Sega Girls Task Force

From Sega Retro

The Sega Girls Task Force was an internal Sega of America production team[1] established to both address the issue of then-limited female participation in video gaming and research the viability of games developed with a female audience in mind. The team was directly involved with the production of three Western-developed Mega Drive games, and advised a number of third-party studios on issues of inclusion and accessibility.[3]

History

“ When I looked at all of our games, I said, “well wait a minute, why are we not getting girls?” Half the population, over half of the population is not playing games. And so, not only from a career directory, from a cultural trajectory, there are so many elements of this that were really poor for girls. „

— Michealene Cristini Risley[2]


Inception

Michaelene Cristini Risley

In 1993, Sega of America licensing executive Michealene Cristini Risley found herself as the head of the company's new Entertainment & Consumer Products division. As a former Mattel and Marvel executive, she experienced first-hand the lacking female representation in children's and young people's media, and saw her position within Sega as a way to make meaningful change on this front. Shortly after being hired, she asked to attend a two-week program at Stanford on women and gender studies, something she describes as "a life-changing experience."[3] As a self-described humanist, Cristini Risley was always concerned with the inclusion and representation of women in entertainment. She set up a meeting with the company's senior management, with practically all the key executive players in attendance: Tom Kalinske, Shinobu Toyoda, Paul Rioux, and Joe Miller, among others. Inspired by the Judith Rossner book America's Secret Weapon, Cristini Risley pitched the concept that the company could actively develop and market games to young girls, but importantly did through so through the idea that female gamers were an otherwise untapped market. "And so I went into that meeting saying, okay, how do I turn this to where we look at it as a missed opportunity? And I'm showing them the numbers, and even if we captured 10% of this market, what kind of volume it was; but I didn't talk about it from a “we're leaving girls out” [perspective]. ...because it was all about - how do we turn this into a model that they're all gonna want a piece of that market?" She also pointed out that Nintendo of America had taken similar steps in the past, and that by not aggressively going after this market, they were falling behind Nintendo without cause.[4] The meeting was successful, with Joe Miller being very pleased with Cristini Risley's initiative, and resulted in her being given the go-ahead to create the Sega Girls Task Force in 1993[2] - along with Sega of America setting aside a small portion of its marketing budget for the production of three female-led Genesis games.[3] Shortly after being hired, Risley asked her boss Shinobu Toyoda[2] for permission to attend a two-week program at Stanford on women and gender studies, something she describes as "a life-changing experience."[3][2]


“ The only way I was going to get them to pay attention was to turn it into money, and so I presented it as like, ‘We’re leaving this huge market on the table. And if we don’t start creating content for girls, somebody else is going to. „

— Michealene Cristini Risley[3]


In addition to the prominent support of Joe Miller, the Task Force chiefly consisted of Cynthia Modders (who worked with Cristini Risley in Entertainment & Consumer Products), Manager of Product Marketing Pamela Kelly, Lydia Brichta (from the company's toy division), Roberta Jacobs (also with a background in toys), Cindy Claveran (from the Product Development Team, who already had experience producing Sega Pico girls' games), and Diane Fornasier (from marketing), all working alongside Cristini Risley to bring young girls into gaming. Above all, there were very few scientific studies done in the field of girls-oriented video games, meaning outside of the group's personal experiences, they were required to research and create much of this data themselves; "there was no data. And the whole process was like walking into holes all the time; like putting my foot in a hole and tripping." To this end, she would call the likes of Jill Barad (CEO of Mattel and the woman "who built Barbie") and Margaret Loesch (of Hanna-Barbera, Marvel, and Fox Kids) for advice on how best to proceed, and for any existing data they might already have.[2] Pamela Kelly, formerly a Mattel executive, recalls that company's previous ethnography research had revealed worrying results - that "even if a girl did start to play, when a boy walked in the room she’d have to give it up to the boy." The results of the group's research revealed many gender-based preferential differences for things like game genres, with Cristini Risley noting research showing young girls of the time preferred puzzle games to shoot-'em-ups.[3]

Operation

The work of the Girls Task Force most visibly manifested itself in more inclusive marketing and Genesis games developed with young girls in mind, as well as occasionally appearing on news programs like Good Morning America. One of the more direct methods Cristini Risley sought out was the creation of a Sega commercial aimed specifically at young girls. Working with Jeff Goodby (the head of Sega of America's advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners), she and the rest of the Girls Task Force set to work in bringing this to reality, "really trying to create a product that spoke to girls." She recalls getting into a disagreement with the otherwise-supporting Paul Rioux, who insisted that the young girl in the commercial be riding a banana bike - something to which Cristini Risley strongly objected.[2]

In addition to larger fronts like marketing and sales changes, the Girls Task Force had its hand in the production of three Genesis games: Berenstain Bears’ Camping Adventure, Crystal's Pony Tale, and the unreleased Baby Boom. Cristini Risley recalls Sega of America performing their own focus testing with young girls for Crystal's Pony Tale, something likely carried out by Diane Fornasier and Cindy Claveran.[2]

Producer Pamela Kelly

Alongside playing an internal production role, the Task Force also reached out to third-party developers in an attempt to advise them on matters of female inclusion. However, many of Sega's partners actively resisted efforts to make games appeal more to girls. Kelly recalls that developers frequently opted to increase a game's playability through difficulty, and she hoped to convince these developers that lowering a game's difficulty levels could make them more inclusive.[3] While the Task Force's suggestions were largely unimplemented by participating developers, a small number of studios did make the suggested changes. Kalinske specifically remembers noticing a worrying trend, in which he himself would present retailers and game companies with factual hard data on the moral and economic benefits of female-oriented games, only to have potential customers write off the idea entirely. In one instance, Pamela Kelly eventually got through to David Perry of Virgin Games USA, with the end result being both a slight reduction in the final version of Aladdin's difficulty and a greater emphasis on more "accessible" lighthearted elements and humor. In spite of Perry's positive reception, Disney's producers were much colder, again providing resistance and attitude to the Task Force's efforts.[3]

At some point during its operation, Sega of Japan were introduced to the concept of the Sega Girls Task Force. Per Tom Kalinske, "they didn’t understand it at all. They didn’t buy into the idea. This was another crazy American deal, and ‘go ahead and do it, but we don’t really expect you to be successful with it." However, Sonic Team proved to be far more open to the idea, as Pamela Kelly remembers they were "receptive to ideas which might make games more accessible to non-traditional audiences."[3]

Results

The effects of the Sega Girls Task Force on the female-oriented game market are hard to come by, but measurements from Sega of America saw Genesis use by young girls increase from 3% in 1993 to 20% in 1995.[5] While this increase can also be attributed to the system's rise in popularity, team members recall seeing a general increase in girls' involvement with Sega products during this time, particularly in the feedback they received from female fans. Despite neither Cristini Risley or Kelly believing that Sega of America "ever got remotely close to solving the problem of girls in games", they regard their work with the Sega Girls Task Force as an important stepping stone in shifting public perception on what games are and who they're designed for.[3] Risley recalls receiving letters of thanks from girls who were excited to see female characters in Sega's video games. "They felt like they belonged. I think it made them feel like they could play."


“ 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. They’re grateful for it. It makes me feel good. „

— Tom Kalinske[3]


Softography

Mega Drive

Game Gear

Mega-CD

Magazine articles

Main article: Sega Girls Task Force/Magazine articles.

List of staff

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://archives.museumofplay.org/repositories/3/resources/254 (Wayback Machine: 2023-01-03 12:56)
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Interview: Michealene Cristini Risley (2025-01-21) by Alexander Rojas
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 https://www.polygon.com/features/2019/5/27/18526122/sega-girls-task-force-female-players (Wayback Machine: 2022-11-29 00:26)
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwkBApEKTM
  5. ↑ ref https://books.google.com.au/books?id=HSBJ-geXmNAC&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq=%22girls+task+force%22+sega&source=bl&ots=gWwssV_qsv&sig=vaE1_E79YDCFfxWz-zqUgJg_SKw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiMmJ7_3dDeAhXBdN4KHYUhBG4Q6AEwAnoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=%22girls%20task%20force%22%20sega&f=false ref


Timeline of Sega of America research and development divisions









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