This Week in Podcasts

An unfortunately short list for you this week, curiously, despite the fact that — given my two-week absence — I have no shortage of podcasts queued up awaiting a bit of free time. But, therein lies the problem: as school resumes, I will no longer have the eight hours a day, forty hours each week, that I did over the summer to devote to podcasts. But enough about me — on to the shows you came here to hear about:

The Campfire Project Episode 22: Press X To Continue. I tend to stay away from video game-centric podcasts: despite my like of Federico Viticci and Myke Hurley, I did not subscribe to Directional nor did I to the show’s second incarnation, Virtual. I chose not to subscribe not necessarily out of a dislike of the video game medium, but more so because I have done so little in this genre to such an extent that I have next to no frame of reference with which to process their discussions. Put simply, I have no overlap with those who love talking about this subject. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this episode of The Campfire Project, where Matt Dusenbury and Chris Domico focused more on the story side of gaming and talked a great deal about my favorite type of video game, first-person shooters.

ATP Episode 77: Full-Stack Businessperson. Creativity and its associated difficulties have experienced a surge in popularity lately, especially amongst those who love to explain why they cannot make cool and interesting things rather than buckling down to do the hard work that needs done. Alongside these embittered discussions, another thread has sought to explain a lack of success amongst those who feel they have put in enough time and effort to deserve it, but nevertheless have yet to experience the fruits of their labors. Just as is the case with the former, I feel it is a fool’s errand to spend any significant amount of time on the latter: perhaps rather than an issue inherent and eminently unsolvable in the industry as many like to paint the App Store revenue debate, the problem may instead lie in our species’ innate inability to realize our own shortcomings, particularly apparent in unskilled workers who do not recognize their lack of skill. That is to say, unfortunately, your work may not be as spectacular as you believe. In this episode of The Accidental Tech Podcast, John relates these complicated factors to the recent discussion on the viability of building a business on the App Store. Also on the docket, the true challenge of going independent versus taking a corporate job, and how your inability to make a living doing what you love might not mean that doing so is impossible, but rather than you ought to change your expectations in accordance with this new lifestyle.