Bill Barrett, the voice actor for Dan Carlin.

I talked yesterday to Bill Barrett, the same awesome voice actor who does the liners for Dan Carlin’s podcasts. I was expecting his fees to be far beyond what I could afford, but it’s actually not bad at all. So, now all the pieces are in place–just need to start thinking about how I want to go about the podcast.

My purpose here is to create a rather excellent podcast that will be entertaining, informative, and inspiring. To that end, I’ve started re-reading my favorite books and articles on the subject, including my all-time favorite: Hackers by Steven Levy. If you haven’t read this book, go ahead and order it now–I haven’t read anything nearly as good on the topic. Levy does a superb job making his history read like a great novel without skimping on the details. It’s the kind of book that’s much more than just a good read, though–you almost can’t resist doing some coding or messing around with some hardware after you put it down. He also does a great job sketching the personalities involved. I’d love to capture some of that style and energy in podcast form.

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Black main characters are becoming more common in games, but are they doing much to combat racism?

Lately, I’ve been studying up on the topic of racism, specifically, what it is and what can be done to prevent or at least reduce it. SCSU offers a number of CARE workshops and programs for faculty and students addressing the topic, and the city of Saint Cloud offers the Create CommUNITY “Conversation on Race,” which I plan to attend on Tuesday. What has struck me about all these events is a particular definition of racism–specifically, that “racism” isn’t just a negative attitude or prejudice against a race. Instead, it’s presented as a formula: Racism = Prejudice + Power. Some of the more provocative statements I’ve heard coming from the speakers at these workshops is that black people can’t be racist, since they don’t have the institutional power to discriminate against an entire group. Another claim that makes some people bristle is that “everyone is racially prejudiced,” that it just comes naturally to us and can’t be avoided. Even if you are a white person who is passionate about being anti-racist, you are racist despite yourself, since the system will discriminate in your favor no matter what you try to do. See Diane Sawyer’s True Colors on YouTube for a vivid look at what this kind of racism is all about.

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Lord of the Red Dragon

Tomorrow I’ll be interviewing the great Seth Robinson, creator of Legend of the Red Dragon (LORD). There’s a good chance you’ve played this game if you were active on the BBS scene back in the 1990s. It was a unique time in the history of videogames, just when “online gaming” was becoming feasible for ordinary computer gamers rather than just college students and professionals. Back then, many people had to pay huge long distance costs in addition to whatever fees the BBS levied. In the meantime, the sysop didn’t want you on for long, since (assuming it was a popular BBS), you’d be clogging up a line and preventing other users from logging in. Games like LORD, which were limited to a few minutes of activity per day, were perfect for the time.

If there’s a question you’d like me to ask Seth, post it below or on Facebook/Twitter/G+.