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Episode 2.10: Fighting All the Scary Bad Guys in Video Games With Clare Mulcahy

Our series on play continues with a very special episode, requested by our own Kaarina Mikalson. Clare Mulcahy is a scholar and a gentleman, but in her free time she likes to play video games, and more importantly she likes to talk to her friends about them. Lucky you, you’re all her friends now, so enjoy listening in.

  • Let’s start off with some facts about video game playing. This article is a few years old, but it lays out some important statistics, including just how many women are long-term gamers.
  • Speaking of misogyny in gaming, here’s an article about that time a game randomly assigned players’ avatars a gender, and men were not impressed.
  •  We talk about games as a helpful treatment for anxiety, and this article agrees: “For anyone who’s ever experienced anxiety, where every day tasks seem insurmountable and the only reward at the end of the path is another day living with your mental health issue, a fantasy world where plotlines are resolved is a pretty easy sell.”
  • Are you sold? Ready for some recommendations? We talk about Stardew ValleyNight in the WoodsYou Must Build a BoatBroken Age, and Kingdom Rush: Frontiers. This is a great time to get into Stardew Valley, with the new multiplayer game on its way. Oh, and for any of you who arrived at this podcast by way of Witch, Please, you should know that the makers of Stardew Valleyhave a NEW MAGIC SCHOOL RPG coming soon!
  • Finally, if you would like to dive into the deep weirdness that is Monster Factory, we recommend beginning with the Final Pam.

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The podcast theme song is “Mesh Shirt” by Mom Jeans off their album “Chub Rub.” Listen to the whole album here or learn more about them here. Clare’s theme song is the Hyrule Field Theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.