Reviews

Gamer Girls: 25 Women Who Built the Video Game Industry by Mary Kenney

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rainbowofcrazy's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful informative inspiring fast-paced

4.0

I REALLY enjoyed this book. This is a wonderful introduction to a whole bunch of amazingly talented women that have worked on all different aspects of video game development. Programming, writing, producing, composing, everything. A good chunk of this book actually focuses on the pioneers of the industry, which I thought was really fascinating because you wouldn't think that there would have been many women in the industry in like the early 80s, but this really surprised me.

It is geared towards YA, but I do wish that the author went more in depth with these women. It's a short book and each creator's story only gets a few paragraphs. I would have loved to read more about their lives, and more about the struggles that they have faced in the industry. The author *very briefly* touches on GamerGate. I get that she wanted to focus more on the positives and have an inspiring book in the limited space available, but I wish there was a little more depth to the writing and stories and the sexism in particular.

Still, this was a fantastic, easy to read introduction to all these amazing women. And there are also lots of resources for further reading at the end of the book. It's definitely inspiring whether you're a gamer or not 👍🏻

michellechien930's review against another edition

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3.0

Really interesting read to learn more about female game developers that presided more behind the scenes- and to learn about their gaming journeys and hardships within the largely male-predominated gaming environment. I learned a lot about indie game devs, creators of genre-frontiers like the Nancy Drew interactives, to women that were involved with some of the industry's biggest names: Koei Techmo, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, Naughty Dog, Square Enix etc. It was amazing to learn how they each influenced and changed the gaming world for better- and their inclusion of creating games for girls. Although today's gaming scene is largely still dominated by men, the industry is looking to its hidden factors- that women account for more than 48% of gamers. Its been that way for a long time, as far as the success of Barbie Fashion Designer, up to more cozier recent games (Animal Crossing, Nintendogs, Stardew Valley etc.), and even the FPS and RPGs that dominate the sales. Games are really for anyone, and hopefully the gaming industry will expand even more in the coming years for inclusivity of all genders and preferences. Even though I found this book interesting, it introduced too many developers with too little personal stories (all were kind of alike and very formulaic, video game preferences, history, struggles, development process) and I felt like it could have been a lot better and more condensed if it focused on fewer people and more personal/emotional stories instead of just stating the facts.

violentvixen's review

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5.0

Great profiles of so many industry greats. Lots of short sidebars about other women too!

hanbaga's review

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informative medium-paced

3.0

therainbowshelf's review

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hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

Spotted this while doing some social media for the library and knew I needed to read it. It felt highly accessible for all audiences. I loved the layout, and the side quests giving shout-outs to even more women in gaming. This inclusive book is informative and does a great job looking at women who had many different impacts on gaming. I learned a lot and it really sparked my imagination.

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