Annakaisa Kultima

2026 & games? For the 4th year, I’m gathering perspectives on emerging trends in game ecosystems, now looking toward 2026. I’m interested in a broad spectrum of voices and phenomena: All roles and experience levels are welcome!

Survey open until the end of the year.

forms.gle/cHEr7og6qRrv...

We are so excited to hear your talk! :) @gamesnowaaltofi.bsky.social

Maybe it is mutual?

If this is a real scenario, why do it feel bigger ick of giving my data to Elon than to China?

I’m teaching a very nice cohort of design bachelors this Spring at Aalto University. Just wanted to say this, as it is nice to have nice students. Also: it’s nice to normalize game design into ”just one of the design practices”, relevant to any designers. Maybe more about this later. :) Bye!

Dear game scholars, anyone else struggling with writing? Especially finding inspiration or motivation to always do it in a tight headspace? I only had one day allocated for my thinking and alas... my head is not co-operating.

Which kind of scan detects it? I’ve had MRI and ultra, maybe mammo also covered the armpit. Cannot remember now.

Donate to Sasha's fight for life, organized by Anastasia Mordovina Hey everyone, my name’s Ann, and I've created this campaign because I need your help to sav… Anastasia Mordovina needs your support for Sasha's fight for life

Sasha is part of the @remedygames.com family. She is a wonderful game artist. She is fighting cancer and needs help to fund the treatments. If you can, please help. Thank you ❤️. gofund.me/369fcadf

Happy and Playful New Year 2025 for everyone!

I used to quote Rocky (sry) "Life's not about how hard of a hit you can give... it's about how many you can take, and still keep moving forward.” But I mean, we all know what multiple hits will do to a brain. Do I want my brain to be stabbed and shat until I cannot function? What is the point?

But self-esteem is not a choice. Women often are attributed to be weaker, because they do not have enough "thick skin". Trust me, the skin cannot be thick enough. Maybe some have an antisocial personality disorder, and do have it. I don't know. It is magic from my pov.

After two decades, the "kitchen of the academia" can start to feel quite an appealing option. Who wouldn't like a woman nurturing, secretarial, punctual, and obedient? Pleasing left and right, carrying others to the top floors. Thank you, you are the best. No, I have no opinions or objections.

And to add to this: what kind of a human can start with 300%, to afford to have 50% buffed out, just to be able to still continue with that 150%? Because, trust me, this will happen in a course of decades if you accept the fighter role.

And these are just my raw opinions, based on my 45 years on this planet. Some of these views are (unfortunately) backed by studies, some (if we are lucky) can be dismissed as "anomalies", "bad luck", "coincidences" or "my own fault".
Note: Diversity is much bigger issue than just male/female.

In leadership, self-esteem matters. You cannot lead, if you're not tough enough against the external threats. Only exceptional women lead, because they have to be 150% more sturdy in comparison to their male counterparts. Because of structural sexism, you need to work harder to be accepted to lead.

Assumptions matter, because they also contribute to self-esteem. Nobody is immune to the effects of constant negative assumptions, nor positive. It is normal part of social psychology. Self-esteem acts as a fuel for taking steps in leadership. This is how we loose diversity in leadership.

Then, let's talk about the benefits. It is a new thought for me, because it is not my pov. But a male colleague shared an experience where he had been assumed to know about things, just because of his middle-aged white male with a beard -appearance.

Btw, structural sexism is a bias that we all are affected. We all are guilty of it. Some of us suffer from it, some get benefit from it. But this is for my female colleagues, students and peers: you also evaluate other females unfairly.

Cumulative effect of structural sexism is apparently a real thing. Looking at some amazing women in games, I cannot help but comparing myself. How did they make it? I just don’t have it.

I deem them as torture devices. What kind of psychopath eats one candy per day? Rather not eat any candy.

If you played Stuffo the Puzzle Bot please leave a review on Steam. I'm just 3 tiny 🤏 reviews away from 100! (exclamation point, not a factorial unfortunately 😀)

If you haven't played it it's still on sale for 75% off. 100% of the reviewers recommend it! ✌️ store.steampowered.com/app/1068460/...

Maybe you are right. But doesn’t it feel depressive if egalitaritan would mean that we are not willing or able to pay the costs of our own entertainment. Is economic participation a priviledge or a burden?

This still pisses me off and there is so much I would like to say publicly, but just cannot.

Playing F2P games is like living in a society where most of the people did not bother to pay taxes, so now we have beggars on the street constantly asking for pocket money.

A what?

Fantastic! Thanks!

What are the classics of playful art, but not games? If you have something, please provide a name of the work, year, link to something. :)

So much growth past few weeks, let’s just wait and see?

And it is not helping that this has only 130 citations in almost 20 years. Yeah, who cares.

On my way to today’s still-very-male-dominated game industry conference, I listened Paris Paloma, Sofia Isella and Chinchilla. While reflecting on those (incredibly good) jams, I coined a term ”sexism-caused PTSD”. Just googled the term, and it is depressing to get this as a first hit: