Gaming Broadcast

Hi! It's been a wild year. Thanks to Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios for a conversation on loss, life, happiness, and home (and a little bit about games). Special thanks to Ben Cohn for the music ("File Select" from Land of the Gods, Vol II).

I know it's been a while, but I'm here to prove that this podcast isn't history! Even though this episode is all about history! This week we're joined by Josh Howard, public historian, Everquest enthusiast, bacon admirer, to dig down deep into what it means to love precarious places. From childhood gaming groups and the awkwardness of leaving home to Everquest memorials for dead children, this episode runs the emotional gauntlet. What precious places are you poised to lose? This episode is the finale of "Playing Appalachia", a series of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. To start at the beginning, check out "What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia" with Dr. Elizabeth Catte, followed by our conversation with Cardboard Computer about Kentucky Route Zero to learn more about the relationship between magical realism and Appalachia. The third part of the series is "Rural Flight, Virtually Speaking" with Meredith Wilson, an Appalachian transplant whose experiences in the region have affected the way she makes games (and who she makes games for), with part four introducing us to Appalachian-raised Jerel Culliss (aka King Lemming of Team CoFH) who regales us with tales of LAN parties and Minecraft modding ethics in "Modding Appalachia". In part five and six, "The Streamers of Madison County" and "Death Mountain Lifestyle", we met up with JD's childhood friends, a live streamer known as The Caked Crusader, and an editor who moved out of the area, to talk growing up nerdy in Madison County, North Carolina.  (psst.... Thanks Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios for editing this episode!) Now, excuse me while I go petition for a National Register of Historic Digital Spaces. Stuff We Mentioned...Everquest IIOnline MemorialsButtzilla Josh Howard, PhD (The Cast)Website: jhowardhistory.comTwitter: @jhowardhistory JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, and other places where delightful podcasts can be found. You can also subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music!

So what exactly is a mountain lifestyle? Is it a marketing phrase? A type of view from your window? A bonified set of cultural practices? Whatever it is, it must be pretty awesome, considering how awesomely expensive the mountain lifestyle is getting these days! This week we're joined by Shaun Martin, a Nintendo loving editor working for an educational nonprofit in Greensboro, North Carolina. Originally from Marshall, NC, with family roots dug several generations down, Shaun has first-hand knowledge of the different styles of lives you can find in the Appalachian region of ye Old North State. We dig deep into the phrase "mountain lifestyle", uncovering the multiplicity of lives that make up mountain living including, you guessed it, lifestyles that include gaming! (psst... confused about the episode title?) This episode is part six of "Playing Appalachia", a series of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. To start at the beginning, check out "What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia" with Dr. Elizabeth Catte, followed by our conversation with Cardboard Computer about Kentucky Route Zero to learn more about the relationship between magical realism and Appalachia. The third part of the series is "Rural Flight, Virtually Speaking" with Meredith Wilson, an Appalachian transplant whose experiences in the region have affected the way she makes games (and who she makes games for), with part four introducing us to Appalachian-raised Jerel Culliss (aka King Lemming of Team CoFH) who regales us with tales of LAN parties and Minecraft modding ethics in "Modding Appalachia". In part five, "The Streamers of Madison County", we meet Renee Hill (aka The Caked Crusader), a video game live streamer and nerd extraordinaire whose home base is western North Carolina. Stuff We Mentioned...Marshall, NCGreensboro, NCAsheville, NCA-B EmblemPiedmont Region of NCMadison’s history jailhouseUrban Outfitters ProtestsLegend of ZeldaSNESWii UGameFAQsDonkey Kong CountryFinal Fantasy 7Video Game Rental Shaun Martin (The Cast)Instagram: @spmartin42 JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, and other places delightful podcasts can be found. You can also subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

Hey Broadbeans! Today we’re interrupting our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special live recording! On March 13th 2018, JD had the great honor of sitting alongside Dr. Gregory Grieve, Dr. Vit Sisler, and Helen Osman for a panel at SXSW titled “Gaming Religion: Finding Faith in Digital Games”. As it turns out, religion and games have a lot to say to one another. Religious themes have supported the story lines of many mainstream games, from World of Warcraft to Halo and Civilizations. Gaming has also been described as a spiritual endeavor by avid gamers, and religious groups are increasingly creating and using games to counter religious stereotypes and teach members about core beliefs and practices. Stay tuned for a unique discussion about the ways that religion, ethics, and digital gaming intersect through the lenses of research, development, and education, and how video games can address issues of tolerance and cultivate civility in the digital age. You may recognize Dr. Grieve from episode 5, “Imagining Play, Religion, and Education”, and we're over-the-moon to have the voices of Dr. Sisler and Helen Osman on this channel for the first time.  Helen Osman is a communications expert who partners with leadership to raise visibility and create momentum for mission-focused and grassroots organizations, including clients such as Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew. Greg Grieve is a Professor and Head of the Religious Studies Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He researches and teaches at the intersection of digital culture, religion, and Asian traditions. Vit Sisler is an Assistant Professor of New Media Studies at Charles University in Prague. His research focuses on serious video games, information and communication technologies in the Middle East, and Islam and digital media. He is also a lead designer of the award-winning video game on contemporary history, Attentat 1942, a 2018 IGF finalist in Excellence in Narrative. To follow along with the audio, watch the intro video by Dr. Heidi Campbell on Youtube and download the presentation visuals from dropbox. Stuff We Mentioned...Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of Silver Blaze (Book)Playing with Religion in Digital Games (Book)Second Life (Game?)Cyber Zen (Book)Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media (Book)Methods for Studying Video Games and Religion (Book)Attentat 1942 (Game)NATO Commander (Game)Kuma/War (Game)Harem Adventura (Game)Radwan Kasmiya, Author of Quraish (Person)Special Force (Game)Special Operation (Game)Civilization (Game Series)Overwatch (Game)Pokemon Trading Card Game (Game)The Great Alef Bet Race (Game)Jewish Time Jump (Game)Spent (Game)Noam Pianko (Person)URJ 6 Points Sci-Tech Academy (Organization)Girls Who Code (Organization) Helen Osman (Moderator)LinkedIn: Helen Osman Gregory Grieve, PhD (Panelist)Website: gpgrieve.orgBook: Cyber Zen Vit Sisler, PhD (Panelist)Website: uisk.jinonice.cuni.cz/sisler/  Video Game: Attentat 1942Book: Methods for Studying Video Game and Religions JD (Panelist)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, and other places delightful podcasts can be found. You can also subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

Creeks aren't the only types of mountain streams in Appalachia. We also have video game live streams! This week we're joined by Renee Hill, a pastry chef, gamer, and video game live streamer known as "The Caked Crusader". Renee currently lives in Madison County, the same county in Western North Carolina where JD (the host) grew up. For some weird reason, a lot of the people Renee meet are in disbelief that an anime loving, tattooed, pink-haired cosplayer could also be an Appalachian native? Weird.    Tune in this week to hear more about representation, mental health, crying during video games, growing up Appalachian and nerdy, and how video games helped Renee connect with others while growing up in the middle of nowhere. Also there are puns. Lots and lots of puns.  This episode is part five of "Playing Appalachia", a series of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. To start at the beginning, check out "What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia" with Dr. Elizabeth Catte, followed by our conversation with Cardboard Computer about Kentucky Route Zero to learn more about the relationship between magical realism and Appalachia. The third part of the series is "Rural Flight, Virtually Speaking" with Meredith Wilson, an Appalachian transplant whose experiences in the region have affected the way she makes games (and who she makes games for), with part four introducing us to Appalachian-raised Jerel Culliss (aka King Lemming of Team CoFH) who regales us with tales of LAN parties and Minecraft modding ethics in "Modding Appalachia". Stuff We Mentioned...Moonshine Popcorn Sutton Anime Sailor Moon Sharkle and Mae from Night in the Woods Stick and Poke Dragon Ball Z Teen Titans Star Wars Atari Pitfall Atari 2600 Sega Genesis Vectorman Princess Leia Undertale Doki Doki Literature Club Actual SunlightScooter from Borderlands 2Bobby from Supernatural JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Renee Hill (The Cast)Twitch: TheCakedCrusaderYouTube: TheCakedCrusaderInstagram:@TheCakedCrusaderTwitter: @cakedcrusader13 Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inventory? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

What do Minecraft and Appalachia have in common? They both have people trying to modify them. So could Minecraft mods teach us something about how to go about ethically modding Appalachia? This week we're joined by Jerel Culliss (aka King Lemming), an Appalachian-raised engineer who moonlights as a reknown Minecraft modder. Jerel is founder of Team CoFH, the group responsible for Thermal Expansion, a mod that adds technology, like machines, to the world of Minecraft. Coincidentally, there's also been some recent media hype about bringing big names in tech to the Appalachian region (like Amazon HQ, for instance). Not to mention the fact that "silicon hollar" is really coming into its own as a google-worthy buzzword. But adding technology, whether that technology is pixelated or Appalachian, isn't as simple and straight forward as you might think. Tune in to learn more about the lovely LAN history behind Team CoFH, the ethics of hacking and modding video games, and ways to imagine a tech-savvy Appalachia that doesn't leave the dedicated fan-base that lives there out in the cold with the mobs. Jerel Culliss is an engineer and hacker originally from Southwest Virginia. He has a PhD in electrical engineering and currently lives in Knoxville, TN. He is most well known online as "King Lemming," head of Team CoFH and the co-creator of Thermal Expansion, a popular mod for Minecraft. This episode is part four of "Playing Appalachia", a series of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. To start at the beginning, check out "What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia" with Dr. Elizabeth Catte, followed by our conversation with Cardboard Computer about Kentucky Route Zero, their game set in rural Kentucky, to learn more about the relationship between magical realism and Appalachia. The third part of the series is "Rural Flight, Virtually Speaking" with Meredith Wilson, an Appalachian transplant whose experiences in the region have affected the way she makes games (and who she makes games for).  Stuff We Mentioned...MinecraftCaipirinhaLAN PartyDiabloEverquest (aka "the Dark Souls of MMOs")Half-LifeVideo Game ModDestiny 2Uncanny ValleyStarCraftCounter-StrikeEsportsThey Are BillionsHackingCyber Security ConsultantFate of the WorldMINECONCynycalMine Little Pony: Friendship is Crafting Mod JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Jerel Culliss aka King Lemming (The Cast)Website: TeamCoFH.comTwitter: @KingLemmingCoFH  Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inventory? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

Meredith Wilson is participating in rural flight, virtually speaking. As young people from Appalachia increasingly move out of the region, Meredith Wilson has done something strange: moved to rural Virginia to make virtual reality video games.  Meredith Wilson is a public health epidemiologist turned video game developer who was a participant in Oculus Launchpad 2017. Wilson used to do public health research at Virginia Tech's Biocomplexity Institute, designing mobile games about diseases that were literally going viral, and appears to have been permanently infected with the game development bug. She's the founder and lead game designer for Bedhouse Games, a small independent video game studio based out of rural Virginia that is currently developing a GearVR science fiction flight simulation-esque video game. While not originally from the Appalachian region, Wilson's work, as well as the way she works, has been impacted by her experience living there. From the types of characters she designs, to how she thinks about the relationship between ethics and education, and even her opinion on eating rabbit, Appalachia has clearly had an impact on this tenderfoot transplant. This episode is part three of "Playing Appalachia", a series of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. To start at the beginning, check out Ep. 18: What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia with Dr. Elizabeth Catte. You can also take a listen to our conversation with Cardboard Computer about Kentucky Route Zero, their game set in rural Kentucky, to learn more about the relationship between magical realism and Appalachia. Stuff We Mentioned...VR.5Games for Change SummitKiya Epidemiology Virus Tracker Microsoft Flight Simulator Descent Star Wars: TIE Fighter Alien (film)Battle of Blair Mountain "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, VA The "Harvey Weinsteins of Science" @darbianSRL (a Super Mario speedrunner) JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Meredith Wilson (The Cast)Website: BedhouseGames.comTwitter: @papermantis Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

In the golden age of massively multiplayer online games like Overwatch and Destiny, why are some players choosing to go it alone? Is it a radical act of self-care, anti-social tendencies, an effect of online harassment, or something else? Take a break from Gaming Broad(cast)'s regularly scheduled programming and tune in to this special LIVE recording of a Gaming Broad(cast) moderated panel, "Reclaiming Basements in a Multiplayer Era: Why We Game Alone". Join Andrea Ayres (Lemonsucker Games) and Ian Danskin (Innuendo Studios), as well as the main broad herself, JD Mallindine, at PAX South 2018 to explore the social and psychological reasons players are reclaiming their alone time. Don't forget to check out #ReclaimTheBasement on Twitter to see what the community had to say about gaming alone!  Download Presentation Visuals Research...Playing alone v playing with others: Differences in player experiences and indicators of wellbeing (Vella, et. al 2015)At Least Nine Ways to Play: Gamer Mentalities (Kallio, et. al 2011)Online-only friends, real-life friends or strangers? Differential associations with passion and social capital in video game play (Perry, et. al 2018)Social Context of Video Game Play (Vella, et. al 2016) Teenage Girls Are Playing Video Games. You Just Might Not Hear Them from Kotaku (Suellentrop, 2015)Teens, Technology and Friendship by the Pew Research Center (Lenhart, et. al 2015)The Emergence of Solitude as a Constructive Domain of Solitude in Early Adolescence (Larson, 1997)The "social" facilitation of eating without the presence of others: Self-reflection on eating makes food taste better and people eat more (Nakata, et. al 2017)When Novels Were Bad For You in Smithsonian Magazine (North, 2014)Public Displays of Play: Studying Online Games in Physical Settings (Taylor, et. a. 2014)Children of the 80s, Never Fear Video Games Did Not Ruin Your Life from Smithsonian Magazine (Newman, 2017)The Fierce Triumph of Loneliness from Catapult (Fitzgerald, 2016)How to be Alone by Sara MaitlandSolitude by Philip KochRepublic of Noise: The Loss of Solitude in Schools and Culture by Diana SenechalLoneliness and Solitude in Education by Julian SternAlone Together by Sherry TurkleA Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf  JD (The Broad & Moderator)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Andrea Ayres (The Cast & Panelist)Twitter: @missafayresInstagram: @afad435Website: Ayresdeets.comLemonsucker Games: lemonsuckergames.com Ian Danskin (The Cast & Panelist)Twitter: @InnuendoStudiosYoutube Channel: Innuendo StudiosPatreon: Innuendo StudiosTumblr: InnuendoStudios   Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

It's near impossible to talk about Appalachia and video games, and games that "get Appalachia right", without talking about Kentucky Route Zero. The game itself is mysterious, filled with empty space and people with featureless faces, a five-part digital theater that leaves enough room for Appalachia to rush in. What is it about this surreal point and click adventure game that feels so real? In part two of Gaming Broadcast's "Playing Appalachia" series, we're joined by Cardboard Computer, the makers of Kentucky Route Zero, to learn what the magical has to say about the real (especially as it relates to Appalachia) and the surprising ways Appalachians responded to seeing their home reanimated in digital form. Cardboard Computer = games by Jake Elliot, Tamas Kemenczy, and Ben Babbitt. They're currently working on Kentucky Route Zero, a magical realist adventure game about a secret highway in the caves beneath Kentucky, and the mysterious folks who travel it. Acts I-IV of Kentucky Route Zero are available now, with Act V available sometime other than now. For part one of Gaming Broadcast’s series Playing Appalachia, a collection of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers, check out Ep. 18 What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia with Dr. Elizabeth Catte. Stuff We Mentioned...Kentucky Route ZeroMammoth CaveColossal Cave AdventureMark FisherHistory of Kentucky UnionsSpirographMagical RealismGabriel García Márquez and The Autumn of the PatriarchIsabella Allende and The House of the SpiritsSouthern GothicFlannery O'ConnorTennessee Williams and The Glass Menagerie"It's a lie, but not everything in it is false." JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Cardboard Computer (The Cast)Website: CardboardComputer.comTwitter: @cardboardcompyInstagram: @cardboardcompyKentucky Route Zero: KentuckyRouteZero.com  Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

In 2016, the United States collectively pointed a trembling finger of accusation at the Appalachian region. The verdict was in: America was screwed, and “Trump Country” was to blame. Journalists began to flock to the region, looking to demystify and correctly identify the dysfunctional roots of Appalachia and its people. Think piece after think piece was published, many (if not most) reducing the complex and nuanced history of the region into a singular narrative about a backwards and impoverished white working class that were desperate and foolish enough to vote against their best interest. But being exposed to only this narrative does more than just oversimplify, it also obfuscates and distracts from more sinister stories of power and greed. Elizabeth Catte, author of What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia, joins us to start a new and more nuanced conversation about Appalachia. In this episode, Dr. Catte frankly assesses the history of Appalachian stereotypes and the reasons why these stereotypes became and remain so popular. By providing us with examples of writing, art, and video games that “get it right” about Appalachia, Elizabeth reveals why it matters so much that we complicate the current Appalachian narrative not just for Appalachia’s sake, but for the sake of the United States as a whole. Elizabeth Catte is a historian and writer originally from East Tennessee. She has a PhD in history and currently lives in Staunton, Virginia (pronounced Stanton) and is the director of Passel, a historical consulting firm. Her book, What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia will be out from Belt Publishing February 2018. This episode is the first in Gaming Broadcast’s new series Playing Appalachia, a collection of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. Stuff We Mentioned...Appalachian Regional CommissionBelt MagazineOhio Valley ReSource Journalism CollaborativeWhitesburg Kentucky Appalshop WMMTThe Trillbilly Worker’s Party PodcastWest Virginia Public Broadcasting Inside Appalachia "The Struggle to Stay"WUOT KnoxvilleDaily YonderThe Bitter SouthernerSoutherlyScalawag MagazineSarah SmarshQueer Appalachia and “Electric Dirt”Photographers like Roger May, Raymond Thompson, and Megan King100 Days of AppalachiaWMMT’s “Calls from Home”Jesse Donaldson’s "On Homesickness: A Plea (In Place)"Night in the WoodsKentucky Route Zero JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Elizabeth Catte, PhD (The Cast)Website: ElizabethCatte.comTwitter: @elizabethcatteBook: What You Are Getting Wrong About AppalachiaHistorical Consulting Firm: Passel Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

What does it mean to work in AAA game development? In the gaming community, the term "AAA" (pronounced “triple A”) comes with a lot of baggage. While at face value AAA is just an informal way to classify games and games studios that have the highest development and marketing budgets, the category also comes with negative conotations. You’d think more money meant less problems for game developers, right? Wrong! AAA studios are often seen as giant, painfully selfish corporations that care about one thing and one thing alone: money. From "lazy" to "immoral" and "untalented", game developers at AAA studios are often accused of having a myriad of moral failings, regardless of how much control they have over the final product.  Rachel Hammond, a ten-year veteran of the gaming industry, explains the big ol’ sad bits that are part of these big ol' games projects. From dealing with bad decisions made by top executives and being unable to respond directly to fans because of corporate gag orders, to emotionally coping with the vitriolic comments and death threats directed towards AAA studios (and the people that work there), Rachel has seen it all! But it’s not all bad. Rachel’s love for programming video games (which started when she was 5 years old), hasn’t been squished by the pressures of the AAA space. Rachel, even after all this time, still loves her work in the games industry, even if the games industry doesn’t always love her back! Seriously. It's amazing. She genuinely loves making games that other people will love. Tune in to Episode 17 to learn about the issues that face AAA developers, and what we can do to help make the gaming community just a TEENSY WEENSY bit more empathetic. Rachel Hammond has been making video games of all sizes for more than 10 years, and she still remembers the game review "Congratulations, you made a 6 year-old cry". She currently works in the AAA game space at a company that will inevitably be a poorly kept secret as the podcast goes on. This episode is part three of the “Developer Doldrums” series, a collection of conversations with game developers about the not-so-happy bits that pop up when making play objects. For part one, check out Episode 15: Grief, Game Development, and the Emotional Significance of Oatmeal with Andrea Ayres of Lemonsucker Games to learn how the loss of a parent and an eating disorder (plus therapy) can lead to making a video game. Or, for something with a little less death, check out part two, "Episode 16: Long Distance Bromance" to hear from indie game studio Hydezeke on the pleasures and pains of being in a long distance game dev relationship. Oh, did I mention there's also a mini game in that episode? It's games, all the way down! Stuff we mentioned...AAA (video game industry)BratzSpongeBob SquarePantsTransmedia storytellingRatatouille (video game)Rats are very smart and gr8 at gamesSesame Street: Cookie’s Counting CarnivalVideo Game Crash of 1983The funniest joke in the worldWarren Spector and the Denius-Sams Gaming AcademyJohn Romero Reddit thread: Game programmers: What game mechanic are you proud to have implemented?Dunning-Kruger effectSXSW Gaming 2018 Panel: IH8URGAME: Fostering Empathy in Gaming Communities JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Rachel Hammond (The Cast)Twitter: @xespera Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Long distance relationships are enough to make anyone sad. Throw in making a game together? Even sadder! How do long distance game developers stay in the game? As hard as it is to build something together when you’re not, you know, actually together, Michael and Ben of Hydezeke are proof that with the right person (and for the right project), even distance can’t hold you back. Equal parts funny as it is emotionally honest, this episode gives hope to the idea that you can find a project partner to help you stay afloat in the sometimes turbulent waters of  “creative collaboration”.    Michael Savage-Benoist [Benwa] is a game designer and dog enthusiast from Fairfax, Virginia. Ben Cohn is a music composer and banjo enthusiast from Orlando, Florida. What started out as a middle-school friendship has, 8 years later, became Hydezeke [Hide-zeek], an indie game studio.  Hydezeke is beset by the troubles of long-distance collaboration and conflicting life events, but Ben and Michael maintain their bond through their love for game design and bashing Sonic games. Flamberge, their flagship game still in development, was successfully Kickstarted (and accepted to Steam Greenlight, when that was still a thing) about three years ago. The extended development period is a bummer not only for the fans and supporters of Flamberge, but for Michael and Ben too. As tough as some of the comments are, Michael and Ben refuse to give up on their vision for the game’s future, and remain determined to deliver a good, quality game to the fans who have stuck with them all this time. This episode is part two of the “Developer Doldrums” series, a collection of conversations with game developers about the not-so-happy bits that happen during the creation of these digital play objects. For part one, check out Episode 15: Grief, Game Development, and the Emotional Significance of Oatmeal with Andrea Ayres of Lemonsucker Games. Stuff we mentioned...Artemis FowlLACMAAlphonse Mucha Princess Hyacinth Magfest 2017 AwardsFlamberge KickstarterFlamberge on STEAMBumble Rumble by Ben Cohn (The Dating Game Music) JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Hydezeke (The Cast)Website: Hydezeke.comMichael’s Twitter: @hydezekeBen’s Twitter: @bionicbenboBen’s Soundcloud: bionicbenbo Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Andrea Ayres, creator of The Average Everyday Adventures of Samantha Browne, makes me feel a lot of things about hot cereal. The making of the Average Everyday Adventures of Samantha Browne shows that oatmeal has more to do with grief and game development than you might expect. Born on the heels of grief at the loss of a parent, and influenced by Andrea's personal experiences with social anxiety and an eating disorder, The Average Everyday Adventures of Samantha Browne is an interactive story about a painfully introverted college student who needs to make oatmeal in the communal kitchen of her dorm. While the game challenges you to find the right words to help Samantha as she embarks on her journey to the other side of her bedroom door, the development of the game itself challenged Andrea to explore her own relationship with mental health, anxiety, and loss.  This episode is part one of the “Developer Doldrums” series, a collection of conversations with game developers about the not-so-happy bits that hide behind the curtain of our digital play objects. Andrea Ayres is a founder and the head writer at Lemonsucker Games. She also writes about politics and representation in pop-culture and beyond. She enjoys coffee, cats, and phasing between inter-dimensional realities. Stuff we mentioned...The Average Everyday Adventures of Samantha BrowneEating DisordersSocial AnxietySchlesinger's CatDestiny 2Journey Brie Code on the concepts of "Tend-and-Befriend" and "Fight-or-Flight" in video games Samantha Browne at Indiecade 2016 JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Andrea Ayres (The Cast)Twitter: @missafayresInstagram: @afad435Website: Ayresdeets.comLemonsucker Games: lemonsuckergames.com Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

There’s a lot of assumptions folks make about violence and video games, from beliefs that violence in video games cause real life violent crime, to the stereotype that violence in video games is intended only for our more dudely players. But what about the violence that happens in real life sports? Does tackling and dragging someone to the ground for a ball make you more likely to tackle and drag someone to the ground out in the real world? And do women really like all that brutal physicality anyways? As far as brutality goes, the sport of rugby is about as brutal as they come. Sometimes it hurts to watch rugby, much less play it. Legend has it that rugby was invented in England in 1823, when William Webb Ellis decided the rules of soccer (“football”) didn’t apply to him, picked up the ball with his hands, and ran the length of the pitch to score the first ever try. The Tulane Women’s Rugby Team follows in this great rugby tradition of smashing expectations, and are currently ranked third in the country after only two years of competitive play. This week we're joined by members of Tulane University's Women's Rugby Team, Emma Peterson and Hayley Alexander. Emma and Hayley want folks to know that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to the "violence" in rugby, and that the respect and comraderie of rugby is actually the selling point of the sport... not the bruises and the black eyes (however fetching they can be). Unfortunately, Hayley and Emma have found that rugby isn’t always thought of as a “women’s sport”, mostly due to assumptions about what genders are interested in physically brutal gameplay. And when people DO think of women rugby players, they often assume the women are all hyper-masculine drunken lesbians who are into bar fights. While there undoubtedly are rugby women who fall into those categories ("shoot the boot" is a real and terrifying thing, apparently), Hayley and Emma discuss some of the stereotype-shattering aspects of the women’s rugby community, from teams filled to the brim with sorority girls, to winning kicking competitions at rugby tournaments in pencil skirts. Emma Peterson, originally from Northern California, is a graduate student at Tulane University, getting her M.A. in English. She plays for Tulane Women's Rugby Club.   Hayley Alexander, originally from Bellevue, WA, is a senior at Tulane University, getting her M.P.H (Masters in Public Health). She's the president of the Tulane University Women's Rugby Club.   This episode is the fifth (and final) episode in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent. Part three will bring you to "Episode 12: Why Are You Afraid of Virtual Reality?" with Gijs Molsbergen for a discussion on virtual reality, violence and trauma, and the responsibility of VR advocates to make psychologically healthy and enjoyable VR experiences. In Episode 13, "The Unbearable Anxiety of Tweeting", we looked at how just the FEAR of violence in online gaming spaces causes ripple effects that impact even our conversations and interpersonal relationships.    Stuff we mentioned...How to Play RugbyTulane UniversityRugby BallMoon WalkingShoot the Boot JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Tulane Women's Rugby Club (The Cast)Facebook: TulaneUWRFC Instagram: @Tulanewrfc Website: www.tulanewrfc.wixsite.com/tuwrfc  Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Subtweeting is all the rage these days. And no, we don't mean tweeting from a Subway. Rae Sterling, writer and twitter role-player, joins us this week to talk about how (and why) passive-aggressiveness crops up in online gaming spaces. Join us this week to learn more about Twitter roleplay, the benefit and detriment of anonymity on the internet, and the toxic effects of passive-aggression on community-building.  While the anonymity of the internet is what has allowed Rae to really delve deep into the cathartic (and often therapeutic)  world of role-play, Rae thinks that anonymity also makes space for people to dredge up the worst part of themselves in the form of trolling, pile-ons, and emotional abuse. Subtweeting and vaguebooking is a way that a lot of folks deal with the fear of internet aggression, but these indirect forms of communication wind up creating toxic play spaces. Subtweeting, indirectly tweeting something about someone without mentioning their name (even though it's KIND OF clear who the person tweeting is referring to), can have surprisingly devastating effects on individuals and communities. Add in an anxiety disorder? The effects become ten-fold! This episode is part four in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. Continuing from previous conversations, this week we look at how just the FEAR of violence in online gaming spaces causes ripple effects that impact even our conversations and interpersonal relationships. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent. Part three will bring you to "Episode 12: Why Are You Afraid of Virtual Reality?" with Gijs Molsbergen for a discussion on virtual reality, violence and trauma, and the responsibility of VR advocates to make psychologically healthy and enjoyable VR experiences. Rae Sterling (they/them) is a gender adjacent in-progress writer of both comics and prose based in Austin, Texas. In their spare time, they work full time at Austin Books and Comics and at reading more than your daily suggested serving of comics to keep up with the ever-moving world. They participate in online role-playing on Twitter and Tumblr, play Overwatch, and describe themselves as "bad at video games". Their passions include speaking loudly and to whomever will listen about both LGBT+ comic books, diversity in comics, and the importance of all-ages comics in the lives of young readers. In Austin, Rae is working hard to become a source of information to both schools and parents for all-ages graphic novels and comic books. Stuff we mentioned...Slime RancherDream DaddyOverwatchFighting Games (like Moral Combat, Tekken, etc.)Twitter RoleplayTumblr RoleplayShadow BanningVaguebookingSubtweetingPassive-aggressive behavior JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Rae Stirling (The Cast)Twitter: @dragonosaurusWebsite: Genretastic.com Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

The next frontier of video game development is the virtual one, and research about the impact of violence in Virtual Realiy (VR) has started to gear up (if Dr. Chris Ferguson of Episode 10 is any indication). This week JD continues the conversation about violence in video games by chatting about violence and VR with Gijs Molsbergen, a virtual reality gamer with experience developing an award winning VR experience. Gijs is a VR advocate, and has been awed and inspired by the experience and potential of virtual reality for quite a while.  But loving something also means acknowledging how powerful it can be, and Gijs admits there could be some unintended negative effects of VR if developers and VR advocates don’t take their role as VR ambassadors seriously. While Gijs thinks violence in VR is extremely unlikely to cause acts of violence in real life, there is the potential for virtual reality to be traumatic for folks who aren’t fully prepared for just how real VR can feel. Gijs has some suggestions to help make the mental transition from physical to virtual a good one, from physical grounding techniques and proper mental preparation, to thinking ahead about designing experiences that mitigate the effects of harassment in virtual spaces. The episode culminates with Gijs talking about his work with the National Video Game Museum in the Netherlands (opening October 2017), which will include a Virtual Reality exhibit and game research lab. Gaming Broad(ly) field trip to the Netherlands, anyone? This episode is part three in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent. Gijs Molsbergen is a Virtual Reality gamer and content marketing consultant in the Netherlands, with experience developing an award winning VR experience. Stuff we mentioned...Lab4242SpaceLAB (Category Management VR App for retailers) by Lab4242VTimePaintLab by Lab4242 “Making virtual reality matter” TEDxYouth Talk by Gijs MolsbergenMan’s reaction to rollercoaster VR prankResident Evil 7: Biohazard (example of a VR horror game) JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Gijs Molsbergern (The Cast)Twitter: @Gijs_Molsbergen Work: OrangeValley.nl Website: GijsMolsbergen.nl Email: ghf.molsbergen@gmail.com Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios joins JD this week to talk the WHY of violence. Specifically, why does violence matter so much to so many people who play games? Ian explores why the mission to keep violence in video games feels so personal to so many people, and why conversations about the cultural implications of violence in video games get so heated. A particularly relevant conversation, seeing as the past few years have seen a flurry of intense (and somewhat scary) responses to critiques of the ubiquity of violence in video games (Gamergate and the harassment directed towards Anita Sarkeesian being notable examples). For Ian, regardless of how we think the violence affects us, there is the question of what the violence is used to sell and who it’s supposed to sell itself to. Tune in this week to learn about the ripple effects of censorship attempts, the gendered nature of marketing, and how the perceived naughtiness of violence in video games can affect our emotional attachment to these digital playscapes. Ian Danskin is a New England media artist and video essayist. He makes videos about games and web culture on his YouTube channel, Innuendo Studios. This episode is the second in a current mini series on violence and video games. For the first episode in the series, check out Episode 10: Moral Combat--Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong. Stuff we mentioned...Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong90s Censorship WarsJack ThompsonAnita Sarkeesian and Feminist FrequencyGamergateDOOM: Bethesda E3 Showcase Gameplay Reveal“Blood is Compulsory” video by Ian DanskinMortal Combat Blood CodeSupreme Court ruling on video games being artNancy Drew Games"No Girls Allowed" Polygon Article on the relationship between stereotypes that "video games are for boys" and marketingDear EstherWhat Remains of Edith FinchMystWalking SimulatorsCasual Games (and "Casual Revolution" by Jesper Juul, just for kicks)Sonic the Hedgehog is so meanPlay it Loud Campaign“Will thoust get the girl? Or play like one?”Part 1 of Ian’s “Why Are You So Angry?” Series (part 2 gets to "bubble popping")D.A.R.E.The Sims JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Ian Danskin (The Cast)Twitter: @InnuendoStudiosYoutube Channel: Innuendo StudiosPatreon: Innuendo StudiosTumblr: InnuendoStudios Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

In a time of nation-wide unrest and division, it's surprising to hear that politicians from both sides of the aisle are united on one thing: violent video games are bad and must be stopped. Blamed for everything from school shootings, suicide, and even rickets, video games have been shouldering the burden for our society’s ills for a long time now (or, at the very least, ever since comic books and ozzy osbourne have taken a back seat as the source of all evil). Politicians, pundits, and even psychologists, are quick to point a finger at the guns in video games in order to make sense of the guns in the hands of real life people, especially when those guns are in the hands of school shooters. But is playing too much Call of Duty really causing killing sprees? Christopher Ferguson and Patrick Markey are two psychology experts who have been on the front line of the violent video game debate for years. Their new book, Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong, debunks the stark picture media, politicians, and other personalities tend to paint in order to sway public opinion about the impact of gaming. In this episode, with complete honesty and extensive research, the informative (and often entertaining) Ferguson and Markey duo lays the data out on the table to reframe the conversation on the real life effects of gaming. Patrick M. Markey is a professor of psychology, the director of the Interpersonal Research Laboratory at Villanova University, and a former president of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research. Markey received his doctorate from the University of California. Chris Ferguson is professor of psychology and director of the Psychotechnology Lab at Stetson University as well as a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Central Florida. This episode kicks off Gaming Broad(cast)'s new mini series exploring the relationship between violence and video games.  Stuff we mentioned...Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is WrongAmerican Psychological AssociationAPA Review in 2015 Confirms Link Between Playing Violent Video Games and AggressionHillary Clinton on video game violence (comparing it to lung cancer)James Dallas Egbert III (Michigan State University student whose suicide was blamed on Dungeons & Dragons)Mazes and Monsters with Tom HanksAssassin’s Creed 4The families of Columbine victims sue the makers of DOOM, blaming them for tragedyLeland Yee (politician against violent video games, later charged with real life arms trafficking)Proof that Chris really did meet with Former Vice President Joe Biden and talked about video gamesHilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump on the same page when it comes to gamesGames for ChangeTransfer of LearningThe Oregon Trail (video game)  JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Patrick M. Markey, PhD (The Cast)Website:PatrickMarkey.comTwitter:@PatMarkey Christopher J. Ferguson, PhD (The Cast)Website: ChristopherJFerguson.comTwitter: @CJFerguson1111 Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Tune in to witness something that some might say is impossible… the changing of one man’s heart. This week JD interviews Jeremy Moran, a filmmaker, artist, and improv actor, whose consistent failure in the gaming arena USED to mean he disliked playing them all together. In Episode 09: Improv Games and the Art of Failure with Jeremy Moran, we'll learn more about failure, the tyranny of rules, improv games, and ways to find the art in everything. Even a door! Jeremy historically has been pretty bad at games, and the consistent number of losses he experienced while gaming was a real turn off. But something's changed recently. While it’s been said that video games are “the singular art form that sets us up for failure and allows us to experience it and experiment with it”, another fail-friendly art form also exists: the art of improv theater. His experience with improv over the last four years, including improv games, has increased not only his tolerance for playfulness and failure, but his enjoyment as well! This is the fourth (and final!) episode in a series of interviews about video games with people who don't like playing video games, inspired by Brie Code and a panel from SXSW (titled "Video Games for People Who Don't Like Video Games"). See Episode 06: Crying in a Closet, an interview with non-gamer Bailey Morrison about games and anxiety, for part one in the series, Episode 07: The Pleasures of Back-seat Gaming with game spectator and eSports lover Nora Green for part two, and part three, Episode 08: Learning the Language of Rules Vs. Creativity with Lisa P., for a rousing discussion on how gaming can help in the classroom (while still being hecka boring as a personal pastime).    Stuff we mentioned...MunchkinsGrandtheft AutoSandbox GamesBioshockThe Game (film)Bart's Nightmare90s animationCupheadMachinariumImprovHideout Theater in Austin, TXWhoosh Bang Pow (improv warmup game)Bippity Bippity Bop (improv warmup game)"Finding the game"Gaming Broad(cast) Episode 08 with Lisa P. (in reference to disliking failure and rules)Roger Ebert saying "video games can never be art" (followed by saying okay yeah they can)Rythm 0 by Marina AbramovićGaming Broad(cast) Episode 07 with Nora (in reference to stereotype threat and the gaming community) JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Jeremy Moran (The Cast)Instagram: @ModernistMuffinTwitter: @MoranicJeremyVimeo: @JeremyMoran Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Join JD and Lisa P. for Episode 08 as we unpack the question of rules. When are rules in games fun? When are they a real snore-fest? What's the value of rules vs. creativity in play and language-learning? Lisa P. is a full-time public school teacher for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing finishing up her Master's in special education at the University of Northern Colorado. Lisa doesn't play video games, but loves to play regular old games (aka board games and tabletop games), and the differences between the two makes all the difference for her. Growing up, Lisa did play a few computer games, but at the time didn't really think of them as video games. The games she played were mostly creative and open, not bound by what she thought of as the defining characteristics of video games: narrative and objectives. Not all games with rules throw her off though. A lover of people-to-people connections, Lisa does enjoy the deeply social nature of board games, rules and all. She uses that drive for conversation in her classroom, where she teaches young students about the world of words through gameplay. Rules play a part in the way she helps children learn about language. As it turns out, learning to communicate with other people isn't so different from learning the rules for how to play a game!  This is the third episode in a series of interviews about video games with people who don't like playing video games, inspired by Brie Code and a panel from SXSW (titled "Video Games for People Who Don't Like Video Games"). See Episode 06: Crying in a Closet, an interview with non-gamer Bailey Morrison about games and anxiety, for part one in the series, and Episode 07: The Pleasures of Back-seat Gaming with game spectator and eSports lover Nora Green, for part two.   Stuff we mentioned...Wii FitWii SportsBarbie Fashion DesignerBarbie Magic Hair StylerBeasts of BalanceSkylandersTalk With Me BarbieRollercoaster TycoonPokemon SnapMonopolyCodenamesHeads UpUse and Pragmatics of LanguageDon't Spill the BeansCootie GameTell TaleThe Sims   JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Lisa P. (The Cast)Twitter: @PilgrimDeafEd Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

JD brings it home this week... by literally interviewing the other person who lives in her home, Nora Green. Nora, JD's roommate, is an avid video game spectator. Rather than playing games, Nora prefers to spend countless hours WATCHING people play games. She spectates in a number of ways: by sharing time with her gamer friends, viewing video game walkthrus on Youtube, or following Counterstrike competitions on Twitch. While Nora has played games before, and has even used some games as stress relief when crying in the bathroom at work, being a "back-seat gamer" just FEELS better than playing through a game herself. Nora would rather watch skilled gamers achieve incredible feats of gaming glory than slowly hiccup her way through a game with her "less-than-professional" skills. As game spectating, and Electronic Sports (eSports) in general, gains in popularity, this episode gives you unique insight into the life of a gaming fan who finds observation more fun than playing.  This is the second interview in a series of interviews about video games with people who don't like playing video games, inspired by Brie Code and a panel from SXSW (titled "Video Games for People Who Don't Like Video Games"). See Episode 06: Crying in a Closet, an interview with non-gamer Bailey Morrison about games and anxiety, for part one in the series.   Stuff we mentioned...Ruff's BoneSim AntSpider with Lazer EyesSim CityOregon TrailAtomic Purple Gameboy ColorLuigi's Ghost MansionAnimal CrossingTeam Fortress 2Pyro (TF2 Character)CounterstrikeCloud9 (Counterstrike Team)First Person ShooterCrying in a BathroomResearch on highly committed gamers making their gaming experience "less sensorially realistic"Twitch.tvArby'seSports   JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Nora Green (The Cast)Instagram: @norasleeps*Note*: Is narcoleptic and has no time for social media Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

This week JD goes solo, interviewing Bailey Morrison as part of a new series of interviews about video games with people who don't like playing video games. Inspired by Brie Code and a panel from SXSW (titled "Video Games for People Who Don't Like Video Games"), JD delves deep into the reasons Bailey finds video games off-putting. Bailey didn't always dislike playing video games, but grew to consider them an emotional danger zone as she started to realize her performance was being judged (or COULD BE judged) by the people around her. From struggling with perfectionism and anxiety about failure, to a love of narrative and people-to-people connections (versus raw skill), Bailey and JD reframe what failure in games mean emotionally for players.    Stuff we mentioned...The NeverhoodOregon TrailOrgan TrailCare Bears: Care-a-lot JamboreeEuchreHeads UpScrabbleBananagramsDrowning sims in the swimming poolQWOPSuper Meat Boy (aka Meatball Game)GamificationRock LookerCrying in a ClosetOverwatch   JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Bailey Morrison (The Cast)Instagram: @bailsmogTwitter: @BaileyMorrisonsTumblr: Alive in '85Work: The University of Texas Press Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Dr. Gregory Grieve visits with JD and Kyle this week to discuss the intersections of religion, play, and education (as well as the recent publication of his new book on Buddhism and Second Life). Grieve is a Professor and Head of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where he researches, teaches, and creates at the intersection of Asian religions and popular culture. He specializes in digital religion, particularly the emerging field of religion and video games, and his current research uses video games to explore the category of evil in contemporary life. He's also an innovative teacher, the recipient of the 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award, who incorporates games (like Dungeons & Dragons and Skyrim) to create memorable and playful classroom experiences. Grieve works in the space between communication studies and religious studies, the secular study of religious phenomena that emphasizes critical, culturally and historically based cross-cultural analysis. Religious studies is anthropological and not theological, and in true anthropologist fashion, Grieve uses games as a way of asking questions to better understand what it means to be human. Stuff we mentioned...Zen BuddhismSilenceReligious StudiesSecond LifeNepalFar Cry 4Dungeons & DragonsJohan Huzinga and the "Magic Circle"Hannah Arendt and the "Banality of Evil" JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Kyle (The Cast)Website: KyleArmstrong.comTwitter: @kyl_armstrongInstagram: @kyl_armstrongYoutube: Bounce House Gregory Grieve, PhD (The Guest)Website: gpgrieve.orgBook: Cyber Zen: Imagining Authentic Buddhist Identity, Community, and Practices in the Virtual World of Second Life Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

This week Kyle and JD are joined by Nick Bestor, a PhD candidate studying card games and licensing in the Department of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas at Austin, for a rollicking journey through card games. Bestor talks about the journey that led him to studying card games professionally, from not knowing how to play the Pokémon Trading Card Game and living in Japan, to critiquing the My Little Pony Collectible Card Game rulebook, Hearthstone's Pity Time, gaming adjacency, transmedia, and how card games engender an emotional intimacy with a franchise's world that's unique in comparison to books, movies, video games, etc. Stuff we mentioned...Pokémon Trading Card Game"Millenial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination" by Anne AllisonMagic The GatheringWarhammer 40,000: ConquestGame of Thrones LCGHearthstoneMy Little Pony Collectible Card GamePityTracker (a way to keep track of Hearthstone's pity timer)The term "Gaming Adjacent" comes from "Drafting an Army: The Playful Pastime of Warhammer 40,000" by Marcus Carter, Martin Gibbs, and Mitchell HarropWorld of WarcraftPolygon Monster FactoryMass Effect TrilogyCinema Excelsior Podcast JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Kyle (The Cast)Website: KyleArmstrong.comTwitter: @kyl_armstrongInstagram: @kyl_armstrongYoutube: Bounce House Nick Bestor (The Guest)Twitter: @bestorbPodcast: Cinema Excelsior Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Welcome to the end of JD's childhood! Just kidding. But also this episode really is about childhood. In this episode you'll hear a lot about what growing up with games was like for JD and Kyle. JD and Kyle can trace their different styles of gaming back to when they were wee gamers, with JD leaning more towards solo play and Kyle preferring to maximize the power of friendship. Of course, the lack of ladies in multiplayer and public gaming spaces is nothing new, but JD questions whether harassment is the only reason women don't want to whip out the ol' voice chat mic. Could there be other reasons behind the lack of women and girls gaming in public? Kyle really does ruin JD's childhood, though. Like. Really bad. "More than one dead kitten" kinda bad.  Stuff we mentioned...The Adventures of Milo and OtisHomeward Bound: The Incredible JourneyAir BudBarbie Riding ClubDiablo 2Super Smash BrothersSoul CaliburHarvest Moon: Back to NatureTekken 3Pokemon Red & BluePlay by Post Role-Play-Games (An example of one that's a Horse RPG)Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeDonkey Kong CountryHalo"Teenage Girls Are Playing Video Games. You Just Might Not Hear Them" by Chris Suellentrop on KotakuKeep Talking and No One Explodes"Women in Gaming: A Study of Female Players' Experiences in Online FPS Games" by M Allison McDaniel BorderlandsTales from BorderlandsSpyroWorld of WarcraftInterviews with Miyamoto about LoZ being about exploration outside and also internal explorationSkyrimNintendo Power MagazineLara Croft GOMonument Valley JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Kyle (The Cast)Website: KyleArmstrong.comTwitter: @kyl_armstrongInstagram: @kyl_armstrongYoutube: Bounce House Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

See SXSW Gaming like you've never seen it before... through audio. Tag along with JD and Kyle as they frolic through the retelling of JD's FIRST EVER and Kyle's DEFINITELY NOT FIRST EVER SXSW experience. Highlights include talking about video games for people who don't like video games, trying to understand what the heck "fun" means, irritating question askers (one of whom may or may not be JD herself), Kyle stealing all of JD's potential friends, Kyle the Illustrator (but not the Kyle you're thinking of), JD's strange and passionate love of bloody cymbal crashes, and three tabletop games from Kickstarter that are just plain ol' super neat. Also Kyle loves Devolver and JD messes up not one, not two, but THREE different names and game titles. And those are just the comical errors she knows about! The possibilities are endless.  Stuff we mentioned...SkyrimHorizon Zero Dawn (which JD misnames)SXSW GamingBrie CodeTru Luv MediaSagan YeeGame CuriousSheri Graner Ray (pretty sure JD messes up her name too)Eve ThomasDevolver DigitalApe OutDiaries of a Spaceport Janitor (which JD also consistently incorrectly names)VastKyle The IllustratorDragoonBeasts of BalanceOwlboyRed Rope: Don't Fall Behind JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Kyle (The Cast)Website: KyleArmstrong.comTwitter: @kyl_armstrongInstagram: @kyle_sans_kyleYoutube: Bounce House Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Jayme Dale and Kyle ANSWER THE BIG QUESTIONS in Episode 01 of Gaming Broad(cast). Is JD actually a fan of anything? Are Jews (and other religions) kind of like high-stakes fandoms? Why is it so tempting to be jerks about other groups you're not a part of? Why did Kyle eat a dog cookie?  Stuff we mentioned...Bounce HouseAnimal Crossing: New LeafSailor Moon DropsGirls Who CodeJudaismSailor Moon R: The MovieLegend of ZeldaEpiscopalianNondenominational ChristianityMcElroy BrothersThe PopeSukkot JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Kyle (The Cast)Website: KyleArmstrong.comTwitter: @kyl_armstrongInstagram: @kyle_sans_kyleYoutube: Bounce House Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

A beta episode of Gaming Broad(cast) (of GamingBroadly.com) in which Jayme Dale and Kyle test their sound setup, compare Diablo 3 to Sailor Moon Drops and Tetris, realize they can beat a game seven times and STILL have no idea what's going on, and decide they don't want to play a game they kinda sorta love/hate until they're 80 years old.  Stuff we mentioned...Diablo 2Diablo 3Sailor Moon DropsTetrisGauntlet JD (The Broad)Website: GamingBroadly.comTwitter: @JayDeeCepticonInstagram: @JayDeeCepticon Kyle (The Cast)Website: KyleArmstrong.comTwitter: @kyl_armstrongInstagram: @kyle_sans_kyleYoutube: Bounce House Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.