ETAO PODCAST, EPISODE 144.
Jessica Gonzalez stops by to talk about the labor of making games—and specifically, the vitally important, structurally maligned discipline of Quality Assurance—in the context of her work with ABetterABK, Game Workers Unite, and CODE-CWA. Building on our previous conversation with Emma Kinema here on the show, we discuss where game development fits into broader conversations about making work (and everything else) more democratic.
The Weekly Standup Podcast is on Twitter, and the show itself is on Twitch and YouTube.
For Jessica’s activist work and sundry social media mabobs, check out her Linktree.
You can also follow Jessica on Twitter, along with ABetterABK, GWA, and CODE-CWA.
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• For those unfamiliar with Grandma’s Boy.
• When we talk about in-fighting on the left, we have to acknowledge that racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism all occur in leftist spaces, and that such spaces need a way of dealing with them. The issue comes when we focus more on dunking than on resolving the issue at hand—and Twitter is particularly good at making the former feel like the latter.
• Here’s Fight Like Hell.
• Here’s the report Drew was referring to about Nintendo, though as Jessica pointed out, the issue of contractors being treated abysmally is by no means unique to Nintendo of America.
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“All The People Say (Season 5)” by Carpe Demon.
“Get Thee Behind Me” and “Union Maid” from Talking Union by The Almanac Singers.
“Boom Went the Boom” (lyrics by Joe Glazer, to the melody of “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay”) performed by Joe Glazer and Bill Friedland, from Songs of the Wobblies.
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Logo by Aaron Perry-Zucker, using Icons by by Llisole, Dávid Gladiš, Atif Arshad, Daniel Nochta, Mike Rowe, Jakub Čaja, Raji Purcell and IconsGhost from the Noun Project.
Everybody's Talking at Once 