Don't Die

An interview series about

love, empathy, fatigue, and viciousness on the internet
creative labor + barriers of awareness
surviving videogames
blame.exe

Hi, I'm David Wolinsky. I'm a former The Onion A.V. Club and NBC editor.

Don't Die is a repository of the hundreds of interviews I've conducted since 2014 trying to unravel tangled questions about:

Online culture wars
Labor issues in entertainment industries
Fandom
Why has the internet turned out the way it has?

Don't Die is about exploring other ways of thinking while also trying to better understand the cultural trajectory which has become impossible to ignore in America.

My work on this began in 2014, when Gamergate seemed to explode onto the mainstream, and follows the evolution of online hate and discourse through to today. This site came about as a result of soul searching as and after that harassment campaign. These interviews frequently explore what it's emblematic of in our lives online, offline, and at work - and also how it echoes the internet's earliest days.

But it is also about more than this one tragic failure of our communities and culture. It is an attempt to look holistically at the lives we live in and around games and the Internet. What was it like before we were paying attention. Where is it going? And what have been the costs to the people who get caught under the wheels?

This open-ended reporting is preserved by Stanford. The work is presented to feed curiosity, but also available as a resource for readers, researchers, journalists, etc. to learn about and perhaps even leverage for themselves this living oral history of our moment. If you have a collaboration in mind regarding this information or my experiences gathering it, please drop me a line.

You'll find both source material and other work I've done here, such as unpublished writing for ▒░░▒▓.

If this is work you would like to help further empower, please consider an ongoing Patreon or one-time PayPal donation.

Feel free to reach out if there is a particular topic you notice has not been explored, or a perspective not represented.

2021

30 Sep 2021

Tyson Kubota

02 Apr 2021

Louie Roots

19 Mar 2021

Joe Richardson

05 Mar 2021

Victoria Rosenthal

19 Feb 2021

George Batchelor

05 Feb 2021

Esteban Fajardo

22 Jan 2021

Phil Salvador

08 Jan 2021

Eliot Lash

2020

25 Dec 2020

David Wolinsky [4]

11 Dec 2020

Seth Rosen

27 Nov 2020

Laura Michet

13 Nov 2020

Robbie Cooper

30 Oct 2020

Christopher J. Persaud

16 Oct 2020

Nina Freeman

02 Oct 2020

Steve Gaynor [1]

18 Sep 2020

Nilson Carroll

04 Sep 2020

JC Herz

21 Aug 2020

Allan Cudicio

07 Aug 2020

Emilie Reed

24 Jul 2020

Aaron A. Reed

10 Jul 2020

Heather Flowers

26 Jun 2020

Quinn Stephens

12 Jun 2020

James A. Hodges

29 May 2020

Ryan Ike

15 May 2020

Nathalie Lawhead

01 May 2020

Brendan Vance

17 Apr 2020

Logan Fieth

03 Apr 2020

Soleil Ho

20 Mar 2020

Matajuegos

06 Mar 2020

JP LeBreton

21 Feb 2020

Mikael Jakobsson

07 Feb 2020

Xalavier Nelson Jr.

24 Jan 2020

James Hofmann

10 Jan 2020

Matt Saincome + Jeremy Kaplowitz

2019

27 Dec 2019

Sean Han Tani

13 Dec 2019

Adam Saltsman

29 Nov 2019

Dean Razavi

15 Nov 2019

Christopher R. Martin

01 Nov 2019

Francine Madden

18 Oct 2019

Andreas Papathanasis

04 Oct 2019

Tristan Donovan

20 Sep 2019

Michaël Samyn

06 Sep 2019

Martin Greip

23 Aug 2019

David Wolinsky [3]

09 Aug 2019

Naseer Alkhouri

26 Jul 2019

Nick Stockton

12 Jul 2019

Peter Hunt

28 Jun 2019

Henry Jenkins

14 Jun 2019

Mat Bradley-Tschirgi

31 May 2019

Jen Sorensen

17 May 2019

Justin Fleming

03 May 2019

Arthur Wolfe

19 Apr 2019

Doug Pray

05 Apr 2019

David Wolinsky [2]

22 Mar 2019

Jay Margalus

08 Mar 2019

Harold Pichol

22 Feb 2019

María Laura Ruggiero

08 Feb 2019

Matthew Schwartz

25 Jan 2019

Brad Buckmaster

11 Jan 2019

Anton Risberg

2018

28 Dec 2018

Owen Deery

14 Dec 2018

Niero Gonzalez

30 Nov 2018

David Thomas

16 Nov 2018

Adam Saltsman // Rebekah Saltsman

02 Nov 2018

David Wolinsky[1]

19 Oct 2018

Brandon Sheffield

05 Oct 2018

Peter Olafson

21 Sep 2018

Jesper Juul

07 Sep 2018

Per Strömbäck

24 Aug 2018

Alison Tatlock

10 Aug 2018

David Wolinsky

27 Jul 2018

Jack M.

13 Jul 2018

Cordelia P.

29 Jun 2018

Henry Lowood

15 Jun 2018

Ricky Haggett

01 Jun 2018

Erica Gangsei

18 May 2018

Charles Herold

04 May 2018

Ron Gilbert

20 Apr 2018

David OReilly

06 Apr 2018

Yousif Alroumi

23 Mar 2018

Doseone

09 Mar 2018

Joseph Heath

23 Feb 2018

Geoff Manaugh

09 Feb 2018

Simon Parkin

26 Jan 2018

Lynn Walsh

12 Jan 2018

Kate Moser

2017

29 Dec 2017

Drew Davidson

15 Dec 2017

Jack Ward

01 Dec 2017

Raj Patel

17 Nov 2017

Robin Hauser Reynolds

03 Nov 2017

Jason Rohrer

20 Oct 2017

David Fox

06 Oct 2017

Chuck Eddy

22 Sep 2017

Jonny Roadblock

08 Sep 2017

Rosie Pringle

25 Aug 2017

Steve Kent

11 Aug 2017

Stefanie Joosten

28 Jul 2017

Scott McCloud

14 Jul 2017

Bakari Kitwana

30 Jun 2017

Steph Stradley

16 Jun 2017

Peer Schneider

02 Jun 2017

Amanda Brennan

19 May 2017

Jon-Paul Dyson // Chris Bensch

05 May 2017

Frank Lantz

21 Apr 2017

Jeremy Penner

08 Apr 2017

Gennifer Hutchison

24 Mar 2017

Joe Bond

10 Mar 2017

Celia Pearce

24 Feb 2017

Mark Cousins

10 Feb 2017

Ryan Kuo

27 Jan 2017

Saru Jayaraman

13 Jan 2017

Madeline Johnson

2016

30 Dec 2016

Ben Hopkins

23 Dec 2016

Warren Robinett

16 Dec 2016

Nico Deyo

09 Dec 2016

Brian Gross

02 Dec 2016

Ben Dutka

25 Nov 2016

Josh Druckerman // Evan White

18 Nov 2016

Neil Druckmann

11 Nov 2016

David Gallaher

04 Nov 2016

Ryan Morrison

28 Oct 2016

Kenji Ono

21 Oct 2016

Wendy Grossman

14 Oct 2016

Pippin Barr

07 Oct 2016

Jeffrey Ogbar

30 Sep 2016

Gita Jackson

23 Sep 2016

Chris Melissinos

16 Sep 2016

Jesse Schell

09 Sep 2016

Gareth Noyce

02 Sep 2016

Steve Darnall

26 Aug 2016

Grieves

19 Aug 2016

Warren Spector

12 Aug 2016

Dannielle Blumenthal

05 Aug 2016

Kevin Nguyen

29 Jul 2016

Steven Horowitz

22 Jul 2016

Jerome McDonough

15 Jul 2016

Mike Rugnetta

08 Jul 2016

Jacob McMurray

01 Jul 2016

Jon Katz

24 Jun 2016

Pablo Azpurua

17 Jun 2016

Paul Wolinski

10 Jun 2016

Gail Carriger

03 Jun 2016

Jennell Jaquays

27 May 2016

Gus Mastrapa

20 May 2016

Rodney Greenblat

13 May 2016

Luke Crane

06 May 2016

Marie-Christine Bourdua

29 Apr 2016

Solon Scott

22 Apr 2016

Kurt Kaufman

15 Apr 2016

Adrienne Hunter

08 Apr 2016

Alan Watson

01 Apr 2016

Kelli Dunlap

25 Mar 2016

David Weinberger

18 Mar 2016

Dave Gibson

11 Mar 2016

Liz Ryerson

04 Mar 2016

Rebecca Heineman

26 Feb 2016

Aaron Balick

19 Feb 2016

Graham Jenkins

12 Feb 2016

Archie Prakash

05 Feb 2016

Peter Molyneux[1]

30 Jan 2016

Peter Molyneux

22 Jan 2016

Margaret Heffernan

15 Jan 2016

Lauren Warren

08 Jan 2016

Steven Moore

01 Jan 2016

Asher Einhorn

2015

25 Dec 2015

Deirdre Coyle

18 Dec 2015

Adam Gascoine

11 Dec 2015

Carol Monahan

04 Dec 2015

Douglas Rushkoff

27 Nov 2015

Kenneth Oropeza

20 Nov 2015

Paul Galloway

13 Nov 2015

Merritt Kopas

06 Nov 2015

Hiroki Kikuta

30 Oct 2015

Maeve Duggan

23 Oct 2015

Dese'Rae L. Stage

16 Oct 2015

Nora Miller

09 Oct 2015

Adam Mayes

02 Oct 2015

Borut Pfeifer

25 Sep 2015

Lauren Tozer-Kilts

18 Sep 2015

Kathryn Greenbaum

15 Sep 2015

Arran Seaton

11 Sep 2015

Jeff Ward

08 Sep 2015

Mustin

04 Sep 2015

Ryan Payton

01 Sep 2015

Shy Mintz

28 Aug 2015

Nicky Case

26 Aug 2015

Jason Wesley

21 Aug 2015

Bruce Williams

18 Aug 2015

Yehuda Berlinger

14 Aug 2015

Jonathon Howard

11 Aug 2015

Don Daglow

07 Aug 2015

Holly Gramazio

04 Aug 2015

Amy Clark

31 Jul 2015

Luca Redwood

28 Jul 2015

Eric Knapp

24 Jul 2015

Jeff Vogel

21 Jul 2015

Manuel Leal de Faria Chitas Correia

17 Jul 2015

Jim Crawford

14 Jul 2015

Jason V. Maxwell

10 Jul 2015

Mario von Rickenbach

08 Jul 2015

Ian Fleming

03 Jul 2015

Michael Hicks

30 Jun 2015

Craig Stern

26 Jun 2015

Sam Barlow

23 Jun 2015

James Tanner

19 Jun 2015

Ed Fries

16 Jun 2015

Brian Kung

12 Jun 2015

Maxwell Neely-Cohen

10 Jun 2015

Dane MacMahon

05 Jun 2015

Brenda Laurel

02 Jun 2015

Kaitlyn Jeffers

29 May 2015

Joe Russ

25 May 2015

Fatima Villanueva

22 May 2015

Ben Judd

20 May 2015

Pijus Antanavicius

15 May 2015

Matthew Burns

12 May 2015

Aaron White

08 May 2015

Judi Wolinsky

06 May 2015

Steve Gaynor

01 May 2015

Tanya X. Short

28 Apr 2015

Eric K

25 Apr 2015

Tomm Hulett

21 Apr 2015

Shana Rosenberg

17 Apr 2015

Chelsea Howe

15 Apr 2015

Aleksandr Molchanov

10 Apr 2015

Peter Moorhead

07 Apr 2015

Brian Rubin

03 Apr 2015

Greg Zeschuk

31 Mar 2015

Shane Thomas

27 Mar 2015

Laralyn McWilliams

24 Mar 2015

Jenn Dahlke

20 Mar 2015

Anonymous

20 Mar 2015

Farida Yusuf

17 Mar 2015

Richard Duck

13 Mar 2015

Brett Douville

10 Mar 2015

Chris Crawford

02 Mar 2015

Al Lowe

26 Feb 2015