EQ2_Bloggers
08-23-2010, 11:02 PM
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Lesly is a Quality Assurance supervisor, a woman, and a talented musician.* She has worked for SOE since 2006, and took some time to sit down with me for a short question and answer session for the G.I.R.L. blog.
[Emily] Give us a summary of your background, and how you got into the games industry.
Before I was in the industry, I was never really a gamer, although I had lots of experience with computers because my father was a software engineer.* I used to do extensive IRC scripting and similar things, but games weren’t really on the radar.* However, a friend of mine who worked in the training department of SOE thought that I might be good for a Quality Assurance (“QA”) position because of my computing experience. I applied for the job and joined to test the launch of Dark Kingdom, a PS3 game launched in 2006.* I was originally told that I might only be needed for a short contract until Dark Kingdom launched, but when it released my contract was extended and I ended up moving to EverQuest II at the end of 2006.* I worked on the EQII team for a year and a half, covering the Echoes of Faydwer and Rise of Kunark expansions. *After that, I was invited to join the Free Realms QA team as the web presence specialist, a newly created position where I worked closely with the platform group as well as the design team.* Following the launch of Free Realms, I was promoted to a supervisor position for the EverQuest and EverQuest II QA teams.* Almost 2 years later, I’m still essentially in that role, although with expanded responsibilities.
[Emily] Tell us a bit about the area of gaming you’re currently involved in – for example, what is your job title, what do you do on a day-to-day basis?
My job title is QA Supervisor, and I’m responsible for the QA teams that work on EverQuest, EverQuest II, and our upcoming release, Clone Wars Adventures.* I supervise about 42 people, and handle everything on the personnel side, including staffing, interviewing, disciplining, and generally making sure staffers have what they need.* I do some project management also, and generally facilitate the line of communications between development and QA teams, help the QA leads in scheduling, overtime estimates, etc.* Also, I seem to have become the resident party planner, arranging QA team activities, Christmas parties and similar events!
[Emily] How common is it to find women working in your specific area of gaming?
It’s definitely more common now than when I first started here in 2006.* I try to ensure there is a reasonable balance of good female testers on each game to give a well-rounded perspective when testing.
[Emily] Do you feel that being a woman helps or hinders you at work, if at all?
I think it helps because in the position I’m in, I’m kind of viewed as “mother hen.”* I think the people I supervise are more likely to come talk to me about things that are bothering them than my male counterparts, and on some they level may feel more comfortable sharing personal details with me that they might not feel comfortable sharing with a male.* I try to be sensitive to their needs and believe the most important part of helping the teams run smoothly is definitely maintaining their trust.
[Emily]* What types of games do you enjoy playing?* What do you do in your spare time?
Since becoming a supervisor, I don’t have nearly as much time to play games as I used to, but I tend to enjoy adventure and puzzle type games, criminal psychology games and mind puzzles.* Some of my favorite games are Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion.* I also enjoy Rock Band, particularly because I’m in a band myself called Gear. *We’re a pop/punk blend and we do a mix of covers and originals.* 90% of the band works in the gaming industry, so we don’t get a lot of opportunities to write original pieces, but we play as often as we can.* I normally write the lyrics, the guys write the music. When you come home from a long day of testing games, sometimes the last thing you want to do to relax is play more games, so the band is a great break from working on computers all day.
[Emily] What gaming work have you done that you are most proud of?
I would say the testing of the EverQuest II epic quests, which were introduced shortly after the launch of the Rise of Kunark expansion.* I had been doing just regular day-to-day testing prior to that, but I took on an administrative role coordinating the testing of the epics.* Being on such a high profile project was really good experience, and I believe it’s the one thing that projected me into the position I’m in now and gave me a chance to show I could do more than just test, and also could lead and delegate.
[Emily] Can you describe any particularly positive or negative experiences working in the industry that you feel are specifically related to your being female?
I’m such a tomboy and I get along easily with guys so I’ve always felt pretty comfortable fitting in, even though the industry is still largely male.* I guess one thing on the positive side is the “mother hen” thing, which is very helpful.* I frequently get told I’m approachable, and I think that being a woman is a big factor in that.
[Emily] Which issues (if any) do you feel are most important to women either working or playing in gaming these days?
I think the most important thing is for their ideas to be heard, and to be considered just as valid as anything a guy can come up with.* I have found that whether in development or QA, women tend more often to have a sense of what is really beautiful and to be more discriminating on a polish level. It also seems to come more naturally to them to be good at identifying what other women and children would like to play.* Now that we’re getting into more game genres where women or children are the target audience, I think women are particularly good at figuring out what will get these audiences excited. Having more of these perspectives is really important to get younger girls more involved in gaming, as this is an audience that hasn’t been so involved in the past.
[Emily] How do you think that the game industry in general might attract more women, both to work within the industry, and to play more games in general?
I think we’re helping already by bringing female points of view into gaming, thereby creating more female gamers, some of whom then realize this is something you can do as a career.* Not being a gamer when I was younger, it is not something I was ever aware of as a career, so it was lucky that I ended up in this industry. The more we create female-friendly games the more women we will attract to work in the industry.* While the rate of women coming into the industry to get jobs is still fairly low, it’s significantly higher than it was a few years ago.
[Emily] What specific actions (if any) would you encourage women working in gaming to take in order to make the industry more friendly to women?
That’s a hard question to answer as individual situations are different for everybody, but in general I think we need to do whatever we can to raise awareness that there are many careers possible for women in the gaming industry.* I participated in a panel at SOE’s Fan Faire this year about how to break into the game industry, and the speakers on the panel are about 90% women.* I hope we can encourage female players to see it’s not a career that’s just for men, and set that example for them.
[Emily]* Any other thoughts you’d like to share about women, gaming, or what it means to you to be a woman in gaming?
I think that women should not be afraid to come into this industry; in fact, they should* feel empowered and see all the opportunities that are available for women, because now with all the games coming out aimed at women and kids it’s so important for companies to have that point of view.* I think more companies will be seeking women in all levels of position for that reason – not just entry level but also supervisory and creative positions.* There are amazing opportunities and SOE is a great example of that.* Take a look at the people involved in some of our recent projects and it’s amazing how many women were involved in getting them out the door.
- Emily “Domino” Taylor
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Visit This Blog Page... (http://stationblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/g-i-r-l-talk-with-lesly-irwin/)
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Lesly is a Quality Assurance supervisor, a woman, and a talented musician.* She has worked for SOE since 2006, and took some time to sit down with me for a short question and answer session for the G.I.R.L. blog.
[Emily] Give us a summary of your background, and how you got into the games industry.
Before I was in the industry, I was never really a gamer, although I had lots of experience with computers because my father was a software engineer.* I used to do extensive IRC scripting and similar things, but games weren’t really on the radar.* However, a friend of mine who worked in the training department of SOE thought that I might be good for a Quality Assurance (“QA”) position because of my computing experience. I applied for the job and joined to test the launch of Dark Kingdom, a PS3 game launched in 2006.* I was originally told that I might only be needed for a short contract until Dark Kingdom launched, but when it released my contract was extended and I ended up moving to EverQuest II at the end of 2006.* I worked on the EQII team for a year and a half, covering the Echoes of Faydwer and Rise of Kunark expansions. *After that, I was invited to join the Free Realms QA team as the web presence specialist, a newly created position where I worked closely with the platform group as well as the design team.* Following the launch of Free Realms, I was promoted to a supervisor position for the EverQuest and EverQuest II QA teams.* Almost 2 years later, I’m still essentially in that role, although with expanded responsibilities.
[Emily] Tell us a bit about the area of gaming you’re currently involved in – for example, what is your job title, what do you do on a day-to-day basis?
My job title is QA Supervisor, and I’m responsible for the QA teams that work on EverQuest, EverQuest II, and our upcoming release, Clone Wars Adventures.* I supervise about 42 people, and handle everything on the personnel side, including staffing, interviewing, disciplining, and generally making sure staffers have what they need.* I do some project management also, and generally facilitate the line of communications between development and QA teams, help the QA leads in scheduling, overtime estimates, etc.* Also, I seem to have become the resident party planner, arranging QA team activities, Christmas parties and similar events!
[Emily] How common is it to find women working in your specific area of gaming?
It’s definitely more common now than when I first started here in 2006.* I try to ensure there is a reasonable balance of good female testers on each game to give a well-rounded perspective when testing.
[Emily] Do you feel that being a woman helps or hinders you at work, if at all?
I think it helps because in the position I’m in, I’m kind of viewed as “mother hen.”* I think the people I supervise are more likely to come talk to me about things that are bothering them than my male counterparts, and on some they level may feel more comfortable sharing personal details with me that they might not feel comfortable sharing with a male.* I try to be sensitive to their needs and believe the most important part of helping the teams run smoothly is definitely maintaining their trust.
[Emily]* What types of games do you enjoy playing?* What do you do in your spare time?
Since becoming a supervisor, I don’t have nearly as much time to play games as I used to, but I tend to enjoy adventure and puzzle type games, criminal psychology games and mind puzzles.* Some of my favorite games are Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion.* I also enjoy Rock Band, particularly because I’m in a band myself called Gear. *We’re a pop/punk blend and we do a mix of covers and originals.* 90% of the band works in the gaming industry, so we don’t get a lot of opportunities to write original pieces, but we play as often as we can.* I normally write the lyrics, the guys write the music. When you come home from a long day of testing games, sometimes the last thing you want to do to relax is play more games, so the band is a great break from working on computers all day.
[Emily] What gaming work have you done that you are most proud of?
I would say the testing of the EverQuest II epic quests, which were introduced shortly after the launch of the Rise of Kunark expansion.* I had been doing just regular day-to-day testing prior to that, but I took on an administrative role coordinating the testing of the epics.* Being on such a high profile project was really good experience, and I believe it’s the one thing that projected me into the position I’m in now and gave me a chance to show I could do more than just test, and also could lead and delegate.
[Emily] Can you describe any particularly positive or negative experiences working in the industry that you feel are specifically related to your being female?
I’m such a tomboy and I get along easily with guys so I’ve always felt pretty comfortable fitting in, even though the industry is still largely male.* I guess one thing on the positive side is the “mother hen” thing, which is very helpful.* I frequently get told I’m approachable, and I think that being a woman is a big factor in that.
[Emily] Which issues (if any) do you feel are most important to women either working or playing in gaming these days?
I think the most important thing is for their ideas to be heard, and to be considered just as valid as anything a guy can come up with.* I have found that whether in development or QA, women tend more often to have a sense of what is really beautiful and to be more discriminating on a polish level. It also seems to come more naturally to them to be good at identifying what other women and children would like to play.* Now that we’re getting into more game genres where women or children are the target audience, I think women are particularly good at figuring out what will get these audiences excited. Having more of these perspectives is really important to get younger girls more involved in gaming, as this is an audience that hasn’t been so involved in the past.
[Emily] How do you think that the game industry in general might attract more women, both to work within the industry, and to play more games in general?
I think we’re helping already by bringing female points of view into gaming, thereby creating more female gamers, some of whom then realize this is something you can do as a career.* Not being a gamer when I was younger, it is not something I was ever aware of as a career, so it was lucky that I ended up in this industry. The more we create female-friendly games the more women we will attract to work in the industry.* While the rate of women coming into the industry to get jobs is still fairly low, it’s significantly higher than it was a few years ago.
[Emily] What specific actions (if any) would you encourage women working in gaming to take in order to make the industry more friendly to women?
That’s a hard question to answer as individual situations are different for everybody, but in general I think we need to do whatever we can to raise awareness that there are many careers possible for women in the gaming industry.* I participated in a panel at SOE’s Fan Faire this year about how to break into the game industry, and the speakers on the panel are about 90% women.* I hope we can encourage female players to see it’s not a career that’s just for men, and set that example for them.
[Emily]* Any other thoughts you’d like to share about women, gaming, or what it means to you to be a woman in gaming?
I think that women should not be afraid to come into this industry; in fact, they should* feel empowered and see all the opportunities that are available for women, because now with all the games coming out aimed at women and kids it’s so important for companies to have that point of view.* I think more companies will be seeking women in all levels of position for that reason – not just entry level but also supervisory and creative positions.* There are amazing opportunities and SOE is a great example of that.* Take a look at the people involved in some of our recent projects and it’s amazing how many women were involved in getting them out the door.
- Emily “Domino” Taylor
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Visit This Blog Page... (http://stationblog.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/g-i-r-l-talk-with-lesly-irwin/)
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