Elizabeth Swensen

The deadline is tomorrow (11/14/25)!

Reposting! Do you know someone working at the intersection of Interactive Art, Performance, and Games? We’re hiring!

2026 Festival of Monsters Help the Center for Monster Studies bring the 2026 Festival of Monsters to life!

Support the Festival of Monsters! give.ucsc.edu/schools/Univ...

Another great wrap on the Festival of Monsters. I hope to see more panel pitches from folks studying/designing monsters in games next year!

Had a blast running a horror adventure using the Dread TTRPG system tonight for some of the Festival of Monsters folks. I hope we can add a bit more monstrous play/games to our future conferences!

Narrative Designer Job Opening: Narrative Designer at CCP Games in Reykjavík.

Hey narrative folks my team is looking for a narrative designer to come work with me in Iceland! If you have solid storytelling fundamentals, some technical experience, and live ops or adjacent experience, we are looking for someone like you!

careers.ccpgames.com/en/postings/...

Reposting! Do you know someone working at the intersection of Interactive Art, Performance, and Games? We’re hiring!

Assistant Professor of Interactive Art, Performance & Games (Initial Review Date 11/14/25) University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!

Spread the word! We have an open Assistant Professor search in my department of Performance, Play & Design, which combines Theater, Dance, and Games faculty in the Arts Division at UCSC. This position would teach in our Art and Design: Games and Playable Media BA program. recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01998

In addition to loving to play this game, thanks to the copy of @shing.bsky.social ‘s A Mending in my lab, I was able to sew a button back on my shirt today

Why should I write better when a machine can do it for me? Because actually no one can do it for you, because your voice is unique among all the people on earth. Siri never petted a horse's neck. Alexa has never been ghosted by the captain of the football team. But you have lived, your heart is beating, you have suffered, and you have something important to say. It's a human's job, to use words, and whatever job you give to a machine, that part of your brain goes dark. Maybe it's worth it when it comes to remembering phone numbers and directions, but when that part of your brain that uses words goes dark, that's a vast area that's very close to your soul. Don't let some internet platform convince you that what you have to say and create isn't worthwhile. Words are the echo of your soul. Honing that echo matters.

this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like

we need other people, and the biggest lie in the genAI scene is them selling the fantasy that no we don't

Elven Dentist is the game I will never make, but think about way too often.

Elves who live 1000s of years must either a) have sweet fantasy dentures or b) grow new teeth multiple times in life like a shark.

'Segregated facilities' are no longer explicitly banned in federal contracts The Trump administration cut a clause from federal contracting rules that had been on the books since the 1960s: Companies are no longer explicitly prohibited from having segregated facilities.

The Trump administration cut a clause from federal contracting rules that had been on the books since the 1960s: Companies are no longer explicitly prohibited from having segregated facilities.

They're lying to you about transgender women and girls in sports Michelle R. Martinelli For The Win

They’re lying about transgender people in this world. They’re lying about what LGBTQ+ inclusion in society really means, and they’re lying about trans people in sports. They’re lying about a “transgender cult” and “transgender insanity,” about teachers indoctrinating kids with “transgender ideology” and about “making mice transgender.” Right-wing activists, anti-trans bigots, many politicians, the president — they’re lying to you about many things but especially trans women and girls in sports. They’re lying about transgender athletes supposedly ruining women’s sports, and they’re lying about this being a ubiquitous “problem.”

They are deliberately and strategically lying about trans folks’ lives, about trans athletes and about their own disingenuous motivations for pushing these lies. They don’t care because they keep doing it. Worse, it’s working.

They're lying about trans people, especially trans women and girls in sports, probably, in part, because the actual data doesn't support their arguments. Yet several states have their own bans against trans athletes competing in sports consistent with their gender identity, despite expert estimates of fewer than 100 trans high school athletes nationwide. In 2022, Utah's Republican governor, Spencer Cox, vetoed an anti-transgender bill - it was eventually overruled by the legislature - and outlined his rationale. Along with the high suicide rates for trans youth, he noted that of 75,000 high school athletes in the state, four identified as trans and just one student was playing girls' sports. A whole state bill targeting four athletes, but really, one.

I can't remember the last time I saw an article just focus on this. Not that they've bent the truth or misrepresented a few facts a little, but that every single solitary thing that the GOP says on the topic is a stone cold lie with absolutely no basis in reality.
ftw.usatoday.com/story/sports...

I listen to a few actual plays, but this is my favorite. More of my friends need to listen so we can talk theories! (As fans and/or scholars!)

We are hiring for a handful of positions in Reykjavik, it's a drop in the bucket compared to what WB just did but still

jobs.50skills.com/ccpgames/en

To whomever was in charge of the Beyond Good And Evil joystick text entry design: I still think about it, and wish all controller stick text entry worked like this.

Saying goodbye to 2024 and feeling accomplished. This year I kept myself, a tiny human, and two cats alive on startling little sleep. Next year I look forward to getting back to: teaching, making, writing, cooking? sleeping?

But when will the AI accounts accidentally start buying things? Then ads train to appeal to AI accounts? That’s the ant farm I’m interested in watching.

Also, after 2 days of talks, we dress up for a closing Monsters’ Ball (monster costumes highly encouraged). We’re those kind of nerds.

We wrapped the Festival of Monsters last month, but I would love to see more games folks next year! If you make, perform, or study monstrous games, I hope you submit a talk for next year! Bonus: October in Santa Cruz is really pretty.

The first notice I received from a verification company was that I had not responded to a nonexistent letter they ‘sent’ 30 days before. Barely made the deadline.

Fields that contribute presentations, demos, post mortems all welcome. Paper not required.

Last call for proposals to speak at the UCSC Festival of Monsters in October. If you have a short talk/paper proposal/panel on monsters and culture, join us! We host a ball and everything: monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/2024festcfp

Have a 20 minute presentation/paper/panel regarding Monsters in Media and Culture? The 2024 Festival of Monsters call is now public! (The festival will be held Oct 16-19 in Santa Cruz, CA). www.monsterstudies.ucsc.edu/2024festcfp

It’s Giving Day at UCSC and the Center for Monster Studies is asking for support. Help us keep the monster momentum going! t.co/BhCaolioCr

Performance, Play & Design: Assistant Teaching Professor of Art, Technology & Play (initial review N... University of California, Santa Cruz is hiring. Apply now!

my department at UC Santa Cruz is hiring a teaching professor working at the intersection of games and performance with an emphasis on experimental and activist art. reach out to me if you're interested in applying: mattie.brice@ucsc.edu recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01619

A long-haired black cat and a gray tabby sleep curled up together at the end of a bed in filtered, morning light.

Good morning, new social media. Here is my offering of cats: