This piece was co-authored with Derek Hsue and cross-posted here.

Ney began playing against her brothers on console games when she was X years old. They would often “wreck” her. “They were so much older and more skillful.” Just before entering high school she got her first PC. Since the internet and internet games came late to her country, many of the titles she could play were from 10 years earlier. One fateful day she discovered a title that later inspired some of the game play in Wilderness. “I just now realized that I was throwing fire balls when I was a little kid,” said Ney.