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Alexander King

@literallyaking.com

Game Designer, Economy/System Design. Adjunct Professor at NYU Game Center & Parsons DT. Staff Data Analyst for ACT-UAW Local 7902. Spreadsheet aficionado. (He/Him)

1027 Posts1664 Follower711 Folgt
Bruno Dias@brunodias.dev · last wk.

I am becoming incredibly exhausted of this pattern: many people: "AI sucks!" Very Smart Person: ah but have you considered (distinct application of ML or statistical modeling that has no real relationship to what the tech industry is marketing as, and people broadly perceive as, "AI")

Megan Greenwell@greenwell.bsky.social · last wk.

apropos of nothing, here's a terrific feature about a meaningful, life-saving use of artificial intelligence, which I have been thinking about for over a year. it's just extremely stupid to say that AI has zero benefits even if you don't think it should be used in writing (which I don't)!

Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 2w ago

I think maybe the reason this didn't happen is that promises like the former are quickly verifiable as something it can't actually do, whereas promising to replace all labor *in the future* is a goalpost that's conveniently mobile. (Since, largely, the real customers are VCs etc, not people)

Mia Sato@miasato.bsky.social · 2w ago

I maintain that consumer AI products would have been received very differently if they were launched with promises like, "You can query this to sort through your inbox of 50,000 emails" rather than "What if artists starved in the streets? :)"

Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 4w ago

So tempted by this. Man I miss the old machines. I always thought they were strangely tacky, the kiddy colors and all caps signage. But then the useless grey new ones came out and I realized, with horror, that all along these were actually stunningly well designed 😢

Metropolitan Transportation Authority@mta.info · 4w ago

We’re auctioning a limited number of MetroCard Vending Machines and MetroCard Express Machines! The auction is now open and offers must be received by Wednesday, August 19, 2026 at 8 pm EST. Learn more and bid on our website: mta.info/auction

Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 4w ago

Finished up Derelict Star recently, really enjoyed it despite not being much of a 'precision platformer' player. From the rave reviews I went in expecting good level design and an expressive moveset, but I was still surprised by the sprawling size, existential mood, and awesome soundtrack.

Terminal text from the game reads "You're aware of the danger of self-fulfilling prophecies but figure it must not apply to your situation - all your predictions just make you feel even more empty inside"
Alexander King@literallyaking.com · last mo.

I do love the hilarious court politics at play here, where the consultant can't ask *anything* about AI since it would definitionally require an admission of failure

For this reason, our team has quickly learned while on an engagement not to ask anything about ongoing AI projects in any context – by the time that project has started, it is too late for the management team, and intervention is not possible until a crisis point is inevitably reached. There is no conceivable positive outcome. The failure rate is so high that even basic inquiry leaves us in an untenable position. Any coherent question about how it’s going, what the goal is, who is using it, constitutes an inadvertent attack on the chain of command responsible for the work because there are no good answers to anything.
Eniko Fox@enikofox.com · last mo.

"All of the AI projects we have observed as a team are failing. Every single one – we have seen 0% success in a year and a half, not only amongst projects we have been asked to participate in, but even within projects that we have observed in passing" ludic.mataroa.blog/blog/ai-mani...

Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 2mo ago

Came across this game studies bibliography from 1966, really interesting what's on there- Caillois and Huizinga are already classics (Suits hasnt been invented yet) but then otherwise it's a big tent of psychology (eg Games People Play), game theory (eg Strategy of Conflict), children, pedagogy, etc

SELECTIVE BIBLIOGRAPHY ON SIMULATION GAMES AS LEARNING DEVICES The following list contains only works relating to simulation games designed or used primarily for educational purposes. It does not contain references to simulations developed for theoretical or predictive purposes’, or which do not have a game structure. Nor does it include references to the literature on &dquo;game theory,&dquo; as developed by von Neumann and Morgenstern and their followers. There is also a body of literature on games in the anthropological literature, which is not included here. In the case of games or research programs on which a number of papers and monographs have been published (e.g., the Carnegie Tech Management Game), we have tried to select those which are most recent and/or comprehensive.GENERAL PERSPECTIVES ON GAMES Berne, Eric. Games People Play. New York: Grove Press, 1964. Caillois, Roger. Man, Play, and Games. New York: Free Press, 1961. Huizinga, Johan. Homo Ludens. Boston: Beacon Press, 1955. Long, Norton. "The Local Community as an Ecology of Games." American Journal of Sociology, 64 (1958), 251-256. Also available in Bobbs-Merrill Reprint Series. Mead, George H. Mind, Self and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1934, Chapter 20: "Play, The Game, and the Generalized Other." Piaget, Jean. The Moral Judgment of the Child. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, 1948, Chapter 1. —. Play, Dreams and Imitation in Childhood. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1962, Part 2. Rapoport, Anatol. Fights, Games and Debates. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press, 1960. Schelling, Thomas C. The Strategy of Conflict. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1960. Simmel, Georg. "Sociability: An Example of Pure, or Formal Sociology." In Kurt Wolff (ed.), The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press, 1950, 40-57.FUNCTIONS OF GAMES FOR LEARNING Abt, Clark C. Heuristic Games for Secondary Schools. Cambridge, Massachusetts : Abt Associates, 1965, mimeographed report. —. "The Rediscovery of Exploratory Play, Problem-Solving and Heuristic Gaming as a More Serious Form of Education." Paper presented at the Lake Arrowhead Conference on Innovation in Education, December, 1965. —. Games for Learning. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Educational Services, Inc., 1966. Bruner, Jerome S. Toward a Theory of Instruction. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1966, especially 83-86, 92-96, 99, 117, 125-127, 134-135. Coleman, James S. The Adolescent Society. New York: Free Press, 1961, Chapter XI. —. Adolescents and the Schools. New York: Basic Books, 1965, especially Chapters 3, 5, and 6. Editors of Education USA, The Shape of Education for 1966-67. Washington, D.C.: National School Public Relations Association, 1966, 48-51. Gibson, John S. New Frontiers in the Social Studies. Medford, Massachusetts: Lincoln Filene Center for Citizenship and Public Affairs, 1965, 26-28.
Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 2mo ago

I've seen some perplexed reactions to these layoffs, like "but firing all this talent is such bad business!", this is the missing part of the puzzle for that. There's an unprecedented wave of unionization in games, and if it means keeping labor cheap and scared, that changes the math for execs.

CTIJ Montréal / GWU Montreal@gwu-montreal.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The mass layoffs hitting the industry are as much about disciplining workers as they are about cutting costs. The bosses want us scared, desperate, and afraid to ask for more. If we don't speak up, they will learn that this tactic works, and they'll keep doing it! That's why we need to fight back!

Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 2mo ago

Hey the recording from this panel about labor organizing in games is now online! We had a stellar lineup of speakers (@nathangrayson.bsky.social, @suduwana.bsky.social, JD Calvelli, Lore Feichter & Goran Svorcan-Merola) all talking about their experiences- Check it out! youtu.be/ySNEtBVjuZM?...

BOSS FIGHT - Labor Organizing in the Gaming Industry

YouTube video by Independent Labor Club

youtu.be

NYU Game Center@nyugamecenter.bsky.social · 6mo ago

THIS SATURDAY! The Game Center is hosting the Independent Labor Club of NYC at 370 Jay Street for a panel on labor organizing in the game industry, moderated by Game Center instructor @literallyaking.com RSVP and more info here: www.eventbrite.com/e/boss-fight...

Boss Fight Labor Organizing in the Game Industry (Panel + Discussion) Saturday, March 21st from 6-9 at the NYU Games Center Featuring panelists JD Calvelli, Nathan Grayson, Goran Svorcan-Mercola, Sherveen U, Lore Feitcher, moderated by Alexander King Hosted by The Independent Labor Club of New York City
Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 2mo ago

Termination without cause in Japan is complex and workers have a lot of rights and protections we don't in the US. If Japan had employment laws as weak as ours, Nintendo would undoubtedly lay off workers just the same. It's not management's benevolence or farsightedness, it's labor law.

Max Nichols@maxnichols.bsky.social · 2mo ago

You know what Nintendo does when they have a surplus set of devs from cancellations or production ending? Put them on other projects. The ability to redeploy headcount while keeping teams together over time is like, the main strategic benefit of scale in the game industry

Alexander King@literallyaking.com · 2mo ago

Whoa hold on hold on, I can't believe he had a Mars 2112 inspired username??? Bwahahaha Went to so many, like, friends younger sibling birthday parties there, playing the one Marvel vs Capcom cabinet they had, drinking a Martian rootbeer. So cheesy, perfect place for a teen to like ironically

Rav@rvbdrm.com · 2mo ago

From Josie Stratman (NY Daily News): “Mayor Mamdani on his "Talk with the Mayor" twitch stream reveals an old username: airnova2112 (after Mars 2112) Apparently a 15-year-old Mamdani used the username to come to the defense of his director mom, Mira Nair, from haters on online film chat boards”

Re: Being TRUE to Indian Identity by alrnova2112 » 20 years ago (March 12, 2006 10:49 AM) Member since November 2004 “Both Salaam Bombay and Monsoon Wedding were amazing commercially, I dont know how you got that they were failures?”