本周European Women In Games Conference将重新回到伦敦，这一活动将再一次带动游戏产业的多样性并致力于处理女性游戏开发者所面临的一些重要问题。

今年的大会将在9月2日星期三于伦敦威斯敏斯特大学举办，并且将添加全新技能以及行业相关的研讨会。

women in games(from develop-online)

大会的其它亮点还包括来自工作室State of Play Games（Develop Award和BAFTA的获奖者）的联合创始人Katherine Bidwell以及英国互动娱乐协会（UKIE）主席Andy Payne的主题报告。

随着大会的临近，我们联系了Women in Games的创始人David Smith和首席执行官Jenny Richards-Stewart希望能够进一步了解今年该大会的相关计划以及女性在游戏产业的未来发展。

在过去几年里Women In Games大会有何发展？最大的改变是什么？

David Smith：Women in Games Conference的规模不断壮大着，并且已经成为游戏产业中重要议程的一部分。三年前，它成为一个全天候的活动，之后两年它更是有效利用了伦敦南岸大学所提供的多种会议设施，而今年，它还将使用威斯敏斯特大学提供的设施帮助。

今年的主题是什么？人们将确保自己不会错过什么？

Smith：今年我们将致力于更加多样化的主题去满足更多用户的不同需求。大会将吸引许多在过去几年里参加过该活动的高级代表，同时它也将吸引世界各地大学的大量学生。

10个全新研讨会将是2015年大会的创新。这些研讨会的形式包括圆桌会议和大师班等等，各个代表将参加有关编程，图像，游戏设计和测试等互动对话，或者他们也可以选择学习如何成为一名电子游戏代表或如何鼓励更多女生去选择大学中的游戏课程。而一些传统的会议也将帮助参与者进一步了解全新的虚拟现实产业并提醒人们创造教育类游戏与应用所具有的机遇。

为什么说大会同时包含适合游戏产业中两种性别人士的主题很重要？

Smith：本次大会既拥有能够吸引女性的议程，同时也瞄准了男性。对于在游戏产业活动中，女性人数超越男性这一点是很不寻常的。根据以往的经验，那些参加活动的男性往往与我们所预料的大会参与人数一样多。

针对女性的问题的关注点是否仍很重要？你们是如何处理这一问题的？

Smith：我们都意识到游戏产业中的性别平等将同时让男性与女性工作者受益。而在本次大会中我们将不只是停留在关于这些问题的讨论层面。让女性独自解决所有不利于她们的问题是不可能的事。我们需要将男女平等为产业中的一大问题并鼓励更多男性的加入。而参与本次会议便是第一步。

在Women In Games Conference上，师友计划将扮演什么样的角色？为什么这一计划如此重要？

Jenny Richards-Stewart：本次大会将提供给我们推动师友计划的机会，而这也将带给那些参加这一计划的女性参与者很大的福利。我们相信这一计划在支持女性并给予他们职业道路上的帮助具有很重要的作用。

现在我们已经在执行小规模的试验计划，所以我们可以有效调整相关内容并评估其有效性。我们拥有一些非常优秀的女性将在试验计划中作为导师并提供相关服务，而这一计划也吸引了许多成员的注意。本次大会同时也能推动产业去支持这种首创精神。

你们将如何推动这一计划的发展？并且如何调动产业成员参与其中？

Richards-Stewart：到目前为止大多数Women in Games成员都积极参与了师友计划，但是我们仍需要来自各个学科的导师们。我们一直在寻找更多导师去提供给我们的学生相关指导（游戏邦注：共6次课程，每次课程1个小时），虽然这不需要大量时间投入，但却能够带给我们的成员巨大的价值。

你们是如何定义“真正的男女平等”，而我们的产业又该如何做到这点？

Richards-Stewart：真正的男女平等意味着男女代表的人数是平等的。我们正致力于教育并帮助女性不断争取获得游戏产业中的相关工作，并承诺在今后10年里游戏产业中的女性工作者数量至少将翻两番。

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Why Women in Games needs men and mentors to get involved

The European Women In Games Conference returns to London next week, once again encouraging more diversity within the games industry and tackling some of the most important issues female games developers face.

This year’s conference takes place on Wednesday, September 2nd at London’s University of Westminster, and adds new skill and vocational workshops to the full day’s programme.

Other highlights include keynotes by Katherine Bidwell, co-founder Develop Award and BAFTA-winning studio State of Play Games, and UKIE chairman Andy Payne. You can find out more about the conference at www.ewigconf.com.

As the event approaches, we caught up with Women in Games founder David Smith and CEO Jenny Richards-Stewart to find out more about plans for this year’s conference and the future of women in the games industry.

How has the Women In Games conference evolved over the past few years? What have been the biggest changes?

David Smith, founder: The Women in Games Conference has grown in popularity and become established in the games industry calendar. Three years ago, it became a full day event and for the last two years it has evolved to take advantage of the multiple conference facilities offered by London South Bank University and, this year, the University of Westminster.

What are the crucial topics this year? What should people make sure they don’t miss?

Smith: This year we have focused on more variety in the topics on offer to meet the specific demands of a wide audience. The conference attracts many senior delegates who have attended in previous years but it also attracts a high proportion of students from universities all over the country.

A new series of ten workshops is an innovation for 2015. A cross between a roundtable and masterclass, delegates can take part in interactive sessions in programming, art, games design and testing or they can choose to learn about how to become a Video Games Ambassador or how to encourage more girls onto games courses at university. Traditional panels also give insights into the new virtual reality industry and remind the audience of the opportunities in making educational games and apps.

Why is it important that the conference covers topics that apply to both sexes working in the games industry?

Smith: The conference has an agenda that is attractive to women but the conference is equally aimed at men. It is unusual for men to be outnumbered by women at a games industry event. Experience has shown that the many men who do attend get at least as much out of the day as the delegates that are expected at this conference.

Is it still important to focus on issues that specifically affect women? How are you addressing this?

Smith: It is generally recognised that an improvement in the current gender imbalance that exists in the games industry will bring benefits to both men and women. This conference wants to do more than just talk about some of the issues. It is not possible for women alone to address to solve all the issues that specifically affect women. We need to see gender imbalance as an industry issue and encourage more men to get involved. Getting a ticket for the conference is a good first step.

What role does the mentoring scheme play in the Women In Games conference? Why is this scheme important?

Jenny Richards-Stewart, CEO: The conference gives us an opportunity to promote the mentoring program and the benefits which women will receive from being in the program. We firmly believe that such scheme is vital in supporting women and assisting them on their career path.

We are currently running a small pilot scheme so we can fine tune our offering and evaluate its usefulness . We have had some very high profile women offer their services as mentors for the pilot and have been over whelmed by the amount of interest from our members. The conference is also an opportunity to ask the industry to support the initiative.

What are you doing to grow the scheme going forward? How can members of the industry get involved?

Richards-Stewart: So far there is no shortage of Women in Games members who want to sign up for the mentoring programme but we do need more mentors from all disciplines. We are looking for people to work with our mentees for six one-hour sessions so it’s not a huge commitment in terms of time but is of massive value to our members. If anyone feels they would, like to be mentor please get in touch with me. Equally the scheme could use some funding and any organisation which like to sponsor this scheme which is of huge benefit to any employer should also get in touch.

What do you define as ‘true gender equality’ and how can we as an industry achieve this?

Richards-Stewart: True gender equality means representation of gender balance according to that population. We are working to educate and help our women to get and keep jobs in the games industry with a pledge to at least double the number of women working in games in the next ten years.(source:develop-online)