transgender | Polygamer

Allison Holt is a Webby Award-winning software developer with a 23-year-career that includes a decade of experience in the video game industry. She has built websites and backend systems for Turbine, developers of Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online; Harmonix, creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero; and Curt Schilling’s ill-fated 38 Studios. She is also an accomplished artist, with her commissions appearing in friends’ homes and on the cover of the Transporter Lock podcast.

In this podcast, Allison and I talk about the divide between web developers and game developers; the work that earned the Beatles Rock Band website its own Webby; the ephemeral nature of a digital portfolio; the unrealized potential of 38 Studios’ Project Copernicus; why she left the games industry; and her experience accepting her identity as a transgender woman, and the difference it made in her life.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from Apple Podcasts, 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: 1:08:35 — 79.5MB) | Embed

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Nic Tompkins-Hughes has been a freelance writer, company administrator, and panel moderator in the games industry. They are currently raising the next generation of gamers, empowering them to explore gaming, gender, sexuality, and orientation on their own terms. Nic also identifies as transmasculine and is transitioning to non-binary, enjoying the newfound confidence that comes with realizing their true self.

In this podcast, Nic and Ken talk about retaining your identity while being a parent; the different roles that games play in the next generation compared to our own; how society has evolved to empower more gender identities; the difference between drag queens and drag kings; and our upcoming panel at PAX East 2020.

Stream the audio edition of this interview below or from Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Overcast, Pandora, Pocket Casts, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, RadioPublic, or the Internet Archive.

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:22:19 — 38.5MB) | Embed

Tag Archives: transgender

Polygamer #122: Web developer Allison Holt

Polygamer #98: Nic Tompkins-Hughes