Meaningful Play Podcast

Sian Tomkinson and Heather Blakey
  • 5.0 (1)
  • VIDEO GAMES
  • UPDATED MONTHLY

Welcome to Meaningful Play, a podcast where we talk about video games, new or old, light or serious, controversial or inspiring, and everything in between with an academic flair. Meaningful Play is hosted by Sian Tomkinson and Heather Blakey, who are games studies scholars based in Perth, Western Australia.

  1. 12/04/2025

    Episode 40 – Video Games and Gender Assemblages

    In this episode we celebrate the release of Sian’s book Video games and gender assemblages: Understanding #Gamergate and beyond. Following a chat about some games we’ve enjoyed lately, including Guardians of Azuma and We Know the Devil, we dive into the question “Why is gender, particularly women, such an ‘issue’ in video games?’. Sian’s attitude […]

  2. 07/17/2025

    Episode 39 – Haunting

    We’re back to haunt you! After our hiatus we’re back for our first episode of 2025. We discuss some games we’ve been playing lately, including The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria, Piofiore: Fated Memories, and The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, and South of Midnight. We then move on to discuss haunting in […]

  3. 12/11/2024

    Episode 38 – 2024 in Review

    In this episode, Sian and Heather reflect on the past few busy months and discuss their favourite games of the year. From the psychological horrors Mouthwashing and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley to the action-RPG Dragon Age: The Veilguard and visual novel STOP BURYING ME ALIVE, BEAUTIFUL!, it certainly has been an eventful 2024. […]

  4. 10/01/2024

    Episode 37 – Archiving Games

    In this episode, Sian and Heather reflect on the complexities of archiving video games. We discuss the way that formal archiving is often difficult and tied up with ideas and judgements about cultural value. We also reflect on the importance of fan preservation, and the discussions around ownership, accessibility, licencing, backwards compatibility, remixing, and more. […]

  5. 06/12/2024

    Episode 36 – Queer Games

    Queer games? For pride month? Ground-breaking. This episode Sian and Heather chat about queer game design and the growing body of scholarship from writers including Bo Ruberg and Xavier Ho on queer games and the way queer games reimagine and play with the video game form. We catch up on what we’ve been working on […]

  6. 02/29/2024

    Episode 35 – Cosy Games

    In this episode Sian and Heather reflect on ‘cosy’ games – games that are designed or played for relaxation and comfort. We recap our research over the past month or so, including the DIGRAA conference, and games we’ve played recently, including Signalis and Mato Anomalies. We consider what ‘cosy’ games are; a category that often […]

  7. 12/12/2023

    Episode 34 – Water Worlds

    In this episode Sian and Heather ‘dive in’ to underwater worlds and level design in video games, particularly the kinds of storytelling inscribed in watery environments. We first catch up on different research projects we’ve been working on and what we’ve been playing recently, before discussing a few different artistic and scientific projects that bring […]

  8. 09/18/2023

    Episode 33 – Food in Games

    In this episode, Sian and Heather ‘tuck in’ to video game food and its role from both  mechanical and narrative perspectives. Food, an essential part of life, is a constant presence in video games that rely on world-building and environmental storytelling to convey meaning. From cute cooking minigames to games that use food to inscribe […]

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About

Welcome to Meaningful Play, a podcast where we talk about video games, new or old, light or serious, controversial or inspiring, and everything in between with an academic flair. Meaningful Play is hosted by Sian Tomkinson and Heather Blakey, who are games studies scholars based in Perth, Western Australia.

Information

  • Creator
    Sian Tomkinson and Heather Blakey
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2025
  • Episodes
    40
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Meaningful Play Podcast