Why I made a podcast with my dad

A composite image featuring four podcast cover images, each with the "REGEN" logo prominently displayed. The game art shown features Dirt Rally, FIFA 21, Life is Strange, and Cities: Skylines. The text overlaid on the image reads, "Perspective is what makes discourse possible."

ChatGPT was used in parts for the translation of this article from German to English.

I started a German-language video game podcast (at the beginning of 2022). In “ReGen,” my father and I talk about video games. So far, so ordinary. However, my father has no clue about games and serves as a guinea pig for me and our listeners. What hurdles do newcomers to this medium have to overcome? What is there to learn about digital skills in general? And how can someone be systematically introduced to this incredibly vast and diverse world of video games? You can always stumble into it, but I believe that sitting down and saying, “I want to understand video games now,” is actually more difficult. Without a starting point, you can only figure it out by trial and error, and you may not always have the time for that. In short, I hope this podcast can one day serve as such a starting point for newcomers. Or just offer an interesting perspective from a non-gamer for people who already know more than enough about this topic.


However, this text isn’t necessarily meant to persuade people to listen to our podcast (although you should, if you know your German). I want to take this opportunity to reflect and express my gratitude. Reflect on how the idea for such a format came about and what, in my perception, was needed to reach this point. I want to thank those who, through their inspiration, have brought me to this very moment.

Well damn, journalists are also people

For several years, I’ve been following German video game journalism, and of course, my taste in what and whom I want to listen to has changed. But it was always clear that the classic review (as much as I like and sometimes need it) would never be the holy grail of video game journalism for me. Around 2013, I mainly watched “Giga” on YouTube and realized that it was just as important to me who was talking about games as what was being said. It was the first time I found myself interested in the opinions of specific individuals. To this day, I believe that in a media landscape like today’s, you need to know the people behind the articles, podcasts, and videos to a certain extent in order to fully understand them.

With my interest in the opinions of certain journalists, it became much clearer how I would discover new games. I knew where I fundamentally agreed with some individuals and where I didn’t. So, it was no surprise that when two of these journalists left “Giga” and started a new project called “Hooked,” I would follow them. These two (Tom and Robin) are still producing interesting videos to this day, carving out a creative niche for themselves, and they are definitely one of the reasons why “ReGen” exists today. Funded by their community, they create the videos they want, somewhat free from the need for commercial success.

screenshot of the hooked youtube channel.

What I need, therefore, is not just information but perspective. Perspective is what makes discourse possible; without differing opinions, having conversations would be incredibly boring. It might sound obvious to some, but understanding that this is how I wanted to perceive media communication was something I had to work out for myself. It was easy for me to believe that I just needed the key information about a game to make a purchase decision. And separately, I also watched Let’s Plays, but that was entertainment, and I drew a pretty sharp line between the two. However, by doing so, I missed out on a broad spectrum of discourse about games today. What I now look for in video game journalism is perspective and entertainment. I don’t want to have to slog through a text; I want to enjoy it. And I want to understand the person behind the opinion and use their perspective as one piece of the puzzle that shapes my own view.

A huge thank you to Tom, Robin, Leo, and Mats, and everyone involved with “Hooked.” Without them, I would never have had the desire to contribute to the discourse on video games myself. A special thanks to Mats, who created a small video series on “Superkreuzburg” that directly inspired “ReGen”, the “Su-Edition“.

The YouTube thumbnail of an episode of the "Su-Edition" with "dear Esther" and "gone home".

In the series, Mats shows games to Su, the namesake of the series, who has virtually no prior experience with the medium. Hmm, sounds familiar… I’d also like to mention the well-known and fantastic YouTube series by Razbuten, “Gaming For A Non-Gamer”.

So, these have all been major sources of inspiration for “ReGen”, but in the case of “Hooked” and others, they were also a significant part of my YouTube routine for a long time.

“Learning” is a weird word

In my first language (German), and also to some degree in English, I feel that, “learning” gets a bad rep. The boundaries between “learning,” “playing,” and “experimenting” are somewhat arbitrary. Still, everyone has very different associations with these terms, even though, in my view, they are essentially the same thing. All these terms embody human curiosity, and the words themselves are merely different tools we use to express that curiosity. It depends on the situation what we call it, but the fundamental idea remains the same. I hope this will come across in our podcast. I learn from someone who knows nothing about games, while my father learns about my approach to games as one of my most important media experiences. I try to select and explain the right games, while my father has to learn in a completely different context. And all the while we’re just “playing”.

My thoughts on the concept of learning are definitely owed to someone. During my past studies in communication science, I had the wonderful Media Education lecture with Andrea Schaffař. In particular, the guest lecture by Thomas Kunze from the Games Institute Austria has stayed with me. I’d also like to express my gratitude for the great insights he provided. So, the highlights of my studies sponsored this paragraph.


Perspective, entertainment, and educational value. These are all the components that hopefully come together in our podcast. They are definitely components that are unified within me. I love learning with and from people, and having fun while doing it. Stay curious.