Gaming Broadcast

There’s a lot of assumptions folks make about violence and video games, from beliefs that violence in video games cause real life violent crime, to the stereotype that violence in video games is intended only for our more dudely players. But what about the violence that happens in real life sports? Does tackling and dragging someone to the ground for a ball make you more likely to tackle and drag someone to the ground out in the real world? And do women really like all that brutal physicality anyways?

As far as brutality goes, the sport of rugby is about as brutal as they come. Sometimes it hurts to watch rugby, much less play it. Legend has it that rugby was invented in England in 1823, when William Webb Ellis decided the rules of soccer (“football”) didn’t apply to him, picked up the ball with his hands, and ran the length of the pitch to score the first ever try. The Tulane Women’s Rugby Team follows in this great rugby tradition of smashing expectations, and are currently ranked third in the country after only two years of competitive play. This week we're joined by members of Tulane University's Women's Rugby Team, Emma Peterson and Hayley Alexander. Emma and Hayley want folks to know that there's more than meets the eye when it comes to the "violence" in rugby, and that the respect and comraderie of rugby is actually the selling point of the sport... not the bruises and the black eyes (however fetching they can be).

Unfortunately, Hayley and Emma have found that rugby isn’t always thought of as a “women’s sport”, mostly due to assumptions about what genders are interested in physically brutal gameplay. And when people DO think of women rugby players, they often assume the women are all hyper-masculine drunken lesbians who are into bar fights. While there undoubtedly are rugby women who fall into those categories ("shoot the boot" is a real and terrifying thing, apparently), Hayley and Emma discuss some of the stereotype-shattering aspects of the women’s rugby community, from teams filled to the brim with sorority girls, to winning kicking competitions at rugby tournaments in pencil skirts.

Subtweeting is all the rage these days. And no, we don't mean tweeting from a Subway. Rae Sterling, writer and twitter role-player, joins us this week to talk about how (and why) passive-aggressiveness crops up in online gaming spaces. Join us this week to learn more about Twitter roleplay, the benefit and detriment of anonymity on the internet, and the toxic effects of passive-aggression on community-building. 

While the anonymity of the internet is what has allowed Rae to really delve deep into the cathartic (and often therapeutic)  world of role-play, Rae thinks that anonymity also makes space for people to dredge up the worst part of themselves in the form of trolling, pile-ons, and emotional abuse. Subtweeting and vaguebooking is a way that a lot of folks deal with the fear of internet aggression, but these indirect forms of communication wind up creating toxic play spaces. Subtweeting, indirectly tweeting something about someone without mentioning their name (even though it's KIND OF clear who the person tweeting is referring to), can have surprisingly devastating effects on individuals and communities. Add in an anxiety disorder? The effects become ten-fold!

This episode is part four in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. Continuing from previous conversations, this week we look at how just the FEAR of violence in online gaming spaces causes ripple effects that impact even our conversations and interpersonal relationships. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent. Part three will bring you to "Episode 12: Why Are You Afraid of Virtual Reality?" with Gijs Molsbergen for a discussion on virtual reality, violence and trauma, and the responsibility of VR advocates to make psychologically healthy and enjoyable VR experiences.

Rae Sterling (they/them) is a gender adjacent in-progress writer of both comics and prose based in Austin, Texas. In their spare time, they work full time at Austin Books and Comics and at reading more than your daily suggested serving of comics to keep up with the ever-moving world. They participate in online role-playing on Twitter and Tumblr, play Overwatch, and describe themselves as "bad at video games". Their passions include speaking loudly and to whomever will listen about both LGBT+ comic books, diversity in comics, and the importance of all-ages comics in the lives of young readers. In Austin, Rae is working hard to become a source of information to both schools and parents for all-ages graphic novels and comic books.

Stuff we mentioned...

Rae Stirling (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 Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Subtweeting is all the rage these days. And no, we don't mean tweeting from a Subway. Rae Sterling, writer and twitter role-player, joins us this week to talk about how (and why) passive-aggressiveness crops up in online gaming spaces. Join us this week to learn more about Twitter roleplay, the benefit and detriment of anonymity on the internet, and the toxic effects of passive-aggression on community-building. 

While the anonymity of the internet is what has allowed Rae to really delve deep into the cathartic (and often therapeutic)  world of role-play, Rae thinks that anonymity also makes space for people to dredge up the worst part of themselves in the form of trolling, pile-ons, and emotional abuse. Subtweeting and vaguebooking is a way that a lot of folks deal with the fear of internet aggression, but these indirect forms of communication wind up creating toxic play spaces. Subtweeting, indirectly tweeting something about someone without mentioning their name (even though it's KIND OF clear who the person tweeting is referring to), can have surprisingly devastating effects on individuals and communities. Add in an anxiety disorder? The effects become ten-fold!

This episode is part four in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. Continuing from previous conversations, this week we look at how just the FEAR of violence in online gaming spaces causes ripple effects that impact even our conversations and interpersonal relationships. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent. Part three will bring you to "Episode 12: Why Are You Afraid of Virtual Reality?" with Gijs Molsbergen for a discussion on virtual reality, violence and trauma, and the responsibility of VR advocates to make psychologically healthy and enjoyable VR experiences.

Rae Sterling (they/them) is a gender adjacent in-progress writer of both comics and prose based in Austin, Texas. In their spare time, they work full time at Austin Books and Comics and at reading more than your daily suggested serving of comics to keep up with the ever-moving world. They participate in online role-playing on Twitter and Tumblr, play Overwatch, and describe themselves as "bad at video games". Their passions include speaking loudly and to whomever will listen about both LGBT+ comic books, diversity in comics, and the importance of all-ages comics in the lives of young readers. In Austin, Rae is working hard to become a source of information to both schools and parents for all-ages graphic novels and comic books.

Stuff we mentioned...
Slime Rancher
Dream Daddy
Overwatch
Fighting Games (like Moral Combat, Tekken, etc.)
Twitter Roleplay
Tumblr Roleplay
Shadow Banning
Vaguebooking
Sub

The next frontier of video game development is the virtual one, and research about the impact of violence in Virtual Realiy (VR) has started to gear up (if Dr. Chris Ferguson of Episode 10 is any indication). This week JD continues the conversation about violence in video games by chatting about violence and VR with Gijs Molsbergen, a virtual reality gamer with experience developing an award winning VR experience. Gijs is a VR advocate, and has been awed and inspired by the experience and potential of virtual reality for quite a while. 

But loving something also means acknowledging how powerful it can be, and Gijs admits there could be some unintended negative effects of VR if developers and VR advocates don’t take their role as VR ambassadors seriously.

While Gijs thinks violence in VR is extremely unlikely to cause acts of violence in real life, there is the potential for virtual reality to be traumatic for folks who aren’t fully prepared for just how real VR can feel. Gijs has some suggestions to help make the mental transition from physical to virtual a good one, from physical grounding techniques and proper mental preparation, to thinking ahead about designing experiences that mitigate the effects of harassment in virtual spaces.

The episode culminates with Gijs talking about his work with the National Video Game Museum in the Netherlands (opening October 2017), which will include a Virtual Reality exhibit and game research lab. Gaming Broad(ly) field trip to the Netherlands, anyone?

This episode is part three in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent.

Gijs Molsbergen is a Virtual Reality gamer and content marketing consultant in the Netherlands, with experience developing an award winning VR experience.

Stuff we mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

Gijs Molsbergern (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 Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

The next frontier of video game development is the virtual one, and research about the impact of violence in Virtual Realiy (VR) has started to gear up (if Dr. Chris Ferguson of Episode 10 is any indication). This week JD continues the conversation about violence in video games by chatting about violence and VR with Gijs Molsbergen, a virtual reality gamer with experience developing an award winning VR experience. Gijs is a VR advocate, and has been awed and inspired by the experience and potential of virtual reality for quite a while. 

But loving something also means acknowledging how powerful it can be, and Gijs admits there could be some unintended negative effects of VR if developers and VR advocates don’t take their role as VR ambassadors seriously.

While Gijs thinks violence in VR is extremely unlikely to cause acts of violence in real life, there is the potential for virtual reality to be traumatic for folks who aren’t fully prepared for just how real VR can feel. Gijs has some suggestions to help make the mental transition from physical to virtual a good one, from physical grounding techniques and proper mental preparation, to thinking ahead about designing experiences that mitigate the effects of harassment in virtual spaces.

The episode culminates with Gijs talking about his work with the National Video Game Museum in the Netherlands (opening October 2017), which will include a Virtual Reality exhibit and game research lab. Gaming Broad(ly) field trip to the Netherlands, anyone?

This episode is part three in Gaming Broad(ly)'s series on violence and video games. For the full conversation, start with “Episode 10: Moral Combat—Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong” with researchers Chris Ferguson and Patrick Markey on the (lack of) data about video games causing real life acts of violence, followed by “Episode 11: Why Are You So Angry?”, with Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios, to learn more about why folks get so, well, aggressive about making sure games stay violent.

Gijs Molsbergen is a Virtual Reality gamer and content marketing consultant in the Netherlands, with experience developing an award winning VR experience.

Stuff we mentioned...
Lab4242
SpaceLAB (Category Management VR App for retailers) by Lab4242
VTime
PaintLab by Lab4242
“Making virtual reality matter” TEDxYouth Talk by Gijs Molsbergen
Man’s reaction to rollercoaster VR prank
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (example of a VR horror game)

JD (The Broad)
Website: GamingBroadly.com
Twitter: @JayDeeCepticon
Instagram: @JayDeeCepticon

Gijs Molsbergern (The Cast)
Twitter: @Gijs_Molsbergen
Work: OrangeValley.nl
Website: GijsMolsbergen.nl
Email: [email protected]</

Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios joins JD this week to talk the WHY of violence. Specifically, why does violence matter so much to so many people who play games? Ian explores why the mission to keep violence in video games feels so personal to so many people, and why conversations about the cultural implications of violence in video games get so heated. A particularly relevant conversation, seeing as the past few years have seen a flurry of intense (and somewhat scary) responses to critiques of the ubiquity of violence in video games (Gamergate and the harassment directed towards Anita Sarkeesian being notable examples).

For Ian, regardless of how we think the violence affects us, there is the question of what the violence is used to sell and who it’s supposed to sell itself to. Tune in this week to learn about the ripple effects of censorship attempts, the gendered nature of marketing, and how the perceived naughtiness of violence in video games can affect our emotional attachment to these digital playscapes.

Ian Danskin is a New England media artist and video essayist. He makes videos about games and web culture on his YouTube channel, Innuendo Studios.

This episode is the second in a current mini series on violence and video games. For the first episode in the series, check out Episode 10: Moral Combat--Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong.

Stuff we mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

Ian Danskin (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 Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

Ian Danskin of Innuendo Studios joins JD this week to talk the WHY of violence. Specifically, why does violence matter so much to so many people who play games? Ian explores why the mission to keep violence in video games feels so personal to so many people, and why conversations about the cultural implications of violence in video games get so heated. A particularly relevant conversation, seeing as the past few years have seen a flurry of intense (and somewhat scary) responses to critiques of the ubiquity of violence in video games (Gamergate and the harassment directed towards Anita Sarkeesian being notable examples).

For Ian, regardless of how we think the violence affects us, there is the question of what the violence is used to sell and who it’s supposed to sell itself to. Tune in this week to learn about the ripple effects of censorship attempts, the gendered nature of marketing, and how the perceived naughtiness of violence in video games can affect our emotional attachment to these digital playscapes.

Ian Danskin is a New England media artist and video essayist. He makes videos about games and web culture on his YouTube channel, Innuendo Studios.

This episode is the second in a current mini series on violence and video games. For the first episode in the series, check out Episode 10: Moral Combat--Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong.

Stuff we mentioned...
Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong
90s Censorship Wars
Jack Thompson
Anita Sarkeesian and Feminist Frequency
Gamergate
DOOM: Bethesda E3 Showcase Gameplay Reveal
“Blood is Compulsory” video by Ian Danskin
Mortal Combat Blood Code
Supreme Court ruling on video games being art
Nancy Drew Games
"No Girls Allowed" Polygon Article on the relationship between stereotypes that "video games are for boys" and marketing
Dear Esther
What Remains of Edith Finch
Myst
Walking Simulators
Casual Games (and "Casual Revolution" by Jesper Juul, just for kicks)
Sonic the Hedgehog is so mean
Play it Loud Campaign
“Will thoust get the girl? Or play like one?”
Part 1 of Ian’s “Why Are You So Angry?” Series (part 2 gets to "bubble popping")
D.A.R.E.
The Sims

JD (The Broad)
Website: 

In a time of nation-wide unrest and division, it's surprising to hear that politicians from both sides of the aisle are united on one thing: violent video games are bad and must be stopped. Blamed for everything from school shootings, suicide, and even rickets, video games have been shouldering the burden for our society’s ills for a long time now (or, at the very least, ever since comic books and ozzy osbourne have taken a back seat as the source of all evil).

Politicians, pundits, and even psychologists, are quick to point a finger at the guns in video games in order to make sense of the guns in the hands of real life people, especially when those guns are in the hands of school shooters. But is playing too much Call of Duty really causing killing sprees?

Christopher Ferguson and Patrick Markey are two psychology experts who have been on the front line of the violent video game debate for years. Their new book, Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong, debunks the stark picture media, politicians, and other personalities tend to paint in order to sway public opinion about the impact of gaming. In this episode, with complete honesty and extensive research, the informative (and often entertaining) Ferguson and Markey duo lays the data out on the table to reframe the conversation on the real life effects of gaming.

Patrick M. Markey is a professor of psychology, the director of the Interpersonal Research Laboratory at Villanova University, and a former president of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research. Markey received his doctorate from the University of California.

Chris Ferguson is professor of psychology and director of the Psychotechnology Lab at Stetson University as well as a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Central Florida.

This episode kicks off Gaming Broad(cast)'s new mini series exploring the relationship between violence and video games. 

Stuff we mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

Patrick M. Markey, PhD (The Cast)

Christopher J. Ferguson, PhD (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 Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.

In a time of nation-wide unrest and division, it's surprising to hear that politicians from both sides of the aisle are united on one thing: violent video games are bad and must be stopped. Blamed for everything from school shootings, suicide, and even rickets, video games have been shouldering the burden for our society’s ills for a long time now (or, at the very least, ever since comic books and ozzy osbourne have taken a back seat as the source of all evil).

Politicians, pundits, and even psychologists, are quick to point a finger at the guns in video games in order to make sense of the guns in the hands of real life people, especially when those guns are in the hands of school shooters. But is playing too much Call of Duty really causing killing sprees?

Christopher Ferguson and Patrick Markey are two psychology experts who have been on the front line of the violent video game debate for years. Their new book, Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong, debunks the stark picture media, politicians, and other personalities tend to paint in order to sway public opinion about the impact of gaming. In this episode, with complete honesty and extensive research, the informative (and often entertaining) Ferguson and Markey duo lays the data out on the table to reframe the conversation on the real life effects of gaming.

Patrick M. Markey is a professor of psychology, the director of the Interpersonal Research Laboratory at Villanova University, and a former president of the Society for Interpersonal Theory and Research. Markey received his doctorate from the University of California.

Chris Ferguson is professor of psychology and director of the Psychotechnology Lab at Stetson University as well as a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He has a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Central Florida.

This episode kicks off Gaming Broad(cast)'s new mini series exploring the relationship between violence and video games. 

Stuff we mentioned...
Moral Combat: Why the War on Violent Video Games is Wrong
American Psychological Association
APA Review in 2015 Confirms Link Between Playing Violent Video Games and Aggression
Hillary Clinton on video game violence (comparing it to lung cancer)
James Dallas Egbert III (Michigan State University student whose suicide was blamed on Dungeons & Dragons)
Mazes and Monsters with Tom Hanks
Assassin’s Creed 4
The families of Columbine victims sue the makers of DOOM, blaming them for tragedy
Leland Yee (politician against violent video games, later charged with real life arms trafficking)
Proof that Chris really did meet with Former Vice President Joe Biden and talked about video games
Hilary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump on the same page when it comes to games
Games for Change

Tune in to witness something that some might say is impossible… the changing of one man’s heart. This week JD interviews Jeremy Moran, a filmmaker, artist, and improv actor, whose consistent failure in the gaming arena USED to mean he disliked playing them all together. In Episode 09: Improv Games and the Art of Failure with Jeremy Moran, we'll learn more about failure, the tyranny of rules, improv games, and ways to find the art in everything. Even a door!

Jeremy historically has been pretty bad at games, and the consistent number of losses he experienced while gaming was a real turn off. But something's changed recently. While it’s been said that video games are “the singular art form that sets us up for failure and allows us to experience it and experiment with it”, another fail-friendly art form also exists: the art of improv theater. His experience with improv over the last four years, including improv games, has increased not only his tolerance for playfulness and failure, but his enjoyment as well!

This is the fourth (and final!) episode in a series of interviews about video games with people who don't like playing video games, inspired by Brie Code and a panel from SXSW (titled "Video Games for People Who Don't Like Video Games"). See Episode 06: Crying in a Closet, an interview with non-gamer Bailey Morrison about games and anxiety, for part one in the series, Episode 07: The Pleasures of Back-seat Gaming with game spectator and eSports lover Nora Green for part two, and part three, Episode 08: Learning the Language of Rules Vs. Creativity with Lisa P., for a rousing discussion on how gaming can help in the classroom (while still being hecka boring as a personal pastime). 

Stuff we mentioned...

JD (The Broad)

Jeremy Moran (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 Los Kurados for the use of their song "Rojo Y Azul" for the intro and outro music of our podcast.