Marcus Carter
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marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter
@marcuscarter.com
990 followers 290 following 53 posts

Professor in HCI @ USYD, Australian Research Council Future Fellow. Game Studies & Virtual Reality.

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Computer science 21%
Materials science 15%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Marcus Carter

gua-le-ni.com
Stefano Gualeni @gua-le-ni.com · 10d
"Was ist Suppe?"
A little old game (of mine) causes confusion and delight, it seems [in German].

www.zeit.de/2025/54/some...

Cc @zeit.de @indigitalgames.bsky.social #soup #gamestudies
"Something Something Soup Something": Was ist Suppe?
Ein Onlinespiel stiftet Verwirrung. Ein Genuss
www.zeit.de

Reposted by Jean Burgess, Marcus Carter

brkeogh.bsky.social
Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · Nov 25
Huge congrats to all the very deserving early career academics who got DECRAs. And condolences to the much larger group of deserving people who didn't get DECRAs. Just remember that the vast majority of successful academics you know also didn't get DECRAs!

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Nov 13
People are going to be so pissed when they find out four chapters of this book are on videogame / video game (with that extraordinary 6 page footnote on the Latin roots of video in ‘videre’ and the implications of the Greek suffix eidos meaning “form, shape” thus implying seeing the game shape …

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Nov 13
What’s enough of a milestone for me: We have finally agreed out how to represent a Wordle grid in black and white, which means this book is now completely done!
brkeogh.bsky.social Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · Nov 11
The webpage for our upcoming book has the cover on it now which is enough of a milestone for me to write another post about the book we have coming out soon. www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

Reposted by Marcus Carter, Tama Leaver

brkeogh.bsky.social
Brendan Keogh @brkeogh.bsky.social · Nov 11
The webpage for our upcoming book has the cover on it now which is enough of a milestone for me to write another post about the book we have coming out soon. www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?b...

Reposted by Marcus Carter

nonblnary.bsky.social
i will write you back i will write you back @nonblnary.bsky.social · Sep 19
marcus carter - treacherous play direct.mit.edu/books/oa-mon...

Reposted by Marcus Carter

ssrn.bsky.social
SSRN @ssrn.bsky.social · Aug 13
Check out the latest from the SSRN #blog which features a selection of #research on age verification & #online safety.

Read more: spkl.io/63322AKCwm

#Academicsky #AcademicChatter
The Latest Research on Age Verification & Online Safety
This list includes a selection of the latest research on age verification & online safety posted to SSRN in 2025. Tinder Backgrounds by Irina D. Manta (Hofstra University) The “Segregate-…
spkl.io

Reposted by Marcus Carter, Kath Albury, Julia Coffey

antmandan.bsky.social
Daniel Angus @antmandan.bsky.social · Nov 19
I was in Canberra yesterday alongside other digital media experts to brief members of the cross bench and government on some of the key policies being debated at present, social media bans, age verification, and misinformation. @qutdmrc.bsky.social
Australian academic and civil society experts briefing federal politicians inside Parliament House. Screen capture from senator Pocock's Instagram feed. A member of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition, anti-bullying expert and co-founder of Project Rocket Lucy Thomas OAM, Prof Amanda Third (WSU), and Prof Dan Angus (QUT DMRC)

Reposted by Marcus Carter

jum.bsky.social
Jose @jum.bsky.social · Apr 5

Reposted by Marcus Carter

ludopolitics.bsky.social
J. Walton @ludopolitics.bsky.social · Mar 25
Teaching game design is way harder than anything else I've ever taught, because we make collaborative social rituals out of all of human experience... and then also sometimes have to balance spreadsheets about polearm damage.

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
We're currently running a study interviewing game developers and games industry workers, particularly those involved in monetisation design. If you'd like to speak with us so that our research is better informed by industry perspectives please reach out!

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
These key principles guide developers “to act in line with the European consumer protection legislation when offering in-game virtual currencies”. The headline is that purchases must disclose the 'real' value of purchases, but the principles go further than that commission.europa.eu/document/dow...
commission.europa.eu

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
Our research provides further evidence to support action taken by the European Consumer Protection Cooperation Network who (just last Friday!) have released new Key Principles on the design of virtual currencies ...

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
➡️ Parents feel that the way monetisation is designed in games becomes a barrier to teaching children healthy spending behaviours.

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
➡️ Many children feel misled by the games they play, experiencing financial disappointment and family conflicts due to misleading spending features.
➡️ Children need better protections over access to the virtual items and accounts they spend time and money on, and should have easier access to refunds

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
➡️ Random reward mechanics like loot boxes are deceptive and harmful, and still feature in many of the most popular Roblox games despite being banned for users under 15 in Australia in 2024.

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
Our key findings:

➡️ Children are struggling with complex virtual currency systems, describing in-game currency conversions as “scary” and difficult to understand, often leading to unintentional overspending.

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
and we've written about the key findings for The Conversation here theconversation.com/literally-ju...
‘Literally just child gambling’: what kids say about Roblox, lootboxes and money in online games
Kids who play Roblox games describe ‘scary’ virtual currencies and ‘cash grab’ random rewards.
theconversation.com

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
This work has now been accepted for publication at CHI – pre-print here papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....
"They're Scamming Me": How Children Experience and Conceptualize Harm in Game Monetization
Regulatory shifts are increasingly placing the onus on online service providers such as digital game developers and platforms to ensure that their services do n
papers.ssrn.com

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Mar 25
Last year, we ran a study where we gave children a $20 pre-paid debit card to spend in any game. This method elicited incredible data showing how carefully children weigh their purchasing decisions, but also revealed the many minefields and deceptive practices they have to navigate.

Reposted by Marcus Carter

darthtayrah.bsky.social
Taylor Hardwick @darthtayrah.bsky.social · Mar 23
New article in @theconversation.com today by myself and @marcuscarter.com on how kids talk about when spending money in Roblox is harmful to them. TLDR; virtual currencies and random reward features should be better regulated!

theconversation.com/literally-ju...
‘Literally just child gambling’: what kids say about Roblox, lootboxes and money in online games
Kids who play Roblox games describe ‘scary’ virtual currencies and ‘cash grab’ random rewards.
theconversation.com

Reposted by Marcus Carter

yaronmeron.com
Yaron Meron @yaronmeron.com · Mar 20
My DRS paper on graphic design and AI has just passed 15,000 downloads | dl.designresearchsociety.org/drs-conferen...
Screenshot of conference paper titled “Graphic design and artificial intelligence: Interdisciplinary challenges for designers in the search for research collaboration”

Reposted by Marcus Carter

felipepepe.bsky.social
Felipe Pepe @felipepepe.bsky.social · Dec 25
Agree, it's why I always recommend reading @brkeogh.bsky.social's book The Videogame Industry does not exist.

Games are a media, an art field. While it's understandable to want to help people pay bills, we undermine them by focusing so much on their monetization - especially when it's unrealistic.
Cover of the book "The Videogame Industry Does Not Exist: Why We Should Think Beyond Commercial Game Production", by Brendan Keogh.

Reposted by Marcus Carter

afterclimate.com.au
Ben Abraham @afterclimate.com.au · Dec 24
God this is really annoying - but Adam Tooze posted the best thing he’s written in months *today*. It’s a wide ranging interview from a Chinese publication, but here’s the best (and most terrifying) description of the current AI bubble I’ve yet read

adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-...
Ding Xiongfei: You believe AI is being overhyped, correct? Adam Tooze: Honestly, I’m not sure. I think it's still in such an early stage, and we’re very much in the zone of the “Solow paradox,” where everyone is talking about it—it’s supposedly everywhere—but it hasn’t really started doing or changing much yet. I've been asked this question so many times in various talks that I ended up creating a “polycrisis” diagram for AI. There are so many possibilities that might spin out. What worries me the most is the massive bet being placed on AI in the American stock market right now, which is essentially predicated on the assumption of a huge leap in productivity. The flipside of that is a huge upheaval in white-collar, routine labor markets, which could be devastating for employment and social stability. What we’re seeing is a vast, leveraged financial gamble on social disruption. If things go “well,” we could see a real social revolution. If they don’t, investors will be disappointed, and there could be a collapse in stock market values.

Reposted by Marcus Carter

patrickklepek.bsky.social
Patrick Klepek @patrickklepek.bsky.social · Dec 18
I agree with @localthunk.bsky.social. Rating Balatro as an 18+ game is as unserious as it is hypocritical, and how we use ratings and regulations to safeguard children often makes no sense. My latest at @crossplayblog.bsky.social: patrickklepek.substack.com/p/is-balatro...
Balatro’s 18+ Rating Underscores Gaming’s Hypocritical “Protecting” Children Rhetoric
Loot boxes pass through regulatory and rating scrutiny without batting an eye, but a card game? My word!
patrickklepek.substack.com

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Dec 17
@darthtayrah.bsky.social

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Dec 16
A safe distance!

Reposted by Marcus Carter

pushtotalk.gg
Ryan K. Rigney @pushtotalk.gg · Dec 13
Reviewed a crazy book about the Commodore 64 for Polygon.com!

www.polygon.com/books/496693...
Too Much Fun finally tells the C64’s legacy
Ryan Rigney on Jesper Juul’s new book about the forgotten history of early home computer games
www.polygon.com

marcuscarter.com
Marcus Carter @marcuscarter.com · Dec 12
“the catchphrase might be that the Bullshit Jobs are now being done by the Bullshit Machine.”

Great read!
cjkarr.bsky.social Chris J. Karr @cjkarr.bsky.social · Dec 11
@himself.bsky.social knocks another one out of the park with his great piece on LLMs and the anticipated effects they will have on large organizations of all kinds.
himself.bsky.social Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · Dec 9
The Management Singularity - LLMs aren't going to transform the Fate of Mankind but they will remake how big organizations work. www.programmablemutter.com/p/the-manage...

Reposted by Marcus Carter

cjkarr.bsky.social
Chris J. Karr @cjkarr.bsky.social · Dec 11
@himself.bsky.social knocks another one out of the park with his great piece on LLMs and the anticipated effects they will have on large organizations of all kinds.
himself.bsky.social Henry Farrell @himself.bsky.social · Dec 9
The Management Singularity - LLMs aren't going to transform the Fate of Mankind but they will remake how big organizations work. www.programmablemutter.com/p/the-manage...
The Management Singularity
LLMs will transform the world - but quietly
www.programmablemutter.com