{"id":14299,"date":"2018-12-21T09:47:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-21T09:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=14299"},"modified":"2023-06-28T16:09:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-28T16:09:05","slug":"alumni-profile-de-rochefort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2018\/12\/21\/alumni-profile-de-rochefort","title":{"rendered":"From Bothell blog to Big Apple digital media"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Simone de Rochefort \/ courtesy photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Douglas Esser
\nWith understandable pride, Jason Pace, the director of the University of Washington Bothell\u2019s Digital Future Lab (DFL), calls Simone de Rochefort a superstar. One of the lab\u2019s founding interns, de Rochefort (Culture, Literature and the Arts \u201913) is now a digital media journalist in New York City. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Rochefort produces videos that catch tens of thousands of views for Polygon<\/a>, a top website for video game news and reviews. She also hosts a podcast for Polygon. She co-hosts another weekly podcast on tech news, \u201cRocket\u201d on the Relay FM network<\/a>, which has posted more than 200 episodes. Her tweets<\/a> have 30,000 followers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would not be where I am today,\u201d de Rochefort said, \u201cif I had not had that specific sequence of events at UW Bothell \u2014 meeting the people I met, taking the classes that I took, taking the internships I took.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Video games as a career <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Growing up, de Rochefort enjoyed playing video games. It didn\u2019t occur to her that making or covering games could be a profession. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was something that became a possibility in my first quarter at UW Bothell when I took a course about video games that sounded fun. I ended up meeting professors who were very helpful. I realized this isn\u2019t just a hobby,\u201d de Rochefort said. \u201cSomething I could actually do around games could be a career.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Rochefort was one of the first student interns at the DFL, originally known as the Center for Serious Play. It transitioned to being the DFL in 2012 under the leadership of Pace, who had been a creative director for the Halo franchise on Xbox at Microsoft. As a design studio within UW Bothell<\/a>, the DFL produces commercial video games<\/a> in an environment that values empathy and collaboration among students with different backgrounds and talents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"DFL<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJason Pace pushed us to transform the internship into something where we were producing meaningful work \u2014 work that got me my first job out of college, actually,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an established intern, de Rochefort launched a blog, and as more interns arrived, she learned about supervising. \u201cIt\u2019s not just me scheduling when I need to get things done,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s me making sure that other people are getting things done, and that they have the support they need to get things done.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting with a startup <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After de Rochefort graduated, a friend told her about a website that reviews children\u2019s video games for parents. The startup needed research and content. \u201cAt that interview, I was able to point to the website that I had been working on,\u201d said de Rochefort, who landed the job. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016, professional connections led her to New York and Polygon, a website she admired for its tone. It had an approach \u201cthat covered games and saw people who play games not as a monolith but as the diverse group that they are.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part of a Polygon video team now, she sees her role not as a reviewer but as someone who evaluates and comments on video game culture \u201calmost as analysis, but less boring.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

De Rochefort calls the weekly \u201cRocket\u201d podcast a side gig. She gives most of the credit for the \u201caccelerated geek conversation\u201d to co-hosts Brianna Wu and Christina Warren. \u201cI bring structure and levity to the show.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than crows <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When she thinks of UW Bothell, de Rochefort remembers the sight and sound of thousands of crows coming home to roost. More importantly are the friends she made, who are still friends, and the value of the education. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt definitely was the exact experience that I needed it to be. It was a special time in my life when I was working at DFL, surrounded by people, given the chance to make things as a student and to do things,\u201d de Rochefort said. \u201cI feel lucky that I was given the opportunity to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Simone de Rochefort, one of the founding interns of the Digital Future Lab, now works as a digital media journalist in New York City, covering video game and technology news and culture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[209,202,200],"tags":[305,172],"school":[],"class_list":["post-14299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-news","category-profiles","tag-digital-media","tag-video"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":null,"link_2":null,"link_3":null,"link_4":null,"link_5":null},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":null,"button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nFrom Bothell blog to Big Apple digital media - 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