This research expands on a number of past studies addressing the limited roles of female video game characters.  However, because these past studies overwhelmingly focus on the text of games, theorists have been unable to say much of substance about gaming audiences.  This leaves a large gap in research that can only be overcome through conversations with actual female gamers.  Because there are currently many women who do play games in spite of being outnumbered by males, we need to see how they carve out space in this male dominated arena or see themselves in characters that are not representative of them.  Thus, this project rests on interviews with female gamers, as well as archival research into how women have been discussed in coverage of the video game industry.  Overall, we hope that this research will then serve as a guideline for improving future games.  This will help make games more gender-equitable, which is significant when video games serve as an entryway into broader technological fields, such as computer programming or engineering.