Museum of Design exhibit, talk shows women’s touch on video games

"Women in Gaming" panel discussion: Deborah Thomas (Silly Monkey) moderates panelists including Joelle Silverio (CCP), Molly Proffitt (Thrust Interactive), Ali Wallick (Kaneva), Katelyn Pistick (Hi-Rez Studios) and Cindy Chen (Visioneering Gaming). 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. Free with museum admission.

Museum of Design Atlanta, 1315 Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-979-6455, www.museumofdesign.org.

The Museum of Design Atlanta’s new exhibition may center on video games, but if you attend expecting bullets and chainsaws, sexism and racism and other stereotypes that the industry can’t quite shake, you’ve come to the wrong place.

"XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design," organized by MODA and Georgia Tech's Digital Games Lab, is billed as the first-ever exhibit highlighting the work of women as game designers and artists. The nearly 40 interactive games in different formats featured (not counting board games) are long on promoting thought and short on provoking violence.

Women comprise less than 15 percent of the gaming industry workforce, according to the exhibit, and those with their hands and minds in the actual design process is even smaller. Yet it shows that their creative impact on the mainstream video industry as well as alternative genres is significant.

For instance, in 2005, Deborah Thomas founded Silly Monkey, an Atlanta firm that designs "serious games" for corporate training, with clients including Deloitte and Allstate. Thomas, 57, launched an Atlanta chapter of Women in Games International just last year, only to decide that there weren't enough potential participants yet to keep the group going.

But Thomas, who will moderate a “Women in Gaming” panel discussion Tuesday night at MODA, believes there will be increasing opportunities for women to make an impact in the male-dominated gaming world. We asked her three questions:

Q: How is the mark that women have made in the video game industry distinct from that of men?

A: I do think that it's possible to look at a game and tell if a woman had a hand in it. Actually there was a three-year study at Michigan State University of fifth- and eight-graders that showed that girls preferred games designed by girls, that the gender of the design team influenced game design.

I have noticed it, too. I think it’s just a different sensibility that’s brought, especially to the visuals but also to how you play and the interactions. You’re doing things (in female-designed games) that are different than just pointing and shooting.

Q: What inspired you to get into game design?

A: In 1981, I was working as a newspaper reporter and, while looking for a feature article, I found a guy on a game store's bulletin board seeking anyone interested in playing Avalon Hill games. I started playing these games with him, really complicated role-play games that were, it turned out, war games.

And it changed my behavior. I was a hard-core peace advocate and during the game play, I started off trying to hide. But in the middle of the desert there was nowhere to hide except for the occasional sand dune. I had no choice but to fire on the enemy.

It clicked in my head: I found the power of these games and what you can do with them. It’s a better way to help someone understand a situation that may be foreign to them.

Q: What aspect of gaming will Tuesday’s panel discussion focus upon?

A: The panel members are mostly young women, designers and developers who have just recently entered the industry, who will discuss how they got their start and some of the issues present for women. I think it would be exciting for females to see this but also parents, because their kids are looking at this industry. And even young guys. In fact, my Women in Games meetings were starting to attract young guys because they have trouble breaking into the industry, too.