Girls Who Code has launched “Girls Who Code Girls” a desktop and mobile gaming experience empowering girls to create personalized video game characters with code, via Mojo Supermarket.
“Girls Who Code Girls” is designed to celebrate the diversity of the Girls Who Code community and teach computer science fundamentals. The non-profit said that the experience provides “infinite code-able combinations,” from hair texture to skin specificity to body size. Coders can code their avatars with unique and underrepresented attributes, as well.
Mojo Supermarket has won a Cannes Lions Award for its previous work with Girls Who Code and, for this project, partnered with interactive production studio, Make Me Pulse to bring “Girls Who Code Girls” to life.
Gamers can visit GirlsWhoCodeGirls.com where they can code and customise their own gaming avatars. In doing so, they are introduced to four coding languages and are guided through the process with instructions on what to input and how. They can watch as their characters change based on the coding alterations they make. Once finished, they can share the characters they have created.
“With Girls Who Code Girls, we set out to accomplish two goals. First, provide girls and young women with a fun, creative entry point to trying out code. And second, to draw attention to the fact that if more women coded video game characters they would look more like real women. Our ambition is that with every line of code you type you can influence the future of women in gaming.,” said Kate Carter, group creative director, Mojo Supermarket.
“We saw how much girls enjoyed DojaCode as an interactive experience, so we wanted to give them another fun one, while showing the world, and gaming companies, why it’s so important that we invest in getting more young women into the tech and gaming fields.”
“Though almost half of all gamers are women, we don’t see them represented in game development. As a result, what we do see is a gaming experience catered to the white, male gaze that alienates some of its most passionate and diverse fans,” said Tarika Barrett, CEO of Girls Who Code.
“That’s why we created Girls Who Code Girls. By turning users into creators, we’re empowering our community to use coding to upend the status quo and imagine a future where they can harness their passion and creativity into a career in tech. We want our students to know that they deserve to take up space in gaming and game development, and can create characters that reflect the best parts of who they are.”
