iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Some summer snaps from my film camera and the travels we have been on so far this year: Wales, Los Angeles, Barcelona. #35mm

A walking trail twists and winds leading up to a hill top covered vibrant green grass against a bright blue sky

A warped, sparsely covered tree sits in the middle of a green hill. A blue sky with sparse clouds sits behind it.

A golden hour shot of California mountains with several trails in the distance disappearing into a haze

A vertical shot of a tall spire, brightly lit, bookended by two residential buildings in the shade

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Ian Hamilton @ianhamilton.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

This has to be one of the worst pieces of AI slop I've had the misfortune of reading, nearly every single word of it is fiction. People will find this and present it as fact, doing great harm. I remain shocked at just how quickly LLMs have destroyed the internet. voxbooster.com/blog/game-ac...

voxbooster.com

Game Accessibility Statistics (2026): 48 Data Points on Subtitles, Adaptive Controllers, and 430M Gamers — VoxBooster

Game accessibility statistics 2026: AbleGamers and Ubisoft data on 430M disabled gamers, 78% subtitle usage, 92% AAA accessibility menus, 3.8M adaptive controllers, and 62% non-disabled usage.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Seeing so many user research-adjacent platforms promising "instant insights" - two words that shouldn't go together. You can't get insight from one clip, one player, one moment. That's a data point. Insight is only gained when you find the context - often a long, multi-faceted, multi-channel thing.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

🎮🇬🇧 Mid-senior level freelancer/contractor Games User Researchers, talk to me. We have a gig opening up for 23-26 June. Playtest moderation + focus group leading. On site in London, UK. If you are interested, please reach out!

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

Spending nearly 3 weeks in the US has changed me somewhat…

Me, about to take a bite of a giant Donut in my hand with pink glazing and sprinkles

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Had a great first GDC! Learnt a lot, saw a lot of old and new faces and came away feeling inspired which in my eyes is a big success.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

First GDC. Super glad to be here, feels like a game dev rite of passage. Hit me up if you want to say hi 👋

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

This week we kick started an accessibility-first game jam with the University of Staffordshire. Central to the students’ game jam challenge is a focus on using our principles document produced specifically for the jam. These principles have now been made public! 👀 www.tencent.com/en-us/media/...

tencent.com

Game Jam - Tencent 腾讯

腾讯于1998年11月成立，是一家互联网公司，通过技术丰富互联网用户的生活，助力企业数字化升级。我们的使命是“用户为本科技向善”。Founded in 1998, Tencent is an Internet-based platform company using technology to enrich the lives of Internet users and assist the d...

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

www.theguardian.com/society/2026... Welcoming this news. More specific needs-focused diagnosis allows for people like my brother, non-verbal and requiring 24/7 care, to be supported with more accuracy to those able to live & work independently with very different but still important needs.

theguardian.com

A new diagnosis of ‘profound autism’ is under consideration. Here’s what parents need to know

Category describes people who have little or no language, an IQ of less than 50 and require 24-hour supervision

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

I don't know much about eggball but I do like Seattle a lot so yay Seattle I guess!

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derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 30/01/2026

every epstein file drop underscores how elite power operates through shared socio-economic networks, regardless of people's ideological differences, populist posturing, or public feuds

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Enjoying Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 a whole bunch, but WHY DOES EVERY NPC HAVE AN OPINION ON MY HORSE. WHY DOES NOBODY LIKE MY HORSE????

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pc2000s @pc2000s.bsky.social · 19/01/2026

Did you know? SSX actually had a PC port, but it's only playable in The Sims 2, and also you can't play it, you have to watch your sim play it for you.

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BAKER @fuckyoubaker.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

FEELIN' PRETTY NOW OR NEVER TO ME

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Brilliant initiative. A significant, often under appreciated, part of making games accessible involves broadening the diversity of the people in the industry who are making those games. This sort of thing is gold.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Finished a couple of games over the winter break including Death Stranding 2. Struggled with the first one: loved the world and story but found the pace just too slow and couldn’t finish it. I clicked with the sequel instantly however. A true masterpiece, and I had a lot of fun with its photo mode!

Black and white close up shot of Sam on the right, holding out his hand in strands of tar.

Black and white landscape image of Sam taking cargo across a river with a snowcapped mountain in the background.

Sam with an oxygen mask on facing the camera, knee deep in snow. Rocky mountains are behind him.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

This was probably the most infuriating and cringe-inducing thing I have listened to this year. The guy seems to have zero self-awareness.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 10/10/2025

Such is my deepness in the Apple ecosystem that, after accidentally putting my Sony earbuds in the laundry (sigh), I recently bought the new AirPod Pros. My question to you, #accessibility hive mind, why are these AirPods making me nauseous? Never had this with noise cancelling earphones before.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Our team are running user research concerning games accessibility. This is a paid research session open to UK residents. Please register your interest below if you are interested in taking part. @researchi.bsky.social www.researchi.co.uk/projects/RI9...

researchi.co.uk

RI971: UK-Wide Digital Accessibility Research - £100

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 29/09/2025

Good morning Redmond. Time for some sweet sweet accessibility (with a bit of jet lag for extra spice) #GAConf

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 08/09/2025

👋 I'm heading back across the pond to be at #GAConf once more in Redmond, WA later this month. I'm reserving a day free after the conference to catch up with familiar faces and meet new ones - hit me up if you're around and want to chat on the 31st 🙂

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

This game rocked. And it took me until adulthood to realise it was made by Virgin despite the main character basically being the logo.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

1 person going through redundancy is bad. 9,000 is just mismanagement - pure and simple. Heart goes out to all MS/AKB folks who, even if they kept their job, must be feeling pretty broken right now.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 26/06/2025

I promise I’ve been working and not just sitting on the beach the whole time I’ve been in LA.

Tencent America US office. Prominently features QQ (our penguin mascot) with a Tencent surfboard.

Ferris wheel in Santa Monica with golden hour sunlight giving it a warm glow

Sunset on against palm trees on Venice Beach. The trees are silhouetted in front of a hill backdrop in the distance where the sun sets.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 11/06/2025

Sooooo proud of our team's work in supporting Funcom's vision for Arrakis 💙🪱

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 31/05/2025

Truly brilliant exhibition at the Tate Modern - ‘Electric Dreams’. Digital art before it was digital, where artists pushed the boundaries of early computers and consumer tech to produce audio visual experiences that challenge how art is made and displayed. Right up my street.

8 CRT TVs in sync in a dark room producing glitchy, grainy, distorted images

Close up of 2 CRT TVs with glitchy imagery, red, green and blue crystal-like clusters

The image shows a framed art work by Katsuhiro Yamaguchi called Vitrine: Deep Into the Night. It is an image that depicts a building like structure, overlayed by a sheet of textured glass that distorts the image which gives a distorted effect.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

My bank holiday weekend has involved a fair amount of chores but now I’m going to treat myself with a new adventure…

Boot screen for Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 displayed on a large wall mountainedTV beside an Xbox One Series X; which is located near a Yamaha soundbar. Below sits a tv cabinet with vinyl records and bookshelf speakers.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Somewhat related story time... On day 3 of a week long play test, I noticed one of my participants brought a book into the lab. At one point he got it out of his jacket pocket and started reading it whilst 'playing'. I went to ask him what was up, assuming he was getting bored and about to churn...

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

Oh weird I suddenly feel very ill... I need some time off work, about 2 weeks? See you later.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Had a blast at #GAConf and was proud to deliver my first talk there. Great to see old friends and meet some new ones. Until next time…

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AbleToPlay | Find Accessible Games! @abletoplay.com · 15/04/2025

"Include, Learn, Iterate" by @johndickens.bsky.social teaches what accessible user research looks like, & how to adapt to fit different needs! It's an incredibly useful skill! If you want to learn about what user research is & why you should be playtesting your games, check out John Dickens' talk!

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Elden Ring for Switch 2 basically just means a higher risk of me launching this console out of a window than ever before. I shall buy it.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 01/04/2025

The Barbican, London, on the gorgeous Kodak Tri X 400 #35mm film. Taken with a trusty Olympus XA.

A plaza on the Barbican estate. The bright sun creates a high contrast scene between the white ground and the shadows of the people in the image. A man stands with a mobile phone on the right hand side of the image. There is an artificial lake in the background with relfections of the buildings behind it.

Portrait orientation scene of brutalist architecture framed by deep shadows formed in straight lines. A person is walking in the background in the shadows.

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Can I Play That? @caniplaythat.com · 20/03/2025

The ESA and industry partners announced the Accessible Games Initiative at GDC today. This industry-wide initiative provides a unified collection of accessibility tags, intended to help players more easily find out if a game is accessible to them. caniplaythat.com/2025/03/20/a...

caniplaythat.com

Accessible Games Initiative announced by ESA and industry partners - Can I Play That?

The ESA and industry partners announced the Accessible Games Initiative, providing unified accessibility tags for websites and storefronts.

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Yes, yes I will! Excited about my first GAConf talk 👨🏻‍🔬

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

Excited to hear about UKIE’s Raise The Game relaunch today! @ukieofficial.bsky.social

Snazzy looking conference room with screen that reads “welcome to the 2025 UKIE Members Day!”

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John Dickens @johndickens.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Small thing in the grand scheme of things but I'm really happy that Tencent are sponsoring @gaconf.bsky.social this year. Sponsorships of course help these events happen but also show a commitment to aligning the business with important values. Glad we made it happen! www.gaconf.com/sponsors/

gaconf.com