Gaming pros working to pique girls' interest in tech industry
SEATTLE -- Gamers gathered for the World Cyber Games are the best of the best. The competitors are smart, competitive and almost all men.
"(It's) really intense, a lot of money on the line particularly for guys who are typically high school or college age," said Geoff Robinson of Team USA.
While it's hard to find many women here among the top video game players in the world. They latest market research shows that at home, 40 percent of the people playing video games are women.
Christa Phillips, who works for the Web site Xbox.com, is trying to rally as many women as she can.
"Women are intimidated by competitive gaming at least to get involved in World Cyber Games," said Phillips. "As far as getting into the industry, I think it's a symptom of women not getting into computer science."
Phillips is part of a group at the games encouraging women to go from playing to creating.
"The more that get into the games industry, the more they are involved in actually make the games, the more the games are going to appeal to women," said Phillips.
But before women can make it in the industry, Phillips said more girls need to stick with math and science.
Game developers can take home a pretty nice paycheck -- more than $77,000 a year on average.
"I could actually make them. I could make a decent living. I could have an impact. I could change the gaming world," said Phillips.
And women programmers may even be able to change who takes home the world title.
"(It's) really intense, a lot of money on the line particularly for guys who are typically high school or college age," said Geoff Robinson of Team USA.
While it's hard to find many women here among the top video game players in the world. They latest market research shows that at home, 40 percent of the people playing video games are women.
Christa Phillips, who works for the Web site Xbox.com, is trying to rally as many women as she can.
"Women are intimidated by competitive gaming at least to get involved in World Cyber Games," said Phillips. "As far as getting into the industry, I think it's a symptom of women not getting into computer science."
Phillips is part of a group at the games encouraging women to go from playing to creating.
"The more that get into the games industry, the more they are involved in actually make the games, the more the games are going to appeal to women," said Phillips.
But before women can make it in the industry, Phillips said more girls need to stick with math and science.
Game developers can take home a pretty nice paycheck -- more than $77,000 a year on average.
"I could actually make them. I could make a decent living. I could have an impact. I could change the gaming world," said Phillips.
And women programmers may even be able to change who takes home the world title.