You’re probably aware that last month was Pride Month, a month that celebrates diversity and highlights the importance of inclusivity & equality. These are two things we celebrate every month and are values held at the heart of MLC.
In October 2021, Max became a Women in Games Ambassador. This is something that everyone at MLC is super proud of and we all share Max’s passion for encouraging diversity within the team!
“Established in 2016 the Women in Games Individual Ambassador Programme consists of a worldwide network of individuals engaged with our agenda to support, empower and celebrate talented women in the games industry and esports. This programme exists to empower individuals to take action through collaborative, connected, diverse networks.”
There’s a genuine problem within the games industry, one we are passionate about being part of the solution to. Currently, two-thirds of the industry are male. We know how important diversity is within creative industries! To have ideas coming from all backgrounds, sexualities and genders. You can’t leave all the concepting and direction to just one, too many incredible ideas and opportunities will be missed.
Max has heard many stories of male-dominated studios and toxic environments for females and non-binaries to work in and MLC want to help change this. One of the regular compliments made to the leadership team at MLC (which may I add is more than 50% female), is that we have a safe working space. We ensure everyone’s input is valued, and it’s felt by every member of the team.
Max became an ambassador to help spread the word that we can all do our bit to make the games industry a more diverse and equal place to work. Are you ready to do your bit to make it a more equal and creative industry? I know I am 😁.
If you’ve never heard of Women in Games, I implore you to check out their website and find out more about their mission. They’re shining a light on the fact that the games industry is still the most gender imbalanced of all creative industries and there are plenty of ways you can get involved.
By balancing out the games industry, we are only creating opportunities for better and more creative games which, I think we’ll all agree, can only be a good thing!
Max believes this problem can only be solved with intentional decision-making from the inside out of studios and companies. Starting with the hiring process, so here are some thoughts we wanted to share with you.
Are you Hiring?
A couple of things to think about.
- Do you market to diverse audiences to help you increase diversity in applications?
- Are your processes ensuring there isn’t bias or discrimination?
- Do you hire based on skill and company fit?
Max’s passion is to hire people who all share the same values as each other, meaning all those in the MLC team actively want to work within a diverse team.
This needs to be encouraged from the top-down and making sure the hiring team is hiring people who want the same things they do, will automatically remove the chance of a toxic work environment.
It is your job as an employer to ensure you create a safe workspace that’s well balanced and not dominated by one gender or ethnicity, enabling those minorities to step in and really want to apply to work within the games industry.
Are you looking for a job?
Part of the problem we see at MLC is that, on average, for every 4 male applications we see, we’ll get one female or non-binary. So even the studios, like us, who are actively trying to be diverse, are still struggling.
So to help solve this problem, go, and apply to all of those jobs within the games industry that interest you. The more diversity within the applications seen, then the more chance there is for these amazingly skilled applicants of all genders to be introduced into the industry.
Reassuringly, It’s not all doom and gloom, the Ukie Consensus published earlier this year did show that the gender gap is closing in, going from 70% male in 2020 to 66% in 2022. So, we are making progress and things are moving in the right direction, but there is still much work to be done here. So what are we waiting for? Let’s work together to make the changes that will inevitably improve the game industry and the games we’re creating.
We’d love to hear about ways that you or your studio are encouraging diversity in your team or the industry in general. Get in touch on Twitter, let’s keep this conversation going.
