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[Lime]

Unsurprisingly to some, the upcoming Game Awards mostly has white dudes in its jury pool. There was initially 1 woman on its jury, but after Polygon's decision there's now a whopping 2 women (and seemingly 4 non-White men in it). It's not as if the awards themselves are that important, but it is crucial that the industry and media remain vigilant and conscious about issues of diversity. Huffington Post ran an article on it yesterday:

On Thursday, the organization revealed its nominees for this year's awards, which will be streamed online on a variety of platforms Dec. 3. Along with nominations for titles like "Fallout 4" and "Super Mario Maker" came a bit of detail about the panel of judges who helped select them: A roster of the 32 people on the jury appears to list only one woman.

The Huffington Post reached out to The Game Awards and Chelsea Stark, a judge on the panel and Mashable's games editor. Representatives for the Game Awards did not immediately respond, and Stark declined to comment.

It's unclear how these judges, who come from media organizations around the world, were selected.

However, a source on the panel, who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the story, told HuffPost that judges acted independently of one another. They communicated with the Game Awards and made their selection for game nominations via email -- there wasn't communication between the judges, so the gender imbalance wasn't immediately clear to them.

Killscreen refused to participate because of the lack of diversity:

Keith Stuart from the Guardian has also pulled out because of this.

Polygon has chosen to have deputy managing editor Megan Farokhmanesh represent the site, arguing that they "can make more of a difference from the inside than the outside." (take that as you will)

EDIT: LewieP summarizing it pretty well:

Because they designed the entire selection procedure. I don't think there's any reason to think they deliberately designed it to favour homogeneity, and I am absolutely not ascribing malicious intent to their approach, but when designing the selection process they gave little/no thought to diversity, and ended up with a panel overwhelmingly full of white men.

Geoff Keighley is not the global head of the patriarchy, he is just a man who is very much part of the establishment, for whom diversity is way way down the list of priorities when assembling a judging panel for his awards ceremony/advertising party.

He is framing TGA as a celebration of gaming's cultural significance. His words. It would seem that he does not consider having diverse representation within TGA as being important to the cultural significance of the medium. I disagree with this, and it seems at least a couple of the judges he chose disagree with this too.

Edit: Also after getting the shortlist of candidates back from the publications, they seemingly had no thought process before publishing them. Many people would have thought "Hmm. This list is overwhelmingly full of white men, perhaps I should contact one of the huge number of qualified women or non-white people in the field that I did not invite to participate yet". Even if somehow they only know white men (which I entirely reject), there's any number of ways to solicit suggestions for people who could expand the diversity of the panel.

No one put a gun to Keighley's head and forced him to accept the initial shortlist as the only possible range of judges.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

If they're qualified critics, I see little issue. There could be 32 women and that would be fine.

 

[Toki767]

How are jurors selected? Does a site just pick someone from their staff?

 

[shinobi602]

Maybe the outlets they pick from don't have enough women that are in positions or have the length of 'experience' to be considered "qualified"? Perhaps most of the women he did ask to be on the jury didn't want the spotlight or something? I doubt Geoff has a malign agenda or purposefully left out women.

 

[Platy]

Actualy if is almost 50 man juros if you count the e-sports ones.

Holy Sausage Fest Awards =O

 

[xzeldax3]

If they're qualified critics, I see little issue. There could be 32 women and that would be fine.

Agreed. I don't care what sex or ethnicity they are, I just want some fair judgement on great games!

It would be worse to throw in people that aren't qualified just to have diversity.

 

[Lime]

There's also the problem that non-AAA games are relegated to the 'diversity ghetto' in its nominations, but that's probably more relevant for the nomination thread (Games For Change category). No amount of diversity can fix an already broken awards system.

 

[Auctopus]

If they're qualified or established critics, I don't see the problem. Also, don't they need a large portion of the judges to have played every major release?

I hope that terrible female critic for Kotaku doesn't get drafted in.

 

[Matush]

If they're qualified critics, I see little issue. There could be 32 women and that would be fine.

Yeah, not sure what the fuss is about.

If they are qualified, there is no issue with it. I doubt Geoff/medium picked jurors based on their race and gender, I mean come on, that's reaching a lot.

 

[Majestad]

Dudebros who will pick the most boring games of the year.

 

[RavenSan]

If they're qualified critics, I see little issue. There could be 32 women and that would be fine.

I agree with this wholeheartedly, The "diversity for the sake of diversity" business never sat well with me.

 

[Lime]

Maybe the outlets they pick from don't have enough women that are in positions or have the length of 'experience' to be vonsidered "qualified"? I doubt Geoff has a malign agends or purposefully left out women.

No one is saying that Geoff Keighley or anyone intentionally selected men only. It's a structural, systematic issue that one has to be conscious and vigilant about when selecting people for prominent positions.

 

[Whompa02]

It MUST be sexist then...

Come on.

Maybe the outlets they pick from don't have enough women that are in positions or have the length of 'experience' to be vonsidered "qualified"? Perhaps most of the women he did ask to be on the jury didn't want the spotlight or something? I doubt Geoff has a malign agenda or purposefully left out women.

I'd say this is exactly the case.

Dudebros who will pick the most boring games of the year.

Sarcasm?

 

[Auctopus]

Dudebros who will pick the most boring games of the year.

That's just as sexist as me saying the girls would just pick Life Is Strange or some indie Walking simulator.

 

[benicillin]

A judging panel should be appropriately diverse to get different perspectives on the games being judged, that's pretty obvious. Let's not pretend that the qualifications required to be a "Game Awards" judge are very difficult to meet.

 

[ps3ud0]

Surely they just need to pick whatever games had the biggest marketing budget - not like theres any value in what passes their critique looking at their day jobs

ps3ud0 8)

 

[Gamesgbkiller]

I don't get it anymore.

Why is this even relevant to a videogame ?

The show is about games award not some fashion/talent show ( never mind )

*sigh*

Edit: haha sorry about the confusion. The things you (people ) replied to me never crossed my mind.

I'm saying it doesn't matter who the judge is. Just pick the suitable judge and that's it.

The pic from kieth about 1 women is absurd. Who cares if all the judges are women ? or men? If they are suited for the job, it's done. That's what I'm trying to say

 

[dugdug]

It's unclear how these judges, who come from media organizations around the world, were selected.

Kind of a big detail to ignore and just go ahead and make an accusation of sexism. For all we know, Geoff&co asked multiple women to be a part of it and they declined. I have a very hard time believing Geoff would be that insensitive. I seriously can't imagine he said "MALE JUDGES ONLY." And, what is he supposed to do? Lose all the money he's put into this because of this situation?

As I say, could be entirely wrong and it was huge oversight on Geoff's part, but, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until he says something about it.

 

[Platy]

There is an interesting article saying that the chances of not having a single female speaker at any conference with over 10 speakers are less than 5%[...]According to Martin’s analysis, the chances of that “accidentally” happening are incredibly, incredibly slim

10 speakers, 0 girls is less than 5%

32 jurors (or almost 52 with e-sports ones) and ONE woman is ... rare

 

[Nekofrog]

It MUST be sexist then...

Come on.



I'd say this is exactly the case.

Nearly 50 seats at the table, 2 of them women. Nearly all of them white.

Come on dude. There are so many qualified women that it looks like an actual intentional snub.

 

[Visualante2]

Would love to know the judge diversity in IGF, GDC, DICE awards for comparison.

Also don't see the point in the subtle dig at Polygon in OP. Doing the best they can.

 

[udivision]

What does a 50/50 gender split mean?

Is 50% of the gaming media female?
Or is it because 50% of the population is female?
Or 50% of gamers are female..?

At the very least, it shouldn't be 1/32... but I don't know what an appropriate number would be.

 

[HueyFreeman]

If they're qualified critics, I see little issue. There could be 32 women and that would be fine.

Agreed. I don't care what sex or ethnicity they are, I just want some fair judgement on great games!

It would be worse to throw in people that aren't qualified just to have diversity.

If they're qualified or established critics, I don't see the problem. Also, don't they need a large portion of the judges to have played every major release?

I hope that terrible female critic for Kotaku doesn't get drafted in.

Yeah, not sure what the fuss is about.

If they are qualified, there is no issue with it. I doubt Geoff/medium picked jurors based on their race and gender, I mean come on, that's reaching a lot.

So your position is this was just based on chance alone? 32 to 2? I can assure you the p-value on that discrepancy is pretty low.

There's really only two scenarios: either there were no women available to pick from, which is a problem with the amount of female voices among game critics, or the selection biased against women. The meritocracy argument doesn't fly when the results are this skewed.

 

[RMI]

50/50 gender split? what? What is actually the gender breakdown among game critics? I bet you it is not 50/50.

I'm not saying that it shouldn't be 50/50, but the Game Awards isn't responsible for this.

 

[Black Samurai]

women play video games?

 

[Snkfanatic]

I don't get it anymore.

Why is this even relevant to a videogame ?

The show is about games award not some fashion/talent show.

*sigh*

Huh?

women play video games?

What the fuck...?

 

[Htown]

I agree with this wholeheartedly, The "diversity for the sake of diversity" business never sat well with me.

You really think that men are just so much more qualified to talk about video games than women that a panel of qualified people would just naturally be 93% male?

Come on.

 

[mcrommert]

Sweet...something new to get angry about....making the signs right now

 

[Amused]

The show is about games award not some fashion/talent show.

*sigh*

What the actual fuck?

Females are better suited judging fashion shows than video games, is that what you're saying?

Sorry if I'm reading that wrong.

 

[Dawg]

Maintaining a strict 50/50 split and only involving yourself with others that do the same is a flawed way of dealing with this issue, though.

Sure, you'll get what you want... an equal split. But it isn't realistic. Most of the judges come from gaming websites. And we all know most of them are male. That's just a fact. That's the root of your problem right there.

Is it Geoff's fault that most gaming critics are male?

 

[wrowa]

How are jurors selected? Does a site just pick someone from their staff?

That's what I wonder. If Geoff asked sites to nominate a judge among their staff, then he's still to blame for not communicating the imbalance, but at the same time it'd also show that there is an extreme gender imbalance inside of the various sites' editorial staff. The Game Awards likely aren't the root of this particular problem.

 

[SinCityAssassin]

How many women were on last year's board?

 

[Plywood]

What the fuck...?

It's an obvious joke.

I don't get it anymore.

Why is this even relevant to a videogame ?

The show is about games award not some fashion/talent show.

*sigh*

Okay maybe it isn't.

 

[Scientist Supreme!]

It sucks but I don't know what they could have done to fix this.

 

[AtticuSMT]

I see little reason why the judges matter when it's the games that should be receiving the attention. I don't really care who voted for what or their gender, I am just curious as to what game was the most critically acclaimed.

 

[Bsigg12]

How are jurors selected? Does a site just pick someone from their staff?

Looking at the list, it looks like it's mostly the editor in chief or lead editor for gaming for each of the publications.

 

[MiniBossBattle]

I thought it was based off of qualifications, not a purposeful blocking of women judges.

My question is how often they ignore the juggernauts (both in Daily active users and monetary) of the mobile gaming world.

 

[Spaaaaaaaaace]

What the actual fuck?

Females are better suited judging fashion shows than video games, is that what you're saying?

Sorry if I'm reading that wrong.

Yeah lol. I hope he was being sarcastic. I would say this is actually a talent show where developers get to show of their products.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

The actual problem is that games criticism needs more female critics, but the sexist institutions of the industry complicates their ability to form a presence.

The panel is not the problem. But it reflects on the well-known state of the games industry and highlights an issue we already know: there are too few female voices making, playing, and writing about games.

 

[The Jackdog]

yeah eff this, pick qualified journalists. if its 32 qualified people, fine. if its 32 qualified women, awesome. forcing a 50/50 spilt is silly.

 

[Lime]

Is it Geoff's fault that most gaming critics are male?

No but he or others could've taken a more active stance when reaching out to outlets to get jurors. Just say that the Game Awards promote diversity and would emphasize non-default identities on it.

 

[Hibiki Kurosawa]

I don't get it anymore.

Why is this even relevant to a videogame ?

The show is about games award not some fashion/talent show.

*sigh*

Yikes.

 

[Quonny]

The issue is likely that there aren't enough women in journalism, especially in "high tier" establishments.

The outrage against this should be focused on that instead.

 

[capitalCORN]

It's proven fact that women can't be good judges of games. All I see in public transport are women playing candy crush! Can you imagine one of them deciding one of the most powerful awardshows of the year?

 

[george_us]

If they're qualified critics, I see little issue. There could be 32 women and that would be fine.

Eh usually "qualified" in the gaming industry means "one of my buddies" rather than actual qualifications.

 

[The Jackdog]

I don't get it anymore.

Why is this even relevant to a videogame ?

The show is about games award not some fashion/talent show.

*sigh*

oh wow.

wowwwwwwwwww

 

[funkystudent]

Dont they just ask outlets to pick a representative to vote? It not The Game Awards that gaming outlets are sending white dudes.

Maybe they should add a few more female focused outlets on the list since a few have been popping up the last few years?

Spoiler

Get BioGamerGirl on there.

 

[SystemBug]

yeah eff this, pick qualified journalists. if its 32 qualified people, fine. if its 32 qualified women, awesome. forcing a 50/50 spilt is silly.

There are tons of qualified woman journalists

 

[Snkfanatic]

It's an obvious joke.

Okay maybe it isn't.

Ya...it's incredibly hard to tell if it is....

 

[diaspora]

Maintaining a strict 50/50 split and only involving yourself with others that do the same is a flawed way of dealing with this issue, though.

Sure, you'll get what you want... an equal split. But it isn't realistic. Most of the judges come from gaming websites. And we all know most of them are male. That's just a fact. That's the root of your problem right there.

Is it Geoff's fault that most gaming critics are male?

No it isn't. Boards and decision making bodies that are more gender balanced are objectively stronger than ones that are predominately male or female.