Podcast | Polygamer

Polygamer #65: MIT’s Prof. Kishonna Gray on justice studies

Posted on May 10, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Kishonna Gray is a visiting scholar at MIT’s Comparative Media Studies/Writing department, where she teaches Women & Gender Studies. She comes from Eastern Kentucky University, where she founded the Critical Gaming Lab; and from Arizona State University, where earned her Ph.D. in justice studies. She is the author of Race, Gender, and Deviance in Xbox Live, in which she examines deviant behavior in online gaming.

In this episode of Polygamer, I ask Kishonna about the correlation between justice studies and media studies; how her relationship with gaming evolved from being a gamer to an academic; why games became less diverse after the 1990s; whether entertainment media shows a rise in violence toward women, and the ways in which that is paralleled in online harassment and offline violence; her goal in founding EKU’s Critical Gaming Lab; what her time at MIT has allowed her to do that she couldn’t do at EKU; and the hope to be found in indie game development.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:43 — 24.5MB) | Embed

Polygamer #64: Dr. Noah J. Springer on reddit & GamerGate

Posted on April 26, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Dr. Noah J. Springer recently published his Ph.D. dissertation about reddit, in which he analyzed the cultural practices, technological affordances, hybrid economics, and politics of reddit’s public sphere. During the course of Springer’s research, GamerGate erupted, bringing into existence the subreddits of Kotaku In Action and GamerGhazi, affording Springer the opportunity to witness the emergence and evolution of these publics and counterpublics.

In this episode of Polygamer, I speak with Dr. Springer about his original hope and belief that online communities such as reddit could spur positive political movements, as in the 2012 takedown of SOPA and PIPA; how he was able to hold a neutral, academic view of GamerGate, despite his personal reactions; what behaviors or practices distinguish the KIA and GamerGhazi subreddits, and how each may’ve exacerbated the other; how GamerGate was a bellwether for Brexit and Donald Trump; the roles of empathy and neoliberalism; why Springer left reddit; and where we can look for online communities today.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:13:16 — 34.4MB) | Embed

Polygamer #63: +1 to Journalism at PAX East 2017

Posted on April 12, 2017 by Ken Gagne

This week’s Polygamer podcast is the audio from the PAX East panel "+1 to Journalism: Becoming a Better Writer", held on Sunday, March 12, 2017, 4:00–5:00 PM in Bobcat Theatre.

What do you need to know to make it as a games journalist? What pitches do editors love to get, and what tropes have been done to death? Whether you’re helping consumers make informed purchasing decisions, unearthing the history of a franchise, or critiquing video games as art, you have to convey a lot of meaning in just a few words before the reader clicks away. Come hear veteran writers and editors share the best in games journalism and our own mistakes we’ve made along the way.

Featuring:

Susan Arendt [Executive Editor, GamesRadar+]
Jonathan Holmes [Writer, Destructoid & Nintendo Force]
Ken Gagne [Digital Content Developer, Gamebits]
Alexander Sliwinski [COO, Bithell Games]

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:15 — 29.8MB) | Embed

Polygamer #62: Sabriel Mastin of Overwatch & Overbuff

Posted on March 15, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Sabriel Mastin is the head of social media and support for Overbuff, a stats-tracking website for Overwatch, the popular first-person shooter from Warcraft developer Blizzard. When not competing in competitive multiplayer matches as Tracer or Ana, Sabriel is engaging with fans on Facebook and Twitter, congratulating them on their gameplay and helping them track their improvement using Overbuff. Sabriel is also a frequent panelist at PAX East, where she advocates for diversity and LGBT representation.

In this episode, Sabriel gives me a primer on Overwatch: what makes it different from other first-person shooters, the diversity of its cast of characters, how the community handles harassment, and how Overbuff fits into the equation. Overbuff is Sabriel’s first paid job in the gaming industry, and we discuss her dream to eventually find herself on-camera in the e-sports community. We then talk about Playing with Pride, the documentary by recent Polygamer alumnus Matt Baume for which Sabriel was interviewed, and the experience Matt related in which Sabriel shared something personal with on her PAX East 2016 panel.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 55:55 — 26.5MB) | Embed

Polygamer #61: Jonathan Holmes of Destructoid

Posted on March 1, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Jonathan Holmes is the former editor-in-chief of Destructoid and a frequent contributor to that site as well as many others, including Nintendo Force and A Profound Waste of Time. He is also a voice actor and a frequent speaker and panelist at video game conventions. Next week, he and I will be appearing on the PAX East 2017 panel "+1 to Journalism".

In advance of that event, this week Jonathan and I discuss the spat that YouTube celebrity PewDiePie is having with the Wall Street Journal over his anti-Semitism; the politics of managing a site such as Destructoid; how perception of skin color affects Jonathan’s reception both within his community and by GamerGate; why no journalist wants to write about Nintendo; and how he came to be a voice actor in 2064: Read Only Memories by MidBoss Games.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:08:28 — 32.2MB) | Embed

Polygamer #60: Speedrunner Kungfufruitcup

Posted on February 15, 2017 by Ken Gagne

Kungfufruitcup is a variety streamer and speedrunner. In her live Twitch stream, she races to finish video games as quickly as possible, mastering a game’s precise timing and patterns — and the occasional glitch — to break all records. She is also a regular attendee and commentator at Awesome Games Done Quick (AGDQ), the biannual speedrun charity marathon; and is co-captain of Girls On Fire, an all-women speedrun team on Twitch.

In this episode, Ken and Fufu discuss how to get under the hood and discover the best strategies for speedrunning particular games; what games make for good speedruns (hint: not JRPGs); the sort of tools and exploits that are and are not allowed in speedrunning; the freedom that comes from streaming on Twitch instead of having to edit for YouTube; advice for aspiring speedrunners; whether regular gameplay is "ruined" for speedrunners; how one speedruns for charity, and the incentives one can offer to encourage fundraising; why kappa is banned; and whether or not rabbits make good pets.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play Music, Mixcloud, acast, or TuneIn. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

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Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:03:27 — 29.9MB) | Embed

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