The experience at E3 made me want to pursue work in the video game press, and I began work with EP as a producer-in-training, learning the art of creating television from the bottom up. People tend to view the world of television as a constant state of glamour and parties and free stuff. Independent television is nothing like this. You work long hours for little or no money. You don't know if you'll have a show from week to week. You wear a range of hats to cover all the work that needs to be done...one day you're the on-camera star, the next you're booking flights, groveling for interviews or logging hours and hours of footage. But I did it for the love of videogames, and for a love of the process of making television where nobody told you what to do or what to cover. It was an incredible time in my life. I have since left to pursue my own ideas, but EP is still trucking along.

Q: What did you learn in your time there about women and the world of video games?

Stevie Case goes Hollywood.

A: I had a first-hand view of what it's like to be a woman in the games biz. The first E3 I went to, I saw about 10 women total. The last E3 I went to, I saw at least 1000 (not including booth babes). Back in 1996, the issue of gender in videogames was just hitting the public domain. Stevie "Killcreek" Case was getting all sorts of press and was the basic representative of women in games. I felt that it was a shame that the only woman in the spotlight was a gamer, and not a developer or someone with more influence in the world of game creation. But Stevie Case demonstrated just what it meant to be a woman gamer at the time. It was like she was from outer space, as if aliens had landed. Lara Croft had been around for a year or so, and it was starting to dawn on me just how much sex sells, and the video game industry is just as susceptible to it as movies and television.

What I learned is that I had to be very aware of my own obvious femininity in an industry that wasn't used to strong females with wit and intelligence entering the scene. I knew it would be an uphill battle for respect, but it was a challenge I faced with determination. The ironic part is that I received such encouragement and insight from the men that I interviewed and spoke with that my challenge was far easier than I had imagined. If you don't know your stuff, it's a tough industry to break into. As a woman you are continually tested for knowledge. I was lucky to have a background and understanding of technology and the process of building games. This served me well with some of the more wary industry people who wanted to prove I was nothing but an airhead being fed a line of questions and answers by some man in the background.

Gabriel Knight's Jane Jensen

I don't think the video game industry is the only industry where this happens. Women are always working to prove themselves whether they are lawyers or lumberjacks. But I honestly think this is changing. Even the last five years have shown me how much more welcoming the video game world is for women. The unfortunate part is that there are a lot of bitter women who feel they have been wronged for not getting equal treatment. It is so negative at times that I feel it could dissuade young women from pursuing careers in games. That scares me. If you know what you want to do and can deal with a mostly male environment, then the industry can be a rewarding place for a female and you can work from within to create change. I can't say how many times I have received special treatment just because I am a girl. It makes me feel guilty sometimes because there are brilliant men out there with such passion and knowledge who will go unnoticed. So women get their share of perks too. People forget that women have always played a part in the industry. Roberta Williams, Jane Jensen, Sherry McKenna... they've all done incredible work for games.

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