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At this point you have probably seen the press and highly critical social media coverage regarding alleged dancers at the YetiZen party. As the CEO of YetiZen, I wish to make the following statements.
The facts
Fact 1: The YetiZen party was held on Tuesday March 26 at Ruby Skye, a San Francisco nightclub. The next night Wednesday at the same club, a party was hosted by Wargaming. Wargaming is not affiliated or associated with YetiZen in any way. Please see erroneous post below. 
Fact 2: The Press has published photos and statements of the two parties together making the YetiZen party appear sexually scandalous by association. Example Gamefront posts Wargaming party pictures on the same page as the YetiZen logo
Fact 3: Darius Kazemi stated that YetiZen was the IGDA sponsor second year in a row, despite that YetiZen has had no IGDA involvement prior to 2013. His statement was false and misleading. Darius also did not attend the YetiZen party this year.
Fact 4: All entertainment and related promotion was approved by the IGDA prior to the party. The approval email from the IGDA explicitly highlighted their approval on the matter of the models’ attire, and is attached below.
Fact 5: YetiZen did not hire dancers. We hired avid gamers, who happened to be models, to discuss gaming with the invited guests. The YetiZen team (myself, my co-founder, and our resident artist) were invited by the rappers, along with our gamer-models, to dance for a few minutes on stage.
Fact 6: After our party last year Brenda Romero personally called us and threatened to Personally call all of YetiZen’s mentors, advisors, and investors and tell them to quit their support of YetiZen. She did not attend the party last year or this year.
We are therefore understandably disappointed that a relaxed social occasion has been so misrepresented and misinterpreted.
I include below context on myself as well as YetiZen. I hope that understanding my journey to this point may demonstrate my commitment to making great games and providing equal opportunity to game creators of all genders.
So where am I coming from?
I am the founder and CEO of YetiZen. I’m also an immigrant from Kuwait and Pakistan, a female games industry executive, and an avid supporter of female success in all areas of business and life. I’m familiar with fighting for my voice to be heard.
I believe in freedom and equality, whether that’s gender, sexuality, age, culture, education, class, color, or creed.
I was born in Kuwait in 1984, a country rich in natural resources, but also racism and gender inequality. My family and I were on vacation in Pakistan when the Gulf War literally exploded, and within hours we became homeless and penniless. We had little choice but to stay in Pakistan for our safety. I do however use the word "safety" gingerly.
Pakistan is not famous for the liberation of its women, and my mother and I endured misogynist social attitudes and female censorship. Laws such as the 1979 Hudood Ordinances Law prevented many women from freely expressing themselves and left them unprotected.
As the Gulf War simmered down, my family decided to take their chances and move back to Kuwait in order to re-establish a better quality of life. However the inequality we had experienced all those years before had amplified, and my future prospects as an independant woman were bleak at best. Had I remained in Kuwait, I could never have written, expressed, or achieved all that I have today.
When I turned 17, my family decided to move once again, this time to the United States - the land of the free; the land of opportunity. My parents favored, encouraged, and fostered my hunger to learn and understand. They saw me not just as a young woman, but also as a capable human being who deserved an equal opportunity.
After learning about entrepreneurship from friends in California, I moved to San Francisco and quickly turned a series of consulting engagements into a thriving business that helped traditional game companies transition into social games.
Three years ago, my friend Japheth Dillman and I started our own movement - YetiZen. A movement built to help independent game developers remove the shackles of publishers and acqui-hires, learn the tools for commercial success, and actually make enough money to build a life for themselves and their families. YetiZen is based on the core belief that the people who make great games should not just survive but thrive.
So what is it that we do?
- By day the YetiZen Innovation Lab provides free and open coplay to the game industry.
- By evening YetiZen hosts over 150 major events a year.
- The YetiZen accelerator program has personally supported thirty gaming startups go from post-product and traction companies to scalable game studios and platform businesses.
- A hundred and fifty mentors work with YetiZen companies. They put in their blood, sweat and tears to guide our startups on distribution, monetization, business development, fundraising and operations.
While building a successful commercial brand, we have striven to remain true to our beliefs and our values as business people and human beings. We have a large community of positive and highly engaged game developers who validate, support, and endorse what we do, and how we do it.
I understand the challenges of being a woman in what has been a male dominated environment. I believe that most of us want to live in a world of equality. I also believe we are making progress towards that. The recent incident referred to above does nothing towards progressing this equality. The clarification of the purported issue could have been managed by a private phone call or email rather than the sensationalized media attack that it has become.
I’ve striven for years to get where I am, and for that I am truly proud. I strongly believe that we should do what we do best and commit ourselves to making the industry as a whole better for everyone.
We look forward to holding future networking events in which all game developers feel welcome.
To your success and peace.
Lots of love,
Sana Choudary
King of the Yetis
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So many seem eager to point the finger, I believe we developers could use a little introspection in this GDC inspired witch hunt.
Yeah, I hate when this happens. You put out a Craig's List ad looking for people to talk to about video games, and a bunch of hot models show up at your door. Totally awkward.
:P
Totally weird coincidence that they were models though. I mean, what are the odds??
The entire statement must be dismissed as blame-pushing PR from a morally weak company.
Accept blame or STFU. Denial is just PR whoring of the worst kind.
If they didn't apologize explicitly, i'm happy. That's the correct decision. There's nothing to apologize for. Next year they should just organize a meeting in a library so that people can discuss games in peace and not get distracted by things like music, alcohol and other people. That should satisfy all the zealous nerds out there.
"The platform is a hybrid of a casual gaming portal and a casino website with social elements because players not only compete on individual casual games to win real cash and prizes but also get emotional rewards from the gamified meta layer on top of the portal."
http://yetizen.com/alumni/
The simple, obvious solution is to not sex up a party put on by what is supposed to be the representative voice of all video game developers around the world. This isn't a gender issue at all, I don't think, it's a professionalism issue. If you represent all video game developers, you shouldn't INTENTIONALLY do things to make any of them feel uncomfortable or excluded.
Let individual companies make the decision to hire sexy entertainment if they want to. Whatever. I don't have to go to those parties, and that's their call. But to have the frigging IGDA throw a party that has underdressed women being paid to be looked at suggests to me that the IGDA feels that this is what the entire game development community wants. Which is wrong. And it's wrong at a really bad time to be wrong, between #1reasonwhy and the 40 Hottest Women in Tech and all the other garbage we've gone through recently.
While I agree with your final point here the above statement is indicative of a skewed view on male game developers' focusing capabilities in the presence of females. We are not tireless sexual fiends and are indeed capable of having conversations when butts are present.
Most of us, anyway.
Also am I the only one befuddled by how a dark, loud club atmosphere is a "professional networking" event?
Even starting a sentence with "As a woman in game development (...)" is ridiculous, because it's completely irrelevant to anything being said, not to mention equating male developers with stereotypical cavemen. There are tits and ass on LITERALLY EVERYTHING these days. If a guy above the age of 16 can't focus around a hostess then they're a dysfunctional human being. I'm surprised all women in the industry aren't wearing turtle necks 24/7, since no man could keep an eye contact during conversation otherwise. Apparently.
"Also am I the only one befuddled by how a dark, loud club atmosphere is a "professional networking" event?"
Judging by all the comments, you're definitively in the minority.
My last suggestion to have male models running around won't cut it anymore, I'm afraid they'll need to be completely nude for this to be a win/win situation. Darn it!
If people want to have their fun in a private VIP room, let them, and mind your own damn business. There's several other parties people could have gone to that were far less interesting. If you're mad the party wasn't this or that, then throw your own party.
I'm grossed out but not particularly angry if this happens at a company's personal party. If they want me to think of them that way, whatever. So be it. But to pull this at a party for what is supposed to be an inclusive nonprofit association representing all game developers is very, very wrong. This does not represent the interests of all game developers, and is therefore a statement saying that IGDA parties are only for certain kinds of developers.
@Joe: Super Agreed! Everyone keeps talking about women and gays and ignores the fact that its extremely difficult for African Americans to advance in this industry.
@Andy and Aaron: this is where the whole thing gets cloudy, group A sees this as an after party... It’s obvious to them what this was. Then we have group B who sees this as a Networking event.... and to them it’s obvious what it was. Here lies the problem, 2 points a views coming from different cultural perspectives. Neither is right nor wrong... it simply "IS". A witch hunt inst necessary. Especially since nobody is perfect. We should all just learn from it and move on.
I also don't think anyone sat around and said "Let’s throw a party that excludes and objectifies women"
If the party was *meant* for everyone, but it ended up not being so, then there shouldn't be an issue with apologizing, learning and moving on. If the party wasn't meant to be for everyone, then it should be stated as such, and we move on.
Though I've agreed with both of your comments in the above posts, you can't say that the underlying tone of this is "OFFICIAL IDGA SPONSORED PARTY WITH GAMER SLUTS". If the girls weren't being slut-shamed, then the "just that they were hired int he first place" wouldn't need to be said.
Also...
>2013
>throwing money at yet another company to represent YOUR interests
>not doing the things you want and progressing the industry in the way you can
Just saying.
Romero said: "Note that in the year since, I have done nothing which would even suggest that statement — about destroying YetiZen — is true. In my statement noting my resignation from the IGDA, I said nothing about Yetizen. It is the IGDA who, in my mind, violated their code of conduct. My issue was with the IGDA and the IGDA alone." (http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/30/yetizen-explains-hiring-of-gamer-models-not-da
ncers-for-its-gdc-party/)
Point is, I really don't think Brenda is on some multi-GDC crusade against Yetizen, and I think that's an important fact to note!
Just because Brenda Romero says it's not true Sana Choudary's accusation ("After our party last year Brenda Romero personally called us and threatened to ‘destroy YetiZen.’ ") is proven false? I see to contradicting statements here and I see no way, how to decide which one is true.
We're talking about Ruby Skye here, this club is pretty much synonymous with Go Go dancers and scantily clad entertainers.
Just check the event photos: http://www.rubyskye.com/
http://www.facebook.com/GoGoProSf
While the paid models are regrettable, if IGDC had really wanted a 'professional' environment for networking they should have chosen one of the many 'less trendy' hotels downtown.
The choice of venue to me implies less professional and more party. Perhaps the expectations weren't set appropriately?
Regardless of the outcome and what was said (positive/negative comments) I ACCEPTED ALL responsibility and faults because it was an event put together by me. Other following events usually gets associated with the one held, but that's life. It happens to everyone, but you got to learn to move on from it and plan better next time.
So... make sure to hire dudes from Chipendolls or Thunder from Downunder alongside 'female models'. If you want to have models, cool, but you can't make it a double standard. I'd rather see cosplayers than models at an event.
On another note, good read!
But those of you that want to feel self righteous, keep one thing in mind, YetiZen throws parties like this to get people talking about them. Without you, there would be a lot less people that would even know who they were, what they do, or where to look to find out more. So those of you that want to rant on and on about this are doing exactly what YetiZen paid those models for.
If the game industry is to be all inclusive and diverse you’ve got to understand that not every one making a decision is coming from the same cultural back ground as YOU. Not everyone gets offended by the same things nor do we all have the same tastes. For example, had this event been held in Brazil or the Caribbean, would it have even been an issue considering their cultural openness to sexuality? Who are we to say what they are doing is wrong. On top of that, there was no crime committed here. Everyone one from the women who were there “dressed inappropriately”, to the game developer expecting a casual professional mixer, was there by choice with their own expectations.
Again this doesn’t seem to be about cultural inclusion yet more about cultural exclusion, more about finger pointing and preaching and less about solutions going forward.
What I am saying is that, when preaching inclusiveness you can’t pick and choose otherwise you’re being exclusive and a hypocrite.
I think this whole issue is a simple culture clash with bad timing that was sadly blown WAAAAAAAAAAAAY out of proportion.
But why would you be offended if nobody forces you to talk to them?
Is the simple presence of people so hard to endure?
The problem here is that the IGDA, an organization whose stated purpose is to represent the interests of all game developers, chose to host the biggest get together of the year for its members, at a venue which was offensive and exclusive to many of its members. This is an organization that many in the industry have looked to as a binding force and a representation of us as an industry to the outside world, and this is not what its members expect or deserve.
Exactly this is the point, what the outside world learns from this, is that the IGDA is quick at apologising for having a party where fully clothed women dance on stage, but refuses to talk to Joe Biden, about violence in video games by saying:
"The Need for Science
Unlike some industry groups, the IGDA does not seek to impede more scientific study about our members’ products. We welcome more evidence-based research into the effects of our work to add to the large body of existing scientific literature that clearly shows no causal link between video game violence and real violence.
We ask that any new government research look at the totality of imaginary violence. Instead of simply trying to find negative effects, we ask that any new research explore the benefits of violent video games, too. For example, recent research shows a steam valve effect in which violent video gameplay helps release stress and aggression before it can lead to violence. Others studies have indicated that recent declines in real world violence can be attributed in part to potentially violent people spending more time looking for thrills in video games instead of on the streets. Psychologists tell us that playing with imaginary violence is healthy and can help children master experiences of being frightened. This is beneficial and can even be life saving. We can supply links to this research and spokespersons on these issues. The IGDA supports good research and we ask for more science, not less.
Rights
The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Constitutional protection of video games in 2011, finally extending to video game developers the same legal protections enjoyed by authors, filmmakers and musicians. We are grateful that our artistic works are finally beyond legal threat, and we do not take our newly-recognized First Amendment protection for granted. We understand that our rights, like all rights, are limited. "
http://www.igda.org/node/1042467
This rude letter to Joe Biden would have been a reason to resign, but it seems Brenda Romero didn't had a problem with it.
If you look at the IGDA representing you in the non gaming public, I can assure you, they are doing a terrible job. This enforced and ridiculous drama started by it's chair women Brenda Romero, who seems to have a feud with YetiZen doesn't help the industry look any better when people see that the IGDA on the other hand clearly denies the need to talk about violence in video games, violence that is much more obscene then anything at the IGDA/YetiZen party.
then the issue would be completely de-fanged in terms of the "women in the industry" angle.
it would become a "puritanical prudery" issue but that's a better fight to fight anyway.
How many people here are mad because, if males in the gaming industry see a boob or two, that means they will somehow no longer value women in the industry or take them seriously?
How many people here are mad that this was an IGDA event and feel as though the IGDA should have a no boob policy for all their events?
How many people are mad because this was the first time you've seen a scantily clad woman in real life and it terrified you deeply?
How many people were mad because they thought the were going to a networking event and when they went inside and saw it wasn't really what they wanted, heard a rumor that the zombie apocalypse just started and they couldn't leave to go to another party until the military could clear the streets of zombies?
If IGDA want to be equal, they could get some hunky guys in jockstraps prancing around, but then straight dudebros would come crying "Is no FUN!" despite trying to appear so secure about their sexuality.
To simplify the dilemna, here it is:
People pay the IGDA to represent them. The industry, or many developers at least, don't want to be seen as people needing go go dancers and strip clubs to have a professional conversation. It's not about going to the event. It's not about the T&A, because any male that complains about that is also lying. It's about how that kind of stuff doesn't belong in a professional setting.
Really not that hard.
Now according to you, many developers don't want to be seen as people needing to go to strip clubs. I'm sure I'm not the only one that laughed when I read that. I mean, seriously? I can't tell you how many times I've told people I was a gamer and they responded with, "Oh, so you go to a lot of strip clubs, huh?" because that's totally the gamer stereotype.... rrrrriiight....
I'm far more concerned about the "lives in mom's basement, speaking Klingon fluently, and socially awkward around other people, especially of the opposite gender" stereotype.
YetiZen held the same type of party last year at the same sleazy nightclub. Referring to it as a "professional setting" is laughable.
I know I'm beating a dead horse here. But I have to admit that I'm transfixed by the idea that people are genuinely bothered by something so inane.
I will not be the man featured in the old spice commercials either (I'm not black) but I can smell like him, the commercials with the goodlooking guy told me so.
I will not be the emotionless jackass from the ->female oriented<- romance books either nor will I be the mindreader that can predict your thoughts 14 years ahead and say the right thing at the right time.
I, a male, is being stereotyped just as much as you, not less, not more but precisely the same amount as you in every sort of fiction that you can imagine since every time there is a strong women there is an equally weak male and more importantly VICE VERSA.
That being said, there may be less games on the market that appeals to women then men, that's called a business opportunity in my world which you and the rest of your gender is in a fantastic position to take advantage of since you know your target audience a hell of alot better then all us "discriminating" males.
Now do something constructive.
You can't really expect someone not to be offended by something just because you aren't. Women are wired and think completely different than us. They have a culture all their own. Many women spend a great deal of time and effort on their appearance and it's easy to see why they take concern about something that is suppose to represent them, especially if it's in an unrealistic way.
It's obvious you don't fully understand the situation beyond how you see yourself fitting into it. More or less, all you really said is, "I don't feel a certain way about it, so neither should you." Which is dumb. Isn't there something more constructive you could be doing other than trolling this site?
For some reason Jane is encouraging that we take special considerations for female characters yet dosen't mention the exact same problems with male characters. Why is that?
Your Reply says "Because women have their own culture" and that's cool, I allready replied to that by encouraging Jane to take up arms and focus on her newfound unexploited target audience. The world is literally completely open for that.
But my question still stand -> Why is Jane encouraging _special_ considerations for female characters? I know the answer to that question but I would like people to think about it.
I can think of better more positive ways to spend my time and energy then getting all fired up for a pointless witch hunt caused by a simple culture clash. But I think that’s because of the culture influences that have shaped me.
It’s really all about expectations, choice and preference. As long as no laws are broken things are fine. As a game developer, I for one am glad that there were different types of after hours events to go to for GDC, even if I don’t attend any of them. It s shows that the game industry really is becoming diverse.
BUT the fact that so many refuse to see that this as a simple case of culture clash, shows that the industry still has a long way to go in terms of being fully inclusive and diverse. And I get the issue with the IGDA, but I think learning and moving forward is more productive then prosecution and righteousness.
I don't think having good-loking women in revealing costumes at a party is wrong. It's juvenile, but it's not wrong. In the same manner, a yaoi party would not be wrong. It would be a juvenile idea for a social meeting of professionals, but it wouldn't be wrong.
Frankly, I would like IGDA to not engage in these kinds of events mostly because I would like it to foster maturity.
All of us are occasionally "sexual objects", hopefully. It's an aspect of who we are. It's not wrong to be attracted or intentionally attractive, particularly in such a non-committal context as a late night party (unless this was a whole different kind of "party", which I'm sure it wasn't). The problem starts when we begin to see someone as nothing but a "sexual object"; however, a party is typically not an instance of such problem, because at a party people appear in a variety of predetermined social roles. The role of a host is different from that of a guest. Consider a (usually male) bouncer at the entrance - you may see him as nothing but someone's tool of enforcement, typically reduced to brute force, but that doesn't mean this is all that men are to you. This is just a role that this person has assumed in a given context. Also note whow social norms regulate and limit interactions between guests and non-guests at parties so that specialised roles of the latter cannot be exploited.
This is more or less why this entire discussion strikes me as superficial. I think the actual problem with sexism runs a little deeper, and I'm worried that we have trouble seeing it because we're too busy yelling at each other.
I did mention yaoi for a reason. Most people I know find it ridiculous and sort of eww. I know women who are fans, but they are often ashamed to admit it due to peer pressure, mostly from male colleagues. Apparently, eroticism for men if just fine, but eroticism for women isn't. Parties with booth babes as hosts come naturally to us, but no one in their right mind would even think of throwing a yaoi party as a GDC-accompanying event.
That's sexism.
There are typically two straightforward solutions to this. When a guest at your party is allergic to nuts, you either serve a variety of snacks as an alternative to nuts, or you don't serve nuts. We don't quite have the former option in our context; for instance, yaoi is a niche phenomenon. This is why I think we should try and make do without booth babes and entertain ourselves in ways that come naturally to both women and men. It's not impossible; I mean, we all drink and listen to music, right? We all watch movies. We all play games, for pity's sake. We can have fun in so many ways, so let's choose something we can enjoy together. Think of it as a bonding experience.
These models were nothing more than the characters. So we can create them, but too ashamed/uncomfortable to look at them? Yes, probably not everyone here are/were involved in creating such games, but how many have played them and pretty much ignored the visuals just coz we are so used to them? Would anyone complained if Mario would have showed up at the party? Except Mario has nothing to do with the night club theme. Models do. And yes, there are multiple games set in a night club.
So how is that being inside one of the games we've created over and over? Thank you, YetiZen for showing us that. Maybe now we will think harder when characters are created and there will be less "hotty blondes/brunettes/red heads/..."
So this is all a contrast of perspectives between two groups who disagree on the nature of professional associations and the events they host, whether they should be all about business or whether they can host "fun" events, too. With that in mind, there's reasonable assumptions on both sides of the issue.
The only problem with this conclusion I'm reaching is that I'm guessing that these parties aren't new or infrequent, yet the controversies are. So, I'm having a bit of trouble reconciling that.
I can understand someone in an industry so testosterone-heavy to finally snap and say enough is enough--but with a background that includes the Playboy Mansion game, I would have thought some compassion, some empathy, might have been in order.
And in closing, I do feel that dismissing someone's background is, well, problematic at the least.