Welcome to Crossplay

A new reader-funded publication focused on the intersection of video games and parenting.

These are my two kids, though they’ve aged quite a bit since this was taken. They’re how I look at the world, but don’t expect them to be the focus of Crossplay.

Crossplay is the name of a new reader-funded publication that I'm launching on Substack today. I’m calling it “a newsletter at the intersection of parenting and video games.” I grew up in a time before games became part of culture, and where it was odd to spend so much time playing them. A lot has changed since then. My children are growing up in a time where games are accepted, though still misunderstood.

Heck, they're still misunderstood by me and I'm supposed to be the expert! 

My name is Patrick Klepek, and I've been writing and reporting about video games since I was 14 years old. That’s more than 20 years, a number that is both humbling and staggering. For the past six years, though, I've helped run Waypoint, the gaming website under VICE. (I also just launched its successor, Remap.)

Maybe you've seen my work, or maybe this is the first time you're hearing of me.

Though I may still look 14 years old because of a face that refuses to age properly, it betrays that I'm also a 38-year-old parent of two girls, ages six and three. I am as much of a reporter as I am a parent, and increasingly, I've found myself interested to see if the worlds could overlap. I have a lot of questions about what it means to play video games as a parent, and what it means to be a parent whose kids play video games. With Crossplay, I want to serve those audiences, and ask questions:

• When should you introduce video games to your kids, and in what form?

• What do I do when my kid asks to spend money in a game?

• What’s it like to be a game developer who’s also a parent?

• Hey, is this upcoming game suitable to play with my kid?

• How do I balance my kid's interest in video games without going overboard?

• Should I play games in front of my kids? What can I play with them?

• What's up with all those awful ads on every free game on the App Store?

• How are game companies handling moderation on kid games?

I'm here to be a resource.

You have questions I'm not thinking of, and those will be a guiding force at Crossplay. This is a collaborative effort. I want to help you get answers, or at least provide context for a conversation, because we all know parenting isn't about clear answers.

What You Should Expect From Crossplay

Regular reported pieces about the everyday questions facing parents about video games. For my debut, I explored what happens when Roblox enters the house, and how parents are dealing with questions about finding objectionable content (including unexpected racial slurs being shouted at kids), interacting with strangers, dealing with exploitative microtransactions, and more. These pieces will always be free, and I hope you'll share them with parents who might be interested in joining Crossplay!

I'll also be regularly filing commentary about gaming as a parent, and answering mailbag questions. These will require you to become a paid subscriber of Crossplay.

Paid members get access to a Discord for the Crossplay community, where we can gather and moan about the latest piece of candy one of our kids has jammed under the couch. I’d also like to start a podcast, but that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves.

Everything on Crossplay today only does not cost anything, because I want to give people a broad look at the kind of content I've got planned now and in the future. The publication will be a mixture of free and paid, and I'm still figuring out the ratio.

What You Should Not Expect From Crossplay

To gain detailed insight into the lives of my children! There's a fine line between using my experiences as a parent, and becoming a parent leveraging their children for profit. This will be a learning experience for me, too. I will not be using the names of my children on Crossplay, nor will they be featured as part of any associated podcasts or streams. (Unless they, uh, walk in unannounced. This can happen.) I am especially sensitive about this with my oldest child. She didn't ask to be the kid of a reporter!

What I Need From You

Your support and curiosity. This publication will only exist if enough people decide it's worth their time and money. To that point, I am extremely thankful to the people who have already promised to support Crossplay, long before I could show you what I had planned and where this might go. I hope you’re happy with what I’m offering today.

But the reality is this is a reader-backed publication. I am not being paid by anyone except for you to write these pieces, and I'll only go as far as we all go together.

If you don't have a kid, can you share this newsletter to someone who does? If you have a kid but don't have the means to support Crossplay financially, can you share this with a friend? Support and community come in many forms. I’m thankful for all of it.

We, as parents, are in it together. We're all facing the same problems, in different ways and degrees. The point of this newsletter is to establish a community where we can feel comfortable asking questions along the way. They're not all bad conversations, either. Games are as scary as they are beautiful, and frequently prove wonderful bonding devices between generations. We'll celebrate all that here.

Now, deep breath, Patrick. I've never taken a leap like this before. Time to jump.

Will you jump with me?