iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

📯NEW JOB ALERT📯 I'm proud to announce that, come July, I will be an Assistant Teaching Professor in Digital Media at Northeastern University Vancouver. I feel extremely fortunate (and elated!) to have found position that enables me to keep teaching and doing research in the field I love <3

Northeastern University's Downtown Vancouver Campus

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

And finally, @matildastahl.bsky.social and @amayer.bsky.social presented "More Man vs Nature Mechanics": a project with @nickttaylor.bsky.social and Robyn Hope where survival games, survivalism, and contemporary masculinities meet. Abstract here: dl.digra.org/index.php/dl...

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Second on the docket was my joint with @t0mm7.bsky.social called "Douchebag Games," a piece about post-9/11, pre-Gamergate masculinities and what happens when being a "loser" is made mainstream. Abstract here: dl.digra.org/index.php/dl...

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Next was DiGRA 2026! First, I gave @jjol33n.bsky.social and I's paper, "The Husbando Super-App" on Love and Deepspace as a one-stop shop for gamers to pour their time, money, and energy into. Abstract here: dl.digra.org/index.php/dl...

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

First was @cgsaacej.bsky.social 's 2026 instalment. My talk explored the social politics of boredom and tried to argue that our field should invoke the concept more often to discuss how oppression persists and how we can (and should!) get fed up with that and devise new ways forward.

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

📝Publication day! My piece "Unpacking Unpacking" is out in the latest issue of Well Played works.hcommons.org/records/gnzf... This was a bit of a "fun one" for me - thinking through my fraught feelings about playing this game that I hadn't been able to write about until now!

Screenshot from the game Unpacking that features a bedroom filled with carefully placed furnishings and decorations,

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 16/09/2025

Ready for Part 2? After much writing and re-writing, I'm thrilled to announce that my first book, "Gaming Exhaustion" (working title) is now under contract with Duke University Press. There are too many people to thank for this in 140 characters or less, but know that you're all so appreciated <3

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Ok here's Part 1: My Finnish postdoc is now my finished postdoc, but I'm thrilled to announce what's next: I'm now a Research Associate at the U of Michigan's School of Information, where I'm proudly working with the Intersectional Tech Lab! ✨🖥️ www.kishonnagray.com/lab-staff Part 2 coming soon!

Screenshot of my bio from the Intersectional Tech Lab website. It reads:

Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) is a Research Affiliate in the Intersectional Tech Lab. He earned his PhD in Informatics from UC Irvine in 2022. He has since worked as a Lecturer in Game Design at Uppsala University and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre of Excellence in Game Culture Studies at Tampere University.

His research concerns critical approaches to the study of games and those who play them, and he is interested in exploring how play can both uphold and dismantle hegemony. His current book project is about exhaustion as a systemic feature of neoliberal capitalism and how video games enable and may yet work against the exhausting status quo.

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 31/07/2025

I now have a website! It's pretty bare-bones, but at least it rhymes! I'm hoping to get more stuff on there in the next month. Give it a look if you're so inclined - www.rainforestsb.me

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 10/06/2025

Been too busy running around to do any shoutouts to all the amazing talks, but I've been helping to run a conference! @cgsaacej.bsky.social 2025 is (almost) over and every year it's a reminder of how cool and supportive a scholarly community can be <3 My title slide (cute mode): #gamestudies

Games Capitalism and Fear by Rainforest Scully-Blaker, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Tampere University

The background image is a spooky yawning face with some pink flowers crudely pasted around it to cute effect.

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Talking about this is how I remember that @sabha.bsky.social exists on this website! Despite a stubbed toe, the talk went wonderfully and my meme (see below) got a healthy dose of laughs, which is all that matters, right? .......... right? #nordicdigra25

A screenshot of a slide from the presentation. It features my face crudely photoshopped over a cartoon office lady's head. In one panel, Andreas Malm's "How to Blow Up a Pipeline" says, "I want to change the world" to which I respond "Awww you're sweet". In the other, Jane McGonigal's "Reality is Broken" says the same thing and I am on the phone saying "HELLO, HUMAN RESOURCES?!" implying that version of the message is more distressing and so on. This is a joke of course and in no way reflects my feelings about Jane McGonigal as a person but rather is my way of asking if we can do games research that threatens to change the world in lasting ways as Malm suggests.

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Rolling in to sunny Turku 🌞 for Nordic Digra 2025! Really excited for our talk exploring what we mean when we say "critical" game studies 🔥 #gamestudies #nordicdigra25

Title slide from the talk titled "Critical Game Studies" and the Politics of Hope? by me and Sabine Harrer

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

📣Gooooood Morning #SCMS2025 ! 📣 I hope to see some of you at today's panel on cozy games featuring work from cool people that I am so excited to listen to and speak alongside! Catch us at session K2 🦋 #GameStudies

K2 The Comforts of Play: Cozy Games and Gaming

FAIRMONT Royal B2 LEVEL

CHAIR Andrea Braithwaite • Ontario Tech University

TALKS

Andrea Braithwaite • Ontario Tech University •
“Supercute Crimes and Cozy Mystery Games”

Adrianna Burton • University of California, Irvine •
“Reimagining Typical Adventures: Narratives and
Aesthetics in Popular ‘Cozy’ TRPGs”

Christina Fawcett • University ofWinnipeg • “Death’s
Cozy Embrace: Death and the Afterlife in Cozy
Gaming”

Rainforest Scully-Blaker • Tampere University •
“Happiness is a Warm Mug? Coziness as Late
Capitalist Power Fantasy”

sponsored by Video Game Studies Scholarly Interest Group

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Rainforest Scully-Blaker (he/him) @rainforestsb.bsky.social · 25/11/2024

After more tries than I'd care to admit... hope to see some friends in Chicago!! Our panel on wholesome games is going to be a certified club classic 🔥 #scms2025

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