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Gaming While Russian | Sacred Symbols+ Episode 197

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has completely roiled the world. Thousands are dead, economies, currencies, and societies are suffering, and we're walking headlong into a global food crisis in the coming months, too. The results for Ukraine are obviously most devastating, but what's happened within Russia's borders is a little more mysterious. This is where today's guest, Roman, comes into play. Roman was born-and-raised in the Soviet Union just as it was falling apart. He ended up first coming to the United States in the '90s, largely splitting time between the US and Russia before (shockingly) going off to spend a decade in China. Roman's perspective is interesting, as he speaks both English and Russian, has lived in both societies, knows people in both places, and -- for the purposes of our show -- creates a gaming podcast specifically for a Russian audience. We hear a lot about Ukraine these days, and rightfully so. But I was curious to explore the Russian angle, particularly when it comes to our industry. What's it like over there right now for gamers? What are their options with the suspension of the SWIFT banking system and the refusal of many gaming entities to do business there? Is piracy on the rise? The use of VPNs? There's clearly much to consider. We totally understand that political episodes aren't for all of you. Be warned: This is very much one of those episodes. Check out Roman’s podcast: https://youtube.com/c/SplitSkrin

Comments

Anonymous

Awesome and insightful!

Anonymous

Great episode! At first I thought, “what a funny pen….”

Anonymous

I loved this episode. Roman seems like a smart and great guy.

Dan Luxembourg

Can’t wait to listen to it! Very interesting! In general, and as an international fan… I think there’s also a great opportunity here to start a series of interviewing gamers, players, people who love the video game industry, who love playing video games, all living around the world. Sharing how they view video game media coverage, the art of video games, views on western video games and Eastern video games, all the different types of video games niches and communities, etc. TLDR; telling their stories and their experience with video games. For me, someone who lives in The Middle East, one special aspect was talking to players from some of my neighboring countries, who let just say don’t really have a relationship with mine… realizing that we’re all human beings (Who love video games!), for example, that I’m not the devil they were promised. *BTW I’m sure I’m not the only one with this type of a story/experience. Keep up the great work! Thank you for bringing true video game journalism and really valuable & enjoyable content. Thank you LSM team. ❤️

Kaz Redclaw

Pretty solid conversation. I actually still support a few Russian comics on Patreon here, though their authors have moved to Canada after the war started. It's definitely not the fault of most Russians what Putin is doing, and I hope that once Russia is thwarted, we can go back to peaceful co-existence and friendship. If you want more info on what demographic trends and geographic realities that lead to Russia's invasion, there's Peter Zeihan and Real Life Lore that both do some pretty solid talks and videos about the geopolitical realities of the area. Yes, the Ukrainians are the biggest victims of Russia's invasion and NATO's aid in defense, though I don't think that if we stopped supplying them it would lead to a better outcome for Ukrainians either. They may not be able to win in the long run, but if it can be made expensive enough, it might keep them from taking the next steps into the Baltics, Romania, and Poland in order to get their geographic gaps filled. If they're really lucky at making it expensive for Russia, they might be kept from getting any territory on the western side of the Dnieper river, and might get Russia to just take that as their natural boundary instead of pushing through to the Bessarabian and Polish gaps. If you know your history, Ukraine's life under decades of Russian occupation isn't that much better than their current life under Russian invasion. Stalin frequently raided Ukraine's farms and sent all of their food back to Russia proper to starve them out, and Russia's destruction of the food infrastructure in Ukraine is showing that Putin's up to the same tricks.

Danny Kellerman

One of the best SS+ episodes for sure. Great interview, Colin and thanks for the insight, Roman.

LastStandMedia

I'm sad for Ukraine, truly. It's an awful thing. But it isn't our fight. Putin will never go into a NATO country, there's no way.

Kaz Redclaw

We can always hope that he isn't that arrogant, and that he won't bite off even more than he can chew, but some in his government have already been saber rattling about the balkans.