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Kickstarter hands Drip crowdfunding platform over to XOXO founders
Drip, Kickstarter's subscriber-based crowdfunding platform designed to compete with Patreon, is shutting down in its current form after launching just one year earlier. It will continue operating for a year before it is transformed into an entirely new project headed up by the team behind XOXO, a festival for independent artists and creators.
How an independent art and technology festival captured my heart
When I told my friends and co-workers I was attending the XOXO Festival in Portland, Oregon, last weekend, I had a difficult time explaining what it was about. The event website describes it as an "experimental festival celebrating independently produced art and technology." But that doesn't quite explain why the event, now four years in the running, struck a chord with me. One of the initial reasons I was drawn to XOXO was that it's about embracing technology not just as a means to make money, but also as a means for creativity and independence. This year, however, XOXO meant much more. The central theme of the festival, more than any other year, was about one thing: community.
On its 20th anniversary, Suck's co-founder says it couldn't exist today
Suck reunion from L to R: Joey Anuff, Ana Marie Cox, Carl Steadman, Heather Havrilesky, Tim Cavanaugh. "A fish, a barrel and a smoking gun." If you recognize that phrase, it's likely you're old enough -- or at least, been on the web long enough -- to remember Suck.com, one of the earliest ad-supported content sites on the internet. Started in 1995, Suck offered daily doses of satirical editorial that skewered all manner of topics -- from the state of the early web to politics and pop culture. It ran its course in 2001, and while there were efforts to at least keep its archives online, even the last remnants of Suck.com disappeared from the web unceremoniously earlier this year. In celebration of Suck's 20th anniversary (which passed a few weeks ago), several of the publication's original crew gathered at the XOXO Festival last weekend to reminisce and reflect on its legacy.
Anita Sarkeesian dissects the hoaxes, campaigns against her
Anita Sarkeesian is in a special position. Not only does she publicly and academically dissect video games from a feminist perspective, but she is able to transfer that magnifying glass onto herself, since her work has made her a well-known figure within the industry. In a talk at XOXO in Portland, Sarkeesian breaks down the violent response to her Tropes vs. Women in Video Games series. As the Joystiq comments section will attest, the Tropes vs. Women videos incite heightened emotions from seemingly long-time gaming fans – emotions including anger, disgust and outrage at any attempt to point out that video games have historically been marketed toward a heterosexual male audience, even while the gaming consumer base has shifted to include more diverse voices. As she discusses, these reactions are even more extreme when directed at Sarkeesian personally, ranging from fake Twitter accounts and fabricated speeches, to death and rape threats that include her home address alongside violent imagery.
