Oh, hello. I don’t think we’ve met. My name is Ashley, and I’m Kotaku’s newest staff writer, where I’ll be focusing on tips and guides. Didn’t you read the headline? It’s okay, I forgive you.
Before this job, I worked at Inverse as its science-and-tech newsletter writer and wrote a column on women and video games for Destructoid. I’ve also been freelancing all over the place for two years, stacking up my portfolio of weird internet articles, including one about abusive robot relationships for Futurism, queer TikTok gaming for The Verge, and medieval feminism for Bitch.
Perhaps you’re now thinking to yourself, “Wow, this girl is certainly silly and fun with a wide range of interests, though she mostly seems to focus on culture and technology.” Yes, it’s true. I love wriggling into every strange rabbit hole video games, tech, and social media send me through.
You probably know that this is my first time writing for Kotaku (though I have been reading the site since I was just a little Ashley), and it’s also my first time writing tips and guides specifically (though I live inside the user-updated Elden Ring map on Fextralife). That said, my prior experience and existing interests have given me so much energy and so many ideas that I can’t wait to share with you.
In everything I have ever written, my main goal has always been to be entertaining, informative, and do work that is imbued with a sense of humility. Those qualities become doubly critical in service journalism, so I can promise you that I’ll never try to confuse you or encourage you to “get good.”
Speaking of which, I love video games, but I consider myself a perfectly adequate video game player. Instead of some omnipotent Kotaku Lord of Games, which sounds terrifying, you can instead think of me as that friend in Discord you go to for good advice. I want to help you make video game discoveries and enjoy the art form to its full potential, that’s all.
For that same reason, although I will absolutely be writing more standard guides on topics like boss battles, farming routes, and the shiniest loot, I’m also hoping to broaden the scope of video game service articles.
I love video games, but I also love chick flicks, Phoebe Bridgers, and watching The Bachelor until my eyes bleed. I often find it frustrating that video game service pieces seem skewed to a specific kind of gamer—experienced, white, male, straight—when I and other so-called nontraditional gamers have nowhere to uncover what video games will make us feel like genderless extras on Bridgerton, or whatever.
So you can expect me to write about girly shit (which really is just shit that everyone likes but doesn’t feel allowed to) and other things I think the rest of my non-white, non-male gaming community wants to know. Ultimately, I’m ready to change how gamers help other gamers, and I want you to come with me.
