We play 20-ish questions in a bid to get to know each other better.

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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

In June, the UK government announced it will ban under-16s from social media platforms Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, with the rules due to take effect in spring 2027. We ask whether any of it will actually make young people safer.
 

Age verification and the digital ID question, why Australia's version doesn't seem to be working, and the awkward truth that where there's a will there's a VPN. Matt makes the case that this is a cheap policy from a government that has ducked the expensive ones, and Alex argues you can't ban children out of the world they were born into.
 
We don't have a lot of answers, but we got a lot off our chests!
 
 Over to you

If you could design this properly — how do we keep young people safe online without wrapping them in cotton wool? What would actually work? Let us know, because we didn't crack it in 36 minutes.

Links from this episode

- The government's announcement, 15 June 2026
- Growing Up in the Online World consultation response totals (116,211 responses)
- Growing Up in the Online World government response, July 2026
- Australia's under 16 ban is failing, study finds (Al Jazeera, August 2026)
- What the new rules actually do a plain-English breakdown
- Defend Digital Me FAQ on the ban and the digital ID question
 
 
#SocialMediaBan #Under16s #OnlineSafety #AgeVerification #DigitalID #DigitalLiteracy #ScreenTime #ParentingInTheDigitalAge #UKPolitics #Ofcom #TeensOnline #TechAccountability
 

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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis looked like a genuine return to form, and then the Steam page went live with an AI disclosure, and fans started counting Lara's guns. Crystal Dynamics says generative AI was only used for placeholders, all "refined or replaced" before release. Fans aren't buying it; the PR team shut down the questions, all against a backdrop of four rounds of layoffs in a single year.

What does "refined" mean? It's doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Let's be honest, the red flags matter more than the reassurances. And what if AI isn't the cause of the industry's job losses, just a convenient thing to blame them on? 

Then we discuss Alex Wilton Regan walking away from X, because, in her words,  "men and boys are creating child pornography, deepfakes of women, violent images against women, girls, and other minority groups without any repercussions". This leaves us thinking that women and girls are disproportionately feeling the heat of AI, especially when we bring in the unfettered use of the AI-cloned voices in the Remastered Tomb Raider trilogy. 

#TombRaider #LaraCroft #LegacyOfAtlantis #CrystalDynamics #AlexWiltonRegan #GenerativeAI #AIInGaming #AIArt #GamesIndustryLayoffs #VoiceActing #AIVoiceCloning #DeepfakeAbuse #GameDevLabour #CrunchCulture #AIRegulation #TombRaiderRemastered 

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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

What if George Orwell made video games?

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If you love Gaming The System, consider supporting us:
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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

It's the end of the world as we know it.

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If you love Gaming The System, consider supporting us:
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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

It's just Jem and Alex this week, unpacking the tangled and often very gendered paths that led them to gaming. 

They talk printouts of Tomb Raider walkthroughs, MUDs, WoW guilds, boardgaming and family influences.

The chat gets into how the men in their lives and later, the women, shaped how they played and how they differed. 

There;s also a shoutout for a women's gaming retreat that's already booked out its next round. 

 #PlayerTwo #GamingOriginStory #TombRaider #LaraCroft #RetroGaming #90sGaming #MUDs #WorldOfWarcraft #BoardGameCafe #WomensGamingRetreat #GamingNostalgia #HowIGotIntoGaming 

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If you love Gaming The System, consider supporting us:
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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

We discuss the recent State of Play showcase.

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If you love Gaming The System, consider supporting us:
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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

This week Jem, Alex, and Matt go hunting for the side quests that quietly steal the show — the optional detours where some of gaming's best writing and its most surprising characters tend to hide. Expect judgment calls in Dragon Age: Inquisition, an unexpectedly moving Ghost of Tsushima storyline, a Witcher 3 legend, lots of Split Fiction love and a very earnest defence of in-game fishing.

Episode-specific hashtags: #SideQuests #DragonAgeInquisition #GhostOfTsushima #TheWitcher3 #BaldursGate3 #SplitFiction #DeathStranding

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If you love Gaming The System, consider supporting us:
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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

Alex hosts Jem and Matt on Gaming the System, promoting their Patreon and PayPal support, then launches into a discussion of awards and categories through the lens of Clair Obscur, which they describe as transcendent and unfairly dominant in contexts like “debut game,” especially compared with smaller-studio releases. They debate BAFTA/Game Awards vibes, the shift to a single “performer” category, and highlight nominated voice actors including Erika Ishii, Ben Starr, Jennifer English, Troy Baker, and others, plus a call for a dedicated motion/performance-capture award citing Clair Obscur’s mocap work and Charlotte Hopfner. The conversation critiques “safe” corporate diversity choices, trigger warnings used as justification for suppressing difficult art, and contrasts this with celebratory, sanitized event branding, alongside brief thoughts on the new James Bond game’s music/celebrity choices.

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If you love Gaming The System, consider supporting us:
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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast

Picking up from Family Game, Alex, Jem, and Matt work through Audio Achievement, Music, Narrative, New IP, and Debut Game — with Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 casting a long shadow over most of the conversation. Matt has strong feelings about this game. The team has questions about nominations versus wins. Especially when Jem brings some eye-opening numbers about just how many games were in contention before the nominations list was even drawn up.

Representation runs as a thread throughout. Jem raises the diversity controversy surrounding Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's Narrative win and makes the broader point that the stories we choose to reward signal which stories are worth telling. The New IP category opens up a more nuanced conversation about appreciation versus appropriation.  What does it mean for two white developers to stand on stage to accept an award for a game built around Black American narrative?

Part three is up next week, and covers Best Game, BAFTA Fellowship, and Performer in a Leading Role. Plus, the team discuss the controversies surrounding this year's ceremony, including a game trailer that was pulled from the show at the last minute.

Episode tags: #BAFTAGames2026 #BAFTAGamesAwards #ClairObscur #GhostOfYotei #KingdomComeDeliverance2 #SouthOfMidnight #007FirstLight #MarioKartWorld #Dispatch

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🎙 Gaming The System releases new episodes every Thursday

Thanks for listening, and remember – there’s always another game to play that isn’t full of nonsense. 🎮✨

#GamingTheSystem #GamingCulture #FeministGaming  #feministgamingpodcast​ #feministgamers​ #intersectionalgaming​ #equalityingames​ #GamingRepresentation #AccessibleGaming #IntersectionalGaming #GamingTheSystemPodcast