I’ve committed to trying to do a ‘Monday digest’ here at this site, not just rounding up my own work from the past week, but pointing to other articles and new games I like. Of course, it’s now Wednesday, so, uh. How do you think that plan is going so far?

I was in Cologne last week for GDC Europe and a little bit of Gamescom, so I’m a bit behind, but before I get to that, I want to comment on something that’s been upsetting the hell out of me lately.

As you know, Thought Catalog is the publisher of my first ebook, Breathing Machine. I’d never done a book before, and when they approached me and offered what was to me a pretty decent advance to give it a shot, as a writer I can’t really turn down that kind of thing.

I’ve had a relationship with the site since the very beginning, when it was just a small clutch of experimental writers in New York doing stuff, tangentially associated with the ‘alt lit’ scene there. The author Tao Lin introduced me to everyone there and I got paid pretty well to do weird personal articles week after week. Every so often I even did things I was proud of — one of my pieces, called “Five Emotions Invented by the Internet,” was reprinted in the Boston Globe newspaper and received an elegant gif treatment from Creators Project.

After that, though, the site pretty quickly changed shape, publishing just about whatever from young writers they didn’t pay. I stopped writing there around the time the quality bar slumped, but I still liked the people I used to work with, so when they asked me to do a book I was stoked.

Lately things have gone to total shit, though — swathes of formless emo screeds or misguided opinions from privileged young people are annoying, but it gets worse: TC published transphobic garbage by Gavin McInnes, racist shit about Ferguson from some nobody (not linking to any of it obvs), and refuses to apologize for or address its policy. I’ve tried emailing to complain about it and haven’t gotten any more satisfactory a resolution than anyone else. Here, Jezebel explains what’s been going on and says that some 53 writers so far have asked to have their articles removed from the site.

I condemn the company’s stance and I have zero tolerance for racism, transphobia or other hate speech.

This really sucks, because everyone has been so kind about Breathing Machine (Annalisa Moretti did this incredibly touching review of it just lately). And I really, really want people to be able to enjoy it without giving any of their money to Thought Catalog. Apparently at least one other person felt the same way, because I’ve been informed someone has uploaded a torrent of Breathing Machine to Pirate Bay — I don’t know who did it and, like, I certainly do not condone content piracy, but there isn’t really anything I can do about it if you choose to download it, right?

Anyway. Wanting to get myself out from under this Thought Catalog stuff is one big reason I’ve started self-publishing my ebooks and stories, and will do so from now on. If you want to support my work, you can buy my new, second book Clipping Through: One Mad Week in Video Games, via Gumroad for $5 or pay what you want; that money goes directly to me, with a portion to the cover artist, Liz Ryerson. Here is a kind review someone has written of Clipping Through, and here is another one.

ANYWAY.

I interviewed Bryan Lee O’Malley about his new book, SECONDS, and attempted to psychoanalyze him.

I wrote a story about my month playing a live watergun assassin game. For the audio-inclined, I also recorded a dramatic reading.

Tameem Antoniades explains that Ninja Theory has been through a lot behind the scenes of the publisher-led AAA machine. Here’s his idea for a way forward for independent studios who make high-end games.

The incredibly charming Armin Ibrisagic talks about the origins of Goat Simulator, and how a goat model bought on discount from the internet led to people literally throwing cash at him.

I interviewed Bob Loya about Activision’s reboot of the Sierra label, and what’s ahead.

There are new Lo-Fi Let’s Plays at Rock Paper Shotgun: The beautiful, mysterious Crimson Crown, and the bizarre, radical late-80s Dream Zone.

If you’ve been paying attention to the internet lately it might be a good time to remind you I wrote a guide on some do’s and don’ts for how to support women who are experiencing harassment online. Please remember to think of how your method of attention to an issue actually helps the person involved, and remember to focus on individuals you admire and the work they’ve done, not the fact of their victimhood.

Hopefully next week’s Monday Digest will actually be on Monday and I’ll have a proper opportunity to share more games and things with you.