Welcome to Season 2 of the Quick Tinker Podcast!

This episode is pulled straight from my YouTube channel, and it's all about something we often skip past in gaming: the setup phase.

Using Death Stranding as a case study, I break down how the act of configuring a game—menus, settings, audio, brightness—isn’t just about preference. It’s about media literacy, accessibility, and player agency before we even press start.

As an educator with Tinker Tech Edu, I draw parallels between prepping for a game and preparing a classroom to read a novel. From themes and tech adjustments to how students (and gamers) take ownership of their experience, this episode connects digital gameplay to deep learning principles.

🎮 In This Episode, You'll Hear About:

🎓 The philosophy: Why setting up a game is like setting up a novel

🧠 Media literacy & agency: How menus = choices = ownership

🛠️ Accessibility: Comparing game settings to reading tools

🕹️ A lightning-fast 60-second "shoutcast" walkthrough of my Death Stranding setup

🧩 Guiding Questions (Perfect for Classrooms or Game Clubs):

The First Thing You Do: Do you start a new game immediately—or adjust settings first? How is that like starting a book or movie?

Agency & Ownership: What's one setting you always change to make the game truly yours?

Creator vs. Player: Are we “co-directing” the experience by changing settings? What’s the balance between user choice and creator intent?

Accessibility Across Media: How do gaming accessibility tools (subtitles, remapping, etc.) compare to things like audiobooks or large print?

🎧 Originally recorded for YouTube—now brought to the pod. Let’s press start. Let’s learn. Let’s keep tinkering.

🔗 Follow the Tinker Tech Edu Journey:

🟣 linqapp.com/edtechtinker

🌐 Website: bit.ly/attestreamstudy

Don’t forget to Like and Subscribe to follow the entire Death Stranding learning series.