After an unconventional path into the industry, Richards has paved new roads for women in games journalism.
Richards professional life started out in the private sector following the completion of her doctorate in Psychology.
After a few years, Richards realised that her true calling was in one of her favourite past-times – gaming.
Richards thought this would be a simple transition, but found the situation a little different. Tash recalls, "Initially, I planned on joining the writing staff of an established gaming site, however, after reviewing the lists of permanent writing staff on many gaming websites, I realised there weren’t many sites that included or focused on female writers."
As a result, Richards set her sights on establishing her own games website and Save Game was born.
Richard's vision for the site would be a focus on highlighting female writers and including female contributors as authors of at least 60% content on the site.
Since its inception in 2011, Save game has featured dozens of female writers, from both Australia and abroad. Richards adds, " It is my goal to showcase and feature as many talented, creative female writers as I can, as a way of growing the industry and showing women who want to break into the industry that there are many ways to do so."
"As part of my role as Founder and Editor-in-Chief, I am proud to have worked with incredibly talented women and contributed to providing opportunities for women in gaming to write about what they love."
Save Game has focused on interaction with its readers, currently boasting over 7500 twitter followers and over 3500 Facebook fans. Their podcast is co-hosted and run by two women, with their twitch channel also hosted by our female staff.
As a commitment to support and grow talent within the games industry, Save Game pays all their current contributors a small amount for their articles.
As part of her work with Save Game, Tash has participated in numerous panel discussions, these include; a women in games panel and a community trivia panel for EB Games Expo and panellist on a PAX Australia panel dedicated to providing advice on creating and running a video games website.
Richards also thoroughly enjoys her work abroad, attending international gaming conventions, "I have been blessed with meeting and interviewing dozens of developers from Australia and around the globe."
As for hear advice to other women looking to join the industry? Richards tells MCV Pacific, “If you feel that the games industry doesn't have a space for you or your passion for writing, don’t be afraid to chart your own course and create your own space."
"Take a risk, have confidence in yourself, and don’t ever let anyone else dictate or define your role in the industry.”
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