Ken Gagne | PolygamerPolygamer - A Podcast of Equality and Diversity in Gaming & Video Games

Polygamer #83: Bahiyya Khan of after HOURS

Posted on November 14, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Bahiyya Khan is the developer of after HOURS, a full-motion video (FMV) game about sexual assault and borderline personality disorder (BPD). Presented as an interactive film, after HOURS has received critical acclaim and awards at game conferences around the globe for its innovative storytelling and willingness to tackle difficult subjects. The game has also earned a publishing deal with Humble, which will be releasing the game for Windows in early December 2018.

I first saw Bahiyya when she traveled from her home in South Africa to the Different Games conference in Massachusetts, where she spoke about the challenges of developing a game whose subject matter could be triggering. In this podcast interview, I ask her whether after HOURS was a cathartic experience; why she chose FMV as her medium; whether her decision to star in the game increased her sense of vulnerability; how she recruited her team from local artists in Johannesburg; what it means to be earning a college degree in experimental storytelling; how her BPD manifests itself; and how she’ll feel when the game is finally released to the general public.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, Spoke, Overcast, acast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #82: Geek Remix’s Stacy & Mari

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Stacy and Mari collectively form Geek Remix, a popular YouTube channel in which the two women Let’s Play and analyze mainstream and indie video games. They don’t stray from terrible or problematic games, acknowledging the challenging aspects of gaming and using them as an opportunity to engage in dialogue about how to make them better. Their channel is designed as a safe space, offering both entertainment and social justice.

In this podcast, Ken chats with Mari and Stacy about how they approach playing problematic games such as Detroit: Become Human and Super Seducer; why Mari’s Firewatch theory video is the channel’s post popular video; the role of analytics in determining future content; Stacy’s Instagram cosplay; their collaboration with animator and thumbnail artist Tess Young; interacting with their Twitter and Patreon communities; imposter syndrome; and more!

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, Spoke, Overcast, acast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive.

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Polygamer #81: Cynthia Lowen, director of NETIZENS

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Cynthia Lowen is the director and producer of NETIZENS, a documentary that details the proliferation of online harassment faced by women. The film follows feminist critic Anita Sarkeesian, attorney Carrie Goldberg, and businesswoman Tina Reine as they fight back against the online harassment that has threatened their careers and livelihoods. Lowen ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for NETIZENS in late 2016 and is now showing the movie on the film festival circuit prior to its general release.

In this interview, I chat with Lowen about what inspired her to make this film; why she chose to focus on gendered online harassment broadly and not just in online gaming; whether the past few years have made the Internet safer or more dangerous for women; the role that men and video games can play in solving the problem of online harassment; how NETIZENS compares with her previous film, Bully; her experience with crowdfunding; and when we can look forward to NETIZENS‘s wide release.

This interview was recorded on Friday, September 21, 2018, while Lowen was in Switzerland as part of the film tour. Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, Spoke, Overcast, acast, Pocket Casts, Castbox, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Polygamer #80: Angela O’Hara of Big Viking Games

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Angela O’Hara is a senior artist at Big Viking Games, creators of mobile and social games such as YoWorld and Fish World. At Big Viking Games, O’Hara creates vector art for avatars and accessories that players use to design their virtual world. Many of the games are popular with middle-aged women, and diversity and representation is a core value in the art O’Hara creates for these games. In her spare time, she produces fan art, seeks inspiration from anime and manga, and mentors local aspiring game artists.

In this podcast interview, we talk about the evolution of her career path from comic artist to game artist; whether a college degree is necessary to work as an artist; how an always-online game means work on a game is never done; avoiding burnout when your hobby is your job, and vice versa; preserving the history of Flash games; being president of a college’s anime and manga club; the value of self-care; and the differences and similarities between Sailor Moon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

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Polygamer #79: Abbey Perl of the Diverse Gaming Coalition

Posted on July 11, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Abbey Perl is the founder of the Diverse Gaming Coalition, a non-profit organization charged with ending bullying both online and off. Founded in 2016, the Diverse Gaming Coalition provides resources, education, and safe spaces by organizing events and entertainment media.

In this episode, I spoke with Abbey about her own experience with bullying and being doxxed; how her non-profit tackles bullying while also being fun; the story behind the group’s comic book, Life on the Outside; the difference between bullying and harassment, and whether solutions should be technological or societal; lessons learned from Abbey’s PAX East 2016 panel; and why WordPress is better than Wix.

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Polygamer #78: Katie Kaitchuck of GaymerX

Posted on June 13, 2018 by Ken Gagne

Katie Kaitchuck is the executive director of GaymerX, an LGBT-focused gaming convention. In the past year, the organization became a non-profit, separated from the for-profit MidBoss Games, sent diverse indie developers to GDC, and began planning next year’s GaymerX conventions. Amid all this and after only two months as GaymerX’s program director, Kaitchuck became executive director in April 2018 and is now charting the future of the organization.

In this episode, Kaitchuck and I discuss the need for a safe space like GaymerX, and whether other gaming conventions have changed; when and where future GaymerX events will occur, and whether they’ll rely on crowdfunding; the benefits of becoming a non-profit; how GaymerX’s relationship with MidBoss has evolved; her previous games industry experience working for Ubisoft and Feminist Frequency; bisexuality and bi-erasure; and the many games starring queer characters (Life Is Strange, Gone Home, Mass Effect, and more!) that GaymerX is promoting for Pride Month.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 46:33 — 22.2MB) | Embed

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