Raluca Fratiloiu

I really enjoyed presenting this paper at #cgsa2025 at Concordia in Montreal and being part of a very interesting panel on politics in games. Lots to take away and think about.

The Romanian mathematician trying to stop Putin and Trump wrecking the West Elon Musk and JD Vance don’t know enough to judge the country’s election crisis, and Trump should be tougher on Putin, says Bucharest Mayor and presidential candidate Nicușor Dan.

www.politico.eu/article/roma...

PBS Pulled a Film for Political Reasons, Then Changed Its Mind A window into how the network is handling the new Trump era

PBS apparently was going to broadcast the Narcissa Wright documentary Break the Game and then abruptly pulled the documentary out of fear because it's a sympathetic documentary about a trans woman www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

Canadian Devs Are Backing Out of Attending GDC Amid deteriorating relations between the US and Canada, many Canadian video game developers are opting not to travel to San Francisco for next week’s Game Developers Conference.

www.wired.com/story/canadi...

Romania launches criminal probe into far-right, pro-Moscow presidential candidate Georgescu Romanian prosecutors opened a criminal probe Wednesday into far-right populist Calin Georgescu, whose surprise first-round win in December presidential elections prompted authorities to take the unpre...

If you lie about your funding and promote hate, you shouldn't run in elections. www.france24.com/en/europe/20...

Putin plays the long game. He has punished Ukraine – and he won’t stop there | Yaroslav Hrytsak Like a judo master, the Russian aggressor wears down his opponents until they break. Then he comes back for more, says historian Yaroslav Hrytsak

Putin plays the long game. He has punished Ukraine – and he won’t stop there | Yaroslav Hrytsak

A Dangerous World: Trump, Putin, and the Shadow of 1938 Fascism As the NDP Foreign Affairs critic and Member of Parliament representing Edmonton Strathcona, I am deeply disturbed by Donald Trump’s betrayal of Ukraine.

A strong statement on the need to stand up in dark times from my colleague @heathermcpherson.bsky.social.
She has done the heavy lifting in parliament on Ukraine, Gaza
and human rights.

substack.com/inbox/post/1...

The courts separate democracy from autocracy. Will Trump defy them? | Amrit Singh and David Cole Thus far, the administration has pursued appeals. But remarks from JD Vance and Elon Musk echo authoritarians worldwide

The courts separate democracy from autocracy. Will Trump defy them? | Amrit Singh and David Cole www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Join them, Canada.

Trump-Musk Scandal at USAID Takes Unnerving Turn With Vile Leaked Memo Can Trump and his top advisers really just act with total impunity? Or is there, just maybe, a price to be paid for starving poor people and un-indicting a corrupt mayor?

Awful: Internal USAID memo instructs employees to refrain from talking to the media about cuts in assistance to the most vulnerable or they may get fired, WaPo reports.

Trumpworld knows this is a big political problem for them. Keep the focus on it.

New piece:
newrepublic.com/article/1915...

When the lessons are no longer working...

Interesting findings on consumer facing AI and its lack of accuracy.

We really should've been educating people about Mao's Cultural Revolution.

This really is similar.

Someone should write a comparison between Caligula and Trump, with lots of speculative parallels and endings.

🤞

Zero-Sum Tactics That Built Trump Inc. Could Backfire With World Leaders NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with David Honig, who teaches negotiations at Indiana University, on how President Trump has employed a technique called "distributive bargaining," and how that can backfire.

Many voted for Trump because they thought a businessman running a country was a good idea.

But a country isn’t a business, other countries aren’t merely rivals, and the selfish/sociopathic leadership style that’s rewarded in the corporate world backfires in politics.

www.npr.org/2018/07/04/6...

Navigating my small list of followed accounts from X here. 😊

Really enjoyed #gdc2024. It was refreshing to see all the indie games and join the panels and round tables tackling corporate issues and AI ethics. Feeling compelled to apply what I learnt to another #experimentalgame.

@mattkavanagh.bsky.social

Bringing Command Line Tools to the Browser and Investigating Russian Courts, Social Media Narratives... Earlier this month, Bellingcat hosted its fourth hackathon, our first to take place in-person. We’re excited to share the projects our participants brought to life over three days of intense hacking...

This November, Bellingcat hosted its first in-person Hackathon with over 45 participants at the University of Amsterdam. Learn more about the event and the incredible projects conceptualised over the 3 days…
www.bellingcat.com/resources/20...

The English book cover of "Video Game Characters and Transmedia Storytelling: The Dynamic Game Character". It has a light blue lower half, with the title in white against a pink box. The upper half is a rough drawing of a Japanese city, with various people enjoying video games that permeate pop culture (ie: a pikachu hat, a manga, a video game backpack, a tamagotchi). The sky is lit up against an orange sun.

A new GAMESTUDIES book graces the site❗

Combining theories on fictional persons from Japanese and Euro-American practices, this book discusses VIDEO GAME characters in our popular media culture in which they are constantly reimagined.

👉 thevideogamelibrary.org/book/video-g...

@jjol33n.bsky.social

The English book cover of “GAMES GIRLS PLAY: CONTEXTS OF GIRLS AND VIDEO GAMES”

Through interviews, focus groups, and qualitative content analyses, this book analyzes girls’ involvement with VIDEO GAMES.

It examines girl-oriented games, activist efforts to change the industry, and educational programs that teach girls game design.

👉 www.thevideogamelibrary.org/book/games-g...

Best quote IMO: "zigzagging to places that are either bleedingly obvious or obviously non-essential"

A two-hour walking tour with ChatGPT: ‘I’d not suggest that to my worst enemy’ The AI app has been praised and panned for its itinerary planning abilities. In Sydney, the city she knows best, travel writer Kate Hennessy puts it to the test

Quite funny and on point on the rapport with anything it generates that I've read so far.

Looks interesting/needed... Definitely on my Xmas list.

The Social Science of QAnon edited by Monica Miller and featuring @karendouglas.bsky.social, Joseph Uscinski, @amaramarasingam.bsky.social and me (@psychunseen.bsky.social) is out and available now.

Check it out!

www.amazon.com/dp/100905502X/

Mortal Kombat arcade manual

Calling all gaming history buffs! Internet Archive is a treasure trove for arcade enthusiasts. Explore our vast collection of arcade manuals & uncover the secrets behind your favorite games. It's a trip down memory lane you won't want to miss! https://archive.org/details/arcademanuals?tab=collection

Has anyone in the #indiegame and #gamedev communities try arcade.studio and if so, what do you think please?