Amongst the comments for the most recent episode of The Spiel podcast, Scotty Dickey (known here and everywhere else in the internet boardgaming world as otscotty) made the following statement:

 

"For those of us who listen to a variety of gaming podcasts, it is fun to have this type of cross-cast interaction. By the way, I think I've coined a new term that refers to the act of listening to a discussion on one podcast within the context of previous discussions from other podcasts. The term is "Meta-Casting". I do it all the time. Welcome to my world, people."

So, that's what I've been doing here... interesting...

"Meta-Casting" - what a cool word for such a cool thing.  It is the melding of several internet-based media to take this wonderful boardgaming community to the next level.  Like Scotty, I'm a bit addicted to all the boardgame podcasts out there, and there is just such a cool sense of respect and cooperation between the great majority of them.  Recently, I hear more and more of them running promos for and mentioning each other, and occasionally they even commenting on topics or opinions mentioned on other 'casts.  And then, of course, the most obvious and public cooperation between many of the podcasters this year was the first-annual Board Game Podcaster Awards.

Beyond all that, though, every podcaster I know of is terribly available, accessible, and connected to their "fans" through forums on their individual sites as well as  on BGG (especially through the use of the guilds).  Many solicit and utilize input, feedback, and even recorded content from listeners.  Plus, of course, for the most part they are all relatively involved with the overall community within BGG as a whole.  For instance, I've made virtually all of them geekbuddies of mine, and when I analyze a new game, I feel like I've got a real group of people I know giving me their opinions on it.  

And then there's what I and Scotty and so many others on BGG, other forums, and our own blogs have been doing for quite a while now.  We find ways to reach out to the podcasters and the rest of the community to pick up the lines of communication and complete the other end of the conversations started on so many of the great 'casts out there.  In fact, this feeling of wanting to "talk back" was the impetus to start GamerChris.com, because I wanted to write a more in-depth response to episode 5 of The Metagamers (about luck and chaos in gaming).  In fact, I've just added a new category here on the site to help organize all of my meta-casting articles in the same place.

More and more, I am getting a real sense of duologue going on through this pieced-together phenomenon called Meta-Casting, and it makes me all giddy inside!  Woo-hoo!