Women who are gainfully employed in the games industry are becoming more and more common. The assumption that video games are a man's domain is finally becoming outdated. Women are playing and working with video games in astounding numbers. According to the ESA, in 2005 43% of game players are women, a number that has grown from 39% in prior years' research. While the percentage of women working in the industry is still small, these women are paving the way for equality in this environment as well. More and more young women are going to technical schools and getting hired by game developers who see the value of a female perspective when creating video games.

So, how did these women get started and why do they do it? Those are the questions I want answers to, so I ask. This will be a continuing series of profiles of the women who have broken stereotypes and taken jobs in the video game industry.

Cari Begle works for Stardock Entertainment, which happens to be in my very cold neck of the woords. She is the lead developer on the much acclaimed Galactic Civilizations. How did she get started and what does she do? Read on to find out.

Name: Cari Begle
Title: Lead Developer, Galactic Civilizations series
Company: Stardock Entertainment

What's your earliest memory of video games? Did you grow up on games or did you find them later in your life?

I’ve had a computer since I was five, (since before there was such a thing as hard drives) and I always had games. When I was younger, they were mostly educational and puzzle games. When I was in my teens, I discovered role-playing games, which is still my favorite genre.

What kind of education do you have and has it prepared you well for this industry?

I have a B.S. in Computer Science. I learned C/C++ in college, and a lot of theory, but experience is really the best teacher. When you actually start working on real world projects, you find out what you’re capable of, and then exceed that capability. I would say that the best thing I learned in college was how to learn, and keep on learning.

What type of work did you do before you got into the industry and what jobs in the industry have you held?

When I was in college, I worked on Microsoft Access databases as a temp for Media One’s Quality Assurance department. In the industry, I’ve been a game programmer.

Was your entry into working with video games planned or chance? What initiated your interest in working in this industry? How did you get started in the industry?

I got into programming because I wanted to make video games. I started out as a summer intern here at Stardock. When I graduated from college, they offered me a full time position.

How long have you been working in the industry?

It will be 6 years in June.

What does your job entail? What is an average day like?

I work on a lot of the underlying stuff in our games, like the interface, save games, object movement, etc.—things that make the game work. I also handle a lot of the second level support for our games, things that the support techs don’t know how to answer. On an average day, I check my e-mail first. If there are bug reports or forwarded support e-mails, I try to take care of those first. When I get done with support/bug fixing, I can start working on implementing or improving features.

Tell us about the most interesting or exciting moment for you in your job.

The most exciting moments are when we get a good review, or when someone comes in with the latest sales figures. My latest project, Galactic Civilizations 2, has been doing extremely well, so there’s been a lot of exciting moments lately.

What is your least favorite thing about working in the industry?

Hardware / Compatibility issues.

What is the one misconception you feel people have about working in the industry in your type of position?

Most people think that making video games is just fun, that you get to play video games all day. They don’t realize that it is hard work. Play testing is really a small part of the game development process.

Do you feel you are advantaged or disadvantaged as a female in an industry so dominated by men? Do you have any examples of situations where you feel you had an advantage because you were female? Any where you think being a woman played against you? Any anecdotal stories where being female played a part?

I haven’t ever felt advantaged or disadvantaged for being a female in the game industry. I probably get more attention for being female, but that’s really about it. It might be different at other companies, but here at Stardock it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female.

Do you consider yourself a hardcore gamer? How many hours a week do you get to play (besides the title you are working on)?

I wouldn’t really call myself hardcore, although I’m not really a casual gamer either. I probably play 10-20 hours a week outside of work when I’m not really busy with other things.

What settings and genres do you enjoy most? Least?

I like fantasy role-playing games the best. I don’t really care for FPS games other than Halo, or sports games.

If you could pick one game as the best game ever, what would it be?

Neverwinter Nights, if I can include the expansion packs.

If you could tell developers of games to make sure to put one thing in games to appeal to a broader audience which includes women, what would that one thing be?

Customization. People really like being able to customize their character’s appearance, stats, etc, and they really like being able to customize their game world. Look at the Sims.

Do you have an opinion about the current state of the industry with regard to females and gaming? If so, what is it?

The industry is making a big deal about the lack of women gamers, and it is true that there are far fewer women gamers than men gamers, making them an untapped market. However, it’s not really that hard to make games that women would like; they don’t need pink frilly Barbie games to get them playing. It is, however, important to make games not turn women off.

For example, in role-playing games, it can’t be that hard to let the player choose their gender and customize the appearance of their character. At the very least, the women character does not have to look like Barbie or Lara Croft. A lot of in game text does not need to be gender specific, and the use of tags in the text can allow the game to dynamically parse together dialog that does make gender specific references. Games should also be easy to pick up again after saving and exiting: a well done journal is an excellent tool for gamers of any gender.

Really, just making games that appeal to a broader audience than 15-30 year old males will generate more sales. Sure, they might be buying most of the games now, but if there were more games with mass appeal like the Sims, that won’t be such a narrow statistic.

If you can talk about it, can you tell us some about the project you are currently working on?

I’m currently working on updates for Galactic Civilization 2. We’re not doing anything really major yet, but we plan on doing two expansion packs.

Do you have any advice for anyone who would like to get into the industry?

You have to really want it, and you should enjoy coding, or making art, or whatever you want to do. The best thing that you can do is to make a demo CD with small games on it to demonstrate your skills. The demos should be polished, not just thrown together. This might mean that you have less free time to play video games or do other things, but the Demo CD will probably determine if you get an interview without experience in the industry.

What are your favorite games? Favorite movies? Favorite Authors? Inspirations? What do you like doing in your free time?

My favorite games are Neverwinter Nights and its expansion packs, World of Warcraft, and Mario Dance Dance Revolution Remix.

Serenity is one of my favorite movies.

My favorite author is Marion Zimmer Bradley, for her Darkover series.

My biggest inspiration in life is my faith. When I’m having a bad day, I take a deep breath and remind myself that God is always with us.

Other than play video games, I like to read and occasionally write, play acoustic guitar, watch movies, and spend time with friends and family.