Hi! My name is Courtney Stanton; welcome to my personal blog.  I make videogames, I run a local networking group as well as a conference for game developers, I like pretty rooms, I read a lot, and sometimes I ride my bike around Boston for fun.

Some questions I get asked often, in no particular order:

Q: “How do I get in touch with you?”

A: You can email me any ol’ time via courtney at superopinionated dot com

Q: “How do I get a job in the videogame industry?”

A: I am the last person you should be asking for advice about this, because from what I can tell, I did it all backwards. (I developed a skill set and then realized it applied to the game industry and went from there…typically I guess people start out really wanting to be in the industry and then they figure out what job(s) they can get paid for.) My spouse actually wrote a series of articles about this topic, you’d probably be better served by reading those.

Q: “What brand of hair dye do you use to get it that shade of pink?”

A: My jam these days is Ion Color Brilliance Brights. It’s sold at Sally Beauty, it’s $5 a tube, and it fades less than anything else I’ve ever used (and yes, I’ve used Special Effects). If you like bright colors and also like being able to shampoo your hair regularly, it’s pretty great.

Q: “Where did you get your business cards?”

A: My business cards were designed by E of Royal Graphics. We did a couple rounds of designs/tweaks, and he handled the print job order as well. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent; I highly recommend him.

Q: “How come when I ask you for information and education about feminism/racism/kyriarchy/progressive issues/etc you aren’t always a font of explanations and kindness?”

A: Because it’s not my job or hobby to teach you about this stuff. Google it. Read lots of opinions. Then form your own.

Q: “Can I buy you a beer?”

A: Tentatively yes, unless you creep me out in person.

Press Coverage and Mentions

There are times when I get quoted, cited, or interviewed. Here are some of those times! (Send me an email if you’d like a quote or interview. All blog content is fair game already, please just correctly attribute it.)

 

 

 

Threat Level
December 12, 2011
Beyond the Rhetoric: The Complicated, Brief Life of Occupy Boston

“I always really liked that it was there,” Stanton said, as we sat in South Station, a major Boston train and bus commuting hub across the street from the Occupy. “I feel really strongly about people being able to peacefully organize and peacefully protest. [The Occupy] made visible especially a lot of problems that are already in Boston. It’s a space where that’s allowed to exist. I’m really sad to see it go away, because now it dismantles all of these individuals who together represent a systemic problem and it makes easy to dismiss them again as just individuals with problems.”

Epicenter
October 25, 2011
Google Kills Its Other Plus, and How to Bring It Back

Courtney Stanton, a Boston-based product manager, called Google Reader “the best social network created so far” in a passionate rant on her blog.

 

 

 

 

TummelVision 60
April 8, 2011
Courtney Stanton on empathy, rape culture, and how to tummel haters

This week on TummelVision, the gang is joined by Courtney Stanton (@kirbybits), who relates her experiences contending with trolls and vitriol on the subject of rape culture in gaming.

 

This Week in Video Game Criticism
March 17, 2011
GDC Reflections And Gender In Games

Courtney Stanton of the Here Is A Thing blog wrote during GDC (how does anyone do it?) this piece full of brutal honesty and self-reflection that, frankly, has been really helpful to me in understanding some of what Jane McGonigal has been talking about lately.

This Week in Video Game Criticism
March 3, 2011
From Journalistic Drama To Your Brain On Violence

Courtney Stanton at her blog Here’s a Thing, decides to answer the question designers keep asking, ‘what women want in games,’ with the novel idea of asking them.

The Boston Phonenix (print and online editions)
March 7, 2011
Gaming, rape culture, and how I stopped reading Penny Arcade

One of the game-industry professionals that PAX staffers approached to appear on a panel was Courtney Stanton, a project manager for Boston-based game developer DINO Interactive, a rape survivor, feminist, and advocate for marginalized groups in the game industry. She said no.

 

Jezebel.com
February 22, 2011
A Graphical Analysis Of Lady-Hating Online Trolls

This post originally appeared on my blog. Republished with permission.

 

 

 

Borderhouseblog.com
January 25, 2011
Why I’m Not Speaking at PAX East 2011

This post originally appeared on my blog. Republished with permission.