by Pete Davison

Created on: January 11, 2009

Following this first paragraph, this article will not be mentioning Lara Croft because although she is indeed a strong female video game character, there is a rich cast of leading ladies waiting in the sidelines for a mention while Ms Croft constantly hogs all the limelight. So Lara? Get outta here. Thank you.

Now that formality is over with, we can begin properly.

The perception of women in video games has changed over the years as the demographic interested in the medium has changed also. What was once a pastime for young-to-teenage boys, and no-one but young-to-teenage boys, has now become a genuine part of mainstream media. There is little to no shame these days in admitting that one of your hobbies is gaming, which is a big change from the past when aforementioned boys would be labelled "geek" and ostracized by the cool kids.

A side-effect of this is that it has brought a lot more girls to the medium, meaning that developers and writers have had to think of a whole new audience to cater for. Having women in games as, let's face it, a "final objective" or a "reward" is seen as something to be avoided a little more these days - not a taboo as such, as series like Mario have made their name on a string of "save the Princess" games - but something that people are thinking about a little more. With that in mind, let's take a look at a few of these strong female characters. I'm also going to try and steer clear of the "mainstream" heroines here, instead focusing on four ladies you may be less familiar with.

We'll start with my personal favourite female video game character of all time - April Ryan from The Longest Journey. April is one of the most realistically-written "modern women" I've had the pleasure to play as in a game, ever. She is smart, she's not above cracking a joke, she gets upset, she gets angry, she swears when she's REALLY angry and she has enough interesting stories going on in her life to make her one of the main reasons to stick through the lengthy quest of The Longest Journey. She's also presented as attractive, but realistically so - namely, she wears nice clothes that look good but aren't designed to show as much skin as possible, she has a distinctive "look" all of her own and her voice casting is absolutely perfect for the writing. Part of the pleasure of The Longest Journey (and something that is woefully underused in its sequel Dreamfall) is her interactions with other characters. They are realistic conversations between a diverse cast

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