Gaming Broadcast

Hi! It's been a wild year. Thanks to Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios for a conversation on loss, life, happiness, and home (and a little bit about games).

Special thanks to Ben Cohn for the music ("File Select" from Land of the Gods, Vol II).

I know it's been a while, but I'm here to prove that this podcast isn't history! Even though this episode is all about history! This week we're joined by Josh Howard, public historian, Everquest enthusiast, bacon admirer, to dig down deep into what it means to love precarious places. From childhood gaming groups and the awkwardness of leaving home to Everquest memorials for dead children, this episode runs the emotional gauntlet. What precious places are you poised to lose?

This episode is the finale 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". In part five and six, "The Streamers of Madison County" and "Death Mountain Lifestyle", we met up with JD's childhood friends, a live streamer known as The Caked Crusader, and an editor who moved out of the area, to talk growing up nerdy in Madison County, North Carolina. 

(psst.... Thanks Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios for editing this episode!)

Now, excuse me while I go petition for a National Register of Historic Digital Spaces.

Stuff We Mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

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, and other places where delightful podcasts can be found. You can also subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music!

So what exactly is a mountain lifestyle? Is it a marketing phrase? A type of view from your window? A bonified set of cultural practices? Whatever it is, it must be pretty awesome, considering how awesomely expensive the mountain lifestyle is getting these days!

This week we're joined by Shaun Martin, a Nintendo loving editor working for an educational nonprofit in Greensboro, North Carolina. Originally from Marshall, NC, with family roots dug several generations down, Shaun has first-hand knowledge of the different styles of lives you can find in the Appalachian region of ye Old North State. We dig deep into the phrase "mountain lifestyle", uncovering the multiplicity of lives that make up mountain living including, you guessed it, lifestyles that include gaming!

(psst... confused about the episode title?)

This episode is part six 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". In part five, "The Streamers of Madison County", we meet Renee Hill (aka The Caked Crusader), a video game live streamer and nerd extraordinaire whose home base is western North Carolina.

Stuff We Mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

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, and other places delightful podcasts can be found. You can also subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

So what exactly is a mountain lifestyle? Is it a marketing phrase? A type of view from your window? A bonified set of cultural practices? Whatever it is, it must be pretty awesome, considering how awesomely expensive the mountain lifestyle is getting these days!

This week we're joined by Shaun Martin, a Nintendo loving editor working for an educational nonprofit in Greensboro, North Carolina. Originally from Marshall, NC, with family roots dug several generations down, Shaun has first-hand knowledge of the different styles of lives you can find in the Appalachian region of ye Old North State. We dig deep into the phrase "mountain lifestyle", uncovering the multiplicty of lives that make up mountain living including, you guessed it, lifestyles that include gaming!

(psst... confused about the episode title?)

This episode is part six 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". In part five, "The Streamers of Madison County", we meet Renee Hill (aka The Caked Crusader), a video game live streamer and nerd extraordinaire whose home base is western North Carolina.

Stuff We Mentioned...
Marshall, NC
Greensboro, NC
Asheville, NC
A-B Emblem
Piedmont Region of NC
Madison’s history jailhouse
Urban Outfitters Protests
Legend of Zelda
SNES

Hey Broadbeans! Today we’re interrupting our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special live recording! On March 13th 2018, JD had the great honor of sitting alongside Dr. Gregory Grieve, Dr. Vit Sisler, and Helen Osman for a panel at SXSW titled “Gaming Religion: Finding Faith in Digital Games”.

As it turns out, religion and games have a lot to say to one another. Religious themes have supported the story lines of many mainstream games, from World of Warcraft to Halo and Civilizations. Gaming has also been described as a spiritual endeavor by avid gamers, and religious groups are increasingly creating and using games to counter religious stereotypes and teach members about core beliefs and practices. Stay tuned for a unique discussion about the ways that religion, ethics, and digital gaming intersect through the lenses of research, development, and education, and how video games can address issues of tolerance and cultivate civility in the digital age.

You may recognize Dr. Grieve from episode 5, “Imagining Play, Religion, and Education”, and we're over-the-moon to have the voices of Dr. Sisler and Helen Osman on this channel for the first time. 

Helen Osman is a communications expert who partners with leadership to raise visibility and create momentum for mission-focused and grassroots organizations, including clients such as Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Greg Grieve is a Professor and Head of the Religious Studies Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He researches and teaches at the intersection of digital culture, religion, and Asian traditions.

Vit Sisler is an Assistant Professor of New Media Studies at Charles University in Prague. His research focuses on serious video games, information and communication technologies in the Middle East, and Islam and digital media. He is also a lead designer of the award-winning video game on contemporary history, Attentat 1942, a 2018 IGF finalist in Excellence in Narrative.

To follow along with the audio, watch the intro video by Dr. Heidi Campbell on Youtube and download the presentation visuals from dropbox.

Stuff We Mentioned...

Helen Osman (Moderator)

Gregory Grieve, PhD (Panelist)

Vit Sisler, PhD (Panelist)

JD (Panelist)

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, and other places delightful podcasts can be found. You can also subscribe directly using our RSS feed. Want some gamey goodness in your email inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!

Hey Broadbeans! Today we’re interrupting our regularly scheduled programming to bring you a special live recording! On March 13th 2018, JD had the great honor of sitting alongside Dr. Gregory Grieve, Dr. Vit Sisler, and Helen Osman for a panel at SXSW titled “Gaming Religion: Finding Faith in Digital Games”.

As it turns out, religion and games have a lot to say to one another. Religious themes have supported the story lines of many mainstream games, from World of Warcraft to Halo and Civilizations. Gaming has also been described as a spiritual endeavor by avid gamers, and religious groups are increasingly creating and using games to counter religious stereotypes and teach members about core beliefs and practices. Stay tuned for a unique discussion about the ways that religion, ethics, and digital gaming intersect through the lenses of research, development, and education, and how video games can address issues of tolerance and cultivate civility in the digital age.

You may recognize Dr. Grieve from episode 5, “Imagining Play, Religion, and Education”, and we're over-the-moon to have the voices of Dr. Sisler and Helen Osman on this channel for the first time. 

Helen Osman is a communications expert who partners with leadership to raise visibility and create momentum for mission-focused and grassroots organizations, including clients such as Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Greg Grieve is a Professor and Head of the Religious Studies Department at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He researches and teaches at the intersection of digital culture, religion, and Asian traditions.

Vit Sisler is an Assistant Professor of New Media Studies at Charles University in Prague. His research focuses on serious video games, information and communication technologies in the Middle East, and Islam and digital media. He is also a lead designer of the award-winning video game on contemporary history, Attentat 1942, a 2018 IGF finalist in Excellence in Narrative.

To follow along with the audio, watch the intro video by Dr. Heidi Campbell on Youtube and download the presentation visuals from dropbox.

Stuff We Mentioned...
Sherlock Holmes and The Adventure of Silver Blaze (Book)
Playing with Religion in Digital Games (Book)
Second Life (Game?)
Cyber Zen (Book)
Buddhism, the Internet, and Digital Media (Book)
Methods for Studying Video Games and Religion (Book)

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!

What do Minecraft and Appalachia have in common? They both have people trying to modify them. So could Minecraft mods teach us something about how to go about ethically modding Appalachia?

This week we're joined by Jerel Culliss (aka King Lemming), an Appalachian-raised engineer who moonlights as a reknown Minecraft modder. Jerel is founder of Team CoFH, the group responsible for Thermal Expansion, a mod that adds technology, like machines, to the world of Minecraft. Coincidentally, there's also been some recent media hype about bringing big names in tech to the Appalachian region (like Amazon HQ, for instance). Not to mention the fact that "silicon hollar" is really coming into its own as a google-worthy buzzword.

But adding technology, whether that technology is pixelated or Appalachian, isn't as simple and straight forward as you might think. Tune in to learn more about the lovely LAN history behind Team CoFH, the ethics of hacking and modding video games, and ways to imagine a tech-savvy Appalachia that doesn't leave the dedicated fan-base that lives there out in the cold with the mobs.

Jerel Culliss is an engineer and hacker originally from Southwest Virginia. He has a PhD in electrical engineering and currently lives in Knoxville, TN. He is most well known online as "King Lemming," head of Team CoFH and the co-creator of Thermal Expansion, a popular mod for Minecraft.

This episode is part four 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, their game set in rural Kentucky, 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). 

Stuff We Mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

Jerel Culliss aka King Lemming (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!

Meredith Wilson is participating in rural flight, virtually speaking. As young people from Appalachia increasingly move out of the region, Meredith Wilson has done something strange: moved to rural Virginia to make virtual reality video games. 

Meredith Wilson is a public health epidemiologist turned video game developer who was a participant in Oculus Launchpad 2017. Wilson used to do public health research at Virginia Tech's Biocomplexity Institute, designing mobile games about diseases that were literally going viral, and appears to have been permanently infected with the game development bug. She's the founder and lead game designer for Bedhouse Games, a small independent video game studio based out of rural Virginia that is currently developing a GearVR science fiction flight simulation-esque video game.

While not originally from the Appalachian region, Wilson's work, as well as the way she works, has been impacted by her experience living there. From the types of characters she designs, to how she thinks about the relationship between ethics and education, and even her opinion on eating rabbit, Appalachia has clearly had an impact on this tenderfoot transplant.

This episode is part three of "Playing Appalachia", a series of conversations with Appalachian and Appalachian adjacent gamers and game makers. To start at the beginning, check out Ep. 18: What Games Are Getting Right About Appalachia with Dr. Elizabeth Catte. You can also take a listen to our conversation with Cardboard Computer about Kentucky Route Zero, their game set in rural Kentucky, to learn more about the relationship between magical realism and Appalachia.

Stuff We Mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

Meredith Wilson (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 inbox? Sign up for some occasional(ly) playful newsletter updates. Thanks to Ben Cohn for the music for this episode!