Quit your whining, IT'S JUST A GAME

Get it for one week only at a special introductory price of $5!

It's Just A Game, Volume 3 features 19 contributors (20 if you count me) and is a whopping 32 pages long. Inside are essays, poems, a recipe, an EP (!!), comics, illustrations, and other weird & awesome stuff. 

Er...

As you may remember (if your memory goes back that far), last December I announced that I was going to do a Kickstarter campaign for It's Just A Game, Volume 3. Well, that is no longer the case! At least for now. Here's what is going on, though. It is very exciting:

It's Just A Game, Volume 3 is going to be released digitally on Saturday, May 10, to coincide with my appearance at the Bit Bazaar in Toronto. I'll be promoting it (and maybe even selling it) there despite it not existing (yet) in print.

Then, if there's a demand for it (and there may not be! there also may be! WHO CAN SAY), I'll kickstart a print run of Vol. 3 along with a reprint of Vols. 1 & 2. Or maybe this latest volume will make enough to finance a reprint without need for a Kickstarter. A girl can dream.

Between now and Vol. 3's launch, I'm going to be making a push to remind people that It's Just A Game Volumes 1 & 2 are still available digitally ($8 for a 2-pack)!! If you haven't read them yet, you really really should. Lots (26!!) of amazing people contributed, and their work is kind of really great.

So yeah, buy 1 & 2 if you haven't already, and keep an eye on this space for 3's impending release.

Oh, and YES the photo above is a preview of my cover art for Volume 3. :)

Hello! It's been awhile, but I am here to let all you wonderful people know that if you submitted something to It's Just A Game, Volume 3, I will respond to you in the next week! I have had a whole bunch of work and life things pop up unexpectedly, but you will hear from me VERY SOON. Do not despair!

As of now, the current plan is to aim for a February 1 launch of the It's Just A Game Vol. 3 Kickstarter campaign. It will run for 30 days, so the publication itself should be out sometime in the spring. (Various stretch goals and stuff succeeding could complicate the process, so I don't want to put a definitive date on anything yet!)

Also, if you were working on something and forgot to submit, or didn't have enough time, shoot me an email. I may have room for you if your piece is different enough from what I have already received.

Writers, artists, makers-of-things: If you also play games, and you also give enough of a shit about games to be pissed when people roll their eyes and say "IT'S JUST A GAME," I WANT YOU for IT'S JUST A GAME VOLUME 3!!!

The deadline for submissions is November 30, and I've already got a bunch of awesome contributions keeping my inbox warm. However! Like last time, I'm still missing submissions from a couple key demographics. Women, for example. I'd also like to see more non-writing submissions.

Below I've pasted much of the text from an earlier post because it applies just as much now as it did then.

MORE SUBMISSIONS FROM WOMEN AS WELL AS FROM MINORITIES OF ALL KINDS! Most of what I’ve received has been by men. I love what I’ve been sent, but I really want It’s Just A Game to represent a wide variety of diverse voices and points of view. If you’re on the fence about submitting, and you’re from a group that is usually or often denied a strong mainstream presence, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!

MORE VISUAL SUBMISSIONS! I’ve got lots of (excellent) writing hanging out in my inbox. I only have a couple confirmed visual art/comics submissions. If you’re on the fence about submitting, and you make art and/or comics and/or something else that will look rad in black-and-white, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!

MORE WEIRD SUBMISSIONS! If you’re on the fence about submitting, and you have weird innovative ideas about what to put in a zine, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!

So the takeaway point here is: SUBMIT TO IT'S JUST A GAME, VOLUME 3! For submission guidelines, click here. And if you haven't already, go grab the PDFs of It's Just A Game Vols. 1 & 2.

A short-and-sweet reminder that as of today, you have a month to pull together the best, weirdest, angriest, happiest, smartest submissions you can muster for the third volume of IT'S JUST A GAME!

So far I've received both pitches and completed submissions ranging from comics to games to essays to poems to combinations thereof. If you're on the fence, SUBMIT SOMETHING!

Or don't. I mean, It's Just A Game.

If you follow me on twitter, you've probably already gotten the news: I'm going to be Kickstarting a third volume of It's Just A Game! It is exciting!!

As you may have noticed from the increasingly overwhelmed tone of my posts on this tumblr, I was and remain stunned by the amount of interest my initially-tiny zine project appears to have generated. I originally was going to make one small volume, and then it expanded into two, and, since the successful launch of volumes 1 & 2, more people than I can count have asked if there's going to be a third. (Or, like, maybe 30 or 40 people. I guess I can count that high.)

In any case, there still seems to be a widespread desire to express to the world why it's destructive to say "IT'S JUST A GAME" whenever talk about games gets the least bit serious.

I WANT there to be an It's Just A Game, Volume 3! But printing stuff is expensive. So, after I spent some time hemming and hawing on twitter, my friends who are savvier about this stuff than I am suggested I try crowdfunding. I've thought and talked it over a great deal over the past few weeks, and I've decided I'm going to do it. (It will also be a nice opportunity to, hopefully, do a second print run of Vols. 1&2 !)

SO why am I writing this long-ass tumblr post when I don't even have a Kickstarter project page yet or a video close to started or my backer reward tiers sorted out? Because before I can do ANY OF THAT, I need to know what the zine itself is going to look like. And to do THAT, I need your submissions.

I am setting a hard deadline of November 30, but I'd love to hear your ideas well before you complete your work, so I can get a rough read on how many people are submitting (I'll be prioritizing first-time contributors).

Submission guidelines have not changed, so please check out that page before asking me stuff in case I've already answered it! Contributors will, as always, be paid. (Details forthcoming due to Kickstarter being different from not-Kickstarter.)

DIVERSE BACKGROUNDS AND VOICES ARE NOT JUST ENCOURAGED; THEY ARE ESSENTIAL TO IT'S JUST A GAME BEING SUPER AWESOME!! This is an old post, but the non-deadline-related stuff from it is still super relevant.

AND FINALLY, if you need inspiration for your submission and haven't done so yet, PLEASE go buy It's Just A Game, Vols. 1 & 2 in PDF form.

Remember how just three days ago I said I was in the process of making digital copies of It's Just A Game available for purchase? Well I did it! It's done!

You can now buy PDFs of It's Just A Game for just $8 each, or $15 for the complete set. Print copies are SOLD OUT, so this is the only way to read It's Just A Game if you didn't already buy it.

It's official! The first print run of It's Just A Game has sold out in under 3 weeks. Omg!

85 customers purchased the zine from my Etsy shop. 80 of those customers (!!!) bought both volumes 1 AND 2.

Because of this, I can afford to pay my 26 contributors $50 each, which is fucking awesome. And hopefully that number will only continue to go up over time. Which brings me to my next point...

I'm super overwhelmed by the whole response to this project, which has been more positive & encouraging & helpful than I ever could have imagined. One thing in particular that I didn't expect going in was how high the demand seems to be for a digital version of the zine. So now that print copies have sold out, I'm going to make It's Just A Game available digitally. It'll take me a few days to put that together, but when it's ready, I will announce it here!

Oh, and I'm still considering doing a second print run—if not now, then eventually. Maybe timed for when a possible Volume 3 comes out...?

EDIT: Print copies are sold out, but It's Just A Game is now available digitally!

It's here! It's finally here!

IT'S JUST A GAME, your favorite 2-part 26-contributor zine about the importance of games & games criticism, IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE!!

You can grab both volumes together for $18 here, OR you can pick up just Volume 1 or just Volume 2 separately, if you're into that sort of thing, for $10 each.

After several days drowning in black India ink and eraser shavings, I can finally present to you the finished cover designs for both volumes of IT'S JUST A GAME!

Both editions, each featuring contributions from 13 talented creators of rad stuff, will release simultaneously this coming Tuesday (!!!), so mark your calendars if you haven't already.

Dry your tears and turn off your consoles: It's Just A Game comes out in less than a week!

Due to the volume of submissions, I've decided to make It's Just A Game into TWO 24-page volumes, both of which will be released on Tuesday, September 3 and sold for $10 each on my Etsy shop. Volumes One & Two feature 26 contributors in total, including new work by Dave Myers, Soha El-Sabaawi, Jacob Smiley, Austin Walker, & Tanya X. Short, just to name a few.

The whole project is shaping up to be like 4 billion times better than even I expected, and if you aren't excited yet, you really should be.

I'm spending this week working on my own art for the zine, including illustrations for some of the pieces and cover art for both volumes (a preview of Vol. One's cover is above).

I am absolutely stunned by the quality & quantity of submissions I've received for It's Just A Game. I'm going through them all now, and organizing them into folders, and a spreadsheet, and all those official things. So if you submitted, and I haven't contacted you yet, I will be doing so in the next couple days.

The volume of submissions was so high that I'm actually thinking a second issue of It's Just A Game will be necessary! So it's possible that I may push a few submissions to the next issue for space reasons. Again, all that info will be sent out as soon as humanly possible.

Otherwise, if your submission fits (both literally and figuratively) into It's Just A Game, and I haven't let you know already, I will do so soon! Please keep an eye on your inbox.

THANK YOU so much for liking, reblogging, retweeting, and SUBMITTING!! I get more excited about this project every time I look over the contributions. It's Just A Game is going to be rad.

Today is the day!! Drop the controller, stop gnashing your teeth, and put that rage to work!

If you haven't already, e-mail me or send via tumblr your creative submissions to It's Just A Game. (And remember: I want to pay my contributors, so if you're submitting via tumblr, don't forget to leave some way for me to contact you!)

Submissions so far have included game pitches, personal essays, poetry, comics, game criticism, mock interviews, and things that defy categorization. I am beyond thrilled and looking forward to being EVEN FURTHER PAST THRILLED by the end of today, thanks to whatever your clicking-finger is currently trying to decide whether or not to submit. (Hint: DO IT)

If you have any questions (deadline extension? more than one page? does this idea I have fit in the zine?) please shoot me an e-mail or @ me on twitter as soon as you can.

Hope you're getting your submissions to It's Just A Game all prepped & polished, because the deadline is TOMORROW. !!!

I'm ESPECIALLY still looking for submissions by women, so if you're a lady and you're considering submitting, PLEASE DO! <3

Been outraged or perturbed by anything in the games industry lately? Well, nobody wants to hear about that. Stop getting your seriousness all up in my fun. Just chill, okay?

OR, BETTER IDEA: Submit to It's Just A Game!

If you haven't submitted anything yet, now is the time to do so! The deadline is 7/31 and the theme is, well, "It's just a game."

I have gotten lots of submissions so far, but there are many things I'd still like to see:

MORE SUBMISSIONS FROM WOMEN AS WELL AS FROM MINORITIES OF ALL KINDS! Most of what I've received has been by men. Specifically by straight, white, cis-men. I love what I've been sent, but I really want It's Just A Game to represent a wide variety of diverse voices and points of view. If you're on the fence about submitting, and you're from a group that is usually or often denied a strong mainstream presence, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!

MORE VISUAL SUBMISSIONS! I've got lots of (excellent) writing hanging out in my inbox. I only have a couple confirmed visual art/comics submissions. If you're on the fence about submitting, and you make art and/or comics and/or something else that will look rad in black-and-white, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!

MORE WEIRD SUBMISSIONS! Someone awesome is submitting an actual game you can tear out and play. She came up with the idea, which I hadn't even considered. There are totally types of expression that I have not thought of! If you're on the fence about submitting, and you have weird innovative ideas about what to put in a zine, I WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!!!

If you take away one point from this post, it's that I WANT YOU TO SUBMIT TO IT'S JUST A GAME!!! I'm a good editor (not to brag, ahem), so don't worry about your work being rough. I can handle it. Click here for submission guidelines, and I really can't wait to see what you come up with.

I love videogames. But if videogames actually mattered, there would be so many problems with the industry and the surrounding community and the consumer base and the hobby itself and—

SO IT'S A GOOD THING GAMES DON'T MATTER.

Got a problem with publishers not supporting games with female protagonists? Ugh, what a buzzkill. Or do you take issue with games not supporting an inclusive range of racial and gender identities? Oh my god! When will you stop complaining? Maybe a little conflicted about giving money to an industry that is downright hostile to women? Calm down. Are you not super thrilled with BioShock Infinite's offensive treatment of race? IT'S JUST A GAME!

There's a large contingent of people who claim to love games but balk at the slightest criticism of them. Often, their arguments consist of little more than: GAWD GET OVER IT, WHY WOULD YOU EVER TAKE A GAME SERIOUSLY? ARGH YOU ARE RUINING ALL MY FUN!!

So let's make a zine where we pretend those people are right. Or where we prove those people wrong. Or where we do a little of both, hopefully while laughing really hard, and creating some really awesome writing, drawing, and other miscellaneous art.

For submission guidelines please click here, and for information about getting hella paid, please click here.