Left Porch

Dr. Jamie Woodock from Open University UK, author of Marx at the Arcade joins me in a discussion about Marxism and video games. Is there a Marxist analysis of video games? How is it possible to conduct one? Does a game need to reference clear, typical Marxist terms for it to be worth of a Marxist analysis? There are even more questions uncovered in this episode, so listen closely.

Jamie Woodcock - Marx At The Arcade <https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1319-marx-at-the-arcade>

Games of Empire - Global Capitalism and Video Games <https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/games-of-empire>

Spawn Point Podcast (I accidentally called it Spawn On Me, which is another podcast that you should check out): <https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/spawnpoint/id1471512530>

Every Game Makes a Statement by Radu Stochita (me, heey): <https://bowdoinreview.com/2020/12/07/every-game-makes-a-statement/>

Game Developers must avoid the "wage-slave" attitude - by Alex St. John <https://venturebeat.com/2016/04/16/game-developers-must-avoid-the-wage-slave-attitude/>

How Bioware's Anthem Went Wrong <https://kotaku.com/how-biowares-anthem-went-wrong-1833731964>

What is happening with video game sales during coronavirus <https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-03-28-what-is-happening-with-video-game-sales-during-coronavirus>

Gaming sales almost up to $180bn <https://twitter.com/GameSpot/status/1341911521157402625>

Microsoft buys Fallout creator for $7.5bn (I am sorry, I have claimed it to be $10bn. It was a mistake) <https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=microsoft+buys+bethesda&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8>

All music belongs to Ketsa and you can find them here: <https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/>

<https://ketsamusic.com>

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Southpaw is a left-wing analysis of sports newsletter published weekly by Calder and Ian. Their analysis is very rich and often features interviews with renowned sports journalists, analyses of the labour disputes in the sports world. Additionally, they want to change the face of sports reporting and take it out of its apolitical bastion and bring it in relationship to society.

Substack: https://southpaw.substack.com

Calder's Twitter: https://twitter.com/calder_mchugh

Ian's Twitter: https://twitter.com/iward29

My Twitter (heheh): https://twitter.com/stochita_radu

Desert Ghost Town (ID 1179) by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Jessy Travel Gambler (ID 1143) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lobo_Loco/Adventure/Desert_Ghost_Town_ID_1179

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Athena is a new alliance of people who believe that control over our lives, our communities, and our democracy should be in our hands.

Everyone should be able to enjoy the benefits of digital technologies and online commerce without having to sacrifice our rights and liberties, health and planet, or hopes and dreams.

But billionaire corporations like Amazon rig the rules so only they can prosper. They threaten our ability to earn a good living and live a good life.

We are joining together to stop Amazon’s growing, powerful grip over our society and economy. We’re going to write new rules so that our economy puts people first, our public officials ensure that no corporation is above the law or too big to govern — and that our democracy, finally, represents all of us.

International Coalition of activists launches protest against Amazonhttps://www.theverge.com/2020/11/27/21722421/make-amazon-pay-protest-campaign-black-friday

I tried to block Amazon from my life. It was impossible.

https://athenaforall.org

https://www.instagram.com/athenaforall/

https://twitter.com/athenaforall

Desert Ghost Town (ID 1179) by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Jessy Travel Gambler (ID 1143) https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lobo_Loco/Adventure/Desert_Ghost_Town_ID_1179

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Recently-elect State Representative from Maine, Grayson Lookner, joins us in discussing organising in his home-state and the prospects of pushing for more progressive reforms. Maine is a very atypical state, rooted in a strong sense of identity with which people might not be familiar at first.

Listen ot Micah and Livia talking to Grayson to find out more about what it is like doing politics in Maine, and how one can use the existent status for progressive action.

https://www.pressherald.com/2020/11/04/collins-maintaining-lead-over-gideon-in-senate-race/

https://bangordailynews.com/2020/11/04/bdn-videos/sara-gideon-talks-about-her-loss-in-the-maine-senate-race/

https://lookner.mainecandidate.com

https://twitter.com/LooknerFurther

Desert Ghost Town (ID 1179) by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Jessy Travel Gambler (ID 1143)

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Declan Peace is the vice-secretary of IWGB Game Workers (known in the past as GWU UK), a trade union focused in the gaming-industry. Together we are addressing what is like working in the field, what are the possibilities for collective action, as well as video games we like.

Thank you, Declan! It was such a big pleasure.

Readings:

Recommended Games:

Music by:

Desert Ghost Town (ID 1179) by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Jessy Travel Gambler (ID 1143)by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Thank you, Livia and Nathan, for being on this podcast.

Due to technical difficulties this came later than we intended to upload it. Still very relevant when thinking about the elections and what they mean in the current context.

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Brenda and Paige are joining us on one conversation out of the many we have about the service industry and what it is like to be working inside of it. They are both members, activists and organisers in ROC Music City in Nashville, Tennessee. This episode is more focused on telling their personal stories, with future ones to focus on tactics of organising, as well as structural problems in Nashville and in the service industry. Stay tuned, this is just part 1 of a longer conversation between ROC Music City and Bowdoin Labor Alliance.

ROC Music City: https://rocmusiccity.org https://www.facebook.com/rocmusiccity/ https://www.instagram.com/roc_musiccity/

Find us here: https://bowdoinalaboralliance.nationbuilder.com https://www.facebook.com/bowdoinlaboralliance/

Music: Brain - Instrumental Retro (ID 1271) by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License. https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lobo_Loco/Not_my_Brain/Brain_-_Instrumental_Retro_ID_1271

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What is the influence of neoliberalism on the world in which we are living it? How do we make sense of the current situation?

Find Ciprian Bogdan here: http://euro.ubbcluj.ro/staff/lect-dr-ciprian-bogdan/

Music by: Jessy Travel Gambler (ID 1143) by Lobo Loco is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Brenda and Paige are joining us on one conversation out of the many we have about the service industry and what it is like to be working inside of it. They are both members, activists and organisers in ROC Music City in Nashville, Tennessee.

ROC Music City:

Find us here:

Music:

Find out more at https://left-porch.pinecast.co

What is happening with California and why is it burning?

Who are the people that put out the fires?

Articles:

Find us here:

Music:

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