So, is there a "full" article to be had somewhere or is this all there is?
I'll continue to judge programmers by skill, but we need to broaden the potential recruit base to get all the talents, regardless of gender.

Funny how everybody are so politically correct with their comments....well you go where the wind takes you I guess....

Males are more logic then women and I think that women are more creative then men so it's probably good to have her there. Also strange to hear about a women that's good at math and science (I like math but I'm not very good at it )
And shes good at her job too!

Congrats Carielf

I think people are actually missing the point. While I totally agree someone should get praise for their merits, which Cari certainly deserves, she also had to travel a different path.

Think of it this way guys - what if you joined a sewing club? You would be the only guy there. Now, there is nothing wrong with sewing but guys don't go into that field so your blazing away at it.

In my physics classes, we had 1 girl out of 10 students. Are girls dumber? No. It's just that because it's always a "man's" place that they don't go into that field. I'm sure in years they'll be a ton of lady programmers.

Sorry, but awake all night working. Even in my field (Space Program), the woman commander gets all the news (She deserves it too)

Space program? Aren't you guys in dire straits about now? Should you really be whiling your time away on Galciv2 ?

"Males are more logic then women" well at least cari must be more skilled in english but seriously speaking, it doesn't matter much what the average of a sex is since individuals are doing the work anyway. Cari might be more "logic" than 99.9% of men. She's not less logical or worse designer, nor better either, no matter what the average talent is. That's why it's useless to bring up some generalization. Better be polite and embrace the facts that we know (galciv2 is great etc) than speculate why and how Cari is bad. It has this slightly racist flavour in it even if "woman" is not a race per se.

I don't agree with that one. this news article may show to other females around the world that being a game lead developper is at least possible and females really have something to bring in an industry dominated by male

Although this may have been true when feminist and civil rights movements were getting underway and some saw uncertaintly in what a women could do its not the same in the contemporary world. Or Atleast the western 'civilized' world. Females are less reluctant to go into primarily male dominated areas and males into female dominated areas, nurses, stewards, men looking after the family while the women has a career etc. Its not abnormal, but the ratio isnt equal either. The ultra exciting world of software development should be no different

Also strange to hear about a women that's good at math and science

Go to a university there are a lot of women that excel in both subject areas. Depends where you are, you could be out in the middle of the American doustbowl or the South, not too many intelligent people will hang around there for long. They tend to move up in the world fast leaving the plebians in the dust.

CariElf:

I don't think like a lot of other programmers. It's more of a creative process than a logical process.

I try to use the attention I get for good and not evil, as it were.

From this I take it you are a chaotic good Elf.

That's why it's useless to bring up some generalization.

Nope. Generalizations come from the truth.

Better be polite and embrace the facts that we know (galciv2 is great etc) than speculate why and how Cari is bad

Didn't say shes bad.

All of you are a bunch of frakkin tards. Every single dude with a comment on how men are better than women has displayed linguistic incompetence to go with their gross ignorance. Do everybody a favor, stfu because I don't want you amateur sociopolitical philosophers representing my nuts.

Cari, great job. There _is_ discrimination in this world. Don't feel like you have to talk it down because of these bozos. Girls need you because democracy depends on every brain cell we can get.

I had no idea, I thought Brad was the lead developer.

We don't have much hierarchy here.  Brad is the Designer/Project Manager, which means that he's got the final word.  Lead Developer/Programmer isn't really a management title, at least at this point.  People will come to ask me questions before they go to Brad because I've had the most experience and I'm the most familiar with the majority of the code used in GC2, but I'll also consult with the other developers when I'm trying to figure out the best way to do something.  We try to hire people who work well independantly and in a team, and who don't need to be micromanaged. 

So, is there a "full" article to be had somewhere or is this all there is?

Nope.  We talked about a lot more stuff than is actually in the article, and she wrote down a lot of stuff that didn't make it in to the article, so it ended up being more of a feel good article than one talking about getting women more involved in math and science and stuff that I thought that she would write about. 

 

Being the lead developer on a successful project of this scope for someone so young (27) is a major accomplishment! Congrats Cari!

... I created a Barbie race because the irony was so hilarious," she said. The race is complete with pink and white spaceships emblazoned with the Mattel logo, ...

Wasn't it said somewhere in the forums that in a future update we would be able to add logos to our ships? Will that be in v1.2?

We talked about a lot more stuff than is actually in the article, and she wrote down a lot of stuff that didn't make it in to the article, so it ended up being more of a feel good article than one talking about getting women more involved in math and science and stuff that I thought that she would write about.

I have four daughters and would love sometime to get the whole picture.

Thanks for being the anti-Barbie ("Math is hard") role model.

Chiming in once again...

That's why it's useless to bring up some generalization. Nope. Generalizations come from the truth.

Generalisations may come from some truth. Even so its certainly not the whole truth or something that is representative of the whole issue. Thats why they are called generalisations, they are inheranlty innacurrate. Grouping people together and then labelling them all based on some factor by which they can all be defined as belonging to that group irrespective of the individual. Its like saying American men are overweight it might be true for some of them, but not for all. So your answer only covers half the issue.

Damn the American 'Z' ism.

I wish physicians got as much fan mail and appreciation about the job they do as game developers get, male, female or alien. Game developers seem to have aquired some sort of quasi-celebrity status in the eyes of adoring fans because they provided a product that keeps them entertained for long periods of time, not becasue they make a significant difference to society. There a splash of cold water to put things in perspective.

Medicine is still gender-biased (for example, most drugs don't receive equal testing for women before hitting the market), so doctors of any sex are actually perpetuating social inequality.

Also, you're on a video game site. If you wanted to see people admiring poltiical activists or doctors, spend more time on sites dedicated to those topics. I could easily come on here and pontificate on the significant intellectual contriibutions of Patricia Collins or cultural contributions of Kathy Acker, two women I deeply admire -- but I don't imagine the other readers here would get much out of it. If you're in a place dedicated to games, you're going to find people who admire those who design games.

That said, congratulations Cari - someone earlier suggested it should be for making a good game, not for being a woman, becasue that would be superficial. i don't think it's superificial to congradulate you for being a strong and liberated woman. So you get congrats on two points.

I agree though, it did read like a "feel good" piece.

I work in a software company and I'm a Computer Engineer and all I can say is it is good to have positive examples of women doing well in a field dominated by males. Many of my undergrad courses had only five females versus fifty males. At work it's even worse as we have no female software or system engineers, the only women are in administration and HR. I'm against legislated equal employment as it too often leads to companies hiring someone of lesser skill only because they have to maintain a certain number of minorities or a balanced sex ratio. That said I applaud someone willing to take the risk of breaking into a hostile job environment, whatever you want to do, there should not be barriers preventing you from getting there, if you are talented enough to get there.

Sure males may do the job better in some cases (and maybe only because we've seen far too few examples of females, good or bad, not to mention many females were unfairly restricted by closed-minded individuals around/above them) but
I do think Cari does deserve special recognition as a role model for younger females interested in a job market that can be intimidating and hard to break into. Good job, not only for being a capable software engineer, but also your willingness to participate in things like job fairs.

Great game, great job!
i don't care if its build by a male or female, i just want to play great games.
Pink barbie stuff?? mattel? the evil Overlord Ken strikes again? (hahaha, yep great games have humor too.)
barbie versus the purple furry whoozies... using soft, nice and cute fluffy rockets to kill the enemy. errrm...
ok. maybe a good idea not to put that into the game.

great job on the game AND the update!
sorry ... no time to chitchat more, need to play again !

wish physicians got as much fan mail and appreciation about the job they do as game developers get, male, female or alien. Game developers seem to have aquired some sort of quasi-celebrity status in the eyes of adoring fans because they provided a product that keeps them entertained for long periods of time, not becasue they make a significant difference to society. There a splash of cold water to put things in perspective. Medicine is still gender-biased (for example, most drugs don't receive equal testing for women before hitting the market), so doctors of any sex are actually perpetuating social inequality. Also, you're on a video game site. If you wanted to see people admiring poltiical activists or doctors, spend more time on sites dedicated to those topics. I could easily come on here and pontificate on the significant intellectual contriibutions of Patricia Collins or cultural contributions of Kathy Acker, two women I deeply admire -- but I don't imagine the other readers here would get much out of it. If you're in a place dedicated to games, you're going to find people who admire those who design games.

Oh come on i think your just arguing for the sake of it. Those in the medical profession and those in software development do their jobs, get paid for it and usually some time there after go home. The difference is, how often does a doctor get recognition for saving a life? Making research that advances the state of knowledge in the medical field? Improving someones quality of life? Do they get a news article written about them everytime they do so? There are some patients that dont even show any appreciation. No its their job just as designing software is, theyre paid to do it. So should they get any recognition at all? But are those actions more worthy of recognition than developing entertainment software, you bet it is.

Secondly of course games create fans to the cause, and yes its obvious im on a gaming website, because its the only place to reach a gaming audience. Theres also a difference between admiration of a game and fanatical following of games. But some peoples priorities have been turned upside down. Thus the core of my arguement was attempting to put things in perspective. Some pretty obvious points that a lot of you seemed to have missed, especially those referenced. Although your right about one thing if you do go to a gaming website dont expect the residents to have the same level of understanding, comprehension and the ability to grasp more complex arguements as elsewhere. That was a purposeful generalisation on my behalf.

Perhaps if i speak the native language?
"Wh47 94m3$ (4n 1 r5n?"

Cheers Cari ! For your achievements and hard work. You deserve recognition.

I am not a feminist nor anti-feminist, my philosophy is equality. Nowadays, females are doing things that used to be males only or what not. I totally support the best person for the job should have the job.

misin asks:

The difference is, how often does a doctor get recognition for saving a life? Making research that advances the state of knowledge in the medical field? Improving someones quality of life?

I'm gonna have to say annually since 1901. It is called the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine, and unlike magazine articles, this recognition comes with a great big check. You also get a cool title Nobel Laureate and the opportunity to publish your invective little screeds somewhere much more prominent than forums.galciv2.com

Oh come on i think your just arguing for the sake of it.

No I was undermining the foundation of your blanket statement (go ahead, I dare you to brag about how Brits spell that phrase). Besides, you're the one who used this forum dedicated to congradulating Cari to soapbox your philia for physicians in the first place. This ain't Trafalgar Square, so who's arguing for what sake?

Getting back to your point, which is that physicians don't get recognition... if you're a doctor and basing that assertion on personal experience, you should move. After my mom's surgery a couple years ago, I sent her sugeon and GP both flowers and hand-written letters of thanks. I know I do a little more than most people, and I know there are some real jerks out there. But if you don't get a thank you at least here an there, then there's got to be something seriously wrong with wherever it is you practice. Try working customer service if you want to know what a thankless job is like. And if you really, as you say, only care about the kinds of recognition accomplished women (or people in general) are getting, and for what accomplishments, in other words if you care about cultural priorities, there are more constructive ways to go about raising awareness. You could have said something like, "I thnk what you're doing is great, Cari. I'm always encouraged when I see an accomplished woman in the public eye. For anyone else who saw that was as inspired as I was, I thought you might be interested in this other website about empowered female role models..."

Yes, it's cheesey. But if you really care that much about changing others' values, it's the only way to go about it in an environment like this. I'm not even sure I understand the basis of your perception that people care more about game programmers than tending the sickly. I mean, inuition tells me I'd probably agree with you if I sat down to "analyse" it for myself. But the bottom line is this. Doctors do receive plenty of recognition, and it's based on their title, not idiosynratic acocmplishments as are celebrities. If you're fairly young and attractive and tell people in a night club that you're a doctor, do you think people won't fall over you?

Finally, Mr. Daniel Francis, I have to thank you for pointing out the obvious. i've never seen a clearer case of "insert foot in mouth here".

Congrats on the recognition, Cari!

Sorry those congrats seem to get sidetracked on explorations of gender and identity in the American workplace...

Seriously, it's good to see the recognition and the promoting awareness around women active in the gaming industry. For whatever it's worth, one of the most notable examples that I know of goes back a few years: Frog City based here in San Francisco churned out a number of quite good titles years back.

Rachel Bernstein was the Project Manager and Business Manager for such noteworthy Frog City titles as Imperialism, Imperialism 2, and Tropico 2, among others! They sold out (to EA, I think) a few years ago, in the interests of stabilizing the paycheck stream, but Rachel was out there in a male-dominated space and is still in the b'iness.

It's always cool to see those blazing a new trail wherever they go. I'm still waiting for the next bachelor President myself, but it may take a little while longer...

Hi Cari. I've been programming for 20+ years (not games though), and I have to tell you I am truly impressed with the depth, usability, robustness, humor and outright fun of GC2, never mind the "moddability". Great job and great game, Cari. Now I have something inspiring to share with my 9 yr. old daughter when she asks "Dad, are you playing THAT game again?".