Regarding the Cancellation of 'Legends of the Game Industry' Panel

Those of you who have been reading this blog from day 1 know that I am not just a writer, but I'm also a teacher. I'm also an unashamed supporter of the Left, and pretty damn liberal too. I'm all for women's representation in gaming, equality in the work force, and all that. But I don't support this cancellation.

 For those not in the know, 'Legends of the Game Industry' was an event hosted by the University of South Carolina where several big names in the gaming industry would make presentations and interact with the audience. Among the presenters were Rob Pardo, former CEO of Blizzard; Min Kim, the former president of Nexon America, and Brandon Beck, CEO and co-founder of Riot Games. Each of these men are giants in the gaming industry, and their knowledge and wisdom would have been indispensable to the next generation of programmers and developers.

The event got canceled four hours before it began. Why? No women. Literally, because there were no female panelists present in the activity.

I can understand the reasoning behind the cancellation, and I'm willing to admit that my first thought upon reading why it was canceled was "They should have contacted Roberta Williams for this." Representation matters, and seeing a woman up there, alongside all those great men of the industry, could very well have helped to dispel notions of there being a glass ceiling in game developing for women.

And yet the more I read, the more I realized that a greater disservice was done to the students by canceling this event. This was an opportunity for a new generation to get inspired, to decide for certain what route they wanted to take in their lives. When I read about how disappointed so many students, male and female, were at the cancellation of the event, I shook my head. An opportunity for education was lost, all because there wasn't a woman on the panel.

We educators have a responsibility towards our students. We teach them, impart knowledge to them, so they can use that knowledge to form their futures. We have a duty to teach students what they need to know in life. When this activity was canceled, the USC failed at their duty.

No, the panelists did not reflect the diversity that is such an essential part of life in both games industry as well as higher education. But canceling the activity reflects very badly on USC, higher learning, and American college culture over all. An opportunity to learn was lost because of a lack of women. Many FEMALE students, who were looking forward to the activity and would likely have been inspired to become game developers, were denied a chance to learn because not one panelist was a woman. More was lost from the cancellation of this event than was gained.

In life, some things are more important than diversity quotas, and education is one of them.