Summary of HPOE36:

• Introduction (0:10 ): Stefanie and Ariel introduce the episode from Stack Up Studios, highlighting the integration of passions in education and therapy.





• About Stack Up (1:01 ): Discussion on Stack Up’s support for veterans through gaming and community events.





• Recording Together (2:55 ): Sharing the novelty of recording in person for the first time, enhancing their discussion dynamics.





• Diving into Gaming (3:27 ): Transition into discussing video games, especially those not typically associated with the “gamer” stereotype.





• Disney and Gaming (4:57 ): Exploration of Disney’s history with video games, with a special focus on the Kingdom Hearts series.





• Personal Gaming Histories (6:07 ): Stefanie and Ariel share their personal journeys with video games, from childhood favorites to adult choices.





• Disney’s Gaming Evolution (15:27 ): Discussing Disney’s new ventures into gaming, including a partnership with Epic Games for a metaverse project.





• Cultural Impact of Gaming (31:18 ): Reflecting on how gaming influences family traditions and social interactions.





• Safety in Gaming (43:11 ): Concerns and hopes for safety measures in Disney’s future gaming projects.





• Engagement and Community (45:46 ): Encouragement for listeners to share their gaming experiences and engage with the community.

Ariel Landrum 0:10
Hello, everyone, welcome to the Happiest Pod on Earth. I’m Stef. I’m an educator who uses passions and fandoms to help my students grow and learn about themselves and the world around them.

And I’m Ariel, a licensed therapist who uses clients passions and fandoms to help them grow and heal from trauma and mental unwellness.

Stefanie Bautista 0:28
Here at Happiest Pod, we dissect Disney mediums with a critical lens.

Ariel Landrum 0:32
Why? Because we’re more than just fans, we expect more from the mediums we consume. So Stef, what are we going to be discussing today?

Stefanie Bautista 0:39
Well, we are actually recording in a very special place. We are recording at Stack Up Studios here in Los Angeles…

Ariel Landrum 0:47
At their Phalanx House.

Stefanie Bautista 0:48
At their Phalanx House, right. But this place is very special, because it is very video game centric. And that’s what we are going to be talking about today. So Ariel, can you give us a little bit of background about what Stack Up does here?

Ariel Landrum 1:01
Absolutely. So stack up is a military charity supporting active and veterans service members in the US and abroad. They also support anybody who is connected, who has like government connections that would also be deployed to like DoD members. And they do things like air drops, where they drop gaming equipment, and geek culture events at this spot. Specifically, they do peer to peer mental health support for veterans. And they do volunteer teams that engage with veteran outreach and community betterment. And here at the Phalanx House. They have a variety of different events, especially around the holidays for service members who may not have family in the area. They have like a D&D night, they have Year’s Eve and Christmas parties or Thanksgiving, they’ll be having a Super Bowl party here. And so it’s really wonderful nonprofit, and they embrace gaming and geek culture. So obviously a really good partner with a Geek Therapy. And we are in their one of their podcasting rooms, recording today.

Stefanie Bautista 1:01
Yeah, I mean, I wish I could kind of take a snapshot of all of this stuff, because there’s a lot of amazing things here that a gamer would only dream of having just accessible to them. I think that this is a great way for veterans to kind of connect with the things that they love. Kind of like how what we talked about here at Happiest Pod on Earth, I think the things that make us happy, and the things that make us whole and human and all those good things. You need to connect those to yourself every so often, depending on, you know, even if you’re a veteran, even if you’re an educator, even as a therapist, you got to connect to the things that you love. And I think getting back to those roots, especially for people who have been in very traumatic situations such as veterans, it’s really important to rehabilitate yourself, especially after your duty is done. Special thanks to Stephen and his crew for letting us use this space and setting us up today. Because this is amazing. And we’re very happy to be here.

Ariel Landrum 2:55
And for those of you who might not be aware of oftentimes, when Stef and I are recording the podcast, we are not in the same room, we are actually seeing each other through zoom. And so this is the first time that we actually have gotten to record in person.

Stefanie Bautista 3:07
Yeah, like in, in face to face with each other. Which is awesome, because we have very many, many conversations with each other in the car or when we’re hanging out. But whenever we’re recording, we actually are not in the same room together. So this is actually going to be very exciting because we can actually have a real conversation.

Ariel Landrum 3:27
Yes, yes. And so today because we are here at stack up and we are part of Geek Therapy, there is one a geeking genre that we have not stepped into or talked about and that is video games.

Stefanie Bautista 3:39
That’s right. I would not claim myself as an avid avid gamer. However, I still play video games, whether it’s on my phone, whether it’s on my switch that like I let die and then revive again every week. I still video game and I know Ariel you game too, right?

Ariel Landrum 3:56
Absolutely. And I think that goes to there’s actually no official definition of what a gamer is, except for it’s a person who plays games, whether for fun or professionally. But in the you know, in the media socially, in our zeitgeist, we tend to think of gamers, really people who do parse first person shooters often male, like that’s the image we have in our mind. And video games. There are a variety of video games, there’s cosy gaming, there’s sandbox play, there’s a lot of ways to do video games that isn’t just first person shooters. And when it comes to the Disney genre that does sort of help meet the middle for individuals who may not be excited to do first person shooters, but they want to do maybe puzzles, they want more world building, they want expansion even with the I would say some of their older school games that were very difficult. It really captivated like a specific audience of individuals who may not use the term gamer because it’s been codified in a certain way.

Stefanie Bautista 4:57
Right? And when I think of gaming and of Disney I feel like they’ve always been parallel worlds, but haven’t necessarily connected in the way that most people would like them to. I think the closest we’ve gotten to that is Kingdom Hearts because it was so widely appreciated. And it was at a time where people were kind of expanding what their knowledge of video games were, it wasn’t just first person shooter. It wasn’t just, you know, Sonic or Mario where, you know, it’s like 2D like that. But, I mean, the earliest video game I played was The Little Mermaid Hand Game. And that I don’t know if you’ll remember that. Maybe it’s before your time for some of you who are listening. But it was a handheld game. And it only had a couple graphics on it. It never really moved. It wasn’t. It wasn’t like watching a video. I don’t even know what it’s called. It’s like LCD, it’s not even LCD. It’s like some crystal. I don’t know what it is. But basically, it was like the old old Tetris, but it wasn’t even on the screen. It was just these little images of Ariel swimming through in black and white. And she would keep going and she would like gather things in the sea. And then at the end, she would battle Ursula with the ship and the ship’s tip.

Ariel Landrum 6:07
Oh, okay. And like the movie.

Stefanie Bautista 6:08
You basically jab, Ursula until she died. It was very old. It had like three buttons…

Ariel Landrum 6:14
You said was a handheld game? What did you… What was it on?

Stefanie Bautista 6:17
It’s a handheld game. Like it was just it was just hand held…

Ariel Landrum 6:20
It was it? Oh, it wasn’t like a cartridge,

Stefanie Bautista 6:24
No not a cartridge at all. This is like probably early 90s. I will put a picture of it in our Instagram, just so you all know.