Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
@drlauralevy.bsky.social
🔬 Games User Researcher, Amazon Games
🎓 PhD human factors psych
🐝 Previous Georgia Tech Research Scientist
👾 #GUR #HCI
🤷🏻♀️ John McCain put my first game on his "naughty list"
💬 my own thoughts/opinions
🇺🇸🇨🇱🇸🇪
🎓 PhD human factors psych
🐝 Previous Georgia Tech Research Scientist
👾 #GUR #HCI
🤷🏻♀️ John McCain put my first game on his "naughty list"
💬 my own thoughts/opinions
🇺🇸🇨🇱🇸🇪
Pinned
Hey, y'all!
I'm a human factors psych specializing in the messiest experimental research human-computer interactions has to offer!
From aerospace to zoology, my work spans industries in academia-industry research translation with a focus on applied games research.
Now at Amazon Games as a #GUR 👾
I'm a human factors psych specializing in the messiest experimental research human-computer interactions has to offer!
From aerospace to zoology, my work spans industries in academia-industry research translation with a focus on applied games research.
Now at Amazon Games as a #GUR 👾
Two days shy of my Amaversary, I join my dev brethren in the end of this Amazon Games chapter.
What an honor to work with friends that are also colleagues I admire, make some games, & do research that mattered.
15+ yrs in games/tech & ready for the Next Thing! 🧵
www.linkedin.com/in/drlaurale...
What an honor to work with friends that are also colleagues I admire, make some games, & do research that mattered.
15+ yrs in games/tech & ready for the Next Thing! 🧵
www.linkedin.com/in/drlaurale...
October 28, 2025 at 8:56 PM
Two days shy of my Amaversary, I join my dev brethren in the end of this Amazon Games chapter.
What an honor to work with friends that are also colleagues I admire, make some games, & do research that mattered.
15+ yrs in games/tech & ready for the Next Thing! 🧵
www.linkedin.com/in/drlaurale...
What an honor to work with friends that are also colleagues I admire, make some games, & do research that mattered.
15+ yrs in games/tech & ready for the Next Thing! 🧵
www.linkedin.com/in/drlaurale...
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
Hey folks. I was impacted by the layoffs at Amazon today. If you or someone you know is in need of a UX Researcher with multiple years of experience leading or supporting research initiatives, games or otherwise, please DM me or reach out to me on LinkedIIn. www.linkedin.com/in/cdwheelock
October 28, 2025 at 3:57 PM
Hey folks. I was impacted by the layoffs at Amazon today. If you or someone you know is in need of a UX Researcher with multiple years of experience leading or supporting research initiatives, games or otherwise, please DM me or reach out to me on LinkedIIn. www.linkedin.com/in/cdwheelock
I got you baby, I didn't see shit 🫣
October 23, 2025 at 11:02 PM
I got you baby, I didn't see shit 🫣
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
Picard: computer, energize
ChatGPT: energizing, sir
Picard: we are still here
ChatGPT: My apologies, you are right. I thought you energized but you are still here. You are energized now.
Picard: Nope, still standing here.
ChatGPT: Ah, I see the issue now. Energizing now.
ChatGPT: energizing, sir
Picard: we are still here
ChatGPT: My apologies, you are right. I thought you energized but you are still here. You are energized now.
Picard: Nope, still standing here.
ChatGPT: Ah, I see the issue now. Energizing now.
October 13, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Picard: computer, energize
ChatGPT: energizing, sir
Picard: we are still here
ChatGPT: My apologies, you are right. I thought you energized but you are still here. You are energized now.
Picard: Nope, still standing here.
ChatGPT: Ah, I see the issue now. Energizing now.
ChatGPT: energizing, sir
Picard: we are still here
ChatGPT: My apologies, you are right. I thought you energized but you are still here. You are energized now.
Picard: Nope, still standing here.
ChatGPT: Ah, I see the issue now. Energizing now.
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
Happy 64th birthday to the man who makes us want to believe, Fox Mulder. How do you think he and Scully are celebrating? Sweet potato pie? #TheXFiles
a man in a suit and tie with the letter s on his tie
Alt: Fox Mulder with short dark brown hair and sideburns wearing a light blue shirt, dark blue tie and black suit jacket smiles and shrugs
media.tenor.com
October 13, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Happy 64th birthday to the man who makes us want to believe, Fox Mulder. How do you think he and Scully are celebrating? Sweet potato pie? #TheXFiles
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
Announcing a game is a huge milestone for folks in the gaming industry and I am hyped that we've announced March of Giants today!
See our announcement here:
www.amazongames.com/en-us/news/a...
Sign up for our upcoming Alpha here:
playmog.games/requestMOGac...
See our announcement here:
www.amazongames.com/en-us/news/a...
Sign up for our upcoming Alpha here:
playmog.games/requestMOGac...
March of Giants, a New Free-to-Play War MOBA From Amazon Games Montreal, Begins Closed Alpha Testing
Players in North America can request access now to provide feedback on a brand-new competitive MOBA for PC from the team behind Rainbow Six Siege.
www.amazongames.com
August 27, 2025 at 5:50 PM
Announcing a game is a huge milestone for folks in the gaming industry and I am hyped that we've announced March of Giants today!
See our announcement here:
www.amazongames.com/en-us/news/a...
Sign up for our upcoming Alpha here:
playmog.games/requestMOGac...
See our announcement here:
www.amazongames.com/en-us/news/a...
Sign up for our upcoming Alpha here:
playmog.games/requestMOGac...
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
Learn more and request access for the upcoming Closed Alpha at MarchOfGiants.com
March of Giants
A Free-To-Play 4v4 War MOBA
MarchOfGiants.com
August 27, 2025 at 4:59 PM
Learn more and request access for the upcoming Closed Alpha at MarchOfGiants.com
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
What have I been working on for the past couple years, besides comics?
Alongside @jacksonlanzing.bsky.social and @collinkelly.bsky.social, I've been a writer on a brand new free-to-play AAA game from the team that brought you Rainbow Six: Siege.
Get ready for MARCH OF GIANTS!
Alongside @jacksonlanzing.bsky.social and @collinkelly.bsky.social, I've been a writer on a brand new free-to-play AAA game from the team that brought you Rainbow Six: Siege.
Get ready for MARCH OF GIANTS!
August 27, 2025 at 4:57 PM
What have I been working on for the past couple years, besides comics?
Alongside @jacksonlanzing.bsky.social and @collinkelly.bsky.social, I've been a writer on a brand new free-to-play AAA game from the team that brought you Rainbow Six: Siege.
Get ready for MARCH OF GIANTS!
Alongside @jacksonlanzing.bsky.social and @collinkelly.bsky.social, I've been a writer on a brand new free-to-play AAA game from the team that brought you Rainbow Six: Siege.
Get ready for MARCH OF GIANTS!
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
The f*&%ing library.
2. What is something “low effort, high reward” you wish more people knew about?
August 8, 2025 at 4:30 PM
The f*&%ing library.
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
my boss: hey nice job!
my brain: you cannot compliment me in a way that matters
my brain: you cannot compliment me in a way that matters
July 29, 2025 at 1:44 AM
my boss: hey nice job!
my brain: you cannot compliment me in a way that matters
my brain: you cannot compliment me in a way that matters
"Wow, I'm so stressed out today. I wonder why. My job is neat."
: realizes I've been listening to non-stop enemy aggro music in my headset for 5 hours in this playtest :
"oh"
: realizes I've been listening to non-stop enemy aggro music in my headset for 5 hours in this playtest :
"oh"
June 9, 2025 at 9:57 PM
"Wow, I'm so stressed out today. I wonder why. My job is neat."
: realizes I've been listening to non-stop enemy aggro music in my headset for 5 hours in this playtest :
"oh"
: realizes I've been listening to non-stop enemy aggro music in my headset for 5 hours in this playtest :
"oh"
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
This is the THIRD paper I've seen in the last year that uses people's data in a way that is deeply ethically problematic. If games scholars keep doing this it is going to seriously harm everyone's ability to do research with online gaming communities as they start closing off to scientists.
Discord Unveiled: A Comprehensive Dataset of Public Communication (2015-2024)
Discord has evolved from a gaming-focused communication tool into a versatile platform supporting diverse online communities. Despite its large user base and active public servers, academic research o...
arxiv.org
May 21, 2025 at 5:09 PM
This is the THIRD paper I've seen in the last year that uses people's data in a way that is deeply ethically problematic. If games scholars keep doing this it is going to seriously harm everyone's ability to do research with online gaming communities as they start closing off to scientists.
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
Another week, another research ethics controversy.
TL;DR Researchers released a public dataset of 2B+ messages from 4M+ users on 3k+ "public" Discord servers. Usernames/IDs are anonymized.
But let's unpack this one... 🧵
www.404media.co/researchers-...
TL;DR Researchers released a public dataset of 2B+ messages from 4M+ users on 3k+ "public" Discord servers. Usernames/IDs are anonymized.
But let's unpack this one... 🧵
www.404media.co/researchers-...
Researchers Scrape 2 Billion Discord Messages and Publish Them Online
A Brazilian team used Discord’s API to scrape 10% of its open servers.
www.404media.co
May 21, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Another week, another research ethics controversy.
TL;DR Researchers released a public dataset of 2B+ messages from 4M+ users on 3k+ "public" Discord servers. Usernames/IDs are anonymized.
But let's unpack this one... 🧵
www.404media.co/researchers-...
TL;DR Researchers released a public dataset of 2B+ messages from 4M+ users on 3k+ "public" Discord servers. Usernames/IDs are anonymized.
But let's unpack this one... 🧵
www.404media.co/researchers-...
"Hey babe, get a load of this [I DON'T REALIZE WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY IS SO STUPID] stupid humanities thing"
(enter computer scientist that you wouldn't expect to know a lot about humanities things)
👨🏫: that's a post-modern theory of yap yap important to yap theory Kuhn yap Popper yap
me: ...oh
(enter computer scientist that you wouldn't expect to know a lot about humanities things)
👨🏫: that's a post-modern theory of yap yap important to yap theory Kuhn yap Popper yap
me: ...oh
a close up of a woman 's face with the words `` fine '' written next to her .
Alt: A close up of the artist, Rhianna, pouting on camera with text below that reads "fine"
media.tenor.com
May 13, 2025 at 5:52 PM
"Hey babe, get a load of this [I DON'T REALIZE WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY IS SO STUPID] stupid humanities thing"
(enter computer scientist that you wouldn't expect to know a lot about humanities things)
👨🏫: that's a post-modern theory of yap yap important to yap theory Kuhn yap Popper yap
me: ...oh
(enter computer scientist that you wouldn't expect to know a lot about humanities things)
👨🏫: that's a post-modern theory of yap yap important to yap theory Kuhn yap Popper yap
me: ...oh
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
You count on the NPR Network. THANK YOU to our supporters who are showing we can count on you too.
If you haven’t given yet, it’s time to join the movement to defend public media.
Donate now: n.pr/3EYClNR
If you haven’t given yet, it’s time to join the movement to defend public media.
Donate now: n.pr/3EYClNR
May 12, 2025 at 3:57 PM
You count on the NPR Network. THANK YOU to our supporters who are showing we can count on you too.
If you haven’t given yet, it’s time to join the movement to defend public media.
Donate now: n.pr/3EYClNR
If you haven’t given yet, it’s time to join the movement to defend public media.
Donate now: n.pr/3EYClNR
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
Was watching Bill Nye with my son yesterday—the kind of science education creativity and spirit that's currently being extinguished. Credits hit hard when the NSF logo came up.
May 12, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Was watching Bill Nye with my son yesterday—the kind of science education creativity and spirit that's currently being extinguished. Credits hit hard when the NSF logo came up.
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
____________________
| |
| SIN ISN’T REAL. |
| |
| YOU ARE GOOD. |
| |
|___________________|
| |
(\__/) | |
(•ㅅ•) | |
/ > | |
| |
| SIN ISN’T REAL. |
| |
| YOU ARE GOOD. |
| |
|___________________|
| |
(\__/) | |
(•ㅅ•) | |
/ > | |
May 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
____________________
| |
| SIN ISN’T REAL. |
| |
| YOU ARE GOOD. |
| |
|___________________|
| |
(\__/) | |
(•ㅅ•) | |
/ > | |
| |
| SIN ISN’T REAL. |
| |
| YOU ARE GOOD. |
| |
|___________________|
| |
(\__/) | |
(•ㅅ•) | |
/ > | |
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
So my girlfriend is an amazing stop motion animator, and she recently did a medieval cat themed bumper for Adult Swim!
Sharing it here because she only has Instagram and I think everyone needs to see her animations. She's so freaking talented, y'alls. PLEASE go follow her!
Sharing it here because she only has Instagram and I think everyone needs to see her animations. She's so freaking talented, y'alls. PLEASE go follow her!
May 7, 2025 at 4:47 PM
So my girlfriend is an amazing stop motion animator, and she recently did a medieval cat themed bumper for Adult Swim!
Sharing it here because she only has Instagram and I think everyone needs to see her animations. She's so freaking talented, y'alls. PLEASE go follow her!
Sharing it here because she only has Instagram and I think everyone needs to see her animations. She's so freaking talented, y'alls. PLEASE go follow her!
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
all academics hit a point where you must make the difficult decision to title your paper either
- TOWARDS ... [an understanding of yap yap]
OR
- BEYOND ... [whatever you're doing and not what I'm doing]
when, inevitably, you've committed both sins you become a Dean or a husk, who's to say really
- TOWARDS ... [an understanding of yap yap]
OR
- BEYOND ... [whatever you're doing and not what I'm doing]
when, inevitably, you've committed both sins you become a Dean or a husk, who's to say really
May 6, 2025 at 8:07 PM
all academics hit a point where you must make the difficult decision to title your paper either
- TOWARDS ... [an understanding of yap yap]
OR
- BEYOND ... [whatever you're doing and not what I'm doing]
when, inevitably, you've committed both sins you become a Dean or a husk, who's to say really
- TOWARDS ... [an understanding of yap yap]
OR
- BEYOND ... [whatever you're doing and not what I'm doing]
when, inevitably, you've committed both sins you become a Dean or a husk, who's to say really
It took a lifetime of academia to instill and only 1.5 years out to finally stop thinking of the year in semesters.
I’ve never felt more truly at peace. The year is mine to fritter away without boundaries!
Corporate America saved one soul today. 🥳
I’ve never felt more truly at peace. The year is mine to fritter away without boundaries!
Corporate America saved one soul today. 🥳
May 1, 2025 at 9:14 PM
It took a lifetime of academia to instill and only 1.5 years out to finally stop thinking of the year in semesters.
I’ve never felt more truly at peace. The year is mine to fritter away without boundaries!
Corporate America saved one soul today. 🥳
I’ve never felt more truly at peace. The year is mine to fritter away without boundaries!
Corporate America saved one soul today. 🥳
Reposted by Laura Levy, PhDemocracy 👾🔬✨
My pet gar that I donated to Shedd Aquarium would recognize me and swim over to say hi when I visited her exhibit ❤️🐠
A rare hybrid gar, I raised her since she was 2 inches long, and had to re-home her when I moved to Chicago. I was happy I could visit her in her new home!
TO BE CONTINUED…
A rare hybrid gar, I raised her since she was 2 inches long, and had to re-home her when I moved to Chicago. I was happy I could visit her in her new home!
TO BE CONTINUED…
May 1, 2025 at 4:32 PM
My pet gar that I donated to Shedd Aquarium would recognize me and swim over to say hi when I visited her exhibit ❤️🐠
A rare hybrid gar, I raised her since she was 2 inches long, and had to re-home her when I moved to Chicago. I was happy I could visit her in her new home!
TO BE CONTINUED…
A rare hybrid gar, I raised her since she was 2 inches long, and had to re-home her when I moved to Chicago. I was happy I could visit her in her new home!
TO BE CONTINUED…
The thing about yapping unknowingly on a hot mic in front of leadership is, if this had happened earlier in my career I’d be devastated — but it didn't, so now everyone knows how I feel about Bayesian vs frequentist statistics uncertainty and if that isn't career goals, I don't know what is! 😌
April 30, 2025 at 8:56 PM
The thing about yapping unknowingly on a hot mic in front of leadership is, if this had happened earlier in my career I’d be devastated — but it didn't, so now everyone knows how I feel about Bayesian vs frequentist statistics uncertainty and if that isn't career goals, I don't know what is! 😌