nature more complex, iterative and collaborative. Even so, she recognises that people from outside games have much to contribute, to the degree that it should be the duty of everyone within gaming to invite them with open arms. “It’s really important that we try to do that if we’re


going to deal with the skills issues that we have. We’re going to have to think differently and laterally about how we address them.”


MINDING THE GAP Opie’s passion for inclusion and diversity naturally includes getting more women and those from disadvantaged economic backgrounds into the games industry, which she believes is achievable in simple and practical ways.


“Cultures are living breathing things. They constantly need to be looked after. You constantly need to make sure that people feel that they can speak out and that they’re heard”


20 | MCV/DEVELOP June 2022


“One of the first things we’ve been looking at is how


we rewrite our job descriptions, so that they are more appealing and women feel more able to apply for roles. And that we’re not using some of the language that has traditionally been used for game studios. We’ve been making sure that the skills and competencies we’re asking for are not skewed towards a more male group of people. You know, it’s very easy to tip into asking something that endorses an application from somebody who’s been in the industry for a long, long time. So I think that’s really important. One of the pieces of research we’ve done – and I think this is probably true in television, too – is that it can be harder to bring in a broad and diverse set into the creative sector, because your career path is not as clear as it is in other industries. From a socio economic perspective it can be less attractive because you look at the industry and go ‘blimey, that looks difficult. Do I need a PhD from an Oxford university? And what do you earn? And where, and how do you progress?’ All of those kinds of concerns make our industry less easy to access and less open. “What we’re really keen to do is to be really clear


about what career paths you can take and how you can progress from one role or discipline to another, how you could come into QA but look to move over into a programming role. We’re exploring ways in which we can use learning and apprenticeships to support some of that movement as well.“


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