i don’t get Deep on episodes very often, but i figure this episode is a good one to do that!!
i try not to be Too Sentimental or anything that might verge on Fanboy (or fangirl or fannonbinary) but I believe humans have to find something they think is Important. could be anything: making art, modding stock cars, innovating in science, exploring uncharted territory. i think committing yourself to something you believe is Important is the way humanity improves, and something we’re hard wired to do. some days, I think we owe it to each other.
long ago (before i was ever involved with production in any form) i decided the kinds of conversations Insert Credit has, as goofy or frivolous as they can sometimes be, are Important, and getting to personally edit Azure’s exploration of What The Hell Is Wrong With Video Games solidified that for me. when i first heard that I knew it was something everyone should hear, and I spent my time editing that portion of the show in almost a flow state. i think those scant few minutes, which really were just crystallizing thoughts probably all of us have had in some form, gave me a new vision for what games are and could be and should be. if i died today, I would at least be able to say I had a part in presenting that segment to the world.
beyond that, I have been chatting with Jaffe and both of us are just so so so pleased with how this all turned out. brandon said on Twitter that it serves as a retrospective while still somehow feeling like a normal episode, and I want to give a big portion of credit there to Jaffe for his work crafting questions here and every week. maybe people don’t know this but when Insert Credit Podcast started, there weren’t a ton of structured podcasts. most video game podcasts especially were just “so what did you guys play this week” and having a rigid format was one of the most exciting things in that space. so thank you to my good friend Alex Jaffe and the Insert Credit panel for creating something that felt alive in a world that did not.
thank you to Brandon and Frank and tim and Patrick and Vince and Azure and Chris and Heather Anne Campbell and Ash Parrish and Mat Kumar and everyone who has played a note in this symphony, be it writing their guts out or laughing at buzzer cutoff or posting games you own with the first letter same as the last letter of the last game posted.
i love insert credit, and i love all of you!!