The trend of worker-owned journalism has been picking up steam in the last few years with outlets like Defector, Aftermath, and Hellgate. It directly coincides with the massive layoffs that have been occurring in traditional media as “legacy” media outlets are bought by venture capitalist firms — which end up controlling coverage to maximize profits. And journalism is many important things, but a lucrative for-profit endeavor it is not. With so much of media forced to adhere to SEO-based, ad-driven structures that prioritize maintaining access to power and/or celebrity to thrive, we decided to go in the complete opposite direction. Right now we’re running our one-year anniversary pledge drive in the hopes that we can continue to do this work for years to come. (And maybe even pay ourselves a living wage while we do it).

I think geek culture, and gaming culture specifically, is a microcosm of the larger state of the world. The current era of anti-DEI, “anti-woke”, pro-fascist culture wars got brought to the mainstream through gamergate. Video games, tabletop, and other hobbyist spaces have been a breeding ground for fascist ideology, while also being the most fertile spaces for antifascist imagining and thinking. Just look at sci-fi writers like Ursula K LeGuin and Octavia Butler’s work. Tabletop games, in many ways, are picking up that mantle.

I think Indie TTRPGs, though there’s a vast chasm of “what is indie”, generally try to provide a more specific perspective. Rather than just offering you a wide world to play in like a traditional D&D set up, they offer a pointed lens on the worlds they’re presenting and the mechanics the offer to engage with those worlds.

Contracts. Contracts, contracts, contracts. So much of this industry is propped up through handshake agreements and underpaid, passionate workers who just want to make things. Making sure that you have contracts for all of your work, even between friends but especially with a corporation, and that the terms of those contracts are something you actually understand and agree to is huge. Find collectives like the Tabletop Game Designers Association who have institutional knowledge sharing programs so you don’t accidentally undercut yourself (and your fellow workers) by taking a bad deal.

I think indie creators are at the forefront of the most interesting work in games, and often the larger publishers source their labor from them. I think we’ll see large corporate publishers buying the rights to (relatively) smaller games and giving them wider distribution. Again, to cite my previous answer, get a lawyer to look at any contracts you might be signing with them.

I think using games as a method to teach organizing is something that has been cropping up a bit more, and it’s very exciting to see. At their base, organizing a consistent tabletop group and organizing political action have very similar processes. You have to manage logistics of hosting, food, potentially childcare, and other elements that life throws your way. If you get together to do that, and then the game you’re playing leans into that and teaches you how to navigate mutual aid settings or contacting local politicians or other local community efforts, I think that would be a really powerful tool.

I’m excited to see games as texts and games as art continue to develop. I feel like I consistently see games that are doing incredibly interesting things — like say Yazeba’s Bed & Breakfast and Triangle Agency — as books themselves, that also provide interesting gameplay. As artists get the platforms, technical ability, and resources to create art through their games, the medium will able to provide in both text and play will continue to evoke more intentional experiences — be those emotionally profound or deeply silly.