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bardicknowledge.bsky.social
Ryan Thompson
@bardicknowledge.bsky.social
3K followers 1.1K following 2.1K posts
Game audio professor and radio host (Monday 7:00 PM, wkar.org) at Michigan State. Husband, father of two. Go green! Thompson.RyanC@gmail.com

Watch me and my best friends stream Thursday evenings 9-11 PM Eastern at Twitch.tv/BardicKnowledge
Posts Replies Media Videos
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
@thehashtagonist.bsky.social Thought you might enjoy hearing that I had a student this term respond _immediately_ with @abioticfactor.com when I asked them which game I should add to MSU’s game literacy course next term as we begin winding down the fall semester here.
November 21, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
apnews.com
Children’s and consumer advocacy groups are urging parents not to buy AI-powered toys during the holiday season.
Advocacy groups urge parents to avoid AI toys this holiday season
Children’s and consumer advocacy groups are urging parents not to buy AI-powered toys during the holiday season.
bit.ly
November 20, 2025 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
marshallart.band
@slowlycrushed.bsky.social’s “Ash”, a post-rock take on two pieces from @marksparling.bsky.social’s score for A Short Hike, was recently posted to @ocremix.org.

I took the opportunity to do the write-up that accompanies the mix post: ocremix.org/remix/OCR04921
A Short Hike "Ash" OC ReMix
OC ReMix presents a FREE video game remix MP3: A Short Hike "Ash" by Slowly Crushed
ocremix.org
October 16, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
ocremix.org
Video game music with lyrics added to it is ***JUST FINE***

It'll be OK.

RELAX! :-P

ocremix.org/tag/lyrics-o...

bsky.app/profile/whit...
November 19, 2025 at 4:38 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
Quick reminder to submit your NACVGM abstract by 11:59 PM on Friday the 21st of November two days from now!

Full details at nacvgm.org
November 19, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
cheryllynneaton.bsky.social
I'm sure many people have mentioned this, but I think it needs to be mentioned again: women do not have yearbooks. Children do. Because yearbooks contain photos of high school students. Or younger.
josephcox.bsky.social Joseph Cox @josephcox.bsky.social · 2d
This is a nuts story. An AI chatbot and image platform left millions of images exposed. They show what people are actually using the AI for: taking random women's yearbook, graduation, and social media photos and making super realistic hardcore porn with them
www.404media.co/ai-porn-secr...
Massive Leak Shows Erotic Chatbot Users Turned Women’s Yearbook Pictures Into AI Porn
Chatbot roleplay and image generator platform SecretDesires.ai left cloud storage containers of nearly two million of images and videos exposed, including photos and full names of women from social me...
www.404media.co
November 19, 2025 at 5:40 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
oooh, I want a roundtable on this topic sometime. @hoagietime.bsky.social’s writing on audio affordances has some overlap here…
shadetooth.bsky.social Kareem @shadetooth.bsky.social · 2d
Audio (sound effects, music, and dialogue) has a weird relationship with temp assets, mostly because of issues revolving around human psychology.

Problem #1: How do you communicate that something you're hearing is temp?
ramiismail.com Rami Ismail (رامي) @ramiismail.com · 4d
The annoying thing about the "oh we left a placeholder" generative AI slop excuse is that that is EXACTLY NOT how you should be using placeholders. Anything "not obviously terrible with a panicked hurried half-awake glance" is getting shipped.
November 19, 2025 at 5:50 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
My ten year-old child knows the correct response to this dinner invitation:
Picture of the Dragonlord from Dragon Quest offering to share his rule of Alefgard alongside the Scion of Erdrick with a yes/no prompt. (It, like allyship with Trump, is a false, illusory choice.)
November 19, 2025 at 2:04 AM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
karenattiah.bsky.social
I will never forget having to edit Jamal’s final, posthumous piece for the Washington Post, after he was murdered.

He was calling for free expression in the Arab world. You can read it here :

www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/glo...
Opinion | Jamal Khashoggi: What the Arab world needs most is free expression
The Arab world needs a modern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:48 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
This shot of the player looking into a mirror from the new release of Dragon Quest II has tenor energy (thanks to @doodlyroses.com for the core concept).

Also I cannot recommend this collection enough. Every note the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra circa 1988-1990. It is the realization of a dream.
Picture of Dragon Quest II's Prince of Midenhall (given the name Ryan, as I am playing the game) looking into a mirror, "delighted to see he's handsome as ever."
November 18, 2025 at 4:04 AM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
I am approaching the end of Dragon Quest 1 on the new 2D-HD collection and there is enough new content added that it feels like a new experience.

I _highly_ recommend playing in chronological order btw; start with DQ3 if at all possible. Cannot wait to see DQ2’s glowup…
November 17, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
ocremix.org
Just hit 2,900 video game music fans on the OC ReMix Discord!
discord.gg/ocremix

Can we not get to 3,000 before our 25th anniversary year ends??

Join in! Come talk VGM! :-)
Join the OC ReMix Discord Server!
OC ReMix believes video game music is an art form. 4,500+ FREE VGM fan mixes since 1999! Open to all VGM fans! JOIN US! | 2900 members
discord.gg
November 15, 2025 at 4:17 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
He’s on a mission…
crobertcargill.bsky.social C. Robert Cargill @crobertcargill.bsky.social · 9d
What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?

It's the Pope in 1982.
Exactly what it says on the label: The Pope in 1982. He's wearing a black hat, dark RayBans, and looks like he's a member of the Blues Brothers.
November 15, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
imanimosley.bsky.social
today is the 85th anniversary of the Coventry Blitz, the night when St. Michaels, Coventry was bombed and destroyed. i thought i would share my remarks on Coventry from the speech i gave at the Battle of Britain Dinner this past September ❤️
On the night of November 14, 1940, German bombers began a raid on the West Midlands city of Coventry. Coventry had been subject to raids before, during the Battle of Britain, but this night would be the most destructive. While the raid would go on into the morning, at 8pm, St Michael’s Coventry, also known as Coventry Cathedral, caught fire. St Michael’s was the second cathedral there; the first, St. Mary’s, was destroyed during the dissolution of churches and monasteries during Henry VIII’s reign. The whole of St Michael’s would be destroyed by the Luftwaffe and the fire, leaving only the outer wall, spire, tower, and tomb remaining. St Michael’s was not the only thing destroyed during the Coventry Blitz; thousands of homes and buildings, and the city centre were lost. And most importantly, over five a people lost their lives during the raid. The Germans, always ready to create new language to document their warmongering, used the word “koventrieren” or “to coventrate” to describe reducing something to rubble. Throughout the rest of the war, the ruins of St Michael’s remained, a visual reminder of the horrors of the Blitz. Those who ministered there referred to it as “the destruction,” as if it were this separate thing with its own life and agency. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited, as did Winston Churchill. In his memories of the war, Churchill wrote of Coventry’s damage, noting the speed at which the city found itself restored. And while the city and the diocese began to make plans to rebuild, church services were held among the ruins, and choirboys sang the Coventry Carol over the wireless. But St Michael’s is so much more than its ruins; it is the fire brigade that worked tirelessly to extinguish the fire that night in November; it is the people of Coventry and all over Britain who contributed to its rebuilding fund; it is a clarion call to perservere, to fight, and to rise. And the War Requiem is a call to forgive, to heal, and to remember. Any time it is performed, it asks those in attendance to do just that. And any time that someone visits the ruins of St Michael’s and then steps into the light-filled nave of the new cathedral, we do just that, as I did when I first visited. They are living commemorations, made of stone and sound.
November 15, 2025 at 2:03 AM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
Just had the opportunity to say some nice things at the Esports Research Network Conference about the team that makes the EVO albums, led by @zaidtmusic.bsky.social -- in 100 characters, I highly value the emphasis on community and engagement in those videos / albums.

The FGC is doing it right.
November 14, 2025 at 9:38 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
Hey programming friends: come work with me! I am awesome and so is my entire department.

DMs open for questions, and please feel free to reach out even if you don't know me well.

careers.msu.edu/jobs/special...
Specialist - Teacher-Fixed Term - East Lansing, Michigan, United States
Working/Functional Title Professor of Practice - Games & Interactive Media Position Summary The Department of Media and Information (M&I) at Michigan State University (MSU) seeks to hire an in...
careers.msu.edu
November 13, 2025 at 4:12 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
Spending some time coming to terms with the notion that an unreasonable percentage of real news stories that matter are being shared to my feed by @bencollins.bsky.social, who is most known for running The Onion.

Ben is great, incidentally! I just wish mainstream press was also. We deserve it.
November 13, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
meredithshiner.com
I’m going to think about watching this moment unfold in real time for a long time.

for all the horrors coming out of Chicago and its metro area, the principled courage of everyday people, in the face of such intimidation, never ceases to astonish. www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/12/k...
Most of the hearing was routine. At one point, however, Straw's attorney, Christopher Parente, lodged a largely symbolic objection over his client having to turn in his passport, calling him a "boring suburban dad" and saying his whole reason for going to the protest in the first place included objecting to the government checking people's passports and papers. Parente said it wasn't fair for Straw "to sit here now and ask him to turn his passport over to the government for no reason other than they think they can," adding that "landscapers arrested by ICE cannot stand up to the government." "Mr. Straw can, and your Honor can, too," Parente said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sheri Mecklenburg said the passport was about bond conditions, not about what ICE is doing on the streets, and that defendants have turned in their passports "in every case I've had for 19 years." After McShain decided Straw did not have to turn in his passport, Mecklenburg said she'd drop the requirement for all defendants to ensure Straw was not receiving special treatment.
November 13, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
ocremix.org
NEW GAME OUT!

Cafe Cafe: Idle Bird Collector!
(Muzak by @damonzmusic.bsky.social!)

The game company… wait for it…
CHONKSOFT! :-D

store.steampowered.com/app/3979710/...

(Go get a birb!)
Game description on Steam: Cafe Cafe: Idle Bird Collector Oh, you're the new manager? Pleased to meet you! Chirp!~ Let's work together on making our very own cafe, where all of our bird friends can come relax, enjoy tasty snacks and have a great time! Can you help me figure out every bird's favorite snacks?
November 10, 2025 at 7:52 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
Sidenote to the last RT: In a world where good opportunities for excellent games journalism are dwindling and vanishing, I have to note that we are wildly fortunate to have @alyssamerc.bsky.social investing her talent in the gaming spaces we adore. She is consistently excellent - read her material!
November 11, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
alyssamerc.bsky.social
Chatting with Future Class inductees for my latest at @theguardian.com. They paint a pretty clear picture of the perils of performative allyship.

Thanks to all who spoke with me, and always, to Keza for the chance to do important work!
November 11, 2025 at 12:41 PM
bardicknowledge.bsky.social
My own talk is Friday at 4:00 PM US Eastern time, where I'll be discussing the importance of @zaidtmusic.bsky.social's EVO albums as a locus for FGC community participation and gathering.
mediainfomsu.bsky.social Department of Media & Information at Michigan State University @mediainfomsu.bsky.social · 10d
Nov. 12-14, MSU will serve as a host site for the 2025 Esports Research Network Conference, a 3-day, non-stop digital event where #esports research meets the frontier of digital society. Catch all the talks FOR FREE live on Twitch. Full conference details: esportsresearch.net/category/ern...
ERNC 2025 Archives - Esports Research Network
esportsresearch.net
November 11, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
bencollins.bsky.social
It is very weird seeing my friends and family slowly start to realize we're not overreacting.
newsjennifer.bsky.social @NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 11d
Read every word & share with everyone you know. This is real life here in Chicago. Americans need to know this grotesque reality & stand with us.
bgrueskin.bsky.social Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 12d
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
November 10, 2025 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
bgrueskin.bsky.social
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
Reposted by Ryan Thompson
megaran.com
So it wasn’t a dream! Whoa
GRAMMY-NOMINATED. WOW.
November 10, 2025 at 1:42 AM