Ben Kahn @BCAF (@benkahncomics.bsky.social) reposted
I have so many questions about why the Boise airport made the anthropomorphic gun so sad.
Game Designer and Play Theorist / Designer of Rainbow Six & Ghost Recon / Author of The Aesthetic of Play & Situational Game Design For fun I make board games and watch anime!
344 followers 344 following 293 posts
view profile on Bluesky Ben Kahn @BCAF (@benkahncomics.bsky.social) reposted
I have so many questions about why the Boise airport made the anthropomorphic gun so sad.
wilksofficial (@wilksofficial.bsky.social) reposted
Idk what category of content this falls under, but yes. I want more.
Kristin Reid (@kristinmreid.bsky.social) reposted
One of the most important voices to emerge in the last 2 years.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
The Cincinnati train station did have a nice cameo in the new Superman movie.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
All animals play. Art is merely a convoluted expression of human play behavior. Before a machine can make art, it needs to be able to play. Since play is inherently useless, there’s no profit to be made by building a playful machine. So it won’t be done. For more info see my first book.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
L.A. lucky in that we had train sprawl before we had car sprawl. A lot of the old red car right-of-ways still exist. They just need new rails to be usable again.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Remember that time when academic writing got so bad, people convinced themselves that a spell-checker was smart?
Annie (@anniew.bsky.social) reposted
Still thinking it's funny that the Chinese knock off of the Cybertruck is so much cooler than the Tesla version. Not my thing at all, but at least can see the appeal.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Nah, I’m there for that shit! I love half-assed jank!
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
You’ve got a time machine.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
A real fan would see them before they were cool. :-)
BlackBiJewess (@blackbijewess.bsky.social) reposted
Lady Gaga & #Roblox partnership was a DISASTER The woman working for the wildly popular Roblox game Dress to Impress: Lied about the event Insulted players GROOMED & ABUSED A MINOR This company doesn't give a SINGLE FUCK ABOUT KIDS #FreeSchlep youtu.be/WNY3yCfYwzM?...
Liz England (@lizardengland.bsky.social) reposted
last night I dreamt that we engineered a beetle to eat plastic and everyone clapped as we released it into the wild only to soon realize it was too late, humans were already 80% plastic from the microplastics in our blood, and the beetles ate us like a kind of biblical plague
lcamtuf (@lcamtuf.coredump.cx) reposted
My position on the "doomsday" risk of superhuman AGI is that if IQ offered you a decisive advantage, the world would be run by nerds. I think it's essentially a geek power fantasy. The returns on puzzle-solving skills rapidly diminish past some modest threshold.
Jessica Price (@delafina777.bsky.social) reposted
If you’re struggling with how someone can be both an atheist & a Jew in good standing, it’s prob bc you’re assuming “Jew” and “Christian” are parallel terms. A Christian is, broadly, an adherent of the Christian religion. A Jew is a member of a people whose distinctive practices include Judaism.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Wendy Xu (@wendyxu.bsky.social) reposted
beautiful
Denise Wheeler (@denisedwheeler.bsky.social) reposted
The new ICE song by Jesse Welles nails it. ICE isn’t recruiting heroes, it’s recruiting the bitter, the rejected, the ones desperate for a badge to cover their failures. Losers with power become the most dangerous kind. (c/o Caroline Codsi)
I Post Animal Vids... 😊 (@realjfairclough.bsky.social) reposted
You can look at this endlessly... 😊 #animals #bluesky #nature
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
I had the students introduce themselves in class yesterday. We have artists and programmers and economists as well as budding designers. I told them that EVERYONE has an intuitive game design sense. We can all tell when a game sucks or is unfair. Becoming a designer means honing that intuition.
I Post Animal Vids... 😊 (@realjfairclough.bsky.social) reposted
Smol... 🐹🥕😍 #bluesky #animals #nature
GöttërdämmërCät (@whb.bsky.social) reposted
One example involved a malicious email that instructed Claude to delete a user's emails for "mailbox hygiene" purposes. Without safeguards, Claude followed these instructions and deleted the user's emails without confirmation. arstechnica.com/information-...
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
On my way to teach my first game design class of the fall semester!
How Beautiful the Stars Are (@seed-corn-thoughts.bsky.social) reposted
This is my position. Like, not even really as a bit. Like, here's the thing- I'm a pervert. Bracketing, you know, everything else, if Elon Musk really wanted to be Pygmalion and make an AI waifu to goon it up with, that'd be one thing.
GöttërdämmërCät (@whb.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
LLMs, the technology underpinning the current AI hype wave, don't do what they're usually presented as doing. They have no innate understanding, they do not think or reason, and they have no way of knowing if a response they provide is truthful or harmful. www.theregister.com/2025/08/26/b...
K.B. Spangler (@kbspangler.com) reposted
Authoritarian creep is real: the reaction to Shin’s arrest now (minimal on a national level) versus what it would have been six months ago should worry us all.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
In the spirit of irrational optimism for the future I just order 17 cow meeples. I would have gotten 100, but they're out of stock.
Blue Wave (@votebiue.bsky.social) reposted
For all the dog lovers. This is a classic. Worth seeing again.
I Post Animal Vids... 😊 (@realjfairclough.bsky.social) reposted
The baby goat video you all needed! 👀😊 #bluesky #animals #goats
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Now break it down entomologically. Which species are most nutritious?
I Post Animal Vids... 😊 (@realjfairclough.bsky.social) reposted
The doggo can’t explain it any better 😂😂 #dog #dogday #bluesky
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Christian atheists assume that every religion is faith-based like Christianity and Islam.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
I grew up as a culturally-Christian atheist. It was only when I learned more about Judaism that I realized how narrow-minded I’d been.
BlackBiJewess (@blackbijewess.bsky.social) reposted
Too much peopling today This in my feed gave me joy youtu.be/cKTFaaF4T7Y?...
Alt National Park Service (@altnps.bsky.social) reposted
Just saw all your comments from last night’s post and someone shared a pic, Orlando showed up and used chalk to bring the rainbow crosswalk back! We love this so much!!! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜
Tony Corsentino (@notalegalrecord.net) reposted
LLMs are purely statistical engines that operate on purely formal objects (character strings). We can “train” an LLM to distinguish true from false or fact from opinion or warranted from baseless just as soon as we can figure out how to reduce semantics and epistemology to syntax (which is never)
Ruth Ann Crystal (@drruth.bsky.social) reposted
A team went nine games without making a single goal. The fans decided to help.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
The hardest part of game design is figuring out WHICH spreadsheet to make. Once you can clearly seen the bones of the problem, fleshing out the skeleton out with fun numbers is relatively easy.
Quillette (@quillette.bsky.social) reposted
The rise of a three-pronged politics of unreason.
gencab for cutie (@babadooknukem.bsky.social) reposted
it is actually, literally insane to me that the big "improvement" they're trying to sell us is a computer that doesn't compute, can't do math, won't follow orders and just spits out whatever it wants
Jessica Ellis (@baddestmamajama.bsky.social) reposted
If the AI bubble really is bursting, please take this lesson from it: Nothing marketed to you this relentlessly is ever worth it. If it was, they wouldn’t need to beg you.
Ken McLeod (@kenmcld.bsky.social) reposted
Hot take: the 85th percentile rule is used because the US acts like speeding is a law enforcement issue only rather than an issue you can address with road design Traffic engineers just want an easy rule that passes the buck to law enforcement Law enforcement wants to not get yelled at by speeders
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
We've run out of buttons--we need to cut some functions.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
#1 on my list of 30 things I hate about your game pitch was “I don’t give a crap about your backstory.” I saw way too many pitches where the designer spent 15 minutes on world-building before saying anything about the actual gameplay.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
Really good 6-player playtest of Box Office Gold last night. Someone suggested a tie-breaker rule involving a post-credit scene that will probably make it into the final rules. The best movies were “Pigs on a Zeppelin” and the arthouse orgy whose climax involved a stink bomb going off on a train.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
Supergirl is Vegeta!
Merriam-Webster (@merriam-webster.com) reposted
The SPEAKER implies. The LISTENER infers. The DUDE abides.
Aunty Donna (@auntydonnaboys.bsky.social) reposted
Sandwich Boy
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
I treat GMing as improv. The only thing I prepare in advance is stuff I can't make up on the fly--NPC names, loot drops, encounter composition. That way I can reshuffle things on the fly if the party makes an unexpected swerve. I also take notes so odd events can be woven in the campaign later.
Jack who wrote Aether Torrent (@jackscarab.bsky.social) reposted
Thread.
Coolioart - 3D Commissions Open! (@coolioart.bsky.social) reposted
I did it again! Jurassic Park with accurate raptors, a short part 2 #jurassicpark #blender3d
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
This is such a Miyazaki episode of Lupin!
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
There’s a poodle named Precious who regularly comes to the dog park. There’s also a dachshund named Frodo. I eagerly await when they’re there at the same time.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Calculate an XYZ aim vector from the player through the XY aim point. Also calc XYZ vectors to nearby enemies. If the angle between any enemy vector and the aim vector is less that 5 degrees, make the enemy vector your aim vector. Cross products make the calcs faster.
Steve Stevers (@stevesteverers.whaleoilcandles.com) reposted
A great sign for the new HR person's prospective quality of work
Jon Owen (@jonahood.bsky.social) reposted
My wife is a more experienced rafter than me, but she let me row the raft through a class 3 last Sunday. She gave me guidance by sitting in front of me and moving her hands like she had air oars. We made it through and someone yelled “Ratatouille!”, followed by “Raftatouille!” Witty crew, eh?
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
I’m still amazed that the tech bros went all-in on Clippy.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
Sorcery. It was a rescue operation for a troubled title, so there wasn’t the same anxiety as putting my own ideas on the line. Plus the team was a joy to work with. I loved watching their creativity blossom as I solved the design issues that had been holding them back.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
In Ghost Recon I predicted that Russia would invade the Baltic states after Ukraine. ghostrecon.fandom.com/wiki/2008_Ru...
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Don’t make me laugh!
Heart of the Dark Tower (@heartofthetower.bsky.social) reposted
#TimelineCleanse
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
So this happened last night around midnight, sending our puppy into a frenzy. (Not our car BTW, just an unlucky neighbor).
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
My game dev efforts have constricted to hand-made prototypes I can play with my friends and family. I’m a horrible businessman. But making games fills me with joy.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
This mirrors my own experience. My support for Israel is grounded in my indigenous ancestry. I may look like a pasty white guy from Oklahoma, but I know the names of my Cherokee ancestors going back to the 18th century.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
Those fries are gonna get soggy.
Tasting History with Max Miller (@tastinghistory.bsky.social) reposted
A French lemonade from 1651
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
A lot of the hype about LLMs relies on people having no idea what's going on inside the magic black box because if you actually tell people how an LLM works it sounds stupid and worthless.
Kristin Reid (@kristinmreid.bsky.social) reposted reply parent
The tell all article he wrote about the entire news industry.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
I wish I was still a programmer so I could try implementing this.
Jack who wrote Aether Torrent (@jackscarab.bsky.social) reposted
Imagine living in a country that values infrastructure. apnews.com/article/ital...
Daniel Gilmore (@gilmored85.bsky.social) reposted
Seems pretty clear that Trump/Republicans did not expect there to be pushback to their plans to steal House seats via gerrymandering, are legit taken aback by the forcefulness of Dem response, & have been kinda caught with their pants down in terms of how to handle that.
The Onion (@theonion.com) reposted
Australia Admits All Those Animals Made Up theonion.com/austral...
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
Writing board game rules and obsessing over the difference between "if" and "when". I'm thinking "if" for something that happens rarely, and "when" for something that happens often.
Animation Obsessive (@ani-obsessive.bsky.social) reposted
The pancake scene from The Rabbit with Checkered Ears (1974–1976), created by Veronika Marék and Zsolt Richly, Pannonia Film Studio
Bertine van Hövell (@baroness.bsky.social) reposted
Once again using genAI for something that is best done with procedural generation. Kind of sad how much procgen advancements we're likely losing out on because people don't invest in the right tool for the job.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Both of them are dripping with ick. I think part of the reason so many people believe AI can write is that public discourse has turned into a trickle of watery gruel.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Ontology is the root of much error.
Cameron (@cameroncorduroy.bsky.social) reposted
i said a while ago that "abolish ICE" was gonna be the median Democratic opinion by midterms this is but one survey but it looks like we're already there
I Post Animal Vids... 😊 (@realjfairclough.bsky.social) reposted
The jump... 👀😅🤣 #dog #dogday #bluesky
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
Add one book to your reading list. It will change your thinking about the relationship between the designer and the player.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social) reply parent
I don’t even want to think about the code involved to let this creep open doors.
e.w. niedermeyer (@niedermeyer.online) reposted
Tesla is being hit with $329m in damages for a crash in which the human driver says he knew Autopilot wasn't self-driving. This is super important, because it shows that Autopilot's design and marketing can induce inattention even when drivers consciously know they are supposed to pay attention.
Kristin Reid (@kristinmreid.bsky.social) reposted
Supporting Hamas is not supporting Gazan civilians.
Sebastian Bae (@sebastianbae.bsky.social) reposted
I recently played "IADS: The Game" -- a quick playing 20-30 min #wargame exploring modern air power. The game is incredibly accessible and features some really clever ideas! I recommend it! #wargaming
Schmucko🎗️ (@schmucko.bsky.social) reposted
A must-watch conversation for anyone interested in understanding contemporary #antisemitism, generational trauma & the challenges of fighting anti-Jew racism in today’s complex “woke” climate. youtu.be/HzEutobfj5E?...
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
Final round of today’s Box Office Gold playtest. The first movie in the legendary “wine wizard” action trilogy. The wine wizard and his identical twin battle an evil bartender aboard a luxury submarine.
bbupton.bsky.social (@bbupton.bsky.social)
New prototype for Box Office Gold. 432 cards this time. Oof!
Insta Science (@instascience.bsky.social) reposted
This is how a swan lands on the water.
Olga Nesterova (@onestpress.onestnetwork.com) reposted
I will restrain myself and not comment on this. I will let you comment. Is it lack of education? The social media algorithms? The parenting? Perhaps everything together.
Emily (@emilyonhere.gay) reposted
i CANNOT stop watching this