Paolo Ruffino
@paoloruffino.bsky.social
http://paoloruffino.com
Senior Lecturer at Dept. Digital Humanities - King's College London / Artist at IOCOSE / Current project: Videogames for the Post-Anthropocene
Senior Lecturer at Dept. Digital Humanities - King's College London / Artist at IOCOSE / Current project: Videogames for the Post-Anthropocene
BBC News has asked me to comment on Rockstar Games' recent decision to fire 30-40 staff members. @gameworkers.co.uk is accusing Rockstar of union busting. This story is important for at least two reasons.
Grand Theft Auto studio accused of 'union busting' after sacking workers
A union representing people in the gaming sector said 31 people were fired at Rockstar's UK studios.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 3:34 PM
BBC News has asked me to comment on Rockstar Games' recent decision to fire 30-40 staff members. @gameworkers.co.uk is accusing Rockstar of union busting. This story is important for at least two reasons.
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
BREAKING: Yesterday Grand Theft Auto VI maker Rockstar Games fired dozens of people, all of whom were involved in union efforts. A British union calls it "blatant and ruthless" union-busting. Take-Two Interactive says it was due to misconduct.
Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Here's the scoop: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
‘Grand Theft Auto’ Studio Accused of Union Busting After Firings
Union says 30 and 40 people were terminated. Rockstar Games’ parent company cites ‘gross misconduct’
www.bloomberg.com
October 31, 2025 at 8:01 PM
This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.
Join us at King’s on Nov 14th for this great event on Gaming Social Justice!
Another London-based games event to promote! We're running a Gaming Social Justice workshop on Nov 14th, ft. demos of games like @maxhaiven.bsky.social's Billionaires and Guillotines & @miasmacorp.bsky.social's 1720s masquerade 'em up Molly House www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...
Select tickets – Gaming Social Justice – REACH Space
Gaming Social Justice – REACH Space, Fri 14 Nov 2025 -
‘Let the children once see clearly the gross injustice of our present land system and when they grow up, if they are allowed to develop naturall...
www.tickettailor.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Join us at King’s on Nov 14th for this great event on Gaming Social Justice!
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
📢 We’re hiring a Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture Education (online programmes)
📔 Contract: Full-time, fixed term
🗓 Apply by: 26 October 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
📔 Contract: Full-time, fixed term
🗓 Apply by: 26 October 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
my.corehr.com
October 14, 2025 at 2:19 PM
📢 We’re hiring a Lecturer in Digital Media and Culture Education (online programmes)
📔 Contract: Full-time, fixed term
🗓 Apply by: 26 October 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
📔 Contract: Full-time, fixed term
🗓 Apply by: 26 October 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
My department @kingsdh.bsky.social is organising a really exciting conference in June 2026 on the significance of the digital, very broadly intended, in our contemporary age. The deadline for the submission of abstracts and panel proposals is on 30/9/2025 www.kcl.ac.uk/events/digit...
Digital Humanities Today: Critical Inquiry with and about the Digital
From the 23-26 June 2026, the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London will host an international conference exploring the evolving role of Digital Humanities in a world increasingly ...
www.kcl.ac.uk
August 15, 2025 at 8:13 PM
My department @kingsdh.bsky.social is organising a really exciting conference in June 2026 on the significance of the digital, very broadly intended, in our contemporary age. The deadline for the submission of abstracts and panel proposals is on 30/9/2025 www.kcl.ac.uk/events/digit...
It's great to see that IKEA in Oxford Circus has installed a large reproduction of the Doomsday Clock at its entrance. This serves as a reminder to visitors that we are theoretically less than 2 minutes away from a potential nuclear catastrophe that could endanger all of humanity.
August 15, 2025 at 8:10 PM
It's great to see that IKEA in Oxford Circus has installed a large reproduction of the Doomsday Clock at its entrance. This serves as a reminder to visitors that we are theoretically less than 2 minutes away from a potential nuclear catastrophe that could endanger all of humanity.
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
📢 We’re hiring a Lecturer in Computational Humanities Education (Academic Education Pathway).
📔 Contract: Full-time, indefinite contract
🗓 Apply by: 25 August 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
📔 Contract: Full-time, indefinite contract
🗓 Apply by: 25 August 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
my.corehr.com
August 14, 2025 at 9:46 AM
📢 We’re hiring a Lecturer in Computational Humanities Education (Academic Education Pathway).
📔 Contract: Full-time, indefinite contract
🗓 Apply by: 25 August 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
📔 Contract: Full-time, indefinite contract
🗓 Apply by: 25 August 2025
Full details here: my.corehr.com/pls/kclrecru...
#DigitalHumanities #AcademicJobs #Hiring
I’ll be co-leading an amazing workshop tomorrow at #digra2025 on Game Engine Cultures. We explore the implications of the widespread use of videogame engines in visual culture. Join us if you are in Malta (and are into this sort of things) digraconference2025.org/calls-worksh...
DiGRA 2025 - Malta
The Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) conference is an international academic conference dedicated to the study of digital games and related phenomena. DiGRA is a global organization that pro...
digraconference2025.org
June 29, 2025 at 8:00 PM
I’ll be co-leading an amazing workshop tomorrow at #digra2025 on Game Engine Cultures. We explore the implications of the widespread use of videogame engines in visual culture. Join us if you are in Malta (and are into this sort of things) digraconference2025.org/calls-worksh...
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
Now available for advance ordering and/or free download…
Feral Class - Marc Garrett
Untamed, Unheard, Unstoppable… a moving memoir about being a working-class artist… Art on the Margins, Life Without Permission
www.minorcompositions.info?p=1561
@mgarrett.bsky.social
Feral Class - Marc Garrett
Untamed, Unheard, Unstoppable… a moving memoir about being a working-class artist… Art on the Margins, Life Without Permission
www.minorcompositions.info?p=1561
@mgarrett.bsky.social
June 27, 2025 at 8:51 AM
Now available for advance ordering and/or free download…
Feral Class - Marc Garrett
Untamed, Unheard, Unstoppable… a moving memoir about being a working-class artist… Art on the Margins, Life Without Permission
www.minorcompositions.info?p=1561
@mgarrett.bsky.social
Feral Class - Marc Garrett
Untamed, Unheard, Unstoppable… a moving memoir about being a working-class artist… Art on the Margins, Life Without Permission
www.minorcompositions.info?p=1561
@mgarrett.bsky.social
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
Over the last year, your colleagues, comrades and friends at KCL have been harassed for defending Palestinian rights, upholding academic freedom and union activism. THIS is why we are balloting members NOW. But what exactly has been happening?
June 23, 2025 at 2:48 PM
Over the last year, your colleagues, comrades and friends at KCL have been harassed for defending Palestinian rights, upholding academic freedom and union activism. THIS is why we are balloting members NOW. But what exactly has been happening?
Looking forward to the ICA post-conference Labour and Play in the Platform Society in Prague tomorrow. I will discuss my new project on the impact of videogame engines such as Unity and Unreal on creative workers in the UK gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/2025/06/04/l...
Labor and Play in Platform Society | Prague Game Production Studies Group
gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz
June 17, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Looking forward to the ICA post-conference Labour and Play in the Platform Society in Prague tomorrow. I will discuss my new project on the impact of videogame engines such as Unity and Unreal on creative workers in the UK gameproductionstudies.fsv.cuni.cz/2025/06/04/l...
Italy’s citizenship referendum could make the country fairer. It's a miracle it's happening at all | Jamie Mackay
Italy’s citizenship referendum could make the country fairer. It's a miracle it's happening at all | Jamie Mackay
For decades, the state has been tightening its rules so that fewer and fewer are eligible. This is a chance for Italians to change the narrative, writes Jamie Mackay
www.theguardian.com
June 7, 2025 at 12:43 PM
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
Details and calls for all eighteen DiGRA 2025 workshops are up on the website! digraconference2025.org/calls-worksh...
DiGRA 2025 - Malta
The Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) conference is an international academic conference dedicated to the study of digital games and related phenomena. DiGRA is a global organization that pro...
digraconference2025.org
March 13, 2025 at 1:21 PM
Details and calls for all eighteen DiGRA 2025 workshops are up on the website! digraconference2025.org/calls-worksh...
I was really impressed by the level of critique and analysis at the World Through AI exhibition at Jeu de Paume in Paris. In particular the work calculatingempires.net by Vladan Joler and @katecrawford.bsky.social is absolutely worth the trip!
Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power since 1500
Explore how technical and social structures co-evolved over five centuries in this large-scale research visualization.
calculatingempires.net
May 7, 2025 at 11:10 AM
I was really impressed by the level of critique and analysis at the World Through AI exhibition at Jeu de Paume in Paris. In particular the work calculatingempires.net by Vladan Joler and @katecrawford.bsky.social is absolutely worth the trip!
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
Very cool looking PhD studentship in gaming and sustainability at Uni of Salford here, working with @cultsociologist.bsky.social and Tom Brock. Interested to see the outcomes of this one! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMU434/p... #PhD #studentship #funding #GameStudies #EcoGames
PhD Studentship on Gaming & Sustainability at University of Salford
Discover a PhD Studentship: PhD Studentship on Gaming & Sustainability Explore more PhD opportunities and apply today!
www.jobs.ac.uk
April 23, 2025 at 9:44 AM
Very cool looking PhD studentship in gaming and sustainability at Uni of Salford here, working with @cultsociologist.bsky.social and Tom Brock. Interested to see the outcomes of this one! www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMU434/p... #PhD #studentship #funding #GameStudies #EcoGames
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
My new collaboration with art magazine The Bunker Magazine is about videogames being modified, reinterpreted, hijacked, about videogames being toys. My last feature article discusses queering through modding, plundercore, machinima and virtual photography. [article in English]
April 23, 2025 at 6:14 PM
My new collaboration with art magazine The Bunker Magazine is about videogames being modified, reinterpreted, hijacked, about videogames being toys. My last feature article discusses queering through modding, plundercore, machinima and virtual photography. [article in English]
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
👏 Meet our eleven new Digital Futures Institute Fellows!
Congratulations @lboungr.bsky.social, Rowan Boyson, Mark Cote, Amrita Dhillon, Alex Gould, Elisabeth Kelan, @niccoloridi.bsky.social, Gabriele Salciute Civiliene, Astrid Van den Bossche, @jamiewoodcock.bsky.social & @lorenzoz.bsky.social 🔽
Congratulations @lboungr.bsky.social, Rowan Boyson, Mark Cote, Amrita Dhillon, Alex Gould, Elisabeth Kelan, @niccoloridi.bsky.social, Gabriele Salciute Civiliene, Astrid Van den Bossche, @jamiewoodcock.bsky.social & @lorenzoz.bsky.social 🔽
Digital Futures Institute announces eleven new Fellows for 2025-26
Eleven interdisciplinary projects awarded Fellowships from the Digital Futures Institute for the 2025-26 cohort.
www.kcl.ac.uk
April 15, 2025 at 10:53 AM
👏 Meet our eleven new Digital Futures Institute Fellows!
Congratulations @lboungr.bsky.social, Rowan Boyson, Mark Cote, Amrita Dhillon, Alex Gould, Elisabeth Kelan, @niccoloridi.bsky.social, Gabriele Salciute Civiliene, Astrid Van den Bossche, @jamiewoodcock.bsky.social & @lorenzoz.bsky.social 🔽
Congratulations @lboungr.bsky.social, Rowan Boyson, Mark Cote, Amrita Dhillon, Alex Gould, Elisabeth Kelan, @niccoloridi.bsky.social, Gabriele Salciute Civiliene, Astrid Van den Bossche, @jamiewoodcock.bsky.social & @lorenzoz.bsky.social 🔽
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
📚 Join us at King’s College London on 21 May for the launch of Technoskepticism: Between Possibility and Refusal, a book by @disconetwork.bsky.social exploring the possibilities that technoskepticism can create.
📍 Strand Campus and online, 17:30
🔗 Sign up: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/techn...
📍 Strand Campus and online, 17:30
🔗 Sign up: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/techn...
Technoskepticism: Between Possibility and Refusal
The Department of Digital Humanities and the Centre for Digital Culture at King’s College London are delighted to host the launch of the DISCO Network’s Technoskepticism: Between Possibility and Refus...
www.kcl.ac.uk
April 16, 2025 at 11:48 AM
📚 Join us at King’s College London on 21 May for the launch of Technoskepticism: Between Possibility and Refusal, a book by @disconetwork.bsky.social exploring the possibilities that technoskepticism can create.
📍 Strand Campus and online, 17:30
🔗 Sign up: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/techn...
📍 Strand Campus and online, 17:30
🔗 Sign up: www.kcl.ac.uk/events/techn...
On Thursday 10th I'll be speaking at the University of Westminster as part of the Virtual Realisms lecture series organised by Tadej Vindis and Teodora Alata. I'll talk about my current research on videogames and the (post-)Anthropocene www.westminster.ac.uk/events/paolo...
Paolo Ruffino: Gaming the Post-Anthropocene
www.westminster.ac.uk
April 4, 2025 at 9:54 AM
On Thursday 10th I'll be speaking at the University of Westminster as part of the Virtual Realisms lecture series organised by Tadej Vindis and Teodora Alata. I'll talk about my current research on videogames and the (post-)Anthropocene www.westminster.ac.uk/events/paolo...
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
ICYMI: King’s College London is hiring 20 open-ended posts at L/SL level (Asst/Assoc Prof level) in AI + any subject. (Yes, that includes critical studies.) It’s 3 years of 80% “protected” research time, then 2 years to the standard requirements for an open-ended post. www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/role/ki...
April 1, 2025 at 4:44 PM
ICYMI: King’s College London is hiring 20 open-ended posts at L/SL level (Asst/Assoc Prof level) in AI + any subject. (Yes, that includes critical studies.) It’s 3 years of 80% “protected” research time, then 2 years to the standard requirements for an open-ended post. www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/role/ki...
Still a few days left to send us your abstract to the Game Engine Cultures workshop at DiGRA2025
Glad to announce the Game Engine Cultures workshop at DiGRA2025. Curated by Paolo Ruffino, Matteo Bittanti and Valentino Catricalà. Please send your abstract by April 4th. Workshop date: June 30th at the University of Malta drive.google.com/file/d/1A5pP...
Game Engine Cultures DiGRA2025 workshop CfP.pdf
drive.google.com
April 1, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Still a few days left to send us your abstract to the Game Engine Cultures workshop at DiGRA2025
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
Postgraduate scholarships at King's College London Faculty for Arts & Humanities for Black, Asian, and minority home students. Please share with those who might be interested. www.kcl.ac.uk/study-legacy...
www.kcl.ac.uk
March 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Postgraduate scholarships at King's College London Faculty for Arts & Humanities for Black, Asian, and minority home students. Please share with those who might be interested. www.kcl.ac.uk/study-legacy...
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
A brilliant text by @therourke.net published on the occasion of our solo exhibition at @aksiomaorg.bsky.social in 2021. It predicts our present condition: we now live in a universe populated by deepfake Elon Musks who are everywhere, all the time.
I wrote this at a very different time in the Elon Musk, attention\edgelord storyarc; when Gen AI's ascension was not yet certain. & yet I think it still points to the chaos of our moment, marked by these two phenomena aksioma.org/daniel-rourk... hattip @aksiomaorg.bsky.social & @iocose.bsky.social
March 12, 2025 at 8:01 PM
A brilliant text by @therourke.net published on the occasion of our solo exhibition at @aksiomaorg.bsky.social in 2021. It predicts our present condition: we now live in a universe populated by deepfake Elon Musks who are everywhere, all the time.
Glad to announce the Game Engine Cultures workshop at DiGRA2025. Curated by Paolo Ruffino, Matteo Bittanti and Valentino Catricalà. Please send your abstract by April 4th. Workshop date: June 30th at the University of Malta drive.google.com/file/d/1A5pP...
Game Engine Cultures DiGRA2025 workshop CfP.pdf
drive.google.com
March 12, 2025 at 7:08 PM
Glad to announce the Game Engine Cultures workshop at DiGRA2025. Curated by Paolo Ruffino, Matteo Bittanti and Valentino Catricalà. Please send your abstract by April 4th. Workshop date: June 30th at the University of Malta drive.google.com/file/d/1A5pP...
Reposted by Paolo Ruffino
Registration now open for the online townhall launch of Intelligent Systems for Screen Archives (ISSA): bit.ly/439e41h. Join us on 6 March to learn about our plans for #AI in screen heritage. Speakers from @kingsdh.bsky.social @kingsdigitallab.bsky.social @FilmArchivesUK @BFI #film #TV #archives
March 4, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Registration now open for the online townhall launch of Intelligent Systems for Screen Archives (ISSA): bit.ly/439e41h. Join us on 6 March to learn about our plans for #AI in screen heritage. Speakers from @kingsdh.bsky.social @kingsdigitallab.bsky.social @FilmArchivesUK @BFI #film #TV #archives