A good podcast from The Guardian on gender representation

Listen to this podcast from The Guardian and answer the following questions.  

To go to the original article - click here: 

The Guardian, Tech Weekly special: women in games – breaking the boys' club

Inspired by the recent GDC in San Francisco, we discuss the depiction of gender in video games with three industry insiders

 Start listening at 11mins 30.  You can download the podcast to your phone/ipod or stream online.

Answer all the questions 1-11 and if you want to stretch yourself (A/B) answer 12-14 as well.   Answers can be typed up or hand-written and most only need to be a couple of sentences.

1)  What does the interviewee mean when she says game developers gets to define what ‘normal’ is (with regard to representation)?  (11 mins)

2) What is the relationship between marketing/advertising companies and the mainstream audience of teenage and young adult male audiences?   (13 mins)

3)    Why was ‘Mass Effect’ a good idea for representation, even if it didn’t work fully?  (15 mins)

4)    They comment on the idea that triple A games are made for a global audience (i.e. to be sold around the world).  Why do they think British games often didn’t get commissioned (made)?  Link to who is represented in the games.  (20 mins)

5)    Summarise a couple of points made about Lara Croft and people’s feelings towards her.  (22 mins)

6)    Do you think there is a problem with the new Lara Croft game trailer making it appear that she she is vulnerable and needs protecting -  this includes an inferred sexual attack.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkLAVSA_Wgc

7)    Bioshock Infinite – why is it a good game in terms of content and themes?  What is a problem with the female representation?  (appearance, playability, damsel in distress)  (27 mins)

8)    Do you believe the media needs to have more positive role models (characters) in it & why?  Try to link to female representation.

9)    What do they mean by the idea that female characters don’t have enough agency in a game?  Give an example to support your point. 

10) (At 39 mins) What percentage of women work in the games industry?  What impact do you think this has on the diversity/variety of characters being developed?

11) How much less money do women earn in the industry?

12) HOTs - What do they mean when they refer to the ‘machismo’ work culture of the gaming industry?

13) HOTs - How can games change?  Anna Anthropy has written a book called ‘The rise of video game Zinesters’, what does it recommend should happen/could change?

14) HOTs – a couple of summarising points.  (from 47.00)