Exploring the intersection of identity and religion through a beloved game
Profiling a trailblazer juggling more than one hat
Digital media, gaming culture, and the conversations in the margins
Looking at representation and the digital space
Culture Writing
Gotta wear 'em all: How Gucci ended up in Pokémon GO
Pokémon fashion has come a long way. The gaming empire now collaborates with luxury brands in clothes you can wear inside and outside of the virtual world.
— NPR
Destiny 2 is daunting to play alone, but content creators are here to help
A number of D2 content creators have built their reputation on teaching the community how to complete intricate puzzles or different raids as solo players. Some have even carried viewers who haven’t been able to join a fireteam.
— Polygon
The duality of being Black in gaming spaces
As the world still looks on with all manner of spectacle curiosity and frequent indifference, it is easy to forget the “two-ness” that still follows Black people in spaces where the measuring hasn’t stopped.
— WIRED
Video games are popular as ever. Why aren’t more Black writers hired to cover them?
Summer 2020 saw an influx of initiatives and public conversations around racial justice following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. In the video games, developers, publishers, and journalists showed support on social media. While the momentum was there to address the lack of Black writers and video game creators at the structural level, efforts have since waned.
— Poynter
Guest Appearances
The world's biggest video game is from North Carolina
Fortnite was an unlikely hit from an unlikely place: North Carolina-based Epic Games. Innovative game design and smart leveraging of social media and live streaming catapulted it into becoming one of the world's biggest video games. And today, Fortnite is a bona fide cultural phenomenon. But can the memes and viral dance moves go on forever?
— WUNC, The Broadside
“Raleigh is my hometown. While I wasn’t born here, I have lived in the area since 2002,” Melamed said over email. “It’s the perfect place for an esports organization like XP League.”
— INDY Week
Pocket Monsters Red Version and Green Version first hit shelves in Japan in 1996 on the Nintendo Gameboy. Ever since 8-bit versions of Pokémon like Pikachu and Charizard graced those small green screens, the franchise has captivated generations of collectors, gamers and anime consumers.
— USA Today
Understanding how a phenomenon like Gamergate transpired starts by realizing some of the inherent inequities in video game culture and working toward dismantling them to usher in a better future for players and developers alike.
— Media Diversity Institute