Scandalous Games

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. Just in time for the latest installment of the Real Game Awards, we finish our look back at the first installment of the anti-woke game awards show made by gamers courageous enough to give Stuttering Craig Skistimas money. This time, we wade into the role of Warhammer 40,000 and the Real Game Awards and examine the show's impact (or lack thereof).

Topics discussed include: literally betting on a game getting a good review score, imperial cheeseburgers, the complicated meanings of Warhammer 40,000's Imperium of Man, Craig's membership dues come up, and we read a TRGA acceptance speech.

For more details on the people who get into Warhammer 40,000 specifically for the fascism, check out:

Tim Colwill, “Satire Without Purpose Will Wander In Dark Places,” June 2023, https://timcolwill.com/40K.html

Jordan Carroll, “Welcome to Warhammer 40K’s anti-fascist future,” Polygon, October 25, 2022, https://www.polygon.com/23414657/warhammer-40k-anti-fascism-space-marines-capitalism-leagues-of-votann-hate 

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell, “Why play a fascist? Unpacking the hideousness of the Space Marine,” Rock Paper Shotgun, October 24, 2024, https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/why-play-a-fascist-unpacking-the-hideousness-of-the-space-marine

Henry Neilson, “Satire Dies in Grimdarkness: Warhammer 40,000 and Fascism,” Medium, August 23, 2022, https://medium.com/@huntingsunrise/satire-dies-in-grimdarkness-warhammer-40-000-and-fascism-b0dccc2280af. 

For some genuinely good introductions to 40K's lore, I recommend you check out the work of Arbiter Ian: https://www.youtube.com/@ArbitorIan

If you'd like to read along our look at the 40K rulebook, we referred to this edition: https://archive.org/details/warhammer-40-k-rogue-trader-rulebook/mode/2up. 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. For our first-ever fully in-person recording, we continue our look at The Real Game Awards, the paid game awards show targeted at folks in the anti-woke gaming community. This time around, we tackle their fears over the alleged "uglification" of female characters in video games by looking at the darling of The Real Game Awards: Stellar Blade the 2024 action game by ShiftUp (https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/stellar-blade/).

Topics discussed include: who got snubbed for Best Jiggle Physics, the escapades of a former game admin/alleged secret pornographer, how a single Tweet broke the brains of some anti-woke content creators, spray bottle based management strategies, and Pointy PS1 Era Boobs: ready to hit a venue near you!

For more details on the Stellar Blade "controversy," see Shaun, "Stellar Blade: The Fake Outrage," https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPsSguYNHpk.

For an overview on Leeroy Jenkins, the Wikipedia article is surprisingly detailed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leeroy_Jenkins

For more on the "OK" hand gesture as a hate symbol, see: "Okay Hand Gesture," ADL, https://www.adl.org/resources/hate-symbol/okay-hand-gesture.

For more information on the Pan-European Game Information system, see their website: https://pegi.info/

For some insights into Mark "Grummz" Kern's various scandals, check out MLYP's 2-part "Goonernomicon" series from March 30, 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_ftiA5fl38) and May 12, 2025 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07rhKtBq5w) as well as the works of McDizzle, whom I somehow completely botched their name (apologies) (https://www.youtube.com/@McdizzleGaming). 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com. 

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We continue our look at The Real Game Awards, the alternative gaming awards show/business venture of former Screw Attack co-founder Craig "Stuttering Craig" Skistimas. This time around, we take a closer look at their "Worst Game Journalist" category and the moral panic over Sweet Baby Inc., a small, Montreal-based games script doctoring company/possible corrupt shadow organization manipulating all of video games. 

Topics discussed include: the horrors of body type B, getting mad at games that don't exist, the long legacy of GamerGate, how a former DeVry recruiter turned his obsession over Alyssa Mercante into a lucrative YouTube channel, and Kevin inadvertently stumbles upon the grift.

Read Umberto Eco's influential 1995 essay "Ur-Fascism" here: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fascism.

For an introduction to KiwiFarms and LOLcows, check out the Behind the Bastards series "A Terrible Story about the Internet": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eA6Mrt5OPfE.

You should also check out Kristin L. Hoganson, Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars (Yale University Press, 1998): https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300085549/fighting-for-american-manhood/.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Andy Hunter. We start 2026 with a closer look at the Real Game Awards, the alternative awards show/moneymaking scheme to Geoff Keighley's Game Awards created by former Screw Attack founder turned anti-woke gaming commentator Craig "Stuttering Craig" Skistimas. 

Topics discussed include: we launch our own paid awards show (not really), who is the real gamer (and how does that involve giving us money), the veritable rogue's gallery that was TRGA's presenter lineup, and how much would you pay us for Andy to be your friend?

Content warning: brief discussion of Nazis, transphobia, and harassment (46:38-51:09).

For a fun rundown of the history of the Game Awards (originally the Spike TV Game Awards), see: Burback, "The Dark History Behind the Game Awards," January 25, 2023, https://youtu.be/BvGn9mm9bT0?si=thzm2oYsJoJw6HUX. 

For a closer look at the drama surrounding James Rolfe aka "The Angry Video Game Nerd" and the Cinemassacre fandom, see: Lady Emily, “A Deep Dive Into The Cinemassacre Backlash,” March 3, 2022, video, https://youtu.be/EmC5Zte5RnM?si=nW_bX4SnAu9eZn5W; Hbomberguy, “Plagiarism and You(tube)”, December 2, 2023, https://youtu.be/yDp3cB5fHXQ?si=EbnVEqnTj8KwgZKB; and Dan Olson/Folding Ideas, “I Don’t Know James Rolfe,” June 19, 2024, https://youtu.be/b3gZOt1Lo4A?si=jNayTZ7gFwdjlbXX. 

For more on Kirsche Verstahl, see: Ana Valens, "Why Is This ‘Gamer Supps’ VTuber Pushing the Great Replacement Theory?" Vice, April 21, 2025, https://web.archive.org/web/20250421144202/https://www.vice.com/en/article/why-is-this-gamer-supps-vtuber-pushing-the-great-replacement-theory/. 

For more on the tactics of the internet-pilled section of the right, see: Errant Signal's series "The Alt-Right Playbook," https://youtu.be/4xGawJIseNY?si=O-igu9mqEV24Lcdc.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Ryan Weaver. In our thrilling conclusion to our remastered version of our 2022 episode on the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" mod, we examine the fallout and the lasting legacy behind arguably the most infamous mod in the history of video games. 

Topics discussed include: the grandma who saved her grandchild from the M-rated game she bought, Take-Two runs afoul of the city of Flint, MI, the slapdash remastered editions of the Grand Theft Auto trilogy, and how many bad Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions can we cram into a single episode?

For more on Hot Coffee and Rockstar, check out:

David Kushner, Jacked: The Unauthorised Behind-the-Scenes Story of Grand Theft Auto (London: Collins, 2012).
Simon Parkin, "Who Spilled Hot Coffee?" Eurogamer, December 2, 2012: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-30-who-spilled-hot-coffee. 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Elford Stephens, Phil Thomas, and Ryan Weaver. We're taking December off for the holiday, so to help you through the season (and hopefully soften the blow of the recent news that Grand Theft Auto VI won't be coming out until November 2026), here's part one of a remastered edition of our Pulitzer Prize nominated episode on the most infamous mod in gaming history: the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas "Hot Coffee" mod. 

Topics discussed include: fans find some steamy secrets, fans rally to Rockstar's defense (only for the company to throw them under a bus), and Jack Thompson leads the charge against Rockstar's hidden pornographic content. 

For more on Hot Coffee and Rockstar, check out:

David Kushner, Jacked: The Unauthorised Behind-the-Scenes Story of Grand Theft Auto (London: Collins, 2012).
Simon Parkin, "Who Spilled Hot Coffee?" Eurogamer, December 2, 2012: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-11-30-who-spilled-hot-coffee. 

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch and Matt Shoemaker, whose new book, Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). If you're interested in the history of North America's largest gaming convention or the history of Dungeons & Dragons, this is the book for you!

Matt joins us for the conclusion of our look at Patricia Pulling and her personal war on Dungeons & Dragons during the 1980s. We look at the impact of her message on the news media as well as the growing body of critics who made the radical suggestion that maybe there wasn't a vast network of satanists operated undetected in the United States (shocking, I know) and that maybe Pat was less than up front about her claims.

Topics discussed include: how does Geraldo Rivera keep getting work, Richmond's Satanist-Methodist ratio, the question of whether Pat knew her son was turning into a werewolf, and the salacious indiscretions of one of Pat's closest allies.

Read Michael Stackpole's Pulling Report here: https://rpgstudies.net/stackpole/pulling_report.html.

If you're looking for another well-researched epic takedown of the 1980s Satanic Panic, check out: Robert D. Hicks, In Pursuit of Satan: The Police and the Occult (Prometheus Books, 1991). You can borrow it from the Internet Archive here: https://archive.org/details/inpursuitofsatan0000hick. 

Audio clips used under fair use from the 1988 "news" special "Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground." You can watch the full special here: "Geraldo Rivera Devil Worship Exposing Satan's Underground," Enter the Dark, https://youtu.be/S_X-1age21E?si=ut_kPtl2FDYBYUWT. (Content warning: discussions of violent crime, suicide, sexual assault).

Content Warning: Discussion of suicide. (15:18-20:20)

If you or someone you know is struggling, please check out these resources provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/resources/index.html) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (https://afsp.org/suicide-prevention-resources/). You are not alone.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Phil Thomas, and Matt Shoemaker, whose new book, Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). 

We continue our deep dive into anti-Dungeons & Dragons moral activist Patricia Pulling, founder of Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (BADD), how she became an alleged expert on the occult, and the types of groups who were receptive to her declarations of the alleged hazardous effects of tabletop roleplaying games. 

Topics discussed include: The Devil's time hosting Family Feud, the logistics of books bound in human skin, police find demonic excuses to spend taxpayer money (and we share a few of our own ideas), and how computers may have fulfilled the prophecies of the Book of Revelation.

For an amazing history of the Necronomicon, check out, Joseph P. Laycock, "How the Necronomicon became real: The ecology of a legend," in Darryl Caterine, John W. Morehead, The Paranormal and Popular Culture: A Postmodern Religious Landscape (London: Routledge, 2019): https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315184661-15/necronomicon-became-real-joseph-laycock. 

Clip from Army of Darkness (dir. Sam Raimi, Universal Pictures, 1992). Used under fair use. "Army of Darkness - Introduction," JOXCY, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zj6eotFgnPo.

The wild children's book Kate mentions regarding ritual Satanic abuse is Doris Sanford and Graci Evans, Don't Make Me Go Back, Mommy: A child's book about satanic ritual abuse (Portland, OR: Multnomah Press, 1990), which you can read on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/dont-make-me-go-back-mommy/.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Andy Hunter, and recently-published author Matt Shoemaker, whose new book, Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). 

We continue our look at moral panics over Dungeons & Dragons by taking a closer look at Patricia Pulling, the founder of Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons (BADD), and the terrible tragedy that sparked her personal crusade against D&D.

Content Warning: Discussion of suicide. (3:17-3:24)

If you or someone you know is struggling, please check out these resources provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/resources/index.html) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (https://afsp.org/suicide-prevention-resources/). You are not alone.

Topics discussed include: the logistics of werewolf death curses, Pat's (alleged) prolific D&D campaigning, and the logical journey from TTRPGs to murder.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.

Historian Kevin Impellizeri shares a story of a video game controversy to his friends: Kate Lynch, Andy Hunter, and Phil Thomas. We are also joined by a special guest: Matt Shoemaker, who is a game designer, librarian, game historian, and author of the new book Gathering of Gamers: Dungeons & Dragons and Other Games Through Gen Con, which is available now through Play Story Press (https://playstorypress.org/books/gathering-of-gamers/). 

In the spirit of his new book, Matt joins us as we talk about the 1980s panic over Dungeons & Dragons, specifically the one-woman moral crusade of Patricia "Pat" Pulling and Bothered About Dungeons & Dragons. However, to talk about that, we need to cover the wild 1979 disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, the first major moral panic over D&D.

Content Warning: Discussion of mental health struggles, substance misuse, suicidal ideation, and suicide. (21:06-21:42, 29:35-29:40, and 29:49-29:56)

If you or someone you know is struggling, please check out these resources provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/resources/index.html) and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (https://afsp.org/suicide-prevention-resources/). You are not alone.

Topics discussed include: the early history of Gen Con and the development of Dungeons & Dragons, the search for James Dallas Egbert III at Gen Con and beyond, the bombastic private eye who thought he was James Bond (as he went through OJ Simpson's son's garbage), and Mazes & Monsters and other wild D&D inspired movies.

You can view the full TV movie of Mazes & Monsters here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HfU0UjcCeE.

More info, including show notes and sources at http://scandalousgamespodcast.wordpress.com.