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  As bizarre as this game might seem, during the medieval period it was incredibly popular for people to undertake "virtual pilgrimages" in which they imagined they were following the footsteps of Jesus or Mary, and at points actually *be* them. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1198970/I_Am_Jesus_Christ/

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  Announcing Jubensha Con's full talk schedule! Ten speakers from around the world will explore: - How to make jubensha approachable - Adapting it for new audiences - Commercially publishing jubensha - Running jubensha at the British Museum - Trends in China and much more! We are currently sold out of convention tickets but we are looking into recording the talks and putting them online. No promises and obviously it depends on whether speakers agree! https://jubenshacon.com/talks/

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  Started working my way through Scorsese (yes, Blank Check) and found the first two hours of New York, New York quite miserable… BUT it was totally redeemed by the final, utterly spellbinding Liza Minnelli medley! Films do be like that sometimes.

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  Learn about the fictional (but fully functional) "McNair-Feldman Device" at the heart of Strandfall's technical design! Alex Macmillan details the components and in-game capabilities of our long-range, low powered devices packed with an ePaper display, GPS, accelerometer, magnetometer, and more! https://strandfall.com/2026/04/10/an-introduction-to-mfds/

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  It's amazing how long this discourse cycle keeps going despite the fact that the *London Metropolitan Police* – hardly an institution of bleeding heart liberals – has said that they didn't witness shoplifting or widespread criminal damage. https://www.ft.com/content/def1709c-7f1e-403e-93a1-7ed2cfd91166?syn-25a6b1a6=1 Archive: https://archive.is/KgDa3

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  Here’s why it’s so important a 2024 study “proving” a resurgence of church attendance among young people was false: It’s not just bad survey methodology. Commentators concluded young people yearned for more authentic, embodied connection (sure!) and that it could only be found in churches (no!). https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/09/world/europe/britain-christian-revival-survey.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZlA.Xwo7.5JS7dQuOLTQe&smid=url-share

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  Big news: I'm making Strandfall, an highly physical outdoor larp using custom spatial computers! This is the first project of Experimental Social Scene, a new collective founded by me and Alex Macmillan, and we're delighted to be supported by Immersive Arts UK funding. https://strandfall.com/

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  I would like a short anthology of essays on the rise of gambling-adjacent video games, covering their design and philosophy and economics. Raccoin, Cloverpit, Balatro, Scritchy Scratchy, things of that nature. Oh and they should be accessible and not too academic. Is that too much to ask?!

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  Love to be clearing retailers out of their accelerometer/magnetometer/compass IMU stock for strandfall.com! https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/adafruit-lsm303agr-accelerometer-magnetometer-stemma-qt-qwiic?variant=31156734230611

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  Death Stranding's ambulation + Eclipse larp's Explorer gameplay + PUBG's shrinking play area = ??? Strandfall, the highly physical outdoor larp I'm designing, has many influences. Here are three of them! https://strandfall.com/2026/04/06/influences-part-one/

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  Always a treat to read a veteran like @jaybushman on the history of ARG-like work, especially when they pull in comparisons to film and immersive theatre history! Firsts are rarely truly firsts… https://jaybushman.kit.com/posts/being-first-is-overrated

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  Next week I'm in Gothenburg for Knutpunkt 2026, the annual Nordic Larp conference, and I'm giving three talks! Weds, Nordic Larp Talks: A lighthearted look at the 2013 Austenland movie and how it relates to larp Thurs, Sublime Pretense: The Critical Backlash to Participation https://knutpunkt.se/about-knutpunkt/

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  Many believe larp and immersive experiences provide the agency they lack in everyday life. Is that true, or is the promise of "sovereignty" even stronger, darker pull? (The video for my Nordic Larp Talk last year is finally up! This was me thinking out loud on ideas I've since developed...) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzHs-a3G7GQ

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  Neat take: backrooms and the whole “spooky liminal spaces” genre as the re-enchantment of late modernity through the places that seem most disenchanted - corporatised corridors https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/backrooms-and-the-rise-of-the-institutional-gothic/

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  Posted the New Yorker story on Sam Altman to Hacker News, where Ronan Farrow popped up to answer questions. It reached #3 top post then got nuked off the front page, never change HN mods! (Yes, HN sucks, no need to @ me about that) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47659135

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  For all the Brits harrumphing that this is correct and good because other countries do it, I will remind you that the British Museum's favourite reason for keeping all its stuff is because they're a "world museum" freely open to all. Take away that and things get even shakier... https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/mar/26/ministers-tourist-fees-arts-museum-collections-uk

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  RIP to a real one. The Soul of a New Machine may be the best technology book written, but House was a beautifully-crafted and deeply humanist book. Funny too! https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/25/books/tracy-kidder-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V1A.Q-jg.JJqQwhmKtnD2&smid=nytcore-ios-share