A female developer? That's graet, absolutely great. Women have broader view than men usually do. There should be a lot more. The games would probably have a more human feel. Not to mention of course that GalCiv2 itself is awesome.

hey come on !
give us a full featured interview of Cari

It was a congratulations on Cari getting some recognition. When Brad was in Time Magazine people weren't congratulating him on being a software developer but for the recognition.

Even though its some sort of recognition based on what you do its recognition for the wrong reason, highlighted by the fact that your different, your a female, being female whilst being a software developer. Applauding recognition which spurrs from a basis that is primarily about your what you are rather than who you are shouldnt be encouraged. Conjuring up ideas based around sexism and racism, othering and difference.

I googled myself and I'm surprised at the amount of places that picked up this article. 

I agree that most people don't get the recognition that they deserve. I also admit that I probably wouldn't necessarily have gotten an article written about me if I hadn't been a woman.  I'm probably no more deserving of the media's attention than any other lead developer in the game industry, apart from the fact that I'm a woman, but I would hope that I am no less deserving than my male counterparts.

I try to use the attention I get for good and not evil, as it were.  I'm often invited to speak at Career Days and similar events for high school students, which I accept as often as I can.  Most of Michigan's kids need to improve their math and science skills, and if I can help inspire them to do better in those subjects, great. 

congrats cari, and thanks for all the support on the forums, and with the game.... awesome work all of you, there already aren't a lot of female gamers out there, and im sure there are even less developers, so great work and great job getting recognized like that.

The Barbie Aliens would make for a great Evil race!

so great work and great job getting recognized like that.

I second that. I commend not only Cari, but all the folks at Stardock and the GC2 development team. You guys have really done a heck of a job with this game, and deserve all the recognition you can get!

Applauding recognition which spurrs from a basis that is primarily about your what you are rather than who you are shouldnt be encouraged

I don't agree with that one.
this news article may show to other females around the world that being a game lead developper is at least possible
and females really have something to bring in an industry dominated by male

although I agree with you on the discrimination part, I think the benefits outweigh this by an immense amount

furthermore I don't know if companies in general are really open about recruiting females developper
all females "developper" (they were not game related) I have ever known were really really not as good as most male counterparts. I'm not saying anything bad against female, it's just a statistical situation of my own life which means nothing....
yeah it really means nothing

the only thing it might mean is that I'm wondering if the gaming industry is really open with females developper in general

and this news might just show that everything is possible in this world and that is great

lastly many interviews with stardock people were made for galciv2 but none involved a female as far as I know
and I feel that was not really bringing them justice, as obviously they were an important part of the project

I had no idea, I thought Brad was the lead developer. Just proof that a female can indeed make an excellent game. Certainly not the only one though, there is another female over at MadDoc that worked on most of the programming for Empire Earth II, good looking girl too.

the only thing it might mean is that I'm wondering if the gaming industry is really open with females developper in general

Right now, the game industry needs all the good programmers it can get, so I doubt the problem is there.

I had no idea, I thought Brad was the lead developer.

That's because people are being sloppy with their terminology. And because StarDock doesn't exactly have a cleanly deliniated hierarchy.

As I understand it, Brad is the AI programmer for the game, but he is also the lead game designer. He also happens to own the company, so he can do whatever he wants

Cari is the lead programmer (or, as SD calls it, lead developer. Others would say "technical director" or "lead software engineer"). Technically, as lead programmer, Brad-the-AI-programmer works for her. But she works for Brad-the-game-designer (and, of course, Brad-the-owner-of-StarDock). So, like I said, the hierarchy is definately non-standard.

More women in programming: good. I guess.

So, is there a "full" article to be had somewhere or is this all there is?
I'll continue to judge programmers by skill, but we need to broaden the potential recruit base to get all the talents, regardless of gender.

Funny how everybody are so politically correct with their comments....well you go where the wind takes you I guess....

Males are more logic then women and I think that women are more creative then men so it's probably good to have her there. Also strange to hear about a women that's good at math and science (I like math but I'm not very good at it )
And shes good at her job too!

Congrats Carielf

I think people are actually missing the point. While I totally agree someone should get praise for their merits, which Cari certainly deserves, she also had to travel a different path.

Think of it this way guys - what if you joined a sewing club? You would be the only guy there. Now, there is nothing wrong with sewing but guys don't go into that field so your blazing away at it.

In my physics classes, we had 1 girl out of 10 students. Are girls dumber? No. It's just that because it's always a "man's" place that they don't go into that field. I'm sure in years they'll be a ton of lady programmers.

Sorry, but awake all night working. Even in my field (Space Program), the woman commander gets all the news (She deserves it too)

Space program? Aren't you guys in dire straits about now? Should you really be whiling your time away on Galciv2 ?

"Males are more logic then women" well at least cari must be more skilled in english but seriously speaking, it doesn't matter much what the average of a sex is since individuals are doing the work anyway. Cari might be more "logic" than 99.9% of men. She's not less logical or worse designer, nor better either, no matter what the average talent is. That's why it's useless to bring up some generalization. Better be polite and embrace the facts that we know (galciv2 is great etc) than speculate why and how Cari is bad. It has this slightly racist flavour in it even if "woman" is not a race per se.