Jojo’s favorite Super Smash characters, Rosalina and Luma.
My first memory is of sitting in my parent’s basement at 3 years old, playing Super Mario Brothers and other titles on the Super NES. I grew up in a normal, middle-class suburban neighborhood as one of three children. My older brother, who is 4 years older than me, was the only person I had around that was a candidate to play games with for a very long time. Most of those days were remembered with an angle of bitterness, as being the youngest child doesn’t bold well when all you have to do with your abundance of spare time is play video games. Because of this, I spent years playing very little and watching all the time. So many video games that I never put my hands on for a long time, but watched with a close eye as my older brother played, and the experience wasn’t the best.
It’s no surprise to me today that there was one point in my life that everything clicked together at once and I came to a sobering realization that I was transgender. Between high school angst, parental and sibling abuse, and terrible social skills, I had a lifetime of regret to look back on and wonder why that was. It was because of this, and an impressive collection of consoles and games spanning nearly 2 decades of hoarding, that I was inspired to launch Player Two, a Let’s Play channel that I dedicated to helping girls have a presence in Let’s Plays and gaming as a larger picture.
It has been very challenging to keep that channel afloat with hardware and financial limitations, but I still plan on making an investment in the equipment we initially were missing in our launch. I run the channel with my girlfriend that lives with me, and with the help of a team of artists and collaborators over Skype.
I game because I am a hypercritical person with a passion for taking apart all of the media I consume. I wanted to be able to re-play the games I had beaten years or decades ago, but I had no substantial reason to without the promise of an audience listening to me and my girlfriend (And perhaps future guests!) making whacky commentary on the games. I am very aware of the grievances people have with popular YouTuber’s who use their platform to get in cheap laughs with misogyny and other offensive humor that makes it an easy “job” for such people. I am only interested in putting out quality content that I won’t be ashamed of after a year passes, just because some people really do not care about whose feelings are stomped on in order to make a joke about Sonic the Hedgehog or something else like that.
-Jojo Mirabelle Clemency
Player Two
Massachusetts, USA
For more about Jojo, visit her Tumblr, and be sure to check out her Player Two channel on YouTube.