Schell Games首席执行官和创意总监Jesse Schell今年在GDC大会上发表了一段特别有趣的演说，重点强调全男性和男女兼有的游戏开发团队间的差异，指出女性在项目中做出的贡献。

他解释道：“如果团队4名成员均为男性，他们可能经常做出某些荒谬的事情。他们自告奋勇接下可能完成不了的事情，结果无疑是彻底的失败。根据我的从业经验，只要团队中有一名女性，情况便大为不同，这令我倍感惊奇。我注意到如果团队中有女性，那些男性的表现完全不同，他们会更经常停下来思考问题。”

Jesse引用Anita Wooley关于集体智慧的调查研究，结果发现社会敏感性（如理解和认知情感的能力）较高的团队和那些成员间细心聆听各方意见的团队通常呈现出较高的集体智慧。游戏邦了解到，Jesse认为自己的妻子在这两方面做得都比他好。研究发现，团队中女性数量与其整体智慧间存在直接关联。

Women in Gaming

他说道：“在游戏世界中，男性依旧占较大比重，为什么会出现这种现象呢？过去，我们对此辩解称这就是该行业的本质，这就是游戏中应该存在的事情。任何人都这么认为，看看早期的视频游戏，玩家在游戏世界中可以随心所欲做任何事。无论所做的事多么愚蠢，多么难说出口，也没人会受到伤害。这是男人的世界…”

Schell将游戏的这个特点比作挪威神话中的瓦尔哈拉，英雄们整日在战场上拼杀，死后回到那个宫殿谈论他们取得的丰功伟绩。游戏邦觉得，视频游戏将这个古老的挪威神话变成现实。Schell还引用其在PBS（美国公共电视网）的儿童用品产商峰会上发表的言论，证明男性并非最佳领导人。据他所述，娱乐行业某些环节几乎完全由女性操作和运营。

更为重要的是，Schell认为游戏市场要发生本质改变，就需要大批女性从业者。他阐述道：“我们知道整个游戏业正在改变，手机游戏和社交游戏不断崛起。所有人都注意到，在过去两年内社交游戏突飞猛进，因为游戏可以让朋友间的友情加深。因此，我们正逐渐从充满忍者和巫术的世界中转向在短时间内取得重大飞跃，人人都在谈论农场、瑜伽、舞蹈和宠物的游戏中。现在我要告诉所有的女性从业者，我们不知道为何会出现这种状况，我们不理解究竟是什么驱使人们选择这类游戏，所有这些全是我们杜撰出来的。”

最后，他总结道：“毫无疑问，女性时代已经来临。就个人而言，我欢迎这个行业出现女强人。”（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，转载请注明来源：游戏邦）

GDC 2011: Jesse Schell On The Importance Of Women To Development

Giving a typically amusing speech at the Women In Games Awards during this year’s Game Developers Conference, Schell Games CEO and creative director Jesse Schell, highlighted the differences in approach between all male and mixed-sex teams pointing out the benefits of female input in any project.

“When you have four guys on a team, what often happens is that they over-scope in a ridiculous way,” he explained. “They take on things that they couldn’t possibly do, and often end up with a crashing failure. Whereas when you have a team that has even just one woman on it – and it’s something that I’ve noticed throughout my career – things change… I can’t help but notice that the guys act differently – guys stop and think just a little bit more when there’s a woman in the room!”

Jesse cited a study on collective intelligence, conducted by Anita Wooley, which identified that groups with increased social sensitivity – i.e. an ability to empathise and identify emotions – and those whose members listen to each other without interruption generally displayed higher collective intelligence. Jesse’s wife, he pointed out, was better at both of these things than him. The study found that the number of woman in any given group directly correlates with its overall intelligence.

“In the game world, it’s still pretty much run by dudes – why is this?” he asked. “We used to have the argument that it’s just the nature of the medium – because that’s just how games are. And you can make this argument, if you look at the early days of videogames: you’re in a world where you can do anything you want, no one can possibly get hurt no matter how stupid a thing they do, and it’s really hard to talk to people. This is kind of guy heaven…”

Schell compared this facet of games to Norse legend of Valhalla, where fallen war heroes spend their days locked in combat on a battle field before returning – including the fallen – to the dining hall to discuss their exploits. Videogames, he suggested, have brought this ancient Norse vision to life. Schell also discounted the idea that men are better leaders, referencing a talk he gave at the PBS [a US public TV network] Kids Producers Summit, pointing out that here was an entire sector of the entertainment industry almost completely run by women.

More importantly, though, Schell believes that the changing nature of the game market necessitates a greater number of women in the industry. “We know the game world is changing,” he said. “Mobile is getting very big, and social gaming, too. Everyone’s noticed over the last two years that suddenly social games are an incredible growth area, because games are better with friends. In that time we’ve moved from a place where it was all ninjas and zombies and stuff, to suddenly the big growth games that everyone’s talking about are about farming and yoga and dancing and pets. And I’m going to tell you right now, ladies, we don’t know what the hell we’re doing… We don’t understand how it works, or why people play it – we’re faking it.”

In conclusion he added: “This is [women's] time, without doubt, and I for one welcome our new female overlords.” (Source: Next-gen)