Of course her looks and chromosomal makeup have nothing to do with her ability to lead Xbox, and neither does her vast experience within the company, as chronicled by Wired's Ryan Tate, apparently. Beyond the whole female part of her genetic make-up, the gaming community also won't accept her, both because she has no video game-industry experience and also because she isn't a "gamer." Redditors are up in arms over Larson-Green's new role because she's not One of Them. "Somebody's extensive history and love for the video game industry has a direct relation to how a game console is ultimately developed," writes Redditor SyrioForel.

It's not clear how much Larson-Green does or does not love the gaming industry, however. Assuming she doesn't love video games comes off as sexist, argues Wainwright. (Would people jump to say that about a dude?—Wainwright suggests not.) Someone in Larson-Green's position probably doesn't have as much time for hardcore gaming as people commenting in video game websites. But, it's also not clear how much loving games, or even gaming-specific industry experience matters for success. There are plenty of examples of success and failure in the gaming world from all sorts of figures, as pointed out by one dissenting N4G commenter. "A good example is Peter Moore, before working at Sega and subsequently MS, he actually worked at Reebok."

Plus, having a woman at the helm could have other benefits for the notoriously sexist gaming industry. Maybe some baking and knitting games would make women feel a bit more welcome in a world known for its sexual harassment, rape jokes, and general derision of "fake geek girls."

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.

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