Creeks aren't the only types of mountain streams in Appalachia. We also have video game live streams! This week we're joined by Renee Hill, a pastry chef, gamer, and video game live streamer known as "The Caked Crusader". Renee currently lives in Madison County, the same county in Western North Carolina where JD (the host) grew up. For some weird reason, a lot of the people Renee meet are in disbelief that an anime loving, tattooed, pink-haired cosplayer could also be an Appalachian native? Weird.   

Tune in this week to hear more about representation, mental health, crying during video games, growing up Appalachian and nerdy, and how video games helped Renee connect with others while growing up in the middle of nowhere. Also there are puns. Lots and lots of puns. 

This episode is part five of "Playing Appalachia", a series of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. To start at the beginning, check out "What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia" with Dr. Elizabeth Catte, followed by our conversation with Cardboard Computer about Kentucky Route Zero to learn more about the relationship between magical realism and Appalachia. The third part of the series is "Rural Flight, Virtually Speaking" with Meredith Wilson, an Appalachian transplant whose experiences in the region have affected the way she makes games (and who she makes games for), with part four introducing us to Appalachian-raised Jerel Culliss (aka King Lemming of Team CoFH) who regales us with tales of LAN parties and Minecraft modding ethics in "Modding Appalachia".

Stuff We Mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

Renee Hill (The Cast)

Gaming Broad(cast) is the official podcast of GamingBroadly.com. Thank you to everyone who has liked, subscribed, and commented about Gaming Broad(cast) on Apple Podcasts! You can also follow this podcast on Spotify, Podbean, Stitcher, Google Music, or subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inventory? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!