Discover the women behind the video games we love—the iconic games they created, the genres they invented, the studios and companies they built—and how they changed the industry forever. Women have always made video games, from the 1960s and the first-of-its-kind, projector-based Sumerian Game to the blockbuster Uncharted games that defined the early 2000s. Women have been behind the writing, design, scores, and engines that power one of the most influential industries out there. In Gamer Girls, now you can explore the stories of 25 of those women. Bursting with bold artwork, easy-to-read profiles, and real-life stories of the women working on games like Centipede, Final Fantasy, Halo, and more, this dynamic illustrated book shows what a huge role women have played—and will continue to play—in the creation of video games. With additional sidebars about other influential women in the industry, as well as a glossary and additional resources page, Gamer Girls offers a look into the work and lives of influential pixel queens such as: Roberta Williams (one of the creators of the adventure genre) Mabel Addis Mergardt (the first person to write a video game) Muriel Tramis (the French "knight" of video games) Keiko Erikawa (creator of the otome genre) Yoko Shimomura (composer for Street Fighter, Final Fantasy, and Kingdom Hearts) Rebecca Heineman (first national video game tournament champion) Danielle Bunten Berry (creator of M.U.L.E. and early advocate for multiplayer games) and more! Whether you’re a gamer girl who plays video games, a gamer girl who makes video games, or a parent raising a gamer girl, this entertaining, inspiring book will have you itching to pick up a controller or create your own video games!

Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play is a celebration of female accomplishments in the video game industry, ranging from high-level executives to programmers to cosplayers. This insightful and celebratory book highlights women who helped to establish the industry, women who disrupted it, women who fight to diversify it, and young women who will someday lead it. Featuring household names and unsung heroes, each individual profiled is a pioneer in their own right. Key features in this book include: *100 Professionals of Play: Interviews and Special Features with 100 diverse and prominent women highlighting their impact on the gaming industry in the fields of design, programming, animation, marketing, voiceover, and many more. *Pro Tips: Practical and anecdotal advice from industry professionals for young adults working toward a career in the video game industry. *Essays: Short essays covering various topics affecting women in gaming related careers, including "Difficult Women: The Importance of Female Characters Who Go Beyond Being Strong," "NPC: On Being Unseen in the Game Dev Community," and "Motherhood and Gaming: How Motherhood Can Help Rather Than Hinder a Career." *"A Day in the Life of" Features: An inside look at a typical day in the gaming industry across several vocations, including a streamer, a voice actor, and many more.

Gamer Girls are four besties who prove that girls can game! But when a new game comes out, it's not a hit with everyone. Maybe they should stick to video game battles instead of middle school arguments! Celia, Natalie, Lucy, and Jess are the Gamer Girls—four gamers devoted to showing that girls can game, too. They stream together every Friday night and they’re also BFFs. Celia is the artsy, creative one of the group, so it’s no surprise when she starts designing merch for their new club. But when she falls in love with a new, cozy game called Monster Village, it’s a far cry from her friends’ action-packed battle royales. Can the Gamer Girls find common ground, or is their new club doomed? In this second illustrated book of the all-new series, Gamer Girls,four friends navigate the video game world and the middle school world . . . if only they could solve drama like defeating monsters! This series is perfect for teens and tween readers who love video games.

The Gamer Girls love playing their newest racing video game, Fast Pursuit Horizon, together. But what happens when Lucy's cousin comes to visit and throws every thing out of control? This is the third book in the illustrated Gamer Girls series! Lucy is the newest member of the Gamer Girls. She loves her new school, her family, and her friends, but she misses her old life in California, too. After unsuccessfully trying to convince her parents to let her visit California, they decide to bring her aunt and cousin Jordan to HER! +10 XP for awesome parents. Unfortunately, Jordan's presence causes a stir with the Gamer Girls . . . suddenly, like Lucy's race car in her newest video game obsession Fast Pursuit Horizon, she feels totally OUT OF CONTROL! In this third book of the series Gamer Girls, four friends navigate the video game world and the middle school world . . . if only they could solve drama as easily as they defeat monsters! This series is perfect for readers who love video games. Out of Control includes 25 black-and-white illustrations throughout.

Thirteen-year-old Natalie lives a double life. By day, she’s an average eighth grader at Golden Trails Middle. At night, she’s Gnat112, a streamer for her favorite video game, Alienlord. But when the new girl moves in next door, will Natalie's double life be revealed? Natalie has a secret. She's a gamer. By day, Natalie is an average eighth grade student. At night, she's Gnat112! Living a double life is hard . . . and keeping a secret from your friends is even harder. In this illustrated middle grade book (the first of an all-new series, Gamer Girls), Natalie and her three BFFs learn to navigate the gamer world together, one girl at a time. This series is a great read for gamers and gamer enthusiasts of all kinds. Plus, there's the occasional middle school drama . . . if only Natalie could battle math teachers like video game aliens!

The chapters in this volume are selected from the best papers presented at the 11th Annual Consumer Culture Theory Conference held in Lille, France in July 2016. They represent the cutting edge in qualitative consumer research.

In 2016, a female videogame programmer and a female journalist were harassed viciously by anonymous male online users in what became known as GamerGate. Male gamers threatened to rape and kill both women, and the news soon made international headlines, exposing the level of abuse that many women and minorities face when participating in the predominantly male online culture. Gaming Masculinity explains how the term “gamer” has been constructed in the popular imagination by a core group of male online users in an attempt to shore up an embattled form of geeky masculinity. This latest form of toxicity comes at a moment of upheaval in gaming culture, as women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals demand broader access and representation online. Paying close attention to the online practices of trolling and making memes, author Megan Condis demonstrates that, despite the supposedly disembodied nature of life online, performances of masculinity are still afforded privileged status in gamer culture. Even worse, she finds that these competing discourses are not just relegated to the gaming world but are creating rifts within the culture at large, as witnessed by the direct links between the GamerGate movement and the recent rise of the alt-right during the last presidential election. Condis asks what this moment can teach us about the performative, collaborative, and sometimes combative ways that American culture enacts race, gender, and sexuality. She concludes by encouraging designers and those who work in the tech industry to think about how their work might have, purposefully or not, been developed in ways that are marked by gender.