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Anita Sarkeesian, cultural campaigner and creator of Feminist Frequency creator, and Riot Games are both to receive special honours at this year’s Game Developers Choice Awards.
Sarkeesian is to receive the Ambassador Award for her work, which the organisers said has “deconstructed the stereotypes, patterns and tropes associated with women in popular culture, and highlighted issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces.”
In doing so, Sarkeesian was subjected to online harassment and misogynistic threats of violence.
In December, Develop named Sarkeesian as one of its 25 people that changed games in 2013.
In addition to recognising Sarkeesian’s work helping to “advance video games to a better place”, Riot Games co-founders Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill are to receive the Pioneer Award for League of Legends.
The presenters see the wildly popular MMO as a “breakthrough tech and gameplay design milestone”.
“Ultimately, that level of player engagement has earned League of Legends a remarkable level of commitment from players, who regularly spend more than a billion hours a month in the game as of March 2013,” the organisers added.
The 14th annual Game Developers Choice Awards will take place on March 19th during the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2014.
