For All Intents and Purposes

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NEWS CRUISE: Andrew and D. Bethel cover a lot of different news stories this week, including the acceptance of NFTs in video games by Steam and the Epic Games Store; the workers of tabletop game developer, Paizo, form a union; developers who worked on Metroid Dread not seeing their names in the credits; Ruby Rose speaking up about their treatment on the set of Batwoman‘s first season; and some announcements made by DC during the DC Fandome event.

UPDATE: Venerated Metroid fansite, Shinesparkers, reached out to Metroid Dread developers, MercurySteam, for clarification on what qualified for crediting in the game, specifically with regard to what constitutes the “25% game dev time” and “significant creative contributions,” stating:

“A significant contribution might mean A LOT of things: from designing a playable character, writing dialogues, lore.. anything substantially important to the game. On the 25% this is something based on our experience. Of course it can be seen differently elsewhere.”

FURTHER UPDATE: Union issues with Paizo and its workers came to an agreement on Thursday, October 21, with Paizo officially recognizing the workers’ union.

RELEVANT LINKS:

• Craddock, Ryan. “Metroid Dread Staff Say They’ve Been Left Out of Game’s Credits, MercurySteam Responds.” NintendoLife, NLife Media, 14 October 2021.
• D’Anastasio, Cecilia. “Tabletop RPG Workers Say Their Jobs Are No Fantasy.” Wired, Condé Nast, 19 October 2021.
• Darren. “We Spoke to MercurySteam on Developer Credit in Metroid Dread.” Shinesparkers, 15 October 2021.
• “Day 8: Critical Success!” United Paizo Workers, 21 October 2021.
• Newton, Casey. “How NFTs Are Creating a Generational Divide Between Platforms.” The Verge, Vox Media, 20 October 2021.
• Patches, Matt. “Ruby Rose Details Batwoman Set’s Abusive Conditions, Severe Injuries.” Polygon, Vox Media, 20 October 2021.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

• “Business Exempt” (19 October 2018): Where D. Bethel and Andrew talk about the first major attempt to unionize video game workers.
• “A Casualty of the Rhyme” (22 May 2020): Where our hosts, along with Taylor, talk about Ruby Rose’s sudden departure from Batwoman.
• “Milkbloods” (09 April 2021): When Andrew and D. Bethel first discussed the strange culture of NFTs.

INFO:

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FEATURED MUSIC:

• “Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod
  • Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3652-disco-medusae
• “District Four” by Kevin McLeod
  • Link: https://incompetech.filmmusic.io/song/3662-district-four
• Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)