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Steve Wilcox

@stevewilcox.bsky.social
769 followers 527 following 66 posts

Associate Professor of Critical Game Design @ WLU | Prosocial Game Designer | I research how to mobilize knowledge through play www.helloworlds.ca/projects

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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My book—Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful—is just $14USD for the ebook right now 🎉: link.springer.com/book/10.1007...
link.springer.com
Client Challenge
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 31/07/2026
Just got a very nice email from a game design instructor who heard about my book after their colleagues 'raved' about it. So heartening to hear that Designing a Feel for the Game is resonating with people! 😊
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Dr. Emma Vossen @emmavphd.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
I was SO excited to find Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful by @stevewilcox.bsky.social in my mailbox today!!! This book is going to come in SO handy while I design my new course for the Fall! If you teach game design please check it out! Congratulations Steve!!! ✨✨✨
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I’m thrilled to announce my new book: Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful ($34.99USD). After a decade teaching critical game design to aspiring game designers I’ve collected those lessons into this applied, accessible book. Link & discount code below!
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I’m thrilled to announce my new book: Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful ($34.99USD). After a decade teaching critical game design to aspiring game designers I’ve collected those lessons into this applied, accessible book. Link & discount code below!
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Jes the human @jesthehuman.itch.io · 09/02/2026
The No ICE in Minnesota Charity Bundle has officially LAUNCHED! There are 1,439 games to discover for a $10+ donation to Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota! Purchase the bundle here: itch.io/b/3484/no-ic...
graphic that says no ice in Minnesota itch.io charity bundle
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Some quotes from the first peer review for my upcoming book—Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful: “Erudite, witty, passionately ethical, & deeply practical in all the best ways.” “A critical intervention into how we think, talk, & feel about games in society.”
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Some quotes from the first peer review for my upcoming book—Designing a Feel for the Game: A Guide to Making Play Meaningful: “Erudite, witty, passionately ethical, & deeply practical in all the best ways.” “A critical intervention into how we think, talk, & feel about games in society.”
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Dr Emma L Briant 🇬🇧 in 🇺🇸 w/ 🐕 @emma-briant.co.uk · 31/01/2026
Oh. My. God. Chomsky talking about the 'hysteria' that has developed about the abuse of women and giving Epstein advice on how to handle the media. In 2019. The Media studies discipline and much of the left should reflect on the power given to this one flawed man to shape generations of thought.
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Molly Jong-Fast @mollyjongfast.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Name them shame them
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Canadian Paintings @canadianpaintings.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
Untitled - Saskatchewan Winter Robert Newton Hurley 1969
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Stevoisiak @stevoisiak.bsky.social · 03/02/2026
I made a filterlist for uBlock Origin to remove Generative AI features on websites. Includes blocks for * Google AI Summaries * YouTube Ask button & chat summaries * GitHub Copilot * Facebook AI chat * X's Grok buttons * Deviantart DreamUp * Booru AI images * And more github.com/Stevoisiak/S...
Google with AI buttonsGoogle without AI buttons
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Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH @geauxgabrielle.blacksky.app · 05/02/2026
Hollywood producer Barry Josephson to Jeffrey Epstein: “I've been thinking a lot about that question that you asked bill gates 'how do we get rid of poor people as a whole'"
This convo between Epstein and Hollywood producer Barry Josephson is particularly disturbing. On top of the creepy messages about a minor, there's this: "I've been thinking a lot about that question that you asked bill gates 'how do we get rid of poor people as a whole'"
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Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 05/02/2026
Vibe coding is working as expected: it'll kill the open-source, secure, and ideologically maintained alternatives to make sure you have to pay the oligarchs to do anything at all, and they can control what you're allowed to make. www.404media.co/vibe-coding-...
404media.co
Vibe Coding Is Killing Open Source Software, Researchers Argue
‘If the maintainers of small projects give up, who will produce the next Linux?’
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
This talk came about through a recent article of mine "Hello, Worlds: A Ludic Theory of Cognition" which is online and open-access if you're curious: journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 04/02/2026
The fine folks at Berkeley's Embodied Design Research Lab invited me to talk about my research on ludic cognition. It was a fun, lively discussion and you can watch here ✌️ www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE_w...
youtube.com
Embodied Underground with Steve Wilcox
YouTube video by EDRL at UC Berkeley
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Christophe Veltsos @drinfosec.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Very interesting🧵by @stevewilcox.bsky.social on the benefit that gamification can bring to help people better understand diseases and the need to adapt their behaviors when risks are high. 🎯👇 threadreaderapp.com/thread/18925...
threadreaderapp.com
Thread by @stevemwilcox on Thread Reader App
@stevemwilcox: I was just describing this phenomenon to a journalist yesterday. For me, we've focused too much on trying to get ppl information abt COVID when it's clear that many struggle w how to ma...
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 12/02/2025
Juno turned 13 this past week and despite all that time she still sees me off every day with the saddest look imaginable 😅 (bonus Pixel content here; he comes out for scritches whenever I sit down to put my boots on).
A photo of the greatest dog in the world
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Auschwitz Memorial @auschwitzmemorial.bsky.social · 27/01/2025
Auschwitz was at the end of a long process. It did not start from gas chambers. This hatred was gradually developed by humans. From ideas, words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence... to systematic and industrial murder. Auschwitz took time.
A bird's-eye view of a former Auschwitz II-Birkenau camp showing a wide dirt pathway flanked by parallel rows of barbed-wire fences. Groups of visitors walk along the path, surrounded by the remnants of brick structures and barracks, now reduced to foundations. Green grass contrasts with the somber history of the site, as the path leads toward a guard tower in the distance.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
For the past decade we were told canceling events at colleges over private protests was the harbinger of totalitarianism but now a right wing government is doing it so it’s fine bsky.app/profile/adam...
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John Walker - Industry Analcyst @botherer.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
This is a splendid piece of writing by @edwinet.bsky.social. He really is one of the best at this. www.rockpapershotgun.com/the-gamergat...
rockpapershotgun.com
The Gamergator rhetoric of historical accuracy has come back to bite Kingdom Come on the arse
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 isn't out until next month, but some would-be players are already mad about its apparent representation of history.
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âpihtawikosisân @apihtawikosisan.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
This is also why we have been fighting against the notion that STEM is rational, objective, and truth-based. Technology exists within the same constellation of structural forces as everything else. It has and can be wielded to oppress and destroy.
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Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 24/01/2025
Krugman says the editors at the Times editorial page were increasingly trying to water down his columns and arguments www.cjr.org/analysis/pau...
cjr.org
Paul Krugman on Leaving the New York Times
The paper wanted to take away his newsletter or make him write less frequently, he says.
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Jane Waters 🏳️‍⚧️🐜🇵🇸 @lovetheants.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
Collaborating with @rin-krichilsky.bsky.social and Kanako Shimizu, we put together what's basically a top-ten list of ways to help foster trans inclusivity and awareness within our scientific and academic communities and would love if you could help share the guide!
How to Support Trans Colleagues

Create a Gender-Inclusive Environment

Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policies that recognize and support gender transition. 

Support training and advocacy for colleagues’ personal/professional safety (ex. in fieldwork, lab work, conferences, institution visits, affinity groups). 

Establish and/or identify gender-neutral bathrooms throughout your building. Implement trans-inclusive recruitment and hiring procedures. 

Acknowledge intersectionality and the unique needs and barriers that someone with multiple marginalized identities may face.

Consider the importance of representation in your field.

Advocate for Name Changes

Research institutional, governmental, local, and other bureaucratic procedures and policy to recognize and support an individual’s name change.

Identify journals in your field that allow authors to change their names post- publication.

Improve Information Accessibility

Publicly share information on inclusive practices throughout your departments and institution. (Ensure the content centers and is created by trans people.)

Consider Daily Language & Use

Decrease use of gendered terms to avoid exclusionary language.

Ask for personal pronouns. 

List on all public-facing directories, and consider including them in email signatures and on professional websites.

Practice discretion. Don’t out your colleagues without their consent.
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vlada 👁 ➤ UVW-CWA @vladadraws.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Hey! #PortfolioDay I'm a freelance artist working in video games and tabletop! I'd love to illustrate your characters, creatures, or items, and make bespoke iconography for your game. My commission queue is clearing up soon! 💌v.monakhova@gmail.com #uiart #ui #gamedev #illustration #gameart #ttrpg
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Anna Holmes @annabookwriter.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Something disability justice activists have been screaming about for the last five years and some of you may just now be realizing: eugenicists believe disease is good. They believe themselves part of the “superior” race and that disease clears out the poor and unworthy. 1/
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Moudhy Al-Rashid (she/her) @moudhy.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
May as well dive right in. Did you know that dogs in ancient Mesopotamia also refused to drop the ball? According to a Sumerian proverb, “The dog understands ‘Take it!’ It does not understand ‘Put it down!’” Source: cdli.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/artifacts/34...
A round, light brown tablet made of clay with three lines of cuneiform scripts. Two rulings, or traced straight lines, enclose the writing. The photo also shows the sides of the tablet, including a few damaged parts.
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Dan Gillis 🇨🇦 🏳️‍🌈 @danielgillis.ca · 23/01/2025
Preparing my academic self (as best I can) for the next four years. danielgillis.wordpress.com/2025/01/23/t...
danielgillis.wordpress.com
The Next Four Years
In fearful times, Fred Rogers’ mother comforted him by telling him to look for the helpers. Her advice feels particularly relevant these days.
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Do you know how awesome it would be to take this course with Dr. Tilley?! In my undergrad, these were the kinds of courses that truly broadened my experience of art/life/society. To me, they're the lifeblood of higher ed and they're absolutely worth fighting for.
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Nathan Schneider @ntnsndr.in · 22/01/2025
My department is hiring TWO assistant teaching professors of media studies! This is a great opportunity for people who are passionate teachers eager to explore new approaches to cultivating media literacy among diverse students. Learn more & apply here: jobs.colorado.edu/jobs/JobDeta...
Excerpt of the text of the open call, shared in the link
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
"[Musk's grandfather] was all about dog-whistle politics. He wouldn’t say ‘Jew,’ but he’d say everything short of it. He knew what he was saying, and his base knew what he was saying" - Janine Stingel, a historian of anti-Semitism in Canada. www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
Elon Musk’s Anti-Semitic, Apartheid-Loving Grandfather
The billionaire has described his grandfather as a risk-taking adventurer. A closer read of history reveals something much darker.
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Dr. Christine H. Tran @thechristinet.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Now in paperback! 📕 My contributor’s copy of “Playthrough Poetics: Gameplay as Method” in colourful glory! Mess with somebody’s computer clock today, in honor of us ⏰
Playthrough Poetics: Gameplay as Research Method, edited by Milena Droumeva; coverMy chapter “The Great Lateness of Lon-Live Gaming: A Temporal Eulogy to the Video Game PlaythroughOP in a screenshot of their accompanying video essay
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Yussef @youmeyou.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Wrote about Stalker 2's abandoned men for @bulletpointsvg.bsky.social: bulletpointsmonthly.com/2025/01/22/t...
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Sy Brand @tartanllama.xyz · 23/01/2025
Presented without comment, just a deep tiredness
“chatgpt down in the middle of the workday i’m about to get fired pray for me,” wrote on user on X, alongside other complaints from people who said they were in the middle of coding or writing essays and now had to do the work themselves.
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Gerald Voorhees @gerald-voorhees.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Genre studies of games are mostly stuck on early 2000s formalism. These 2 companion volumes push game studies toward understandings of games as 'equipment for living' and genres as located in the social and cultural conditions of their production and consumption. Coming Summer 2025!
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Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 23/01/2025
Some fascinating things happening on Reddit. 22,000 upvotes on the subreddit dedicated to posting pictures of houses that are over 100 years old.
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Michael Iantorno☔️🕹️ @michaeliantorno.com · 17/01/2025
Just finished up a draft of a white paper studying game jams, so it seemed like a good time to re-share "If You Don't Like the Game, Change the Rules!" @omarieclaire.bsky.social and I collaborated on this project about Canadian worker co-ops and unions. michaeliantorno.com/if-you-dont-...
Six panelists sit in front of a table, with one woman in a red dress speaking into a microphone. On a screen behind them are the words "what new way sof producing games can we imagine together."
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
I'm teaching Ethics for Game Design this term where our major project is to create print-&-play expansion packs to existing games that add ethical reflection. Operation in a for-profit healthcare system? Risk but you're saving civilians caught in the crossfire? Read on for last year's expansions!
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Robert Yang @radiatoryang.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
got frustrated with how hard it was to find old level design talks, so I started a "recommended talks" page on the level design book book.leveldesignbook.com/appendix/res... (still many talks missing, but it's a start)
screenshot of https://book.leveldesignbook.com/appendix/resources/talks
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Paul Tobin @paultobin.bsky.social · 14/01/2025
Actual pro tip: the best way to break into any creative profession is by helping to support and advance other creators. Your peers are not your adversaries. They are your support group.
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Michael Iantorno☔️🕹️ @michaeliantorno.com · 06/01/2025
I've updated my personal Itch page with my hacks and experimental games (because some of the websites I used to host them on are deteriorating). michaeliantorno.itch.io
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 07/01/2025
Pleased to say that after a short in-class exercise, I once again have 100% mask compliance in my courses. Every classroom is different, but we play The Long COVID Game, review the science on Long COVID + the efficacy of N95 masks, and every gets a free mask 👍 www.helloworlds.ca/the-long-cov...
helloworlds.ca
The Long COVID Game – Hello, Worlds
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
🧵 With my article on ludic cognition out in the world, I wanted to shed some light on where the theory comes from. The project emerged out of my doctoral research into the use of autobiographical media to help us make sense of the world as other people do, what’s called social cognition.
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Tom O'Shea @tomoshea.org · 13/12/2024
Freud believed that infants understand their shit as a gift their parents welcome. Students who think AI improves their work suffer from a similar misapprehension: that we care about what they have produced rather than being pleased that they themselves have managed to produce it.
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Game Developer @gamedeveloper.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
461 employees at ZeniMax Online Studios have unionized
gamedeveloper.com
461 employees at ZeniMax Online Studios have unionized
Another union has formed within Microsoft in a bid to 'create protections against layoffs and workplace exploitation.'
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
My open access article "Hello, Worlds: A Ludic Theory of Cognition" is out today in Games & Culture 🎉 Drawing on a wide array of sources, I make the case that cognition is inherently ludic & enactive, meaning both game & world are brought forth through play. 🔗 journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Knights of the round table meme with swords coming together around the term ludic cognition. The other swords are labelled: feminism, cognitive science, social science, Marxism, Animal Studies, Empathy Studies, Pragmatism
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Steve Wilcox @stevewilcox.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Are you in Toronto this weekend? Drop by Little Ghosts Books tomorrow at 1pm for the launch of Emily Flynn-Jones’ debut short story collection Is It Enough Yet? 🥳
A poster for the book signing reading: Join author Emily Flynn-Jones for the launch of her debut short story collection, Is it Enough Yet?
Location: 930 Dundas St W
Toronto, Ontario M6J1W3
Saturday, November 16th, from 1:00pm-3:00pm.
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