ALT: Squirtle Squad's Pokémon Party Hard

Large language models are metaphor machines: they generate text based on similarities and proximity in their training data. I argue that this metaphor-based text generation leads to what John Gallaghe...

In this essay, I argue that the ludification of culture should be considered as an overall failure. The effects of (digital) play in culture and society have be...

Job title: PhD Research Fellowship in Narrative Data Visualisation (303954), Employer: University of Bergen, Deadline: Sunday, August 30, 2026

This lexicon is one of the outcomes of the research project “Algorithmic Folklore: The mutual shaping of vernacular creativity and automation” (ALGOFOLK), a four-year TMF-funded project led by Gabriel...

Abstract This article analyses narrative mechanisms that are common in dialogues with LLM chatbots. In combination, these mechanisms produce an interactional strategy for maximising user engagement, which we call affirmative narration. Affirmative narration serves to convince users of the chatbot’s utility. We analyse three narrative mechanisms that support affirmative narration in human-LLM dialogues: firstly, guiding the user to view chatbot as an intelligent and reliable character; secondly, activating masterplots, culturally significant and recurring story templates; and thirdly, using characters and masterplots not only to affirm, but also to isolate the user. The case studies range from a journalist’s unsettling chatbot experiment to cases where users have experienced delusions or even killed themselves after lengthy interactions with a chatbot. The analyses illustrate the worrying sides of affirmative narration, and the article thus concludes with the discussion of LLMs as a genre of narrative media which requires a new type of literacy.

Art historian Justin Fenech reviews The Scholar's Codex, an accessible academic study offering fresh perspectives on FromSoftware games and game design.

Personal website of games researcher Dom Ford.

A new deeply philosophical exploration of the FromSoftware games by leading game scholars

Summary. Algorithmic folklore indicates both folklore that develops around algorithms, and folklore that is algorithmic in nature. The concept of algorithm

The scholar will take part in the teaching and research activities of the Digital Culture program and the Digital Culture and Electronic Literature research groups in the Department of Linguistic, Lit...

It's time. After more than a year of careful planning, we are happy to announce that our Interdisciplinary Network for Research on Gender and Games (GG) is now open to new members.

In Scholar’s Codex, academics from around the world have come together to explore the themes, lore and ruined majesty of classics like Bloodborne, Dark Souls and Elden Ring. These are games that are d...