Humans of Gaming Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Boardgame designer Kirk Dennison joins us fresh out of knee surgery to open up to Drew and Chris about life as a father of 4 and the strained relations and expectations that can come with being a preacher's kid

Drew Dixon covers the floor at GenCon 2021 to speak with developers and designers from large publishing houses like Funko to independent designers on Kickstarter who tell us a little about their games, what they hope you get out of their games, and why they make them. 

Music in this episode was provided by Lee Rosevere. 

Kate Kadowaki, one of the founders of Love Thy Nerd was the drummer for the former Disney pop/rock group "KSM" (and no, even she doesn't know what it stands for). Kate talks to Drew and Chris about the path that led her out of the church and into the band. The conversation covers the effects of fame, the difference between the "normal" routine or "real life", and how a quick decision to play for the church again led her to her husband and a strengthening of her faith.

Every week we invite a special guest to talk with us about life, games, and belief. This week we’re joined by Alan Williamson, the Editor-in-Chief of Five out of Ten, a fantastic digital magazine about videogame culture. Alan talks with us about his own personal beliefs, the Mario/Sonic rivalry, the value of the Wii U’s brand of childlike play, and the appeal of the World Cup and FIFA’s soccer videogame.

Every week we invite a special guest to talk with us about life, games, and belief. This week we’re joined by Michael Abbott, the man responsible for Brainy Gamer, one of the original blogs dedicated to thoughtful game criticism. Michael talks with us about how his Buddhist meditation practices relate to videogames, whether Vlambeer’s Nuclear Throne conveys peace or anger, and how Earthbound conveys genuine, heartbreaking childhood.

The Humans of Gaming podcast is dedicated to having open and honest conversations about games, life, and belief hosted by our Chief Content Nerd, Drew Dixon and Richard Clark.

For our pilot episode week we are joined by Stu Horvath, the editor-in-chief of Unwinnable who talks with us about how his father’s death affected his view of God, the inability to backpedal in The Wolf Among Us, the intense nature of virtual reality, and the engrossing mythos in The Secret World.

Original Air Date – July 18, 2014

Chris Skaggs of Soma games joins Drew and Chris to talk about his unintended path to game development, conversion to Christianity, and the culture of the longest surviving "Christian" game studio.

Liberty Kifer is a pro photographer, mother of 4 girls, a black bear tamer, and an amazing board game designer. Crystallo has a unique origin story with close ties to her family which we wholeheartedly recommend everyone pick up at your local Barnes & Noble! We talk about her Norwegian family history, questionable Lutefisk dietary experiences, and the struggle of believing in a God that would put people in damnation for all eternity. 

Yannic Lejac finishes his conversation with Drew and Chris about his time at Blizzard and his transition from game journalism and narrative design to social work. 

Yannick LeJacq joins Drew and Chris for the inaugural 2021 season of Humans of Gaming! Reminiscing about their days as writers for Kill Screen, Drew and Yannick talk about the absurdity of the US health care system with its "gamification" of absurd roadblocks that benefit everyone but the patient. The conversation moves onto Yannick's Jewish upbringing and his experiences writing for Kotaku.

You can help contribute to Yannick's  GoFundMe as he continues to struggle with medical debt from his procedures.