The video game industry seems to be growing up. Should the meeting industry follow its lead?
Increasingly, I use video games to inspire new approaches on how we can design meetings. Gamification is a popular topic, and it is clear that video game technology in particular can provide us with a rich source of ideas.
The video game industry has had to adapt quicker than most other business sectors to new platforms, new distribution systems and new customers. In spite of operating in turbulent waters, game development is increasing. Game development studios are on the rise due in part to the burgeoning mobile and tablet games market.
The opportunities of social and mobile distribution have changed games. Once the preserve of teenage boys, video games are now ubiquitous. We carry games on our mobiles for the commute, share them on our social networks and play them together online and in our living rooms. Games have become part of everyday life.
In spite of the seismic shifts in who plays and how we play, the stereotypes do remain preserved in some media that all video games are violent and developed specifically for adolescent boys. Behind the scenes, the industry is growing beyond the stereotypes...and it seems to me that this growing up might give the meeting industry more ideas.
With the "male-stream" targeting of video games, it is unsurprising that game expos, conferences and shows have been dominated by men as speakers and attendees. Shows have also included "booth babes" to appeal to largely male audiences and increase stand visitors. Yet, the games industry has begun to question this approach. The reason might be the realization that video games have moved from male-stream to mainstream.
The percentage of female game developers has doubled (to 22 percent) since 2009, according to the International Game Developers Association. As more female developers, publishers and gamers have entered the space, the presence of booth babes and the lack of women presenting on the topic has felt increasingly uncomfortable and at odds with the direction of the video game industry. For 2013, Eurogamer Expo (now EGX) banned the use of promo girls on exhibition stands and introduced a code of conduct for exhibitors and attendees, signalling an important change in direction.
At the time of the banning, Rupert Loman, founder and CEO of Gamer Network (organizers of EGX), explained on Eurogamer Forums that "...booth babes are not OK ... we don’t think they are right for the Expo. Of course, exhibitors need to bring staff to the show, but they should be interesting, cool and exciting and knowledgeable (developers and publisher staff) rather than pretty girls in revealing outfits just for the sake of it. We want the show to be friendly, and our attendees to feel comfortable."
The vast majority of game developers, journalists and platform-holders broadly welcomed this progressive approach. Some other events are yet to follow their lead. As more meeting planners need to consider how our collective industry is viewed, event owners could well review their own policies. After all, the video game industry is younger than most other businesses—is it time we grew up?
The second move that has sent ripples through industry and opened up an important debate centres on social media, impartiality and communications. Video game reviews are often produced by journalists or well-known bloggers and bloggers who are trusted by gamers. At the 2012 Games Media Awards UK, journalists were encouraged to tweet the hashtag #gmadefiance to win one of five PlayStation 3s—a promotion by a game publisher. A few tweeted accordingly, while others exposed the campaign and accused those tweeting journalists of being compromised. But what was the fuss about? After all it was only a tweet...
The campaign exposed consumers to the realities of PR and the close relationship between brands and journalists. In this age of social media advocacy it sends out a warning signal about the increasing need to be transparent about your position as a reviewer/advocate. Eurogamer.net, as a result of the criticism, published a strict editorial code to protect its position of providing independent reviews and reflect its "core values of objectivity, accuracy, fairness and transparency."
"Having trust between your website or magazine’s journalists and its audience is vital, and is something that most gaming sites and publications are actually very good at," says Jamie Sefton, managing director of Game Republic. "However, new technology means that you always have to keep monitoring those ethics. Popular YouTube gaming stars, for example, are now realizing that they have to disclose very clearly any paid games publisher advertorial in their videos, or they risk losing the trust of their audience and those all-important subscribers and hits."
In a business centred on relationships and networks, Eurogamer’s moves are both ethical and business-savvy. They are maturing by thinking of the impacts of their actions, realizing the importance of monitoring ethical practices for consumers and making more conscious decisions on the roles both men and women play in their events. Individuals can be the change they want to see. So can businesses. For the wider meeting industry, there are lessons to be learned here about what your speaker line-up and exhibitors really say about you.
