News

Microsoft and 343 Industries taking hard stance on sexism
Posted: 31.10.2012 16:25 by JonahFalcon Comments: 3
Bonnie Ross.
343 Industries head Bonnie Ross along with Halo 4 executive producer Kiki Wolfkill are taking a hard stance against sexist behavior and will be monitoring and banning players who generate that kind of abuse in Halo 4 multiplayer.

According to Ross, anti-woman behavior has been on the rise. "I've seen many of the sites that have documented some of the more gender-specific slanderous comments," she reported, "This is behaviour that is offensive and completely unacceptable. I'd like to think most of our Xbox Live players don't support this kind of behaviour."

Wolfkill noted that most of the abuse are coming from teens. "It can be dangerous to give adolescents a broadcast mechanism. There are always going to be jerks out there, and if you give them a way to express that side of their personality without being seen, you're going to see this type of behaviour manifest itself," he noted.

Ross notes that many are surprised that she is a woman in her position at 343 Industries.

"Most people look at a franchise like Halo, and automatically assume it's run by a guy," she elated, "People are surprised to learn that it's a woman who's running the Halo 4 show. When Microsoft created 343 Industries to take over Halo, I was given first choice to run the studio because I had proven myself. My gender played no part in it."

Halo 4 is due to be released next week on the 6th November for Xbox 360.
Source: GameSpot
Related games: Halo 4 (Xbox360)

Comments

By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 31, 2012
herodotus
The photo hardly gives the woman justice, but my feeling is that the root cause for this 'sexism' is the issue that needs adsressing, not the prevalence of it.
My take: with Women's Lib there were great advances made for women in all areas of their lives (which many actually say was a bad thing - their view, not mine). The trouble is, there has been no likewise support for the development in men's lives so many feel quite threatened, and with good reason. While many argue that women are paid less etc., etc. they have powered ahead in other areas, leaving men in the dust.
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on Nov 01, 2012
SiyaenSokol
Very good point herodotus.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on Nov 01, 2012
JonahFalcon
Women not getting paid for the same exact jobs as men is a serious issue. The number of prominent female developers and videogame industry execs you can count on one hand.