iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

@aspirelab.bsky.social , @katta.bsky.social , and I have a wee correspondence out in Nature soon about how we need to update copyright licensing to better accommodate/mitigate re-use in the AI era. You can access it early here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

Amend copyright licences to halt AI misuse and reassert human control | Nature

Letter to the Editor

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

if you feel like hearing me actually talk about my book, rather than just read my posts, I was on the Game Studies arm of the New Books Podcast network. Thanks again @gamestudies.bsky.social !

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

If you enjoyed Penny-arcade today, it might as well be a visualization of similar points I make in ch6 of my book. Thanks, @cwtycho.penny-arcade.com and @cwgabriel.bsky.social .social for providing a handy image to use in polite conversation, lol. direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Had a great time giving my talk, "Taboo Interfaces and infrastructures on the periphery of gameplay" at British DiGRA today. Thanks again Mariza DIma for being an enthusiastic volunteer for the interactive portion of the talk! Image included for algorithmic purposes. #bdigra #bdigra2026 #gamestudies

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

If you are thinking about using AI today, please consult this 30 year old episode of The Outer Limits: www.dailymotion.com/video/x5ved1c

dailymotion.com

The Outer Limits S03E05 Stream of Consciousness

Dailymotion video by Big Time Rush Full Episodes

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Wrapping up a lovely visit to Vienna to chat about research, my book, and help with @youthdmh.bsky.social summer school. Thank you again @katta.bsky.social and Pawel Wozniak for having me! Also obligatory pic of stuff to appease the Algorithm.

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

To adapt an excerpt from a novel I enjoy, AI demonstrates impressive algorithmic logic. But, logic can be a feeble tool for innovation; it proved airplanes would never fly. No matter the data AI devours, it cannot produce anything tomorrow that isn’t a version of something that happened yesterday.

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Video Game History Foundation @gamehistoryorg.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

For the first time in our 9-year history: WE ARE HIRING! We're seeking a full-time fundraising manager to establish and grow our non-profit's development department - in other words, to raise money and help us grow! Remote-hybrid in the SF Bay Area with benefits! www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/44...

linkedin.com

The Video Game History Foundation hiring Fundraising Manager in Emeryville, CA | LinkedIn

Posted 12:59:43 AM. Apply if this sounds like a match:We are seeking a growth-oriented, self-starter with prior…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Thanks Paul, a game those who couldn't make it this year can play along at home... #CHI2026

image of post by Paul Dourish: "My CHI exercise: every time someone says "AI", mentally substitute "systems based on large-scale, indiscriminate data surveillance" (of the sort that we used to decry). You know, as in "we can solve this problem by applying..." or "we collaborated with folks with an expertise in...", or "how is your work still relevant now that we all live in the age of...". Try it for yourself!"

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

In Outer Worlds 2, you can ask an "AI" whether it is an "artificial intellect." It's response is appropriate to our broader AI situation. "That, I fear, would be a misleading choice of words, as it implies a form sentience or cognition. 'Applied statistics' might be functionally more apt."

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

I empathize with sci-fi writers most when I encounter folks citing my work to support making the thing my co-authors and I said would be a terrible, potentially harmful, idea.

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Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Our (@mahliann.bsky.social, @marcuscarter.com, and I) book GAME STUDIES: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD is officially OUT everywhere in the world except the US for some reason. So here is an actual thread about why we wrote it and what we were trying to achieve with it.

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Oh look at that, my book is on sale at GDC! Very cool! If you are attending, stop by @mitpress.bsky.social and give it look. I couldn't make it this year, but thanks @kcisbister.bsky.social for the pic, lol. #GDC #GDC2026

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

I am so glad co-pilot is in outlook now to offer me AI summaries of 5 word emails >.>

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

So, they are technically only looking at coding skills, but the implication here is about learning, not the specific task they observed being learned, so Anthropic is essentially saying using more than a little bit of AI assistance keeps you bad at stuff. www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...

anthropic.com

How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills

Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

I have been peddling my book a lot, but now its available Open Access, in case you wanted to see what my fussing was about but didn't have the budget! direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

direct.mit.edu

Thresholds of Digital Gameplay

How the often-overlooked interfaces, interactions, and inequities on the edges of gameplay are more central to gaming than we realize.Contemporary digital

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MIT Press @mitpress.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

In "Thresholds of Digital Gameplay," Daniel Gardner demonstrates how a series of interfaces and other elements on the edges of gameplay are more central to gaming than we realize. Available #OpenAccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255358...

A copy of "Thresholds of Digital Gameplay" by Daniel L. Gardner on a plain background. The cover features an illustration of a door cracked open to reveal a vivid, pixelated game landscape.

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 16/12/2025

It's book launch day! Very excited and super thankful. If you can help me amplify with a share, that would be amazing. Or, if you read it and want to tell people about it, that would be pretty rad too! Thanks again @mitpress.bsky.social, and many more who helped along the way.

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 26/11/2025

Only a few weeks before my book is out! Thanks again Braxton Soderman, @kcisbister.bsky.social, and @kishonna.bsky.social for kind endorsements on @mitpress.bsky.social. Also, US folks, the code MITP30 should give 30% off a pre-order! (details on the code: mitpress.mit.edu/discount-cod...)

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Maybe, if massive networks of GPUs eating the internet and guzzling down whole cities-worth of power are only kind of ok at replicating stuff our brains do pretty well with about a dim lightbulb's worth of electricity, its a qualitative issue, not a quantitative processing challenge?

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Sebastian Deterding @codingconduct.cc · 29/10/2025

2025: a late stage soviet bureaucrat larp you can never leave. Everything is strained and worn beyond function, everything breaks ever-faster, & the job is to make do & pretend & report numbers up & to the right, while everyone knows & copes & bonds over black humour & too much drink in private.

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 24/10/2025

Perfection and until 6 days ago impossible to produce with AI, and still unlikely until MOAR actual creativity is fed to the alter regurgitation. Even if replicated or remixed, it will be as derivative as the rest :/ www.youtube.com/watch?v=j33f...

youtube.com

むかしストリート - 桃男 -｜Once Upon A Dance Time - Peach Boy -

YouTube video by コメアニメ

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 12/09/2025

For folks in/around HCI. If you haven't seen already, its SIGCHI volunteering app season. All executive subcommittees and ad-hoc committees are looking for volunteers, but if you care about Equity issues, please consider expressing interest in the Equity committee! medium.com/sigchi/open-...

medium.com

Open Call for Volunteers 2025

As a volunteer-driven organization, we are deeply reliant on numerous volunteers who give their time to organizing conferences, reviewing…

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Hey! My book from @mitpress.bsky.social has a cover now! I think it captures the book's theme about the transactions and transitions we negotiate with to participate in digital gameplay @barnesandnoble.com has another pre-order sale for 25% off too. www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thresholds...

barnesandnoble.com

Thresholds of Digital Gameplay|Paperback

How the often-overlooked interfaces, interactions, and inequities on the edges of gameplay are more central to gaming than we realize.Contemporary digital gameplay is only accessible by navigating an ...

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Dr. Emma Vossen @emmavphd.bsky.social · 12/08/2025

After 5 years of hard work by @sparklebliss.bsky.social, @cmejeur.bsky.social, @onlyalishak.bsky.social, myself, our contributors, and the lovely people at @punctumbooks.bsky.social Historiographies of Game Studies is out NOW! You can read all 780 pages for FREE. 🔓 punctumbooks.com/titles/histo...

punctumbooks.com

Historiographies of Game Studies: What It Has Been, What It Could Be – punctum books

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Missing the keynote for SICSA PhD conference 2025 was a bummer. However, hearing Michael Hicks talk about why LLMs are bullshit, or why rather how they bullshit (verb) was a lovely way to start they day. #SICSA @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social

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Oliver Haimson @haimson.bsky.social · 12/06/2025

Great to talk with @william-engels.bsky.social for the History of Philosophy Audio Archive podcast! We got into some interesting topics that haven't come up in other interviews, like Chelsea Manning and privacy/security concerns in trans tech. Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

podcasts.apple.com

Hemlock #17: Trans Technologies with Oliver Haimson - Chelsea Manning, Trans Rights in the US, Technologies of Identity Formation and Community Resilience, Videogames, and the Future for Trans Youth

Podcast Episode · History of Philosophy Audio Archive · 05/22/2025 · 1h 7m

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Jack Orchard @jarona7.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

Oliver Bates and @ben.kirman.org talk about Research through Game Design, here showcasing Meal Deal, their board game about bicycle couriers and the gig economy - ben.kirman.org/projects/mea... #BDiGRA25

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Prof. Catherine Flick @liedra.net · 20/05/2025

Fascinating lightning talks at #BDiGRA on roguelikes by @cgislam.bsky.social, queerness in British games studies, trans emergence in games, ecogaming and some very pretty diagrams from @jarona7.bsky.social about affective encounters in games

The 5 lightning talk speakers sit on a set of sofas at the front of a lecture theatre

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 20/05/2025

British DiGRA is starting off nicely. Looking forward to the following days of interesting presentation and conversations. @poppywilde.bsky.social and other hosts are treating all of us well and not forcing us in any way to live-post our very real excitement! #BDiGRA25

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Dan Gardner @dangphd.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Well, this page now exists and that is quite exciting. More information soon! @mitpress.bsky.social Also, still trying to integrate this platform into my routine, any shares you can spare will help me out as this gets closer! mitpress.mit.edu/978026255358...

mitpress.mit.edu

Thresholds of Digital Gameplay

Contemporary digital gameplay is only accessible by navigating an ecosystem of interfaces that support its computational nature. Account logins, controllers,...

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