iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Didn't have Ball Joint Doll Link on my calendar but you know what..... fuck yeah. #zelda

Close up of Young Link from the new Legend of Zelda OoT remake with large luminous doll-like blue eyes.

Close up images of a Ball Joint Doll's eyes. Similarities in shape, sheen, and general aesthetic to Link.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

I need to get it together with my post-Riot trauma so I can enjoy the real reason I ever worked at Riot, the music

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 28/08/2026

Fuck it I'm making a fandom side account to dump my ideas in. IYKYK

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Chris Person @papapishu.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Tim Curry and Dolly passing in the same week, rough time in particular for homosexuals of a certain age.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

All games ideas from an "idea guy" should be approved by the Council: - a different guy who actually plays the genre - a trans person who loves souls likes - 3 tiktok doom scrollers who don't game - a guy who can quit collecting waifus any time - a girl who can quit collecting waifus any time

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USER WAS BLOCKED FOR THIS POST @blockedforthispost.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Oh yeah, the headache that makes you wrong about Gundam

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Husband is off to Germany so of course I immediately threw out my back. Laying on an ice pack on the floor. 🫠😭

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I feel bad for my new coworkers who haven't been there for the deep lore and slow burn of my body falling apart. Every few days I'm explaining some new reason I have to go to the doctor and they're getting whiplash. I know I don't have to tell them but I'm medically an open book.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Witch Hat Atelier better not awaken my stationary buying tendencies

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I'm going to the very Gen Z / alpha geared Nana themed flea market tomorrow and I'm feeling so happy to see a new generation embrace Nana. 🪷 I was at the new York premier of the movie like twenty years ago so it feels like passing the baton of waiting for the ending to a new team. 😭🫠

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

What a joy it is to wake up to two cats trying to steal your hair tie from your hair every morning 🌄

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

My husband has to fly out again unexpectedly in a few weeks and I'm going to hit him with my cane at some point

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United Videogame Workers-CWA @videogameworkers.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Really heartening to see both game workers and players wake up to the realities of what collective action can do to change things. The tide is turning. Everyone, including you, deserves a union.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Oh man where to begin When I was unable to eat due to an untreated anxiety disorder "At least you're losing weight!" Endometrioma cyst ruptured requiring multiple morphine doses "You just have really bad cramps!" After a full hysterectomy which he performed "So let's do an IUD for birth control"

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itch.io @itch.io · 04/08/2026

Enjoy 127 items by 109 creators and support game devs effected by recent layoffs: itch.io/b/3802/game-...

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Mike W @gekido.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

How the fuck does the non-profit that's supposed to support the game industry have 40M in revenue a year and do fucking nothing?

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United Videogame Workers-CWA @videogameworkers.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

You’ve helped us raise over 80k for laid off gamedevs in need so far, and we still have plenty of time left in the bundle’s drive. Everyone who organized this effort was doing so on their own time for the benefit of others. If these companies wanted to, they would. They don’t. We do. Join us. ✊

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

1 year anniversary of getting got and I'm so much better off lol

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

My husband is home from nearly a month of work travel 😊

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

This is correct. Gilgamesh is canonically an equal opportunity power bottom. Oh to be a fly on the wall of the contract negotiation where someone required this to be said.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

My team at work discovered we all watch the Youtube train videos. If you were ever wondering about what kind of person does this job.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

When I say my primary motivation is spite, I mean I escaped poverty and living on others property without a home because someone told me no I made a nanoinfluencer twitter account because I got denied from a social media job and someone called me bad in Meccha Chameleon chat, so I had to do this

Picture of the game Meccha Chameleon where I won with 11.7k points as the only unfound person. I'm not in this photo... Or am I?

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Bruno Dias @brunodias.dev · 21/07/2026

The main way in which AI has negatively impacted games industry jobs is not through actual automation of those jobs or even untrue claims about automation. It's by making capital unavailable because it's tied up in AI investments while also destroying the consumer base for video game hardware.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I had picked Spain at the work team "draft" before start so basically they have to renew me now right

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Andrew Hammond @ahamm.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Appreciate Spain and Argentina paying tribute to the New York Jets by doing absolutely nothing on a Sunday afternoon in the meadowlands.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I just hope they're all having fun edging each other and everyone watching

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Mikhail Klimentov @leadergrev.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I attended the Save Our Devs rally in Rockville for ZeniMax devs yesterday. My big takeaway: the talent being lost is staggering. Grateful to Aftermath for sending me out 🚗💨

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Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Some photographs from the 'Save Our Devs' rallies in Rockville, Montreal, Dallas, Austin, and Redmond—held yesterday in protest of the latest mass layoffs at Xbox. I'm told by a union organiser that over 150 employees turned out in Rockville alone.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I guess my #gamedev thread got suppressed but it is off my chest. What a relief.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

I want to share something I haven't before. For legal purposes, this is satire and I'm retired from this. In 2017-2018, I was working at Zenimax / Bethesda in QA. Our pay was excruciatingly low for Montgomery County, MD. Many of us qualified for low income housing while working 40+ hour weeks. 1/?

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OneBGS - Bethesda Game Studios Union @bethesdaunion.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Montréal rally in the news: "The group calls these layoffs illegal, because they took place in the middle of negotiating their first collective agreement. They are still hopeful these jobs can be saved." www.ctvnews.ca/montreal/art...

ctvnews.ca

Montreal video game developers protest recent Microsoft layoffs

Video game developers working at Bethesda Game Studios spent their lunch break voicing their displeasure with Microsoft’s latest round of cuts.

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Councilmember Marissa Valeri @marissavaleri.com · 15/07/2026

I was proud to attend the ZeniMax protest this afternoon, at their headquarters in Rockville. I stand with the workers who were layed off, calling on Microsoft to do the right thing: reverse the layoffs and support your game developers. #SaveOurDevs #OneBGS #ZeniMaxWorkersUnited #RockvilleMD

A large group of protesters wearing red clothing holds signs advocating for labor rights and job security, gathered under trees in a residential area.

A sign reading "OUR PLAYERS DESERVE BETTER" displayed against a backdrop of trees.

A person in a red top is speaking into a microphone while raising a fist. They are standing outdoors in front of a building with the name "ZeniMax" visible. The scene includes another individual in the foreground holding a phone.

A person with long hair holds a sign that reads, "We are NOT COGS! We are the Heart & MIND of the MACHINE!" The background shows a building with the name "Zenith" and some greenery.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

I support the Zenimax and BGS unions, now and always.

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

And I don't have enough bottles of champagne for all this

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I have errands I need to run today but my leg hurts so much I can't leave bed. Hate to be reminded I'm actually disabled. First step is standing up so I can even take my meds and get my cane. 🫠🫠🫠

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

My tech coworker asked me what exactly is going on in the video games industry and well.... A lot.

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Xavier @xavierck.com · 08/07/2026

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

You can try to guide your career to the game you want to work on but it is overwhelmingly luck, timing, and networking.

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Shayna MoooOOOooon (she/they) @themoonis.gay · 07/07/2026

Twenty seven years

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

This month would have marked my 11th year in gamedev if I hadn't recently had a major detour. I got my start at Bethesda in 2015 as a QA contractor. Bethesda was never perfect but it holds a very important place in my heart. I'm heartbroken to see so many friends suffering.

A shelf of Bethesda and Zenimax collectibles and crafts

Color changing Skyrim mug full of coffee

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Nichole Strano 🍀🪷 @nicholestrano.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Many of those at Zenimax cut today have worked there for their entire adult lives. It is an extremely long tenure group of studios. My heart aches.

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lex luddy needs a nap @lexluddy.xyz · 02/07/2026

this is my current business analysis of the state of the industry feel free to quote me in your write ups

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