James Murff is creating
Gaming Criticism
Videogame vivisection
22
$121
Milestone Goals
Increase article output
I will be able to spend more time on Simplikation and less time doing freelance work. This translates to a single feature (1k+ words) every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
Full-time work
At this level, I can spend all of my time on Simplikation. This means at least one article and a twitch stream every day
About
I'm a gaming journalist in my mid-20s. I enjoy literary critique, petting my cat, playing games, knitting, and writing sci-fi stories. I'm very disappointed that I'm not a sentient AI.
Location
Belltown, Seattle, WA, USA
Top PatronsSee all 22
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Games are art, and that's what Simplikation is about.
Simplikation aims to talk about games within a greater cultural context. It's a site aimed at provoking genuine thought on games, whether that thought means examining the prejudices that are inherent to our medium or connecting game elements to cultural, emotion, and history.
Essays
Simplikation's primary focus is on essays that dissect or detail elements of games and gaming culture. These essays are short (relatively), sweet, and occasionally quite fiery. For example, you may read about:
Autopsies
The eventual goal of Simplikation is to be a repository of "autopsy" articles; formal analyses of the visual language, narrative structure, and mechanical interconnections of games. These articles are many thousands of words long - essentially novels on a particular game - and will be accompanied by images, videos, footnotes, and many other academic accouterments. However, the point is not to speak endlessly and needlessly about a game, or even make a concrete value judgement as in a review; rather, the goal is to break games down to their core so as to understand gaming as a medium, as well as our own culture, on a more fundamental level.
Will you be running ads?
No. Simplikation will not run ads, and will not accept venture capital. Each writer will support themselves, unless the Patreon grows to a point where I can pay my writers out of pocket. This is purely a passion project; I have no wish to appeal to a crowd or to be beholden to owners.
I've dealt with enough editors that need to fulfill a quota of readers in order to justify ads and content. I'm ready to tuck myself away in a corner of the internet and write gaming philosophy and analysis until my hands fall off. I'm hoping that you want to see the fruits of that labor.
Will you do traditional reviews?
Not on Simplikation.
What about comments?
Simplikation will have a comments section on every article, but I want to avoid the classic problem with game site comments. They will be heavily moderated to ensure they are a safe place to discuss ideas presented in the article. In other words, nobody will be permitted to make another person feel unsafe on my site; no bigotry, no trying to push people's buttons, nothing. The most you will be able to get away with is calling somebody a moron.
What do I get for supporting you?
The satisfaction of supporting somebody who wants to whisper in your ear about all the weird nonsense in the gaming world. Oh, and some Patreon-exclusive content, such as a Twine game about disassociation.
Simplikation aims to talk about games within a greater cultural context. It's a site aimed at provoking genuine thought on games, whether that thought means examining the prejudices that are inherent to our medium or connecting game elements to cultural, emotion, and history.
Essays
Simplikation's primary focus is on essays that dissect or detail elements of games and gaming culture. These essays are short (relatively), sweet, and occasionally quite fiery. For example, you may read about:
- How Destiny never addresses its themes of transhumanism and latent fascism
- The difference between psychological horror and "lizard brain" horror
- What the slang term "sealioning" means
- The parallels between Ecco's intro and childhood divorce
Autopsies
The eventual goal of Simplikation is to be a repository of "autopsy" articles; formal analyses of the visual language, narrative structure, and mechanical interconnections of games. These articles are many thousands of words long - essentially novels on a particular game - and will be accompanied by images, videos, footnotes, and many other academic accouterments. However, the point is not to speak endlessly and needlessly about a game, or even make a concrete value judgement as in a review; rather, the goal is to break games down to their core so as to understand gaming as a medium, as well as our own culture, on a more fundamental level.
Will you be running ads?
No. Simplikation will not run ads, and will not accept venture capital. Each writer will support themselves, unless the Patreon grows to a point where I can pay my writers out of pocket. This is purely a passion project; I have no wish to appeal to a crowd or to be beholden to owners.
I've dealt with enough editors that need to fulfill a quota of readers in order to justify ads and content. I'm ready to tuck myself away in a corner of the internet and write gaming philosophy and analysis until my hands fall off. I'm hoping that you want to see the fruits of that labor.
Will you do traditional reviews?
Not on Simplikation.
What about comments?
Simplikation will have a comments section on every article, but I want to avoid the classic problem with game site comments. They will be heavily moderated to ensure they are a safe place to discuss ideas presented in the article. In other words, nobody will be permitted to make another person feel unsafe on my site; no bigotry, no trying to push people's buttons, nothing. The most you will be able to get away with is calling somebody a moron.
What do I get for supporting you?
The satisfaction of supporting somebody who wants to whisper in your ear about all the weird nonsense in the gaming world. Oh, and some Patreon-exclusive content, such as a Twine game about disassociation.