mssv + Have You Played

A metafictional immersive theatre show for one, and talking down a murderous AI spaceship

Ten of the books I’ve enjoyed this year, mostly related to my research on immersive art.

If gamification isn’t specific to its subject, it won’t be effective.

On Animal Well and spoiler culture

Dopamine this, dopamine that – everywhere you look, dopamine is the source of all our ills.

Here is something that happens all too often: Institution is accused of doing something wrong. Doesn’t say anything for slightly too long. People get annoyed and angry on social media. Institution issues a brief apology (PDF) followed by claims that “our staff have been subject to personal attacks, which must stop”.

Observations and tips from my recent week-long trip to Tokyo and Kyoto with a friend.

I’m trying to talk myself out of writing a newsletter about games. There are many reasons why this would be a bad idea, not least because people are asking whether there’s a future of video games journalism at all, but I can’t get over the fact that I found so few newsletters about the most…

Nostalgia is a hell of a drug. Isn’t that what Don Draper said in Mad Men? Don’t tell me, the truth won’t measure up to how I remember it.

I recently realised that while I subscribe to a lot of newsletters, very few of them are about games. And of the ones about games, most are written for industry professionals and cover the production and business of games. They’re less about recommending or critiquing games, which is what I’m interested in right now. So…