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Sacred Symbols+, Episode 484 | Get Your Politics Into My Games
🕑 Added 2025-11-01 16:00:17 +0000 UTCPlease welcome developer, academic, and US Senate candidate Chris Volpe to Sacred Symbols+. Chris is a darkhorse for the Democratic nomination in Ohio in the 2026 race, and I (Colin) invited him to the show to discuss the intersection of video games and politics, but not in a partisan or ideological fashion. (So, if you're afraid we're going to get into foreign policy, immigration, or other hot-button topics, fear not.) Rather, we focus our conversation around one simple question, and then span-out from there: How come no one in Washington DC has any semblance of understanding of video games and the industry that creates them, nor the massive culture that surrounds them? Mr. Volpe aims to fix these problems. With an entrepreneurial background, he may be one of the best-equipped people to figure out how the US government can better support and shepherd its vibrant gaming corporations, how tax breaks, state investment, and tariffs help or hurt, and why some countries -- like Canada, France, and so on -- do all of this so much better than we do. How come we're still waiting for The Gamer Politician? Maybe Chris Volpe is that man. Again, our wide-ranging conversation should be accessible to everyone of all political persuasions, and it's unlikely you'll hear much of anything that will offend you, regardless of your sensitivities. So press play with confidence!
Comments
Clint
Best episode in a long ass time. Someone on the same level intellectually as Colin. Bring him back and hire him if you can
Glen Yelenovic
This is what sets LSM apart from the others. You can have someone on who doesn’t have the exact same opinions as you and have an intelligent conversation about actual issues. More like this please
Chris
it's more open-ended chats like these that keep my patreon sub clinging to life. Colin is so rational and systems oriented in seemingly every facet of life except politics, where it seems he's devoted to the labels and thus consistently running damage control for the right, occasionally throws out unvetted propaganda or echoes party lines and eschews humility in the process. but in chats like these it's a reminder that, even if he's gotta twist himself into a pretzel to reconcile it, you can see a set of very admirable core beliefs.
