While women make up 46% of all gamers, there is still a general lack of women in the gaming industry. But when women like Carol Shaw started out, there were even fewer women making games.
Carol Shaw: The Game Awards Industry Icon (Extended)
Experts credit Shaw, the creator of the side-scrolling arcade game River Raid, for her influence on the gaming industry at a time when men dominated the industry (even more so than today).
“I think she really paved the way for [the] female game designers who came later,” Julia Novakovic, archivist at The Strong National Museum of Play, told Lifewire in a phone interview. “She proved that women were not only exceptional programmers, but that they deserved recognition for their work.”
Before entering the gaming industry, Shaw played arcade games growing up in Palo Alto, California. Her interest in games and experience with computers landed her her first job out of college at Atari, the company now known for arcade games and vintage home video game consoles.
