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Below you will find sample interviews with lay gamers or professional gamers

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Below you will find sample interviews with lay gamers or professional gamers

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See what kind of questions are asked and get inspired for your own interview

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I had fun with the interview, and writing this piece in 2014. It originally appeared in SeethroughIt Magazine Issue 2. Some technology has arrived since the interview took place, so please keep that in mind.

If you were born in 1970 or after, you (like me) are quite familiar with the advent of computer- gaming. It started with those huge cartridge arcade-type games (The Last Starfighter kind) from ZX Spectrum and Atari that you would hook up to your TV. They seeped into the newly opening expanse of the home computer on the back of Commodore 64's; replicating faster than Gremlins in those beige towers, keyboards and monitors which most middle-class homes and students owned by the onset of the 90's.

There were the hand-held ones too. In a strange twist of fate, I was the kid in the family with the game, not my wee brother. The little green and silver calculator-sized thing looked much like the ones you still see today. It featured a man in a skirt with a long black thing in his hands, which I later realized was a sword, and strange humanoid black things falling out of the sky. There were no instructions. You had to catch the things falling out of the sky with the sword to get points. The game was called Shogun-- my first introduction to the concept of Samurai's. And those black humanoid things were probably Ninjas. Not that any of that concerned me. What did was the score, which made the ninjas fall faster the higher it got. I gave it up in disgust the day I realized that the game was cheating--sticking buttons and not crediting me with all the strikes! That's the problem with playing against a computer-they cheat more and can't think laterally. Fortunately, some bright people overcame this annoying problem by coming up with the intriguing world of Multi-player Role-Playing Games.

I had a brief, but telling introduction to them in the very early days when my not so wee brother allowed me to tag along to his friend's house. We set off in his VW Beetle-the beige monitor, tower and keyboard we shared out for a jaunt in the backseat. At my brother's friend's house, a short technically intensive fifteen minutes had both computers connected and running the same program: Age of Empires. They didn't explain anything at first. My usually patient brother grew very focused and snappy, banishing me to his more accommodating friend's side.

The first thing that I noticed was that the screens were different. My brother's had shown his village with his friend's settlement in the distant background. His friend's was vice-versa. Nothing seemed to happen for a while. Little figures seemed to be doing everyday villagey things like growing food and stuff. It looked quite boring. My brother and his friend just sat watching their screens with interest.

Mystified, I peeked at my brother's screen. His character (or avatar), The Lord, sat astride his horse staring off towards his friends stronghold.

"What's he doing?"

"Oh, he's spying," answered my brother's friend, easily.

Shocked, I looked at my normally principled brother. He ignored me. A few minutes later, a bunch of figures from my brother's village ran to his friend's stronghold then back again.

"What are they doing?"

"They're stealing."

"He can't do that!" I was almost yelling, using his friend's favorite phrase.

"Oh, it's OK. We'll have the trebuchets in a minute," was his friend's unworried response. I thought I detected a hint of satisfaction.

"What's a trebuchet?" I asked, mystified.

"That thing they're building." He was referring to his people on the screen.

And so I discovered what a trebuchet was. And how to use it against spying, thieving marauders who deserved to be pummeled into the dust! I was, naturally, cheering for my brother's friend. My brother, back to his customary self, accepted the total defeat good-naturedly, declaring that it had been a good game. There was always the following week... And there was still Quake to play.

That had been almost two decades ago and multi-player role games have come a long, long way from a group of friends pulling an all-nighter in front of state-of-the-art S-VGA screens-in colour! Not all of the games were about building empires, or taking them down. I've had a taste of the shooters too, like and Quake, though only in the single-player demos.
Quite stress-relieving actually, once I'd gotten through the first 100 times of me dying within the initial 30secs of play-always happens to me for some reason... So I have some small understanding of the attraction of the vast Net universes out there filled with aliens, fantastical creatures and alliances that YOU choose; where YOU count; and where instant rebirth and redo's are available unlike in this physical world.

***

As a singleton looking for a a good relationship, I decided that I should look at the gaming world again. Not as a means of meeting guys my age (though that may work with so many gamers being male) but with the insight that most guys my age have grown up within the gaming culture and still belong to it in some form or the other.

But, you may scoff, playing computer games just makes them childish, immature and unable to deal with the real world! Really? Here's what I learned from playing computer games:
Hand-eye co-ordination (didn't have much before I started playing them) Problem-solving-both logical and lateral Interesting facts on things like trebuchets (some games are really well researched and realistic) About human behaviour and responses to difficult situations Persistence and perserverance Management of Resources Teamwork Consequences of previous actions and decisions, as well as the cost of shortcuts
Don't know about you but that looks like a pretty impressive set of skills and attributes in a potential match... But, you're still scoffing, gaming is all in make-believe land. It doesn't count in the real world, does it? Let's look at it this way: your average gamer is practicing these skills every time they log into their multi-player role-playing avatar online. They are able to run through similar decision-making processes whether it applies to overcoming a super-skilled wizard in Alviraland or overcoming the marketing department guy who wants to release a product before it's quite ready. Sure, gamers talk in a strange language, but if you can abbreviate words and phrases and have a slightly absurd sense of humor, you should have no problem figuring most of it out. At the very least, you could google it. You know how to google, don't you?

You'll never get your potential boyfriend to leave these digital worlds. And why would you when you could easily join him and save a few worlds and souls together. At the very least, you'll improve your hand-eye co-ordination. At the very best, you've joined them and beat them!

***

To round things off and put you more in the picture, we got the perspective of a guy who's been gaming for the past twenty years or so. We had a Q&A session with the guy who introduced me to trebuchets. Here's what he has to say:

So how would you define a Gamer?
Someone who enjoys gaming on "more than a social level", i.e. he/she (usually he) considers it something to dedicate time to. It's the difference between being able to play a game and wanting to be good at it (Gamers being the latter). Having said that, more and more writers are trying to define different classes of gamers (social gamers, hardcore gamers, etc)

What's the difference between an online-gamer and a playstation user?
Online gamers prefer playing real people to (the usually stupid) AI in games. They probably enjoy beating real people more than the console (I know I do).

How long have you been a playing online games? Do you play games simultaneously?
About 7 years, and yes.

How many hours a day do you spend gaming?
Depends on work, but between 5 to 10 hours a week.

Online gaming seems to have it's own unique culture. Tell us about the whole scene. How does it differ from the playstation and home games scene?
Far more social interaction

How has it evolved from Heretic?
Sorry, but that's like asking how the mobile phone has evolved over the same period-same basic idea but expanded to exploit new technology and meet gaming demands.

WeeBruv says gaming is a guy thing. Do you agree? Why?
Yes-the vast majority of gamers are guys-probably the same reason most fans of Die Hard (and action movies in general) are guys-the content appeals to them more than ladies. Guys get a kick out of seeing aliens being blown up (in the movies) or blowing them up (in games). Most games appeal to the same things men seem to prefer-sports (football, motor racing), action (FPS- 1 st Person Shooter), fighting (Mortal Kombat, etc). You get the idea.

How does gaming make you feel?
Depends on the game-but usually excited.

Would you say it's one of the biggest commitments of your life?
Not even close

Why do you play online games as opposed to other games?
I play both, but prefer the online ones because there is more "social interaction" (albeit via the web). Playing squad based shooters is fun.

What are the long-term benefits of playing?
You get better?

And short-term?
You planning to get better?

What are the long-term disadvantages of playing? And short-term?
No idea

How much do you spend on gaming and systems?
Way too much

What's the best thing that has happened to you while playing?
I won?

What's the worst thing that has happened to you while playing?
I lost?

What do your friends and family think about your gaming?
They think I am crazy.

Has it caused you any social problems?
Not yet

Would you say that you are addicted to gaming?
Nope.

Is it easy to talk to non-gamers about this interest of yours?
No-they just don't understand!

Any advice for people in relationships with gamers?
Yes-learn to game!

What life lessons has gaming taught you?
Really-well always shoot zombies in the head, hiding behind cover heals all wounds, I can't sing, or dance.

Advice for newbies? What do you need to get started?
A good console, sound system, TV and friends.

Your thoughts on the future of gaming?
Where's the VR they promised us in the 90's? Probably more 3D games as the technology penetrates the markets.

Your thoughts of gamers in general and the culture being created?
Too tired to think now

What does your average gamer look and sound like?
They look like regular people

How do you spot a gamer?
Shout "Frag Out"-the ones that hit the floor are gamers.

Does your darkside come out when you play?
A little

Would you act the same if you had the same multiple-lives and resources off-line?
That question is way too scary to contemplate.

***

And there you have it.
"Frag Out!"
If you'd like to read more of my advice on finding love, you might want to read this.

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An Interview with a Gamer and A brief personal account

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You'll never get your potential boyfriend to leave these digital worlds. And why would you when you could easily join him and save a few worlds and souls together. At the very least, you'll improve your hand-eye co-ordination. At the very best, you've joined them and beat them!

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One of our favorite Kickstarter traditions is the "gamer profile tier," in which one of our authors interviews a Kickstarter backer. Enjoy! - BFB Alyse Knorr: What is your favorite game and why? Today, Alyse Knorr (author of Super Mario Bros. 3) interviews Alraz.exe about his gaming history.
Alraz: This is a very tough one, but after much consideration, I'll go with Mega Man 3 on the NES. The main reason why it's my favorite game is because it's the Mega Man game I played the most as a kid. Though I never owned the game back then, a friend of mine had it and I used to borrow his copy and play it all day long.
What was the first game you fell in love with?
I know is Inafune-san's "least favorite" of the whole franchise because of all of the things that went behind it's development, but as a kid, I was completely unaware of any of that and couldn't care less. The game was awesome. It had very addicting music and a kind of mystic dark mood to it that rather than scare you away, it lures you into it, makes you wonder "what's in there..?"; and my Gosh, you are in for quite a ride! Even to this day, I feel that Mega Man 3 has the best and most nostalgia-inducing credits music.

A few other runner-ups for the title of "top favorite game" would be: Marvel vs Capcom 1 and Diablo 2. Those games stole so many years of my youth ^_^"

This was definitely Mega Man 2: My first Mega Man game ever. I was like 7 years old when I first played it; was not aware of the first one, but it didn't matter. Mega Man 2 was so different to anything I had played until then, with it's colorful visuals, it's lively music and the fluid and responsive controller. Of course, back in the day I had no clue that those were all elements that were drawing me into the game, all I knew was that, even though I kept dying over and over again, I was really enjoying it.

It was so powerful that it eventually led me into taking a career in computer science because I wanted to know how these games were made. I wanted to make them myself.
Is there anything about Mega Man as a character that you're drawn to?
I owe so much to this inspiration: I come from what in my country we would call "a humble background", which is just euphemism for "a poor family", but I liked these game so much that I couldn't stop. I had to learn more. Today, I owe my professional career to the inspiration that Mega Man games in general gave me; I loved them so much as a kid, and that love kept feeding my curiosity and that curiosity eventually led me to learn about computers and programming. Had there been no Mega Man, I would not be talking to you right now about my favorite anything, I would probably be a low level employee at a department store or something like that...

As a homage to that inspiration and that life-changing experience, I have been building the Mega Man collection that I could not afford back when I was a poor kid and I support Inafune-san on everything he does (you may or may not be aware: I'm a voluntary moderator on MN9's forums). I owe them.
You mentioned that you're "building the Mega Man collection [you] could not afford back when [you were a kid]." Can you tell me a little about this collection?
More than the character, the gameplay!

Call me "simple-minded", but to me, simple things work better; and that's one of the many reasons why I always regard the original Mega Man series as the best one: while I acknowledge that other series have other more complex elements that enhance the gameplay experience, classic Mega Man has something that can never be matched: there is charm in its simplicity.

Well, the collection contains a few hundreds of items (mostly merchandising stuff like comics, mangas, toys, etc.)

Keeping up with what I have and what I don't has become such a complex task that I'm working on a website to document the whole thing so that I can have a quick reference before purchasing something that I most likely already have ^_^". The site is still years away from complete, but it's a lot of fun to work on.

This whole "collect them all" thing started kinda unintentionally, when, after getting my first professional job, I realized I could buy some of the many games I always wanted to have as a kid. Then I realized there were many other nice Mega Man related things that I was unaware of at the time and new merchandise that Capcom kept releasing...

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but I eventually decided that I wanted a more proper, more complete and more coherent collection (at the time, all I had was a few items of this and a few others of that).
https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/Y3fGPWpLSbGhkE4B3hN7ctPlSC7row82WFpC7sTltix?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy Are there any items in your collection that you're particularly proud of or excited about?
Here is an early picture of Jan 2011 when I was barely starting in this obsession with collecting mega man: https://goo.gl/photos/aM1h2JJ6L4FujugX7

And here are a few more recent pics, which does not include all items, and many of them are a bit outdated by now, but it's a good reference:

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/mPvdYyKBZ3tRJRJBF2M02oiXuxb33PMJLcsle8yKTjk?v=grid&ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy
I'm intrigued by what you said about your background growing up. What is your home country, and would you say there's anything unique about gaming culture there?
The Mega Man face on the right was drawn by Keiji Inafune himself (the so-called "Father of Mega Man").

Best of all: this is NOT some overpriced stuff that I bought from a scalper on ebay. Inafune-san drew it for me, and for me only.

I was born in the north-west-ish part of Mexico. A region dominated by drug dealers, corruption and an antiquated old-world culture.

Back in the day, being a gamer was seen as a weird thing. We were the exception. Technology hadn't caught up there, so, those technology addicted geeks like me had a hard time trying to fit in. It wasn't so hard for me because I have always been an anti-social ^_^". So, all I had to do is keep being myself.

Thankfully, things have been improving over time. Specially with the advent of the internet, things have improved a lot. Mexico in general is now a big marketplace for AAA titles. So much that some big game studios like Microsoft now translate their games to "latin american spanish"; previously, all you would get was European Spanish, which, while perfectly understandable to any latin american, sounds a bit weird due to the marked European accent (imagine all your english subs and dubs being in British English).
It's so fascinating that you owe your computer programming career to Mega Man. When did you start coding, and did your early coding involve games?
Gaming has become so important in Mexico that, in fact, the roles have reversed: now it's harder to find someone who doesn't play any games than someone who does.

Something unique about gaming in Mexico: the video game making industry is almost completely non existent. For such a big market, one would expect everybody to be making games and trying to get a slice of the cake; but nope. We are happy to play games made by everybody else.

I started coding at around age 14, when I got my first computer: an IBM PC 80383, with 1 Megabyte of RAM (yes, MEGAbyte, not Gigabyte) and a black and white monitor... Well, more like black and nuclear glowing green... aaah~, those were the days~

I would code in something called Quick Basic, a programming language that, if I recall correctly, was included with MS-DOS, the command line OS that was available on my computer.

And yes, most of my early works were very VERY VEEERY crappy text-only video games. Unfortunately, none of them survive to this day.
What games are you into today?
While my current job is not related to making games, I still take some of my free time to play around with available video game creation engines like Unreal 4, Unity 5 and so on. So much fun :)

I have a dream of making a more modern and story driven Mega Man game that remains truthful to it's old school NES roots... but that takes way more resources (especially time) than I have available... at least for now... Have not given up yet!

Today, I barely have any free time to play, but I'd have to admit I have a soft spot for construction games ^_^. I got very addicted to this game called "Project Highrise", although I think I'm almost cured of the addiction by now... I have also been playing Mega Man Zero on a live stream with a friend, as well as Dragon Ball Z Xenoverse sporadically.

I guess I can summarize my gaming preferences as follows:
Is there anything else about you that you think someone would need to know to truly understand your gaming history, and who you are as a gamer?
2-Fighting games (mostly Capcom ones)

4-Everything else. Not too much into AAA titles, but would give them a try if I have the chance.

I'm a very shy guy!

Actually, I've always been a very anti-social, quiet, reserved, introverted person... but once I open up, you'd wish I had stayed that way ^_^"

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One of our favorite Kickstarter traditions is the "gamer profile tier," in which one of our authors interviews a Kickstarter backer. Today, Alyse Knorr (author of Super Mario Bros. 3) interviews Alraz.exe about his gaming history. Enjoy! - BFB Alyse Knorr: What is your favorite game and why?

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One of our favorite Kickstarter traditions is the "gamer profile tier," in which one of our authors interviews a Kickstarter backer. Today, Alexa Ray Corriea (author of the forthcoming Kingdom Hearts 2) interviews Sam Grawe about his gaming history. Sam Grawe is a 27-yr.-old programmer currently looking for a new location to settle down in. You can follow him on Twitter at @smgrawe. Alexa Ray Corriea: How did you get started playing video games? What is your earliest memory of playing one?
Sam Grawe: Oh boy, the earliest I can remember getting into games was when I was like 6 maybe? Probably earlier. My older brothers had an NES I loved to mess with, but I can remember anything specific from that. I liked messing with my older brother's Virtual Boy and remember getting in trouble for playing with a wire stripper and the virtual boy's cable to it's controller. I vividly remember always wanting to play with my friends' Nomad and or Game Boys while I was going to daycare. Tetris was awesome, but I never felt like I was good at it. The earliest memory I can identify as playing a game was a Sonic game on the Nomad and never being able to get past some crab/squid boss that had bouncing balls that you had to dodge to get pass. The stupid balls never bounced consistently.

I didn't have a system I could consistently play or use on my own until my parents got me a Game Boy Pocket. It was green! I was so cool. The first game that was mine and that remember playing on it was Pokemon Red because red was my favorite color at the time and dragons were (and still are!) cool.
Alexa: What were the first system and game you bought yourself and why?
Sam: The first game I bought on my own was Ratchet and Clank on the PS2 right around the time it came out. I was so hype for that game, I think I was like 12 or 13 at the time I got it. I don't remember how I learned about it, but I wanted it because it was Insomniac's first game for PS2 and I had loved and played that crap out of the first two Spyro games (Unfortunately I never did convince my parents to get me Spyro 3 before I got my PS2 and forgot all about PS1 games). I remember opening the game up on my way home and thinking it was so cool that the game manual was just a big ol' poster of the now iconic duo. I loved that game and will probably play every single Ratchet game that ever comes out because of my nostalgia for it.

The first console I bought on my own was a PS4 since it came out while I was an adult and had a real full time job, but I did manage to split the cost of my PS3 with my dad so both can technically qualify.
Alexa: What genre of games did you gravitate towards, and why?
Sam: I tend to gravitate toward character driven RPGs (JRPGs and the western RPGs that don't make me think about the numbers too much a la Mass Effect 2) and action/character action/action RPGs (KH series, Ys, Spyro/Ratchet, Assassin's Creed, etc).
Alexa: Is there any particular game or series that you played when you were young that had a significant impact on you? This can be your views on life, your views on yourself, your personal goals, fitness goals, career goals, etc. For example, I've been very open about my connection to Kingdom Hearts with my family, and how Lara Croft impacted my values.
Sam: Oh boy. This is the last question I've gotten to and I've been thinking about it ever since I've got your email. I've played a lot of games and it all sort of meshes together at some point. I contribute to our favorite manic pixie dream boy in KH, Sora, the fact that I try to act like it's generally a better idea to look try to look at something positively than it is to "give in to the darkness." Kingdom Hearts is also why I first dived into online forums since I first joined a forum to speculate with other fans about just what the hell might happen in KH2 (OH BOY were we in for a treat) especially as the KH: FM special ending and all of those things made their way over here. I tried my hand at writing for the first time on those boards. FFX is the game that cemented my love for JRPGs (while I liked VII and VIII they didn't quite make me feel like these were my favorite type of games). I still tear up a little when I watch Titus disintegrate into oblivion (or so I thought) while Yuna just doesn't want him to leave at the end of FFX. Persona 4 (or more accurately Giant Bomb's endurance run and then my personal P4:G playthroughs) let me know that video games can actually have fully realized characters in them, and that JRPGs didn't need to always feel like comfort food when I played them. Playing the Trails in the Sky duology is the closest I've ever come to finally trying to learn Japanese so I could play Kiseki games that haven't come out here, and that there are JRPGs whose story can actually stand tall when put up against my favorite books.
Alexa: Is there a particular character you identify with?
Sam: Not really? It's been an odd thing thinking about this since you'd think a semi-generic white dude who has played games for most of his life would have identified with a character in a game by now. I'm answering this question before I answer the "significant impact" question so I might elaborate on that there. So I'm going to pivot the question a little: "Is there a particular character you admire?" That I can answer a bit better.

I would say Estelle Bright from the Trails In the Sky duology is one of the character whom I admire most in video games, and is one of the primary reasons why Trail in the Sky is my favorite game of all time (I may have yelled at the Airship podcast a couple of times for never mentioning the Trails series). Estelle Bright is probably one of the only protagonists I have ever played as whose motivations for a decision I have never disagreed with in terms of how the position was presented and made. Most times in a video game story (especially in a JRPG) there will be times in the story where I want to slap a character and scream "YOU ARE BEING BLATANTLY STUPID AND NAIVE" or the entire reason I can discern for something to be happening is because the plot had demanded it or the game makers decided that there needed to be a bit of fan service (or whatever). That never really happens in Trails in the Sky, and if somebody does do something stupid they usually get slapped. She starts the game knowing who she is and who she want to be, and even though there are many opportunities for her to deviate from the path along her journey she never does. She's just so cool and I aspire to be as cool as her (in my own way). Characters like her make me excited for my little girls to start playing video games even though there are many many reasons for me to be terrified for them to even pick up a controller in the first place. Her characterization, and the characterization of most of the other characters in Trails in the Sky, made me feel like they were real people I could meet and would like to meet. I had only felt that happened before in Persona 4, my old most favorite game.
Alexa: Is there a particular console you favor? And does your choice have to do with usability or the catalog or the values of the platform?
Sam: At this point in my life I tend to just go where the games are. When I have a choice I tend to go Vita first due to portability and ease of use (I'm currently playing Trails of Cold Steel II on my imported P4: DaN Vita). It also makes it easier to pick up and play or put down so I can help out with two wonderful daughters. If my Vita is an option I'll probably be playing it on my PS4 since I don't have the time/money to build myself a proper PC yet. I used to be a PS fanboy, but I'm now more just nostalgic for the brand than I am a fanboy.
Alexa: Have you been to any conventions like PAX, E3, or PSX? Have you had any excellent fan moments at any of these with a creator or someone else in the industry you particularly admire?
Sam: I have only gone to a single day of PAX and that was back in 2013. I met Greg Kasavin and some of the Super Giant team after I played Transistor... and it crashed on me. I also poked by the Double Fine booth, but didn't exactly try to talk to anybody. To be honest I was kind of out of it the whole day since there were just so many people there, so even when I did talk to Greg I just thanked him for doing a great job with a game I was excited to play. After that I just sort of scooted away since I tend to be shy and get terrible anxiety when I think I might be wasting someone's time. My highlight of the whole thing was actually when I got to meet Vinny the day before when he commented on my Giant Bomb hoodie, but it was in passing since I think he was doing other stuff. It would be awesome to go again to PAX or some other gaming convention again some day, but at this point it's mostly been a problem of not having the time or the money to go do something like that. My favorite dev interaction these days has actually been following Keita Takahashi (@KeitaTakahash) on twitter since the man is a delight on that platform.

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One of our favorite Kickstarter traditions is the "gamer profile tier," in which one of our authors interviews a Kickstarter backer. Today, Alexa Ray Corriea (author of the forthcoming Kingdom Hearts 2) interviews Sam Grawe about his gaming history. Sam Grawe is a 27-yr.-old programmer currently looking for a new location to settle down in.

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A day in the life of a professional gamer

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A day in the life of a professional gamer

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Take "Professional Gamer" off the list of fantasy careers--they're here, and some of them are making serious cash in the eSports world. But what is a day in the life of a cyberathlete like? We sought out three prominent StarCraft 2 professional players--a 17-year-old wunderkind, an international tournament veteran, and a team leader--to see how much hustle it takes to play games for a living.

Also, check out " 2011: The Year of eSports," where we interviewed the people who turned competitive gaming into a business.

Adrian "KawaiiRice" Kwong, Team FnaticMSI

Adrian "KawaiiRice" Kwong is a member of team FnaticMSI, an international pro gaming team that fields players in several different games, including StarCraft 2, Quake Live, Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, and Halo.

Who are you, and how did you get started as a professional gamer?
My name is Adrian Kwong, I'm 17, and I live in Seattle. I played StarCraft pretty casually for five or six years, but then I saw a Lim "SlayerSBoxeR" Yo-Hwan highlight video on YouTube and got really interested in competitive StarCraft. So I played for 3-ish years, managed to make it to the World Cyber Games 2009 national finals, and when StarCraft 2 came out I made the switch and Fnatic picked me up.

Was there a particular moment that you realized you could make a
living as a competitive gamer?
Not really. It still hasn't really set in for me. I'm still kinda just playing around, I guess. Obviously it's something special to me to play StarCraft professionally, but I don't really feel like I could make a living off of it. We do have sponsors (MSI, SteelSeries, Bigfoot Networks), though.

Why'd you get into StarCraft over other competitive games?
Just because I've been playing it since I was seven years old. Nothing else really interested me, I never had anything else to do, and StarCraft was always there.

How much do you practice? What does a normal day in your life look like?
I play at least 3 hours a day, unless it's a weekend or a day where I have nothing to do, in which case it's 5 hours minimum.

What would you be doing if you weren't a pro gamer?
I'm really not interested in much. I like going to school, I'm kind of interested in business, but I haven't really thought about getting another job or anything.

What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now? Do pro gamers "age out"?
I don't know--that's really too far to predict. I could be anywhere--probably not playing games professionally, though. There are some players who age out, like SlayerSBoxeR, for example. He's still playing past his 30s, which is respectable, but I don't think older players can keep up as well.

What do your parents, friends, peers, etc., think of your pro gaming career?
My parents do know about this, and they're very supportive of me, especially when I have LAN competitions, and they try to be respectful and leave me alone when I'm playing an online tournament. It's sort of a good excuse for not getting out or doing stuff I don't want to do. For my friends and peers, not so much--I don't talk about StarCraft much at school, and I don't think they really care.

I'll be at MLG Dallas in April--wish me luck!

Paulo "CatZ" Vizcarra, ROOT Gaming Founder

Paulo "CatZ" Vizcarra is the cofounder of Team ROOT Gaming, a newly established StarCraft 2 team that is home to a handful of high-level players like Kevin "qxc" Riley and Andrew "Drewbie" Moysey. Unlike Fnatic and Evil Geniuses, ROOT Gaming currently is not sponsored--meaning that its members have to fund their occupation by coaching others and winning tournaments.

What's your name/rank/serial number?
My name is Paulo Vizcarra, and I go by the name "ROOTCatZ" on Battle.Net. I am 24 years old, and hold a degree as a Bachelor in Media Arts and Animation; however, my only interest at this point in time is to play StarCraft 2 and succeed alongside my team, ROOT Gaming.

How did this ROOT Gaming team come about?
A few years ago, when they announced StarCraft 2 was coming out, Andrew "Drewbie" Moysey and I were playing 2v2 in StarCraft. We were one of the best 2v2 teams at the time, and we were always really close friends. We decided we'd make the best StarCraft 2 team when the game came out. Then a couple of years passed, I quit StarCraft, Drewbie continued to dominate the 2v2 scene, and he joined the famous team Mousesports (Mouz) as their main 2v2 player.

When we both got our hands in the beta for StarCraft 2, we had a long and nice discussion on what our team should be named, trying to find people to help us get organized, make a Website, and so on. At the time, it was just me and Drewbie, but we announced a tournament where the winner would get to play against us and if we thought he was good enough, we'd let him into the team on a trial basis. We got a lot of responses and feedback--no one was very nice to us. They called us arrogant, said that we weren't that good, and asked why we would make a tournament and not even let the winner join a team that's not even famous or known or anything. It made no sense to them. But it made sense to us,because we were we were determined to succeed and had really high standards to uphold.

We decided that if we were both really good at both 1v1 and 2v2, we'd win most clan battles even if we only had two people on the team, but we started recruiting players as we got better. Kevin "qxc" Riley was the first member to join us, and we kept growing from there.

Is gaming your day job?
Yes sir, and I'm proud of it.

What are your goals for 2011?
For myself? To become better at the game, and to help the eSports community to grow. But as the leader of ROOT, I would like nothing more than for my team to grow even bigger, to continue to do as good as we did this past year and be recognized as the best.

We also want to find reliable sponsors and build a relationship with them. One of the toughest things for us has been the fact that so many teams have made our players so many offers (and in many occasions our team as a whole) to join these teams. You can count the ROOT members that have left us for these offers with one finger. It really makes me incredibly happy that despite all this we've been able to stick together; I couldn't be happier about the people we chose for the team. It's almost as if destiny gave me the most enduring, hard-working, self-respecting, loyal, and skilled group of friends to work with.

What would you be doing if you hadn't gotten into pro gaming?
I am a bachelor in Media Arts and Animation. I don't dislike it at all--I actually designed our Website and logo :). I quite love illustration, design, and some production, but not as much as gaming.

What does an average day in the life of ROOT.CatZ look like?
Every day looks different, I try to do a lot of game-related things every day. Sometimes I have meetings, sometimes I have interviews to answer, sometimes I have to help to make sure people show up for clan wars. Every day is different.

Generally speaking, every day I'll teach some lessons, live-broadcast a video stream of the games I'm playing on Battle.net, and practice with teammates. Drewbie is my roommate, so I see him every day, too.

How do you guys pay for the team? Do you have sponsors?
We are working really hard on getting sponsors, and we have a few things in the works with some fantastic companies--but for now we can only hope for the best. Up until now, everyone has paid for their own travel and fees.

Do you find that there is a huge difference in player ability and resources between ROOT and older, more-established teams like Evil Geniuses or Team Liquid?
Resources, sure: As long as we don't have sponsors, we have no income as players or as a team. We can't make promises other than to continue doing our best as the individuals and good friends that we are. In player ability? Absolutely not. This is not to say that EG and TL aren't great teams; they are. In North America, I doubt anyone will argue that ROOT isn't one of the top three teams. I know we've had the best and most consistent results to show for [our efforts], both as individuals and as a team, and we're not planning to stop any time soon.

What do your parents, friends, peers, etc., think about your pro gaming career?
Most understand it now, or even if they don't, they know that I am both serious and passionate about it. Sure everyone joked about it at the start--it's hard to get people who aren't into gaming to understand.

I'll tell you this much, though--StarCraft 2 is magical. Many of my friends watch me stream now, and the game has grown on them. My family now fully supports me, although that was a difficult battle, as my Mom wanted for me to work in my field of studies, especially right after I graduated.

What do you see yourself doing 10 years from now?
I don't have one plan, I have many. I can't tell you what I see myself doing because there are many things that I'd enjoy doing.

In StarCraft 2, I don't just plan the game from the beginning because I could get countered, and my units wouldn't be as effective. Life is the same--I want to win, and I will. But there are many different ways to get to many different places that I'd be more than happy with.

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Take "Professional Gamer" off the list of fantasy careers--they're here, and some of them are making serious cash in the eSports world. But what is a day in the life of a cyberathlete like? We sought out three prominent StarCraft 2 professional players--a 17-year-old wunderkind, an international tournament veteran, and a team leader--to see how much hustle it takes to play games for a living.

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Another insight into the life of a professional gamer

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Another insight into the life of a professional gamer

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Justin Wong's name resonates over people's minds when they think of "professional gaming" and/or "e-sport." He has been involved with professional gaming for over 10 years and has over 40 champion titles under his belt. He's known for making remarkable comebacks and is renowned (and feared) in various fighting game circuits. The titles for Marvel vs Capcom 3 Champion at EVO 2014, Mortal Kombat 9 Champion, and the Major League Gaming Killer Instinct Champion are only some of the recent titles he holds. You would think Wong would be an intimidating guy, but I had to opportunity to sit down and ask him a few questions at Momocon 2015. What I found it is that he is a laid-back individual who, at the core, is just all about having a good time doing what he does.

Are you excited to be at Momocon this year? What do you have planned to do? What do you hope to do?

I am definitely excited to be at Momocon just because I'm really into like the anime culture and because I'm also a gamer, so it kinda like goes two in two together. But I do enjoy Atlanta, because there's a lot of tournaments and all that, so I've been here before. So I know a lot of friends, so it's really cool to just like kick in, and it's less stress because obviously when I do come to Atlanta it's big tournaments with a lot of big prizes, but this time I'm here to talk about a panel or about e-sports so it's pretty cool.

So how did you start your career in e-sports? How did it all start?

I pretty much started as like a fifteen year old playing like video games in an arcade, and eventually my friends took me to a tournament and I did really, really good. From there I just got really addicted doing it, just because I was able to travel so much and just meet new people that have like the same passion. And sooner or later I just got picked up by a sponsor called "Evil Geniuses" and I'm pretty much living the dream at the moment.

Do you feel like that is the best method for someone to still get into e-sports? At least for fighting games? Or has it changed since?

I think the best method, if you like wanted to pursue a career in e-sports, is first: just have fun with it. I can't just like wake up one day and be like, "I'm going to grow up and be a professional gamer." If you don't have any passion to it, then you're pretty much not going to have fun and then you're just going to hate it. But if you're having fun with it, and you get really good because you're having fun, it will come to you.

Was there like a definitive moment you were like, "I want to become a professional gamer!" Or you decided you were going to become a professional gamer?

I really never had that thought process of, "I wanna be a professional gamer." Even when I was winning a lot. It was just one of those things that, "Ok, I represented like my hometown, my coast, my sponsor." Then, it was just time to go back home and do real life stuff like jobs, school, etc. But right now it's just getting to that point where there's so many events, the prizes are actually huge now and you can actually make a living off of this if you're really, really good.

Let's talk about some other stuff that is big in e-sports right now. MOBAs (Multiplayer Online Battle Arena) are probably the biggest thing in e-sports right now. How do you feel about that rise of popularity? Do you think it's good? Or do you think it's damaging as many people only associate that image with e-sports even though you still have like fighting games and shooters being a big part of it?

Well, MOBAs are definitely the biggest for e-sports. I don't think it's bad, it definitely actually helps all the other genres, because people are noticing that video games are like something people can actually do for a living, to make money, and it's also really fun at the same time. But the reason why people enjoy MOBAs is because it's like a team effort, you get to play with friends, and it's also free to play most of the time. Any time it's free to play, people love it. And especially when you can turn that "something" that is free to play into something that can actually earn an income; that's pretty good and actually helps a lot because more people wonder like, "Hm, I wonder if this game has a competitive scene or if this game has a following?" People get curious.

Another thing that is becoming big again in e-sports is Super Smash Bros. It's going to have a really big presence at EVO this year; I think it's the biggest Melee tournament ever. How do you feel about Smash? Do you like it? Have you ever considered competing in it?

When it comes to Smash, I'm like one of the hugest spectators in the world. I love watching Smash tournaments, especially Melee. I'm a very big fan of Melee. One of my teammates on Evil Geniuses, PPMD, he's like one of the top five Smash players in the world, so I really enjoy watching him play. I also love watching Mango and Leffen. I really appreciate how it grew, especially when like the tournament stopped supporting it but then the community stuck together and said, "We're going to keep playing our game because we love it!" And because of that they got a second chance and now everyone wants to see Smash, Smash, Smash, and they deserve it; they really do deserve it.

You brought this up earlier, but I just want to elaborate on it. You've been involved with professional gaming for about over ten years now, right?

Do you have any other source of income now? Do you think maybe in the near future we could see people making a living off professional gaming alone?

Beside playing in tournaments to make money, I also stream a lot on Twitch. And that's actually something that is becoming a very stable income. Also, I've been getting into like gaming industries. Like trying to understand how to get a job in the game industry, what can I do? Pretty much, internally, after I stop playing professionally.

Lately you've been streaming a lot of Mortal Kombat X, so are you digging that one?

"Mortal Kombat X is actually a very, very fun game. I'm obviously known as a Capcom player: Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, but when it come to Mortal Kombat X I can just literally play it like everyday just because it's so fun and the movement of the game it really makes me appreciate like, 'Damn, NetherRealms actually really, really made this as like probably the best fighting game of 2015.'"

They just added Jason Vorhees, and I saw you kind of messing around with him on YouTube, you like him as a character?

I mean who doesn't want to play Jason, right? It's like a dream. Like when Freddy Kruger came out for MK9, who did not touch Freddy Kruger, right? So now when you have Jason, you're definitely going to play Jason, because you grew up with him.

Who would probably be like your dream Mortal Kombat fighter?

Probably like, The Ring. The girl from The Ring. I think she would be pretty cool. But there is actually a character very similar to her in Killer Instinct for Xbox One. Her name is Hisako. She carries like a giant staff, more like a spear, and her hair looks like The Ring and stuff like that and that's kind of cool. It makes me want to play her too.

What else have you been playing lately and enjoying? Both, fighting and non-fighting?

Well, right now it's that time of the year where I should only focus on fighting games. Whatever game I'm entering in EVO, that's the game I should play until EVO. But after EVO I want to play some single player games, some puzzle games. I know Witcher just came out, and I tweeted recently that I want to play Witcher, and then last week I won a raffle and I got Witcher, so I'm like, "It must be fate. The dream has come true."

Is that the only one on your list?

At the moment, it's like Witcher, Five Nights at Freddy's, and like pretty much games that the stream wants me to play. They like to see me play these little spooky games, because I get scared very easily.

This is kind of a loaded question but: what is your favorite game of all time? And why?

Probably my favorite game of all time is probably Marvel vs. Capcom 2, just because that's that one game where I literally sat down and started from not knowing how to play into like 100% knowing everything about the game. I could literally play for hours. Even like now I will sit down and play it. Just for hours or just with friends, because it is very, very fun and competitive and it also got me to where I'm at right now too.

So where can everyone expect to see you? Like upcoming tournaments? Where can they catch you online and follow you at?

The next tournament I will be at will be CEO (Community Effort Orlando) which is in Orlando, Florida. It's a really, really big tournament. It's pretty much the biggest tournament right before EVO, so everyone is going to be there. I'll be at E3 if you guys are going to be there. But you guys can follow me on Twitter @JWonggg or twitch.tv/eg_jwong.

You can go follow Justin on Twitter here and see what he has to say about upcoming tournaments, when he will be streaming, e-sports, and games in general. Be sure to watch him on his Twitch and YouTube channels playing games ranging from fighting to horror. If you want to go experience him dominating live near the end of June you can find out information about CEO here.

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Justin Wong Discusses the Life of a Professional Gamer (Interview)

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Justin Wong's name resonates over people's minds when they think of "professional gaming" and/or "e-sport." He has been involved with professional gaming for over 10 years and has over 40 champion titles under his belt. He's known for making remarkable...

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Interview with a woman gamer and gaming studio owner

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Interview with a woman gamer and gaming studio owner

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If you're a female gamer, there's reason to celebrate. A recent study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association found that women constitute 40% of the total gamer population, and this number is sure to increase over time. Although there are numerous stereotypes regarding the typical female gamer, female gamers take interest in a wide variety of games ranging from the more "masculine" shooters to strategy games, casual games, and puzzles. If we were asked to profile a female gamer, we would say we could not, since her interests vary tremendously.

Unfortunately, the popularity of gaming among women does not seem to produce nearly enough female game developers to compete with men in the industry. This could be due to the fact that the percentage of women pursuing game design and development curriculum is considerably lower than that of men, or the fact that barriers to entry in this marketplace make it difficult.

Perhaps it's because the game development industry is one that is extremely aggressive, and requires a level of work intensity that may not be ideal for a woman interested in game development who also considers raising a family at some point. Whatever the reasons may be, the fact is that there are simply far fewer women in game development than men, and we hope that this changes in the near future.

To address some of these concerns and curiosities, I had the pleasure of interviewing Silicon Sisters' CEO, Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch, who has provided some fascinating insight into some of the challenges she faced, her inspiration, goals, favorite games, and more. Silicon Sisters is a Vancouver-based game studio that is female founded and staffed. They recently released School 26, and you can read our review here.
Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch STP: What inspired you to start your own gaming studio?
Brenda: In the game industry, there's no escaping the fact that most studios are dominated by men. Having been in the industry for many years, Kirsten Forbes and I have both worked in those studios and we've both dreamed of working in a studio that had more women working in design and programming roles.

In 2010, we decided there was no time like the present! The gaming audience is growing to include more and more women, due to factors like the Wii, the iPhone, new trends in PC gaming, and social gaming catching on strongly with women. It makes sense to build games for this audience, and who better to do it than women who are passionate about games?
STP: Have there been any significant barriers or challenges you've had to overcome primarily because of your gender, and can you give some advice to other women who may face these issues in their own endeavors?
Brenda: One of the toughest challenges is working with funders. There is a decided bias against women-run tech start-ups, even though the stats show that starts-ups led by women have a higher degree of success. Silicon Valley is not as female-friendly as one might hope. Our hope is that once our games are successful, our product will help us break through this barrier. See the Forbes article on this topic here.
STP: Despite the overabundance of games out there, is there a particular genre or topic that you feel is often overlooked? If so, why do you feel it's that way?
Brenda: I wouldn't say it is a particular genre that is overlooked; I view it more that games that are designed from a particular view point aren't out there. Game development is iterative; we tend to build on what has come before us. We are hoping to look away from that example and try to bring a fresh, female first perspective to gameplay. We are designing from the first line of code up for girls- not taking existing product and adapting it, or making it pink and sparkly so that it will attract girls.
STP: Could you please tell us a little more about Silicon Sisters? What's your work environment like? When I visited the Gastown in Vancouver, I found it to be a lively, fun place. Does this enhance your work in any way?
Brenda: We love being in Gastown. It's a funky old section of the city where all walks of life collide. There are trendsters like John Fluvog who lives and works in his flagship store, and there are folks from the East Side of Vancouver which has one of the highest poverty rates of any North American city. And everything in between. It's vibrant but real, and there are lots of amazing bars and restaurants, as well as cool shopping. Our team loves it here.

Our work environment is a bit different from most studios because instead of being mostly guys with a few gals, we are mostly gals with a few guys. We aren't trying to be a women-only studio, we will always hire the person who is best for the job, but we do look for people who are truly interested in making quality games for this market, and who can think like our market segment. So, that is either going to be someone from our market segment (women or girls) or someone who is empathetic and has good understanding of that segment (grew up with sisters or has daughters, for example).
STP: As a female gamer, what are the stereotypes you've had to overcome or disprove? What do you feel is at the core of these beliefs and what can be done to break these stereotypes?
Brenda: I think the typical stereotypes about gamers- all types of gamers- are being broken down across the board right now, and I'm grateful for that. The ESRB recently reported that a majority of parents surveyed stated that video games were a positive influence in their child's life. That never used to be the case!

Society's relationship to video games is in flux, as we expand and become a more diverse medium, that will continue to change. There are more women over 30 playing video games than there are boys under 18 in today's market. Go figure!
STP: What is your favorite game for the iOS platform?
Brenda: I've always loved Flight Control, and even now still play it pretty regularly. I'm really into general aviation, so anything flight-related connects for me. I also really love Mirror's Edge on iPad. I love the touchpad mechanics with that game. I love it way more than I did on console.
STP: What's your favorite video game of all time, any platform? Why?
Brenda: No way, really? That is a brutal question. I'm really old, you know, so my catchment is all games ever made. I'll go with my first really serious addiction. When I was 11 and used to go to this arcade in my small town on Vancouver Island. We're going back to the 70's here, and I spent all of my babysitting money playing Asteroids. In the 80's it switched to Galaxian, and in the 90's probably Tomb Raider on the Sega Saturn. Next decade, Okami on Wii or maybe Katamari. I also really loved Scribblenaughts, I thought that was genius.
STP: Can you tell us about another upcoming game of yours?
Brenda: In addition to School 26, we're also working on a social game designed for women in their early 40s. We'll have more to say about it soon!
School 26 STP: Do you feel that despite being targeted for women, your games are gender-neutral and can easily be enjoyed by all?
Brenda: Our games are aimed at a specific audience, there's no avoiding that. This doesn't mean that people outside the target demographic can't enjoy it. It's really no different than a shooter or any other game that's designed with a typical male audience in mind- people outside the target audience will enjoy it, but the majority of players will be the ones the game was designed for.

For example, School 26 is a game with scenarios and mechanics that were deliberately designed to appeal to teen and tween girls. While we were working on the game, we had boys in the same age group playtest the game, and some of them enjoyed it a lot.
STP: What do you hope in achieving from the creation of games like School 26?
Brenda: With School 26 specifically, we hope to empower girls who don't realize how important their skills in areas like communication, empathy, and problem solving can be, not only while they're in school, but also later in life. More generally, we hope to create games that women will like to play, whether they consider themselves 'gamers' or not.

Silicon Sisters' slogan is 'Games for Us' and that's really what we're making- the types of games that we want to play and don't feel are truly represented in the industry right now.
STP: In what ways do you feel the female gaming community will change over the years?
Brenda: We think it will continue to grow, especially as devices like smartphones become more prevalent. The definition of gaming is changing. Most of today's gamers are not hardcore video gamers playing hours upon hours of action games on consoles, but casual gamers who are playing in smaller bursts on their phones, their computers, their Facebook pages. The industry needs to keep up by adapting to these changes- by continuing to make games for the hardcore audience, sure, but also by creating games for the growing casual audience and some games that will appeal to both.

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Women in Gaming: An Interview With Brenda Bailey Gershkovitch | Slide to Play

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If you're a female gamer, there's reason to celebrate. A recent study conducted by the Entertainment Software Association found that women constitute 40% of the total gamer population, and this number is sure to increase over time.

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I'm delighted to bring you my interview with Mark J. P. Wolf, one of the leading figures in video game studies and author of The Medium of the Video Game (2001), The Video Game Theory Reader (2003), and the forthcoming The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond .

Mark is an Associate Professor in the Communication Department at Concordia University Wisconsin. He has a Ph.D. from the Critical Studies Program of the School of Cinema/Television at the University of Southern California. He is also the director and founder of the Multimedia Communication Program at Concordia.

BG: In one of your first books you discuss the video game as an artistic medium struggling to gain acceptance in academia. Much of your work has focused on making that case. What progress have you seen in this regard, and what remains to be done?

MJPW: My first published article on video games was in Film Quarterly, in 1997. From what I heard, there was some discussion on the FQ Board as to whether to publish it or not, since it was about video games primarily, and only connected, by comparisons, to film. The same happened with the book that arose from it in 2001, The Medium of the Video Game ; some people did not feel video games worthy of academic attention. So it was only natural to link video games to film as much as you could, at that time; you probably wouldn't get published without it. A few years later, things were starting to change, and it was Routledge who asked me for a book on video games, since they saw I already had one out from UT-Press. So when Bernard and I did The Video Game Theory Reader , we were able to emphasize video games as a separate object of study, and how video games studies was unique within the larger field of Media Studies, rather than connect it to existing areas. And in the Introduction of that book, we had a brief history of video game studies, and tried to show that people had been writing about them in one way or another for some time already. Now at Routledge's request, Bernard and I are working on The Video Game Theory Reader 2 , and in the Introduction we plan to look forward instead of back, and look at the future challenges that video game theory should face.

BG: As a college teacher, I'm especially interested in your forthcoming book. Why did you decide to write a history of video games text, and what are your goals for the book? Do you have a target audience?

MJPW: Most of what is being written about video games today is about home computer games from the last seven years or so. A disproportionate amount, considering how much history there is. One hardly finds essays about older games and systems, and even less about arcade games. These games are harder to find, it is true, and perhaps they appeal more to my generation than younger ones. You have to be a certain age, I suppose, to know how impressive or Atari 2600 games were when they first appeared, or remember the fun of arcade game playing. But still, a sense of history is what is often lacking, and this becomes a challenge for those writing about games.

Thus we come to my book of video game history coming out in November, which will be the first academic history of video games, and a comprehensive one as well, looking at not only home video games and online games, but arcade games and mainframe games as well, from all periods. And not only in the United States, but also in Asia, Europe, and Australia. The audience for the book was decided by the press, who wanted the book written so that it could be used for undergraduate college classes, and even upper-division high school ones as well; a fairly broad audience. But I don't think we dumbed it down; it still is fairly academic, yet readable. In retrospect I am glad they went for such a broad audience. It will provide a good background to the subject for those who are interested, and put the games people are interested in into a larger context. And hopefully, it will expand people's interest into areas they may not have considered before (for example, there are chapters covering shareware games and experimental games, which people may not have heard much about).

BG: We've seen the emergence of game studies at large universities, but what about smaller schools? Is there a role for the study of interactive media in a liberal arts context? How have you implemented your scholarship into your teaching?

MJPW: We certainly don't have the budget for buying consoles and games, and we're not turning out graduates who are getting jobs in the video game industry. Smaller schools will have to be content reading and writing about games, doing research on the Internet and other places when the opportunity to play games arises, and many students already own many systems and games. And older systems can be bought online, and small departments might even be able to afford older systems and their games. So there are still lots of possibilities for smaller schools. There is a role for video game studies within media studies, and that ground is being laid and developed, and is growing every year. As for me, I've yet to do a course on video games here at Concordia, but I may do a winterim course (three weeks between semesters) on their history in years to come. I'm a bit hesistant to do one without the systems, but I think there are ways around that problem.

BG: Are you concerned about a split between "haves" and "have nots" when it comes to game studies?

MJPW: Not particularly. Each will end up going in a different direction and filling a different niche. Maybe if I had all the latest systems and games, I would not be writing historical accounts of the early games (or maybe I would not be writing much less or not at all, if the games were really compelling!) Differences will always be there no matter what, just as they are for film, but interesting results will probably come out of it.

BG: A lot of people, families especially, can't afford these systems and the latest games. Does our field risk limiting itself and its audience to people in the upper-middle class and above?

MJPW: It's been said that many poor families would rather buy a television than a refrigerator; and I think the same thing may apply to video games to some extent. People spend on entertainment as if it were a necessity of life; and mentally speaking, it may be for many. Do kids really need the latest systems and games? I would argue not; there are other things they could be doing, like reading, studying, creating, and so forth. Some are greatly in need of balance in their lives, and many lack the intellectual curiosity that they should have.

Colleges and Universities to some extent may limit themselves to the middle-class and above depending on tuition and admission, and programs on video games may also be limited, due to the fact that there are limited fields for its students to get jobs in. Limiting factors are present, but they are not always budgetary. Video game studies graduates would have to look for jobs either in the industry or in academia, and those are rather different areas to work in. And both are fairly rigorous, academically or technologically (or both). Not all kids who love to play video games are suited to go into game studies. On the other hand, there are many very knowledgeable people on the Internet, with webpages of video game information, history, and trivia...

BG: Libraries have been the great equalizer when it comes to books and, increasingly, films, but if I publish a dramaturgical analysis of Bioshock, for example, there are a whole lot of people who have no real access to that game.

MJPW: They are hard to get, just as silent films once were. DVDs have changed that, and emulators might also change VG studies, but they aren't always accurate; but later ones might be made more accurate with VG studies in mind. And home computer games have a better chance of continuing to exist and being adapted to new platforms, and many of them have. We can only hope that enough will be preserved...

BG: What's on your radar right now? What should those of us who care about games and culture be paying attention to?

MJPW: Well, at present I'm working on The Video Game Theory Reader 2, and in between that book and "Video Game Explosion" (the history book coming out in November), over this last summer I completed a short book, Of Words and Worlds: The Imagination and Subcreation of J. R. R. Tolkien , for Cumberland Press's "Leaders in Action" book series. While this may seem a departure from video games, it isn't really: that book and all my video game research is all background for a big single-author book that I have been working on, entitled Subcreation: Building Imaginary Worlds , about the construction of imaginary worlds like those of Tolkien, Star Wars, Star Trek, and so on. It's a topic that hasn't been covered in Media Studies, though it keeps edging closer to it. Imaginary worlds are the way most entertainment is going, at least the big franchises, which make up so much of entertainment today. So that's what my next book, after , will be about. Another thing to watch will be the new uses for video games; more online games, games used in education, in the workplace for training, and so on. Areas that will change what we think of as video gaming. Some of these are covered in the last chapter of my history book.

BG: What games have you played and enjoyed lately? Any recommendations?

MJPW: I often get asked this, and I must say, with a family at home, and five classes a semester to teach, and book projects (which include novels as well as academic books), and a mortgage to pay, I don't get much time to play games or money to buy them. I do have Myst 3, 4 and 5 which I would like to get back to, but other than that, not much. As far as recommendations, I would actually recommend some older games from the 1970s or 1980s, games like First Star's , or, which are quite nice and fun, even though they aren't as advanced graphics as newer games. Good gameplay is never too old.

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I'm delighted to bring you my interview with Mark J. P. Wolf, one of the leading figures in video game studies and author of The Medium of the Video Game (2001), The Video Game Theory Reader (2003), and the forthcoming The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond.