Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
@halfrobot.com
Game Designer (Consentacle +37 others)
Chair / Director, NYU Game Center ( https://gamecenter.nyu.edu/ )
Founding Collective, Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Formerly: Gamelab, LEGO, strap-on.org etc.
https://metasynthie.itch.io/
Opinions are only my own!
Chair / Director, NYU Game Center ( https://gamecenter.nyu.edu/ )
Founding Collective, Sylvia Rivera Law Project
Formerly: Gamelab, LEGO, strap-on.org etc.
https://metasynthie.itch.io/
Opinions are only my own!
[x salvage]
An odd moment in 1990: apropos of nothing the Sub-Mariner chants an anagram of "Abortion Rights Womens Choice" to calm angry fish-creatures.
An odd moment in 1990: apropos of nothing the Sub-Mariner chants an anagram of "Abortion Rights Womens Choice" to calm angry fish-creatures.
January 10, 2026 at 2:10 AM
[x salvage]
An odd moment in 1990: apropos of nothing the Sub-Mariner chants an anagram of "Abortion Rights Womens Choice" to calm angry fish-creatures.
An odd moment in 1990: apropos of nothing the Sub-Mariner chants an anagram of "Abortion Rights Womens Choice" to calm angry fish-creatures.
X salvage continued, somehow in May 2023 I found that someone had made an AI chatbot based on @foddy.net and never was able to locate it again
January 10, 2026 at 1:55 AM
X salvage continued, somehow in May 2023 I found that someone had made an AI chatbot based on @foddy.net and never was able to locate it again
X salvage continued, had to save this banger from @molleindustria.org
January 10, 2026 at 1:49 AM
X salvage continued, had to save this banger from @molleindustria.org
People who believe in authoritarian violence are clear on two things others aren’t:
1. if you stand near a cop vehicle and the corner brushes you as it’s pulling out, that’s your fault
2. if a cop stands near your vehicle and the corner brushes him as you pull out, he gets to shoot you dead
1. if you stand near a cop vehicle and the corner brushes you as it’s pulling out, that’s your fault
2. if a cop stands near your vehicle and the corner brushes him as you pull out, he gets to shoot you dead
January 9, 2026 at 10:12 PM
People who believe in authoritarian violence are clear on two things others aren’t:
1. if you stand near a cop vehicle and the corner brushes you as it’s pulling out, that’s your fault
2. if a cop stands near your vehicle and the corner brushes him as you pull out, he gets to shoot you dead
1. if you stand near a cop vehicle and the corner brushes you as it’s pulling out, that’s your fault
2. if a cop stands near your vehicle and the corner brushes him as you pull out, he gets to shoot you dead
No matter how they try, it's never possible to completely eliminate game journalists... because new game journalists are born every second of every day.
Also, old game journalists know how to reanimate each other from the dead. Sketchy but useful.
Also, old game journalists know how to reanimate each other from the dead. Sketchy but useful.
January 9, 2026 at 8:29 PM
No matter how they try, it's never possible to completely eliminate game journalists... because new game journalists are born every second of every day.
Also, old game journalists know how to reanimate each other from the dead. Sketchy but useful.
Also, old game journalists know how to reanimate each other from the dead. Sketchy but useful.
Reposted by Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
hi! i'm co-founding a new gaming website with my former polygon colleague @zoehhannah.com. it's called mothership.blog. i made it for someone like me... the kind of website i always wished we had in our space. watch the video to learn more :D
It's time to board the Mothership.
www.youtube.com/shorts/iEw90...
www.youtube.com/shorts/iEw90...
Board the Mothership.
YouTube video by Mothership Media LLC
www.youtube.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:04 PM
hi! i'm co-founding a new gaming website with my former polygon colleague @zoehhannah.com. it's called mothership.blog. i made it for someone like me... the kind of website i always wished we had in our space. watch the video to learn more :D
Big congrats to IGF nominees including the controversial Horses, plus many home-grown crops from these parts like Baby Steps, Ball X Pit, Kiloton by @jackmorehart.bsky.social and AP's mystery-shrouded recently-unwrapped Titanium Court which you can now wishlist
store.steampowered.com/app/2364580/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2364580/...
Titanium Court on Steam
A surreal strategy game for clowns and criminals.
store.steampowered.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Big congrats to IGF nominees including the controversial Horses, plus many home-grown crops from these parts like Baby Steps, Ball X Pit, Kiloton by @jackmorehart.bsky.social and AP's mystery-shrouded recently-unwrapped Titanium Court which you can now wishlist
store.steampowered.com/app/2364580/...
store.steampowered.com/app/2364580/...
Reposted by Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
The IGFs are the most important award show imo, and while you've probably seen a lot of the nominees listed here, you should really check out the honorable mentions. Lots of cool stuff that I've never heard of - and also games that aren't even out yet!
Baby Steps leads 28th annual IGF Awards nominations
Baby Steps leads 28th annual IGF Awards nominations
Blippo+, Titanium Court, and Horses have also received multiple nods.
www.gamedeveloper.com
January 9, 2026 at 5:29 PM
The IGFs are the most important award show imo, and while you've probably seen a lot of the nominees listed here, you should really check out the honorable mentions. Lots of cool stuff that I've never heard of - and also games that aren't even out yet!
Reposted by Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
Quite precise: We are more positive about AI generation in areas outside our own expertise; we worry more about our own jobs.
the discourse on what jobs are acceptable to replace with generative AI reveals a lot about what we think of other people's jobs
January 9, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Quite precise: We are more positive about AI generation in areas outside our own expertise; we worry more about our own jobs.
"Sexualizing" prompts seem to be disregarded by Grok on X now -- although other kinds, like "making women dress more modestly" are not, which is notable since it's not a rate-limit or something.
Anyway, that makes it easy for Apple & Google to do jack squat, for UK govt to do jack squat, etc etc
Anyway, that makes it easy for Apple & Google to do jack squat, for UK govt to do jack squat, etc etc
January 9, 2026 at 3:57 AM
"Sexualizing" prompts seem to be disregarded by Grok on X now -- although other kinds, like "making women dress more modestly" are not, which is notable since it's not a rate-limit or something.
Anyway, that makes it easy for Apple & Google to do jack squat, for UK govt to do jack squat, etc etc
Anyway, that makes it easy for Apple & Google to do jack squat, for UK govt to do jack squat, etc etc
Reposted by Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
Our almost 4-hour GOTY 2025 special is live now!
The gang's all here to count down our favorite "games" of "2025", alongside a bevvy of great picks from previous guests and listeners.
secretlives.games/151-games-of...
The gang's all here to count down our favorite "games" of "2025", alongside a bevvy of great picks from previous guests and listeners.
secretlives.games/151-games-of...
The Secret Lives of Games: 151: Games of the Year 2025
The gang's all here to count down our favorite "games" of "2025", alongside a bevvy of great picks from previous guests and listeners. Happy new year! Audio edited by Dylan Shumway Our GOTY Pic...
secretlives.games
January 8, 2026 at 5:39 PM
Our almost 4-hour GOTY 2025 special is live now!
The gang's all here to count down our favorite "games" of "2025", alongside a bevvy of great picks from previous guests and listeners.
secretlives.games/151-games-of...
The gang's all here to count down our favorite "games" of "2025", alongside a bevvy of great picks from previous guests and listeners.
secretlives.games/151-games-of...
Should go without saying:
Game devs working in mobile (could be you, colleagues, friends etc?) should check on what kind of permissions your app asks for vs. truly needs.
Don't let someone in your company casually decide to sell player locations to authoritarian governments... for a few bucks!
Game devs working in mobile (could be you, colleagues, friends etc?) should check on what kind of permissions your app asks for vs. truly needs.
Don't let someone in your company casually decide to sell player locations to authoritarian governments... for a few bucks!
I should follow this up with another facet since it's related to games.
Unity's ad system (+ its 2022 acquisition Iron Source) can & will report your rough location (~zipcode granularity) if you allow a game to "communicate w/ devices on local network."
Breakdown: timsh.org/tracking-mys...
Unity's ad system (+ its 2022 acquisition Iron Source) can & will report your rough location (~zipcode granularity) if you allow a game to "communicate w/ devices on local network."
Breakdown: timsh.org/tracking-mys...
January 8, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Should go without saying:
Game devs working in mobile (could be you, colleagues, friends etc?) should check on what kind of permissions your app asks for vs. truly needs.
Don't let someone in your company casually decide to sell player locations to authoritarian governments... for a few bucks!
Game devs working in mobile (could be you, colleagues, friends etc?) should check on what kind of permissions your app asks for vs. truly needs.
Don't let someone in your company casually decide to sell player locations to authoritarian governments... for a few bucks!
I should follow this up with another facet since it's related to games.
Unity's ad system (+ its 2022 acquisition Iron Source) can & will report your rough location (~zipcode granularity) if you allow a game to "communicate w/ devices on local network."
Breakdown: timsh.org/tracking-mys...
Unity's ad system (+ its 2022 acquisition Iron Source) can & will report your rough location (~zipcode granularity) if you allow a game to "communicate w/ devices on local network."
Breakdown: timsh.org/tracking-mys...
January 8, 2026 at 8:24 PM
I should follow this up with another facet since it's related to games.
Unity's ad system (+ its 2022 acquisition Iron Source) can & will report your rough location (~zipcode granularity) if you allow a game to "communicate w/ devices on local network."
Breakdown: timsh.org/tracking-mys...
Unity's ad system (+ its 2022 acquisition Iron Source) can & will report your rough location (~zipcode granularity) if you allow a game to "communicate w/ devices on local network."
Breakdown: timsh.org/tracking-mys...
ICE is able to track any phone without a warrant or subpoena because this system does not rely on cell-tower signals, but on "voluntarily disclosed" information from all sorts of apps you've given location permissions to. Ever wondered why an app needs your location? To sell it, of course.
New: we've obtained material explaining how an ICE surveillance system, called Webloc, works. Draw shape on a map, see all phones available there, follow them home. All without warrant
“This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency.” www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
“This is a very dangerous tool in the hands of an out-of-control agency.” www.404media.co/inside-ices-...
Inside ICE’s Tool to Monitor Phones in Entire Neighborhoods
404 Media has obtained material that explains how Tangles and Webloc, two surveillance systems ICE recently purchased, work. Webloc can track phones without a warrant and follow their owners home or t...
www.404media.co
January 8, 2026 at 7:51 PM
ICE is able to track any phone without a warrant or subpoena because this system does not rely on cell-tower signals, but on "voluntarily disclosed" information from all sorts of apps you've given location permissions to. Ever wondered why an app needs your location? To sell it, of course.
Reposted by Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
NEWS: In a heartbreaking video, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, a woman who was in the same SUV cries out: “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do."
“We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs.
www.advocate.com/news/minneso...
“We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs.
www.advocate.com/news/minneso...
Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting
“They killed my wife,” the distraught woman says, adding, “They shot her in the head.”
www.advocate.com
January 7, 2026 at 8:55 PM
NEWS: In a heartbreaking video, after ICE shot and killed a woman in Minneapolis, a woman who was in the same SUV cries out: “They killed my wife. I don’t know what to do."
“We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs.
www.advocate.com/news/minneso...
“We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head,” the distraught woman sobs.
www.advocate.com/news/minneso...
I mean, yeah. You can’t go around teaching kids that all straight people were originally spherical enbys from the moon who got split in half, and or gay dudes came from double extra-manly spheres. That would be Corrupting The Youth™ with gender ideology… and in Texas that means a hemlock cocktail.
From an email to one of our faculty members....
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!
January 7, 2026 at 3:24 AM
I mean, yeah. You can’t go around teaching kids that all straight people were originally spherical enbys from the moon who got split in half, and or gay dudes came from double extra-manly spheres. That would be Corrupting The Youth™ with gender ideology… and in Texas that means a hemlock cocktail.
Reposted by Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
I see devs get prickly about playtesting because they're afraid of being "focus grouped" or having the edges sanded off.
The point of playtesting is to see if what you intended was what the player actually experienced, and there's no other way to find this out than putting it in front of someone.
The point of playtesting is to see if what you intended was what the player actually experienced, and there's no other way to find this out than putting it in front of someone.
January 6, 2026 at 11:17 PM
I see devs get prickly about playtesting because they're afraid of being "focus grouped" or having the edges sanded off.
The point of playtesting is to see if what you intended was what the player actually experienced, and there's no other way to find this out than putting it in front of someone.
The point of playtesting is to see if what you intended was what the player actually experienced, and there's no other way to find this out than putting it in front of someone.
No matter what kind of whitewashing propaganda is put out by corrupt institutions, there are still archives of photography, recordings, and accounts that counter the "official" falsehoods. You might find this link useful if you run into rewritten memories?
apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/
apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/
Jan. 6, 2021: A visual archive of the Capitol attack
NPR’s Jan. 6 archive brings together reporting, video, documents and testimony to show what really happened during the Capitol riot. Explore the timeline, cases and evidence behind the attack.
apps.npr.org
January 6, 2026 at 7:40 PM
No matter what kind of whitewashing propaganda is put out by corrupt institutions, there are still archives of photography, recordings, and accounts that counter the "official" falsehoods. You might find this link useful if you run into rewritten memories?
apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/
apps.npr.org/jan-6-archive/
If you meet the Buddhism Game on the road, delete it
Just saw this ad. I’m not sure what it’s for exactly, but file under That’s Not How This Works That’s Not How Any Of This Works
January 6, 2026 at 6:46 PM
If you meet the Buddhism Game on the road, delete it
It's 2006. I log on to witness a circular firing squad of trans women.
It's 2016. I log on to witness a circular firing squad of trans women.
It's 2026.
It's 2016. I log on to witness a circular firing squad of trans women.
It's 2026.
I’m going to reactivate quickly to say something, then I’m out again:
A lot of the harassment going on this week is a circular firing squad. It’s trans women yelling at other trans women and then dragging in personal beefs aimed at those trans women which upsets more trans women
☎️ from the 🏠
A lot of the harassment going on this week is a circular firing squad. It’s trans women yelling at other trans women and then dragging in personal beefs aimed at those trans women which upsets more trans women
☎️ from the 🏠
January 6, 2026 at 6:30 PM
It's 2006. I log on to witness a circular firing squad of trans women.
It's 2016. I log on to witness a circular firing squad of trans women.
It's 2026.
It's 2016. I log on to witness a circular firing squad of trans women.
It's 2026.
There are plenty of political issues that affect my life and well-being but lately I've been considering trimming down to become a single issue voter, and the single issue is "re-sign the Rome Statue and send Stephen Miller to the Hague."
January 6, 2026 at 6:27 PM
There are plenty of political issues that affect my life and well-being but lately I've been considering trimming down to become a single issue voter, and the single issue is "re-sign the Rome Statue and send Stephen Miller to the Hague."
I can't believe the state of public discourse has fallen so far that when concerns arise over horny mods the focus is on "dog girl bust." Don't people know that the modding community has a rich legacy of traditions like "turn all the trees in Stardew Valley into busty trans dryads"
January 6, 2026 at 3:17 PM
I can't believe the state of public discourse has fallen so far that when concerns arise over horny mods the focus is on "dog girl bust." Don't people know that the modding community has a rich legacy of traditions like "turn all the trees in Stardew Valley into busty trans dryads"
I missed a lot of controversy stemming from video games, but since my most viewed YouTube appearance has to do with Animal Crossing and Japanese culture, I think I'll just take this unsubstantiated position: the original version of Isabelle was certainly bustier and THEN toned down for the E rating
January 6, 2026 at 4:16 AM
I missed a lot of controversy stemming from video games, but since my most viewed YouTube appearance has to do with Animal Crossing and Japanese culture, I think I'll just take this unsubstantiated position: the original version of Isabelle was certainly bustier and THEN toned down for the E rating
Whoa did you know Venezuela had smuggled "THOUSANDS of tons of cocaine" into the US? That's at least 4 million pounds of cocaine. That's like, an 8-ball of coke for every person in the US, and supposedly a fraction of the Pacific-bound imports here. Have you all been doing a ton of coke without me
January 4, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Whoa did you know Venezuela had smuggled "THOUSANDS of tons of cocaine" into the US? That's at least 4 million pounds of cocaine. That's like, an 8-ball of coke for every person in the US, and supposedly a fraction of the Pacific-bound imports here. Have you all been doing a ton of coke without me
Reposted by Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美
Captain America in an August 1990 in issue, after the last time the US violated international law to invade a Latin American nation and kidnap a head of state to stand trial on drug charges
January 3, 2026 at 11:56 PM
Captain America in an August 1990 in issue, after the last time the US violated international law to invade a Latin American nation and kidnap a head of state to stand trial on drug charges