Patrick: Dess, I have a question from Rebecca, and it’s a very good question. She wants to know what kind of ‘game-making’ you did in your childhood – like making videogames on paper, or acting them out; that sort of thing.

Dessgeega: hella paper dolls. i used to draw characters and cut them out – when i was really little i would have my mother cut them out for me – and design little 2d games with them. or i’d grab a videogame magazine and cut out the illustrations of game characters and move them around and tell a story.

Patrick: That’s awesome.

Dessgeega: on the gamer’s quarter a while ago we had a thread where we all posted the improbable ‘levels’ we drew as children.

invariably they were covered in spikes.

Patrick: You’ve mentioned your mother twice, and both times she sounds pretty nice. Was she?

Dessgeega: she still is. she’s crazy, and i’m going to go crazy like her as she went crazy like her mother before her. but she’s the strongest woman i know. the women in my mother’s line are all pretty crazy, but we’re also pretty unstoppable.

Patrick: If I can just bitch with you for a moment: You said towards the beginning of this interview that you feel like an outsider, and so you expect to be hated. I’m not keen on reinforcing a negative outlook, but it seems to me that your expectation is supported by an awful lot of precedents.

I’m thinking of guys like Jonathan Blow and Keita Takahashi, who strike me as pretty honest, reasonable and affable guys. But God help them, because they have thoughts and opinions, and occasionally they make criticisms, or express some dissatisfaction. And by cracky, don’t gamers hate them for it! And don’t games journalists encourage that hatred! Some of the bile that gets spat out – it’s just extraordinary.

Dessgeega: the ‘culture’ that surrounds videogames is very exclusive. this group of twenty-something-year-old manboys is holding videogames hostage; somehow games are their exclusive domain, and how they carry on when they’re afraid someone is going to “take their games away from them.”

Patrick: Yes – I specifically used the word ‘gamers’, which is not a term I apply to myself, or anyone I respect.

Dessgeega: yeah, i think ‘gamer’ is an unfortunate word.

Patrick: Fair enough when you’re an adolescent and you need an identity: “I’m a goth.” “I’m a gamer.” “I’m a punk.” Okay, sure. But you grow out of that.

Dessgeega: yes, and this is an identity that’s based around the consumption of a product.

Patrick: Isn’t fanboyism extraordinary, that way. “I give my money to this company!” “Oh yeah? Well I give my money to this company!” This is not a new observation, but really, how did things get this way?

We’re getting towards the end of the interview, so unleash the snobbery, Dess.

Dessgeega: why haven’t you done a hilarity comic about someone who identifies himself as a ‘pretzeller’ and spends all his time and money talking about the purchasing and consumption of pretzels?

Patrick: Well dang, I just might!

Dessgeega: he could talk snidely about those simpletons who eat the diminutive, crunchy pretzels that come in plastic bags.

they don’t appreciate the pretzel.

Patrick: Might be a bit obvious. Should be okay if I make him fat and funny-looking, though.

Dessgeega: that’s all the characters in your comics. just make sure you draw ridiculous faces on him.

my slut likes your comics, by the way.

Patrick: Thanks, Dess’ slut!

Anyway – my point was that your games are very personal, which is why they work, but sadly there’s a culture out there that gets resentful when game creators have personalities.

Dessgeega: yes. i think as more and more avenues for people outside the games industry to make games arise, though, there will be more and more personal stories being told in games.

Patrick: That segues rather neatly into what will have to be my final question, which is: Someone reading this interview wants to make games. What should they do, Dess?

Dessgeega: make games. make games, using anything you can get your hands on. while i was at school, a prospective student who was just starting college – the school was a graduate program, though i got in on the strength of my portfolio despite not having finished college – posted on the school forum asking what she should study if she wanted to apply to the game design program eventually.

my classmates – well, mostly the alumni who continued to hang out on the school forums just because it was a place they could lord over everyone – said, god, i don’t even remember. some dumb bullshit. i said, download a copy of knytt stories and start designing levels. make levels. learn how to do it.

Patrick: This seems like good advice!

Dessgeega: i think someone who wants to make games will do so with any tools she can get her hands on. it’s just fortunate that we’re at a time when more and more tools are becoming available.

Patrick: Anna Anthropy, that is the end of the interview. Thank you so much!

Dessgeega: thank you, patrick alexander.