Hello bits and bytes — today I’m going to chat with you about existential crisis. I love the internet. I love gadgets. I love science and new things and (mostly) I love the tech sector. We’re living in a fast-paced science fiction novel that we couldn’t have dreamed up even ten years ago. Things are changing so fast that we can almost hear the boom-crack of our movements breaking the sound barrier; there is so much noise.
And that’s what I love about it. It wasn’t until I worked in the tech sector that I began to take a certain pleasure at existing on the bleeding edge, but I have since. Being at the front of the pack means playing with fun new toys as soon as they come out; it means being a decider on what our new super powers are used for; but most importantly (at least to me), it means never being left behind. And left behind is something I often was as a nerdy kid in middle school. It sticks with you.
Leopard cubs, a walrus cam, and Amanda Seyfried’s dog who is also her best friend; spoilers from the Supreme Court care of the Notorious Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a love letter for all queermos care of New Orleans’ Mayor, and did I mention the gay sandwich tour.
Sunday Funday’s Gonna Grab a Gay Sandwich with the Notorious RBG
Donald Duck’s Playground was, then, not really one game so much as it was lots of tiny games absorbing the warm embrace of a larger umbrella game. Just watching screen grabs of Donald sorting luggage at McDuck Airlines or failing to catch a flying watermelon at The Produce Market makes my heart race. I loved games where you had to work different jobs to obtain small amounts of money which you could then gather together and put towards building something glorious for your friends to enjoy. That’s basically Autostraddle’s Business Plan, which means Donald Duck Playground is Autostraddle’s root.
Next week I’m giving a seminar in San Francisco on sex and video games, at the Center for Sex and Culture and in conjunction with San Francisco Sex Information. (Tickets here, Facebook event here.) Lately I’ve been thinking about what I heard that night, “you shouldn’t play video games.” Video games have been a formative part of me since I was wee. I once wrote a post on tumblr about being trans and loving video games that got circulated so much I was interviewed half a dozen times and invited to as many conferences to speak about my experiences. I love games and I’ve had a good experience at industry events, for whatever that anecdotal evidence is worth.
There is a lot of real harassment and hate and vitriol. Mountains, literal mountains (I don’t know how words make literal mountains but bear with me here) have been written about it, though. Rather than preaching to any number of choirs, I want to talk about a bunch of video games and developers that do things right.
Sexy games, go time now activate NOW!
Check Out These Rad Sexy Video Games and Come to a Sex & Video Games Seminar!
Welcome, naughty grannies! You’ve found your home, sarcastic crafters! Pick up a needle and join me in giving 80% of the people on my Christmas list something cross-stitched (and sassy) this year.
We love with the weight of our skin colors between us and our different physical abilities. We love amidst peaceful demonstrations and wars with bodies that have been and seem to always be abused and marginalized. We love each other across bulletproof glass and from different ends of the privilege spectrum. We love as descendants of enslaved peoples and the offspring of slave owners. We love without always having a shared language to bring our very different worlds together.