Dr Florence Smith Nicholls

~Thread of my past publications~ "Virtual Dark Tourism in The Town of Light" 2018, Routledge In this book chapter I argue that video games marketing a setting associated with historical suffering can be considered dark tourism experiences. www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edi...

Working on a two-player bookgame that uses blinking as its core mechanic. One player stares into the other player's eyes while they read out loud. Blinking means you switch. (yeah im editing in layout for this one)

Reading for a new project I'm very excited about!

Happy 25th Birthday Wayback Machine! On October 24, 2001, The Internet Archive organization launched a free digital archive of websites for the general public called the Wayback Machine. The oldest pages stored in the archive date back to 1996.

It's 10 o'clock in the morning on October the 24th, if you want to know.

Had such a blast giving this talk! A really welcoming and supportive community

A Wolpertinger for day 22 of Peachtober: Green!

Our baby! Can't believe it's been 9 years ☠️

Not the top Steam review of Dressmaker making me cry this morning!

Walkin'

We kick off the new Eteo Archetypes with a piece on Abandoned Places by the brilliant @florencesn.bsky.social - writing about a very memorable game and setting in ECHO - enjoy!

I know it’s sorta cheesy but someone posted this from Paris on Reddit and I felt this immediate rush of hope

@archaeogameco.bsky.social 's Official Conference is this weekend! The entire conference will be streamed to m.twitch.tv/archaeogamec... !

Tableaux appliqués : grandes constructions. Eglise Saint-Julien des Ménétriers

Average day in the UK

Really lovely article on archaeology through the eyes of archaeologists' 'spouses, parents, children, and close friends' - just published in Public Archaeology: 'Archaeological Osmosis or How Is Archaeology Seen by Those Who Share Our Lives?' www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Super excited to be serving as custos in Josephine Baird's upcoming doctoral defence where her thesis "Role-playing Games as Transformative Spaces for Trans People to Explore, Express, and Embody Gender" is publicly examined. www.tuni.fi/fi/tau/ajank...

I also used Dragon Age: Inquisition as a case study in a paper I wrote on video games using archaeology as part of side quests. 🏺 epoiesen.carleton.ca/2024/05/20/s...

NEW in our digital archive: Explore a golden age of gaming with the Colin Williamson photography collection, featuring over 300 photos from game events and culture in 2000s Japan. 📸🗾 https://gamehistory.org/williamson-photos/

On October 30th, Mike Cook @mtrc.bsky.social , who has written a beautiful book about computers, games, and play (www.bloomsbury.com/us/next-leve...), will be talking about “Photographic Perspectives on Generative Systems”.

yeah man you get to wave away the environmental impact of your ai use when you’re not the one actively seeing the city you grow up in slowly sink into the seawater

It is easier to imagine a vibe-coded world than the end of capitalism. because of bad vibes

new blog post: Response to Paolo Pedercini's stance on AI usage blog.dante.cool/response-to-...

Kind of want to do a study of AI disclosure statements

wrote about penguin colony and boycotts meaning something

(I need travel adaptors because) I'm off to Washington in two weeks, for an event at the Centre of Hellenic Studies, chatting about the Hades games with @alexvandewalle.bsky.social ! Online attendance possible, all welcome, and should be a great discussion. chs.harvard.edu/event/playin...

WHEW JESUS BARS BARS BARS BARS BARS

I like that Raichu calls me "dear" in Pokopia

Because porn is a critical part of queer history. It was some of the only queer-owned media and a radical and positive documentation of sexuality at a time when it was being violently suppressed elsewhere.

Pinging @galaxykate.bsky.social

Roguelike Celebration 2026 is now happening! Please pick up a pay-what-you're-able ticket at ti.to/roguelike-celebration/roguelike-celebration-2026 and join us in our custom event space for the first of two days of many fun and interesting talks!

🔥 HOT WAX is coming out on Oct. 29th!! 🔥 🕯️ Place candles. Light a wick. Burn it all down. ⛓️ Build chain reactions, then keep them running. 🧩 A fresh take on falling block arcade puzzlers. Wishlist (and try the demo!) at s.team/a/3041750 💖 #screenshotsaturday #pixelart

That's Me by Louie Zong

Trying a new tack with this: did you or anyone you know publish a zine at all related to games or gaming culture in the early to mid 2010s? "Zine" can be interpreted broadly as any self-published low budget publication.

I think we need to reframe the use of genAI as consumption rather than creation. You are consuming a version of yourself-your labour, your desires-as a product. Like fast fashion and fast food, though, this overconsumption of the processed self is neither sustainable nor healthy