Screenshot of “Tropes vs Women in Video Games”  
© Feminist Frequency

From Ms. Pac-Man to Zelda, from Princess Peach to Lara Croft – during their history video games have produced female characters, which can nowadays be called iconic. A look at the representation of female characters from the beginnings to the present shows first that women are strongly underrepresented in games. To this day, protagonists like Evie Frye from “Assassin’s Creed Syndicate” or games with only female main characters like “Life is Strange” are still an exception in the still more male-dominated digital game worlds.

Furthermore, a look at the roles and functions of female game characters brings up different subjects, which often give little capacity to act, little influence or purely decorative meaning to the characters, for example the “damsel in distress”, who is threatened by a miscreant and saved by a hero. In the PLAY Impulse Anita Sarkeesian will get to the bottom of this and other stereotypes and tropes, while she takes us on a journey through the history of video games.

The impulse will be held in English.

Please note: No video or audio recordings are allowed during this event.