Women in Video Games
A Look at the Evolution of Women in Gaming
Note: This is a re-publishing of an April 2024 article I did. I modernized the formatting to be closer to how I release my articles today.
Today, video games are becoming more accustomed to having more female protagonists and antagonists. No doubt, gaming started as a boy’s club with mostly boys and men playing. However, things have changed for the better, as an estimated 45% of the gaming population is now female. Adding more female characters gives more representation and expands characters to be more than just men, adding new potential layers in storytelling.
Now, that doesn’t mean everything is all perfect. We still have horror stories of female developers who are facing harassment and discrimination in their workplaces. Female gamers still have to deal with men who belittle them as gamers and as people. And, when we do get a female character, you can expect some online to judge their “looks.” I hope we keep working as a community to make gaming more inviting for women and expand the base. So today, I wanted to give a shine to some of the history of female-led video games in the industry and take a look at some iconic characters.
The Pioneers
Before we get to the games and characters, let’s talk about the real women leading behind the scenes. First, some history: Carol Shaw is the first woman to be a full-time game developer. Shaw was born in 1955 and quickly broke out of the stereotypes, becoming obsessed with her brother’s railroad model set over playing with dolls. In High School, she played some of the early text-based games on the computer and found her interest. She earned a master's degree in computer science at Berkeley.
Right out of college, Atari hired her to work on games for their new VCS system. She designed the game 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe and released it in 1979. This was the first video game designed by a woman. She also helped with games such as Super Breakout and Othello. She eventually left Atari and eventually joined the startup Activision. She developed River Raid, a top-down shoot-em-up where you control a jet fighter. It became a huge hit and even sold over one million copies. After designing the game Happy Trails and some ports of River Raid, she left game development.
Shaw retired from work in 1990 at the age of 35, thanks in large part to River Raid's financial success. In 2017, she was awarded the Industry Icon Award at the Game Awards. You also had Dona Bailey, one of the key designers of the classic game Centipede, also putting in the work during those days. Bailey worked with Ed Logg after falling in love with video games through playing Space Invaders. She and Ed targeted Centipede to female players. Dona and Carol would be the start.
Many more influential female developers would take the torch and do their own things. These include Keiko Erikawa, who co-founded Koei and is still the chairperson for Koei Tecmo today. Gail Tilden, who helped launch the NES in North America. Jade Raymond, who helped create Assassins Creed. Amy Hennig is considered by many as the greatest female game developer and is notable for her work on Uncharted. Aya Kyogoku is a top Nintendo development manager and most famous for Animal Crossing. Bonnie Ross, who was the head of the Halo franchise for a while, advocated for the presence of more women in development teams. Michiru Yamane is one of gaming’s best composers. Sarah Bond, the current president of Xbox, has become one of the most recognizable faces in the Xbox brand. I could go on and on, but there are actually many more I could name, and I’ll have to hope they are brought up in other articles. The point is that women are just as important as other famous male developers and executives for making gaming work.
The Games and the Women
The first game with a lead female protagonist was Lady Bug, released in 1981. Ms. Pac-Man was released and became an amazing sensation, grossing a total of over a billion dollars by the end of the decade. In 1986, Metroid was released, giving gaming an iconic character. Samus Aran was one of gaming’s first shocking surprises. When you play as Samus, the bounty hunter is in an armored suit and never takes her helmet off. Players assumed she was a he, especially in the male-dominated action genres of the 80s. Ultimately, players are shown the truth at the end, as Samus is revealed as a woman. Since then, Samus has become one of gaming’s most legendary characters, and the franchise she helms is actually my personal favorite.
We have Princess Peach (originally known as Princess Toadstool), who started out as a damsel in distress for Mario to save. However, Peach has evolved to be more independent. She still gets cast in her classic role (Super Mario Odyssey comes to mind), but Nintendo seems to slowly transition her to a more modern and independent take on her character. Either way, Peach is, without a doubt, one of the most famous female characters in all of gaming. She’s joined by another Nintendo icon - Princess Zelda. Zelda has also been used as a damsel in distress, but she has become much more of an important and independent woman in the recent games.
1996, Tomb Raider was released and introduced the world to Lara Croft. A case can be made that Croft has become the most famous female protagonist in video game history. The character of Croft has had a feminist range, but her looks were definitely made for a more male demographic. Recently, her character has changed to be more, well, let’s be nice and say realistic. Croft has become such a memorable character that she and her franchise have had multiple movies made, with Angelina Jolie portraying her most famously.
Other great female video game characters have included Jade from Beyond Good & Evil, Alyx from Half-Life 2, The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3, Ellie from The Last of Us, Tifa from Final Fantasy VII, Aerith from the same game, Cortana from the Halo series, Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine from Resident Evil, Liara and the female Commander Shepard option in Mass Effect, Aloy from Horizon, and so much more characters. Not only would the list be too long to name them all, but it's also a list that’s getting bigger. For every Mario, you get Madeline (from Celeste); for every Link, you get Aloy; for every Master Chief, you get Samus; for every Nathan Drake, you get Lara Croft. Female video game characters are a big part of gaming and have shaped gaming.
Future
The future for female representation in gaming, whether it's characters or behind the scenes, is bright. Yes, many things to work on and work out, but I see that brighter path. We have more women being open about their love for gaming and showing it through content creation. I see more and more little girls playing games, not just boys. I see women like Sarah Bond moving the business forward. Developers like Maddy Thorson, Amy Hennig, Jade Raymond, Aya Kyogoku, Ikumi Nakamura, and more are making the games we love. Impactful titles they work on, like Celeste, show how they are improving the industry. It hasn’t always been easy. Many female characters have been regulated as sex objects in certain titles, such as the Grand Theft Auto games, but look at the progress even there as a female character will now be a lead in the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI. It’s only going to get better from here.
Be Nice to All
This is an amazing article! Great work!