@guyintheblackhat.bsky.social
Associate Professor of German, Niehoff Professor of Film & Media Studies at U of Cincinnati; Scholar of East German cinema, science fiction, and role-playing games. He/Him. Bi. Wears a hat.
Many folks email me about applied TTRPGs (that is, TTRPGs used for different effects, or measuring impact of playing TTRPGs).
It’s not really what I do, but the latest IJRP is chock-full of exactly that kind of research.
Hey heroes!
@superdillin.bsky.social and I have a new book out. I'm very proud of it and I want it to do well.
You can help by buying a copy, but you can help even more by leaving a review! Yes, on Amazon. Evening you didn't buy it there.
a.co/d/01iPHFPs
This made my jaw drop.
Teaching & research are intertwined.
I employ zero professionals disinterested in research in the field.
This is simply removing tools from the hands of practitioners as they use them.
Those of us who work a lot with publishers salute any of those who set off to deal with mainstream book sales.
It's a bit like 19th-Century sailors putting out to sea, actually.
Fickle, unpredictable, and possibly with a big payout.... or disappointment.
For those interested in the academic research of role-playing games, we have just released our latest issue of the International Journal of Role-Playing (17!).
221 pages of work, all for advancing knowledge about this medium.
journals.uu.se/IJRP/issue/v...
Really enjoyed this fascinating book by @joerglau.bsky.social exploring the global security challenges that Germany and Europe now face
The Cambridge Disinformation Summit will host discussions about online chats, including how clients often engage with low paid wage workers who have few legal rights.
For background, I recommend Michael Asia's paper, "The Emotional Labor Behind AI Intimacy,": data-workers.org/michael/
Academic News: Finally, my article on adventure playgrounds as sites of democratic learning in the Federal Republic of Germany is freely available. What slides, swings, and constructing wooden huts in concrete desserts have to do with democracy.
academic.oup.com/gh/article/4...
When you build a machine to target people based on gender, race, or any other identity, it ends up targeting Jews too.
New deposition testimony shows a DOGE staffer flagged a Holocaust documentary—about Jewish women forced into slave labor by the Nazis—for termination.
His reason is shocking.
🧵
Come hang out with me in Seattle. GoPlay NW continues to offer a top-shelf curated selection of players and facilitators.
Big Bad Con vibes, mixed with Seattle cool.
Bring paperweights, Beacon Hill is windy as fuck.
goplaynw.org/membership-d...
The 1996 draft of the unpublished, unannounced Magic RPG is substantial. I made a few marginal notes when I reviewed it. I'm giving it away for a donation to Planned Parenthood, offered by secret silent auction. DM me with offers. I'm likely to get a few big offers.
"What if?" #mtg #ttrpg 1/2
Which is to say, I’m unbelievably thrilled to say this morning I’ve signed a contract with @mitpress.bsky.social for the trade publication of my next book, an exploration of the first two decades of TTRPG Actual Play.
l see no depth, no fire in this man's eyes.
Lying and bullying without consequences at the top produces more of it down the chain.
People see what their identities ostensibly excuse, and then they have an alibi to take with them to lie and bully when they feel under pressure.
And there's a lot of pressure out there.
"Let [these specific hackers] cook."
Anthropic is suing the Trump administration, asking federal courts to reverse the Pentagon's decision designating the artificial intelligence company a "supply chain risk" over its refusal to allow unrestricted military use of its technology. https://to.pbs.org/3P1j8jm
Our gaming group literally had the slang phrase "pulling a Fargo," which meant "engaging in extremely unnecessary violence during a routine police traffic stop"
The Game Narrative Kaleidoscope is now in eBook format ✨
Over 100 essays on writing for video games, from a bunch of super-smart writer-types! But now you can pretend it's smut while you read it! You can even blush at some of the essays to make it extra convincing!!!!
www.lulu.com/shop/jon-ing...
AI does not enhance “efficiency.” AI is a permission structure for a totalizing regime of austerity and labor immiseration.
🚨🚨[Stanford & Harvard just
published an utterly unsettling #Al paper: “Agents of Chaos”. It shows that when autonomous Al agents are placed in open, competitive environments, they naturally drift toward manipulation, collusion & strategic sabotage.
It's a massive, systems-level warning.]🚨
@hekabeohnename.bsky.social and I are looking for articles on (printed) zines and games culture. #mediahistory #gamestudies
Welp. The internet had a nice run.
Some outlets have lost over 90% of their traffic since the "AI" summaries rolled out.
"...the four worst-hit publications [now] get less monthly web traffic combined than the r/ChatGPT subreddit gets on its own."
NEW: The bad news about international-student enrollments at American colleges just got worse. An exclusive @chronicle.com analysis of just-released State Department data shows new visa issuances in the summer of 2025 dropped by more than a third. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
Bennett Foddy (Getting Over It) held a talk yesteday about his unconventional games - "Why Did I make this"? #gamedev #gamedesign @foddy.net www.twitch.tv/videos/27148...
