Let’s take a moment and celebrate a great moment for women in gaming

It’s been a period of serious ups and downs for women in gaming; for players, for developers, for journalists. Thanks to Gamergate it’s actually been a period that is defined by more than just ups and downs. It’s been, at times, downright scary.

The gaming landscape has grown increasingly hostile towards women, and while some have spoken up about the abuse they’ve faced, there is still so much ground to cover and work to be done. Which is why we need to pause, take a moment, and celebrate media critic Anita Sarkeesian’s latest project. Her project is doing something for gaming that is long overdue — bringing a ray of positivity.

Anita (who herself was on the receiving end of terrible online hatred during Gamergate) recently announced she’s planning two new video series which spotlight positive character portrayals in video games. The first show, Positive Female Characters, is devoted to featuring strong female characters, the second will take a look at how male characters are represented in video games.

The first video in the Positive Female Characters series was released Tuesday, and Anita focuses on the very positive character the Scythian from the game Sword & Sworcery. The premise of the game is not unlike the premise of The Legend of Zelda — and the very neat thing about Scythian is that she’s a character who isn’t expressly described as female from the get go. The player is only clued in to her identity as a woman through her interactions with other characters.

We’ve included a link to Anita’s super awesome video below so you can check it out for yourself!

While we totally love these videos we still do understand that focusing on the upside isn’t the only way to diminish the issues. There is so much left to be talked out, to be solved, to be understood, but at least we’re talking a step in the right direction.

[Featured image .]