Dan Gardner

Image of book cover on table

Oh look at that, my book is on sale at GDC! Very cool!
If you are attending, stop by @mitpress.bsky.social and give it look. I couldn't make it this year, but thanks @kcisbister.bsky.social for the pic, lol. #GDC #GDC2026

I am so glad co-pilot is in outlook now to offer me AI summaries of 5 word emails >.>

How AI assistance impacts the formation of coding skills Anthropic is an AI safety and research company that's working to build reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems.

So, they are technically only looking at coding skills, but the implication here is about learning, not the specific task they observed being learned, so Anthropic is essentially saying using more than a little bit of AI assistance keeps you bad at stuff.
www.anthropic.com/research/AI-...

If you bought it already, sorry. Honestly, I kind of forgot the OA details. But, that money helps it (and other books) remain OA, so I (and many others) thank you extra amounts!

Thresholds of Digital Gameplay How the often-overlooked interfaces, interactions, and inequities on the edges of gameplay are more central to gaming than we realize.Contemporary digital

I have been peddling my book a lot, but now its available Open Access, in case you wanted to see what my fussing was about but didn't have the budget!
direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

A copy of "Thresholds of Digital Gameplay" by Daniel L. Gardner on a plain background. The cover features an illustration of a door cracked open to reveal a vivid, pixelated game landscape.

In "Thresholds of Digital Gameplay," Daniel Gardner demonstrates how a series of interfaces and other elements on the edges of gameplay are more central to gaming than we realize. Available #OpenAccess: mitpress.mit.edu/978026255358...

It's book launch day! Very excited and super thankful. If you can help me amplify with a share, that would be amazing. Or, if you read it and want to tell people about it, that would be pretty rad too! Thanks again @mitpress.bsky.social, and many more who helped along the way.

Correction to the title: It cannot express nor is it sorry

Google's AI Deletes User's Entire Hard Drive, Issues Groveling Apology: "I Cannot Express How Sorry I Am" The Google Antigravity AI agentic screwed up big-time — but was very contrite about its blunder nonetheless.

Counting the days until I have a student tell me "The AI ate my homework..."

futurism.com/artificial-i...

Only a few weeks before my book is out! Thanks again Braxton Soderman, @kcisbister.bsky.social, and @kishonna.bsky.social for kind endorsements on @mitpress.bsky.social.

Also, US folks, the code MITP30 should give 30% off a pre-order! (details on the code: mitpress.mit.edu/discount-cod...)

Maybe, if massive networks of GPUs eating the internet and guzzling down whole cities-worth of power are only kind of ok at replicating stuff our brains do pretty well with about a dim lightbulb's worth of electricity, its a qualitative issue, not a quantitative processing challenge?

2025: a late stage soviet bureaucrat larp you can never leave. Everything is strained and worn beyond function, everything breaks ever-faster, & the job is to make do & pretend & report numbers up & to the right, while everyone knows & copes & bonds over black humour & too much drink in private.

むかしストリート - 桃男 -｜Once Upon A Dance Time - Peach Boy - YouTube video by コメアニメ

Perfection and until 6 days ago impossible to produce with AI, and still unlikely until MOAR actual creativity is fed to the alter regurgitation. Even if replicated or remixed, it will be as derivative as the rest :/
www.youtube.com/watch?v=j33f...

Grats!

Open Call for Volunteers 2025 As a volunteer-driven organization, we are deeply reliant on numerous volunteers who give their time to organizing conferences, reviewing…

For folks in/around HCI. If you haven't seen already, its SIGCHI volunteering app season. All executive subcommittees and ad-hoc committees are looking for volunteers, but if you care about Equity issues, please consider expressing interest in the Equity committee!
medium.com/sigchi/open-...

Thresholds of Digital Gameplay|Paperback How the often-overlooked interfaces, interactions, and inequities on the edges of gameplay are more central to gaming than we realize.Contemporary digital gameplay is only accessible by navigating an ...

Hey! My book from @mitpress.bsky.social has a cover now! I think it captures the book's theme about the transactions and transitions we negotiate with to participate in digital gameplay @barnesandnoble.com has another pre-order sale for 25% off too.
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thresholds...

After 5 years of hard work by @sparklebliss.bsky.social, @cmejeur.bsky.social, @onlyalishak.bsky.social, myself, our contributors, and the lovely people at @punctumbooks.bsky.social Historiographies of Game Studies is out NOW! You can read all 780 pages for FREE. 🔓
punctumbooks.com/titles/histo...

I try to mitigate why they use it, not how. So, ya, I find shorter/incremental tasks, instead of large ones helps. I also do activities in class where we play with them and have frank discussions about what they are good or bad at (e.g. analyzing specific events in class outside their training data)

The Gunk is on sale for like $2 right now and a good time; Stories: The Path of Destinies isn't a fun little rogue-like or a choose your own adventure/action-RPG, but is also sorta both? Headlander is weird. Moonlighter technically has <20 hr story, but I put more into it. Evoland?

Thresholds of Digital Gameplay|eBook How the often-overlooked interfaces, interactions, and inequities on the edges of gameplay are more central to gaming than we realize.Contemporary digital gameplay is only accessible by navigating an ...

If you like critical analysis of how interfaces direct experiences with games, my book is out Dec. and @barnesandnoble.com has a pre-order sale. Sale applies on much cheaper eBook! Code: PREORDER25. #BNPreorder @mitpress.bsky.social
www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thresholds...

Missing the keynote for SICSA PhD conference 2025 was a bummer. However, hearing Michael Hicks talk about why LLMs are bullshit, or why rather how they bullshit (verb) was a lovely way to start they day. #SICSA @sicsa-scotland.bsky.social

Hemlock #17: Trans Technologies with Oliver Haimson - Chelsea Manning, Trans Rights in the US, Technologies of Identity Formation and Community Resilience, Videogames, and the Future for Trans Youth Podcast Episode · History of Philosophy Audio Archive · 05/22/2025 · 1h 7m

Great to talk with @william-engels.bsky.social for the History of Philosophy Audio Archive podcast! We got into some interesting topics that haven't come up in other interviews, like Chelsea Manning and privacy/security concerns in trans tech.

Listen here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/h...

I can't help but wonder if another element behind this sort of issue is asking RQs that only have an interesting outcome if your hypothesis lands one way :/

Oliver Bates and @ben.kirman.org talk about Research through Game Design, here showcasing Meal Deal, their board game about bicycle couriers and the gig economy - ben.kirman.org/projects/mea...

#BDiGRA25

The 5 lightning talk speakers sit on a set of sofas at the front of a lecture theatre

Fascinating lightning talks at #BDiGRA on roguelikes by @cgislam.bsky.social, queerness in British games studies, trans emergence in games, ecogaming and some very pretty diagrams from @jarona7.bsky.social about affective encounters in games

British DiGRA is starting off nicely. Looking forward to the following days of interesting presentation and conversations. @poppywilde.bsky.social and other hosts are treating all of us well and not forcing us in any way to live-post our very real excitement! #BDiGRA25

Apparent AI Hallucinations in Defense Filing in Coomer v. Lindell / My Pillow Election-Related Libel Suit From yesterday's decision by Judge Nina Wang in Coomer v. Lindell (D. Colo.): As discussed extensively on the record, after confirming with Mr. Kachouroff

This is why I don’t have to ban generative AI in my classes. Bad information and fake citations result in poor grades regardless. reason.com/volokh/2025/...

Thresholds of Digital Gameplay Contemporary digital gameplay is only accessible by navigating an ecosystem of interfaces that support its computational nature. Account logins, controllers,...

Well, this page now exists and that is quite exciting. More information soon! @mitpress.bsky.social

Also, still trying to integrate this platform into my routine, any shares you can spare will help me out as this gets closer!

mitpress.mit.edu/978026255358...

Save 20% on Spirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To on Steam Cast spells, be queer, and crash the biggest concert of the year! Spirit Swap is an action-puzzle meets narrative game set in a lush world of witchy demons.

HEYY IT'S SWAPPING TIME! SPIRIT SWAP IS OUT NOW ON XBOX AND STEAM!!!
store.steampowered.com/app/1592170/...

long sigh.