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Shaun Macdonald

@shaunmacdonald.bsky.social

570 followers 350 following 180 posts

⌨️HCI Researcher on Affective and Evocative Experiences 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 PhD from @uofglasgow.bsky.social 🤖Zoomorphic Robots, Affective Haptics, XR Prototyping 🎮Competitive Gamer, Art Enjoyer, Hope-low Leftist ♂️He/Him 🔗shaun-macdonald-hci.owlstown.net

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 2d

Me? Dodongo

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 4d

This video is correct!

Silksong Is Carrying The Dark Souls Torch

YouTube video by Snoman Gaming

www.youtube.com

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 5d

Do not endorse the USA with your presence.

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 5d

Public beatings and arrests, dissappearings, concentration camps, martial law, replacement of government offices professionals with facist sycophants, mass embezzlement, demonisation of political enemy, openly racist, homophobic, pedophillic and rapists.

We are ~1938 now. Get out. Its over.

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 6d

Not sure what your taste is, but given it’s Halloween season check out Mouthwashing or the games by Kitty Horrorshow (Anatomy etc)

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 6d

I would the classification less delineated, mainstream games are more interested in being artistic (Ghost of Tsushima etc) and arty and evocative indies are established. Games like Neva are classical examples being made today. The really experimental stuff is often only on Itch, to avoid corpo stuff

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 7d

Piplup or Turtwig

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 8d

a man in a suit and tie is running down a street in front of a fence .

ALT: a man in a suit and tie is running down a street in front of a fence .

media.tenor.com

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 10d

When I was a kid I loved splat the rat but now the imagery fills me with sadness 😞

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 11d

**Elite Dangerous added to your shopping cart**

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 15d

Trying to keep awake as I approach my 1am taxi for my 4am flight. It’s kind of like following in my father’s footsteps, except I’m not flying the plane.

Me holding coffee in my mostly packed hotel room

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Reposted by Shaun Macdonald

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 16d

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 17d

Paper presented and poster session by the sea attended!

My standing at the MobileHCI podium presenting a research paper titled SafeScreen

Researchers discussing a poster shown on a digital display board, on a grassy area near to the Red Sea.

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 18d

Insane view from my hotel in Sharm also

A view from my hotel windows showing a view across a blue ocean bay with a palm tree

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 18d

In Sharm El Sheikh for @mobilehci.bsky.social this week. I’ll be giving my talk tomorrow at 12 on Safescreen, our cool security camera app that blocks screens in real time. Come say hi if you’re there!

An image showing two phones. On the top phone, the camera app is open and a screen in shown in the view finder blocked by a black box. The second phone shows the camera app open and the users hand ringing some unblocked on-screen text.

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 19d

Finally a crumb

Screen cap of BBC news with the headline UK formally recognises Palestinian state

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 22d

Get outta there. Get out.

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 23d

Yeah i think its a further object lesson in inputs=/=play complexity

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 23d

yeah the game seems sweet, pretty unique feeling characters

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 23d

Imagine travelling to the US for work now. Or study.

US officers tied us up and pointed guns at us, South Korean engineers tell BBC

Korean workers who were detained in the US say they were treated like criminals and are still in shock.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 25d

A lot of the difficulty discourse is uh, well it’s a sign of the times in both the discourse market and change in consumer expectations in my eyes.

The game could 100% include more accessibility options though and it’s sad that it doesn’t really, compared to something like Celeste

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 25d

It’s a little harder, but it is more specific in its controls and I think it’s more a case of the landscape changing and getting more QOL, whereas this game is pitched in the same vein as HK. Both games had gauntlet style boss run backs, but Elden ring had none of those, while DS1 has loads etc.

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · 26d

Was ready to call Silksong a worthy successor to Hollow Knight and one of the best games I've played this year.

Reached beyond the bounds I assumed existed.

No actually Silksong is the probably best game I have played in years.

A screenshot of hornet from Silksong sitting in a small carriage surrounded by fluffy fleas

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Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · Sep 11

Platforming section I did today was a real pain in the neck, but man it felt so good in the end.

Shaun Macdonald @shaunmacdonald.bsky.social · Sep 10

🏆 ❗ Our paper just received the Interaction Design for International Development Award at #INTERACT2025. I'm so proud of the work and my coauthors!

Dancing with Data: privacy Compromises of Egyptian Women Reconciling Westernized Social Media Sharing with Local Cultural Values: shorturl.at/sTogU

A picture of the award being announced at the conference