Novelty and Inequalities in Science symposium Prague, Oct. 8–9, 2026 📆Extended deadline: June 30, 2026 👉Submit an abstract on the topics of recognizing and rewarding novelty in science or find more details: 🔗 stss.flu.cas.cz/novelty2026 #scienceofscience #metascience #sociologyofscience 🙏Repost🧪

I've just received a copy of the Simplified Chinese edition of Player vs. Monster and wow, it's gorgeous!

I'm live! I'm streaming a read-a-long of some gaming nonfiction, "Gaming the Iron Curtain: How Teenagers and Amateurs in Communist Czechoslovakia Claimed the Medium of Computer Games" by Jaroslav Svelch. These sure do sound like some heroic Gamers! twitch.tv/superbunnyhop

What if the monster should be left alone because killing it would bring more shame upon the hero than glory?

The Strange Melancholy of Slaying Monsters

From “Shadow of the Colossus” to “Undertale,” video games have turned one of their oldest rituals into an ethical dilemma.

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

If you ever wanted a taste of my book about monsters in games, here's a neat new excerpt on the @mitpress.bsky.social Reader about the melancholy of the monster killer and about who's the real monster in video games. The book is now 3 years old and it was nice to revisit it.

The Strange Melancholy of Slaying Monsters

From “Shadow of the Colossus” to “Undertale,” video games have turned one of their oldest rituals into an ethical dilemma.

thereader.mitpress.mit.edu

My article on Playdate (the handheld console) is out in the Game Studies journal, to my knowledge the first academic article on the platform. gamestudies.org/2602/article... It's already slightly outdated but nicely sums up my thoughts after around 2 years with the platform and its games.1/3

Interested in indexicality in games, going to DiGRA in Ireland? Consider joining our GAMEINDEX workshop. We'll discuss the use of real-life locations, objects, and people in games. gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/2026/04/07/c...

My forthcoming book "Maiden, Mother, and Crone: Female Monstrosity in Video Games" is officially listed on Springer's website!! Ahhh it's finally happening!! It'll be published in June, just in time for me to go back to work after my maternity leave 😁 link.springer.com/book/9783032...

Sharing this posting which could be a dream PhD for many: www.uni.lu/en/jobs/doct...

Doctoral Researcher in Historical Game Studies

uni.lu

We're starting a new Game Studies Master's program at Charles University, Prague, and the applications are now open. It's a 2-year Master's that was designed by our team at the Prague Game Production Studies research group. study.fsv.cuni.cz/study-progra... 1/2

Check out the interview and check out the book Video Games and Comedy (2022). I was one of the co-editors and I'm still astonished by the quality of the chapters. Unfortunately, the book came out during covid and didn't get much conference publicity - so it's nice to see people are still interested.

Sebastian Möring@sebomat.bsky.social · 5mo ago

My episode of the Humour and Games podcast (Season 3, Ep. 9) is out! 🎮😄 The hosts and I talk Tetris parodies, paradox, and the comedy of game design — based on my chapter in Video Games and Comedy (Palgrave, 2022). 🎧 #gamestudies #humor #comedy more info: sebastianmoering.com/humour-and-g...

Looking forward to speaking March 3 at the University of Luxembourg (+hybrid) about politics of computer games in Communist-era Czechoslovakia. Based on my 2018 book but I'm adding new stuff! Including a recently rediscovered cute quasi-propagandistic 1989 game about a record-breaking coal miner.1/2

Gaming the Iron Curtain: Politics of computer gaming in Communist-era Czechoslovakia

History@Play lecture by Prof. Jaroslav Švelch about politics of vomputer gaming in Communist-era Czechoslovakia

uni.lu

First post of the year, new paper out today: we present possibly the biggest case of systematic Measurement Schmeasurement in tech use. It seems that most studies on gaming (videogame) addiction/disorder haven't measured gaming after all. This research took years, so long 🧵 doi.org/10.1098/rsos...

Confusion in gaming disorder measurement

Abstract. Measurement is important for the scientific programmes of addictive behaviours. In the present study, we investigated the measurement of gaming d

doi.org

A thread on ZEN AND SLOW GAMES (MIT Press, 2026)

In collaboration with the amazing Herní archiv, we have finally been able to digitize and release the software archive of František Čuňas Stárek, the Czechoslovak dissident and member of the Vokno collective, who used the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in samizdat. 1/3 herniarchiv.cz/projects/fra...

Plague: In the Maze of the Mind is a 1996 Italian first person... virtual surgeon game? You run around a virtual Rome (patient's brains), gathering ideas to bring them back to where they belong, while killing animals (viruses). Strange and repetitive, but running around in lowpoli Rome? Love it.

Eludamos has a new CFP for a Special issue: New Perspectives on Men and Masculinity in Gaming Eludamos invites scholars in game studies and beyond to submit full papers for a special issue on men and masculinity in gaming, with deadline March 15, 2026.

Could be of interest to game historians/fans - a 1969 film from Dartmouth College showing P0TSH0T, an early artillery/ballistic curve computer game, displayed using a plotter. Credit to the original uploader Kevin Bunch! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ7A...

Timeshared Computer Graphics

YouTube video by Kevin Bunch

youtube.com

Hi folks! I’m currently co-editing a special issue for GAME about queer and trans games studies. Find the full cfp here www.gamejournal.it/n-132025-bey..., deadline for abstract submission is 12 January 2026!

The new yearly Eludamos issue has just dropped! It's massive: one editorial, 12 articles, 4 book reviews, and one commentary. It's well over 350 pages. Please find it here: eludamos.org/index.php/el...

"Monsters in glass cages. This WAD is intended as a tool for WAD authors to give an easy way to examine animated sprites without getting killed by them." From Doomscroll, a big collection of Doom mods playable in your browser: doomscroll.cx

Check out this cool podcast episode (in Czech) I've moderated about Czech settings in Czech games, with the wonderful guests @bludr.bsky.social @lenikrsova.bsky.social and Zdeněk Záhora on the practical, creative and commercial aspects of local settings (+trains & alcohol). tinyurl.com/yz9yvkhf

This was clipped from a vid file I downloaded many years ago, but I've just seen that the BBC have uploaded a new version of the 'Commercial Breaks' expose of the rise of Ocean and the fall of Imagine. Worth spending a half-hour watching for those interested in the UK's bedroom coder boom.

1984: BANDERSNATCH, BAILIFFS and the Battle for a HIT GAME | Commercial Breaks | BBC Archive

YouTube video by BBC Archive

youtube.com

My and Jan Houška's article "Czech Appeal" is out in open access! We talked to local independent game developers who make locally themed games and asked them about their motivations, production processes, and the reception of their games. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.

journals.sagepub.com

1/5🎥🏭When platform capitalism meets local labor: A Prague perspective on global streaming production. My new article examines how Amazon's Carnival Row—filmed in Prague—embodies the contradictions of platform imperialism. 🧵👇 #StreamingMobileProduction #PlatformImperialism #CarnivalRow #Prague.

Go in and do this. I was also 'upgraded' automatically with no notice to the 30eur annually more expensive AI Bullshit Plus version of Office 365. Nothing says "this is a necessary and groundbreaking technology" like having to force-feed it down people's throats.

James Coruscanti Diner III@adillondev.bsky.social · 2y ago

Microsoft is going to price gouge you by adding their genAI to your subscription without your consent, and they are not transparent about how to avoid this bullshit. Here's how to change your subscription back to "Classic" for a lower charge without Copilot: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffi...

Happy to announce that for our game studies ERC project GAMEINDEX, we're looking for 2 PhD students. These are fully funded positions. More info here:

Be careful, if you ever played Among Us, or probably watched The Thing I guess, you might be a CEO assassin! Like fucking clockwork lol

Carolyn Fiddler@cfidd.bsky.social · 2y ago

I ...what www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...

I sense some Blue Ice/Commander Blood vibes!

Damiano Gerli@damiano.bsky.social · 2y ago

Babylon is a 1997 point and click surreal/mystical adventure game developed by Italian software house Colors, originally founded by Ivan Venturi after leaving Simulmondo. It was supposed to be the first of a series but the publisher gave up on it after the first episode.

Happy to announce that my ERC Consolidator Grant project "GAMEINDEX:Politics and Aesthetics of Indexical Representation in Digital Games and VR" has been selected for funding. We're starting in October 2025! gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/2024/12/03/g...