The world of gaming is still a tough place when it comes to women receiving the recognition they deserve. Although 49 percent of players are now women, they still are told that they are not “real” gamers, their geekiness being thoroughly questioned, as shown in this video (embedded below).

Yet women have always played a big part in IT in general, and gaming in particular. Here are some very famous women who’ve had a strong impact on gaming history and the industry’s development:

Doris Self – Competitive Gamer

Not only is Doris Self one of the first women in competitive gaming, she is also the world’s oldest competitive gamer, because age has nothing to do with passion. At 55, she entered the 1983 Video Game Masters Tournament and established a new world high score record for Q*Bert with 1,112,300 points.

Carol Shaw – Game designer and programmer

Carol Shaw was the first woman to design and program games. Her first project was 3D Tic-Tac-Toe for the Atari 2600, and she later became well known for River Raid at Activision.

Amy Hennig – Creative director at Naughty Dog

Regarded as one of the most important game designers and narrative writers in the industry, Amy Henning started at Nintendo Entertainment System, then moved on to Electronic Arts, then Crystal Dynamics, where she directed games in the Legacy of Kain series. At Naughty Dog she worked on the Uncharted franchise.

Brenda Brethwaite – Co-founder, Loot Drop

Brenda Brethwaite is the female developer with the longest career in the field. Before founding the social game studio Loot Drop, she worked on over 20 game titles and was also elected on the International Game Developers Association’s board of directors.

Dona Bailey – Game Designer, College Instructor

The first woman to design an arcade game (Centipede), Dona Bailey also started at Atari. She was the company’s only female developer (as she joined after Carol Shaw’s to Activision). Soon after the release of her highly popular arcade game (co-designed with Ed Logg), she left the industry, mainly because of male colleague’s criticism. She currently focuses on supporting women who want to pursue careers in the games industry.

.

photo credit: Pink Sherbet Photography via photopin cc