iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

It's at the Society for the Social Study of Science conference at the Sheraton Toronto

Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I'll be testing a game that tries to create the vibes of hotel movies (the shining, ocean's eleven, some like it hot, four rooms). My first time there! Super excited

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Working on a prototype ttrpg for Metatopia in November. Happy with how this round is looking (with portraits by Gaby Sanchez)

Sketched portraits of two characters on playing cards in standees.

A postcard for the Fly Ribbon Motel, listing it's amenities as a Parking Lot, a Vending Machine, and a Scummy Pool. The description reads, "A hotspot for families on cross-country road trips. Lots of wood panelling."
Below it is the back of a postcard titled "Survive the Weekend" with a scenario, a special rule, and a list of nine scenes.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

If anyone is at the intersection of games/art history or games/science and technology studies (or has grad students who are), both ASAP (asapjournal.com/submit/) and Configurations (litsciarts.org/news/books-t...) are looking for people to review The Impossible Reversal!

asapjournal.com

Submit - ASAP/Review

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Amelia Sandrine Reisinger 🏳️‍⚧️ @ameliasandrine.com · 17/09/2026

Gonna start referring to Democrats who take anti-trans stances as “Biological Republicans”

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Some of mine are: Butter Princess, Fall of Magic, Ultraviolet Grasslands, A Book of Improving Exercises, Swords Against, Boy Problems, Transgender Deathmatch Legend, Suburban Consumption of the Monsterous

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In practice, navigating the Ethernet cord was too difficult before the tool assisted speed runs.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Little known game history fact: the super FX chip was designed to let you fly Star Fox ships from the SNES across an Ethernet cord to any future console

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Thanks for delving into Run and Jump. In case folks are looking, MIT made it open access: direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon... (I look forward to finding out which hunter/hunted relation obtains after Cameron reads The Impossible Reversal).

direct.mit.edu

Run and Jump: The Meaning of the 2D Platformer

How abstract design decisions in 2D platform games create rich worlds of meaning for players.Since the 1980s, 2D platform games have captivated their audie

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Game Studies Study Buddies just took a long and thoughtful look at Run & Jump. If you don't already listen, Michael and Cameron are doing amazing work creating a deeply informed public sphere for work around games, play, and academic theory!

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Avery's games have pushed me personally, academically, and in my design. Variations on Your Body is transformative, and every time I read Dream Askew I am newly inspired to make things.

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

universities are not run by leftist profs they are run by corporate profiteer board members siphoning public $$ to tech partnerships "An Inside Higher Ed analysis of SEC filings turned up dozens of presidents paid handsomely for sitting on corporate boards." www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

the 10 presidents in Inside Higher Ed’s analysis who earned the most from outside board service in 2025.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

785 users regard this review as helpful

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Bonnicula | Vampire Vtuber ⚧ @bonnicula.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Twitch's "Allow your channel content to train generative AI models" setting is here and on by default. Go turn that shit off, streamer!! The toggle is under your Settings, then 'Security and Privacy'

screenshot of a Twitch account's Settings page, showing Security and Privacy and a toggle that reads "Training for Generative AI"

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Camilla Zamboni 🔜 Metatopia @czamboni.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Here's the first of 40 designers and scholars who kindly agreed to talk to us for Season 1 of @rpgroots.bsky.social - Narratives of Oppression and Resistance. Thank you @floaker.bsky.social for talking to us TWICE, because there was so much to discuss and we ran out of time! 😆 floaker.carrd.co

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

So excited. I often teach Knytt and it's always a complex process to make sure students can run it. This will be great!

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Does it tell you to kill gameplay, or does it do the work of killing gameplay for you?

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

One of the most useful activities I've seen is to have an expert notetaker's live practice projected while a lecture is going on. It emphasizes the process over product part of notetaking

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Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The evidence about AI in education remains terrible as a basis for policy or practice. As schools in some places come back from summer next week (oh Scotland it's too early), here's a wee roundup on just how truly woefully AIED research has stood up and why educators shouldn't call on it 1/

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Much more to think about here, but again I am amazed by the flexibility of this genre to keep growing and staying relevant.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

There is a surprising similarity to one of my other favorite 2026 platformers: Emuurom. In both games we are researching creatures that have been preserved, somehow alive, within a piece of media (a game, a book). In both those worlds are under threat by a celestial body crashing into earth.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

On the other hand these biome enclosures are also the games biggest crutch. They keep the wider interactions between creatures at bay so that the game feels more like a zoo than a world. As I wrote in Run and Jump, creatures communicate to the ayer as a system, and these creatures speak of isolation

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The levels are miniature biomes where you interact (mainly) with a single type of creature. You learn how they respond to Yoshi, to the environment, and to various foods or stimulate. It's a fascinating ecology game that feels like a blend of Waking Mars, Creatures, and Mario 64.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Just finished Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, and it was a surprising, almost experimental experience. I have a lot of thoughts, but first off much admiration for the choice to (largely) exclude.death or damage, and just let the player explore. To trust that such exploration will be enough.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

This is a really lovely comment to see, and a dream to be put in the same world as Ugly Feelings! I'm glad the final chapter on Inscryption clicked for you, I feel like I wrote that in a fever dream, unsure if I was hallucinating all the connections.

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Nathalie Lawhead @alienmelon.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

please enjoy my post featuring a bunch of tools to navigate the age of AI! 👉 because the machine must break (true empowerment in the age of AI tools) - www.nathalielawhead.com/candybox/bec... anti-AI tools, AI protection, and data pois*ning projects. there's so much! #SoloDev #IndieDev #IndieWeb

nathalielawhead.com

because the machine must break (true empowerment in the age of AI tools)

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Bobby™ @schwbby.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I've been bummed that our publisher ghosted us in the middle of planning our promotional campaign. But that won't stop me from repeating to the forty-seven of you who see this post that I've got a book for sale.

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RPG Roots @rpgroots.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

The final speaker whom we will feature in Session 0 of RPG Roots is Aaron Trammell @aarontram.bsky.social, Associate Professor of Informatics with affiliations with African American Studies and Media Studies at UC Irvine. Find his website and research here: aarontrammell.com 1/

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

They still might! Humans are crafty things.

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Dr. Emily Friedman @ecfriedman.com · 18/07/2026

Want to support TTRPG Professors? Maybe start by subscribing (for free!) to Analog Game Studies's YouTube channel, and keep an eye on the journal (FREE TO READ!) at: @analoggamestudies.bsky.social

youtube.com

Analog Game Studies

The official journal of Analog Game Studies. Scholarly content about tabletop, live-action, performance, and generally awesome games. Read more at our website analogamestudies.org.

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Nathan Grayson @nathangrayson.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

working on a new project for @aftermath.site: a semi-comprehensive, regularly-updated list of every game studio that refuses to use AI. if that sounds like your studio, message me with the reason(s) why as well as basic details about what you make. DMs open and email is nathan@aftermath.site

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Come and join me tonight as I talk about The Impossible Reversal and the origins of game design in management training. ROMchip will be hosting me for a talk on their twitch channel with a Q&A afterwards! 7pm ET, and more info here: www.tickettailor.com/events/romch...

tickettailor.com

Select Tickets – ROMchip Presents: Peter McDonald on The Impossible Reversal: A History of How We Play – Twitch

ROMchip Presents: Peter McDonald on The Impossible Reversal: A History of How We Play – Twitch, Tue Jul 14, 2026 - **Tickets serve as calendar reminders for the event; they are not required to attend....

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ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories @romchip.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Upcoming July 15-16: our friends at @analoggamestudies.bsky.social are collabing with Game in Lab to host the Generation Analog 2026 conference abt tabletop games and education. The theme this year is GREEN! Online event, free and open to the public! analoggamestudies.org/generation-a...

analoggamestudies.org

Generation Analog 2026 “GREEN” Program | Analog Game Studies

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ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories @romchip.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

📣 Don't forget! In less than 1 week 📆 we're hosting @pdmcdonald.bsky.social for a talk 💬 about the managerial origins 📈 of and influences on game design! More info below 😊

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

ROMchip is hosting free, online talk about my new book The Impossible Reversal. I'm going to talk about how games came to be designed objects in the 1950s, and some early management simulation games played on IBM mainframes! Find out more at: www.tickettailor.com/events/romch...

An image of Top Management Decision Simulation, a game from 1957. A game facilitator enters information into an IBM Type 553 card-read punch in the background while another facilitator reads a printout from an IBM 407 printer.

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I misread this at first, and now I want to start a real community radio show where we play it

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Peter McDonald @pdmcdonald.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Are there any examples of people doing ttrpg AP on community radio?

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Mike Cook @mtrc.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

Shoutout to the very senior professor in HCI who gave a talk last month about how AI can do qualitative data analysis better than people now.

First, I’d created 2000 free-text responses and labelled them ‘UK’. Then I copied and pasted the exact same 2000 responses but labelled these ‘US’. Finally, I combined them to create a dataset of 4000 total responses, and jumbled them up.

Despite the responses being identical for the UK and US, Copilot produced a rich, detailed summary of how US and UK respondents differed.

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