Hanhula

It's the sexism, honestly. I cannot tell you how many times I've been passed over, talked over, belittled, and mocked for being a woman in tech. I have a lot of support from half of the industry, but from the other... well. I've been told to make sure I stay behind the man because he should always be walking into a room first. I've been ignored by coworkers. I've been screamed at by my boss in a way he only ever did to women. I've been seated in a boss's office for him to leer at me whilst lecturing me over nothing because he wanted to stare.

That, and then the pay gap... It's unsurprising. There's so much sexism in the industry and there's even more for someone young trying to get into it - both with the social pressure, as you mentioned, to do something else, and the general rude bollocks of 'girls can't code'. I'm so proud of all the young female devs I see starting to get into tech.

Mm.. it's a bit different. I'm a female game dev working in one of my country's bigger studios, and I'm one of two women who touches code (aka, software engineer/developer). Out of the whole company of ~300 people, there are only ~50 women. Most of those are artists, designers, QA, production, audio, HR , or other higher ups in the company.

It's no secret that they're desperately trying to get more female engineers on board, but there's just a huge shortage of tech talent where I live, and a lot of women are driven off from game dev because of the reactions and treatment that are so typical of the environment. Even getting here, everything has been very male-dominated through my entire career; women in tech just aren't as common for countless reasons.

I'd love to see statistics for some of the really big companies, actually.

Hm, let me poke you on that, actually! When you say you don't like RPGs - what have you previously tried? DOS2 et al, as CRPGs, are quite different to ARPGs. If you're not used to them, don't bother with the recommendations for Pillars of Eternity or Pathfinder - but I'd genuinely consider trying Divinity: Original Sin 2. It's got very simple combat (which you can make easier/harder as you like) that's very fun, and it's turn-based. So instead of having to run in and deal with a chaotic mess, you can think your way through with some level of strategy.

If you can get a housemate who's decent, it's a lot easier to live with one other person. We're in a fancy apartment that costs us individually way less than what my housemate's newish partner pays for her 1 bed place.

Have you played Unpacking yet? It's an Australian-made game that'll take you about 4 - 5 hours to complete. It's been my favourite casual game for the past few years. Very sweet little game.

I'll second the recommendation for Divinity Original Sin 2, and I'll add to that the amazing Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous (fun mechanics & story! good lgbtq rep!), and the upcoming Baldurs Gate 3 (which has its full release in August). Rimworld is also an absolutely mad game that you can do just about anything in. Hit MMO Final Fantasy XIV has a steam version, but be warned - it has the best story I've ever played through in entirety, it's very long, and it's very, very, good. If you have an addictive personality, maybe handle that recommendation with care.

Have you played any of the Dragon Age games? They're all fantastic. Inquisition usually goes on sale for like $15.

Dorfromantik is another really chill casual game I like. You place hexes good. Yep.

Depends on the kind of airfryer you have. Mine is basically a toaster oven. It has a drip tray, so I can just yank that out and clean it properly every so often.

It also toasts better than my oven or toaster, so it ends up being used for a loooot of things. Fantastic thing. Got it from Harris Scarfe in a new years sale for like.. I think $200?

Olly olly oxen free!

Hi, I'm an adult woman who also looks pretty young! There's still a huge difference between how I look now in my late 20s and how a prepubescent child looks! These things are false equivalencies. Stop trying to justify this shit.

It's not Japanese culture. I know a fair few Japanese friends who are disgusted by lolicon.

The fact is, if you're drawing childlike characters and putting them in sexual situations.. there's something fucked there. Sure, they're not real, but it's still fucked up to be attracted to that in the first place. They look like children!

Which is precisely why 'shone' and 'shown' are said the same way, of course.

I use WorldAnvil for all my GM stuff :D Got my notes in their notebook, my worldbuilding in articles, etc etc. It's a bit of a heavy program unless you're going hard on worldbuilding, but I do go hard on worldbuilding so it's perfect for me.

Used to use onenote before, but those aren't really searchable last I checked.

Professional FE engineer working in game dev.

Started out on Marapets with mostly HTML, learnt a bit of CSS when I got on Tumblr, then took a 3D modelling class in highschool. Decided I liked it, so I kept going and did a degree in game development & design. Joined a really small team at a consulting firm doing normal corporate contract stuff, where they trained me up across a few different languages, got me talking to clients, etc etc. Really, really good experience. During the pandemic, I left them (regretfully, but I needed to grow - they have my number, always) and did a year at a much larger company as a full-stack engineer with a focus on FE, and switched jobs when management grew toxic. Also did a lot of hobbyist CSS work on a writing site, got really damn good at it there.

Was going to join a design firm on their FE team, but a friend reached out and asked if I wanted to work in game dev instead. So... there was barely even a question there. I fucking love my job.