From July 8th to 12th, UCI Esports hosted our third annual Girls in Gaming summer camp, opening our doors to twelve ambitious young women interested in learning more about the professional opportunities available in the video gaming industry.
The program, which debuted in 2017, seeks to address the lack of female representation in esports by exposing its participants to games-related career paths they might not have considered—or known existed—beforehand.
“During the camp, participants learn from experts in the industry about the plethora of options within esports,” says Kathy Chiang, the camp’s lead and assistant director of UCI Esports. “Our outreach camps focus on building pipelines, enabling and encouraging more young women to get involved in esports through different roles and at varying levels.”
Although UC Irvine, long a forerunner in the bid to increase young women’s participation in esports, has contributed significantly to positive change in recent years through initiatives such as Girls in Gaming, Chiang believes there’s more to be done.
“It seems like the lack of (sufficient) female representation is becoming one of the most discussed and visible issues in esports these days, and it’s definitely one that has been personally relevant to many among our staff and in my own life as well. I believe it’s extremely important to think of multiple strategies to improve this, from improving education and awareness to building special programs and guidelines.”
The relevant question to ask, on hearing Chiang’s words, is “What exactly goes into building these programs and guidelines?” How does an idea—let’s show young women that there are opportunities available for them in the gaming industry—become a reality?
As Allison Le, a fourth-year mathematics major and junior administrator of the 2019 Girls in Gaming camp, explains, the process is quite involved. Although Girls in Gaming has been around since 2017, camp staff build its schedule from the ground up every year, incorporating fresh ideas and insights into their curriculum to keep things relevant to the industry’s current state.
“We looked at previous speakers, found connections we had made throughout the year, and chose the topics we thought spoke to us the most,” says Le, describing the work involved in designing this year’s schedule. “After creating a rough outline of what we wanted to do, we grouped the topics in days, like media on one day, esports management on another day, and so on.”
While Le, who manages UCI’s scholarship League of Legends team during the academic year, is no stranger to wrangling packed schedules, she expressed appreciation for those who dedicated their time to helping her develop this year’s program.
“This was my first year running camps, so I received a lot of advice from the full time staff. I couldn’t have done it without those who focused on outreach efforts, either—because of them, everything was able to fall into place cleanly.”
With all the behind-the-scenes work that went into making 2019’s Girls in Gaming camp special, it’s no surprise that the participants had a great time during their week at UCI. Between interactive talks with women involved in the gaming industry, activities around campus, and group play—dubbed Teamfight Tactics—in the Arena, campers always had something to do. Despite initial difficulties in introducing the group to games only a few had played before, Le reports that the girls rose eagerly to the challenge.
“By the end of the week, we’d successfully had the arena in an uproar during our mock tournament. It’s a clear example of how games can bring a really diverse group together.”
Le believes that, as the program continues to grow, it will incorporate new features that further the goal of bringing diverse groups together through games.
“I’m thinking that, next year, maybe we’ll find a speaker who can spark the campers’ creativity by leading a session where they brainstorm their very own game. Don’t get me wrong; we had some really great speakers this year. But the engaging ones are always the most memorable, and Kathy and I are keen to let the campers explore their creativity in a hands-on environment.”
Le’s closing thoughts?
“I think the biggest benefit of attending Girls in Gaming is that campers are able to see beyond what they might see in the media—see that there’s plenty of diversity in the video game industry. Oftentimes girls might be steered away from video games, but the truth is, there are plenty of women out there. A lot of our speakers didn’t graduate high school or college knowing that they were going to work in games. But their love for video games brought them here, and I don’t doubt that the girls I met during camp will be trailblazers for the future of the industry.”
