Rebel Girls Level Up: 25 Tales of Gaming and the Metaverse
8 AMIRA VIRGIL CREATOR AND COMMUNITY BUILDER Amira grinned as she sorted through all the different outfits in The sims There were bright blue dresses business clothes and even fantasy costumes But when she went to pick her character's skin tone she paused cursor hovering over the few options The game had no dark skin colors that matched her own Maybe it'll be better in the next game in the series Amira thought But the same thing happened each time she booted up the newest version of The Sims She could customize everything from ear size to eye color but the skin tones still didn't look like hers mira couldn't believe it She could create a more realistic alien avatar than a character of herself By the time The Sims 4 came out Amira was making mods of her own These downloaded content packs allowed other players to install more options for skin tones and hairstyles into their own Sims games Players around the world loved how realistic Amira's mods made their avatars look Amira had also become a streamer someone who broadcasts videos of themselves playing games On her channel she spoke out about the lack of skin color options Amira was glad her mods were successful but she felt like they shouldn't be needed at all Why couldn't the game developers just make games that represented the way people looked in the real world The creators of The Sims heard her and to her surprise they agreed The company announced they would release diverse content to The Sims 4. Every time Amira logs in she can see how her actions have changed the world and countless digital worlds too BORN OCTOBER 4 1994 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
IT'S IMPORTANT THAT THESE COMPANIES DO RIGHT BY THE MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES THAT THEY TRY TO INCLUDE BY ACTUALLY INCLUDING THEM -AMIRA VIRGIL ILLUSTRATION BY SHIRLEY HOTTIER
AMY HENNIG DIRECTOR AND SCRIPT WRITER Once upon a time there was a girl whose head was filled with stories At first Amy thought she wanted to work in the film industry But after college she wasn't sure it was the right way to tell the tales brewing in her mind Instead Amy got a job as an artist on a game called Electrocop Though Electrocop would never release Amy found that she loved building trees monsters and cities She made settings that looked like you could step right into them It was almost like creating the backgrounds for a movie Right away though Amy realized that her job wouldn't be easy Every time she finished a project she had to keep interviewing for places on development teams The first game she worked on after Electrocop was canceled and the games that followed lacked the fantasy adventures she wanted to build After many years of hard work Amy got a job on a series called Uncharted She'd be in charge of the whole story She wrote four games about a man named Nathan Drake and his scary action packed adventures When she finished working on Uncharted Amy decided she wanted to create her own games At her new company she focused on games with sweeping stories and complicated characters She wanted players to feel excited as they explored mysteries and uncovered new worlds Although Amy left her movie dreams behind to work on video games she has brought her two interests together creating games for film series like Star Wars She has become a powerful leader who can take charge of the projects she loves bringing the stories in her head to life BORN AUGUST 19 1964 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 10
WE WANT OUR CHARACTERS TO BE COMPLEX AND FLAWED AND INTERESTING AND LAYERED AMY HENNIG CREATED USING AI ILLUSTRATION
