Steve Wilcox

graphic that says no ice in Minnesota itch.io charity bundle

The No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle has officially LAUNCHED!

There are 1,439 games to discover for a $10+ donation to Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota!

Purchase the bundle here: itch.io/b/3484/no-ic...

Some quotes from the first peer review for my upcoming book—Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful:

“Erudite, witty, passionately ethical, & deeply practical in all the best ways.”

“A critical intervention into how we think, talk, & feel about games in society.”

Designing a Feel for the Game is a textbook for teaching meaningful, memorable game design coming out later this year via Palgrave Macmillan. Preorder info coming soon.

But yeah, right now I'm just unbelievably grateful to this anonymous peer reviewer for being so thoughtful & supportive! 🙏

“Especially valuable for designers working on critical-art games, educational games, values-driven games, and other genres for which shaping the feel of the game is more important than optimizing engagement metrics.”

“It's great… an outstanding work… I highly recommend publication.”

“An impressive and timely book that is immediately useful as a teaching resource and as a book that will likely appeal to amateur, aspiring, and professional game developers alike.”

Some quotes from the first peer review for my upcoming book—Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful:

“Erudite, witty, passionately ethical, & deeply practical in all the best ways.”

“A critical intervention into how we think, talk, & feel about games in society.”

Oh. My. God. Chomsky talking about the 'hysteria' that has developed about the abuse of women and giving Epstein advice on how to handle the media. In 2019. The Media studies discipline and much of the left should reflect on the power given to this one flawed man to shape generations of thought.

Name them
shame them

Untitled - Saskatchewan Winter
Robert Newton Hurley
1969

Google with AI buttons

Google without AI buttons

I made a filterlist for uBlock Origin to remove Generative AI features on websites. Includes blocks for
* Google AI Summaries
* YouTube Ask button & chat summaries
* GitHub Copilot
* Facebook AI chat
* X's Grok buttons
* Deviantart DreamUp
* Booru AI images
* And more

github.com/Stevoisiak/S...

This convo between Epstein and Hollywood producer Barry Josephson is particularly disturbing. On top of the creepy messages about a minor, there's this: "I've been thinking a lot about that question that you asked bill gates 'how do we get rid of poor people as a whole'"

Hollywood producer Barry Josephson to Jeffrey Epstein:

“I've been thinking a lot about that question that you asked bill gates 'how do we get rid of poor people as a whole'"

Vibe Coding Is Killing Open Source Software, Researchers Argue ‘If the maintainers of small projects give up, who will produce the next Linux?’

Vibe coding is working as expected: it'll kill the open-source, secure, and ideologically maintained alternatives to make sure you have to pay the oligarchs to do anything at all, and they can control what you're allowed to make.

www.404media.co/vibe-coding-...

This talk came about through a recent article of mine "Hello, Worlds: A Ludic Theory of Cognition" which is online and open-access if you're curious: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

YouTube video by EDRL at UC Berkeley Embodied Underground with Steve Wilcox

The fine folks at Berkeley's Embodied Design Research Lab invited me to talk about my research on ludic cognition. It was a fun, lively discussion and you can watch here ✌️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE_w...

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...