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You'll find both source material and other work I've done here, such as unpublished writing for ▒░░▒▓.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

2023

10 Jul 2023

Evan Todd

2021

08 Apr 2021

Tyson Kubota

20 Feb 2021

Louie Roots

19 Feb 2021

Victoria Rosenthal

17 Feb 2021

Joe Richardson

17 Feb 2021

George Batchelor

30 Jan 2021

Esteban Fajardo

2020

15 Oct 2020

Phil Salvador

15 Sep 2020

Nilson Carroll

13 Sep 2020

Christopher J. Persaud

10 Sep 2020

Seth Rosen

06 Aug 2020

Emilie Reed

04 Aug 2020

Laura Michet

03 Aug 2020

JC Herz

28 Jul 2020

Steve Gaynor [1]

16 Jul 2020

Robbie Cooper

14 Jul 2020

Allan Cudicio

13 Jul 2020

Aaron A. Reed

10 Jul 2020

Eliot Lash

16 Jun 2020

Quinn Stephens

11 Jun 2020

James A. Hodges

09 Jun 2020

Heather Flowers

28 May 2020

Nina Freeman

07 May 2020

Ryan Ike

21 Apr 2020

Nathalie Lawhead

18 Apr 2020

Brendan Vance

08 Mar 2020

Matajuegos

23 Feb 2020

Logan Fieth

15 Feb 2020

JP LeBreton

12 Feb 2020

Soleil Ho

10 Feb 2020

Mikael Jakobsson

28 Jan 2020

Xalavier Nelson Jr.

23 Jan 2020

James Hofmann

2019

17 Dec 2019

Sean Han Tani

27 Nov 2019

Adam Saltsman

30 Oct 2019

Francine Madden

30 Oct 2019

Dean Razavi

28 Oct 2019

Christopher R. Martin

25 Oct 2019

Matt Saincome + Jeremy Kaplowitz

27 Jun 2019

Naseer Alkhouri

06 Jun 2019

David Wolinsky [3]

03 Jun 2019

Nick Stockton

29 May 2019

Peter Hunt

2018

10 Aug 2018

David Wolinsky

03 Jul 2018

David Wolinsky[1]

11 Jun 2018

David Wolinsky [4]

29 May 2018

David Wolinsky [2]

28 May 2018

Henry Jenkins

15 Mar 2018

David Thomas

09 Feb 2018

María Laura Ruggiero

2017

21 Dec 2017

Alison Tatlock

18 Dec 2017

Per Strömbäck

04 Dec 2017

Jesper Juul

30 Nov 2017

David Fox

06 Nov 2017

Geoff Manaugh

29 Sep 2017

Doug Pray

08 Sep 2017

Joseph Heath

19 Jul 2017

Robin Hauser Reynolds

18 Jul 2017

Lynn Walsh

10 Jul 2017

Chuck Eddy

02 Jul 2017

Owen Deery

23 Jun 2017

Yousif Alroumi

20 Jun 2017

Raj Patel

31 May 2017

Drew Davidson

28 May 2017

Arthur Wolfe

17 May 2017

Jason Rohrer

12 May 2017

Erica Gangsei

11 May 2017

Ron Gilbert

19 Apr 2017

Brad Buckmaster

01 Apr 2017

Kate Moser

08 Feb 2017

Peer Schneider

07 Feb 2017

Jonny Roadblock

20 Jan 2017

Ricky Haggett

13 Jan 2017

Peter Olafson

2016

29 Nov 2016

Saru Jayaraman

14 Oct 2016

Steph Stradley

12 Oct 2016

Scott McCloud

07 Oct 2016

David OReilly

05 Oct 2016

Mat Bradley-Tschirgi

29 Sep 2016

Justin Fleming

27 Sep 2016

Joe Bond

20 Sep 2016

Martin Greip

16 Sep 2016

Madeline Johnson

14 Sep 2016

Adam Saltsman // Rebekah Saltsman

13 Sep 2016

Stefanie Joosten

09 Sep 2016

Jen Sorensen

08 Sep 2016

Brandon Sheffield

06 Sep 2016

Mark Cousins

08 Aug 2016

Frank Lantz

05 Aug 2016

Harold Pichol

03 Aug 2016

Gennifer Hutchison

12 Jul 2016

Steve Kent

05 Jul 2016

Tristan Donovan

01 Jul 2016

Niero Gonzalez

26 Jun 2016

Doseone

24 Jun 2016

Dannielle Blumenthal

13 Jun 2016

Steve Darnall

10 Jun 2016

Charles Herold

04 Jun 2016

Amanda Brennan

18 May 2016

Neil Druckmann

17 May 2016

Jack Ward

05 May 2016

Bakari Kitwana

29 Apr 2016

Grieves

28 Apr 2016

Rosie Pringle

19 Apr 2016

Simon Parkin

07 Apr 2016

Pippin Barr

06 Apr 2016

Jeffrey Ogbar

29 Mar 2016

Ryan Kuo

27 Mar 2016

Paul Wolinski

17 Mar 2016

Steven Horowitz

02 Mar 2016

Gus Mastrapa

26 Feb 2016

Henry Lowood

18 Feb 2016

Luke Crane

04 Feb 2016

Gail Carriger

29 Jan 2016

David Gallaher

28 Jan 2016

Jon Katz

13 Jan 2016

Jon-Paul Dyson // Chris Bensch

2015

22 Dec 2015

Adrienne Hunter

21 Dec 2015

Chris Melissinos

16 Dec 2015

David Weinberger

15 Dec 2015

Warren Robinett

11 Dec 2015

Rodney Greenblat

10 Dec 2015

Alan Watson

10 Dec 2015

Liz Ryerson

04 Dec 2015

Jeremy Penner

03 Dec 2015

Warren Spector

25 Nov 2015

Margaret Heffernan

23 Nov 2015

Mike Rugnetta

16 Nov 2015

James Silva

13 Nov 2015

Dave Gibson

13 Nov 2015

Merritt Kopas

13 Nov 2015

Aaron Balick

12 Nov 2015

Kelli Dunlap

06 Nov 2015

Steven Moore

05 Nov 2015

Kevin Nguyen

30 Oct 2015

Michaël Samyn

30 Oct 2015

Nico Deyo

21 Oct 2015

Lauren Warren

17 Oct 2015

Anton Risberg

12 Oct 2015

Graham Jenkins

08 Oct 2015

Josh Druckerman // Evan White

06 Oct 2015

Deirdre Coyle

05 Oct 2015

Jesse Schell

03 Oct 2015

Solon Scott

01 Oct 2015

Paul Galloway

01 Oct 2015

Ryan Morrison

24 Sep 2015

Adam Gascoine

24 Sep 2015

Kenji Ono

22 Sep 2015

Archie Prakash

14 Sep 2015

Hiroki Kikuta

10 Sep 2015

Jay Margalus

09 Sep 2015

Adam Mayes

07 Sep 2015

Nora Miller

04 Sep 2015

Jerome McDonough

03 Sep 2015

Dese'Rae L. Stage

02 Sep 2015

Pablo Azpurua

31 Aug 2015

Matthew Schwartz

27 Aug 2015

Maeve Duggan

26 Aug 2015

Jacob McMurray

19 Aug 2015

Douglas Rushkoff

14 Aug 2015

Gita Jackson

13 Aug 2015

Peter Molyneux[1]

13 Aug 2015

Lauren Tozer-Kilts

12 Aug 2015

Peter Molyneux

11 Aug 2015

Borut Pfeifer

09 Aug 2015

Kathryn Greenbaum

07 Aug 2015

Gareth Noyce

05 Aug 2015

Mustin

01 Aug 2015

Shy Mintz

27 Jul 2015

Marie-Christine Bourdua

26 Jul 2015

Jonathon Howard

24 Jul 2015

Andreas Papathanasis

24 Jul 2015

Cordelia P.

24 Jul 2015

Asher Einhorn

22 Jul 2015

Amy Clark

17 Jul 2015

Brian Gross

15 Jul 2015

Carol Monahan

15 Jul 2015

Bruce Williams

13 Jul 2015

Kenneth Oropeza

05 Jul 2015

Celia Pearce

30 Jun 2015

Eric Knapp

25 Jun 2015

Jennell Jaquays

18 Jun 2015

Ryan Payton

10 Jun 2015

Rebecca Heineman

07 Jun 2015

Holly Gramazio

05 Jun 2015

Kurt Kaufman

04 Jun 2015

Yehuda Berlinger

02 Jun 2015

Jeff Vogel

27 May 2015

Jason V. Maxwell

25 May 2015

Jim Crawford

24 May 2015

Ian Fleming

23 May 2015

James Tanner

23 May 2015

Ben Dutka

22 May 2015

Ben Hopkins

22 May 2015

Jason Wesley

20 May 2015

Jack M.

18 May 2015

Maxwell Neely-Cohen

17 May 2015

Luca Redwood

16 May 2015

Manuel Leal de Faria Chitas Correia

15 May 2015

Brian Kung

14 May 2015

Michael Hicks

13 May 2015

Dane MacMahon

02 May 2015

Kaitlyn Jeffers

02 May 2015

Pijus Antanavicius

27 Apr 2015

Mario von Rickenbach

22 Apr 2015

Aaron White

20 Apr 2015

Craig Stern

18 Apr 2015

Judi Wolinsky

17 Apr 2015

Nicky Case

16 Apr 2015

Arran Seaton

11 Apr 2015

Tanya X. Short

10 Apr 2015

Brenda Laurel

04 Apr 2015

Wendy Grossman

03 Apr 2015

Shana Rosenberg

20 Mar 2015

Jeff Ward

05 Mar 2015

Ed Fries

02 Mar 2015

Matthew Burns

01 Mar 2015

Ben Judd

26 Feb 2015

Eric K

25 Feb 2015

Don Daglow

18 Feb 2015

Jenn Dahlke

18 Feb 2015

Sam Barlow

16 Feb 2015

Fatima Villanueva

12 Feb 2015

Peter Moorhead

11 Feb 2015

Chelsea Howe

03 Feb 2015

Aleksandr Molchanov

03 Feb 2015

Tomm Hulett

01 Feb 2015

Shane Thomas

30 Jan 2015

Greg Zeschuk

29 Jan 2015

Laralyn McWilliams

28 Jan 2015

Al Lowe

20 Jan 2015

Richard Duck

19 Jan 2015

Brian Rubin

19 Jan 2015

Chris Crawford

13 Jan 2015

Steve Gaynor

08 Jan 2015

Joe Russ

06 Jan 2015

Farida Yusuf

06 Jan 2015

Anonymous

06 Jan 2015