Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Ryan Zhaolloween

@insrtcoins.bsky.social

240 followers 230 following 1.5K posts

Author: The Fundamentals of Video Game Literacy (coming April). Podcast host for Play;Write, Cane and Rinse, and Sound of Play. Marketing for Xbox Game Pass, prev. Nintendo. https://letterboxd.com/InsrtCoins/

letterboxd.com

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · Apr 16

My book, The Fundamentals of Video Game Literacy, is available TODAY. It's a framework for understanding the unique ways in which games create meaning in the interaction b/t design and player agency. A great place to start if you have curiosity about games academia.
www.routledge.com/9781032869278

The Fundamentals of Video Game Literacy: Theory, Practice, and Aesthetics

This book posits a novel framework for sense‑making and meaning‑making in the play of video games. Extending a modern, process‑oriented, audience‑inclusive philosophy of artistic meaning generation, t...

www.routledge.com

4 6 28

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2h

Teen Witch, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Shoes, From Up on Poppy Hill
#LastFourWatched
letterboxd.com/InsrtCoins/

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 12h

I had heard of Monkey Kombat and was expecting the worst, but I actually didn't mind it. I enjoyed filling out the chart of stance transitions and what beats what, and I appreciate that it wasn't in real-time. Not especially funny, but I enjoyed the simple note-taking puzzle.

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 13h

Escape from Monkey Island🟩
I knew this game only by its poor reputation but I'm so glad I finally played it. I found it to be really funny and a memorable adventure! The tank controls are uniquely bad, but the script is sharp, with some very satisfying payoffs of earlier entries. I enjoyed it! 🐵🐵🐵

Reposted by Ryan Zhaolloween

phylan @phylan.website · 1d

I don't think they should be allowed to do that

Rob Friedman @pitchingninja.com · 1d

All 8 of the Blue Jays Pitchers from Yesterday (overlay)

62 1.4K 4K

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 1d

Gravity Circuit is a wonderful action platformer with a surprising amount of character customization that allows you to build the game to play however you want.

Wario64 @wario64.bsky.social · 1d

Gravity Circuit is free on Epic Games Store. Amnesia: The Bunker, Samorost 3 are the next free titles buff.ly/3Y5zGHT

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 1d

Moves of the Diamond Hand
Voxelgram 2
ENA: Dream BBQ
Find 100 Ducks and Blast Them!
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders
Poco
BLUEJEWELED

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 1d

Portland is one of the chillest hang-out spots in the country. This is like the president trying to convince people that Bob Ross was the Zodiac Killer.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

Trump: "I don't know what could be worse than Portland. You don't even have stores anymore. They don't even put glass up. They put plywood on their windows."

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

For sure. I've tried to not get caught up in the spectacle of catching-him-out, which can be amusing but not a healthy recreation 😄 To your point, for all of the "it could happen to any author" sentiment, we all have the choice to at least behave ourselves in such a way that does not invite it.

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

Atreides' new signature Marty Supreme hoodie is in harsh contention with Frank Herbert's original vision.

DiscussingFilm @discussingfilm.net · 2d

Timothée Chalamet teases his buzzcut look for Paul Atreides in ‘DUNE: PART 3’

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

If I may

2 8

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

It's an unfortunate situation -- one in which everyone "loses" to some extent. A choice was made in extending the agreement a long time ago without proper background research, and now the chickens have come home to roost. Unfortunate. Big Bitmap Books fan otherwise; hoping this is a one-time problem

1 5

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

So the pile-on does have its positive function. Bad information getting past editors and into published works can continue to infect further work in a way that's hard to counteract -- publishing (especially by a respected publisher) gives the air of legitimacy; it becomes a "primary source".

1 1

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

Seeing an impostor caught and his book systematically pulled apart on social media gives me that second-hand feeling of anxiety. It's the nightmare that every author hopes to avoid.

But, at the same time, it's useful to widely let people know "this is not an actual resource. Do not cite this".

2 1

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

My book was extensively researched and deliberately cited, but it still introduces new ideas and offers perspectives that feel risky, so I had anxiety about it being picked apart by smarter and more experienced academics. That's just a part of publishing.

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

To extend a bit of empathy, it's scary to publish a book -- to spend years working on something and then have to release it into the world. I published my first academic book earlier this year and felt a tremendous amount of impostor syndrome. But you grit your teeth and hope for the best.

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

It's not a memoir, so one's own experience should be a lens pointing outwards.
But that's just a quibble based stylistic preference for the kind of text that I find most useful in my research.
Of course, the contextual problems (expressed beliefs of the author) are a bigger *actual* problem.

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

Though I *prefer* the more academic style, I'm not against books that are personal accounts of playing games. They can be (collectively) useful recollections of gaming culture. But, again, those should be pointing towards the broader cultural experience rather than dwelling so heavily on the self.

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

As for the quality and style of the writing, setting the context briefly to the side, it doesn't seem like the kind of thing that would be useful to me -- I prefer books to either be more academic and researched more rigorously, or (if a personal account) have more of an interesting personal angle.

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

Going back the next day and saying "nah, turns out you people were pretty rude to me, so actually I'm NOT sorry" comes across as very childish and needless. The "side" in the culture war he's trying to appease was already appeased in the first scenario -- the book was published.

1 1 3

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

Quick thoughts on the Bitmap Books controversy: the whole "going back on your apology" thing seems like a massive mistake. The original apology felt reasonable -- the author still benefits from having the work published, but Dyer publicly acknowledges the problem respectfully.
🧵

1 2 6

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

Everyone has to set limits on the amount of time any project is going to take, but a year feels like an arbitrary limit and on the low side for a book like this. I spent three years on my book, but I had a day job the entire time so the opp-cost wasn't an issue. Just feels like a weird justification

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 2d

I published my first book earlier this year and had a huge amount of impostor syndrome anxiety. I tried to be very thorough in my research and citations, but you never know how well anything is going to be received until it's out there. Feeling second-hand anxiety seeing an impostor being dragged.

1 4

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 3d

Imagining going through grad school just citing the journal; no year, no article title, no volume, no issue, no page numbers, no doi...

1 11

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 4d

I love revisiting agreement announcements.

hazzadorgamin.bsky.social @hazzadorgamin.bsky.social · 4d

Microsoft responds to Xbox Hardware cancellation rumors

"We are actively investing in our future first-party consoles and devices designed, engineered and built by Xbox. For more details, the community can revisit our agreement announcement with AMD."

www.windowscentral.com/gaming/no-xb...

Ryan Zhaolloween @insrtcoins.bsky.social · 4d

Every time I see that trailer for Good Fortune -- it seems like a fine film -- but god; Aziz just gives some of the most "high school drama class" line reads I've ever seen.