For my coursework, I am going to follow NEA brief set 2. My aim is to create a radical piece which challenges the dominant ideology of the patriarchal society we live in linking to feminist critical thinking throughout to show that women aren’t inferior to men and they deserve to have hobbies which are typically thought of as ‘manly’. I intend, to encourage girls (aged 14-19) to also be confident and game if they want to and to not be scared to do so, this will help satisfy their enjoyment and social needs relating to uses and gratifications theory.
For research, I have looked at PC GAMER magazines and other gaming magazine brands to analyse what professional products look like so I can make my magazine as convincing as possible. From this I discovered that girls are underrepresented in the gaming community and the ‘girl gamer’ magazines focus on female games characters or Nintendo DS gameplay rather than PC or console like the ‘typical male gamer uses’, which lead me to want to make a magazine in the style for typical gamers but for girls. My magazine will have an overall radical theme linked to feminist critical thinking.
My cover will have a girl as the dominant signifier to give the connotation of an independent woman to act as a counter-type to dominant ideologies, with iconic and indexical signs within my magazine creating a paradigm which illustrates my aim. I intend to make my front cover eye catching to draw my intended audience’s attention. I Will use the rule of thirds to give my contents page a systematic layout clearly identifying each section in my magazine and make it easy to navigate for my intended audience. My double page spread will promote the game ‘HELL RESCUE: GLITH’, with an interview with the developers and the first gameplay. The description of the game will follow Todorov’s and Chatman’s narrative theories where the game will have a spike of interest and then level out to a resolution, and have every element working together so if one were taken out it changes the story entirely to create a new ending.
I intend to create a diverse range of ADs across the 3. To do this I will focus on issues associated with gaming, (such as how gamers can maintain their health), an online character design competiton and quality gaming experience (computer cleaning tips or new internal part by GeForce).
I recognise that people read things in different ways (Hall’s reception theory), which can be dominant, negotiated or oppostional, to combat this I will stick to my main target audience, whilst also aiming to appeal to the broader gaming community, to reinforce my aim to show people that anyone can game if they wish.