J. Rey Lee
@jreylee.bsky.social
Boardgamer, writer, teacher, girl dad, recovering academic. Unsettling Catan: lookingglance.com/unsettling-catan/ The Looking Glance: lookingglance.com
The newest book in the Tabletop Games series is here! In "Their System, Our Game: Homebrew and the Worlds of Pathfinder" Scott DeJong and Marc Lajeunesse discuss what happens when players write their own rules. Find it (and the free, downloadable campaigns) at press.umich.edu/Books/T/Thei...
I had no idea this was happening, but it's very cool to see this collaboration!
Central Michigan University Press@cmichpress.bsky.social · 4d agoA special shoutout to @uofmpress.bsky.social for helping us get to Gen Con this year by co-funding our booth! We have a few of their awesome books on games on display at our booth...come check them out tomorrow! #GenCon #universityofmichiganpress #cmichpress
My phone just read my typing "misinterpreted" as "misunderstood" and now I can't tell if I'm being misunderstood or not 🤔
Blue Bottle Games, as a policy, does not use generative AI. It's something we've discussed as a team, weighing the pros and cons, and ultimately, we decided it was not for us. Recently, while chatting with a colleague, she mentioned it was useful hearing our reasoning. So: Sharing time! 1/12
Board game criticism matters, not because it guides people towards 'good' games and away from 'bad' ones. But because it opens up the conversation about games. It establishes the cultural significance of play, while also expanding our vocabulary and the tools we have to reflect on it.
I think the analytics are trying to tell me something 🤔 (Something tautological, but still ...) #smush
There’s no way to exactly quantify how much a writer waffles over a thorny topic, but it's indicative of how much I wrestled with “A Gamer’s History of the US” that so much got left on the cutting room floor. This isn't an unusual ratio for academic writing, but it’s a lot for an opinion piece.
J. Rey Lee@jreylee.bsky.social · last mo.Welp, I just posted the longest, weirdest, and by far most political piece I’ve ever written for The Looking Glance. So, here’s “A Gamer’s History of the US,” my thought experiment in using game design to show how our 250-year democratic experiment went wrong. #boardgames
Not a fan of silly start player rules in general, but this one may be my favorite. It changes game to game, is genuinely thematic (much more so than having visited a particular place), and is a cute way of making a legitimate public health announcement. #boardgames #forbiddenisland
Unsettling Catan is an excellent study that builds a substantive cultural critique from a touchstone in the boardgame world that extends to other eurogames and beyond. I benefitted from reading Professor Lee’s work and recommend Unsettling Catan without reservation. #booksky @uofmpress.bsky.social
Review of Unsettling Catan - Technology and Society, Incorporated
Landing page for Technology and Society, Incorporated. Owner Curtis Frye is an online trainer and conference keynote speaker.
techsoc.com
This is a topic that's near & dear to my heart - these are the regs I built my legal career around. Please take a moment to say you oppose politics in science & political meddling in government grants.
Katie Mack@astrokatie.com · 3w agoThere is still time to submit your comment and tell the government that you don't want US research to be completely destroyed by politicians meddling in individual grants. You can submit your comments here: www.regulations.gov/commenton/OM...
We talk a lot about #boardgames with “pasted-on” themes, but what do folks think about so-called “theme parks?” 🧵
An important call to broaden “games” journalism to focus on “play” instead. “Games” draws lines and leads to inside-the-box thinking “Play” crosses lines and leads to outside-the-box thinking
Quinns@itsquinns.bsky.social · 4w agoNew video! Last month I was invited to Spain's Guadalindie game convention to do a talk of my choice. I ended up giving an angry polemic about how the culture of games is failing designers left and right, because there is no games industry. There's just "play" www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4Xm...
I love this game design advice from @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social, but it's really a wake-up call for all of us. If we want to demand more from game designers, we need to show them that #boardgame critics and players are genuinely engaging with their art. 🧵
David Masnato 🔜 PAX West@davidmasnato.com · 4w agoThere's tons of tabletop game design advice out there now. Some is valuable. Much of it is well intentioned but unhelpful "best practices" served as gospel. The most recent video from @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social feels vital in a way this space rarely sees. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRFY...
There's a part in the book "Careless People" where the author beats Zuck at Settlers of Catan, and he is absolutely wrecked by it. Someone pulls her aside to explain everyone else has been letting him win for years. I think about this a lot re: why tech bros think everyone will love AI chatbots.
Julian Sanchez@normative.bsky.social · last mo.People who spiral out overusing LLM chatbots are really just experiencing the kind of brain-damaging stream of unconditional validation that’s always been the norm for the hyper-wealthy, which explains a lot.
Welp, I just posted the longest, weirdest, and by far most political piece I’ve ever written for The Looking Glance. So, here’s “A Gamer’s History of the US,” my thought experiment in using game design to show how our 250-year democratic experiment went wrong. #boardgames
A Gamer’s History of the United States
Tell you what: we can talk about keeping politics out of our games when politicians stop playing games with our lives and livelihoods. Until then, I’ll keep exploring the ethical, cultural, and ev…
lookingglance.com
I've long subscribed to the idea that you're not a capitalist, if you work for a living. But with genAI everyone can act like a capitalist, without actually owning anything at all. Just trying to profit from administrating the median output of other people's work.
🥧 suzanne 🥧@425suzanne.bsky.social · last mo.#BoardGameJournalism 🤣🤣🤣 🤮🤮🤮
Made a video about a question that's been coming up a lot lately: How do we talk about accuracy vs. authenticity in historical games? youtu.be/JelDTpfFKVM
Accuracy vs. Authenticity in Historical Games
YouTube video by Beyond Solitaire
youtu.be
Had a lovely talk with @timclare.bsky.social about his new book The Game Changers / Across the Board. Tim talked about writing a serious book on games, going into communities to explore their play traditions, and how games can help people—especially neurodivergent people—make sense of themselves.
Tim Clare on The Game Changers / Across the Board
Today, author and podcaster Tim Clare joins us at the table to talk about his new book with two titles: The Game Changers (British edition) and Across the Board (US edition). As these titles sugge…
lookingglance.com
Gosh, I love this poem. I keep returning to one of my favorite Chesterton quotes. "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly." Please Use AI, via open.substack.com/pub/shawnsmu...
Please Use AI
Be sure to use AI when making
open.substack.com
I really like the phrase "Detached Design." It evokes for me what I believe defines German-influenced hobby games or the "euro game": bureaucracy. While I agree with @jreylee.bsky.social that many euro games have deeply embedded capitalist mechanics, the ethos of "detachment"...
Ludology Podcast@ludologypod.bsky.social · 3mo ago🎲✂️ *New Episode!* @senfoonglim.bsky.social and @ericabouyouris.bsky.social talk to J. Ray Lee (lookingglance.com), the author of Unsettling Catan: Detached Design in Eurogames. They discuss Catan's impact, detached design, and how game designers can avoid it. ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-257...
This and Ava Foxfort's recent piece are so refreshing in a hobby space where so much of the writing aims at reviewing games for would-be consumers. As a medium of play, games may be better suited to this kind of experiential and emotional writing than to being treated like commodities.
Tim Clare@timclare.bsky.social · 2mo agoI wrote a piece about attending the UK Games Expo last weekend, about feeling bad, stupid & worthless, about taking my 9 year old daughter for the first time, about the values of the market, & about pointless games. It's called 'Stupid Games, Stupid Prizes': www.timclarepoet.co.uk/stupid-games...
I see we've reached the point where #boardgame rulebooks are now openly making fun of cutesy start player rules. I can get on board with this. (the game is Recall, btw)
I scrolled past this the first time because I'm not interested in standard "I played this" convention reports, but this is well worth a read. Centering the emotional experience means I'm not thinking about *what* Ava played but *how* Ava plays. And that's much more meaningful.
Ava Foxfort@ava.foxfort.net · 2mo agoVery earnest feelings about people, games and autistic meltdown in here. Hope it's interesting/helpful/enlightening
If you're looking for a physical copy of Unsettling Catan, this is the lowest it gets, but remember digital is always free through Open Access. press.umich.edu/Books/U/Unse... #boardgames
University of Michigan Press@uofmpress.bsky.social · 2mo agoUpgrade your TBR stack with our Spring Sale!📚 Get 50% off ALL of our books with code SPRING26 until July 1. Browse here: press.umich.edu/Books
In case folks missed it, I recently talked about Unsettling Catan with @senfoonglim.bsky.social and @ericabouyouris.bsky.social on the Ludology Podcast. I really appreciate their willingness to bring tough cultural conversations into the game design community! ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-257...
Ludology: Ludology 357 Unsettling Catan
Erica and Sen speak with author and academic, J. Rey Lee, about his book entitled, "Unsettling Catan: Detached Design in Eurogames". They discuss Catan's impact on the hobby, what detached design actu...
ludology.libsyn.com
It's a bit odd that Pandemic requires you to only Share Knowledge in the specific city the knowledge is about, right? But it's not just odd: it's a nuanced commentary on science, cooperation, and our knowledge economies. Read more in "I, Researcher." #boardgames @mattleacock.bsky.social
I, Researcher (ft. Pandemic)
If the Medic is the most powerful character I’ve ever played, Pandemic’s Researcher might be the weakest. I don’t mean to say the Researcher is unplayable. Her ability is quite us…
lookingglance.com
I doubt I'm going to hit the majority of the audience that really needs to hear this on this page, but you should read it anyways. Great points from great minds in the industry. www.wargamer.com/board-games/...
Tabletop sexism, hidden women, and the myth of the 'wife board game'
Board games are bigger and more welcoming than ever, but women still face an uphill battle for the right kind of representation.
wargamer.com
🎲✂️ *New Episode!* @senfoonglim.bsky.social and @ericabouyouris.bsky.social talk to J. Ray Lee (lookingglance.com), the author of Unsettling Catan: Detached Design in Eurogames. They discuss Catan's impact, detached design, and how game designers can avoid it. ludology.libsyn.com/ludology-257...
The Looking Glance
Personal and Philosophical Reflections on Boardgaming
lookingglance.com
Excellent write-up from Lin here about this absolute barn fire of a tabletop gaming 'historical record' website:
Lin Codega@lincodega.com · 3mo agoFour Pillars Gaming published hundred of AI-generated profiles over the past four months and when people asked to be taken down, they doubled down, defended their process, and refused. The ramifications of hallucinatory LLM "histories" threaten to erode truth and destroy the historical record.
