James Baillie

Oh christ on a bicycle. Yeah, that's miserable :(

(Otherwise, super busy but holding up alright - hope all's well with you too :) )

Well this is horrifying. I'm not sure what I can say usefully here beyond "well this is horrifying".

Why are we as a society spending so much of our resources on projects like "bad computer simulacrum purporting to be my recently deceased former academic supervisor"?

Sitting here and realising I might genuinely have spent more time on trying to apply for money for myself or other people to do research as I have on actually researching anything seriously over the past 12 months.

Why do we run systems like this? Is this really a good use of every academic's time?

As someone with semi-regular wrist ouches, very much empathy :(

Yeah, that's a very good point, agreed. I can do an online lecture if needs be, but it's SO much better when I can read the room I'm in properly.

We cannot be professionals in every media format, and I find video is particularly specialised because doing it well takes lighting, scripting, time-consuming editing, etc. Add that to algorithmic feeds that promote on an exponential curve and most content goes out to die or at best to roll a die.

Those really also only work if you audience-build very heavily or have cash for channel promotions, in my experience. There already are quite a few lectures by me on YouTube: I doubt they clear a hundred views between them, even the games & history stuff which is not lacking in wider audience.

This problem makes me anxious. I can present ideas in lots of ways: lectures, academic writing, storytelling, songwriting, poems, stories, adventure games - but these so rarely seem to reach people and as a thinky sort of being I don't know how to be useful in a world where I can't communicate.

A different skill: I can do public speaking for an hour to a lecture hall or large audience absolutely fine, I can't pump out constant 30 second TikTok videos to get my work across (not least because the expected consistency of doing the latter is *way* more time consuming than a speech or talk).

There aren't a lot of spaces where academics and game developers just get to bundle in and throw ideas around, and I'm very glad to have built one and very lucky to have done so with such a kind, exciting, diverse and talented group of friends and colleagues. Thanks to all of you who took part.

Well that is another Coding Medieval Worlds. I'll get videos sorted and many thank you emails written tomorrow, but as ever, wow and ooft, it's a very intensive weekend running these - doubly so including my own talk this year - but I'm hugely honoured that so many people find it a worthwhile event.

Thank you both so much! Was fascinating to listen to :)

Coding Medieval Worlds - YouTube

All the talks & panels from previous Coding Medieval Worlds events are on this YouTube playlist if that's of interest :)

www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

We don't record the rest of the Q&As/sessions, which is sort of a pity as there's so much fascinating stuff there, but it's also important for us to have a space where people can throw ideas very freely at the wall without feeling there are cameras rolling. But the intros are always worth watching!

There will be recordings of the talks and of the opening statements of panels, kindly done by @jafethve.bsky.social and @ludohistory.bsky.social. Will be a week or two before those are processed and available but follow @exilianofficial.bsky.social and/or me to get updates there :)

Starting very soon with our Friday evening workshop session! Looking forward to an exciting weekend with everyone :)

In accordance with today’s “law,” they could also face the “aggravating circumstance” of non-recognition of the Georgian Dream legitimacy, resulting in another year in jail.

So, just standing on a sidewalk in protest + saying the Georgian Dream is illegitimate = 2 years jail.

Looking forward to everyone's presentations and to chairing the panel on Communication and Information next weekend ☺️

I've been talking to folks about this sort of thing for months at least, now. There seems to be zero recognition that it's a problem in a lot of places and sectors.

I can't help suspect that we're getting rather more cybersecurity breaches due to this stuff than are making the news already too.

I'm finally actually giving a talk at one of my own workshops, having done half a decade of running them now... still got to finish writing it, but a part of me at least is looking forward to excitedly rambling at people about history and games and how they fit together :)

ილიაუნის მხოლოდ პედაგოგიკისა და STEM სპეციალობები ექნება - მთავრობის გადაწყვეტილება „ქართული ოცნების“ მთავრობის გადაწყვეტილებით, განისაზღვრა იმ პროგრამების მიმართულებები სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტებში, რომელთა განხორციელებაც შეეძლებათ. ამ გადაწყვეტილებით, მნიშვნელოვნად მცირდება ერთ-ერთი ...

This is pretty much what was expected, but it hurts to see it happen - a direct attack on the humanities in Georgia by removing the right to teach from universities with a reputation for government criticism.

www.radiotavisupleba.ge/a/33676000.h...

#Georgia #Sakartvelo #Academia #FreeSpeech

Innkeep is and will remain 100% human made.

As one of the humans in question, albeit a relatively small contributor, I approve this post strongly :)

Bonus episode: Withers and a bunch of dead characters (Ketheric, Orin, Gortash, the Emperor, Alfira) watch all the other episodes in the style of Gogglebox.

"What's happening next to Karlach? You know right, Withers?"
"No."
"No you don't know or no you won't tell me?"
"No."

#BG3 #BaldursGate

...but the best of the set is Lae'zel negotiating with the Githzerai, which is shot in the style of The Thick of It or In The Loop: Peter Capaldi is a recast Kithrak Voss.

"What the fuck is this? Did someone cast Negative Fucking Competence Flood in the room, are you all fucking zombies now?"

#BG3

Shadowheart has Jaheira and the kids coming to stay with her and the Owlbear, shot in the style of The Good Life complete with canned laughter tracks. Selune is played by Felicity Kendall and the lack of cleric spells specifically related to baking lemon drizzle cake becomes a running joke.

#BG3

Gale's entry is shot as an academic biopic in the style of Hawking or Oppenheimer. Lots of shots of him staring into space and a scene where he frantically rearranges his wine cupboard into an image of the Karsite weave. Little actually happens beside ominous conversations with Elminster.

#BG3

Wyll and Karlach get a shared episode in the hells which is a full on action-heist movie. Wyll fans are enraged by him not getting more screen time. Michael Bay directs. Everyone expects Tilda Swinton to play Zariel, but actually Anna Taylor-Joy gets the role and does a terrifyingly good job.

#BG3

Astarion's episode is a police procedural with the Flaming Fists. He's a consulting detective *and also the murderer*. Martin Freeman gets paid a ton of money to be both the forensic cleric and a halfling in order to combine his most famous roles. Nobody casts Speak With Dead for some reason.

#BG3

So apparently there will be a #BaldursGate3 live action series, without involvement from Larian so with none of the writers, and only one of the many many endings.

Probably going to be a disaster, but I do have a proposal for it: shoot every ep with a different main *and style*:

#BG3 #Larian