Similarly, a rather sad thing about the magazine publishing industry (especially fashion) still is that many workers are unpaid (except, perhaps, expenses) interns for years at a time fighting to get a tiny number of paid jobs. We even see the intern thing in our own tech industry: http://techcitynews.com/2013/04/08/were-hiring-join-our-team...
I think this article goes a way to answer why young people dominate the games development industry, but not really why they tend to be white or male, if that's true.
The amusing thing here is bunch of unpaid interns living on ramen, renting a two bedroom flat for a collective of four, work 12 hours a day writing elaborate articles on luxury, fashion and festive lifestyle.
I've consulted in NYC design shops where most of the designs and documentation were being done by interns. They were available 24/7 and extremely bright; the business couldn't have gotten anything out without them. The full time people and owners were paid way more than necessary all while the interns were unpaid or lowpaid.
They have to build out a real world portfolio to be able to get clients on their own... and that will be created through real experience, not just school work. So, being an intern makes sense, but they should make a living wage.
I think this article goes a way to answer why young people dominate the games development industry, but not really why they tend to be white or male, if that's true.