I've been bad at posting on Bluesky, but I've been blogging recently about my (futile) attempt to gradually exorcise big tech out of my workflow. The latest is about office suites, and the previous is about operating systems. More to come! domford.net/posts/exorci...

Vi trenger en exit-strategi for amerikansk teknologi, slik Danmark nå utforsker alternativer. www.aftenposten.no/norge/politi...

All of @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social books are works of art, and I'm so thrilled we could contribute to their library, and to the library of digital game books in general.

There is an actual argument that this curse actually worked.

The Scholar’s Codex is available for pre-purchase, published by @tuneandfairweather.bsky.social ! I’m so amazed to be part of such a well-crafted collection (the illustrations are gorgeous) edited by @domford.bsky.social, @gua-le-ni.com, @nelevdm.bsky.social and @danielvella.bsky.social.

Scholar's Codex features a laser die-cut circular hole on the front cover, allowing a keyhole glimpse into the scholar's study. Pre-order now via our store and download a free sampler. Delivery estimate Q2 2026. #eldenring #darksouls #bloodborne 💙📚 www.tuneandfairweather.com/products/sch...

I can finally talk about the Scholar's Codex! I'll do a bigger post later, but it's been announced but I was so so thrilled to be a part of the academic discussion of FromSoftware games (with truly gorgeous art FYI). www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Ko...

please look at this beauty!!

Can finally talk about this book! @domford.bsky.social @gua-le-ni.com @nelevdm.bsky.social & I have been on this journey for a while with a great team of contributors, and it's amazing to see what T&F have done with it. Certainly the most gorgeous book I've ever been involved with.

SCHOLAR'S CODEX - preorders now launched! A collection of essays on Souls games written by academics from at least three continents. Each chapter takes it starting point from an item in one of the Souls games to talk about existentialism, humanity, irony, disempowerment, time and more.

Ahhhhh I can finally talk about it! I wrote a piece for this on the Prisoner Iron Mask, BDSM and the queer pleasures of Elden Ring!

Super delighted to say that I wrote a chapter of this beautiful book! It's about my favourite character from Dark Souls 3 - Greirat of the Undead Settlement ❤️

Between the fog and the flame, a truth lies buried in ash.

Amazing item ahead. Watch this space!

👀

Turns out that outsourcing your thinking and storing it on a random server owned by psychopaths is, uhh, not a good idea?? www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The Nobel Peace Prize becoming so prestigious that wars are fought over a head of state coveting it is some real monkey paw stuff for Alfred Nobel.

New year, new publication alert - and this is a big one for me. My book "The Role of Enemies in Military Shooter Video Games" is out! It’s an attempt to provide a systematic framework for analyzing enemies in military shooters. www.routledge.com/The-Role-of-...

The article @jjol33n.bsky.social and I have been working on, "Ludic Representations of Suicide Livestreams in the Japanese Videogame NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD," is now out on the journal Thanatos. (1/7)

New cfp for a special issue of Eludamos! eludamos.org/index.php/el...

4 years ago, ads starring ✨Kathy Bates✨ tricked me into downloading Merge Mansion. I realized immediately the ads had deceived me, but kept playing anyway. Find out whether this was worth it in "Fake Games", out now in #Eludamos: eludamos.org/index.php/el...

We just dropped our latest regular issue of Eludamos! With an editorial, 12(!) articles, 4(!) book reviews and a commentary, it's a big boi, and I'm really pleased to see all this excellent work out in the wild.

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...

🚨 My new article 'Antagonistic Game Design: the Author as a Player' is out on #Eludamos (Journal for Computer Game Culture)! 🚨 >> septentrio.uit.no/index.php/el... << WARNING: might contains traces of @cloobot.bsky.social @doougle.net @jzagal.bsky.social @foddy.net and @add-hawk.bsky.social XD

My paper "'Was Barbarossa Not German?!' Nation, History, and Identity in Civilization Players’ Online Discussions" has just been published in the new issue of Eludamos! Very happy to see this out in the world eludamos.org/index.php/el...

Very much looking forward to talking about my book with old and hopefully new friends at ITU! Do come along if you can.

📑 New publication! 📑 I was asked to write a 'viewpoint' article in a special issue on 'Ludomythologies'. I happily obliged with just a few thousand words on how we should think of myths less like stories and more like models, and how that makes them remarkably similar to games.

Come work with us! We are hiring 3 postdoctoral researchers working in cultural game studies from the beginning of 2026 until the end of 2027. Read more and apply by 31.10.2025 (at 23.59.00 EET / UTC+2):

Creating AI avatars of dead people needs to become an absolute societal taboo.

📯PUBLICATION NEWS📯 @amayer.bsky.social, Knut Wormstädt and I are happy to announce that our @gamevironments.bsky.social special issue Peripheral Religions and Games is officially out now! Here's the link, but we want to talk about every article and report for a minute: tinyurl.com/2txajt3m

Smart and delightful book, equally enjoyable @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social interview. @domford.bsky.social Mytholudics: Games and Myth @degruyterbrill.bsky.social #GameTheory#Folklore #Myth #PopularCulture newbooksnetwork.com/mytholudics

My first paper, "Fictional Videogames as Framing Devices: Suicide Communication in MMOs," is out now on Eludamos. In the paper, I argue that the use of fictional MMOs as framing devices serves as a reflexive narrative tool that suggests MMOs as spaces with their own internal rules of communication.

Recently, I was interviewed about my book for @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social by @janalena.bsky.social! If you want to hear me talk about games and myth for about an hour, please check it out. newbooksnetwork.com/mytholudics

The future dystopian Rome of Lucio Fulci's Warriors of the Year 2072 (1984). My paper on the film's use of the gladiatorial combat trope has just been published in @gua-le-ni.com @domford.bsky.social and Riccardo Fassone's special issue of Eludamos on fictional games. eludamos.org/index.php/el...

Very happy to announce that next week, I'll be joining the University of Zürich as part of the URPP Digital Religion(s), working on the project "Synthetic Realities. Generative AI and Digital Visual Literacy" alongside @bildoperationen.bsky.social. Exciting!!

Are you a man, at least 15 years old and either Finnish or living in Finland? Do you participate in game culture by e.g. playing video games, RPGs or miniature games, watching videos or through activities like cosplay? Take the questionnaire in Finnish or English at bit.ly/pelikulttuuri

Hey, thanks for using this legal e-reader to access an academic book through your uni library instead of just grabbing the pdf on libgen. Here's a sloppy AI summary of the book. We've defaulted your view to an epub without page numbers but feel free to reload the whole page if you want to change it.

👩‍🍳 𝐂𝐅𝐏: 𝐂𝐇Æ𝐅 - 𝐂𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐠𝐞 & 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐨𝐨𝐝 Want to talk about your favourite dish or latest culinary faux pas? 🍕🍍 Or reflect on how food is represented in art? 🍰 Submit an idea by 6 June and join us in Tilburg in August! 👉More info: nelevandemosselaer.wordpress.com/chaef-cultur...

Neuer Lesestoff für derzeit zu kalt Abende. @johannesfranzen.bsky.social @domford.bsky.social

Submit now: CfP for our next Special Issue "BEYOND PLAY: THE TRANSFORMATIVE POWER OF DIGITAL GAMING IN A DEEPLY MEDIATIZED SOCIETY" is out now! Abstract submission deadline: 31.05.2025 journals.suub.uni-bremen.de/index.php/ga... #gamevironments #gaming #academics #cfp

Having taken a quick look at the demo document, this seems much more like a Notion alternative than a Google Docs alternative. No font selection, set formatting, etc. etc. That's cool - I'm looking for a Notion alternative - but I'm desperate for Google Docs to die too.

If you want me to give a talk, do an interview, be on a podcast or anything like that to do with the book, please get in touch (:

I recently finished reading this and it's a straight banger. Plus, the book is beautiful and small - it fits in a large pocket, so it's perfect for taking on the bus. It even comes with its own bookmark!!!!!! But seriously, this is an excellent novel.

'What We Owe the Dead' is the title of my new #scifi novel. In the aftermath of a climate catastrophe, the book follows strange detective case and deals with themes such as the notion of personhood and the social use of #games. > www.setmargins.press/books/what-w... < (photos by Annette Behrens)

📖My book is out! My book Mytholudics: Games and Myth is now available. In it, I propose a way of understanding and analysing games as and through myth. @degruyterbrill.bsky.social doi.org/10.1515/9783...

I thought we were past pretending that articles just popped into existence out of nowhere, written by no one. That reads far more "oddly" to me.

There is still time to submit a proposal to the CFP for Otherworldly Entertainment (details found via link below). The deadline is 31 March 2025. It is sure to be an incredible event with two amazing keynotes: @enwright.bsky.social & @kirstinmills.bsky.social Best of all, you get to visit Copenhagen

ZeMKI member Dr. Kathrin Trattner was interviewed by the Austrian public radio station FM4 on the topic of “Right-wing extremism and games culture”. The interview can be accessed here. zemki.uni-bremen.de/en/kathrin-t...