Sebastian Deterding
@codingconduct.cc
Deliberate designer & empirical philosopher of playful & engaging things. Professor, Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College. Editor-in-Chief, @acmgames@bsky.social. https://codingconduct.cc
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
inspired by this, I have done a free extract of this section of the book here. it is about understanding that *with all its problems* the BBC is as important for our intellectual health as the NHS is for our physical health:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
November 10, 2025 at 7:52 AM
inspired by this, I have done a free extract of this section of the book here. it is about understanding that *with all its problems* the BBC is as important for our intellectual health as the NHS is for our physical health:
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
naomialderman.substack.com/p/the-bbc-an...
Research method textbooks in academia are a bit like email clients in software development: somehow, at some point in your career, everyone ends up being dissatisfied with everyone else’s and has to write their own which is 99% feature-identical to what’s already out there.
November 5, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Research method textbooks in academia are a bit like email clients in software development: somehow, at some point in your career, everyone ends up being dissatisfied with everyone else’s and has to write their own which is 99% feature-identical to what’s already out there.
Come do your PhD with me at Imperial College in London! The LISS DTP funds 3.5y PhD tuition and stipend (+1y masters), deadline Jan 23:
liss-dtp.ac.uk/applying-to-...
See topics of interest below 👇
liss-dtp.ac.uk/applying-to-...
See topics of interest below 👇
Open Competition - LISS DTP
liss-dtp.ac.uk
November 4, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Come do your PhD with me at Imperial College in London! The LISS DTP funds 3.5y PhD tuition and stipend (+1y masters), deadline Jan 23:
liss-dtp.ac.uk/applying-to-...
See topics of interest below 👇
liss-dtp.ac.uk/applying-to-...
See topics of interest below 👇
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
With the 2025 @conference.aiandgames.com just around the corner, @tommy.aiandgames.com had something to get off his chest, or at least part of it.
Game AI is facing an existential crisis, and we need to start talking about it.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI is facing an existential crisis, and we need to start talking about it.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI's Existential Crisis (Part 1) | 29/10/25
Sponsored by Shibboleth
www.aiandgames.com
October 29, 2025 at 6:01 PM
With the 2025 @conference.aiandgames.com just around the corner, @tommy.aiandgames.com had something to get off his chest, or at least part of it.
Game AI is facing an existential crisis, and we need to start talking about it.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
Game AI is facing an existential crisis, and we need to start talking about it.
www.aiandgames.com/p/game-ais-e...
The meetings continue until morale improves.
October 29, 2025 at 3:40 PM
The meetings continue until morale improves.
2025: a late stage soviet bureaucrat larp you can never leave. Everything is strained and worn beyond function, everything breaks ever-faster, & the job is to make do & pretend & report numbers up & to the right, while everyone knows & copes & bonds over black humour & too much drink in private.
October 29, 2025 at 3:39 PM
2025: a late stage soviet bureaucrat larp you can never leave. Everything is strained and worn beyond function, everything breaks ever-faster, & the job is to make do & pretend & report numbers up & to the right, while everyone knows & copes & bonds over black humour & too much drink in private.
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
There is something truly remarkable about Generative AI.
Several years in this revolution, half of the US GDP dumped to make these tools free, and i can't think of a single generated artifact, text, image, sound, video that had a significant cultural impact.
Several years in this revolution, half of the US GDP dumped to make these tools free, and i can't think of a single generated artifact, text, image, sound, video that had a significant cultural impact.
October 28, 2025 at 7:46 PM
There is something truly remarkable about Generative AI.
Several years in this revolution, half of the US GDP dumped to make these tools free, and i can't think of a single generated artifact, text, image, sound, video that had a significant cultural impact.
Several years in this revolution, half of the US GDP dumped to make these tools free, and i can't think of a single generated artifact, text, image, sound, video that had a significant cultural impact.
Feeling existential weariness today at so much academic effort promising to create AI systems and design frameworks that "augment rather than replace", support wellbeing sustainable just etc etc etc –– and yet, and yet, all it will achieve is Gutmenschen shelfware.
October 28, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Feeling existential weariness today at so much academic effort promising to create AI systems and design frameworks that "augment rather than replace", support wellbeing sustainable just etc etc etc –– and yet, and yet, all it will achieve is Gutmenschen shelfware.
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
October 24, 2025 at 12:47 AM
1. We ( @jbakcoleman.bsky.social, @cailinmeister.bsky.social, @jevinwest.bsky.social, and I) have a new preprint up on the arXiv.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
There we explore how social media companies and other online information technology firms are able to manipulate scientific research about the effects of their products.
This reads like what a reviewer 2 should have written, leading the handling editor to decide accordingly.
October 22, 2025 at 5:54 PM
This reads like what a reviewer 2 should have written, leading the handling editor to decide accordingly.
Imagine organisations took all the developer years they currently pour into AI assistants and used them to make their services more stable, accessible, performant, sustainable. The uplift in CSAT etc would be massive and long-term in comparison. The opportunity costs of AI are staggering.
October 20, 2025 at 12:42 PM
Imagine organisations took all the developer years they currently pour into AI assistants and used them to make their services more stable, accessible, performant, sustainable. The uplift in CSAT etc would be massive and long-term in comparison. The opportunity costs of AI are staggering.
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
Very pleased to see submissions to the special issue on Game Advertising of ACM Games: Research and Practice coming in.
This is a last call! Deadline is 31 October 2025.
We're looking forward to your submission, and if you need a smol extension… Slide into our emails. 😉
dl.acm.org/pb-assets/st...
This is a last call! Deadline is 31 October 2025.
We're looking forward to your submission, and if you need a smol extension… Slide into our emails. 😉
dl.acm.org/pb-assets/st...
dl.acm.org
October 10, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Very pleased to see submissions to the special issue on Game Advertising of ACM Games: Research and Practice coming in.
This is a last call! Deadline is 31 October 2025.
We're looking forward to your submission, and if you need a smol extension… Slide into our emails. 😉
dl.acm.org/pb-assets/st...
This is a last call! Deadline is 31 October 2025.
We're looking forward to your submission, and if you need a smol extension… Slide into our emails. 😉
dl.acm.org/pb-assets/st...
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
on.ft.com/46M9mXI Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world. Free to Read.
Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world
Design was once seen as a tool to improve lives — but as modernism has become marketing, that sense of social purpose has drifted away
on.ft.com
October 4, 2025 at 12:41 PM
on.ft.com/46M9mXI Why designers abandoned their dreams of changing the world. Free to Read.
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
In London, hate will never win.
September 17, 2025 at 6:10 AM
In London, hate will never win.
Imperial opened its President’s PhD Scholarships (first deadline Nov 3): bit.ly/3JW2xuW
Ping me to apply for a scholarship on:
* Competence/empowerment/learning progress in games: models and DDA
* The appeal of aleatoric uncertainty in games: models and tests
...
Ping me to apply for a scholarship on:
* Competence/empowerment/learning progress in games: models and DDA
* The appeal of aleatoric uncertainty in games: models and tests
...
President's PhD scholarships
Information about these fully-funded scholarships for PhD applicants of any nationality at Imperial.
bit.ly
September 15, 2025 at 10:27 AM
Imperial opened its President’s PhD Scholarships (first deadline Nov 3): bit.ly/3JW2xuW
Ping me to apply for a scholarship on:
* Competence/empowerment/learning progress in games: models and DDA
* The appeal of aleatoric uncertainty in games: models and tests
...
Ping me to apply for a scholarship on:
* Competence/empowerment/learning progress in games: models and DDA
* The appeal of aleatoric uncertainty in games: models and tests
...
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
We’ll be hosting GachaCon 2026, a hybrid academic conference on gacha games with Genshin Impact as the theme, on 12–13 February 2026 at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
August 11, 2025 at 1:40 PM
We’ll be hosting GachaCon 2026, a hybrid academic conference on gacha games with Genshin Impact as the theme, on 12–13 February 2026 at the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong. 🇭🇰🇨🇳
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
Call for Papers: tinyurl.com/gachaconcfp
Great PhD/postdoc opportunity with a wonderful group:
The Autotelic Interaction Group by @creativeendvs.bsky.social at Aalto has 1 PhD and 1 postdoc working on computational social intrinsic motivation – apply by Sep 30!
www.aalto.fi/en/open-posi...
The Autotelic Interaction Group by @creativeendvs.bsky.social at Aalto has 1 PhD and 1 postdoc working on computational social intrinsic motivation – apply by Sep 30!
www.aalto.fi/en/open-posi...
Doctoral Researcher and Postdoc positions to work on Computational Social Intrinsic Motivation (SIM) | Aalto University
The Autotelic Interaction Research (AIR) group at the Dept. of Computer Science, Aalto University, Finland is looking for 1 Doctoral Researcher (2+2 years) and 1 Postdoc (2 years) to work on Computational Social Intrinsic Motivation (SIM)
www.aalto.fi
September 10, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Great PhD/postdoc opportunity with a wonderful group:
The Autotelic Interaction Group by @creativeendvs.bsky.social at Aalto has 1 PhD and 1 postdoc working on computational social intrinsic motivation – apply by Sep 30!
www.aalto.fi/en/open-posi...
The Autotelic Interaction Group by @creativeendvs.bsky.social at Aalto has 1 PhD and 1 postdoc working on computational social intrinsic motivation – apply by Sep 30!
www.aalto.fi/en/open-posi...
Annoyed by gross/sexist/AI/... slop in mobile game ads?
Now is the time to write about it!
Submit to @acmgames.bsky.social Special Issue on Game Advertising, submission deadline Oct 31.
All details here: dl.acm.org/journal/game...
Now is the time to write about it!
Submit to @acmgames.bsky.social Special Issue on Game Advertising, submission deadline Oct 31.
All details here: dl.acm.org/journal/game...
GAMES: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE | ACM Digital Library
Games: Research and Practice offers a lighthouse for games research – a central reference point that defines the state of the art on games and playable media across academic research and industry practice. Inclusive in community, discipline, method, and game form, it publishes major reviews, tutorials, and advances on games and playable media that are both practically useful and grounded in robust evidence and argument, alongside case studies, opinions, and dialogues on new developments that will change games. It embraces open science and scholarship and actively champions new and underrepresented voices in games and playable media.
dl.acm.org
September 9, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Annoyed by gross/sexist/AI/... slop in mobile game ads?
Now is the time to write about it!
Submit to @acmgames.bsky.social Special Issue on Game Advertising, submission deadline Oct 31.
All details here: dl.acm.org/journal/game...
Now is the time to write about it!
Submit to @acmgames.bsky.social Special Issue on Game Advertising, submission deadline Oct 31.
All details here: dl.acm.org/journal/game...
I find the delusion framing strange, which implies disordered perception. This is more innocent credulity of the mark of a conman? As in, the fault is in believing what the conman says, not in misperception or misconstrual.
They thought they were making technological breakthroughs. It was an AI-sparked delusion: https://cnn.it/4mHkJH0
They thought they were making technological breakthroughs. It was an AI-sparked delusion | CNN Business
James, a married father from upstate New York, has always been interested in AI. He works in the technology field and has used ChatGPT since its release for recommendations, “second guessing your doct...
cnn.it
September 5, 2025 at 3:50 PM
I find the delusion framing strange, which implies disordered perception. This is more innocent credulity of the mark of a conman? As in, the fault is in believing what the conman says, not in misperception or misconstrual.
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
Going back to 1969 to tell Foucault that in the future, everyone will know he was 100% right that "discourse” can produce itself without “a thinking … subject.”
But also in the future we will care less about that principle than the practical consequence that students can cheat on homework.
But also in the future we will care less about that principle than the practical consequence that students can cheat on homework.
August 16, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Going back to 1969 to tell Foucault that in the future, everyone will know he was 100% right that "discourse” can produce itself without “a thinking … subject.”
But also in the future we will care less about that principle than the practical consequence that students can cheat on homework.
But also in the future we will care less about that principle than the practical consequence that students can cheat on homework.
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
“Between 2009 and 2012, iPhones had a built-in "Send to YouTube" button in the Photos app. Many of these uploads kept their default IMG_XXXX filenames, creating a time capsule of raw, unedited moments from random lives.”
walzr.com/IMG_0001
this is beautiful 🥲
walzr.com/IMG_0001
this is beautiful 🥲
IMG_0001
walzr.com
August 25, 2025 at 7:27 PM
“Between 2009 and 2012, iPhones had a built-in "Send to YouTube" button in the Photos app. Many of these uploads kept their default IMG_XXXX filenames, creating a time capsule of raw, unedited moments from random lives.”
walzr.com/IMG_0001
this is beautiful 🥲
walzr.com/IMG_0001
this is beautiful 🥲
Want to work with the Smart Data Donation Service (sdruk.ukri.org/data/smart-data-donation-service/) on donated Google Play or YouTube data?
UKRI has 6 fellowships for impact-driven research working with services like ours – do reach out!
ukri.org/opportunity/smart-data-research-uk-fellowships/
UKRI has 6 fellowships for impact-driven research working with services like ours – do reach out!
ukri.org/opportunity/smart-data-research-uk-fellowships/
Smart Data Research UK Fellowships
Apply for a fellowship to undertake innovative and impact-focused research using smart data. Projects should address a significant real-world challenge which is relevant to the UK.
www.ukri.org
August 21, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Want to work with the Smart Data Donation Service (sdruk.ukri.org/data/smart-data-donation-service/) on donated Google Play or YouTube data?
UKRI has 6 fellowships for impact-driven research working with services like ours – do reach out!
ukri.org/opportunity/smart-data-research-uk-fellowships/
UKRI has 6 fellowships for impact-driven research working with services like ours – do reach out!
ukri.org/opportunity/smart-data-research-uk-fellowships/
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
📢The open access version of our book is available now via OUP's site: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
August 20, 2025 at 4:57 AM
📢The open access version of our book is available now via OUP's site: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Reposted by Sebastian Deterding
Who’s with me for a campaign to stop politicians wearing hi viz jackets and hard hats when talking about the economy and instead being filmed playing Total War: Warhammer
In Britain video games generate more revenue (£4.3bn) than the film (excluding streaming) and music industries combined (£3.4bn).
economist.com/britain/2025...
economist.com/britain/2025...
Britain is a global gaming superpower
Can it remain one?
economist.com
August 18, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Who’s with me for a campaign to stop politicians wearing hi viz jackets and hard hats when talking about the economy and instead being filmed playing Total War: Warhammer