appointments. Or about men in their thirties who still call their mom when they have a cold, when they need the laundry done or are too tired to clean their house (Instagram.com, @Mansbebisar, 2018).

Emotional labour has warped into meaning that the woman in a man-woman relationship is responsible for remembering everything, taking care of the kids and managing the household while the man sits on the sofa with a beer. This behaviour is often showcased in media as normal, and a famous example is that of the relationship between Homer and Marge from the Simpsons. When Marge asks Homer to help her with things she is seen as a nagging wife.

How do I handle the tasks in my day to day life? Am I guilty of being a man-baby? A good starting point to questions like these is to assume you are at the bottom. Assume that you might be “one of those guys”, the bad guys if you will. That is the only way you can get better without being clouded by pride.

I am terrible at remembering birthdays. But because I know this I put events like that in calendars. I admit that my mother often texts to remind me, but is it a kindness rather than emotional labour if I do not expect it? I never asked her, if she forgets to tell me I don’t get mad.

I have only had the timespan to be guilty of this for a few months since I just moved out from my parents to live together with my girlfriend.

We split our responsibilities but do I assume that she will do more? Am I in the state of mind where I am helping her rather than pulling my weight in OUR household?

I fear that the answer is yes. At least it was two months ago before I found the Mansbebisar account and started learning to see my mistakes. And most importantly, I talked to my girlfriend about it so that I can always avoid putting unnecessary labour on her, like Joe here did as a response to Hartley’s text Men Everywhere Finally Understand Emotional Labor:

But what qualifies as emotional labour? And how is it defined officially? Haley Swenson Asks “Is it emotional labor or just labor you feel emotions about?” in her text Please Stop Calling Everything That Frustrates You Emotional Labor. Let’s think about that. Right now, I am working on writing this blog post. It is work, and it makes me feel something. Frustrated because of the examples on Mansbebisar, shameful that I might be one of those lazy men they talk about. But that does not mean that writing this blog it is emotional labour. If that was the case then there would be no regular labour at all. Because doing work without feeling a single emotion is impossible unless you are a robot of some kind. Or a dead person. And in that case you would not be able to do any labour at all anyway. Because you’re dead.

An example of emotional labour that fits the official definition is “Noticing that a female colleague's comment was ignored and repeating it with credit, a technique known as amplification” (Hartley, 2018).

It is not hard to speak, and it is not especially exhausting to notice it happening. But the distraught of hearing someone being trampled over and having to repeat what they just said is labour. Having to do it again and again just so people will not be ignored, and it is very tiring. Amplification is a good example of the kind of consistent inequality and exploitation of women’s labor and feelings that feminist thinkers since the 1960s have been dissecting. They caught all of these injustices with one word: patriarchy.

So the term “emotional labour” does not cover house work in its traditional meaning but is more correctly put under the umbrella term patriarchy. But like with everything, terms evolve and take new meanings. So perhaps it would be fair to include the unpaid work of running a household with a partner that does not help into the definition.

In a blog post titled “I don’t help my wife and you shouldn’t either” the user A Mom Barely Getting By reposted a text by someone they said was unknown. In the text a husband writes that he does in fact not “help” his wife around the house because it is his house too. If he cleans the dishes, he is not helping his wife he is simply pulling his weight of maintaining a clean household. This mindset is the absolute goal in my meaning. To realize that your partner is not your maid, mother or project manager. You have a home together and should keep it clean and running together.

The meaning of emotional labour has changed for the public. Language is ever evolving and we change words, create new ones and revive old sayings all the time. I think it is perfectly okay to use the word in this way because it doesn not hurt its original meaning. It only gives new language to engage with an old problem that is finally being brought up and being dealt with. It would be wrong to undermine these movements by criticising the language and also severely hurtful to what they are trying to achieve.

I will continue analyzing my behaviour at home and keep my eyes and ears open to never again let a “lazy boyfriend” story slip by without discussing it and informing more people of the problem that is emotional labour.

Bibliography

Instagram.com. (2018). #Mansbebisar (@mansbebisar) • Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at: https://www.instagram.com/mansbebisar/?hl=en [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

Hartley, G. (2018). Men Everywhere Finally Understand Emotional Labor. [online] Harper's BAZAAR. Available at: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a12780277/emotional-labor-men-respond/: [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

Swenson, H. (2018). Please Stop Calling Everything That Frustrates You Emotional Labor. [online] Slate Magazine. Available at: http://www.slate.com/blogs/better_life_lab/2017/10/20/please_stop_calling_everything_that_frustrates_you_emotional_labor_instead.html [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

Momming Hard. (2018). I Don't Help My Wife. You Shouldn't Either.. [online] Available at: https://momminghard.com/i-dont-help-my-wife-you-shouldnt-either/ [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018].

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Overwatch is a fairly young first person shooter having only been released about two years ago. It is still brimming with new releases, updates and items with the new hero Brigitte being just around the corner.

The Blizzard team prides itself on having an inclusive cast of characters. It has male and female characters alike even landing on a perfect split at 13/13 for both sexes in march, as well as a nonbinary robot character. The game is even younger in the professional scene. But it is there that the diversity in characters end. When the League started I was very disappointed to see the very expected all male teams appear on stage. And it was like a punch in the gut after all the advances in Blizzards inclusiveness.

I was disappointed and surprised. But at the same time not surprised at all. At first I thought maybe the league was a boys only league, no matter how absurd that seemed to me. But no, all of the team managers had just refused to sign a woman into their teams because they are afraid a woman would distract the others, not handle backlash well or just exist wrong.

But why? Why did they launch without a single woman in the roster? It is certainly not because there is a lack of women playing the game. There are about five million women playing Overwatch in its current state. Five million (McKeand, 2018). They were not excluded because women “lack the competitive mindset”, a phrase which is thrown around a lot on Reddit and from word of mouth. EHOME, barcode, Aspen, Ysabelle muller, Ank, Kitty and Geguri are some female competitive players just to name a few.

Before the Overwatch League launched, the Korean Overwatch player Se-yeon “Geguri”  played professionally on other fronts. Se-yeon is famous for being a great Zarya player and also one of the few famous women in competitive Overwatch. She played with the team ROX Orca where she competed in the highest league of competitive play before the official league was launched. Unfortunately, when the official League came out, she was overlooked when the teams were picked. Simply for being a woman (Beck, 2018).

You might think that sounds crazy. No one could possibly exclude a woman from professional play and be open about doing so publicly. But they did. Why?

Matt Rodriguez who is the manager of the League team Houston Outlaws said: “[...] you have to go through all these hurdles, like if you pick up a (female)player, is the press gonna call it a PR stunt, or is it because she was the best?” So to cut things short they’re too scared of the media to sign a woman. Or more honestly, they’re putting it on PR stunts to avoid blame. To get out of it. So they won’t have to take her or other women on the team. And this mindset is spread out over all of the 12 teams in the Overwatch League. They “absolutely” think women should be playing in the league. They just don’t want to be the team to host them.

“For that even to be the perception, it'd be so terrible to be her," added Outlaws DPS player Jacob "JAKE" Lyon. "People would always be doubting, always be judging. So it has to be the right person, the right player, and those things have to come together at the right moment -- which makes it especially hard for women in the scene right now." With this statement Jake Lyons said it might be hard for a female player to handle the sexism of the League climate, professional gaming and the Overwatch community in general. Jake puts the blame on the woman instead of their unwillingness to sign one, because it would be so “terrible to be her” (Grayson, 2018).

Did the first women who rallied for the right to vote have an easy time? Was it easy for the first trans women of color to march down the street under heavy threats for their right to exist?

It will never be easy for women to claim another piece of their right that has been an unquestionable part of men’s rights for decades. But instead of blaming it on the difficulty or the woman’s ability to “handle it” the Outlaws and all the other teams should take women in, support them and help them break the sexist barrier.

Jacob Lyon says “it has to be the right person”. Who could be better than Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon? The top ranking Zarya player in Overwatch who has already been through a barrage of threats because of her amazing skills. Receiving hate from thousands of people, a large majority of who are men, just because she is good at the game (Pastrick, 2018).

She was blamed for cheating and had to endure threats, hate and nasty comments. After a livestream where she showed herself playing with an extra camera aimed at her keyboard the allegations were somewhat dropped. But the drama had taken a toll on Kim Se-yeon, like it would on anyone.

It is always going to be terrible for women in games. No matter if they are in League or playing casually. So if there even is a right person for the “one position for a woman in league”, Se-yeon is the one Jake is looking for. Just like I am sure many of the players who sit in the shadows because of their gender are the right ones.

Even playing the game casually is impossible if you want to use the mic to speak online.

“Women face the toxicity of male players as soon as they turn on their mic. Comments quickly devolve into criticism, accusations of being a “fake gamer girl,” sexist comments, and then [sexual abuse] threats and death threats. The challenge becomes one of endurance of abuse, not skill”. It is also always the woman’s fault if you lose. If there is a woman on the team, she is blamed for eventual loss.

In Korea, it’s it is not socially acceptable for unmarried women and men to live together which would be necessary when touring to compete in leagues.  North American coaches have also said that another reason for the exclusion of women is so the team members won’t form romantic bonds. Which is strange for a number of reasons.

A: Homosexuality exists.

And B: If you join a team to play games it is unlikely you would throw yourself over someone romantically. That just sounds like an offensive stereotype. Boiled down to it, the question is whether or not the male coaches and members are willing to do to let a woman in. Not her skill in the game they are competing in (Oh, 2018).

But this blog will end on a happier note. Just a month ago, Feb 14, 2018 Shanghai Dragons signed the first female player ever in Overwatch League. Who? You guessed it. Kim "Geguri" Se-yeon. I am looking forward to see her play and for more women to compete.

It does not end here.

Bibliography

McKeand, K. (2018). Twice the number of women play Overwatch than any other FPS. [online] PCGamesN. Available at: https://www.pcgamesn.com/overwatch/overwatch-female-player-count [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Beck, K. (2018). The 'Overwatch' League launched with no female players, but plenty of excuses. [online] Mashable. Available at: https://mashable.com/2018/01/11/overwatch-league-women/#HWGCo25enqqr [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Grayson, N. (2018). No Overwatch League Team Signed The Game's Most Notable Female Pro To Their Roster. [online] Kotaku Australia. Available at: https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/01/no-overwatch-league-team-signed-the-games-most-notable-female-pro-to-their-roster/ [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Pastrick, C. (2018). Hackusation: Video confirms woman's mad 'Overwatch' skillz. [online] upgruv. Available at: http://www.upgruv.com/korean-woman-1875647121.html [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].

Oh, A. (2018). An Overwatch Women’s League isn’t the answer. [online] Polygon. Available at: https://www.polygon.com/2018/1/18/16896858/overwatch-league-women-esports-sexism-geguri [Accessed 27 Apr. 2018].