3 Extra Exam Practice Name

Read the text and answer the questions that follow.

THE CHANGING FACE OF VIDEO GAME CHARACTERS

I As any player knows, imaginary characters in computer games come in many forms, such as wizards, witches and
fairies. However, the humans in these games show less variety – the majority are young, male and white; there are very
few characters who are very old, very young, female or from ethnic groups such as Latino or Native American.
II Researchers in the United States recently surveyed the most popular computer games to find out which characters are
most, and least, represented. Children and old people, as well as women and certain ethnic minorities, were found by
researchers to appear less frequently than would be expected. Certainly, their appearance in games did not match their
percentage in the general population, or even among game players. Women, for example, make up 38% of all game
players, yet only 15% of game characters are female. Latinos are also under-represented; only 2% of game characters
are Latino, although 12.5% of all game players are from that ethnic group.
III One reason for this imbalance may be that the characteristics of humans in games reflect the characteristics of the game
creators, who are mostly young, male and white. However, the effect of the misrepresentation worries researchers;
on a philosophical level, does the lack of variation among game characters give a distorted idea about the importance
of minorities in US society? On a more practical level, the under-representation of certain characters may indicate
a neglected marketing opportunity: would more female and minority characters lead to greater sales?
IV One way to correct the imbalance is to allow players to customise the characters in the games. The trend towards such
customisation has been growing in recent years, and is featured in many popular multiplayer online games which were
not included in the survey. If it continues and spreads, then perhaps we will soon see princesses rescuing children, or
old women falling in love with old men in video games.

1. Choose the correct answer.

1. Human characters in video games ... .
a. are generally disguised as wizards or witches
b. vary in type more than imaginary characters do
c. often conform to an age, gender and racial
pattern
2. Researchers think that ... .
a. players may have an unrealistic view of
minorities
b. too many minority characters could reduce sales
c. more salespeople should come from minority
groups
3. Decide if the following sentences are true (T) or
false (F). Find evidence in the text to justify your
answers.
..... 1. Researchers in the US tried to discover which
games were the most popular.
.........................................................................
.........................................................................
..... 2. Research showed that there are fewer Latino
characters than Latino players.
.........................................................................
.........................................................................

2. Answer the questions according to the information 4. Find words or expressions in the text that mean:
in the text. 1. discover (paragraph II) ............................
1. How may researchers account for the fact that there 2. correspond to (paragraph II) ............................
are so few minority characters in games?
3. unrealistic (paragraph III) ............................
...............................................................................
4. expands, increases ............................
...............................................................................
(paragraph IV)
2. What might happen if more games allowed players
to customise characters? 5. Write a composition of about 100-150 words.
............................................................................... Choose one option.
............................................................................... 1. The advantages and disadvantages of playing
computer video games.
2. Describe your favourite video game. Explain why
you like it.