The Gayming Podcast Episode 7: the one about wholesomeness, being gay and doing crimes
The Gayming Podcast episode 7 has dropped and it’s a very wholesome episode filled with some lovely chat with two new debut guests.
In the studio, I was joined by trans streamer and “doer of many things” Dr Ashley Nova, and games PR supremo Izzy Jagan.
Before the main show kicked off, I was joined in the studio by Giles Fenwick, the Associate Director of Games at Skillsearch to talk about his role at Skillsearch and the importance of their Games and Interactive Salary and Satisfaction Survey.
What’s in your slot?
In this opening section of our podcast, we talked about what we’ve been playing recently.
I talked about replaying the awesome Spiderman on PS4 and how not only is it a great game in terms of mechanics, but its also packed full of queer easter eggs, and we need more of them in games! Izzy talked about playing The Outer Worlds and about how empowering having an asexual character authentically represented in game is. Then Ashley talked about playing Warframe on Switch and how it can be frustrating playing a game where there are so few players on Switch to squad up with.
Gayming News
Further into the episode, we talked about what we’ve been reading on Gayming Magazine recently.
Izzy spoke about our recent Gayme of the Week Life is Strange Before the Storm and how she loves how the queer women are portrayed so cutely in it, and are just living their best lives despite what is to come. Some how we do segue off into Star Wars chat (sorry!) at one point.
Ashley talked about Aimee’s piece from last year about her concerns regarding The Last of Us 2, including the bury your gays trope and the exploitation of lesbians, and same-sex relationships as whole, just for marketing purposes. Ashley says she is enjoying TV, film and games that are allowing LGBTQ people to just exist and enjoy their lives with minimal drama.
I then spoke about our recent interview with DONTNOD about their upcoming game Tell Me Why which features a trans protagonist. We speak about the perceived risk of the game but how reassuring our interview was to our concerned readers, and just how much work DONTNOD have put into the development of this game. We worked with our trans friends and contributors to gather their concerns and put them to the DONTNOD team. I asked Ashley about whether her concerns were met with this interview.
Hot Topic
In this week’s hot topic, we spoke about the The UK Games Industry Census which was released this week by Ukie, the UK games trade body. The census revealed that 21% of people working in games are LGBTQ+.
Given the games industry’s recent challenges around LGBTQ+ representation in games, it’s great to see that there is such a significant number of LGBTQ+ people working in the industry. It is now up to the industry to listen to their workers and let them help shape future content.
We talked more about the statistics from other diversity areas and how they offered a mix of positive news and room for improvement.
10% of people working in games are Black, Asian or minority ethnic (BAME). This is a slightly higher percentage than in the national working population, however BAME people are less represented in senior games positions.
The games sector is a young industry, with two thirds of people working in the sector are aged 35 or under. But 54% of people in the industry have worked in the sector for five years or more.
The UK games industry has been proven to be a male-dominated workforce with only 28% of the workforce identifying as female and 2% non-binary.
This episode of The Gayming Podcast is sponsored by Skillsearch. One of the video game industry’s most trusted recruiters, their mission is to end every recruitment experience with exceptionally happy people! Visit jobs.skillsearch.com/GaymingPodcast to start your search today!
The episode is also sponsored by Chatterbox Voices. They are a thriving boutique sized agency which specializes in professional UK and International Voice Talent at highly competitive prices and quick turn around times.
Listen to the full episode below, as well as on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss an episode!
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