Young women in the gaming industry

The term "gaming" is often associated with dark basements, big computer chairs and tired men with bags of chips. But Emily Panzer and Michelle Nims show that this idea is an absolute fallacy. The two students at the University of Bayreuth are intensively involved with computer games and can imagine working in this field one day. And the chance is not exactly bad, because the students of the Bachelor of Media Science and Media Practice are very talented and recently even won an international "Girls in Games" jam.

The competition, which the two young women have now won, was announced by the American site "GameJolt and Amazon Web Services. The theme: "Strong female characters". The competition began on Friday and the two Bayreuth girls had until Sunday to come up with a concept. "The jam was not very different from the ones we knew from Germany," says Michelle Nims. "However, this time the focus was on the concept and there didn't have to be a prototype at the end." The concept of the Bayreuth students was convincing - they won prize money of 500 dollars. "But it was much cooler that we were allowed to present our game in front of female lead characters from the industry and that they then gave us feedback directly," says Panzer.

The Jam confirms what Emily Panzer had already noticed. "It's really nice to see that there are more and more women in the gaming industry," she says. And it is also becoming more and more normal for women to gain a professional foothold in the gaming industry. Emily Panzer has already done an internship in the industry and found out that if you have good and well thought-out ideas, you will definitely be heard as a woman. However: "As a young woman, you have a bit of pressure not to make any mistakes so that you continue to be taken seriously."

Michelle Nims from Bayreuth is not aware of any competition between men and women in the games sector. "It's true that most of those who want to work in the games sector are men. But in our student bubble we all learn from each other and help each other instead of competing with each other."

This is also how Nims and Panzer had met. "In our studies, you do a lot of collaborative projects," says Nims. That's why you get to know each other quickly. "And you also notice who you like to work with," adds Panzer. The two came to the Games Jams like most of their fellow students. "Of course, you see what the older students are doing," says Panzer. You are also motivated to learn something yourself. And the game jams organised at the university also contribute to the students getting involved with the topic of gaming. The foundations for this are laid during their studies anyway.