is the fact that Poppy is the only woman of color in a higher-up position, and that the industry at large is not very welcoming for women. I wanted to get your thoughts on how the show tackles industry sexism.Poppy is an interesting caricature because she does have a leadership position and also is susceptible to being toxic, though not as badly as Ian is. It’s an ongoing struggle that a lot of women in leadership in games have to deal with.
The community manager [Caitlin McGee] was interesting because she felt naïve, but I don’t think that was the case—I think it’s her shield for dealing with gamers, a nice way to protect yourself from all of the toxicity that can come from the player base. In my experience, community managers have to find a way to not succumb to the salt themselves. I wouldn’t say they’re all that chirpy or anything, but they love what they do, and they love interacting with players, even on the shitty days.
portrays a young streamer and reviewer named Pootie Shoe [Elisha Henig], who’s supposed to be a direct reference to PewDiePie, right?I’m wondering if you think the way the show engages with such streamers is accurate or a little exaggerated. I think it’s pretty accurate. You see YouTube videos all the time of famous content creators or streamers saying, “Why I’m not going to play X, Y and Z anymore.” It’s always either beef with the developer or some huge gameplay changes that the streamers disagreed with. It’s a constant thing, and even within a game studio, I think there’s a lot of stress that happens if a huge content creator or a streamer decides to bounce to another game and leave.