GTFO: A Movie on Game Industry Sexism Looks for Kickstarter Backing

Filmmaker Sharron Sun-Higginson has launched a Kickstarter to fund GTFO, her movie examining sexism in the game industry. 

Speaking to GamesIndustry Higginson says she's well aware of what she's up against. "I've gotten a few messages so far that are like, I'm an 'attention whore' which is a hilarious assessment to gather from trying to make a movie about women in gaming.

"It has been a lot more challenging in that I didn't start out with any contacts at all in the industry, but this is a really important movie to get made and I can't just hope that someone else will make it [if she can't]," she elaborated. 

Higginson admits she isn't a gamer herself and only became aware of the problem due to her friends speaking about online abuse.

"I wanted to tell people like myself, outsiders who aren't aware of this about this problem…," she explained. "I heard about it and I have always cared about womens' and feminist issues, and I didn't realise this was happening under everybody's nose."

Explaining her interest in making this movie Higginson says "I don't think, obviously, it's the entire industry – that would be incredibly presumptuous and not true, it's just a very vocal minority. I didn't think there was still an industry that in 2013 everyone was just fine with being really really sexist.

Higginson has attend PAX East and Major League Gaming events and has conducted a number of interviews both with developers and the people who run websites such as Not in the Kitchen Anymore, which publishes some of the threats issued against women online.

"If I can stop people abusing women that would be a success but I think it's more about not speaking directly to those people, but making it more of a taboo, more shameful to do that. And the second aspect is making everyone aware of this as a huge problem that needs to be fixed. 

"It's awful to think that half of the community, meaning women, are being abused and their talents aren't being used in the videogame industry as much as they could be," Higginson added.

According to surveys women make up just four per cent of game industry disciplines despite representing 47 per cent of the gaming community. A study by Ohio University researchers determined that women are targeted for online gaming abuse "roughly three times as much" as men. 

Dontnod's upcoming Remember Me, which stars female protagonist Nilin, was rejected by some publishers who insisted games could only have a male protagonist to be successful. Sony's announcement of the PlayStation 4 in February featured no women over the course of the two hour presentation. 

At this year's Game Developer Conference a party hosted by organisers' IGDA alienated female attendees due to scantily clad women resulting in the resignation of IGDA board member Brenda Romero. As a result of the party industry body introduced new standards. 

GTFO currently stands at $11,100 of its $20,000 goal.