Lara Croft Go CSP blog tasks (LIAR)

 Videogames: Lara Croft Go blog tasks

 Language, Representation, Industries and Audience 

Language

1) When did Lara Croft first appear in a videogame?

1996

2) What classic films influenced the creation of Lara Croft and the Tomb Raider games?

many adventure films and Indiana Jones films inspired the videogame creation.

3) How has Lara Croft and Tomb Raider moved beyond just being a videogame?

Tomb Raider games have expanded with their variety and also have started to become more popular since they have been available to play on mobile devices rather than just on a PC.

4) What devices can you play Lara Croft Go on?

mobile phones, PCs, Xbox, Play station etc

5) What type of game is Lara Croft Go?

A tomb raider adventure game and a turn-based puzzle video game

6) How does Lara Croft Go use narrative (story line) to make the game enjoyable for the audience?

• Her original back story was that she was the daughter of an aristocrat who had a plane crash in the Himalayas, causing her to re-evaluate her life and seek adventure, leading her to become a thief and mercenary, living outside the law. The second era changed the narrative to her father being an archaeologist and her wanting to discover the reason for her mother’s disappearance. A third era focused more on both her parents being archaeologists and her mother disappearing and her father dying. All three narratives feature her transition from a vulnerable girl to an independent, fierce adventurer (hero), which is exciting and provides diversion for an audience.

7) What iconography can be found in Lara Croft Go? How does this help communicate the genre of the game? Think about mise-en-scene and setting here.

• Lara is depicted as athletic with brown eyes and hair, frequently tied back in a plait or ponytail.
• Her costume is usually a blue tank top, light brown shorts, calf high boots and long socks. 
• Accessories / Props include gloves, a backpack, a utility belt with holsters and two pistols. 
• there are different settings and different levels of the game featuring mountains and adventure scenery

These all contribute to the adventurous theme and genre of the game .

8) What other characters or enemies feature in the game?

There are spiders and snakes featured as Lara's enemies and obstacles she has to face to win the game as an extra challenge to excite the players/audience.

9) What is the setting for Lara Croft Go? How does this compare to previous Lara Croft or Tomb Raider games?

The landscape of Lara Croft Go is a rain forest reflecting the obstacles she has to face to win which include typical rain forest creatures like spiders and snakes and she wears classic attire for an instant anchorage in the imagery for loyal Tomb Raider fans.

10) Read this BBC article on the history of Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. How has the character of Lara Croft evolved over the last 25 years?

The character had unexpectedly gained a lot of popularity especially from the female audience as she was one of the main female protagonists in any videogame and it brought up many movements of girl power as Lara's appearance in the media was at the time of the popular spice girls. She was also previous to this the broader movement towards the growth in feminist power.

Representations

1) How are women usually represented in video games?

Not many women are usually present within videogames but when they are usually seen as submissive, sexual objects or prizes to be one. 

2) How does the character of Lara Croft reinforce female stereotypes in the media?

She acts like an object of sexual desire as her body parts were exaggerated in early stages of the game. The game is also scantily-clad designed for a male audience because she attracts men due to her features which most males may find perfect.

3) How does the character of Lara Croft subvert female stereotypes in the media?

She is an action hero which is mainly a male stereotype traditionally in gaming and she is also an empowered female heroine which was rare in the gaming industry at the time -  “The heroine, Lara Croft, is an intelligent, butt-kicking, gun-wielding, sexpot, ready to take on whatever comes her way.” Katherine Walker, Portrayal of Women in Media

4) Why do some people believe the video games industry is sexist and needs to change?

Because just like Lara, most women in the gaming industry are sexualised for the male eye and objectified for attention and to gather interest into the game which should be changed and improved for the better because this is immoral.

5) Do you think Lara Croft is an empowering feminist icon or just another objectified woman designed to appeal to male gamers?

I think she is seen as a fierce and empowering woman since she is subverting traditional stereotypes that state adventure to be a male theme but also she is still sexualised in the media as the editors choose to provide low angles of her from behind which prove the game to be made for the male eye as it would increasingly attract their attention.



Industries

1) What does PEGI stand for?

Pan European Game Information

2) What is PEGI's job?

it acts as a European video game rating system established to help consumers make informed decisions when buying video games or apps through the use of age recommendations and content descriptors.

3) Which company created Lara Croft Go?

Tomb Raiders

4) What two popular video game franchises were combined to create Lara Croft Go?

Lara Croft tomb raiders and Hitman Go mobile game

5) What else is part of the Lara Croft/Tomb Raider franchise?

It is controlled by Square Enix


Audience

1) Why might an audience enjoy playing Lara Croft Go?

it helps escape daily life as the game subverts reality and is entertaining

2) Where and when might an audience play a game like Lara Croft Go? Think about the device it is played on and the times of the day someone might want to play the game.

It may be played on a mobile as the target audience includes loyal players of Hitman Go which is a mobile game and it can be played at any time of the day

3) How did Square Enix design Lara Croft to make it appealing to an audience?

“Acrobatics and platforming are key features of a Tomb Raider adventure, and we quickly realized that Lara had to be fully animated. Our animator did an amazing job of quickly producing a first batch of short animations for Lara, and immediately everything felt better. Again, we looked back at Lara’s classic animations from the first Tomb Raider and they fit right in with our turn-based game.”

– Square Enix

4) Which of Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratifications theory might apply to Lara Croft Go?

1. The need to IDENTIFY personally with characters and situations in order to learn more about themselves (Personal Identity)
2. The need for SOCIAL INTERACTION like playing with other players etc(Personal Relationships)
3. Diversion- the game is entertaining and challenging so it encourages more players

5) Who is the target audience for Lara Croft Go? How does brand loyalty contribute to this target audience?

 They fall into various groups and may be a mixture of all three:

1. Those interested in the quality of the innovative gameplay.
2. Those with brand loyalty to the Hitman Go series.
3. Those with brand loyalty based on the feminine empowerment displayed.
4. Those with brand loyalty based on nostalgia or even the sexualisation of Lara Croft (especially if they played older Croft games when at a formative age