Spohn, 40, has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a genetic disease that affects the central and peripheral nervous systems, as well as voluntary muscle movement. He uses a wheelchair and is on a ventilator but neither is stopping him from improving accessibility and representation in the gaming industry.

He’s COO of AbleGamers, a nonprofit with a mission to improve the overall quality of life for those with disabilities through the power of video games.

AbleGamers is committed to leveling the playing field for people with disabilities.

“We can give you hardware and we can make it where you can play the same as anyone else with a controller,” says Spohn, noting that level playing field, “washes away all the differences and focuses only on what people have in common.”

Gaming world

Spohn played Atari when he was a toddler. He didn’t start gaming again until he was 13.

“I had nurses and one of them was like, ‘you pretty much just stay inside all the time. Why aren’t you playing video games?’”

That’s when Spohn started playing “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” on Nintendo. Then in his senior year of high school, a friend of his, who worked in a computer shop, introduced him to the idea of online gaming. He cobbled together a computer using spare parts.“That was sort of a turning point where I would figure out that there was a world where I could go essentially be on a level playing field with everyone else,” he says,  noting the best part of online gaming is that you only reveal your disability if you choose to.

Helping others

Mark Barlet, a service-connected disabled veteran, founded AbleGamers in 2004, after his best friend had a multiple sclerosis attack, which impacted her ability to play video games. Barlet wanted to ensure that no one with a disability had to stop gaming. 

Nearly two years later, Spohn came across the website and challenged Barlet, who had said “World of Warcraft” could not be played with only one hand. Spohn wrote an article for the site detailing how to played the game. A reader reached out saying it helped them play the game.

“That was sort of like an epiphany moment for me, because I was like, ‘oh, wow, I can I can write articles and share my knowledge, and it helps other people,’” Spohn says. “I learned very quickly that it was more of a fulfilling feeling to help others than to help myself.”

Accessible entertainment

AbleGamers has helped thousands of people with disabilities become gamers. They know video games allow people with disabilities to experience situations that might be limited or difficult in the real world, and that games give them social networking opportunities.

“We’re humans, we must be entertained,” says Spohn. “And part of that escapism from pain is often playing a $20 video game, so that you’re not thinking about the pain that you’re going through.

He encourages gaming companies to be more inclusive and accessible. “This is not a small group, or a couple of people, who can’t access videogames,” he says. “This is a segment of the population. This is a demographic that needs to be paid attention to.”

Accessibility considerations can include designing games for one-handed play, for people who are color blind, and those who have epilepsy, and more.  

AbleGamers launched Accessible Games as a new way to make content to support players with disabilities. They work with gaming studios to help them design better and show them how to include accessibility into their products. They also have player testers who look for ways to make games more accessible.

“You make a game more accessible for everyone by including as many people as you can,” says Spohn.  

The post How AbleGamers is Leveling the Playing Field for People with Disabilities appeared first on Education and Career News.

Christian Friedrich Johannes Büttner, “TheFatRat”

DJ, Record Producer and Musician

Tell us about yourself and how you started a career in producing music?

That was a long time ago – about 20 years! I’ve been a producer for about 10 years before I decided to make my own music. In my early days I ghost produced for DJs and made ringtones for mobile phones. I transitioned to pop and went to LA, where I produced acts like Lupe Fiasco, Wondergirls and Kat Graham. But the politics in the music business threw me off. Some of the best tracks I made during that time were never released and some of the worst got deals because they were made with the right people. So, I moved back to Germany and did my very own thing. Without label, manager or publisher I started self releasing my own songs. It wasn’t an over night success, more a steady growth. After a row of remixes becoming number one on HypeMachine, I released my first original songs which soon went viral on Youtube and within two years I had built a following of over a million people. The music I made didn’t really fit in any of the existing genres, but it was very well received in the gaming community. And soon mixtapes with “gaming music” popped up on YouTube and they were usually full with my tracks.

Many people haven’t realized how the gaming industry has expanded, with opportunities like game music composition. How has the relationship with gaming and the music industry grown? How did you start to intertwine your love for music and gaming? 

Music has always been an extremely important part of games. And with the enormous growth of the gaming market came a ton of opportunities for musicians, especially producers. Games today are not fixed products that are just one-time-sellers. They are platforms that change and expand constantly. This makes it possible to place music in already existing games and create revenue but also awarenesses as an artist.

Why is it important to you for your music to be completely free? How does that impact gaming?

The main reason why I want my music to be free is very personal. I simply want my music to be accessible to as many people as possible. I don’t know, and also don’t care if that is beneficial for me in the long run. But it definitely has positive sides. In my tons of gamers have picked up the music and got creative with it. Some simply used it as background music, some made collages and music videos. This has definitely helped a lot to grow my reach.

How would you describe the diversity in music composition in gaming? What improvements can be made?

Overall, the diversity in gaming music is huge. It draws from all sorts of other genres. Right now, I’m aiming to make it more acoustic and less electronic. I feel like the very electronic stuff has been done a lot and it’s refreshing to hear more organic instruments but with the same energy as electronic tracks.

The post How Video Games Are Elevating Opportunities in Music Production appeared first on Education and Career News.

Charles Palmer

Program Lead B.S. Esports Management, Production and Performance, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

How can schools drive more diversity in gaming?

Outreach, outreach, outreach. The fringes of this space are filled with passionate, unique voices who just need an opportunity to share their experiences. Schools need to reach out, listen in, and nurture these voices. They have unique insights and answers for building inclusive communities.

What careers and opportunities in gaming are often overlooked? 

Opportunities in esports are constantly evolving to industry needs. Companies are developing new strategies to promote, manage, and facilitate esports. And for every new strategy or approach, there is a new position added to industry. 

As an example, many game publishers are hiring brand and product managers to find new esports markets for current and future titles. Educational institutions (K-12, community colleges, and universities) are building teams and programs to meet the demands of collegiate and club sports. And lastly, non-endemic brands looking to capitalize on the growth of esports, are looking for strategic partners and creative representatives to broker and manage the deals.

What advice would you give to students interested in a career in gaming?

Through my professional work with teams and organizations, I get daily emails where passionate people tell me about their interest in our teams and promise that they would be a great employee for the company. 

As the industry matures, it’s not enough to be a “fan.” Don’t tell me what you can do, show me. Build a portfolio of work you’re doing right now for the industry. Whether you’re a content creator, tournament organizer, coach, or manager, show me what you’ve done for someone else. 

And if you haven’t done anything yet, go out and do something. Design on-screen graphics, volunteer at a local high school to plan an event, or build your own team and help them compete. Start doing the job that you want to have; I guarantee you’ll learn more than you thought was possible while developing a professional portfolio to help you get recognized.

The post An Esports Educator Shares How to Increase Diversity in Gaming appeared first on Education and Career News.

Since the early days of video games — when Pong, Tetris, and others first captivated a generation — games have brought people together and offered a place for connection and belonging. And never has this been more true than during the challenging times of COVID-19. 

While parents may have wondered about kids and too much game playing, over the past year, they have seen how games have been a bright spot for their kids — providing a space to hang out and play with friends when in-person activities were impossible. On a broader scale, games have also helped with mental health by providing a much needed de-stressor activity when the news and, well, life, has been too much.

Developing skills

Beyond the fun, there are also important skills that games foster in young people, particularly those that are becoming increasingly valuable in today’s job market: communication, collaboration, complex problem-solving and critical thinking. Even playing the most commercial multiplayer game provides an opportunity for children to work with other players to overcome challenges and master skills. For example, “leveling up,” a familiar game mechanic, incentivizes players to develop resilience. 

A recent study (carried out by the National Literacy Trust, the Association of UK Interactive Entertainment, and Penguin Random House) set out to explore the effects video games have on children’s literacy at school. The research revealed that playing video games can support young people when it comes to their literacy skills, creativity, and empathy.

There is also the opportunity to convert a young person’s passion for consuming games into a career path where they can create video games. In December 2020, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) released a new economic impact report for the U.S. video game industry that indicated gaming directly generated economic output of $40.9 billion in 2019 and provided direct employment to 143,045 people. 

These jobs range from programmers to artists, marketing executives to musicians, business development to finance to human resources. And gaming — from the tech to the theory — has expanded into other industries; from healthcare to education to civics and more. What better opportunity for a young gamer than to work in a growing sector that also meets their passions!  

Next time mom or dad complains when their kid picks up the controller, remember there’s more to that game — from social interaction to skill development to fostering career aspirations.

The post How Video Games Foster Important Developmental Skills for Your Kids appeared first on Education and Career News.

Jessica Horton, a digital environment designer for IllFonic, a video game developer, had no idea that gaming could be a legitimate career path for her. “It wasn’t until I had gone to school for a little while and was accepted into an art program that I realized that gaming was actually an option for me,” she said.

From the beginning, Horton noticed the clear gender imbalance in the games industry. “When I first started in games, me and my friend Felicia were two of three women in a company run by a woman,” she said. “That was it in a company of 60 or 70 people.”

This imbalance persists today. In 2020, women made up 46 percent of gamers but only 24 percent of those working in the gaming industry according to Forbes. In the top 14 companies, men hold 121 executive positions while women only hold 23, making up only 16 percent of executive roles.  

Get the latest IllFonic news, game updates, enter competitions, and more!

“Going to game conventions, it’s usually very male dominated,” Horton said. In her own experience, however, the industry always welcomed women. “They would often be very accepting of me and my female friends and even be excited to see the variety of ideas that would be present.” That said, Horton has heard plenty of stories. “I have heard comments like ‘We don’t need to hire someone just because they’re a woman.’”

Game control

When she moved to IllFonic in 2018, she recognized the appeal of working at a smaller studio, where relationships within the company are paramount. “Everybody seems set on having the best working environment as possible and hiring people that would work out,” Horton said. “That was appealing to me because in game jobs you don’t always have control of who you work with.”

Horton said that inclusiveness in the workplace is driven by the willingness of the team to create a welcoming environment, as well as listening and adapting to every team member’s concerns. “These companies are made out of people and people aren’t perfect,” she said. “You’re definitely going to always have someone who has their biases or even a general atmosphere of not as much acceptance or not as much effort being made towards acceptance, but I think there has been a lot of change.”

Since Horton began her career, she has seen improvements in opportunities for women in gaming. “There’s a lot more women in games now than from when I started, but there is still room for smaller improvements,” she said. “Give women a few more chances to interview, or maybe seek out talented women. I do think with men and women, there are different life experiences so they can approach things differently.”

Check out all of the exciting titles IllFonic has to offer all gamers.

While encouraging women to make more room for themselves in gaming, Horton wants the quality of her work to come first. “I don’t want to be discriminated against because I’m a woman, but I also don’t want to be given any special treatment just because I’m a woman,” she said. “I want my work to speak for itself. I know a lot of women who work in games who feel the same way. It’s not fun to feel like the only reasons you were given an opportunity is because you’re a woman. It can take away from that feeling of [having] worked really hard to get here.”

When she was studying, Horton was told that gaming was a competitive industry that she’d be unlikely to break into. Horton encourages anyone considering a career in gaming to follow their passion. “Figure out what you love the most and build your portfolio around that,” she said. “Your portfolio and how you represent yourself and how you advocate for yourself is so important. That’s how these companies get to know you.”

To learn more about opportunities in gaming and to explore other titles, visit https://www.illfonic.com/.

The post Making More Space for Women in Gaming appeared first on Education and Career News.

Lynzie Wagaman

Sophomore, Major: Esports Management, Production, and Performance, Harrisburg University of Science and Technology

The first piece of advice I would give to students interested in a career in gaming is to be passionate. Entering the gaming industry can be a daunting task as there are many ways to go about it, but having an intense passion is necessary to be successful. You can learn new skills, but you can’t learn passion. Another piece of advice I would give is to be able to take and give constructive criticism. In esports, most people you talk to want to see you thrive. Any advice or criticism given will strengthen your work and skills, helping you even more as you grow in your career.

I didn’t always know I wanted to enter the gaming industry; I almost became an architect. I’m still currently carving my path within the gaming industry, however I know I want to work in the esports (competitive gaming) side of the industry. When I learned about how big esports had become a few years ago, I found I really wanted to work in the esports industry to ensure its longevity. From there, I decided my career goals would involve esports and gaming which is why I enrolled at Harrisburg University where I feel I can achieve those goals during my undergraduate studies. Currently, I am researching more roles in team management, partnerships, and live events to try and find my eventual end career.

Michael J. Lee, Ph.D.

Asst. Professor, Dept. of Informatics, New Jersey Institute of Technology

When talking to students, most only think about the development/programming, testing, and art careers. There are so many additional aspects of gaming that they overlook. The lesser known jobs that students gravitate towards after they learn about them include game designer (concept, storyline, characters), animator, and user experience designer (controls, interface). I have also seen some students go into localization (i.e., translation), and audio engineering (sound effects), and composition (music). One last thing that students tend not to realize is that they do not have to necessarily make games themselves, but they can create the tools that the industry uses to produce games. 

Games themselves are becoming more diverse, complex, and immersive. No matter your interests, there is probably some part of the gaming industry that can benefit from your expertise. While there is currently a lack of diversity in the industry, it is something that they are aware of and (many) are trying to address. You can be a part of the solution by pursuing a career in gaming and actively advocating for more diversity.

The post Advice for Students Interested in Gaming Careers appeared first on Education and Career News.

“Some of my first memories around video gaming were being in a store with my dad, and he asked me what color I wanted,” said Djarii, a partner with Elgato, a provider of hardware and software for content creators. “I didn’t know what my father was talking about. I just said ‘yellow.’ I ended up with a Game Boy in Pokemon yellow.”

Part of an extended family

For Djarii and countless others, gaming has served as a much-needed respite from life’s daily problems.

“As a kid, I was bullied and excluded a lot, so gaming became my escape,” she said. “Even in high school I was bullied. I would so look forward to going home and logging on and playing with my guildies, and feeling like this is some place where I fit in.”

Girl power

Women supporting other women is personal for Djarii. It’s no secret women face their own set of challenges when it comes to the gaming space and content creation. It’s so important to stick up for them, and call out toxic behavior. “It’s really tough being in this space. I should know,” Djarii said. “At the start, I didn’t have many allies. It’s lonely, so be an ally, and create this network of women.”

Djarii believes in protecting and taking care of each other. “We need to go above and beyond and out of our way to look out for our fellow ladies in this space.”

Reaching out to others

Djarii says it’s essential that minorities in the gaming community be recognized. 

“I think it’s super important to see LGBTQ characters. You know, there are a lot of games where you feel like you can’t relate to the protagonist, and that’s isolating. That’s why it’s important to create characters that relate to all of us.” 

A woman of many talents

Djarii’s roots on Twitch, like many, began in gaming. She participates in video games in numerous genres, from mmorpg to fps. Currently, Djarii is best known for her creative body art content. 

In 2017, Djarii began combining her talents for drawing, gaming, and makeup, and introduced bodypainting to a new audience through Twitch. In 2018, she became one of Twitch’s first ambassadors.

As for her work in gaming, Djarii reiterated, “It’s so important to see a part of you in the characters you play, and it goes a long way in terms of making you feel like you’re a part of this community. Gaming has always been this safe space for us. It’s a place to get away from the real world, and there shouldn’t be anyone who’s not invited.”

The post A New Era of Gaming Starts with a More Diverse Industry appeared first on Education and Career News.

Many people think the gaming industry is not a place for women, or that men are the only ones playing games. While there are undoubtedly numerous challenges associated with being a woman in a field that used to be male-dominated, it does not mean that women are uninterested in gaming.

I do not want to underplay the severe issues regarding gender discrimination — it is very much a real thing, extensively documented, and a problem that we as a society are still trying to figure out. However, as we look to the future and the potential career opportunities that lie ahead for our children, it is also important to consider the past. There was a time when women were not taught to read or write, but now literacy is for everyone, and the great rise of literary women does not diminish the contributions of men. 

Gaming is in a stage of transition, and while the industry has yet to catch up in terms of female representation in the workforce, studies of actual game players indicate that the gender differences that we once thought existed no longer apply. 

These changes are relatively recent — just 15 years ago, scholars were reporting that women are motivated to play social games, while men are more likely to be achievement-oriented. In my own research, I have tried to identify these gender differences and I just can’t find it. If anything, I found that for certain games, women are more achievement-motivated than men, and that men are equally as wanting of social interactions as women. 

Changing times

The field of gaming, just as with most areas of our society, is evolving. As the proportion of women players has increased over the past decade, play motivations have changed as well. 

If anything, generalizing the effects of gender is problematic as a whole. Gender is at least in part a social construct and is heavily dependent on the contextual norms of a particular virtual environment, which include the culture and mechanics of the game. Some women may like casual and collaborative games, and others may be more interested in competitive games, and there are many different types of games in between. 

If you have any doubts about women’s performance, hop on to Twitch and watch professional players, such as AnneMunition, snipe enemies faster than your eyes can identify them.

But it is also important to remember that a career in gaming does not equate with becoming a star player. If you think about the sports industry, star players only represent a fraction of who works in the field. Similarly, in gaming, there are graphic designers, programmers, script writers, marketers, usability testers… the list goes on, and because gaming is evolving, there will be new careers in this field that don’t exist today.
For example, commercial VR games did not exist until a decade ago. Professional gaming, or esports, has a 20-some year history. Given that the game industry is larger than the sports and film industries combined, it seems silly that one would dismiss an entire lucrative field under the misconception that it is unsuitable for women.

The post Why Now Is the Time for Women in Gaming appeared first on Education and Career News.

Brian Kunde

Culture and Operations Director, GaymerX

Why are there still so few LGBTQIA+ characters and storylines in video games?

There’s two things that come up frequently. The first is some major studios aren’t willing to break from a long history of narratives that focus on cisgender, heterosexual, and usually white male leads. This is further complicated by a desire to stick with stories that are a fit for a variety of international markets. This means we often get secondary or tertiary LGBTQIA+ characters that can easily be removed or changed from one localization to the next without impactful storylines. Just existing in the game isn’t always enough; these characters should contribute to the story as their whole selves. 

The second I hear often is many are concerned about making mistakes in writing these kinds of characters. So much so that they aren’t willing to leave their comfort zone. I understand their desire to not do harm, but if so few are willing to take the risks and do the work, nothing changes!

There has been some backlash from fans with video games having harmful or random LGBTQIA+ storylines. How can game developers do better when it comes to implementing these stories?

First and foremost: Hire LGBTQIA+ people for your team. Not just writers, but also designers, developers, coders, marketing folks, project managers, etc. We’re a community with a lot of unique perspectives. The more of those perspectives you include at all stages of game design, the more likely you are to get thoughtful and nuanced representation. 

Second, hire sensitivity readers. These are professionals who will review your game’s content and provide feedback on how it might be received by the communities you’re trying to represent. They’ll often provide suggestions on ways to improve things, too. Sensitivity readers are especially important when working on characters with multiple, intersecting identities, including sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, physical ability, mental ability, and so forth. 

What impact have you seen from well-implemented and thought-out LGBTQIA+ character storylines? How does it impact the community?

Like all good media, it helps LGBTQIA+ gamers create a shared cultural narrative that affirms their identity. We put on a panel series at other conferences in 2019, called “Queer Quests,” that gathered LGBTQIA+ folks in the industry to discuss games that were big influences in exploring their identity. 

Without fail, the same handful of games came up time and time again because they were games that have done LGBTQIA+ storylines well. These games were touchstones not just for our panelists, but also for our audience. We heard time and time again how the games that “did it right” validated folks and helped them embrace who they are.

The post Why the Gaming Industry Needs More LGBTQIA+ Representation appeared first on Education and Career News.

“I basically played games my whole life, so you could say I’ve been training for this for a long time,” joked the 30-year-old Southern California native, who reportedly signed a multi-year deal with the streaming service Twitch in fall 2020.

Dabbling in gaming 

“At the risk of aging myself terribly, I don’t think anyone my age thought they’d grow up streaming games as a career; streaming video games didn’t really exist when we were kids,” AnneMunition explained. “Of course, we all grew up playing games, and the idea of being able to play them as a career was a fantasy any ’90s gamer kid would have, but it never resembled reality for me.” 

What drew AnneMunition to gaming were the friendships she made in that world that seemed to evade her at school. 

In college, gaming took a backseat to classwork and the multiple jobs she held to pay for her education. Still, AnneMunition occasionally played Halo 3 in her dormitory, and at this point in her life, it, too, helped her forge bonds with others who shared her love for gaming. 

“I actually met one of my best friends in university because he had heard I played Halo and came to my door with an Xbox controller and a challenge to 1v1,” she said. “At that time, I wasn’t even aware of Twitch’s existence and I was only tangentially aware of video gaming creators on YouTube.”

Trying out Twitch

When AnneMunition graduated from college and nabbed a job doing in-house user interface and user experience (UI/UX) work, some of her coworkers introduced her to Minecraft, which led her to explore Twitch and discover other gamers, like herself, creating videos on YouTube. It was then that she began to dip her toes into streaming — a step that eventually led her to dive into the deep end with this hobby.

“I would work eight or nine hours and come home to stream for three to four hours each weekday, then stream another eight hours each day on my weekends,” AnneMunition said. “It all kind of snowballed from there, and I realized I needed to make more time in my day to fully commit to streaming in order to grow my channel and online presence.”

Deciding to leave the security of her traditional job for a less-conventional one in streaming gave her pause, so she turned to her mom for guidance. 

“My mom has always been my biggest supporter and a big believer in following your heart,”

“I would work eight or nine hours and come home to stream for three to four hours each weekday, then stream another eight hours each day on my weekends,” AnneMunition said. “It all kind of snowballed from there, and I realized I needed to make more time in my day to fully commit to streaming in order to grow my channel and online presence.”

said. “She encouraged me to take a leap of faith, to try something daring and new, and that I could always go back to a more standard job if I didn’t enjoy streaming anymore or find success in it. 

“Now,” AnneMunition added, “it’s about six years later and my life has been forever changed by this crazy job.”

Encouraging diversity and inclusivity 

In the period she’s worked as a gamer, AnneMunition has learned a thing or two about what does and doesn’t help when it comes to creating a more representative gaming industry. 

Simply put, grand gestures by corporations aren’t as impactful as one might think, she argued. Instead, content creators like herself can make positive differences on a grassroots level. 

“I personally prefer the kinds of systemic change that come from content creators and industry professionals choosing to embrace diversity on a daily basis in who they collaborate with and how they encourage positive conversations around diversity to their audiences,” AnneMunition explained.

She pointed out that creators like herself have sizable audiences and, because they’re often looked up to, they can use that influence for good.

“While I don’t feel every content creator has a personal responsibility to be a holy and virtuous leader for their fans,” AnneMunition said, “I have seen many great creators who quietly and deliberately involve a diverse variety of other content creators in their content, people who actively search out others of varying backgrounds to befriend and play games with, and those small acts can build into something really meaningful in the long run.”

Owning her social responsibility

These days, AnneMunition is mindful of the fact that her followers are looking to her for inspiration, especially as the world rides out the remainder of the COVID-19 pandemic. But she wants her followers to know she’s human, too.

“While it’s true that being a content creator has certain advantages, like being able to work from home, set our own schedules, and of course play video games all day, it also has its own challenges,” AnneMunition explained. “Often we bear the weight of responsibility knowing that our streams are crucially important to the mental health of our viewers, especially with everyone quarantining due to the pandemic.”

AnneMunition noted she’s a person with “anxieties” and mental health challenges, too. None of that goes away just because you’re in front of a screen. 

“My job requires me to do my best to put on a smile and be entertaining when I may not feel it,” she said. 

Not to mention, with the perks come some unexpected downsides. 

“Many of the content creators I know work pretty extreme hours and rarely take even a single day off for months at a time. It can be incredibly difficult for streamers to force themselves to create a healthy work/life balance with a job that seemingly benefits from you being always online,” AnneMunition said. “Add to that a never-ending deluge of negative comments, criticisms, and people who make online trolling their full-time hobby, and it can be very tough mentally and emotionally.” 

At the same time, AnneMunition streams for the positive participants, not the trolls, and she noted that the former type of audience member is more prevalent than the latter. She hopes this message of positivity shines through and compels others to create hamlets of safety and inclusivity for their audiences.

“Toxicity as a behavior is just like a chemical toxin that travels along the pathways created by our overlapping audiences,” AnneMunition said, “but so can we effect positive change by encouraging good viewers to share their positivity with others and to speak out against harassment and toxicity.”

The post Professional Gamer “AnneMunition” on the Power of Positivity for Encouraging Inclusivity appeared first on Education and Career News.