Rob Gallagher
@gealga.bsky.social
Lecturer in Digital Media, King's College London. Co-director MA Digital Futures. Author of Videogames, Identity & Digital Subjectivity (Routledge 2017) and Artgames after Gamergate (Palgrave 2025): https://link.springer.com/book/9783032044341
Pinned
Rob Gallagher
@gealga.bsky.social
· Aug 20
My new book has a cover! Much gratitude to Tabitha Nikolai for letting me use a shot from her peerless dysphoric suburban hikikomori simulator Shrine Maidens of the Unseelie Court 🙏
fwiw I feel like Ellen Samuels' history of Olympic sex testing regimes in Fantasies of Identification offers one of the starkest demonstrations you could ever hope for of the fundamental incoherence of binary sex/gender systems (& their racist & ableist fx). Got a .pdf if the IOC wants it
IOC edges closer to ban on transgender women in female Olympic events
IOC edges closer to ban on transgender women in female Olympic events
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Sources expect ban within next six to 12 months
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IOC president wants to protect the female category
The International Olympic Committee is edging closer towards implementing a ban on transgender women competing in the female category in time for the Los Angeles Olympics.
Multiple sources expect such a ban to come into effect over the next six to 12 months with the new IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, making clear she wants to drive through her campaign pledge to protect the female category. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2025 at 12:55 PM
fwiw I feel like Ellen Samuels' history of Olympic sex testing regimes in Fantasies of Identification offers one of the starkest demonstrations you could ever hope for of the fundamental incoherence of binary sex/gender systems (& their racist & ableist fx). Got a .pdf if the IOC wants it
Field Work show this month = 120 mins of psychoacoustically suggestive muttering & cooing, fizzy, fuzzy snares & portentous muffled clangour courtesy of Chris & Cosey, Black Faction, Ricardo Villalobos, Ro70 etc. 😌 www.nts.live/shows/fieldw...
Field Work 8th November 2025
Playing Experimental, Industrial , Leftfield Techno. Experimental and intercepted transmissions every month with Field Work friends and family.
Accompanied by GIFs at http://fieldworklondon.tumblr.com...
www.nts.live
November 12, 2025 at 2:14 PM
Field Work show this month = 120 mins of psychoacoustically suggestive muttering & cooing, fizzy, fuzzy snares & portentous muffled clangour courtesy of Chris & Cosey, Black Faction, Ricardo Villalobos, Ro70 etc. 😌 www.nts.live/shows/fieldw...
Reposted by Rob Gallagher
In this Lunchtime Talk on Fri 14 Nov we'll be joined by Dr. Rob Gallagher. He'll be discussing his new book Artgames after Gamergate.
This is a free event join us online, on YouTube, or in the studio.
Book a ticket on our website https://wshd.to/artgamesaftergamergate
This is a free event join us online, on YouTube, or in the studio.
Book a ticket on our website https://wshd.to/artgamesaftergamergate
November 12, 2025 at 1:01 PM
In this Lunchtime Talk on Fri 14 Nov we'll be joined by Dr. Rob Gallagher. He'll be discussing his new book Artgames after Gamergate.
This is a free event join us online, on YouTube, or in the studio.
Book a ticket on our website https://wshd.to/artgamesaftergamergate
This is a free event join us online, on YouTube, or in the studio.
Book a ticket on our website https://wshd.to/artgamesaftergamergate
I'll be talking about my new book at @wshed.bsky.social's Pervasive Media Studio (& on YouTube Live) next Friday. Come along/tune in to hear how 2010s artgame creators pushed back against the online right via weird, funny, angry reworkings of classic videogames www.watershed.co.uk/studio/event...
Lunchtime Talk: Artgames After Gamergate | Pervasive Media Studio
In this Lunchtime Talk, we'll be joined by Dr. Rob Gallagher, who’ll be discussing his new book Artgames after Gamergate.
www.watershed.co.uk
November 6, 2025 at 4:31 PM
I'll be talking about my new book at @wshed.bsky.social's Pervasive Media Studio (& on YouTube Live) next Friday. Come along/tune in to hear how 2010s artgame creators pushed back against the online right via weird, funny, angry reworkings of classic videogames www.watershed.co.uk/studio/event...
Tomorrow!
London folks, the brilliant Darshana Jayemanne will be coming to @kingscmci.bsky.social on Nov 5th to discuss the GAME-ER project's ongoing research on game production clusters. Why do certain cities, from Dundee to Brno, become gamedev hubs? Come & find out! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cmci-resea...
CMCI Research Seminar: Dr. Darshana Jayemanne on Game Production Clusters
Dr. Darshana Jayemanne shares insights from a project on the emergence, development, and sustainability of European video game clusters
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 4, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Tomorrow!
Reposted by Rob Gallagher
I'm going to be at a Gaming Social Justice event at King's College London on 14 Nov, running a Molly House demo and then talking with others including @baddeo.bsky.social and @maxhaiven.bsky.social - it's free but tickets are at this link:
www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...
www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...
Select tickets – Gaming Social Justice – REACH Space
Gaming Social Justice – REACH Space, Fri 14 Nov 2025 -
‘Let the children once see clearly the gross injustice of our present land system and when they grow up, if they are allowed to develop naturall...
www.tickettailor.com
October 29, 2025 at 4:34 PM
I'm going to be at a Gaming Social Justice event at King's College London on 14 Nov, running a Molly House demo and then talking with others including @baddeo.bsky.social and @maxhaiven.bsky.social - it's free but tickets are at this link:
www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...
www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...
Another London-based games event to promote! We're running a Gaming Social Justice workshop on Nov 14th, ft. demos of games like @maxhaiven.bsky.social's Billionaires and Guillotines & @miasmacorp.bsky.social's 1720s masquerade 'em up Molly House www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...
Select tickets – Gaming Social Justice – REACH Space
Gaming Social Justice – REACH Space, Fri 14 Nov 2025 -
‘Let the children once see clearly the gross injustice of our present land system and when they grow up, if they are allowed to develop naturall...
www.tickettailor.com
October 24, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Another London-based games event to promote! We're running a Gaming Social Justice workshop on Nov 14th, ft. demos of games like @maxhaiven.bsky.social's Billionaires and Guillotines & @miasmacorp.bsky.social's 1720s masquerade 'em up Molly House www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...
London folks, the brilliant Darshana Jayemanne will be coming to @kingscmci.bsky.social on Nov 5th to discuss the GAME-ER project's ongoing research on game production clusters. Why do certain cities, from Dundee to Brno, become gamedev hubs? Come & find out! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cmci-resea...
CMCI Research Seminar: Dr. Darshana Jayemanne on Game Production Clusters
Dr. Darshana Jayemanne shares insights from a project on the emergence, development, and sustainability of European video game clusters
www.eventbrite.co.uk
October 23, 2025 at 12:24 PM
London folks, the brilliant Darshana Jayemanne will be coming to @kingscmci.bsky.social on Nov 5th to discuss the GAME-ER project's ongoing research on game production clusters. Why do certain cities, from Dundee to Brno, become gamedev hubs? Come & find out! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cmci-resea...
Finally got around to watching Penda's Fen. Loose & baggy for sure, but an embarrassment of indelible shots & scenes, & absolutely wild that the Midlands had its reply to Twin Peaks ready 16 years early... archive.org/details/pend...
October 22, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Finally got around to watching Penda's Fen. Loose & baggy for sure, but an embarrassment of indelible shots & scenes, & absolutely wild that the Midlands had its reply to Twin Peaks ready 16 years early... archive.org/details/pend...
it brings me great to pleasure to say that there's an hour of early aughts grime white labels tucked inside this month's Field Work show, incl. a bunch of Ruff Sqwad's weirder beats www.nts.live/shows/fieldw...
Field Work 11th October 2025
Playing Ambient, Dub, Grime. Experimental and intercepted transmissions every month with Field Work friends and family.
Accompanied by GIFs at http://fieldworklondon.tumblr.com.
www.nts.live
October 13, 2025 at 4:11 PM
it brings me great to pleasure to say that there's an hour of early aughts grime white labels tucked inside this month's Field Work show, incl. a bunch of Ruff Sqwad's weirder beats www.nts.live/shows/fieldw...
In game studies we call this 'environmental storytelling'
October 7, 2025 at 2:05 PM
In game studies we call this 'environmental storytelling'
Reposted by Rob Gallagher
DiGRA 2026 (Ireland) CfP is now live
Full paper and abstracts deadline: 1 December 2025
Workshop proposals deadline: 15 February 2026
www.digraconference2026.com
#games #gamestudies
Full paper and abstracts deadline: 1 December 2025
Workshop proposals deadline: 15 February 2026
www.digraconference2026.com
#games #gamestudies
DiGRA 2026 Conference | Maynooth University
Join the DiGRA 2026 conference at Maynooth University, 14–18 June 2026. Theme “Intersectional Pleasures.” A global hybrid event for game research, culture, design, and industry.
www.digraconference2026.com
October 1, 2025 at 6:29 PM
DiGRA 2026 (Ireland) CfP is now live
Full paper and abstracts deadline: 1 December 2025
Workshop proposals deadline: 15 February 2026
www.digraconference2026.com
#games #gamestudies
Full paper and abstracts deadline: 1 December 2025
Workshop proposals deadline: 15 February 2026
www.digraconference2026.com
#games #gamestudies
This is this week! Come to Stoke Newington & join us for a chat about videogame cities & a wander round some virtual Hong Kongs
Londoners, I'll be talking to Aidan Page about his work on virtual renditions of Hong Kong for the UK leg of the Hong Kong Film Festival at @loading.bar in September www.hkff.uk/full-program...
Sleeping Dogs: Spatial Representations of Hong Kong in Western Gaming — HKFFUK25
25 Sept 2025 (Thu) Doors Open 7.30pm—Loading Bar, Stoke Newington
www.hkff.uk
September 22, 2025 at 2:21 PM
This is this week! Come to Stoke Newington & join us for a chat about videogame cities & a wander round some virtual Hong Kongs
I like this as an explanation of why so much of the Kirk coverage has been so maladroit: that the things pundits struggled to understand about memes a decade ago increasingly apply to acts of political violence
Together with Marc Tuters and @robtoes.bsky.social I wrote an essay on the Charlie Kirk assassination, the Groypers - Nick Fuentes connection and the state of memetic political violence today oilab.eu/frozen-antag...
Frozen Antagonisms: Charlie Kirk, Groypers, and the Meme Politics of Violence – OILab
oilab.eu
September 15, 2025 at 10:59 AM
I like this as an explanation of why so much of the Kirk coverage has been so maladroit: that the things pundits struggled to understand about memes a decade ago increasingly apply to acts of political violence
Lovely game this - unabashedly twee & soppy without being vapid or cloying, builds neat scavenger hunt mechanics around what would normally be clipping & collision errors & uses them to pose some surprisingly chewy questions about grief, memory, museology
Here's a film about the making of I AM DEAD, which shows a bunch of Richard Hogg's concept art for that game, and digs into how we drew inspiration from the town of Hastings on the south coast of England, where he lives.
I am Dead: Drawing Inspiration from a Real Place
YouTube video by Hollow Ponds
www.youtube.com
September 12, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Lovely game this - unabashedly twee & soppy without being vapid or cloying, builds neat scavenger hunt mechanics around what would normally be clipping & collision errors & uses them to pose some surprisingly chewy questions about grief, memory, museology
neighbour on the street Whatsapp has a bag of homegrown watercress to give away & now I keep cracking myself up remembering how much of the 12th century epic of mad king Sweeney consists of him ardently pining for same
September 11, 2025 at 10:12 AM
neighbour on the street Whatsapp has a bag of homegrown watercress to give away & now I keep cracking myself up remembering how much of the 12th century epic of mad king Sweeney consists of him ardently pining for same
Reposted by Rob Gallagher
✨ call for proposals ✨ - "Digital Humanities Today: Critical Inquiry with and about the Digital", London 23-26th June 2026 - coinciding with 25th anniversary of @kingsdh.bsky.social. deadline: 30th September 2025. further details here: jonathangray.org/2025/09/11/d...
September 11, 2025 at 8:46 AM
✨ call for proposals ✨ - "Digital Humanities Today: Critical Inquiry with and about the Digital", London 23-26th June 2026 - coinciding with 25th anniversary of @kingsdh.bsky.social. deadline: 30th September 2025. further details here: jonathangray.org/2025/09/11/d...
Londoners, I'll be talking to Aidan Page about his work on virtual renditions of Hong Kong for the UK leg of the Hong Kong Film Festival at @loading.bar in September www.hkff.uk/full-program...
Sleeping Dogs: Spatial Representations of Hong Kong in Western Gaming — HKFFUK25
25 Sept 2025 (Thu) Doors Open 7.30pm—Loading Bar, Stoke Newington
www.hkff.uk
August 28, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Londoners, I'll be talking to Aidan Page about his work on virtual renditions of Hong Kong for the UK leg of the Hong Kong Film Festival at @loading.bar in September www.hkff.uk/full-program...
Reposted by Rob Gallagher
I am excited to announce the Games for Palestine charity bundle page is now live!!!
Over 300+ games with proceeds going to UNRWA USA in support of Gaza relief. Thank you to everyone for your support. The bundle launches on Sept 2nd 9am PST.
Link: itch.io/b/2979/play-...
Over 300+ games with proceeds going to UNRWA USA in support of Gaza relief. Thank you to everyone for your support. The bundle launches on Sept 2nd 9am PST.
Link: itch.io/b/2979/play-...
August 27, 2025 at 11:06 AM
I am excited to announce the Games for Palestine charity bundle page is now live!!!
Over 300+ games with proceeds going to UNRWA USA in support of Gaza relief. Thank you to everyone for your support. The bundle launches on Sept 2nd 9am PST.
Link: itch.io/b/2979/play-...
Over 300+ games with proceeds going to UNRWA USA in support of Gaza relief. Thank you to everyone for your support. The bundle launches on Sept 2nd 9am PST.
Link: itch.io/b/2979/play-...
My new book has a cover! Much gratitude to Tabitha Nikolai for letting me use a shot from her peerless dysphoric suburban hikikomori simulator Shrine Maidens of the Unseelie Court 🙏
August 20, 2025 at 8:54 AM
My new book has a cover! Much gratitude to Tabitha Nikolai for letting me use a shot from her peerless dysphoric suburban hikikomori simulator Shrine Maidens of the Unseelie Court 🙏
My copy of this arrived! Shout to editors @profmatthew.bsky.social & Steffi Shook, & drop me a line if you'd like to read my chapter on how videogames model & represent sexual reproduction, heredity & evolution...
August 19, 2025 at 3:50 PM
My copy of this arrived! Shout to editors @profmatthew.bsky.social & Steffi Shook, & drop me a line if you'd like to read my chapter on how videogames model & represent sexual reproduction, heredity & evolution...
Reposted by Rob Gallagher
We’ll be hosting GachaCon 2026, a hybrid academic conference on gacha games with Genshin Impact as the theme, on 12–13 February 2026 at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
August 11, 2025 at 1:40 PM
We’ll be hosting GachaCon 2026, a hybrid academic conference on gacha games with Genshin Impact as the theme, on 12–13 February 2026 at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
i) the fit but ii) the festival website suggests Peter is sharing a bill with Dominic Cummings & a Hungarian reggae/dancehall/hip-hop/funk/rock act called Irie Maffia
August 5, 2025 at 9:26 AM
i) the fit but ii) the festival website suggests Peter is sharing a bill with Dominic Cummings & a Hungarian reggae/dancehall/hip-hop/funk/rock act called Irie Maffia
Reposted by Rob Gallagher
My amazing department at King's College London is organising a BIG conference on 'THE DIGITAL' In 2026. Do come! Call for papers: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/digit...
Digital Humanities Today: Critical Inquiry with and about the Digital
From the 23-26 June 2026, the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London will host an international conference exploring the evolving role of Digital Humanities in a world increasingly ...
www.kcl.ac.uk
August 1, 2025 at 9:43 AM
My amazing department at King's College London is organising a BIG conference on 'THE DIGITAL' In 2026. Do come! Call for papers: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/digit...