Chicks and Joysticks: an exploration of women and gaming

2 About ELSPA ELSPA (The Entertainment & Leisure So�ware Publishers Association) was founded in 1989 to establish a specific and collective identity for the computer and video games industry. Membership includes almost all companies concerned with the publishing and distribution of interactive leisure so�ware in the UK. The UK is a world centre for games development. § In 2003, UK sales of video games, other leisure so�ware products and games consoles topped £2 billion, for the second year running. § Over 20,000 people are employed in the UK leisure so�ware sector. § The British games industry generated £494m of exports in 2003. 33% of all PS2 games bought in Europe originate in the UK (the same proportion as US originated products and ahead of Japan and any other country). Aleks Krotoski has worked on the periphery of the games industry since 1999, first as a reviewer on Channel 4's Bits and Thumb Bandits and later as a feature writer for The Guardian, Edge and BBCi. She is studying the interactive entertainment medium as part of her PhD in Social Psychology at the University of Surrey, focussing on the effect of play in Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games on personal identity, a�itudes and offline behaviour. Aleks regularly speaks about the potential role of women in the games industry at organisations as varied as The American Cultural Association and the British Screen Advisory Council. She is the Resource Coordinator for the Women in Games Development Commi�ee, and sits on the steering commi�ees of the Women in Games Conference UK and the Edinburgh International Games Festival.