[game_preservation] History of Women in Games

[Martin Goldberg]

Yes, 1983.


On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 4:21 PM, Jose P. Zagal <jzagal at cdm.depaul.edu> wrote:

> There might be some in terms of licensed games. I seem to recall there was a

> Strawberry Shortcake game for the Atari 2600. (1982? 1983?)

>

>

>

> Jose

>

>

> On 9/9/2010 2:59 PM, Devin Monnens wrote:

>>

>> I'm syndicating this from the WIG SIG mailing list as I think this

>> history concerns us directly. I don't have much to give in the way of

>> response, but I would say that developers were thinking about this as

>> early as the late 70s with Pac-Man, Cutie Q, and Bee-52. They're not

>> targeted specifically at girls though, and I don't recall any software

>> made prior to 1983 that was.

>>

>>

>> Message: 2

>> Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2010 21:29:56 -0700

>> From: Gandalf The White <gandalf at digital.net <mailto:gandalf at digital.net>>

>> Subject: [women_in_games] Question about the history of games for

>> females

>> To: <women_dev at igda.org <mailto:women_dev at igda.org>>

>> Message-ID: <C8AB0DD4.1F132%gandalf at digital.net

>> <mailto:C8AB0DD4.1F132%25gandalf at digital.net>>

>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

>>

>> Greetings and Salutations:

>>

>> I joined this mailing list to see what information was around / watch the

>> discussions.

>>

>> I have delurked to ask one such question. Is there a "history" of games /

>> software for women / girls?

>>

>> I am curious where a piece of software that I programmed fits into the

>> equation. I programmed "Jenny Of The Prairie" in 1983 for a company named

>> Rhiannon on the Apple IIe. It is an adventure games for girls that was

>> later ported to IBM PC, Atari and Commodore. I believe that it was one of

>> the first games specifically targeted for girls, but I am not sure.

>>

>> Thank you for your responses, I appreciate your time.

>>

>> Ken

>>

>> ---------------------------------------------------------------

>> Do not meddle in the affairs of wizards for they are subtle and

>> quick to anger.

>> Ken Hollis - Gandalf The White - gandalf at digital.net

>> <mailto:gandalf at digital.net> - O- TINLC

>> WWW Page - http://digital.net/~gandalf/

>> Trace E-Mail forgery - http://digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html

>> Trolls crossposts - http://digital.net/~gandalf/trollfaq.html

>> Woodworking For Geeks - http://digital.net/~gandalf/woodmain.htm

>>

>>

>> From: "Judy L. Tyrer" <jltyrer at gmail.com <mailto:jltyrer at gmail.com>>

>> Subject: Re: [women_in_games] Question about the history of games for

>> females

>> To: Ken Hollis <gandalf at digital.net <mailto:gandalf at digital.net>>, women

>> in games list

>> <women_dev at igda.org <mailto:women_dev at igda.org>>

>> Message-ID:

>> <AANLkTimiESM_kv4evXyPu5-=-VuC4aA+yQthRmTeEODT at mail.gmail.com

>> <mailto:VuC4aA%2ByQthRmTeEODT at mail.gmail.com>>

>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

>>

>> Don't forget Purple Moon. I loved that series and was sorry it died.

>> American Girl also had some software for creating plays with the

>> American Girl characters - it would be called a game today. Not sure

>> what it was called back then.

>>

>> Judy

>>

>> On Thu, Sep 9, 2010 at 1:45 AM, Ken Hollis <gandalf at digital.net

>> <mailto:gandalf at digital.net>> wrote:

>>>

>>>  Greetings and Salutations:

>>>

>>> >>From: Gandalf The White <gandalf at digital.net

>>

>> <mailto:gandalf at digital.net>>

>>>

>>> >>>I have delurked to ask one such question. ?Is there a "history" of

>>

>> games /

>>>

>>> >>software for women / girls?

>>>

>>> >From: Asatte <sylia1 at gmail.com <mailto:sylia1 at gmail.com>>

>>> >>I just had to respond, Gandalf the White was the coolest thing to see

>>

>> in my

>>>

>>> >>mailbox all week!

>>>

>>>  From: Janette Ramsey <cowgirlchev83 at yahoo.com

>>

>> <mailto:cowgirlchev83 at yahoo.com>>

>>>

>>> >I have to agree that was really cool to see in my in-box as well

>>>

>>>  Being an "experienced" tech type, I have used this e-mail since 1993

>>

>> ... I am glad that it brightened your day :-).

>>>

>>>  Just to assure you that I am not asking for someone else to do the

>>

>> research, I have looked into this for myself. ?As far as I can tell

>> about the only other software aimed directly towards women / girls was

>> released a year later "The House That Jill Built" or "Where in the World

>> is Carmen Sandiego?" (1985)

>>>

>>>  Does anybody recall any other software?

>>>

>>>  --> What was your favorite software to "play" (run) when you were

>>

>> younger? <--

>>>

>>>  These are a few articles I found in the search engines:

>>>  http://www.bing.com/search?q=%22Jenny+Of+The+Prairie%22

>>

>> <http://www.bing.com/search?q=%22Jenny+Of+The+Prairie%22>

>>>

>>>  http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Jenny+Of+The+Prairie%22

>>

>> <http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Jenny+Of+The+Prairie%22>

>>>

>>>  Women in computing, 1985, with Elizabeth Stott, one of the founders of

>>

>> Rhiannon:

>>>

>>>  http://www.archive.org/details/WomeninC1985

>>>

>>>  Even at CES 1985 "Jenny" seems to be the only software specifically

>>

>> aimed a girls:

>>>

>>>  http://books.google.com/books?id=DiUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT74

>>

>> <http://books.google.com/books?id=DiUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT74>

>>>

>>>

>>

>> http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9906EFDC1338F935A25751C1A962948260

>>>

>>>

>>

>> http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue52/300_1_THE_LATEST_IN_LEARNING_NEW_TRENDS_IN_EDUCATIONAL_COMPUTING.php

>>>

>>>  An interesting 1986 "Feminist Collections" magazine:

>>>

>>>  http://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/21746/FC_7.3_Spr1986.pdf

>>>

>>>  Thank you for your time

>>>

>>>  Ken

>>

>> --

>> Devin Monnens

>> www.deserthat.com <http://www.deserthat.com>

>>

>> The sleep of Reason produces monsters.

>>

>>

>>

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>

> --

> José P. Zagal

> Assistant Professor

> College of Computing and Digital Media

> DePaul University

>

> http://www.ludoliteracy.com/

>

> http://facsrv.cs.depaul.edu/~jzagal

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