Women and Videogames

Tune in tonight at 8:30 PM for a special edition of Genesis. We're going to be discussing women and videogames - women as characters, players and consumers. We've assembled a panel to tackle the issues and here's their info:

Aveline Barkhouse has been gamine on and off since the age of 12. Her console of choice is X-Box and her most recent achievement was killing her first Hunter in Halo, though her dad told her it was impossible.

Ashley Holman has been gaming for 3 years, and was inspired to play by her boyfriend. Her favourite type of games are adventure such as the God of War series, Heavenly Sword, Assassins' Creed, and Afro Samurai. X-box is her system of choice but she also uses PS3.

Dana LaPorte, is the co-host and co-creator of ezmodeunlocked.com and the EZ-Mode Unlocked Podcast. She’s been gaming since the age of 5, and uses all consoles, X-Box, Wii, PlayStation, etc. Dana’s biggest gaming achievement is ezmodeunlocked.com and the amazing community surrounding it.

Victoria Rose has been gaming for as long as she can remember and tends to do most playing on PC at this time. Her current pick is Team Fortress 2 and she’s eagerly awaiting Guild Wars 2's launch next year. Her most recent gaming achievement is completing everything in The New Super Mario Bros. Wii with a few friends.

This show was inspired by a Facebook group called "A Girl's Version of X-Box". If you read the comments you'll notice not only is sexism being promoted by men in the group, but women as well.

During the program we'll be talking about a number of links and stories in the media, which we've included below:

- Frag Dolls
Frag Dolls are a team of gamers recruited by a company called Ubisoft in 2004. These women work to promote the company's line of games but also strive to increase the presence of females in the gaming industry.

- GameCrush
GameCrush is a company that is aiming to link male gamers with female "play dates". Interested males can play games face-to-face with female gamers - who at the end of sessions are rated for their gaming skills, "hotness" and "flirtatiousness" - for a fee of about $9 per game.

- RapeLay
A game which allows players to stalk and assault multiple women and girls. The feminist site Jezebel has an article of interest here.

God of War III PlayStation Commercial


Enjoy the show!
-Cassandra