Girls Who Code is helping girls create their own video game characters

The gaming industry needs work when it comes to improving female character representation in games. Girls Who Code is lending a hand to the cause. In an effort to create female gaming characters for women, by women, the nonprofit is launching a new site to help girls create personalized video game characters. “Girls Who Code Girls” starts with a template player whose appearance can be changed with code, everything from their hair style to body size. The library of characters will also be licensable and offered to gaming companies to inform their game development. Seventy-seven percent of video game developers are men, according to a survey of video game developers by recruitment company Zippia. “Though almost half of all gamers are women, we don’t see them represented in game development. As a result, what we do see is a gaming experience catered to the white, male gaze that alienates some of its most passionate and diverse fans,” said Tarika Barrett, CEO of Girls Who Code. The campaign is the latest from Mojo Supermarket, which also produced the two-time Cannes Gold Lion-winning “DojaCode” campaign, which turned the music video for Doja Cat’s hit single “Woman” into an interactive experience. “Girls Who Code Girls” was also created with help from interactive production studio Make Me Pulse, and Lyda Hill Philanthropies, which funds scientific research. “With Girls Who Code Girls, we set out to accomplish two goals," said Kate Carter, Mojo Supermarket’s group creative director, in a statement. "First, provide girls and young women with a fun, creative entry point to trying out code. And second, to draw attention to the fact that if more women coded video game characters they would look more like real women.”

Girls Who Code is helping girls create their own video game characters

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