10 Hugely Influential People In Gaming You Need To Know About

5. Anita Sarkeesian - Creator, Feminist Frequency

You may be bored to tears with the whole Gamergate saga, but the fact remains: this is an industry rife with gender prejudice. Anita Sarkeesian wasn't at the root of the controversy, rather a kind of parallel headline, with her hard-hitting "Tropes vs. Women In Video Games" episodes raising issues that many either didn't care about or chose to ignore. Poking holes in the blanket of misogyny throughout gaming, this Feminist Frequency series stuck a chord - for some it was an issue of awareness, her scathing commentary illuminating the proverbial white elephant of sexual misrepresentation in video games. But others took it as a call to extreme negative action. It wasn't long before Sarkeesian was receiving some unrequited attention from the most malevolent swamp of the gaming public. It started with offensive memes doing the rounds, and soon it was threats of rape, murder, acts of terror; it's been a really sad time to be a gamer, to be lumped in as a part of this mass of idiots, championing their cause from dark corners like the rodents they are. Despite - or perhaps because of - what she's had to endure, Anita Sarkeesian's attempt to highlight these rarely recognised issues within the industry has shot her and her movement into the public eye in dramatic fashion. These are things that gamers, game creators and members of the gaming press need to take seriously moving forward, and Sarkeesian is leading the charge.