WINGS
Thursday December 5th, 2024 with WINGS Series Producer, Frieda Werden
Play Like a Girl (or not) : Computer game innovator Brenda Laurel

Think computer games are just a boys' world? Think again. Brenda Laurel deeply transformed the gaming and computer worlds from their early days - and she got her start in Theatre. She advocates for diversity and inclusiveness in video games, designed some games to appeal to girls' strengths, and pioneered virtual reality. Her Ph.D. dissertation, published in 1986, was titled "Toward the Design of a Computer-Based Interactive Fantasy System," and it formed the basis of her 1993 book Computers as Theater. Brenda told her life story to Suki Wessling, host of the podcast The Babblery, and Suki shared part of that longer interview with WINGS. [The Babblery is supported by community radio KSQD, a noncommercial, listener-supported community radio station in Santa Cruz County, California.: https://ksqd.org/babblery/ ]