Difference between revisions of "Sega Girls Task Force"

Revision as of 23:45, 22 October 2022

Outline

Founding

"Operation"? Production? The middle section

Research possible Sega Club connections.
At some point, the ideology behind the project shifted from "games specifically for girls" to "girl-friendly".

1995 conclusion/"Results"?/end section

Analysis and legacy

The Sega Girls Task Force was created foremost from a need to work uphill against something which seemed insurmountable, and often mirroring Sega of America's own uphill battle with Nintendo. As the then-modern Sega of America was formed largely to take on Nintendo, its way of thinking and corporate personality took on a more bold, maverick form, instilling the company with the courage to take chances that its competitor wouldn't. This scrappy, get-it-done spirit allowed for a wide range of creative ideas to spring forth, and from this environment, a project like the Sega Girls Task Force could finally see enough corporate support to be actually implemented.

While the project's acknowledgement of girls as a legitimate audience was a relative first for such a large game company, the Sega Girls Task Force received very little in the way of publicity or promotion, and with the group's legacy more apparently in the later work of team members (specifically in the realms of production practices and game design considerations).

All analysis aside, the article needs to be framed to, somewhere near the end, take a step back and say something to the effect of: hey, this is still a corporation trying to tackle gender considerations, don't read too much into it outside of being A) a time capsule of interesting SoA history, and B) a very small stepping stone in the history of gender studies. Good minds can only push limited money so far, and that extends to a company's gender understanding as well. Everyone involved did everything right and worked with passion and class, but this is a case of- something between society having progressed in our understanding of gender, and just not having enough resources allocated to get the marketing ideology to a certain point.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==Team members==
-*[[Michealene Cristini Risley]] (Executive of Licensing+Product Development, main creator)
-*[[Pamela Kelly]] (Manager of Product Marketing, Producer)
-*[[Cynthia Modders]] (Director of Licensing)
-*[[Diane Fornasier]] (VP of Marketing)
-*[[Cindy Hardgrave]] (Executive Producer)
-*[[Lydia Gable]] (Manager of Product Marketing)
 ==Outline==
@@ Line 14: / Line 7: @@
 ===1995 conclusion/"Results"?/end section===
-*Polygon quote: "Neither Risley nor Kalinske nor Kelly thinks that Sega ever got remotely close to solving the problem of girls in games. But they all point to their work at Sega as a step in trying to shift this perception of what games are or who they’re for."
-*Polygon quote: "Beyond the numbers, Risley recalls receiving letters of thanks from girls who were excited to see female characters. “They felt like they belonged,” says Risley. “I think it made them feel like they could play.” Kalinske echoes the sentiment: “I’ve heard from a number of people over the years about how our efforts helped introduce them [to games and made] video game playing acceptable for them,” he says. “They’re grateful for it. It makes me feel good.”"
 ==Analysis and legacy==
 The Sega Girls Task Force was created foremost from a need to work uphill against something which seemed insurmountable, and often mirroring [[Sega of America]]'s own uphill battle with [[Nintendo]]. As the then-modern Sega of America was formed largely to take on Nintendo, its way of thinking and corporate personality took on a more bold, maverick form, instilling the company with the courage to take chances that its competitor wouldn't. This scrappy, get-it-done spirit allowed for a wide range of creative ideas to spring forth, and from this environment, a project like the Sega Girls Task Force could finally see enough corporate support to be actually implemented.
-*All analysis aside, the article needs to be framed to, somewhere near the end, take a step back and say something to the effect of: hey, this is still a corporation trying to tackle gender considerations, don't read too much into it outside of being A) a time capsule of interesting SoA history, and B) a very small stepping stone in the history of gender studies.
+While the project's acknowledgement of girls as a legitimate audience was a relative first for such a large game company, the Sega Girls Task Force received very little in the way of publicity or promotion, and with the group's legacy more apparently in the later work of team members (specifically in the realms of production practices and game design considerations).
-*Good minds can only push limited money so far, and that extends to a company's gender understanding as well. Everyone involved did everything right and worked with passion and class, but this is a case of- something between society having progressed in our understanding of gender, and just not having enough resources allocated to get the marketing ideology to a certain point.
-*In regards to specifically targeting girls instead of using broader/more inclusive marketing: SoA's whole thing at the time (and their biggest successes/modern associations) was their highly-targeted marketing. Whether aimed at the NES or NoA in general, or specifically tailored to a young teenage crowd or more edgy audiences, they migrated from a broader "We do great arcade ports and stuff!" to marketing focused at more specific audiences. And the GTF started in 93, so definitely in the latter half. So at the time, there was a lot of "this makes sense" at SoA about GTF focusing specifically on one audience over a possible broader market. And the end result was still more of an ideological split in gender marketing and not a more unifying one, but again, you can only push so far.
+*All analysis aside, the article needs to be framed to, somewhere near the end, take a step back and say something to the effect of: hey, this is still a corporation trying to tackle gender considerations, don't read too much into it outside of being A) a time capsule of interesting SoA history, and B) a very small stepping stone in the history of gender studies. Good minds can only push limited money so far, and that extends to a company's gender understanding as well. Everyone involved did everything right and worked with passion and class, but this is a case of- something between society having progressed in our understanding of gender, and just not having enough resources allocated to get the marketing ideology to a certain point.
-*Regardless of analysis, the GTF was still an overwhelmingly positive thing on many levels. Teams like this, and projects like this, have done so much good in allowing and encouraging growth among female gamers and developers. Many of the games that came out of these girl-specific game projects hold a special place in many hearts for a good reason. Not only were they designed and produced from a female perspective, from female developers, for girls, but this was one of the first times young girls were so directly acknowledged by an American game company like this (that wasn't a one-off or novelty deal), at least on this scale. That might be the most notable thing from all this, that a massively-popular and recognizable company like this was showing girls that they were worth investing in and including in the fun. That they weren't a market to be ignored. Unfortunately there was very little publicity on the team itself, with its legacy more apparent in the work of GTF team members after the team was disbanded (specifically in the realms of production practices and game design considerations). The GTF was where most (all?) of these producers cut their teeth, and their later games wouldn't have been award-winning and life-changing without the experience they gained here. Thats a heck of a lot of good for a handful of scrappy SoA vets, especially considering the uphill inter-company battle they had to fight nearly the entire way (again embodying SoA's spirit etcetc) And thanks to them, the company has one of its most positive contributions to its long and interesting legacy.
-[[User:CartridgeCulture|CartridgeCulture]] ([[User talk:CartridgeCulture|talk]]) 07:19, 7 October 2022 (EDT)

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