Episode 47: Rachel Weil on Femicom and the Value of Preserving Classic ‘Girl’ Video Games

Episode notes

Do you remember all of those video games that were made for girls back in the 90s? Well they’re not being archived the same way that stereotypical boy games are being preserved. They don’t have value in the gaming community and many of these games are being forgotten even though they were just as creative and innovative for the industry. Our guest Rachel Weil is trying to change that by preserving these ‘girl’ games by going around the world and collecting these games and talking to the people who made them. She is a software developer for Microsoft and the founder of the Femicom Museum, a hybrid physical/digital museum and archive dedicated to the preservation and reimagination of femininity, girlhood, and the aesthetics of cute within twentieth-century video games, computing, and electronic toys. Rachel did not appear on the Adam Ruins Everything TV show but her work reminded us of the themes we explored in our Adam Ruins Summer Fun episode. And since we’re in the off-season of the TV show, we’ll be inviting more guests onto the podcast whose work relates to themes we explored on the TV show or who are doing fascinating work or research that’s worth discussing anyway. On the podcast Adam and Rachel had a lively discussion about gender expectations, the negative effects of marketing towards girls and boys, their favorite classic games and even their favorite savory breakfasts.

Adam is on Twitter @AdamConover and you can find past episodes and bonus content from the TruTV show at AdamRuinsEverything.com.

Produced by Shara Morris for MaximumFun.org