Dr. Rachel Kowert
@drkowert.bsky.social
Founder of Psychgeist. Visiting Researcher at University of Cambridge. Chocobo wrangler. All opinions mine.
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
Finally! My book Super Nintendo is out TODAY in the US + Canada. Here's where to buy it: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753986...
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
February 3, 2026 at 1:54 PM
Finally! My book Super Nintendo is out TODAY in the US + Canada. Here's where to buy it: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/753986...
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
"MacDonald is one of the best games journalists... Here is a book bursting with love. Bop your head against it and see if a shower of gold coins comes out." -The Times
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
Good morning!
February marks the 10th anniversary of Stardew Valley. I had the great pleasure of speaking to ConcernedApe ahead of the occasion about the last ten years and his plans for the future. It's a nice long one, please enjoy:
www.ign.com/articles/sta...
February marks the 10th anniversary of Stardew Valley. I had the great pleasure of speaking to ConcernedApe ahead of the occasion about the last ten years and his plans for the future. It's a nice long one, please enjoy:
www.ign.com/articles/sta...
February 3, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Good morning!
February marks the 10th anniversary of Stardew Valley. I had the great pleasure of speaking to ConcernedApe ahead of the occasion about the last ten years and his plans for the future. It's a nice long one, please enjoy:
www.ign.com/articles/sta...
February marks the 10th anniversary of Stardew Valley. I had the great pleasure of speaking to ConcernedApe ahead of the occasion about the last ten years and his plans for the future. It's a nice long one, please enjoy:
www.ign.com/articles/sta...
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
The #GameUXsummit ‘24 (online) videos are finally on youtube! Take a peek at the amazing insights from the #gameUX community ☺️
#ux #gamedev
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
#ux #gamedev
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Game UX Summit 24 - YouTube
Relaxed online edition of the Game UX Summit. More info: gameuxsummit.org
youtube.com
February 1, 2026 at 5:05 PM
The #GameUXsummit ‘24 (online) videos are finally on youtube! Take a peek at the amazing insights from the #gameUX community ☺️
#ux #gamedev
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
#ux #gamedev
youtube.com/playlist?lis...
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
Book Review: Super Nintendo: How One Japanese Company Helped The World Have Fun.
Book Review: Super Nintendo: How One Japanese Company Helped The World Have Fun
Super by name, super by nature
www.nintendolife.com
February 1, 2026 at 5:00 PM
Book Review: Super Nintendo: How One Japanese Company Helped The World Have Fun.
Ya know talk to text will never fail me. Please forgive my lack of early morning proofreading 🫠
January 31, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Ya know talk to text will never fail me. Please forgive my lack of early morning proofreading 🫠
Sleep No More was a TRANSFORMATIVE experience for me and I am incredibly proud to have been able to bring this book to life in honor of The one you're anniversary of its closure in NYC.
youtube.com/shorts/_TV47...
youtube.com/shorts/_TV47...
January 31, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Sleep No More was a TRANSFORMATIVE experience for me and I am incredibly proud to have been able to bring this book to life in honor of The one you're anniversary of its closure in NYC.
youtube.com/shorts/_TV47...
youtube.com/shorts/_TV47...
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
The Muppet Show: this thrilling return is so great I can’t even count how many times I laughed
The Muppet Show: this thrilling return is so great I can’t even count how many times I laughed
Sabrina Carpenter fangirling Miss Piggy, Beaker losing his eyes … yes, Kermit and co are back for a trip down memory lane – and it’s a perfect, saucy joy
www.theguardian.com
January 31, 2026 at 7:37 AM
The Muppet Show: this thrilling return is so great I can’t even count how many times I laughed
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
My latest co-authored article with Megan Condis was just published in Games: Research and Practice. And it's open access!
Check out "Rad Dudes, Rude ‘Tude, and the Family, Too: How Nintendo and Sega Advertisements Shaped the Image of Gaming in the 1990s."
Check out "Rad Dudes, Rude ‘Tude, and the Family, Too: How Nintendo and Sega Advertisements Shaped the Image of Gaming in the 1990s."
Rad Dudes, Rude ‘Tude, and the Family, Too: How Nintendo and Sega Advertisements Shaped the Image of Gaming in the 1990s | Games: Research and Practice
The tale of the console wars of the 1990s, the stodgy, conservative, family-friendly
Nintendo consoles waging an advertising war against the rebellious upstarts behind
the Sega Genesis, has been told ...
dl.acm.org
January 29, 2026 at 5:35 PM
My latest co-authored article with Megan Condis was just published in Games: Research and Practice. And it's open access!
Check out "Rad Dudes, Rude ‘Tude, and the Family, Too: How Nintendo and Sega Advertisements Shaped the Image of Gaming in the 1990s."
Check out "Rad Dudes, Rude ‘Tude, and the Family, Too: How Nintendo and Sega Advertisements Shaped the Image of Gaming in the 1990s."
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
“The overwhelming liberal focus on disinformation misreads how digital platforms work…cutting-edge propagandists now focus less on policy messaging and more on massaging vibes”.
Start of a new series by the excellent @robtoes.bsky.social
Start of a new series by the excellent @robtoes.bsky.social
How liberals lost the internet | Robert Topinka
In the first part of our series on digital politics, we look at how centrists have lost ground fighting disinformation – when the real battle is over emotion and attention, says digital media academic...
www.theguardian.com
January 30, 2026 at 8:51 AM
“The overwhelming liberal focus on disinformation misreads how digital platforms work…cutting-edge propagandists now focus less on policy messaging and more on massaging vibes”.
Start of a new series by the excellent @robtoes.bsky.social
Start of a new series by the excellent @robtoes.bsky.social
Also that cover tho.
January 30, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Also that cover tho.
Thank YOU all for sharing your minds and souls (I feel like SNM has taken a bit of our souls...in the best way)
January 30, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Thank YOU all for sharing your minds and souls (I feel like SNM has taken a bit of our souls...in the best way)
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
We interrupt my shamelessly plugging Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator to… do… different shameless self-promotion.
I just got word from @drkowert.bsky.social that The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Sleep No More is officially out!
@amandafarough.ca and I both contributed essays to this collection!
I just got word from @drkowert.bsky.social that The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Sleep No More is officially out!
@amandafarough.ca and I both contributed essays to this collection!
January 30, 2026 at 1:30 PM
We interrupt my shamelessly plugging Space Warlord Baby Trading Simulator to… do… different shameless self-promotion.
I just got word from @drkowert.bsky.social that The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Sleep No More is officially out!
@amandafarough.ca and I both contributed essays to this collection!
I just got word from @drkowert.bsky.social that The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Sleep No More is officially out!
@amandafarough.ca and I both contributed essays to this collection!
🚨 HAPPY NEWSLETTER DAY! 🚨
In this month's newsletter you'll find:
📆 A catch up from December because... well, this is a (mostly) mostly newsletter and I may have skipped a month
🛟 Safety > all in terms of what teens want online
👮 Europol...in Roblox?
rachelkowert.substack.com/p/tldr-janua...
In this month's newsletter you'll find:
📆 A catch up from December because... well, this is a (mostly) mostly newsletter and I may have skipped a month
🛟 Safety > all in terms of what teens want online
👮 Europol...in Roblox?
rachelkowert.substack.com/p/tldr-janua...
TL;DR January 2026
A compendium of the comings and goings in research, development, and news about our digital playgrounds from Janurary 2026.
rachelkowert.substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 7:03 PM
🚨 HAPPY NEWSLETTER DAY! 🚨
In this month's newsletter you'll find:
📆 A catch up from December because... well, this is a (mostly) mostly newsletter and I may have skipped a month
🛟 Safety > all in terms of what teens want online
👮 Europol...in Roblox?
rachelkowert.substack.com/p/tldr-janua...
In this month's newsletter you'll find:
📆 A catch up from December because... well, this is a (mostly) mostly newsletter and I may have skipped a month
🛟 Safety > all in terms of what teens want online
👮 Europol...in Roblox?
rachelkowert.substack.com/p/tldr-janua...
The amount of conversations I've had about how if Pomni just went with Ragatha in ep 6 of The Amazing Digital Circus everything would have just panned out better is the state of parenting I'm in right now.
January 30, 2026 at 1:56 AM
The amount of conversations I've had about how if Pomni just went with Ragatha in ep 6 of The Amazing Digital Circus everything would have just panned out better is the state of parenting I'm in right now.
See you at GDC 💜
January 30, 2026 at 12:45 AM
See you at GDC 💜
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
Everything about making video games is harder than you think.
November 6, 2025 at 11:07 AM
Everything about making video games is harder than you think.
Still reads strange to me. I had to re read the definition of white knight several times to try and understand the underlying assumption they are making that this behavior is always? Inherently driven maliciously (I disagree)
January 29, 2026 at 10:36 AM
Still reads strange to me. I had to re read the definition of white knight several times to try and understand the underlying assumption they are making that this behavior is always? Inherently driven maliciously (I disagree)
I'm a bit perplexed by this piece. I didn't realize (some kinds of?) bystander intervention could also be seen as bullying? That is what this piece is arguing?
January 29, 2026 at 10:31 AM
I'm a bit perplexed by this piece. I didn't realize (some kinds of?) bystander intervention could also be seen as bullying? That is what this piece is arguing?
Call for Papers! The Psychgeist of Pop Culture: Studio Ghibli – Play Story Press
playstorypress.org
January 29, 2026 at 1:41 AM
Yourself, but as a cartoon.
January 28, 2026 at 9:05 PM
Yourself, but as a cartoon.
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
community manager appreciation day.
serioulsy appriciate them. they do extremely hard work and frequently with some of the worst compensation and recognition from the company
serioulsy appriciate them. they do extremely hard work and frequently with some of the worst compensation and recognition from the company
January 26, 2026 at 10:44 PM
community manager appreciation day.
serioulsy appriciate them. they do extremely hard work and frequently with some of the worst compensation and recognition from the company
serioulsy appriciate them. they do extremely hard work and frequently with some of the worst compensation and recognition from the company
Reposted by Dr. Rachel Kowert
It appears that this legend owns a little bookstore — and you can order books from him instead of Bezos. Link in next post.
Protester in Minneapolis just before disappearing in gas: "Fuck you! Stop. Damn! I'm 70 years old and I'm fuckin' angry!"
January 25, 2026 at 5:45 PM
It appears that this legend owns a little bookstore — and you can order books from him instead of Bezos. Link in next post.
If you have little ones aged 4–7 and you’re looking for something family-friendly and educational to watch, read, or listen to… I got you.
These stories are:
📚 Educational
🎧 Perfect for listening or watching together
🏆 Award-winning
▶️ Check out the channel here: www.youtube.com/@TalesFromCl...
These stories are:
📚 Educational
🎧 Perfect for listening or watching together
🏆 Award-winning
▶️ Check out the channel here: www.youtube.com/@TalesFromCl...
Tales From Cloud Canyon
Educational stories and adventures from Cloud Canyon! Fun, engaging tales that teach kids problem-solving, creativity, and life skills through imaginative storytelling from the mind of Dr. Rachel Kowe...
www.youtube.com
January 25, 2026 at 1:13 PM
If you have little ones aged 4–7 and you’re looking for something family-friendly and educational to watch, read, or listen to… I got you.
These stories are:
📚 Educational
🎧 Perfect for listening or watching together
🏆 Award-winning
▶️ Check out the channel here: www.youtube.com/@TalesFromCl...
These stories are:
📚 Educational
🎧 Perfect for listening or watching together
🏆 Award-winning
▶️ Check out the channel here: www.youtube.com/@TalesFromCl...
Nooo! You will be missed.
(tbh I'm vacillating as to whether I should travel south)
(tbh I'm vacillating as to whether I should travel south)
January 24, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Nooo! You will be missed.
(tbh I'm vacillating as to whether I should travel south)
(tbh I'm vacillating as to whether I should travel south)