Pretty wild that a month ago was the start of #DiGRA2025 - it all feels like a distant memory! This year I was lucky enough to act as a track chair, respond to student papers in the PhD consortium, and present both a co-authored paper and solo paper. I give a recap of my experiences and work here 👇
It's conference season! While @matthiasdebondt.bsky.social and @lise-loresteeman.bsky.social presented their research @icahdq.bsky.social (ICA) in Denver, @evagrosemans.bsky.social took the stage in Malta to discuss her research at #DiGRA2025. Congrats to all (co-)authors on their interesting work!
Dr. Stone at DiGRA 2025
I was proud to present my paper entitled "Identifying Differential Perceptions of Video Game Players Based on Gaming Platform" today at the 2025 DiGRA Conference in Malta. #DiGRA2025 Paper can be found here: dl.digra.org/index.php/dl...
A statue of a cat painted with trans flag colors (blue, pink, white). There are designs such as clouds and waves across the cats body.
Opening slide of the presentation which says the title of the paper and authors
Very happy to have presented my work “I felt like I was them. I just didn’t know it.”: Exploring Queer Identity through TTRPG Play at #DIGRA2025.
keerthi's printed conference badge in a plastic card sleeve, on a red lanyard. the badge is covered in 4 they/them pronoun stickers, which are purple text on a yellow background.
that's a wrap on #DiGRA2025. ft. stellar conversations, great food, and my pronoun sticker minigame, which i am tentatively calling "I MEAN--"
Talked about cosiness and driving in games as part of the last panel of #DIGRA2025 on cosy/eco - thanks @nicolleness.bsky.social for capturing this!🚗🌿 Full paper coming soon...
Good morning, #digra25! We start with a plea for publishing our findings broadly. If regulators don't know about games and well-being, and negative design (eg. Lootboxes), we will not have impact on economic and legal policies 🤔 #digra2025
Can games help us adopted a post-humanist sentiment to death? @poppywilde.bsky.social says yup, they can. #DiGRA2025 #spiritfarer
Just finished my presentation at #digra2025. @nicolleness.bsky.social has excellently captured the essence of my talk as Love and Deepspace as part of larger trends of gamblification, women gaming, and otome games.
Up now is Marta Tyminska with a moving autoethnography of cosy games. Examples include Vampire Therapist and Bucha (2022). Great examples that show cozy games can meaningfully address well-being and trauma #digra25 #digra2025
#digra2025 conf dinner was in a fabulous location. Imagine being able to plan an event this size outside? Impossible in Ireland.
Case in question is Seasons: A Letter from the Future, which is all about remembering and crafting in a Ghibli esque aesthetic. Never played it but now i want to! #digra25 #digra2025
Cozy games panel starts with @bettibo.bsky.social and Jan-Noël Thon. Cozy is not a consistent genre but an aesthetic signifier. We see the label used across genres from farming sims to RPGs and walking sims #digra25 #digra2025
Optimisation trackers make the productivity clearer, but guess what…. the game even has a period tracker! This positions it also in feminine apps, health discourse and apps. Women’s labour and apps-in-apps is crucial here #digra25 #digra2025
For another solid take by @jjol33n.bsky.social on characters and monetisation do download our new open-access book where she discusses gacha and Genshin www.aup.nl/en/book/9789... #digra25 #digra2025
Phenomenal presentation yesterday by @pippinbarr.bsky.social and Rilla Khaled on systematic methods for materialising Research through Design, going past descriptive documentation using reflective practices by regular inquiry using What/so what/now what questions. #Digra2025 #designresearch
Beautiful keynote by Omar N'Shea on myths, the underworld and the queer potential of descent. These themes closely relate to failure and looping in games as resistance and ritual - a sacred return, a queer rebirth 💜 #digra25 #digra2025
Up now is toy designer and educator Tanya Marriott on the benefits of nature play and how her games in the kiwi conservation club help with awareness and preservation #digra25 #digra2025
Our talk 'LUDIFYING DIGITAL PROTESTS IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH' at #DiGRA2025 is done. With Piuli Basu.
Some of the speaker's tips:
- to convince players to care about climate change, you need emotion not rationality
- Competition and decentralization undermines message. Focus on meaningful collaboration
#digra25 #digra2025
Some game design techniques (see pic) notably contradict sustainable thinking, like growth, colonial thinking and fictional techno-solutions to climate change #digra25 #digra2025
Eco panel time! 💚 The first speaker criticizes current eco board games which often fail to address wider environmental action and systemic problems (e.g capitalism, expansion) #digra25 #digra2025
Good points that food relates to ideology, has queer potential and relates to mess. Some material she draws from #digra2025 #digra25
And we continue with @merlyn-seller.bsky.social on bugsnax where we eat bugs. I never played this but it looks cute! Food also relates to body horror, value judgements (eg.?calory counting) and social boundaries related to transgression, power and even Otherness #digra25 #digra2025
Now up is a talk on food aesthetics in Genshin Impact and The Witcher by Benjamin Horn. Food can be related to survival, health, coziness and eco criticism (eg. Animal as food container/resource) #digra25 #digra2025
Back after lunch for a panel on games x food! A lovely topic that connects games with health. (Love this in relation to players too! I did a whole study on Portal’s cake a while back, published in Eating Fandom). First up a very interesting etnography of food in esports! #digra25 #digra2025
A slide from a conference talk titled findings from the first ten years in games industry/production research
Excellent keynote today by @aphrak.bsky.social with hardcore facts - the industry inflates its size/importance, normalises bad practices across employment, harassment, and gambling and all these things spread out way beyond games. #digra2025
