Category Archives: Elsewhere

The actions and efforts of other parties to address diversity in gaming.

Congrats & farewell to Less Than or Equal

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Last week marked the final episode of the Less Than or Equal podcast. After one hundred episodes of pursuing equality in geekdom by celebrating the diverse and their accomplishments, host Aleen Simms is — at least for now — hanging up her mic.

This is a bittersweet accomplishment, as LTOE and Polygamer have walked parallel paths since our debuts in the summer of 2014. I launched Polygamer that July, not aware that Less Than or Equal had debuted just two weeks earlier. I’d been inspired by a PAX East 2014 panel I’d moderated and which had featured Brianna Wu. I knew Brianna had then gone on to launch the Isometric podcast; it wasn’t until Aleen tweeted at me that I realized there was a third pillar in this new house of diversity podcasting.

@Aleen Oh! I was not aware of this show. Looks like another case of geniuses operating in synchronicity. Downloading now.

— Ken Gagne (@gamebits) July 12, 2014

While I’ve focused my podcast exclusively on the video game industry, Aleen covered geekdom at large. Many of LTOE‘s early episodes also touched upon video games, to the point that the show was sometimes classified as a video game podcast. But over time, Aleen’s guest lineup grew to include authors and software developers, cosplayers and card-players, roller-derbiers and cheerleaders. Whatever overlap remained was friendly: Less Than or Equal picked up Polygamer alumnus Matt Conn, while I interviewed LTOE graduates Ben Chicka, Serenity Caldwell, and Tifa Robles. One of her guests was even the voice you hear at the opening and closing of every episode of Polygamer.

Our friendly rivalry extended offline as well: I first met Aleen in person on a trip to Phoenix, when she invited me to be a guest on episode #14. She, her husband Justin (who doubled as LTOE‘s editor), and I fell into an easy camaraderie, bantering about gaming and technology while commiserating over the then-recent emergence of the GamerGate movement.

@Jasyla_ Aw! @Aleen is the best. I can’t wait to see her again at #PAXEast! pic.twitter.com/ubSGiqhR5V

— Ken Gagne (@gamebits) December 29, 2014

I saw Aleen and Justin again just a few months later when they came to Boston for PAX East 2015. I was glad to have their support and to see their faces as I looked out at the audience of my panel on indie games, which featured LTOE alumna Anna Megill.

A lot has changed in the podcasting scene since then. Besides LTOE, Isometric also ended this year after a hundred episodes, leaving just Polygamer standing of those three shows that launched in the wake of PAX East 2014. And Justice Points, a podcast of social justice and feminism in gaming, ended in December 2015 after 2.5 years and 125 episodes.

But the end of one era marks the beginning of another. Just as I left Open Apple, a retrocomputing podcast I co-founded, before launching Polygamer, and the end of Isometric paved the way for Disruption, so too is this not the last of Aleen: not only does she remain the co-host of JEMcast, but she’s hinted at a new, co-hosted podcast currently in development.

Nor is it the end of equality and diversity in podcasting, as new podcasts continue to emerge. I’d hoped Less Than or Equal would end its run by pointing listeners to similar shows, but if you’re reading this post, then you’ve already found one. Here are several other podcasts with which you may want to fill the LTOE void:

  • Spawn On Me is the premier show about gaming featuring people of color.
  • Fresh Out of Tokens is a weekly show hosted by Tanya DePass, diversity maven extraordinaire.
  • Engage! is a family gaming podcast co-hosted by Stephen Deutzmann, editor of Engaged Family Gaming and guest of Polygamer #44.
  • Minus World, formerly Super Bonus Gaymer World, is the unofficial podcast of GaymerX and its organizers, including Matt Conn, guest of Polygamer #1 & Polygamer #32.
  • Gayme On is a podcast that discusses gaming and other geek culture topics from a queer perspective.
  • Gayme Bar also offers gay video game commentary.
  • Not Just a Game so far has only three episodes of variable audio quality, but the content itself, produced by a researcher and lecturer in ethics, is fascinating.
  • Diversi takes a more academic approach to Diversity 101. It launched in late 2015 and had a strong showing before going on hiatus just four months later.

All these podcasters are accomplishing something important: they’re expanding the boundaries of gaming and technology by featuring the stories and perspectives of marginalized voices. Few people know the challenge and reward of such work as well as Aleen Simms. She’s now extended that dedication to a career path many of us have only ever dreamed of: entrepreneurship. The time she once devoted to LTOE will now be spent empowering her as an educator and organizer for such initiatives as App Camp for Girls.

My hat’s off to you, Aleen. Thank you for two years and a hundred episodes of powerful podcasting. Less Than or Equal has reshaped storytelling in the tech industry, and as you now set out to redefine yourself, remember to occasionally check in by asking: Who are you?

Polygamer in the Internet Archive

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Polygamer provides a platform for marginalized voices — those who are often excluded from mainstream dialogue and debate. I founded Polygamer on the belief that it’s important for all voices, regardless of race, creed, origin, ability, gender identity or preference, to be heard. A podcast provides a permanent, sustaining record for those voices, so that their experiences and lessons can be shared not just in a moment, but for all time.

It’s vital that those voices never be silenced — that they ring out long after Polygamer‘s run concludes. Although I see no end for this show, there is always the unseen: hacks, accidents, and major life events. So I am taking steps now to ensure that even those events will not mute that which has been heard here.

That is why, as of today, the entire collection of Polygamer podcasts is available in the Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit digital library. For over two decades, the Internet Archive has been collecting, digitizing, storing, and serving media: books, movies, videos, and, via their popular Wayback Machine, websites. The Internet Archive has been particularly active in the games industry the past few years with their Console Living Room, which makes games for classic consoles — the Atari 2600, Mattel Intellivision, the Colecovision, and more — playable right within a user’s web browser. The Internet Archive’s dedication and action in support of gaming history is powerful and undeniable.

By accepting Polygamer into their collection, the Internet Archive ensures that each MP3 and its transcript and metadata will be available to listeners and researchers for years to come. This decision is consistent with the show’s Creative Commons license, which empowers any listener to copy or modify the podcast.

Polygamer recently celebrated its second anniversary and its fiftieth episode. I’m eager to feature the stories and successes of many more voices in future episodes, all of which will be added to the Internet Archive as they are made available.

(My thanks to Jason Scott for uploading the first fifty episodes and providing a metadata exemplar.)

John Oliver on online harassment

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Weekly news show Last Week Tonight with John Oliver takes a satirical approach to news, similar to The Daily Show or The Colbert Report. But that doesn’t mean the issues it addresses aren’t serious. On the June 21, 2015, episode, Oliver tackled the issue of online harassment, opening with a clip from the documentary GTFO and featuring interviews with Anita Sarkeesian and Brianna Wu:

I’m sometimes asked why I focus on sexism in gaming and not in other fields, like politics or the film industry. It’s not because gaming is the only arena in which sexism is rampant — it’s not — but it’s where it’s most flagrant. As Oliver said, “This does not just affect women in gaming; it can potentially affect any woman who makes the mistake of having a thought in her mind and then vocalizing it online.” Harassment is not free speech when it scares other people into sacrificing their own right to speak their minds. We need to all feel safe enough to stand up for ourselves without fearing threats to our lives, bodies, and loved ones.

Fortunately, as Oliver reported, some major players in the online space are starting to take responsibility for their role in allowing such harassment to occur. In the past months, revenge porn has been prohibited by Google, Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit. Whether these new policies will be effective or enforceable remains to be seen, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Crash Override Network combats online harassment

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For six years, I worked as an editor at Computerworld.com. Since 2013, I’ve been a freelance writer for the website, which published my anti-doxxing feature this past November. As a follow-up to that piece, editor Rebecca Linke dusted off my old blog, Techbits, and allowed me to offer the following editorial commentary on this week’s Polygamer interview with Zoe Quinn and Alex Lifschitz.

The Internet is becoming a more dangerous place, with trolls and pranksters able to escalate online grievances into real-world threats. Doxxing — the unauthorized publication of someone’s personal contact information or financial records — and swatting — anonymously reporting a fake threat in order to get a SWAT team sent to someone’s home — are two of the more alarming methods being used.

But the tide may be turning, as more intended victims start to fight back. The latest is Zoe Quinn, the original target of GamerGate, the disorganized movement ostensibly about ethics in games journalism but more commonly associated with misogyny and harassment. Quinn has been continuously harassed and threatened since last August. She has not been home in nearly six months, saying, “it’s no longer safe to be [there] while we try and figure out how to move on from this meteor hitting us and be people again.”

Enough is enough.

Continue reading at Computerworld.com »

Polygamer on Less Than or Equal

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Shortly before Polygamer launched this July, and unbeknownst to me, a show with a similar focus debuted: Less Than or Equal, “a podcast dedicated to celebrating the accomplishments and contributions of geeks facing inequality in their industries.” LTOE, hosted by Aleen Simms, casts a broader net than Polygamer, examining all aspects of geek culture but is of interest to gamers as well, with past guests that include Brianna Wu, Steve Lubitz, and Tifa Robles, the latter whom appeared on the PAX East panel that led to the founding of Polygamer.

Instead of being competitive, Aleen and I have become good friends, collaborating to advance the cause of diversity. I’ve been happy to connect her with guests such as Jenna Hoffstein and Quinn Dunki, friends whose work deserve attention but which may not be a good fit for Polygamer.

Aleen in turn invited me onto her show, becoming her first in-person guest when I was in her neighborhood for the opportunity. While I’m accustomed to guest appearing on podcasts such as Super Bonus Gaymer World or the Retro Computing Roundtable, the discussion usually revolves around whatever the show is about, such as video games or classic computers. In contrast, episode #14 of LTOE was about me! It was challenging to make myself sound interesting for an hour, but Aleen steered the discussion and produced some great conversation.

The episode was published November 10 and is now available here:

This week’s upcoming episode of Polygamer was directly inspired by a specific passage of LTOE, so if you want to be prepared, I suggest giving it a listen. Or if, as a Polygamer listener, you already have enough of my voice in your life, I encourage you to enjoy any one of LTOE‘s other 18 weekly episodes to date.

Advancing diversity means having diverse voices, and I am glad that neither Polygamer nor Less Than or Equal are advancing the cause alone.