Beyond the Screen: Disney Leveling Up

GT Network Happiest Pod on Earth
#1

Originally published at: https://happy.geektherapy.com/2024/03/06/beyond-the-screen-disney-leveling-up/

36: Venture ‘Beyond the Screen: Disney Leveling Up’ in Episode 36 of HPOE. Ariel and Stef navigate Disney’s groundbreaking move into developing a gaming metaverse and the company’s history with games, in general. This episode explores the fusion of iconic Disney storytelling with the interactive world of gaming, highlighting the potential for new adventures and connections. A thrilling exploration of Disney’s digital expansion, offering a glimpse into the future of entertainment for gamers, Disney aficionados, and digital explorers alike.

Learn more about the military charity Stack Up: https://www.stackup.org/

Summary

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.
Transcription

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. But yeah, it was just a handheld game, something that you would just pick up and buy. And it was its own console. I know there’s a name for it. I’m gonna look it up. But that’s what my earliest game was. And it was Little Mermaid. And I remember, you only have like three lives. So if you had the lives, you would have to start all over again. And you would not be able to respond to revive all that stuff.

Ariel Landrum 6:54
So no auto save?

Stefanie Bautista 6:55
No auto saves you couldn’t even save there wasn’t even an option for that. It taught me resilience because I died alot. I was probably like six or seven. But I loved Ariel. I loved The Little mermaid. And I think you know that and playing as her gave another dimension to something that I love.

Ariel Landrum 7:12
I don’t think that was the only game that you played though. Back then was the other one the Aladdin game?

Stefanie Bautista 7:17
That was a different version of that same handheld game. Still a black and white screen you would just kind of like I think so. If Ariel was collecting things on the ocean floor, Aladdin was stealing like different breads. Oh, I think that’s what I remember.

Ariel Landrum 7:31
Okay, okay…

Stefanie Bautista 7:32
Then you would have to battle Jafar as like the genie the bad Genie. And I think that’s what it was because Ursula started off small and she kind of grew.

Ariel Landrum 7:40
Oh okay.

Stefanie Bautista 7:40
And that was like the one graphic they had. The same thing with Genie, Genie, which Jafar he would start off small and then he would become the big red Genie. So they were all basically the same cut games just package the different way. I think it was made by Tiger. Tiger Handheld Games. That’s what it was called.

Ariel Landrum 7:56
Oh, wow. Okay, okay. For me, I did not play any Disney games. Growing up. I had Pokemon Red and the red cartridge on my Gameboy. But for the most part, all the video games were my brother’s. He had the console he had he had all the gaming devices. And it wasn’t that I wasn’t interested. It was just that was his thing. And so because it was his it couldn’t be mine. We were we he like burgers so I had to like chicken nuggets like sibling rivalry.

Stefanie Bautista 8:27
Couldn’t be the same.

Ariel Landrum 8:28
No. And now I eat burgers. So there you go.

Stefanie Bautista 8:32
Take that.

Ariel Landrum 8:33
Growing up. If I played video games at other people’s houses until I went to college, and when I went to college, you know, I had an Xbox and I got video games. I got you know, I had Halo and I had left for dead like those were the games that I had. But I never had a Disney game. So the first Disney game that I ever played was on my mobile device. And it was the Disney Emoji Blitz, and it’s all the characters as little emojis. And basically if you pay played Candy Crush, it’s one of those little puzzle games where you’re moving the different items and trying to like explode things or get a special power. And then after that it was the Just Dance games. They have Disney songs. The newest Just Dance has the Moana song.

Stefanie Bautista 9:14
Oh.

Ariel Landrum 9:15
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 9:15
How far L’ll go?

Ariel Landrum 9:16
How far I’ll go. It’s one of the dances…

Stefanie Bautista 9:17
It’s interpretive dance because that’s our contemporary because it is very…

Ariel Landrum 9:22
It is it is…

Stefanie Bautista 9:22
Not very upbeat.

Ariel Landrum 9:23
For for Christmas. I bought my friend’s kids the copy The Just Dance and they sent me a video of their son doing the Moana, How Far I’ll Go. Lots of beautiful arm movements.

Stefanie Bautista 9:35
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 9:35
So for me there’s been a lot of catch up because I never got introduced to Kingdom of Hearts but you you’ve played it. Yes?

Stefanie Bautista 9:42
I played it. I never finished it. I think Kingdom Hearts came around at the time where I didn’t have like, an up to date PlayStation or anything like that. I my first console was a Genesis a Sega Genesis because I love Sonic. That’s like my favorite game. I still play it to this day. I have it on my switch. And I’m so glad that I don’t have to just go through it. I can just cheat you and use the code that I want. It’s like it just jumped to any level. But yeah, so because I had a Sega Genesis, I had that Sega Genesis for a long, long time. Because I’m a girl. Nobody really wanted to be like, “Oh, she needs a PlayStation.” One, Two what have you. She’s like, “She doesn’t need that stuff. Why would she need that?” I used to live with my older cousins who were guys. They were sort of gamers, but not really, they’re more into cars. So I’ve never really got to play like in the 2000s like console games like on the PlayStation until I started dating my now husband. So he had like a modded PS1, I don’t know if we still have it. It was like, it was like green, but it was like see through green. Like, it was pretty cool. A lot of my gaming went through that experience and that outlet. So I didn’t pick the games. It was the games that he had. So I did have like a little bit of a break. And then I played Kingdom Hearts. I don’t even think I played it on his I think I played it at like a friend’s house. And it was really cool. Just to see somebody who look like, you know, Link just going through and then you see, “Oh my god, there’s goofy, there’s Mickey.” And I was like, it almost didn’t make sense to me why this was happening. I’m like, “Who said that this was okay?” Because if I’m going to play a first person, I want to be Mickey, I don’t want to be somebody else. I want to be Mickey going through, you know, doing Mickey things. But it didn’t make sense. And I think it like it just basically took all the anime fans all the otaku out there. And it took all of the Disney fans and just mash them together and said, “Let’s see what happens.” And it was wildly popular. I’ve always wanted to go back and play it again. Just because visually, it’s stunning. I think they really took a lot of creative freedoms with what everything looked like. And because technology was advancing so much at that time, they were just like, let’s just see what sticks. And then they really listened to Japanese developers. Because prior to that, I remember seeing Dance Dance Revolution…

Ariel Landrum 9:42
Yeah?

Stefanie Bautista 10:09
But Disney. Oh, yeah, there’s a Disney mix. And I remember seeing it a lot when I went to Japan to they had a your regular DDR machine with like those songs. And then they had a Disney one. And they had that for Disney fans because Disney fandom in Japan is wild. That’s like a whole nother thing. But they love Dance Dance Revolution. They love Disney. So they put those things together.

Ariel Landrum 12:19
Oh, I would love to do that. Oh, that’s awesome.

Stefanie Bautista 12:21
We will. When we go to Japan one day, we will.

Ariel Landrum 12:24
Yes. Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 12:26
But yeah, like you were saying I loved rhythm games, I love dance games, dance games, puzzle games, things that are not high stakes and high anxiety for me. I can do, especially as I got older, and I feel like my anxiety just got larger and larger. I think just you know that fear of loss just wasn’t there because I’m like, “Oh, you know, it’s not like I’m getting towards or I don’t have like a big goal.” And I feel like that for a lot of kids that I work with when they play video games. They’re very selective in what they want to play. Just because they don’t want that fear of failure. They don’t want that anxiety of, “Oh my god, what if I can’t accomplish this?” And like I think having these different games especially having Disney having different sorts of games, like you said cosy gaming and all that stuff, it’s really good to have like a wider array.

Ariel Landrum 13:09
Now there are more options in regards to gaming that it isn’t seen as one genre one type of experience and when it comes to doing therapy when it comes to teaching, having that variety and understanding like for you the way the student learns more for me the way the client is looking towards change and how they’re thinking about the thinking those experiences have highlighted the importance of having diversity and treatment. I think diversity in gaming is just creating more community more connection. I know that Josue way our founder still plays the Disney Blitz game and regularly attempts to try and beat Dad now and sister and they regularly use that as a as a means of checking in. It’s like “Oh, I saw you logged in and you played so I know that you’re you’re doing well.”

Stefanie Bautista 14:00
That’s really awesome. I just read downloaded Emoji Blitz. And I was like you know what? I need another puzzle game because RIP on my Sailor Moon game. died a long time ago.

Ariel Landrum 14:11
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 14:11
It was my favorite shout out to you guys who played Sailor Moon Drops I love that game to death buts there the love be another one like.

Ariel Landrum 14:19
You played it that night before your wedding.

Stefanie Bautista 14:21
I did because I was so nervous. And I just needed to take the edge off.

Ariel Landrum 14:26
Yeah and gamings can allow us an avenue to be able to self regulate to be able to calm ourselves. It’s a great stress reliever.

Stefanie Bautista 14:34
Absolutely. I mean, this is not really Disney related. But I played New Horizons while I was pregnant. Because it was during the pandemic, I had my baby at the height of the pandemic. I didn’t know what was going to happen. There was a lot of what ifs and unknowns and it was very scary for me as you know somebody who was about to bring another life into the world.

Ariel Landrum 14:53
For the first time too.

Stefanie Bautista 14:54
First and I had like nobody to turn to because there were all the structures that were there for women were gone, because the world got flipped upside down. So New Horizons was definitely my comfort and I played it and I played it and I played it and because it’s open world that there’s no end to it. It just gave me a sense of you know, “I can I can get back to, to a little bit of normalcy through my little animal friends.”

Ariel Landrum 15:20
Well, and And speaking of open world, you just mentioned that Disney dropped some news really recently about an open world.

Stefanie Bautista 15:27
Disney did a lot of announcements on February 7, and one of the biggest things that they announced is that they are going to partner up with epic who makes Fortnite they are investing $1.5 billion into basically a new universe that’s gonna resemble a metaverse. This is the first time that Disney is going to be investing this much into gaming. And like I said, in the beginning, Disney and gaming has always been parallel for me, I feel like now they’re gonna merge in a really, really big way. Just because they want to tap into you know, younger audiences who play things like Fortnite, Minecraft, things that are open world that just kind of have no end and kids just tap in and play. They want to bring the Disney world into that. Obviously, it’s a big money move. It’s gonna bring in a lot of revenue, hopefully. But I don’t know, we’ll see what happens because I feel like when Disney makes these big moves, sometimes it’s a hit. Sometimes it’s a miss.

Ariel Landrum 16:19
Well, and what we do know is Disney is a big conglomerate organization, we can admit that and video games. I think the studies have shown how to create more money than like film and books and music combined. That’s how much revenue like the gaming industry itself makes. So it’s smart move to try and integrate better with gaming than be that parallel. But it’s going to be really interesting to think of Disney in a metaverse. I think this like makes me think of Wreck-It Ralph, when we saw the Disney Princesses together for the first time, because in general, the the way that they mark it, you know, they’re different franchises, and even in the parks, they’re their own sections, their own worlds, they don’t intermingle know, so the idea of an open world where they could intermingle where you know, these characters actually may know each other, or experience each other, that’s just gonna be mind blowing. And I think will usher in a new way of seeing Disney and I think kind of connects to how they have made such like integration in the Marvel Universe.

Stefanie Bautista 16:19
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 16:26
It only makes sense that they’re going to try and think of how to integrate those things.

Stefanie Bautista 16:40
Yeah. I feel like now if they do a Christmas special normally, it’s a Star Wars Christmas special and Marvel one, and like a Disney one. They might all just be in the same Christmas special at this point. But I’m very curious to see, you know, of course, there’s going to be a lot of naysayers into this. Us being the age that we are we know them as separate entities. Kids nowadays, think of Disney Marvel Star Wars as one, because that’s how they were introduced. I’m wondering if there’s going to be like, “That’s not canon. This is not part of the story. Why are they doing this?”

Ariel Landrum 17:58
The toxicity.

Stefanie Bautista 17:59
You know, I feel like there’s just going to be a lot of toxicity. Because yeah, people are going to want to protect what they know and how they know it and keep it and preserve it that way. But I think the interesting thing about Disney and being innovators is that they try to push that envelope and think forward. And I mean, when I think about kids now if I asked them, if Star Wars was Disney, they’d say yes. They wouldn’t think of it any other way. So it’s I think it’s very interesting to see it from that perspective.

Ariel Landrum 18:29
Yeah, I think watching things evolve and grow and knowing if you can evolve and grow with it is going to be a real like generational marker. One of their cosy games. It’s called Dream Light Valley, it came out in December of 2023. And it appears to be somewhat of like an open world game. And it does appear to be that you can interact with the different characters, but it doesn’t look like those characters interact with each other. So there still seems to be some separation. Now someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but from what I’ve watched, that seems to be how it looks like. There’s still no pressure it is cozy gaming, but it’ll be interesting to see. And then a huge Metaverse where they could maybe connect and these different characters could interact or if it’s still going to be what they’ve done like Dream Light Valley and Kingdom Hearts where it’s just one person that interacts or even like what is it Sofia The First?

Stefanie Bautista 19:20
Yeah Sofia the First. Once Upon a Time is like that too?

Ariel Landrum 19:24
Yes!

Stefanie Bautista 19:24
The drama series where one person interacts with everybody, but I don’t remember them all being together. But yeah, it’s going to be very interesting the way that they’re going to weave this web of a Metaverse because the point of the metaverse is to bring everyone together. So we’ll see what happens. I know that they’re going to do mobile gaming, I know that they’re going to be doing laptop gaming, and they’re gonna be doing console gaming, so they’re going to really try to expand on all those things. One of the reasons why they did this is because they saw how well Marvel and Sony Spider-Man has been doing. Even with the different iteration of Spide-Man whether it’s the Sony universe or the Disney universe, this is its own thing. And it’s made so much money, just because the quality of the gaming is so good. And I think that’s another question I have is because, right this conglomerate is taking this over. I wonder what the quality is going to be like?

Ariel Landrum 20:17
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 20:17
Because the Sony SpiderMan games have largely been developed by themselves.

Ariel Landrum 20:22
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 20:23
And they have people who are, you know, solely dedicated to just that. There’s always that saying, you know, like, “Sometimes a jack of all trades isn’t going to do everything, as well as somebody who’s just focused on one would do.” So I mean, that’s another thing to consider.

Ariel Landrum 20:36
Yeah, I my roommate has played both of the Spider-Man games and I’ve watched I haven’t played but they do have the different Spider-Man outfits from the movies. That’s like that would be like, I guess the Easter egg. Peter Parker in the Miles Morales they are not the ones that we saw in our Marvel Universe.

Stefanie Bautista 20:54
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 20:54
And really more connected towards Miles Morales and Peter Parker of like this the Sony universe.

Stefanie Bautista 21:00
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 21:01
And it is such a good game. The storytelling is great. There’s a lot of diversity. The second game one of the characters I think that Miles Morales has a crush on is deaf and signs and ASL and Miles Morales learns ASL. So trilingual.

Stefanie Bautista 21:16
Yeah. In the best way possible. Yes. Yeah. Gosh, yeah. I mean, I’ve heard nothing but great things about that game. I haven’t played it myself. But I mean, even the, like, all the way down to the graphics. I mean, I wonder, because, you know, Fortnite is, you know, like, it’s, it’s a game that isn’t very focused on very intricate draft graphics, because, again, it’s made for younger audiences. So they, you know, like things that are a little bit more cartoony and animated. So it’s gonna be very interesting to see what Disney does with this, because that’s a lot of money to invest. Billions.

Ariel Landrum 21:48
Yes. And so some of the things that we’ve already talked about is gaming is a way to self regulate gaming is a great way to destress. It helps you focus. You mentioned patiences and distress tolerance with The Little Mermaid game. I think even like patiences from the Kingdom Hearts fan fandom, because the second game didn’t come out to like, what, eight years later or some nonense?

Stefanie Bautista 22:11
Yeah. Huge gaps. And I think even playing the earlier games taught you patiences because it was hard when I remember playing I don’t know if you play this the Toy Story games. So there was a Toy Story games that was on the PlayStation One, I think, I think this was Toy Story two, because I know, at this point, Buzz and Woody were friends. And yeah, you’re basically going through the world as Buzz and you had to do all of these acrobatics around Andy’s room to get to different levels. And I remember being Buzz and trying to do like this front flip like gymnastics thing on a bar. So you had to jump on the bar, you had to like hold on to it, who would twirl. But you had to do it like five or six times around the room to get to the next level. So you technically died?

Ariel Landrum 22:11
Oh, no!

Stefanie Bautista 22:14
I got stuck on that part for so long. I remember spending days maybe even weeks trying to just get from one part of Andy’s room to another. And I don’t know if this was meant for a 10, 11 year old me. But here I was super frustrated and trying and trying and trying again. Now with games like Fortnite you don’t have to go through things like that in order to get to the next level.

Ariel Landrum 23:23
Well, I think some people have done like a survival mode.

Stefanie Bautista 23:26
Right!

Ariel Landrum 23:26
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 23:27
You would have to pick that mode in order be there.

Ariel Landrum 23:29
Or like people have decided designed them as well.

Stefanie Bautista 23:32
Yeah yeah yeah. Right. That’s a good point to make. It’s great that it’s not, you know, limiting, but at the same time, the different skills you just never like, like that resilience and just like enduring and like trying to get it done. That’s not there, too. So I mean, I’m glad that they’re taking, like equitable approach to it. But at the same time, I’m wondering, you know, could they be challenging kids a little bit more? In certain ways? Yeah know?

Ariel Landrum 23:57
Well, I think it’s also interesting to see how people game now, even in the way with open world games, how they challenge themselves, because how many times have we seen like now mods in Fortnite, or like now the new thing is Paw… Palworld?

Stefanie Bautista 24:15
Palworld.

Ariel Landrum 24:15
Palworld. Yeah, I’m already hearing about mods that are being put in there. And that takes coding. That takes a lot of effort. So it’s interesting, the desire for customization that we didn’t have growing up. And because of that level of customization, how it forces you to think of the game, not in the mechanics, the game was created.

Stefanie Bautista 24:15
Right.

Ariel Landrum 24:15
We have TAGGS coming up The Therapeutic Applied Geek and Gaming Summit. And one of the things that has been talked about in some previous TAGGS is that technically when we are using games, therapeutically, we’re not using them how they were designed to be used. I find that interesting and though the trajectory the way the world is now that we we do use things off brand if that makes sense. Start with the gaming, like we are thinking about the mechanics differently now than we did before. Because cuz there’s just more opportunity to be able to do that more advancement.

Stefanie Bautista 25:09
And I think depending on what console you’re using, you’re experiencing things in different ways. If you’re gaming on a laptop, that’s everyone’s gaming on a console over gaming on a desktop, that’s different than gaming on your phone. It’s different ways to experience different things in different worlds. I think that’s kind of like the crux of all of this, right is because you have so many options, you got to figure out which one works for you. And that takes time. It’s kind of like giving kids just too many options. And if you don’t have the capacity to show them different ways to do one thing, they’re never going to know what’s best for them. But also, they’re only going to know what you show them.

Ariel Landrum 25:46
Yes, yeah, yeah. So it’s that fine balance of like, as much open opportunity and limited choice, especially when you’re thinking of like young minds. And when I think of the games that I was introduced to when I was younger, except for Pokemon, because I loved like Pokemon, I was introduced to those games because someone else introduced them to me.

Stefanie Bautista 26:07
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 26:07
Not because I was searching them out. And I played like a lot of Rock Band, because I had a boyfriend at the time who wanted to play the drums. And that was like that was accessible.

Stefanie Bautista 26:18
Because it was right there.

Ariel Landrum 26:19
And I fell in love with it. So I think the other thing that games do besides challenge you within the game mechanics, as well as now this new opportunity to customize. I think they also introduce you to like new communities and friendships and opportunities when you are open to the idea of experiencing it with someone else.

Stefanie Bautista 26:39
Right. You were mentioning Rock Band. And I remember Guitar Hero being such a big thing. And I didn’t play until my brother got one because he wanted to play guitar. I did too. But I didn’t get that. Because he did that. So I started playing guitar hero. But I remember my mom just being like, “I’m not gonna buy you these other pieces.” Like when Rock Band came along. She was like, “That’s too many pieces. It’s too expensive.”

Ariel Landrum 27:04
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 27:04
I wish there was a way where you could just sample all of this stuff. Oh, it’s so difficult to do that now because Best Buy used to do and Best Buy and Toys R Us would do like a version of it back then. To where you would try these games out in a, you know, in a safe setting. The first time I played Tekken was in a department store.

Ariel Landrum 27:21
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 27:22
And me and my best friend, every time we went to the department store, we would play Tekken. Because that’s the only way we would play it. Our parents would never buy this for us. But here it was accessible for us. And thats the reason why I knew about it, and I was able to talk about it with friends later on in life is because I played it in a department store. But kind of like how, and I’m going to show my age like a lot here is when you used to go to Virgin Records, and you would preview a CD before you bought it. Because it was there for you to listen to. I wish they would do that with more games, especially towards younger kids. Because how are you going to know and how are you going to invest? If you don’t know if they like it or not.

Ariel Landrum 27:58
You’re really highlighting how like socioeconomic status and video games are for our generation that that was a huge divide. I think this generation has so much access to a variety of video games. It’s really like the top tier ones that get advertised the most that might be inaccessible. And now I do know like Xbox and PlayStation as like a Game Pass.

Stefanie Bautista 27:58
Right.

Ariel Landrum 27:58
And you can have a subscription there. But again, you need the console and the subscription. Yeah, right. And I know that there was this website, and it seems to still exist, called Gamefly.

Stefanie Bautista 28:33
Right?

Ariel Landrum 28:33
You could rent the game.

Stefanie Bautista 28:35
Yeah. Yeah. And then it was like the old school Netflix and they would send it to you.

Ariel Landrum 28:38
Yes. Now, however, and it still looks like it. You couldn’t rent the actual like console pieces, right? Yeah. So like Rock Band, like it’s playing on a controller doesn’t make sense. No, like, however…

Stefanie Bautista 28:53
I tried it’s horrible.

Ariel Landrum 28:55
I’m also not seeing with the exception of virtual reality, a lot of video games that require anything extra. But the controller and my my Am I wrong about that?

Stefanie Bautista 29:06
I mean, as far as I know, I haven’t seen one since that needed anything extra? Because I think everybody’s goal now is convenience and accessibility. Yeah. Everyone has a phone. Most people have a laptop. I mean, maybe most households have one console or another whether it’s an Xbox or a PlayStation. So I don’t know. I as far as I know. No.

Ariel Landrum 29:29
Yeah. And it’s really interesting to see the trajectory of gaming as well because I remember having a special backpack that fit my Xbox 360 and all of its pieces so that I can take it somewhere with me like take it to a friend’s house. And now it’s just so easy to like with The Switch, just transport a game. And especially now that video games are mostly digital, you don’t even have to buy a hard copy and you can just log in.

Stefanie Bautista 29:56
And download the software.

Ariel Landrum 29:58
Download the software. Yes.

Stefanie Bautista 29:59
Yeah, arcades are not a big thing anymore. If you are going to an arcade such as A Round One around here, which is like you know, a big entertainment center, kind of like how all amusement Fun Center used to be, you’re playing those, I don’t want to call it carnival games, but they’re almost carnival games, they’re not exactly video games. Whereas when you go to Japan, which has a huge gaming culture, you can still go to an arcade and play something that is a video you can sit down and play whatever iteration of Street Fighter or whatever. And they have levels, they have one level for fighting games, they have one level for racing games, they have one level for cute kawaii games, they have one level for like a virtual horse racing like, I mean, the accessibility is so much more there just because it’s integrated into their culture. I wish that they had something that here just so that you know more if if they do want to invest all of this money, this is what I get. The point that I’m trying to make is they if they want to invest all this money into gaming, I feel like they have to speak to everyone, no matter what their socio economic status is, no matter what their you know, accessibility level is it needs to be available for them to consume so that they have the opportunity to want to do it at home. I feel like America operates so much in silos, instead of you know, collective that’s my two cents.

Ariel Landrum 31:18
Yes. And I think you’re also highlighting not just the trajectory and evolution of games, but you’re also highlighting the cultural component because in Japan, video games are the culture. We when we saw the Tokyo Olympics, they played video game orchestra, orchestral music. And it’s interesting that you’re talking about like arcades and spaces, because I remember going before Rock Band even existed. I lived in Korea, and I was like 13 at the time, and we would go to like gaming centers or like a PC Bong. And at the gaming center there, this song always makes me think of like, going to this gaming center with my dad, the song Kiss Me Sixpence None The Richer. It was a song that, that they had a drum that I could drum to and it was like only…

Stefanie Bautista 32:08
Was it taiko drum, because there’s that game too, which I really really like.

Ariel Landrum 32:11
I don’t know what it was. It was just an arcade game. And there was a little drum and they were like actual, like, are electric drums.

Stefanie Bautista 32:18
Yeah, so there’s that one? Yes, there’s, I’ve seen that one. I’ve seen the Taiko drum. And then there’s one of you could be a DJ too.

Ariel Landrum 32:24
Yeah. So I played that. And that was the song I picked because it’s the only English song. And every time I was I was really good on the drums on this thing..

Stefanie Bautista 32:32
What an interesting…

Ariel Landrum 32:33
And in many, many, many years later, because I was what 16 Seven? Yeah, 16 or 17 when the rock band came out. You saw this. So when my dad passed away, we went through his memorabilia. He had a lot of memorabilia, and I showed you that he kept a GameWorks card.

Stefanie Bautista 32:49
Yes you did.

Ariel Landrum 32:50
And so so if you some of you don’t know game works was like a gaming entertainment center location.

Stefanie Bautista 32:56
It’s like Round One that I mentioned earlier.

Ariel Landrum 32:58
But this one, I guess, how would you describe it somewhat like Dave and Busters, but like not.

Stefanie Bautista 33:06
But not the game works that I went to. I remember, game was only existing in Las Vegas for a long time. I go to Vegas quite often at least a couple times a year because I feel like Vegas is LA East. As an Angeleno you just got to Vegas, it’s just thing you do. GameWorks was right next to the M&M store. And as a kid, when you go to Vegas, there’s literally nothing you could do. But go to game works and the M&M store. So GameWorks is basically a big arcade.

Ariel Landrum 33:34
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 33:34
There’s a bowling alley there. You can do various games. It’s not like you know, Chucky Cheese or all that stuff where you had like a physical aspect to it. It’s more of like tween gaming. I want to say if if I want to put kind of like a generator or like an age range on it, so you could play basically, yeah, arcade games, skee ball, all that stuff. That was the epicenter. It was such a late 90s, early 2000s thing.

Ariel Landrum 33:58
And they built one in Guam, and it closed in 2006. So that was a Game Works that I went to.

Stefanie Bautista 34:04
Oh my goodness.

Ariel Landrum 34:05
And so that was a card my dad had held on to was the we had, we had already moved. And he had held on to it. And the game that I remember, was an I see like now I think of like safety stuff because I’m old. But you strap yourself in and it would go up and down. Like it actually went up like two or three floors. And what it was was you were shooting down these virtual balloons, which are supposed to be other people that were strapped to this chair.

Stefanie Bautista 34:32
I if you’re like I saw that, but I was never allowed to go on it because it was expensive.

Ariel Landrum 34:36
At some point at some point. Like you would be you’d be shooting you’d be shooting and you’d feel your vehicle move up and down like two or three floors. And then at the end you would see who was at the highest I was in the middle. So I felt really good about my shot. But I hadn’t realized as I was playing the game, how high up I was until it was time to reveal the score and like the screen like sort of went away and I freaked out. So I have a huge fear of heights.

Stefanie Bautista 35:03
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 35:03
And I was like, proud of myself for like beating all of these like dudes, but I was also very scared to one off of that game ride. And I don’t think I don’t think anything like that exsists like that anymore.

Stefanie Bautista 35:13
No, because game works was always in a place where they had a huge area. That’s what you have. You’re like Las Vegas, you’re Ontario because they had I don’t even know what they’re called simulator games, I guess. Very similar to like, if you play Jurassic Park, where you’re like in the little Jeep, and you’re shooting, not all the dinosaurs, but like on a more larger scale, I think something comparable to that would be kind of like a VR simulator.

Ariel Landrum 35:15
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 35:15
It’s very comparable to that now, but you’re in a pod, as opposed to Ariel here who was hoisted into the air.

Ariel Landrum 35:23
Yes yes. Hosited right up into the air.

Stefanie Bautista 35:49
So did you play it ever again? Or did you want to go on it after? Did you have the opportunity to know?

Ariel Landrum 35:55
So that was our like, last week in Guam? And I had never played that game before I had always played. Is it a House of the Dead? The House of the Dead? And there was a Jurassic Park one?

Stefanie Bautista 36:08
Yes. That was..

Ariel Landrum 36:08
Yep. Though. So those are just my classic games, that some sort of driving game, you know, you’re always doing a racing game.

Stefanie Bautista 36:13
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 36:14
But I wanted to do this. I want to do that. Because we were leaving. And I didn’t know I didn’t think there was a Game Works in Korea. Little did I know, I would still be playing video games and other ways.

Stefanie Bautista 36:24
Or that Korea probably had something that was just not called game works. It was something way more.

Ariel Landrum 36:28
Yes and I think when it comes to video games and gaming, like it is very much part of my family culture, because my grandma used to play solitaire on her computer. And she knew the code to like cheat. That was her favorite thing was she it would shoot out three cards. But if she didn’t want those three, she pushed this button and we started shooting one card. And she was like, “I always win at Solitaire because I cheat.” And then my dad, he played hearts and and he learned how to play spades. And so those were the games that he would play online. And he had his his online community had like regular usernames he remembered and they even log in and they would know like, oh, it because I guess hearts is a game that you like, have a buddy with or like your partners. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 37:14
Yeah. Never played hearts. I think now that we’re kind of tying it to older generations and how they game. I mean, I know my mom used to play solitaire just with cards. Now she plays it on her phone. She doesn’t bring the cards out anymore. She just plays it on her phone. And ironically enough, when we all went to Disney World a couple years ago, they didn’t want to walk around no more. So all they did was just play on their phones. Which, you know, that’s another layer of gaming too. When we’re talking about Disney and gaming. We play games while we’re in line.

Ariel Landrum 37:45
Oh my gosh, yes. So many times have we played like Heads Up.

Stefanie Bautista 37:49
That’s like a classic TikTok now, where you’re making fun of people who are like Disney adults playing Heads Up. And you know, you can even play with like people who are on the other side of the line.

Ariel Landrum 37:59
Yep.

Stefanie Bautista 37:59
And just get off their game. Play it yourself. Because you are waiting in very long queues, especially at different Disney’s around the world. So you could maybe that’s what the thinking was in this investment. While they’re waiting in line at Disney, why not play a Disney game?

Ariel Landrum 38:18
And I will say that Disney has a game in the park that you can sorta do and…

Stefanie Bautista 38:23
Oh my gosh Disney play. Remember when Galaxy’s Edge open and we were like obsessed with all those little mini games?

Ariel Landrum 38:31
Yes. So my partner and I ran around scanning all these Joe archives to like flip a color for like a team. I it was and it killed our batteries so much.

Stefanie Bautista 38:42
I remember you guys both run out of battery.

Ariel Landrum 38:44
And I have and I have no idea why I don’t eat. I still don’t understand what the goal of the game was. Yeah, was just a novelty. That was really it.

Stefanie Bautista 38:53
Its funny, because I went to that same you know, where they have the bathrooms?

Ariel Landrum 38:57
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 38:57
There’s like a QR code. I remember we were there because you were trying to like, get up on some satellite or whatever, like try to change the color. And here I was using the restroom and gonna change a diaper and I’m like, looked over and just the nostalgia of like, “Why did I do that? Why What was the point with that?”

Ariel Landrum 39:14
There was no point.

Stefanie Bautista 39:15
Yeah, that’s the Disneyland app trying to be relevant. Yeah, aside from being you know, an informational tool…

Ariel Landrum 39:21
And a battery and a battery killer…

Stefanie Bautista 39:22
And I think that goes back to what I was saying earlier where it’s like I get it Disney you’re trying to get into everything but it might be a hit or miss. We don’t know.

Ariel Landrum 39:31
Yeah, I really hope it’s a it’s a hit, especially because they invested a lot of money and I’m and given that right now. I’ve had a lot of clients in the tech industry who have been let go. Lots of I mean, lots of companies are just letting hordes of people go hopefully this will open up some some avenue for work because they don’t have a large right now that I’m aware of. Gaming department and and gaming animators, maybe But the individuals from some companies have been let go can can be jumping on these projects.

Stefanie Bautista 40:05
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 40:06
You know, we’re highlighting there’s opportunity we’re highlighting the gaming allows you to feel community and comfort. We’re highlighting the ways that you can engage in gaming. Like, even it doesn’t even have to be a Disney game. But the place that I love to play Pokemon Go them the most is Disneyland because there’s always enough people to like, take down like a five star raid.

Stefanie Bautista 40:27
Yeah. And you build community. Now you can actually add people who you’ve done raids with, sometimes I’ve done raids, and I’m like, “Who is this person adding me?” And I’m like, “Oh, I think we did a raid together.” So it’s not so scary anymore. But yeah, I remember, I mean, we played Pokemon Go so much in the parks. Just because it’s, it’s easier then then playing around our houses where there’s not too many people, or you have to like, make the effort to go, you could just kind of hit you know, two birds with one stone, essentially.

Ariel Landrum 40:55
When we have to wait in line because we don’t have those, the Genie+, it’s, it’s worth it, it’s worth it. Because we definitely aren’t bored. And we are doing something together. I think individuals who don’t game often they don’t understand that we are interacting with each other, even if we’re not talking.

Stefanie Bautista 41:13
Yeah, it’s definitely just breaking down those barriers. And that stigma of what traditional gamers look like, you know, are like how they act, how they interact with each other, you know, Disney in itself has such a wide range of reach, that they can go ahead and, you know, essentially diminish those barriers, I definitely hope that they listen to what people want and more than what makes the most profit, it will start hopefully, at the youngest level as much as possible, just because, you know, kids are just being introduced to screentime earlier and earlier, and it’s just gonna be part of their lives.

Ariel Landrum 41:53
Yeah, yeah. I think there’s a level of acceptance that needs to be made that this is this is now part of our current generation and future generations culture. It just it like rarely do we think of walking in a room and not seeing a TV now. It’s just part of our culture. I don’t know. I don’t know any hotel that doesn’t have one.

Stefanie Bautista 42:11
Right. Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 42:12
So I think the same thing that comes with with gaming’s with iPad games with mobile devices, not just consoles.

Stefanie Bautista 42:22
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 42:22
And I think, you know, Disney is more aware of their audience, at least the demographic, so I’d be interested to see the safety measures that they put into place, and how they’re going to create levels of safety. The conversations that I often have my clients’ parents are like their fears around, you know, video game safety. And I certainly know that I’ve stopped using my mic. I have for a long time, I still haven’t felt comfortable turning it on because now I know you can do like voice modulators and like they change your voice and things like that. But still, I’ve never felt comfortable after like the harassment I used to receive. So I understand the importance of creating some safety nets. And I I’d be interested to see how Disney does that for Fortnite.

Stefanie Bautista 43:10
Yeah.

Ariel Landrum 43:11
They’re Fornite.

Stefanie Bautista 43:11
They’re Fornite… If if ish?

Ariel Landrum 43:14
I don’t know. Yeah…

Stefanie Bautista 43:16
Whatever they’re planning.

Ariel Landrum 43:17
I’m a little confused as to whether it is in Fortnite or it is a separate game like Fortnite.

Stefanie Bautista 43:22
Knowing them. It’s probably going to be a separate Fortnite like game.

Ariel Landrum 43:26
Okay.

Stefanie Bautista 43:27
They would they would never I mean, it says Disney X Epic Games, which is like a collaborator.

Ariel Landrum 43:33
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 43:34
But not Disney X Fortnite.

Ariel Landrum 43:35
Yeah. Okay. okay.

Stefanie Bautista 43:36
Even though you can I think make skins or get skins that are like Disney.

Ariel Landrum 43:39
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 43:41
So, I mean, yeah, you’re absolutely right. I mean, even for like older male gamers, such as my husband, he still gets just nonsense on his headset. And he’s just like, “I’m on your team, man.”

Ariel Landrum 43:52
Yeah, yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 43:53
And through “Oh, just kidding, bro.” And he’s just like, there was literally no reason for that. So I definitely think that, you know, I hope like you that they put some safety measures, because in the virtual world is could be very, very scary. And you know, it will not be welcoming. If you know, those things aren’t put in place. Thinking of the youngest audience, I feel like now that we have the opportunity to say, here are the things that did work. And that didn’t work. We want to try and introduce these things as safely as possible for them so that they have the confidence and ability to want to explore these worlds. We don’t want to burn them out the minute that they get there. I mean, who would want to keep going in a world where they just feel hate and negativity? I don’t think there’s room for that. There’s already so much of it going around in real life that they shouldn’t be experienced that in a contained world.

Ariel Landrum 43:53
And I think that’s one of the reasons why we try to gravitate towards Disney is that escapism is the…

Stefanie Bautista 44:50
And it’s safe.

Ariel Landrum 44:51
And the layers of safety because it’s meant to be family friendly. It’s meant to be light hearted.

Stefanie Bautista 44:57
Yeah. So I really wonder how they’re going to strike that balance. That’s because you got to satisfy the Disney adults, but also know that the little ones are watching too. So, you know, there’s so much more to be said about video games and its evolution. Again, we are not video game experts. But we are just lovers of the video games that we have been exposed to. So if you guys have any other suggestions of video games that you guys love, either before or Now, let us know in our Instagram and our Twitter X and we want to call it anymore…

Ariel Landrum 45:28
The Twitter.

Stefanie Bautista 45:29
The Twitter, the Twitter X, whatever. But yeah, I think the future is going to be interesting.

Ariel Landrum 45:38
Yep, go ahead and DM us @HappiestPodGT.

Stefanie Bautista 45:42
Try out a new game. Tell us how you like it?

Ariel Landrum 45:46
Yeah.

Stefanie Bautista 45:46
Alright everyone. Thank you!

Ariel Landrum 45:47
Bye!

Media/Characters Mentioned
  • Disney Characters
  • Epic Games
  • Wreck-It Ralph
  • Epic Games
  • Fortnite
  • GameWorks
  • The Little Mermaid
  • Aladdin
  • Pokemon
  • Pokemon Go
  • Rock Band
  • Guitar Hero
  • Disneyland
Topics/Themes Mentioned
  • Disney’s Metaverse
  • Gaming Evolution
  • Community Engagement
  • Cultural Impact of Gaming
  • Storytelling in Games
  • Educational Gaming
  • Therapeutic Gaming
  • Handheld Games
  • Generational Gaming
  • Gaming Community
  • Community Building
  • Recovery
  • Destress

Website: happy.geektherapy.com
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