INFLUENCE

• 59 Cities By Diana: Making Absurd Video Game Neighborhoods Became Her Fulltime Job

  Like many of us, the urban planning strategy game "SimCity" was an obsession for Diana Regan growing up. When she published YouTube videos about a modern incarnation -- "Cities: Skylines" and its sequel -- she grew a loyal audience around the games. But she was more interested in using these sims for social commentary about urban design, capitalism, politics, and absurdist online culture. One problem: Her audience HATED it. That is until one of her TikToks about corporate cities went viral and inspired her to return to YouTube to expand the work into robust video essays. These days, Diana works full time as a video creator, covering a wide range of topics and painting with all sorts of surrealist brushes: video games, travel videos, memes, archival footage, and AI-generated voices of historical figures saying the darndest things. Diana sits down with Matt to discuss her singular creative style and how she overcame the limitations of social video platforms that only reward you for doing the same things over and over. Subscribe to Cities By Diana: https://www.youtube.com/@CitiesByDiana https://www.instagram.com/citiesbydiana/ https://www.tiktok.com/@citiesbydiana Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 58 Luke Plunkett: Rebuilding Online Journalism, One Subscriber at a Time

  Greetings! I am couch/bed-ridden as my entire family recovers from Covid-19 (the BEST Covid!) While I waste away, I think you'll enjoy this episode from my other podcast. - Original Show Notes | August 15, 2025 - https://haveenteredthechat.com/episodes/215-luke-plunkett-games-journalism-aftermath If you've read a video game article on the Internet in the last two decades, chances are it was written by Luke Plunkett. His tenure at Kotaku spanned 17 years, and all the highs and lows of the digital media rollercoaster. When the bottom eventually fell out, he and other games media refugees co-founded Aftermath, a worker-owned video game news and commentary site, whose business model eschews advertising, SEO, and clickbait in favor of — get this — reader subscriptions! Luke joins us to discuss the evolution of games media, getting paid $10 to post pictures of cake on Kotaku in 2006, living on the opposite side of the world from his co-workers, and why we are entering a new and (hopefully) more sustainable era for online journalism. Connect with Luke: https://www.lukeplunkett.com/ https://aftermath.site/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 57 You Might Need Govt ID to Use Social Media Soon. New Laws Explained by a Privacy Attorney | Laura Riposo VanDruff

  Depending on what state or country you live in, logging into Instagram, Reddit, or (dare we say) Corn Hub might prompt you to submit a government ID to proceed. This fresh privacy nightmare is thanks to a variety of "online safety" laws going into effect, or being upheld by courts. They are aimed at protecting minors from accessing harmful content online -- a laudable goal. But requiring all users to submit their face and address to tech companies comes with a host of privacy issues and pressures on free speech. To explain what's going on, who might be affected, and what happens next, Matt sits down with Laura Riposo VanDruff, a partner at the law firm Kelley Drye & Warren who has spent much of her career focused on tech, privacy, cybersecurity, and AI litigation, and a decade of work at the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, which is often the de facto government body that regulates these kinds of digital issues. Connect with Laura and her work: https://www.kelleydrye.com/people/laura-riposo-vandruff https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-riposo-vandruff-1598b921/ Shout out to our Producer Tier Patreon supporters! BowieBarks Dominick Kerr Evan Jolene Jula Robert Tortorelli Sam William News items discussed in this episode: https://www.npr.org/2025/08/14/nx-s1-5482925/scotus-netchoice https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/08/no-uks-online-safety-act-doesnt-make-children-safer-online This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts: 🍎 https://apple.co/44FeACS 🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN ⏯ https://amzn.to/3wCdueF Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548 Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! [email protected] (NOICE) Follow me: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social 🧵 https://www.threads.net/@matt_silverman 📸 https://www.instagram.com/matt_silverman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 56 Greg Miller Decided to Become a Video Game Journalist at Age 9

  Greg Miller fell in love with Ghostbusters, Superman, and video games — as we all did — at a young age. But when he realized you could make money writing about his favorite things, he declared at age 9, in no uncertain terms, he would become a games journalist. That ambition became a reality during his tenure at IGN, which began with written coverage, and ended with a lot of on-camera work as online video matured. As the ground got shakier under corporate media, a chance meeting with employees at Patreon illuminated a new way forward: viewer-funded, independent games coverage. Greg and his colleagues took a chance on Kinda Funny, and the fan response was overwhelming. The KF crew just celebrated their 10 year anniversary, and so much has changed since the early days of streamer-first, podcast-first entertainment coverage. Greg joins Matt to discuss his fascinating career, the evolution of modern games coverage, the big risks of launching an independent media company, how parenthood has changed his perspective on work, and why he's not afraid to fight for justice in the face of fascism. This show is made possible by listener support: https://www.patreon.com/influencepod Listen & subscribe wherever you get podcasts: 🍎 https://apple.co/44FeACS 🟢 https://spoti.fi/3UGQjrN ⏯ https://amzn.to/3wCdueF Join our Discord community! https://discord.gg/influencepod Call the show and leave a message: (347)-871-6548 Email me with guest & trivia suggestions! [email protected] (NOICE) Follow me: 🦋 https://bsky.app/profile/mattsilverman.bsky.social 🧵 https://www.threads.net/@matt_silverman 📸 https://www.instagram.com/matt_silverman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• 55 Banks Are Deciding What Video Games You're Allowed to Buy, and It's Not the First Time (w/ games journalist Ana Valens)

  Hey friends! I'm bringing an important conversation over from my other feed, as this story has huge ramifications for protected speech, the LGBTQ+ community, and how powerful companies can change what's allowed on the Internet. While certainly alarming, this conversation (and what has transpired since) has made me hopeful. - Original Show Notes from July 25, 2025 - Hundreds of NSFW games were removed from Steam last week after Valve quietly changed some policies around adult content. But journalists realized it was actually the payment processors — Visa and Mastercard — who refused to complete transactions around certain kinds of porn. Digging deeper, it was revealed that a small Australian conservative activism group was taking a victory lap around Steam's porn purge, all in the name of "protecting children" from "harmful content." And they are targeting Itch.io next, which has already de-indexed many adult games. So how did a tiny group of pearl-clutchers convince two multi-national banking conglomerates to censor the world's largest video game marketplace? Games journalist Ana Valens attempted to answer this with two reported articles on Vice's gaming site Waypoint. But those articles were taken down by Vice's corporate owners, prompting Ana (and many of her colleagues) to immediately quit. This week, Ana joins Matt to discuss this legally and ethically complex issue, why banks can now decide what art we're allowed to see on the Internet, the pressing threat for the LGBTQ+ community, and what we can (actually) do about it. If this conversation inspired you to take action, please discuss it in our Discord, check out the links below, and follow Ana's work: Both archived articles: https://archive.ph/USxe6 + https://archive.ph/x5cGQ https://yellat.money/ Follow Ana on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/acvalens.net Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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