A. Cathy Nguyen

We’ll be hosting GachaCon 2026, a hybrid academic conference on gacha games with Genshin Impact as the theme, on 12–13 February 2026 at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳

Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp

finally made it to Osaka Expo - I have many many thoughts as my PhD brain was running full course because themed (game)spaces are more or less my speciality. too many thoughts to articulate now but well, congrats on Germany for being one of the most popular pavilions!

strike up a conversation with other guests, i could tell i would disrupt some kind of flow with guests & staff. the eorzea cafe in comparison - completely chill. the staff did give me funny looks but thankfully the aussies i spoke to looked like they enjoyed talking to me so no questions asked😆

one thing that didn't make it into the article is how themed spaces always afford emotional & performative labour. it was clear the staff had to follow pretty strict rules to follow & phrases to say when delivering certain dishes. unlike in the eorzea cafe, i did not feel comfortable enough to

ofc he loves chiikawa... just like me fr

keine werbung.

*hustet*
ich: tja da muss wohl wieder der HUSTEN UND BRONCHIALTEE VON BAD HEILBRUNNER HER!

a few more pictures of the Kirby cafe in tokyo:

Unsere erste Ausgabe ist live! Die Texte unserer Autor*innen über Care-Ethik, Game-Cafés zwischen Community und Kommerz und Eskapismus im Kleinen lest ihr ab sofort auf debuff.de im Tausch gegen eure Mailadresse.

Und jetzt ihr: Warum spielt ihr, obwohl die Welt brennt?

Es ist nie zu spät für ein Abenteuer Keep Driving war als Spaßprojekt gedacht. Dann aber dauert die Entwicklung des Roadtrip-Simulators neun Jahre. Jetzt ist er fertig – und hat nicht nur das Leben seiner Schöpfer verändert.

Die erste Ausgabe von @debuff.de ist da!

Kreativarbeit bereichert Leben, bringt einen manchmal aber um den Verstand. Von mir gibt's was zur Entwicklung von Keep Driving. Die hat viel länger gedauert als gewollt. Und doch hätte es keinen besseren Zeitpunkt für den Release geben können.

the article can be read for free with an account, while it's all in german i am sure google translate can do a decent job at conveying the gist of it🌸

Zwischen Kuchen und Kommerz: Warum Game-Cafés ein ambivalenter Zufluchtsort sind Orte wie das Eorzea-Café oder das Kirby-Café in Tokio ziehen zahlreiche Fans an. Gerade in Japan funktionieren diese Räume gut – und sind zugleich symptomatisch für eine extreme Konsumkultur.

back in may i went on a little quest in tokyo to visit some game-themed cafés and the result is now on @debuff.de! a little piece on why these themed spaces are special and fun but also an extension of commercial franchise logic:

debuff.de/kuchen-komme...

Debuff #1: Warum wir spielen. - Debuff Die Welt geht den Bach runter – und wir verschwenden unsere Zeit mit Games. WTF?!

Wir gehen SOWAS VON rein. Danke an @sofakissen.bsky.social und @chrissikills.bsky.social , danke an @anhthu.bsky.social , @snoopykoira.bsky.social und Nora. Ihr Guten. debuff.de/tag/001/

Titelseite der ersten Debuff-Ausgabe: Warum wir spielen.

✨💖 Happy release day to us 💖✨

@debuff.de

von und mit:
@zandterbird.bsky.social @sofakissen.bsky.social
@anhthu.bsky.social
@snoopykoira.bsky.social
& Nora Beyer

debuff.de/tag/001/

yes it is a light house! we'll see, the lighthouse seems a bit tricky at times. wonder if I can stay motivated 😆

ooh that's good to know! honestly I think the worldbuilding is really rich but I seem to have issues to attach myself to any of the characters or the story which is why I keep dropping the game 😩, it's got some great combat system though for its time

it doesn't help that currently i'm stuck in some sort of tower and it just seems really endless

confession time: i have around 55hrs on ff12 zodiac age which i have accumulated across maybe 8 years. yes, like once every few years i'll boot it up and play it on my switch thinking "this time ill finish it" to ... never actually doing it ...

Zwei Tage noch bis zum Launch! Wie es sich für einen Neustart gehört, stecken wir knietief und bis zu den Unterarmen in den letzten Vorbereitungen. Alles andere wäre ja auch langweilig, nicht wahr? Falls ihr euch noch kein Abo geklickt hab: Ab zu debuff.de!

weather forecast for where i live (kyoto), with 39 degrees celsius currently, reaching peak 40 today. thursday is forecast at 38, fri at 38 and sat at 36

honestly until i came to japan i didnt realise how much my body could sweat, like literally feeling sweat drops run down my body. that would just never ever happen back in europe lol

Was ist Debuff? Der Newsletter Superlevel wird zum Onlinemagazin Debuff. Christina, Florian und Daniel erklären die Veränderung.

Heute im 18 Uhr quatschen @chrissikills.bsky.social, @zandterbird.bsky.social und @sofakissen.bsky.social über die Pläne für Debuff.

Ihr habt noch Fragen? Schreibt sie nachher in den Livechat oder jetzt hier in die Replies.

Zum Stream geht‘s hier 👇

www.youtube.com/live/PcHMe3z...

tori kawa (chicken skin) skewers are pretty easy to get! they sell them hot at convenience stores and many izakaya (bar) will have them. especially if you go to yakitori (grilled chicken skewers) places, they'll for sure have them 🥰 they are my favourite too, together with pork belly

photo of me holding a grilled chicken skin skewer

photo of me eating some frozen mandarins

the only way to look forward to Japanese summer are festivals ✨

sitting in the kitchen and my recyclable bin is unfortunately giving off a bit of a smell and now I feel like a sim that gets a debuff for unpleasant surroundings

Also gut: Am 1. August kommt die erste Ausgabe von debuff.de mit neuen Texten von @snoopykoira.bsky.social, @anhthu.bsky.social und Nora Beyer, plus Bonuskram für Abonnent*innen. (Für Superlevel-Leser*innen ändert sich erstmal nix außer dem Namen.)

blabla better to keep a private account separate from professional stuff blabla. but if you can't handle me at my chiikawa then you can't handle me ever 😤

my profile picture on discord which is a png cutout of chiikawa, a popular Japanese character

how it looks like when I message someone on discord

me, using discord for academia, uni/research related and other professional stuff

also my pfp:

I turned all of my lights off lol😭

sleeping with balcony doors open and I can hear someone cry (I hope they are okay) and the way it sounds is very much exactly like running into a witch in left4dead 🤔

it's really hard to find any info on that kind of business unless you're involved but it's undoubtedly massive. always keen on knowing more about the "underbelly" of those things, like piracy culture in the early 2000s (anyone know a good book on that?)