Steve Wilcox

Thanks for sharing Christophe! 🙏

Very interesting🧵by @stevewilcox.bsky.social on the benefit that gamification can bring to help people better understand diseases and the need to adapt their behaviors when risks are high. 🎯👇
threadreaderapp.com/thread/18925...

A photo of the greatest dog in the world

Juno turned 13 this past week and despite all that time she still sees me off every day with the saddest look imaginable 😅 (bonus Pixel content here; he comes out for scritches whenever I sit down to put my boots on).

A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.

Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers.

This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder.

Auschwitz took time.

For the past decade we were told canceling events at colleges over private protests was the harbinger of totalitarianism but now a right wing government is doing it so it’s fine bsky.app/profile/adam...

The Gamergator rhetoric of historical accuracy has come back to bite Kingdom Come on the arse Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 isn't out until next month, but some would-be players are already mad about its apparent representation of history.

This is a splendid piece of writing by @edwinet.bsky.social. He really is one of the best at this.

www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-gamergat...

This is also why we have been fighting against the notion that STEM is rational, objective, and truth-based. Technology exists within the same constellation of structural forces as everything else. It has and can be wielded to oppress and destroy.

Paul Krugman on Leaving the New York Times The paper wanted to take away his newsletter or make him write less frequently, he says.

Krugman says the editors at the Times editorial page were increasingly trying to water down his columns and arguments www.cjr.org/analysis/pau...

How to Support Trans Colleagues Create a Gender-Inclusive Environment Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policies that recognize and support gender transition. Support training and advocacy for colleagues’ personal/professional safety (ex. in fieldwork, lab work, conferences, institution visits, affinity groups). Establish and/or identify gender-neutral bathrooms throughout your building. Implement trans-inclusive recruitment and hiring procedures. Acknowledge intersectionality and the unique needs and barriers that someone with multiple marginalized identities may face. Consider the importance of representation in your field. Advocate for Name Changes Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policy to recognize and support an individual’s name change. Identify journals in your field that allow authors to change their names post- publication. Improve Information Accessibility Publicly share information on inclusive practices throughout your departments and institution. (Ensure the content centers and is created by trans people.) Consider Daily Language & Use Decrease use of gendered terms to avoid exclusionary language. Ask for personal pronouns. List on all public-facing directories, and consider including them in email signatures and on professional websites. Practice discretion. Don’t out your colleagues without their consent.

Collaborating with @rin-krichilsky.bsky.social and Kanako Shimizu, we put together what's basically a top-ten list of ways to help foster trans inclusivity and awareness within our scientific and academic communities and would love if you could help share the guide!

Cryptocurrency Might be a Path to Authoritarianism Extreme libertarians built blockchain to decentralize government and corporate power. It could consolidate their control instead.

That time when I wrote this seven and one half years ago

Hey! #PortfolioDay

I'm a freelance artist working in video games and tabletop! I'd love to illustrate your characters, creatures, or items, and make bespoke iconography for your game. My commission queue is clearing up soon!

💌v.monakhova@gmail.com

#uiart #ui #gamedev #illustration #gameart #ttrpg

Something disability justice activists have been screaming about for the last five years and some of you may just now be realizing: eugenicists believe disease is good. They believe themselves part of the “superior” race and that disease clears out the poor and unworthy. 1/

A round, light brown tablet made of clay with three lines of cuneiform scripts. Two rulings, or traced straight lines, enclose the writing. The photo also shows the sides of the tablet, including a few damaged parts.

May as well dive right in.

Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball?

According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’”

Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...

The Next Four Years In fearful times, Fred Rogers’ mother comforted him by telling him to look for the helpers. Her advice feels particularly relevant these days.

Preparing my academic self (as best I can) for the next four years.

danielgillis.wordpress.com/2025/01/23/t...

Do you know how awesome it would be to take this course with Dr. Tilley?! In my undergrad, these were the kinds of courses that truly broadened my experience of art/life/society. To me, they're the lifeblood of higher ed and they're absolutely worth fighting for.

Excerpt of the text of the open call, shared in the link

My department is hiring TWO assistant teaching professors of media studies! This is a great opportunity for people who are passionate teachers eager to explore new approaches to cultivating media literacy among diverse students.

Learn more & apply here: jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...

Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather The billionaire has described his grandfather as a risk-taking adventurer. A closer read of history reveals something much darker.

"[Musk's grandfather] was all about dog-whistle politics. He wouldn’t say ‘Jew,’ but he’d say everything short of it. He knew what he was saying, and his base knew what he was saying" - Janine Stingel, a historian of anti-Semitism in Canada. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Playthrough Poetics: Gameplay as Research Method, edited by Milena Droumeva; cover

My chapter “The Great Lateness of Lon-Live Gaming: A Temporal Eulogy to the Video Game Playthrough

OP in a screenshot of their accompanying video essay

Now in paperback! 📕 My contributor’s copy of “Playthrough Poetics: Gameplay as Method” in colourful glory! Mess with somebody’s computer clock today, in honor of us ⏰

Wrote about Stalker 2's abandoned men for @bulletpointsvg.bsky.social: bulletpointsmonthly.com/2025/01/22/t...

Presented without comment, just a deep tiredness

Genre studies of games are mostly stuck on early 2000s formalism.

These 2 companion volumes push game studies toward understandings of games as 'equipment for living' and genres as located in the social and cultural conditions of their production and consumption.

Coming Summer 2025!

Some fascinating things happening on Reddit. 22,000 upvotes on the subreddit dedicated to posting pictures of houses that are over 100 years old.

Six panelists sit in front of a table, with one woman in a red dress speaking into a microphone. On a screen behind them are the words "what new way sof producing games can we imagine together."

Just finished up a draft of a white paper studying game jams, so it seemed like a good time to re-share "If You Don't Like the Game, Change the Rules!"

@omarieclaire.bsky.social and I collaborated on this project about Canadian worker co-ops and unions.

michaeliantorno.com/if-you-dont-...

It's been a fun project to run and it really helps showcase the ingenuity, thoughtfulness, and creativity of our students. Needless to say, I can't wait to see what they come up with this year!

Operation Realism Expansion by Evan & Heer Expansion pack for the Operation board game to incite ethical reflection in players.

This expansion to the classic Operation game adds 'printable patients' that get overlaid on the standard board. These individuals have names & backgrounds, & carry with them medical debt that can profoundly alter their lives. evanandheer.itch.io/operation-re...

Pandemic is a cooperative board game abt managing a virulent disease on a global scale. The Disparity Expansion adds health equity & public health into the gameplay; players confront the ethics of allocating finite resources & the hazards of a misinformed public blue-renegade.itch.io/pandemic-the...

Red Cross Saving the World- Risk Expansion pack by Adr7890

In this reworking of Risk, the global war is given over to random dice rolls while players focus instead on the fallout for civilians, a group completely absent in the original game. Players provide support for refugees, attempting to save as many as possible. adr7890.itch.io/red-cross-sa...

Our 3rd year game design students start by choosing popular commercial board games that have little ethical reflection where arguably there ought to be more. They then iteratively design printable expansion that can be integrated into the original game. Here are just a few expansions from last year: