Essi Taino
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essitai.bsky.social
Essi Taino
@essitai.bsky.social
110 followers 69 following 72 posts
PhD student & researcher, project PEGASUS @ Tampere University | Digital youth work specialist | Avid gamer and cat enthusiast | posts in 🇫🇮 🇬🇧 | she/they
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essitai.bsky.social
It's here! 👀 The PEGASUS research project is ending soon, so we made a small publication outlining our research and developed tools. Illustrations are by the amazing Tuuli Hypén.

This will be available tomorrow at the Game Culture Strategy day, and online as a PDF a little bit later.
A Finnish and an English version of Pegasus-project's publication next to each other. The cover has a group of people talking together around a table, with game-related items around them.
November 4, 2025 at 11:37 AM
essitai.bsky.social
Lantrek is really covering all the bases this year. Counter Strike 2 tournament on big screen right next to cosplay karaoke. 🍿
Two very large screens next to each other. One shows a Counter Strike 2 tournament and other shows the lyrics to a song. In the foreground are CS2 players and a cosplay person singing karaoke, with a crowd watching.
October 18, 2025 at 4:59 PM
essitai.bsky.social
First impression of Silent Hill f: I want a photo mode similar to Ghostwire. And a toggle to turn off all that pesky fog to appreciate all the gorgeous details.

Oh, and the battle clunkiness is so nostalgic. 🥲
A white cat lying down in the foreground, with a TV showing the main character of Silent Hill f in the background.
September 25, 2025 at 8:23 PM
essitai.bsky.social
I also took a copious amount of silly screenshots to deal with the heavy themes. This is a later one, but you get the idea.
A well-dressed bunny man holding an umbrella dancing on a rocky ground, with pink sky and lightning behind him.
September 18, 2025 at 5:31 AM
essitai.bsky.social
At #vectorama for work today (not just for gaming), and gotta say it's been awesome. Super chill and lots of fun stuff to do, it feels more like a warm, welcoming community instead of the typical loot-grab marketing fest of most big game events. Also, UNICORNS.
A hall full of tables and gaming setups, with multiccolour led-lights. A woman smiling and looking at the camera with a lit-up led-light unicorn in the foreground.
June 7, 2025 at 2:26 PM
essitai.bsky.social
who needs a PC or a console when you can play quality gacha games on a tablet at a lan-party. 💅
Foreground has a tablet screen with Honkai Star Rail running on it. Background shows led lights and a hall full of gamers on their gaming rigs.
June 7, 2025 at 2:26 PM
essitai.bsky.social
So I heard that Oulu has a castle, and it's so adorbs! Their waterways & green parks game is strong too
Oulu Castle, a historical wooden building with a small tower and a connected round building built on top of a rock foundation. Background shows pathways and greenery. A concrete pathway over a water dam, with a lower river on the left and a higher dam water reservoir on the right.
June 7, 2025 at 9:51 AM
essitai.bsky.social
The Superhero exhibition in #Vapriikki opens today. There's so much gorgeous comic art from Finnish artists and international artists on display, from older comics to newer series. So much nostalgia!
A wall-sized photo of greek god statues in the background and modern Superhero characters in the foreground. Two glass cases, one with a greek-style bust of a man, and another with a bust of Superman. A woman with brown hair holding up an American taxi. Background has a view of an American city. The photo is a trick photo, where the taxi and city is on the wall, and the woman is at the foreground pretending to hold up the taxi.
May 29, 2025 at 2:49 PM
essitai.bsky.social
Tänään KAVIn järjestämässä vuosittaisessa Mediakasvatusfoorumissa. Aiheena tänä vuonna kansallisten mediakasvatuslinjausten arviointi ja päivitys. Tällaista eri ammattialoja yhdistävää kehittämistä tarvittaisiin lisää pelikulttuurinkin puolelle! 🤩
A woman with reddish brown ponytail and glasses with a green shirt is taking a selfie. Background has people standing and sitting looking at a presentation.
May 22, 2025 at 7:39 AM
essitai.bsky.social
I'm greatly honoured to have been granted a one-year working grant from the Finnish Cultural Foundation's Pirkanmaa regional fund for my dissertation research! ✨️

I'm studying the inclusion of young people who are neurodiverse in digital gaming activities in Finland. #skrpirkanmaa2025
A woman with reddish brown hair, glasses, and fancy shirt and pants smiling and holding a sign saying "grant recipient" in Finnish. Background has a roll-up with a logo of the Finnish Cultural Foundation.
May 12, 2025 at 8:41 AM
essitai.bsky.social
We booked Härkälinna (Ox Castle) for the weekend. It's great for medieval-style parties, and if I remember right was originally built for a massive larp-event.
A large wooden castle-like building on top of a hill, with a forest in the background.
May 11, 2025 at 9:34 AM
essitai.bsky.social
Very disappointed to see that Finland's largest game event Assembly has chosen to use AI for this year's design. For an event that celebrates creativity in digital mediums through video games and a vibrant demoscene, this just feels like a middle finger at creatives.
A screenshot of Assembly website. Backround image has an AI generated catgirl. Foreground says Assembly Summer 25. A screenshot of the AI generated catgirl, without text covering her face.
May 9, 2025 at 6:14 AM
essitai.bsky.social
First outdoor barbeque of the year. Happy spring celebration to everyone! 🐣🌱
White, grey and orange spotted cat named Hiisi is standing on top of an outdoor folding chair, looking off into the distance. Behind her is a small raclette grill. The backround is a backyard patio.
April 18, 2025 at 4:18 PM
essitai.bsky.social
Dinner for two 🥂
My white, grey and orange cat Hiisi is sitting on our colourful couch, with two plates of food and other dinner utensils in front of her.
April 8, 2025 at 4:05 PM
essitai.bsky.social
Managed to attend the annual cozy horror convention #KauhuCon this weekend! It's always a treat to check out new Finnish genre literature and find new interesting authors to follow. 👀
A library hallway with tables and bookcases, and a poster advertising KauhuCon in the foreground. Three books and a hair ornament. Books are Saara Henriksson's Valaanpyytäjän Vaimo, Länsisuomalaisia tietäjiä ja tietäjän sanoja, and Rimma Joonatan Erkko's Teräsjää.
April 6, 2025 at 12:02 PM
essitai.bsky.social
mine 📦
A white cat sitting in a very small cardboard cover.
December 4, 2024 at 4:59 PM
essitai.bsky.social
Show me a picture on your phone that has your energy but isn't a selfie.
An orange cat with a book and the text me studying all these man-made horrors so they are no longer beyond my comprehension
November 28, 2024 at 9:37 AM
essitai.bsky.social
I never knew I needed a Lego Ocean in my life until I came to DreamHack Winter today.
November 24, 2023 at 5:36 PM
essitai.bsky.social
We had Non-Toxic project's final seminar today! I'm so happy with all of our speakers, all of the presentations were top quality. ✨️ Lots of insight into promoting diversity and anti-harassment measures in game culture. You can still check out the stream for a few days at twitch.tv/nontoxichanke
Non-Toxic project's coordinator and project designer presenting a slide from their presentation on a stage. The slide is in Finnish and tell about the project's third phase. Non-Toxic project's project designer Essi is standing next to two Non-Toxic logo roll-up stands, holding a poster with the same logo.
November 23, 2023 at 6:26 PM
essitai.bsky.social
Truly, Bergen makes one question their place in the universe.
November 8, 2023 at 5:16 PM
essitai.bsky.social
It begins.
TV showing the Playstation 5 starting screen and Alan Wake 2 game.
October 31, 2023 at 6:27 PM
essitai.bsky.social
Menossa tänään TACCUn Esteet Nurin-tapahtumassa Tampereen Paidialla, mukana kassi täynnä Non-Toxic -hankkeen oppaita ja tarroja. Tapahtuman puheenvuoroja yhdenvertaisemmasta kulttuurista voi seurata Yle Areenasta tai tulla vaikka paikan päälle moikkaamaan 👉 research.tuni.fi/taccu/events...
Kuva kassista, jonka edessä yksi Aloittelijan opas yhdenvertaisempaan pelikulttuuriin sekä pussillinen tarroja ja kangasmerkkejä.
October 27, 2023 at 5:36 AM
essitai.bsky.social
Finished my first BG3 playthrough on my thiefling paladin a while ago. So many delicious moments! Already fired up a Dark Urge playthrough. 🗡️🗡️🩸
A character portrait of a dark-skinned thiefling with blue horns and blue eyes. A dark-skinned thiefling wearing heavy armor is casting a necromancy spell. A thiefling character is looking pensive, with the subtitle "Narrator: You pause a moment as a thought occurs to you - where is a mind-flayer's mouth?"
October 9, 2023 at 5:01 PM
essitai.bsky.social
Kolme päivää Verken #somecampfi:ssä! Hankkeen hehkuttamisen lisäksi tarkoituksena tutustua e-tekstiileihin ja erilaisiin tekoälyratkaisuihin, joita voisi hyödyntää nuorisotyössä. Eilen oli jo huippu ensimmäinen päivä, tänään lisää.
I am smiling in front of a roll-up that shows SomeCamp logo and hashtag.
September 27, 2023 at 8:53 AM
essitai.bsky.social
Frazzled but so happy! We finally published The Beginner's Guide to Inclusive Gaming Activities (available in Finnish, English and Swedish) this week. Free download as a PDF or listen to the audiobook 👉 nuorten.hel.fi/en/non-discr... #NonToxicGaming
Essi holding a Finnish copy of The Beginner's Guide to Inclusive Gaming Activities and smiling.
September 1, 2023 at 11:41 AM