Massachusetts | Polygamer

Polygamer #110: Librarian Amanda Pegg-Wheat

Posted on February 17, 2021 by Ken Gagne

Amanda Pegg-Wheat is a children’s librarian and branch manager in Quincy, Massachusetts. In addition to books, movies, video games, and Internet access, Amanda offers her patrons another service: Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. As the DM, she guides young adventurers through the fantasy world of Theros — even when the pandemic keeps them from gathering around the gaming table in person.

In this podcast, Amanda and I chat about what made her want to pursue the children’s librarian track of library science; the value and services that libraries offer in our digital age; what kids can learn from Dungeons & Dragons; whether parents ever object to their children playing D&D; why librarians also need to be community managers; how libraries have adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic; and the joys of reading aloud.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for a transcript and links to resources mentioned in this episode.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:11:35 — 41.9MB) | Embed

Continue reading →

Polygamer #105: T.L. Taylor on Twitch streaming

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Ken Gagne

Dr. T.L. Taylor is a professor at M.I.T. and the author of several books, including Watch Me Play – Twitch and the Rise of Game Live Streaming. Her ethnographic research into esports and online game streaming have led her to co-found AnyKey, an advocacy organization that supports diversity, inclusion, and equity in competitive gaming; and to be one of the founding members of Twitch’s Safety Advisory Council.

In this episode, I ask T.L. how esports led to Twitch and vice versa; how an external advisory council can sway an organization as large as Twitch; how one can write a book about a medium that is so quickly evolving; the AnyKey pledge that over 750,000 million streamers have taken; whether esports could survive without Twitch, or vice versa; what gaming can tell us about the future of our country’s culture and politics; and about her current research into amusement parks as commercialized play spaces.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 57:07 — 27.1MB) | Embed

Continue reading →

Polygamer #90: Athena Z Peters of Adventure Pub

Posted on June 19, 2019 by Ken Gagne

Athena Z Peters is the founder and co-owner of Adventure Pub, a gaming gastropub located in the suburbs of Boston in Arlington, Massachusetts. Friends, families, and strangers can order from a full food and drink menu, borrow from a library of 400 board games, card games, and role-playing games, and even reserve event space for their Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Whether you’re looking to try a game before you buy, discover something new, revisit a favorite classic, or enjoy a good meal, Adventure Pub will accommodate all these tastes.

Prior to Adventure Pub opening its doors in December 2018, Peters worked in the video games industry, most recently as an executive producer at Turbine, where she managed such projects as Lord of the Rings Online and Batman: Underworld. In this interview, I ask Peters what prompted the career change from digital games to physical; what’s behind the emerging trend of gaming cafés; whether the popularity of Game of Thrones and the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) has driven players to board games; what rare or unusual games visitors might find in the pub’s library; whether she might open an indie game studio next; and how she juggles all this with her performance group, Incantrix Productions.

Continue reading →

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:02:37 — 29.5MB) | Embed

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.

Continue reading →

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

Polygamer #43: Engagement Lab at Emerson College

Posted on May 11, 2016 by Ken Gagne

The Engagement Lab at Emerson College is an applied research lab in Boston, Massachusetts, dedicated to innovating the ways people participate in civic life and expanding the study of citizenship in a digital era. By working with city and state governments and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Engagement Lab collaborates with partners both locally and globally to develop software that addresses systemic, cultural, and health issues, from global warming to hand-washing.

In this podcast, creative producer Jordan Pailthorpe and lead developer Johnny Richardson discuss how the Engagement Lab uses digital technology to create unique solutions to address problems both big and small; how partnerships form with governments as far away from Egypt, and the workshops such collaborations have produced in both Egypt and Boston; the responsibility of game developers to produce software with social values, and how that’s reflected in the Engagement Lab’s values; how the Engagement Lab fits into the larger mission of Emerson College; and Johnny’s work with The AbleGamers Charity to encourage and implement software and hardware accessibility.

Continue reading →

Podcast: Download (Duration: 51:25 — 24.4MB) | Embed

Polygamer #20: Sarah Como of Zephyr Workshop

Posted on April 22, 2015 by Ken Gagne

Sarah Como is the Chief Operating Officer of Zephyr Workshop, developer of tabletop game A.E.G.I.S. and computer game Flora Fiora. Zephyr was born amidst Sarah’s recent education in the game design program at Becker College, which landed her on the PAX East panel "Full-Time Student, Part-Time Indie", in which she discussed juggling these dual roles. Since graduation, Sarah has become active in all aspects of Boston’s indie game scene, including working as PR manager for the Boston Festival of Indie Games (BostonFIG) and consultant for Green Door Labs.

In this episode of Polygamer, Sarah and Ken talk about the value of having a formal education in game design; the lasting appeal of board games in a digital age; best practices for Kickstarter crowdfunding; the role of geography and networking in getting your projects off the ground; and the occasional need to "lawyer up" before embarking on a new venture.

Download the audio edition of this interview below or from iTunes, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive. Click past the jump for links to resources mentioned in this episode.

Continue reading →

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:12:50 — 34.2MB) | Embed