Who was the first woman video game character you can remember? Describe her

Even though I didn’t play it myself, the first female video game character I can remember is Lara Croft as my older cousins played it. Lara Croft is a highly sexualised character through the use of wearing tiny shorts and tight tops with an "ideal" figure to appeal to the male target audience. The first female video game character that I ever encountered whilst playing video games myself is Princess Peach in the Super Mario games which portrays females within video games as being a prize for the male "heroes"

Who was the first woman you knew that played video games? Describe her

The first girls I knew to play video games played the "Imagine" games etc, however when I joined high school I met my best friend Jess who played a lot of video games, especially ones like resident evil and left 4 dead which were stereotypically associated as being games for males.

Do you think the woman gamer felt she was ‘represented’ in the character you described? Why/Why not?

When Jess started playing Tomb Raider when she was seven so back then she probably didn’t feel as though she was being represented through the Lara Croft character, however the character is an aspiration to who she would have liked to be/qualities she would like to have. For example, Lara Croft is athletic, independent and brave and these are qualities that seven year old Jess when she first started playing the game would liked to have, however the Princess Peach character in the ‘Super Mario’ games was dependent on male characters to save her which is the opposite of Jess.

Can you think of another female character that this woman would feel is a representation of her? Why?

I think nowadays as a seventeen year old Jess is represented through the Lara Croft character as she is very independent and doesn’t really follow female stereotypes as in, she’s really active and does her own thing, rather than needing other people’s help or depending on those around her.