Feature: 'The Gamasutra 20: The Most Vital Women Working In Games'

The video game industry is often described as male-dominated, but many women do hold extremely important roles - in today's feature, Gamasutra presents its list of the 20 most vital women working in games today. Journalist Bonnie Ruberg formed a panel with game design veterans Brenda Brathwaite and Sheri Graner Ray to pick 20 names representing the industry's most creative minds from a diverse list of women working in every field, from designers to PR agents: "In deciding who would make the list, the 2008 panel strove to include women from all parts of the industry -- from development, to marketing, to writing -- and to represent many different talents, both old and new. Specifically, the panel wanted to highlight the women who are important to the gaming now, those who have a crucial hand in shaping video games as we know them today." One of the figures profiled, 2K Marin executive producer Alyssa Finley, was recognized not just for her work on BioShock, but for a career full of titles with unique approaches: Alyssa Finley may have sealed her reputation by producing 2K's 2007 hit BioShock, but in her extensive career in the games industry she has actually shipped titles with almost every major publisher. In the last few years, she has worked on Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers with Electronic Arts, Demon Stone with Atari, and Pool of Radiance II: The Ruins of Myth Drannor with Ubisoft. Before coming to 2K Marin, Finley worked for LEGO, Stormfront Studios, and Irrational Games. She began her work in games in 1992 when she joined the Rebel Space for the Prodigy online service. She was once the young coder who told Grrlgamer.com, "I decided to become a programmer by chance" and "I got into games as a career as a coincidence, as well," Finley has since become a true veteran. You can now read the full feature, which contains profiles for 20 of the gaming industry's most notable female personalities (no registration required, please feel free to link to this feature from other websites).