Jaroslav Švelch
electroslav.bsky.social
Jaroslav Švelch
@electroslav.bsky.social
game scholar and historian at Charles University
vocalist and lyricist at Rest in Haste
svelch.com
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
First post of the year, new paper out today: we present possibly the biggest case of systematic Measurement Schmeasurement in tech use. It seems that most studies on gaming (videogame) addiction/disorder haven't measured gaming after all. This research took years, so long 🧵 doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
Confusion in gaming disorder measurement
Abstract. Measurement is important for the scientific programmes of addictive behaviours. In the present study, we investigated the measurement of gaming d
doi.org
January 28, 2026 at 9:56 AM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
A thread on ZEN AND SLOW GAMES (MIT Press, 2026)
January 22, 2026 at 2:16 PM
In collaboration with the amazing Herní archiv, we have finally been able to digitize and release the software archive of František Čuňas Stárek, the Czechoslovak dissident and member of the Vokno collective, who used the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in samizdat. 1/3
herniarchiv.cz/projects/fra...
January 16, 2026 at 4:21 PM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
Plague: In the Maze of the Mind is a 1996 Italian first person... virtual surgeon game? You run around a virtual Rome (patient's brains), gathering ideas to bring them back to where they belong, while killing animals (viruses).
Strange and repetitive, but running around in lowpoli Rome? Love it.
January 10, 2026 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
Eludamos has a new CFP for a Special issue: New Perspectives on Men and Masculinity in Gaming

Eludamos invites scholars in game studies and beyond to submit full papers for a special issue on men and masculinity in gaming, with deadline March 15, 2026.
January 7, 2026 at 3:10 PM
Could be of interest to game historians/fans - a 1969 film from Dartmouth College showing P0TSH0T, an early artillery/ballistic curve computer game, displayed using a plotter. Credit to the original uploader Kevin Bunch! www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJ7A...
Timeshared Computer Graphics
YouTube video by Kevin Bunch
www.youtube.com
January 7, 2026 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
Hi folks! I’m currently co-editing a special issue for GAME about queer and trans games studies. Find the full cfp here www.gamejournal.it/n-132025-bey..., deadline for abstract submission is 12 January 2026!
December 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
The new yearly Eludamos issue has just dropped! It's massive: one editorial, 12 articles, 4 book reviews, and one commentary. It's well over 350 pages. Please find it here:

eludamos.org/index.php/el...
December 19, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
"Monsters in glass cages. This WAD is intended as a tool for WAD authors to give an easy way to examine animated sprites without getting killed by them."

From Doomscroll, a big collection of Doom mods playable in your browser:
doomscroll.cx
December 15, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Check out this cool podcast episode (in Czech) I've moderated about Czech settings in Czech games, with the wonderful guests @bludr.bsky.social @lenikrsova.bsky.social and Zdeněk Záhora on the practical, creative and commercial aspects of local settings (+trains & alcohol). tinyurl.com/yz9yvkhf
R2025/12: Česko ve hře. Když je Česko herní svět | Rozpravy
Prosincová epizoda Rozprav o médiích se věnovala fenoménu českých reálií v digitálních hrách. Diskuzi vedl Jaroslav Švelch, vědec a autor knih o historii a kultuře videoher působící na FSV UK. Pozvání...
tinyurl.com
December 11, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
This was clipped from a vid file I downloaded many years ago, but I've just seen that the BBC have uploaded a new version of the 'Commercial Breaks' expose of the rise of Ocean and the fall of Imagine.

Worth spending a half-hour watching for those interested in the UK's bedroom coder boom.
1984: BANDERSNATCH, BAILIFFS and the Battle for a HIT GAME | Commercial Breaks | BBC Archive
YouTube video by BBC Archive
www.youtube.com
October 23, 2025 at 4:17 PM
My and Jan Houška's article "Czech Appeal" is out in open access! We talked to local independent game developers who make locally themed games and asked them about their motivations, production processes, and the reception of their games. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
journals.sagepub.com
April 1, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
1/5🎥🏭When platform capitalism meets local labor: A Prague perspective on global streaming production.

My new article examines how Amazon's Carnival Row—filmed in Prague—embodies the contradictions of platform imperialism. 🧵👇

#StreamingMobileProduction #PlatformImperialism #CarnivalRow #Prague.
March 15, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
Go in and do this. I was also 'upgraded' automatically with no notice to the 30eur annually more expensive AI Bullshit Plus version of Office 365. Nothing says "this is a necessary and groundbreaking technology" like having to force-feed it down people's throats.
Microsoft is going to price gouge you by adding their genAI to your subscription without your consent, and they are not transparent about how to avoid this bullshit.

Here's how to change your subscription back to "Classic" for a lower charge without Copilot: answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffi...
Redirecting
answers.microsoft.com
January 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Happy to announce that for our game studies ERC project GAMEINDEX, we're looking for 2 PhD students. These are fully funded positions. More info here:
GAMEINDEX: 2 funded PhD positions | Prague Game Production Studies Group
gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz
January 22, 2025 at 1:49 PM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
Be careful, if you ever played Among Us, or probably watched The Thing I guess, you might be a CEO assassin!

Like fucking clockwork lol
December 10, 2024 at 1:51 PM
I sense some Blue Ice/Commander Blood vibes!
Babylon is a 1997 point and click surreal/mystical adventure game developed by Italian software house Colors, originally founded by Ivan Venturi after leaving Simulmondo.
It was supposed to be the first of a series but the publisher gave up on it after the first episode.
December 5, 2024 at 12:11 PM
Happy to announce that my ERC Consolidator Grant project "GAMEINDEX:Politics and Aesthetics of Indexical Representation in Digital Games and VR" has been selected for funding. We're starting in October 2025!
gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/2024/12/03/g...
GAMEINDEX: Politics and Aesthetics of Indexical Representation in Digital Games and VR | Prague Game Production Studies Group
gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz
December 5, 2024 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Jaroslav Švelch
Did you know that in Brazil, there are places where you can pay to play games for a certain amount of time?

I narrated the past, present, and future of some of these spaces in the doc Um real a hora (2022) -- One real an hour --, which is now available in English!

Let me tell you more below! 👇🏽
November 29, 2024 at 3:33 PM