Video gaming has traditionally been seen as a men’s-only activity, but a strong number of women around the world has taken hold of console controllers and proved that it’s not the case.
To celebrate Women’s Day tomorrow, we have created a list (in no particular order) of the top women in video gaming, from professional gamers and women with a passion for gaming to women behind the scene who make it all run smooth.
Tiana Cline
This bubbly gamer has a strong passion for Bethesda’s Fallout 3 and loves nothing more than playing around with the latest gadgets. Heading up tech website Girl Guides, Cline is also involved in many other gaming and tech related publications. For female gamers or the technology challenged, Girl Guides should be the first stop they make. The site explains and reviews all the products from a feminine angle and skips over all the machoness.
Shannon Rogotzki
The name Shannon Rogotzki is to South African gamers as to what Bill Gates is to Microsoft fans. Being one of the owners of the hugely-successful BT Games, there is no other place where gamers turn to in order to get their gaming fix. The company has been operational for a number of years, and Rogotzki is also an avid gamer, which is probably why the BT Games franchise has been handled with so much care over the years.
Pippa Tshabalala
Tshabalala has become synonymous with female gamers in South Africa, as she is best known as the presenter of Vuzu’s The Verge, South Africa’s first daily live gaming television show. Tshabalala started playing games when she was about eight years old, and although she doesn’t have a favourite game, she enjoys the Grand Theft Auto franchise and The Witcher. She is also involved in writing a monthly gaming column for NAG Magazine.
Lauren Das Neves
Das Neves has been involved in the gaming industry for a very long time and has been at the helm of magazines such as PC Format, while husband Michael James edits NAG Magazine and serves at the organiser of the annual rAge computer and gaming exhibition in Johannesburg. Although Das Neves enjoys a wide variety of games, Medal of Honour, Call of Duty and the Battlefield franchise ranks as her favourites.
Brooke Hattabaugh
Known by her Xbox360 tag Brookelyn FD, Hattabaugh strikes the fear into any man’s heart, as she is from the all-girl gaming team the Frag Dolls, and is a competitive gamer hired by Ubisoft. She has been playing video games since the age of five, and loves Fable 3, Halo Reach, Party Central (Facebook Game) and Just Dance 2. But don’t let those titles fool anybody, as her longest playing spree was playing Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 2 for eight hours a day for two months straight.
Kim “Eve” Shee-Yoon
Shee-Yoon has made a name for her in the video gaming industry by becoming the first ever female professional Starcraft 2 player and immediately booked herself at place in Korean pro-gaming team SlayerS. At the end of July, the 22-year-old had a Gold division ranking of 7th, and a Diamond division ranking of 72nd.
Jessica Nigri
Any gamer worth its salt will know who Nigri is, and if they don’t, they have more than likely seen her at many gaming conventions donning the best cosplay outfits imaginable. On her official website she states that she loves gaming, reading comic books, watching anime and reading manga. During various events, she has stolen the show with cosplay outfits of Pikachu, Anya Stroud from Gears of War 3, and Onion the Faun, to name a few.
Resources for female gamers:
www.girlguides.co.za
www.girlgamer.com
www.gamergirlsunite.com
www.fragdolls.com
Charlie Fripp – Consumer Tech editor
The local slant is good, but what about women *developers* who have been creating games for many, many years?
Kim Swift (Portal), Corrinne Yu (lead engine programmer on upcoming Halo games), Brenda Braithwaite (development legend) and Amy Hennig (Uncharted series director), just off the top of my head. There are also many other women game journalists, such as Leigh Alexander (Gamasutra editor at large).
And the local list is definitely not complete without El33tonline editor-in-chief Lisa, who founded the site and has been running it for almost five years.
Hi Oliver,
Thank you for the feedback. The list is by no means complete, but I appreciate your input. Women developers are definitely something that we are looking at in the future. Be sure to check back soon, as we are planning a whole series on influencial figures in the entire gaming industry.