Mirek Stolee

a comment from r/boardgames discussing my review of Pax Hispanica, in which the commenter notes: "He's a good writer, no doubt, but I've read a few of his pieces lately which seem to focus more on what it's like to inhabit the thematic space of the game rather than on what it's like to interact with the game system. Theme is a condiment, a game shouldn't need theme to work (though theme can certainly make a game more enjoyable) because fundamentally, a game is a collection of interlocking mechanisms that serve to provide the space for making interesting decisions, and the game is only as good as the decision space it offers. It is this angle that I sometimes miss in reviews. And also in some games :-)"

Not every board game treats its setting as a condiment. Some are designed to engage on historical, social, or polemical grounds. To evaluate such a game principally as a jumble of mechanisms would fail to engage with it as created, presented, intended, and, yes, as it plays.

In the article, I address very bluntly why the digital has been privileged over the analog in Game Studies, a move that has had detrimental effects on many designers, scholars, businesses, and communities. The AI Grift could happen because we first fell for the Glowing Screen Grift.

My article "The Separation of Analog and Digital Game Studies" has now been published as part of this mammoth 781-page edited volume Historiographies of Game Studies.

Congrats to the editors and fellow authors for getting this into the world!

punctumbooks.com/titles/histo...

Consume Me just got delisted in a wave of delistings on itchio. It's a semi-autographical game about disordered eating. It won the grand prize at the most recent IGF awards.

When storefronts start mass bannings, everything is threatened.

GENERATION ANALOG 2025 "PUNK" - YouTube Analog Game Studies and Game in Lab are proud to announce Generation Analog 2025. This year’s one-day conference will be on Thursday, July 17, 2025. The onli...

This is your (and my) chance to catch up with the excellent panels at Generation Analog 2025, the free online conference organized by @analoggamestudies.bsky.social on July 17.

Click on the link below!

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

#analoggamestudies #generationanalog2025

The HGN’s next panel discussion on gender, history and games is coming up in 2 weeks!

Sign up via the post below, and read more about the theme (and our brilliant speakers) here:

www.historicalgames.net/gender/

Generation Analog Punk heads

Find your way to our excellent Generation Analog 2025 online conference with the topic of PUNK, next Thursday July 17th *all day*.

FREE to all!

Program and registration here:
analoggamestudies.org/generation-a...

Last year's hit GDC Spreadsheet panel is looking for a whole new row of spreadsheet enthusiasts!

What is Zohran’s plan for the humidity

Indiana public colleges cut almost 20% of degrees Public Indiana colleges and universities have eliminated 19 percent of their degree programs to meet requirements added to the state’s budget, according to the Commission for Higher Education.

So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...

MASSIVE good news for trans people in the United States.

A federal judge has just granted class action status to transgender people looking to update their passports.

This means that very shorty, the window will open to update your passports with the correct gender marker.

Gov. Tim Walz backs transgender kids as Democrats grapple with debate over bans in sports The Minnesota Democrat has been critical of other members of his party who are retreating at a time when the issue has become a political lightning rod nationally and in Minnesota.

Gov. Walz: “I’m just going to say it, shame on any of us who throws a trans child under the bus for thinking they’re going to get elected.” www.startribune.com/gov-tim-walz...

100 Classic Books on Nintendo DS

reading dorian gray the way oscar wilde intended

Hey Rick!

And the Crops Withered A single player TTRPG about Demeter's search to find her missing daughter, Persephone, inspired by "The Abduction of Persephone."

We’ve had such a successful launch day! Thank you for sharing the project. I’m hoping to keep up this momentum overnight.
Please consider backing!
www.kickstarter.com/projects/ali...

The image is a promotional schedule for ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories' Twitch fundraiser event on February 22. The schedule is presented in a colorful, block-patterned background with event details organized by time slots. A yellow highlight box in the top right corner contains the event’s Twitch URL (www.twitch.tv/romchipjournal) and donation link (donate.romchip.org). The event schedule is as follows: • 11 AM ET – Jason Scott: Touring Internet Archive’s most obscure in-browser games. • 12 PM ET – tinahacks: "All Castles" speedrun of Super Mario World: Super Mario Bros 4 (1990). • 1 PM ET – Sharang Biswas: Age of Mythology: Retold (2024). • 2 PM ET – Holly Nielsen: Dragon Age: Origins (2009). • 3 PM ET – merritt k: Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002). • 4 PM ET – Patrick LeMieux: Water, Water, Everywhere: An Hour of Aquatic Modular Synth Music Sampling Videogame Soundtracks. • 5 PM ET – Paolo Pedercini: Kinoautomat (1967). • 6 PM ET – qdot: Cubivore: Survival of the Fittest (2002). • 7 PM ET – Phil Salvador: TWO HOURS of the Fisher Price Wonder Tools Cruiser, a 1990s children's busy box peripheral. • 9 PM ET – Colleen Macklin: The Rez (2001) Rave Hour. • 10 PM ET – Jason Scott: Jason Scott’s Sleepy Time Cave of Wonders.

Here's our whole fundraiser schedule at a glance! It all goes down FEBRUARY 22, 11AM-11PM ET -- don't miss it! (and don't forget to donate!)

donate.romchip.org

There’s such a need to not just try and archive play, but not fall into the trap of just preserving positive play experiences. Which is hard because if you put a call out for memories of a particular game, it would be odd (but helpful) if a bunch of people responded by going “it mildly annoys me”

It's February! Quick reminder that the CFP for #GenerationAnalog2025 is still open! Proposals are due in two months by **March 31, 2025**! For the full call, suggested topics, sample abstracts, and submission directions, see: analoggamestudies.org/generation-a... #CFP #StayAnalog

This week on the podcast, Drs. Jennifer deWinter and Carly Kocurek @sparklebliss.bsky.social tell us about the history and evolution of #videogames through the stories of its women pioneers.
creators.spotify.com/pod/show/inf...
Transcript: www.infinite-women.com/wp-content/u...

Trans people and our rights are not a “distraction.” We are real people who live and die and deserve care and dignity and access to public spaces.

YouTube video by The Video Game History Foundation library.gamehistory.org — Now in early access

The Video Game History Foundation Library is now in early access. For free. For everyone. Wherever you are.

Read more: gamehistory.org/vghf-library...

Guys, I know I’ve posted this article a lot in the last two weeks. But I’m so serious.

They’re not fucking around, and major executive action aimed at trans literature could happen as soon as tomorrow. The time to take action to protect trans books and authors is *now.*

Get 75 games for $10 to support the Trans Empowerment Project This deal is as good as it will make you feel

This $10 game bundle is a great deal to support the trans community

while SOME PEOPLE are busy being weirdo fascists, I finished up the COMPLETE SCHEDULE for the ROMchip: a Journal of Game Histories @romchip.bsky.social Fundraiser Season

Look at these fun people who are gonna stream cute things for you and give smart talks for you!

donate.romchip.org/schedule.html

Very much here for the staff of IKEA inventing fake board games for their room display

Submissions are open for the 2025 Conference on BIPOC Game Studies, taking place at The Strong in Rochester, NY! conference.blackgamestudies.com

There's a new GAME STUDIES STUDY BUDDIES to close out your year, talking through the "Eurogame" movement and what it has inherited with Mary Flanagan and Mikael Jakobsson's PLAYING OPPRESSION: THE LEGACY OF CONQUEST AND EMPIRE IN COLONIALIST BOARD GAMES. rangedtouch.com/2024/12/31/7...

Got some lovely comments on this one so far.

With these things I vacillate at high speeds between feeling like I bit off too much & gone too wide & wander-y, and like I am absolutely bringing it all together as a cohesive piece, so the feedback helps tremendously.