Interesting that based on these graphs it appears teachers were affected more than pupils. This would make sense given age distributions and also makes it harder for anyone to argue the pupils are exaggerating their health problems.

I live in the UK and as such it doesn't sound at all implausible to me. Indeed, the political leaders were driving the process so much (towards disregarding risks) that I'm honestly surprised the scientific input was even the main cause.

Thankyou - this is helpful!

For specifically the evidence linking the absence to illness.

This seems pretty important - is it firsthand observation or do you know of a source? (Not because I disagree, but because I want to signal boost it.)

It will not surprise you to hear that both some of the best and some of the worst games I've experienced have been Paranoia! VAPORIZED! 😎

As I see it there's no one "right" way to construct a TTRPG. Things mostly go wrong when there's a mismatch between a particular play group and the style of the game. System-light games are not "easy", they make heavy demands of the players.

Very true. I think, though, that for TTRPGs it's a different problem. There, it might not matter if the players - and even the GM - have half the rules wrong. Also, the economics of publishing those games creates weird incentives.

As a former wargamer, I certainly know what you mean there!

The best thing about unregulated play is that its lets you find interesting new things. Don't stop there! Rules are the language that let you refine and share what you found.

I've spent a lot of time watching kids play and the reason they have so much fun is mainly because their standards are low. They get excited about Haribo and McDonalds for the same reason.

The job of a game designer is in some sense to say: "Hi players, I've spent 2000 hours exploring this particular rule space so that you can see all the highlights in 20 hours".

It is, of course, quite true that unregulated play can be excellent fun with the right players. However, the value of rules systems isn't to constrain play, it's to introduce players to something beautiful they wouldn't have found on their own.

So, with apologies to Luis, one of the most important game design lessons I ever learned is why this is wrong. :-P

Probably true, but it does arise outside the space of paper puzzles when trying to design a true Metroidbrania. There you want to gently steer the player away from discovering a technique too soon.

Well, the film industry was 78% male in 2024 (source: opus4.kobv.de/opus4-filmun...) and the games industry 70% male in 2023 (source: www.womenintech.co.uk/gender-diver...), so I think you'd have a good case.

If you can't spot the orb in your first half minute in the room... then you are the orb.

Ran into mention of this new www.indiepass.com thing today...

...can someone explain to me why this isn't a horrible idea? From my perspective the whole idea of indie development is to move further away from a winner-takes-all, race-to-the-bottom market, not towards one.

I do sometimes worry that for a certain kind of human, learning-adjacent activities of this kind are a trap we have evolved to find irresistable.

Does it come with a pope hat? XD

Thanks for the rec, I've been loving it so far! The visuals are gorgeous and I really appreciate being able to play with Arabic voice acting and English subtitles.

Just watched this about 30 times. I'm going to send you an invoice for lost productivity today.

ANNOUNCEMENT: I will stop running "scheduled" Ludum Dare events in 3 years! "Scheduled" is the key word though.

My hope is that leaders within the community can build something better, more welcoming, that honors our legacy. They've got 3 years to figure it out. You even get to study me. 😋 #LDJam

Looking good! What kinds of terrain can these handle?

Yup, I get this a lot. Expertise and understanding are all very well, but when someone's spent an entire afternoon playing around with Claude and has An Opinion then I should shut up and listen to them.

The robots like your work! :-)

That's impressively evil! Have you considered a career in big tech? XD

Genius! I don't even care that it wouldn't work, let's do it!

Best comedy code autocomplete I've had in a while. Honestly baffled as to how this gets offered as the best option.

I wasn't suggesting THIS was enshittification - the point is that companies need to be able to play around with ways to make money. So yeah, like you I consider this pretty harmless and I think it deserves an eyeroll more than serious complaints.