L’Affaire le Laissez-Faire

A little over a month ago Valve issued warnings to the makers of adult visual novels and others which became publicized resulting in controversy and uncertainty regarding the status of games with sexual content on Steam. A few weeks later Valve reversed this implied decision and announced that they would open the store to anything … Continue reading L’Affaire le Laissez-Faire →

Keys for Streaming

Streamers getting keys for the games they play seems like a topic that should be well covered, but I notice more anecdotes on Twitter (usually frustration with the current system) than exposition. In setting out to fill this gap, I now realize there are a few reasons why this is the case. I am acutely … Continue reading Keys for Streaming →

Hot Sex Robot Takes

Ten people in Toronto lost their lives when a man drove a rental truck down a street with the intent of hitting as many people as he could. A screenshot of his Facebook post identifying himself as an incel was verified, Redditors cringed at the quality of mainstream coverage of that community, and commentators took … Continue reading Hot Sex Robot Takes →

Games and Movies

Competency disclaimer: I have no background in game development, but I do have a background in film production. I write articles like this with some trepidation, as the world does not need another player of games telling makers of games how to do their job. However, in so far as the perspective of a former film practitioner … Continue reading Games and Movies →

The Numbers Game

Follower numbers are either the most or least important metric to a stream depending on who you are talking to at the moment. This isn't unique to streaming as we're perfectly happy to make scorecards for anything: Citation counts, CPU benchmarks, salaries, horsepower, awards, sales, years, credentials, ELO, ancestry, land, height, if it can be measured, … Continue reading The Numbers Game →

On “Where do you get your ideas from?”

If you would ever like to divest yourself of hero worship for creative types, look at their responses to the question "Where do you get your ideas from?" This cure is a little stale now as somewhere along the way somebody must have realized how insufferable they sounded and there are now thoughtful answers to … Continue reading On “Where do you get your ideas from?” →

Loot boxes and addiction

In a few short months gamers -- or rather the vocal subset of gamers often mistaken for the whole -- have become experts in psychology. Fresh off a righteous crusade against the addictive properties of loot boxes, there was no time to bask in their accomplishments since our fair hobby faced an even greater foe: the dastardly … Continue reading Loot boxes and addiction →

Loot boxes and gambling

A previous article discussed loot boxes as microtransactions and the purpose they serve in gaming. While this view may offer something in terms of answering why we have loot boxes, this does not offer much perspective as to whether or not we should have them in the first place. Regrettably the conversation does not seem to … Continue reading Loot boxes and gambling →

Charity Streams

Part two of the loot box article is still forthcoming, but life happens and so I have a reason to write a different post in the meantime. Starting today (December 11th), I will be doing a series of casts every weekday for the next two weeks, each with a new (surprise and generally crowd pleasing) game. … Continue reading Charity Streams →

Loot boxes and other microtransactions

Loot boxes and their predecessors have been a hot topic lately with the release of Shadow of War and Star Wars: Battlefront II. Loot boxes have been in video games since at least Team Fortress 2 and were likely inspired by collectable card games like Magic: The Gathering, so why all the fuss now? Shadow of War and Battlefront II are two highly … Continue reading Loot boxes and other microtransactions →