In 2018, Transcribblers became the world’s first “publicly managed”, gamified small business when I launched Transcribblers: The Game! as a live “performance of labor” as I completed work on stream.

Set up as a mix between a digital co-working space, mechanical keyboard ASMR, and experimental gaming, viewers watch as I race myself to complete as much work as possible in 25 minute periods, following the Pomodoro technique. Co-workers, “managers”, and trolls join me from all over the world, and their constant attention helps keep me from getting lost on internet (or artistic) procrastination.

(Note: NO client recordings are ever seen or heard on stream; your confidentiality remains a top priority.)

On the one hand, this structure is just a fun and innovative way to approach a sometimes tedious dayjob, and give myself some accountability where I’d struggled to focus while self-managing. But through this palliative, performative gamification of labor, I’m connecting my personal struggle to pay the bills to the larger failures of the gig economy and neoliberal hegemony.