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Marcus Carter

@marcuscarter.com

1.1K followers 322 following 91 posts

Professor in HCI @ USYD, CEO @ Ludolio. Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Game Studies & Virtual Reality.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 09/09/2026

Two-panel "Levar Burton Hotline Bling" meme. In the top panel, Geordi La Forge in his Star Trek uniform saying no to "CHATGPT," indicating rejection. In the bottom panel, La Forge points approvingly beside the text "PAMELA," the book promoter revealed as an ai agent in the previous post.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 09/09/2026

Anyone who has written a book has recently started getting dozens of emails a week from 'book promoters', heaping suspiciously similar praise, but highlighting marketing flaws. but what happens if you actually reply?

email exchange with 'pamela', a book promoter, which are obviously ai generated. the recipient (marcus carter) gets the book promoter to reply with the correct approach for reversing a list in python, a homage to a similar meme about someone getting the mcdonalds chatbot to help with the same programming problem.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 26/08/2026

beautiful stuff

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 26/08/2026

We have a new game on Ludolio today , The Masters Pupil by Pat Naoum, a hand-painted puzzle game set inside Claude Monet's eyeball. Think Limbo but beautiful and calm, rather than harrowing.

screenshot from the game The Masters Pupil, a hand-painted puzzle platformer.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 21/08/2026

Welcome to Ludolio, Queer Man Peering Into a Rock Pool.jpg by @fuzzyg.host . Can't wait to get students to play you!

screenshot from the game 'queer man peering into a rock pool.jpg'. The subtitles in the game originally say 'welcome to the world' but it has been edited with 'welcome to ludolio'

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 17/08/2026

& what happens next in Webbed is worthy of an hour long lecture on affordance theory. hillarious. and unlike Key Fairy, this game certainly doesnt have a spider-free mode!!!

screenshot from the game webbed, showing a bowerbird threatening the player-character (a spider)

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 17/08/2026

Hidden Folks might be a little more my speed these days

screenshot from the game hidden folks, a hand drawn object detection game.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 17/08/2026

I'm barely finding the time to keep up with all the games we're adding to Ludolio at the moment, but ... i'm a little rusty at Nuclear Throne

screenshot from the death screen in the game nuclear throne, showing that I only made it to level 4-1, a relatively poor effort.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 11/08/2026

Tonight i'm playing 🏭 FACTORY 95 🏭, which was just published on Ludolio (our new games platform that lets libraries lend games). Macrobit Interactive's automation sim rebuilds the whole feel of Windows 95, just supremely clever reimagining of the factory-sim.

Screenshot from Factory 95 showing a retro Windows 95 style email client, confirming delivery of a power point slide to a client. This is how the game communicates a mission has been completed.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 22/07/2026

We're stoked to have Key Fairy on Ludolio because its perfect for discussing how mechanics carry meaning; disentangling 'difficulty' from 'violence'; and as a prompt for discussing game art, visual tone and space. Great accessibility options too, including no spiders!

A screenshot of the accessibility options in Key Fairy. These include 'No Spiders' ("There are no spiders in Key Fairy, but there are things which move like spiders. This option changes their animation to be less spider-y".

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 22/07/2026

Had a chance to play Key Fairy today, which is available now on Ludolio! Owl Machine's ink-illustrated, pacifist bullet-hell about a tiny fairy untangling a cursed forest, one of the best-reviewed indies of the year, now available for classroom and library licensing.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 16/07/2026

Roblox's age-up initiative is going great! Can anyone help me workshop these paper title ideas? I can't get no (Refunds) Gimme Robux Sympathy for the Brainrot You can't always get what you want (Robux)

Advertisement for the Rolling Stones Roblox game. The text reads:

The stones teamed up with Roblox to turn 60 years of rock history into a first-of-its-kind, immersive game built for fans of all ages.

The rolling stones hit the block friday july 17th @ 4pm PT

from friday through sunday head back to the game for an epic, first of its kind, finale event. starting friday at 4pm, the world will transform into a final battle to defeat the man - and your participation will directly impact hte outcome. this is an experience unlike anything you've ever seen, and you're needed on the front lines to help save rock 'n' roll history

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 08/03/2026

I've thought for a while USYD should have a game design club, so we seed funded it for a year. We expected 10-15 students hanging out, making games in a room, with a paid mentor. Over 570 students signed up (!) and 120+ turned up to our first session last Friday. Wild enthusiasm.

A lecture theatre filled with students. In the front, four students play a game with a pink balloon.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 18/02/2026

The nice thing about writing books is that eventually you get a copy and this is a lovely surprise when it happens.

A copy of the book ‘Game Studies: a critical introduction to the field’ held in the photographers hand. In the background, there is a cute dog. The dogs name is echo.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 05/12/2024

I don’t listen to much music, but when I do …

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 27/11/2024

Delighted to share that our ARC Discovery Project on 'Proactive harm prevention for emerging virtual and augmented reality technologies' has been funded. Stoked to get to do more VR & AR work with Jo Gray and @benegliston.bsky.social, and keep growing @cavrn.org !

Grant project announcement, on: "Proactive harm prevention for virtual and augmented reality technologies. The project aims to develop a regulatory framework for emerging virtual and augmented reality technologies to proactively prevent harms. It addresses significant issues such as harassment, privacy infringements, exploitation and discrimination in immersive technologies. The research will examine different industry visions and their impacts, focusing on harms to marginalised users. Expected outcomes include a deeper understanding of these technologies' trajectories and actionable policy recommendations. The benefits will be safer, more equitable immersive systems and evidence-based regulations, contributing socially and culturally to Australia."

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 14/11/2024

you wouldn't steal a car; you wouldn't open a social media account; you wouldn't steal a handbag. downloading pirated films is stealing

Text reading 'You Wouldn't Open a Social Media Account', parodying the 'You Wouldn't Download a Car' anti-piracy adverts from the early 2000.

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Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · 03/11/2024

Can anyone confirm at which conference & year this happened? Via www.gamedeveloper.com/design/jerke...

Text which reads: The brilliant designer and renowned MMO scholar Richard Bartle made a stink at a game conference several years ago by interrogating many of the presenters (most of whom were not game creators) about their research. After their talks, one by one, he asked them: "But how will your research help me make a better game?

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