Matt Conn

Last updated
Matt Conn
Born (1987-10-30) October 30, 1987 (age 37)

Matt Conn (born 1987 in San Francisco, California) is the founder and former CEO of MidBoss. He is known for the creation of GaymerX, the cyberpunk story adventure game Read Only Memories , and producing the LGBTQ video game documentary Gaming In Color . [1]

Contents

He is also a founding member at BandPage, [2] which was acquired by YouTube in 2016 [3] and for winning the Travel Channel television program America's Worst Driver . [4]

On March 26, 2018, Conn stepped down from the board of GaymerX and as CEO of MidBoss after allegations of sexual misconduct, underpaying workers, and workplace harassment. [5]

GaymerX

GaymerX (initially GaymerCon) was founded in February 2012 and launched its Kickstarter on August 1, 2012 [6] with a goal of $25,000. It hit its goal within five days [7] and ended up raising just over $91,000. The first convention was held on August 3 and 4, 2013 in San Francisco, California. [8] The launch was covered by sites such as Examiner and GamePolitics.com. [9]

Throughout the fundraising campaign, organizers added new support levels, in addition to existing support levels that included admission to the event and voice acting from Ellen McLain. [10] At a session during the convention, McLain took part as assistant on a marriage proposal to help an attendee propose to his boyfriend by voicing a version of the song "Still Alive" with reworked lyrics.

Robosaurus, featured on America's Worst Driver Robosaurus fire.jpg
Robosaurus, featured on America's Worst Driver

GaymerX2 was held at the InterContinental Hotel on July 11–13, 2014 in downtown San Francisco. It featured celebrities like former WWE performer Fred Rosser (Darren Young) and sponsors like Indiecade, Ubisoft, Riot Games, and 2K Games.

GaymerX ran from 2013 until 2017 and has held events in San Francisco, San Jose, and New York City. It also inspired a spin-off event, GX Australia, in Sydney, Australia.

2064: Read Only Memories

2064: Read Only Memories is a cyberpunk adventure game for the PC, Mac, Playstation 4, Playstation Vita, Xbox One and Linux. It was successfully funded on Kickstarter for $64,378 on December 12, 2013. [11] [12]

America's Worst Driver

On this series, which aired in mid-2010, Conn was penalized for being the worst driver in San Francisco by having his car destroyed by construction equipment. [13] In the finale, Conn was named the winner of the program, and had a car representing him destroyed by Robosaurus. [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Jackson Games</span> American game publishing company

Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and the gaming magazine Pyramid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Pondsmith</span> Game designer

Michael Alyn Pondsmith is an American roleplaying, board, and video game designer. He founded the publisher R. Talsorian Games in 1982, where he developed a majority of the company's role-playing game lines. Pondsmith is the author of several RPG lines, including Mekton (1984), Cyberpunk (1988) and Castle Falkenstein (1994). He also contributed to the Forgotten Realms and Oriental Adventures lines of the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, worked in various capacities on video games, and authored or co-created several board games. Pondsmith also worked as an instructor at the DigiPen Institute of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gaymer</span> LGBTQ gamer

Gaymer and gay gamer are umbrella terms used to refer to the group of people who are identified as homosexual and have an active interest in video games or tabletop games, also known as gamers. Bisexual, and transgender gamers are often categorized under this term.

<i>Americas Worst Driver</i> American reality television series

America's Worst Driver is an American reality television program on Travel Channel, based on the television series Britain's Worst Driver and Canada's Worst Driver, part of the Worst Driver television franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Connelly</span> Video game composer and sound designer

Peter Connelly is a British video game composer and sound designer known for his work on the action-adventure Tomb Raider series. He has been part of several video game releases working mainly with Core Design, Eutechnyx and Ubisoft.

Japanese cyberpunk refers to cyberpunk fiction produced in Japan. There are two distinct subgenres of Japanese cyberpunk: live-action Japanese cyberpunk films, and cyberpunk manga and anime works.

Homestuck is an Internet fiction series created by American author and artist Andrew Hussie. The fourth and best-known of Hussie's four MS Paint Adventures, it originally ran from April 13, 2009, to April 13, 2016. Though normally described as a webcomic, and partly constituted by a series of single panel pages, Homestuck also relied heavily on Flash animations and instant message logs to convey its story, along with occasional use of browser games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen McLain</span> American voice actress (born 1952 or 1953)

Ellen McLain is an American voice actress. She is best known for providing the voice of GLaDOS, the primary antagonist of the Portal video game series, the Combine Overwatch AI in Half-Life 2, and the Administrator, the announcer in Team Fortress 2. Her voice roles also include the Jaeger A.I. in Pacific Rim and The Witch in Left 4 Dead 2.

<i>Broken Age</i> 2015 video game

Broken Age is a point-and-click adventure video game developed and published by Double Fine. Broken Age was game director Tim Schafer's first return to the genre since 1998's Grim Fandango, and was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Xbox One platforms. The game was developed in two acts; the first was released on January 28, 2014, and the second was released on April 28, 2015. A retail version of the complete game for Windows, macOS, and Linux, published by Nordic Games, was released on April 28, 2015. A Nintendo Switch version was released on September 13, 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GaymerX</span> American non-profit

GaymerX is an American public-benefit nonprofit corporation based in California dedicated to celebrating and supporting LGBTQ+ people and culture in the world of gaming, with a focus on video games. GaymerX puts on a fan-facing convention with LGBT-oriented gaming and geek culture, or gaymer, with panels primarily focused on LGBT issues and debates in the gaming industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Roelofs</span> American video game developer (born 1964)

Karl Roelofs is an American video game developer known for creating the MacVenture game Shadowgate. He is a co-founder of the video game development company Zojoi, LLC with Dave Marsh.

<i>Soul Saga: Episode 1</i> Video game

Soul Saga: Episode 1 is an adventure JRPG video game developed by Disastercake, with an Early Access version released on February 28, 2020. Funded through Kickstarter, the game is scheduled for release on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, and PlayStation 4. Disastercake states that the game is influenced by, and will play as, a Japanese role-playing video game, in the vein of Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Breath of Fire, and Persona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MidBoss</span> Game development company

MidBoss is an American video game and media production company that was founded by members of the GaymerX team as they expanded beyond GaymerX into other ventures, specifically Gaming in Color and 2064: Read Only Memories.

<i>2064: Read Only Memories</i> 2015 video game

2064: Read Only Memories is a cyberpunk adventure game developed by MidBoss. It was directed by John "JJSignal" James, written by Valerie Amelia Thompson and Philip Jones, and features an original soundtrack by 2 Mello.

Gaming In Color is a documentary film by MidBoss about queer people in gaming. Directed by Philip Jones, Gaming In Color focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues in video games, gaymer culture and events, and the rise of queer themes in gaming. The film is largely interview based, and features notable gay gaming personalities in the industry and communities.

Conor Russomanno is an American entrepreneur, inventor, and public speaker, specializing in the development of advanced human-computer interfaces. He is the co-founder and CEO of OpenBCI, a company dedicated to open source innovation of brain-computer interface technologies. Russomanno has also served as an adjunct professor at Parsons School of Design and NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and as a Research Affiliate at the MIT Media Lab. In 2018, he was honored on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the category of Science. In April 2023, Russomanno delivered a TED Talk that featured a spectacular assistive technology BCI and AR demonstration to help a friend living with severe motor disabilities, Christian Bayerlein, fly a drone over the audience.

Nevermind is a first-person horror video game developed by Flying Mollusk. It was released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in 2015, and for Xbox One in 2017. The story revolves around the minds of people who have suppressed memories of horrible events.

<i>Read Only Memories: Neurodiver</i> 2024 video game

Read Only Memories: Neurodiver is a 2024 visual novel developed by MidBoss and published by Chorus Worldwide. It is the sequel to 2064: Read Only Memories. Players control a person with extrasensory perception in a cyberpunk story with adventure game elements.

References

  1. "Gaming In Color, Full Cast & Crew". imdb.com.
  2. "RootMusic/BandPage on AngelList". angel.co.
  3. "YouTube Acquires BandPage For $8M To Attract Musicians With Money-Making Tools". angel.co.
  4. Travel Channel. "Contestant Bios for Finale". travelchannel.com.
  5. Chan, Stephanie (March 26, 2018). "MidBoss and GaymerX CEO exits after allegations of misconduct". VentureBeat . Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  6. "GaymerCon Kickstarter Funding Drive Launches". gamepolitics.com.
  7. "GaymerCon Surpasses Funding Goal in Less Than Five Days". gamepolitics.com.
  8. "'Gay Gamers to Hold Their Own 'Gaymer' Convention'". forbes.com.
  9. "GaymerCon Raises over $14,000 in Two Days". GamePolitics.
  10. Lana Polansky (27 July 2012). "Ellen McLain Summons GLaDOS to Voice Support for GaymerCon". GameRanx.
  11. "ROM: Read Only Memories". Kickstarter.
  12. Sarkar, Samit (December 13, 2013). "Cyberpunk adventure Read Only Memories funded on Kickstarter". Polygon.
  13. AWD Blog. "AWD Blog: San Francisco". americas-worst-driver-blog.travelchanel.com.
  14. Laurie Peterson. "America's Worst Driver – Season Finale". aaatravelviews.com. Archived from the original on 2010-05-10. Retrieved 2010-05-12.