iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I wonder if it's possible for a piece of art to be truly meaningless? Obviously you can put an expended paper towel roll on a museum plinth with no intention for it to have meaning, but anyone walking through the museum would try to find meaning in it. Which they probably will. So is it meaningless?

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

It's amazing how much mutual exclusion there is between "I want to write about games and not starve to death" and "People with more money than I am capable of truly comprehending will more readily squeeze an industry to death than tolerate making less even more money than they think they should."

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

I find it deeply strange that phones are no longer allowed to have headphones jacks for slimness purposes, but they're growing increasingly bizarre tumors for the camera.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Is there an inverted Ship of Theseus thought experiment? Like, the world around the ship has changed so drastically that even if the ship has not changed in any way, its function is lost to the world around it?

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

I missed that Critical Distance pushed the deadline to August 31st. So, get your entries in!

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Trying to put this piece together felt like a trial, everything I tried to put together seemed to turn to slop in my hands. Which, annoyingly, was on-theme. For @critdistance.bsky.social's Blogs of the Round Table #BoRT on Friendslop. www.thethesaurusrex.com/slop/

thethesaurusrex.com

Slop

I'm not sure I really understand the point. These games feel like they're kind of a lot of things, even if they're all similar enough that the lines are blurred enough to resist delineation.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

There's still time to get in on the Blogs of the Round Table for this month.

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David Shimomura Halloween Edition @unwinnabledavid.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Anyone laid off from @restart.run, now and as always, if I can offer you a feature slot at @unwinnable.com to help keep your feet under you or to explore some critical angle that's never made sense for a games site, I'd be more than happy to!

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

I wish writing professionally wasn't so scary. That any idea begins with "You have to earn the chance to be read at all." is sort of existentially terrifying. And even after the writing gets out, I never feel good about asking people to read.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

In addition to the innate transphobia, I also don't envy the girls who are going to learn by surprise they have intersex traits or some kind of harmless chromosome variation from an expected norm. In school. Around other students. Who definitely won't weaponize any of this information.

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Brandon Sheffield @brandon.insertcredit.com · 30/07/2026

In response to the unprecedented number of game developers laid off this year, we have created a bundle on itch to benefit a Game Industry Hardship Fund, managed by @videogameworkers.bsky.social. More than 100 games for 10+ bucks! Please share widely and donate generously! itch.io/b/3802/game-...

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

So overjoyed to see the Blogs of the Round Table format is back. I hope everyone feels inspired by the prompt; I would be so happy to see a lot of participation.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

I do think there's more room from this when you're someone's editor than their is in more public discourse. And I think if there is room for it, it's in generating new criticism (blogs, etc.) rather than social posts or more personal criticism.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

This article is roughly what I expected, but the amount of defense of any LLM use in the comments is heart-breaking. Even if it were a useful tool—it's not—there's no defense of wide-scale theft, ecological damage, poisoning of minority communities, and financial doom when token costs become real.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I propose we treat the tax code for this as rollover. Tax it down to 0, and we apply that trillion to, at minimum, reversing what harm we can and making good on promises he made and never delivered on. We can send him a plaque commemorating rolling over, but we keep the money.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I keep commenting on the same thing, but it keeps being relevant. The friction is where an important part of the humanity is stored. The desire for this thing is still bad, even though we know Musk also can't actually produce anything he promises. Don't yearn for a more compacted life!

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

When I was young, with what I now know as social anxiety, I would often dream of a world where I didn't feel like every conversation was a potential hazard, where any interaction had a point I needed to solve before it was over. Like I was able to get a bad grade at socializing.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The more I think on stuff like this, the more I realize I need a blog to scream into the universe about politics and non-media culture. I doubt anyone would read it, but my mind is constantly drowning in a need for a pressure valve against the unending everything that is right now.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

LLM nonsense is self-evidently bad on its face, but something that genuinely unnerves me is how much some people seem to desperately want a frictionless experience. No characters they dislike, no uncomfortable subjects, no barriers to exactly the thing they want.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

When you're in an obviously corrupted system long enough, it's never because no one has tried to fix it from the inside. It's that everyone who's tried has had the system outlive them.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Everything I've found time to read is already fantastic. Unwinnable is always stellar, and definitely worth making time and space to subscribe and read. In particular, @rubeck.bsky.social on Final Fantasies' relationships with kingdoms has stuck with me.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Apropos of nothing, I'm still kind of baffled by gaming communities' weird parasocial relationship with publishers and megacorporations. Like, all of the payola accusations against critics or complaints that they follow embargos are always against the critics.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

I want to be kind. It feels terribly strange and saddening that the society I live in makes that so difficult sometimes.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

I have so many issues with LLM-generated nonsense replacing human creation, but something I haven't seen spoken about a lot is that bad stuff is good. Having a world where I see writing that disappoints me is instructive. It's the kind of thing that grabs my brain and shakes ideas loose.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

Hey game crit people. I want to write more game crit, which means I should also read more game crit. I'd love recommendations, either from yourself or others, and preferably nothing paywalled until I can sell enough work to afford the paywalls.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

The thing that really gets me is this wouldn't work with any other thing either. We build things with additional tolerance so we aren't running our machines at 100% capacity at all times either. Like, anyone who's worked with any machine knows you never redline it constantly.

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Serrels @serrels.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

A reminder that we're dead keen for pitches. Got a bunch in here already, but if you have a dream story, or a story only you can tell, chuck it in the form. Also we're looking for illustrators! We have some onboard already but we need more! Any Qs slide into my DMs!

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Even being as generous as possible and taking him at his word, it's very telling that he implores the listener to understand that even when accused of horrifying crimes, members of ICE deserve to maintain their rights and a fair trial. Something that we are provably seeing detainees being denied.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

If anyone has any openings or freelance opportunities for game reviews, I want to get back into doing that more this year. I would also be open to TV, anime, comic, manga, and film. I love criticism as a medium, and would be happy to share my skills to get to put more of it out there.

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Hannah Keyser @hannahrkeyser.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

For CNN I'm looking to talk to young men (feel free to interpret "young" broadly) who are actively sports betting sober—as in, you made a conscious decision to abstain for your wellbeing or you quit gambling—but are still sports fans. If that's you: Hannah[dot]keyser[at]cnn[dot]com

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Jenée Desmond-Harris @jenee.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Hi writers! I’m looking to assign a couple of features for Slate before the end of the year. If you have anything in mind that you think would be a fit please send me a pitch! Jenée.Desmond- harris@slate.com or dm me. RTs are appreciated so this can reach more people. Thanks!

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Isn't he also the one always telling people that they don't have the cards in negotiations? So, he knows they have negotiating leverage, and would be willing to meet and negotiate only if they give up all of their cards. "It's so easy."

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 27/10/2025

I wish being a critic didn't include so many adjacent skills. A majority of the things I need to learn have the best shot at professionally doing criticism have little to do with media literacy and writing craft, and much more to do with production and monetization.

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Maddy Myers 🏳️‍🌈 @midimyers.com · 17/10/2025

have you ever created a video game mod to make characters "look better" (whatever that means to you)? i want to talk to you for an article i'm writing! get at me via maddymyerswrites at gmail dot com. or repost this if it's not you and you just wanna help me spread the word. thanks <3

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Even if I agreed with this sentiment—which I don't—I would probably find any of this more compelling if this exact cohort wasn't going out of their way to cut mental health medications, resources, research, practitioners. Identifying another cause and then cutting that too is still ghoul behavior.

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Bryant Francis @bryantfrancis.me · 28/02/2025

Are you a freelancer near GDC? We got an opportunity!!!

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

After missing several dozen days, I think I've decided to hang up the towel on 365Games. I'm sure I've played more than enough games, but I don't know if I have that many I feel really strongly about discussing. I want to revisit the concept, but with fewer games and more said about each later.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

In the wake of the government being picked apart, giant piece by giant piece, I can't help but wonder. When this is all over, what sort of massive undertaking will it be to rebuild something functional in the aftermath, assuming enough of it is left to salvage by survivors?

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

I know it's very little comfort now, but I hope every person even loosely adjacent to this administration becomes radioactive. I hope when the awful stops happening at full speed, everyone with a foot on the pedal gets hammered with consequences: No more service in public. Never getting hired again.

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Russell Holly @russellholly.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

✨Freelance Jobs!✨ @cnet.com is looking for experienced writers to write and review for the following categories: - Antivirus software - Monitors Paying $250-$2,000 per article, depending on the assignment. Submit your resumes to CNETfreelance at cnet dot com #freelancejobs

media.tenor.com

kermit the frog is typing on a typewriter in an office .

ALT: kermit the frog is typing on a typewriter in an office .

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 31/01/2025

It's the tiniest little thing, but now feels more relevant than ever to make my pronouns even more visible.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

I try not to lean too hard into doom spiraling, but it's hard to see headline after headline of the least empathetic or loudest cruelties day, after day, after day. I know this won't be forever, but it's hard for me to really grapple with the idea that these are the people sharing life with me.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 21/01/2025

I'm going to do a little hoping right now, instead of leaning into the sadness everywhere. I hope that ignorant, conservative voters can start to feel less scared soon. Less scared of people who aren't a threat to anyone, be they across a border or in a bathroom.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

I'll admit I'm personally let down the the Switch 2 just looks like a physically larger, likely more powerful version of the Switch. However, every complaint I've seen about the Switch is that it doesn't look better or run more modern software. Switch 2 looks like it will do exactly those things.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 16/01/2025

I miss a more amateur internet. I think we're losing something that every website has professional templates, web forums are a lost part of internet discussions, and it was possible to see YouTube videos that don't have professional lighting, make-up, camera, and editing for hobbyist videos.

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Doing anything daily will be a challenge for me, but I think I'll hop in on this idea as well. I fully expect I may miss some days, but I will backfill when I have energy. So, full thread: 0/365

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Thesaurus Rex (They/Them) @nukelassic.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

I don't want to make any grand plans for 2025—that just feels like a good way to make myself so anxious I do nothing—but I do think I want to do some professional criticism this year.

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