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melissainau.bsky.social
#academicsky HCI: boardgames & hybrids, interaction, evaluation, distanced play. Play. IGA Jury. OMG. Spiel. Shoes. Handbags. Random rants. This is all me, not work official. Dr. She.
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I'm really excited to be attending this (remotely of course).

submitted 4 days ago • 0 comments

Nothing says Valentine’s Day like a fire evacuation.

submitted 11 days ago • 0 comments

The Oregon Trail generation speaks

submitted 11 days ago • 162 comments

Husband: *turns off Kindle to sleep* Husband’s phone (secondary support): *rings* I mean, half an hour later would have been worse, right?

submitted 12 days ago • 1 comment

I have not been posting much from #DiGRAA2025 but the whole room just rocked out to the Mr Icecream song, even while poor Mr Icecream was melting on the road. Heartless, all!

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

I’m so proud of my 88-year-old mother, who has just sent me this perfectly grammatical and understandable text.

submitted 18 days ago • 0 comments

My #DiGRAA2025 posts slowed down because @sashasoraine.bsky.social and I were presenting in the last session - talking about how valuable forming a Critical Play Reference group has been (and how central to our work in hybrid digital boardgames). Thanks to all our CPRG members!

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

#DiGRAA2025 session 2 is on the best topic, Tabletop and Boardgames, although I’m not quite sure why that is three words and not just tabletop.

submitted 20 days ago • 3 comments

Super engaging, paper 3 at #DiGRAA2025 is from @drcameron.bsky.social and speaks about sonic the hedgehog fanfiction but mostly about the value of Game Jams as part of pedagogical practices. Some really valuable insights and recommendations. I might need to reach out to you for more tips!

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

Second #DiGRAA2025 presentation was from @cassiebara29.bsky.social talking about the need for institutional support for games in universities. I have lots of thoughts about this work but the main one is how good it is that more people ARE thinking about it.

submitted 20 days ago • 0 comments

The #DiGRAAustralia2025 National Conference kicks off with a fantastic paper from Premeet Sidhu, Jen Scott Curwood & Marcus Carter on a year 7 unit studying a videogame (Night in the Woods) as a class text. Really interesting work and an excellent presentation (as always from this team).

submitted 20 days ago • 1 comment

I’m in Adelaide this week for the #DiGRAAustralia national conference. Sadly no chance to catch up with local friends but very much enjoying the great research being showcased here.

submitted 20 days ago • 2 comments

The sort of alt text to which we can only aspire.

submitted 22 days ago • 0 comments

They are in our science. Not just "gender-based research" but basic demographics reporting.

submitted 23 days ago • 0 comments

I'm talking #boardgames with Kat Davidson on ABC Radio Brisbane. Today: Spots!

submitted 23 days ago • 1 comment

My January #bgstats stats-o-graphic.

submitted 24 days ago • 0 comments

Repost. Played #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 137 #bgstats Last round of the night. This one is a bit weird; I preferred the other Bonus board.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Repost. Played #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 104 #bgstats Bonus again - Bigster absolutely milking the bonus numbers & getting some chains going. This is def our second favourite board of the night.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Repost. Won #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 49 #bgstats This is one of the Bonus boards. It’s interesting without being fiddly (whereas Gemixxt is arguably more fiddly than interesting).

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Repost. Won #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 55 #bgstats Gemixxt again, this time on the grouped board.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Repost. Won #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 95 #bgstats Longo boards again, to see how they play. I only managed 2 lucky number swaps but it was enough.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

Reposting. Played #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 103 #bgstats Bigster is hosing me tonight. This was the Gemixxt board, which does my head in but was still faster to play than Longo.

submitted 26 days ago • 0 comments

I do not usually play this many games (although chance would be nice). We’re at the beach this week & enjoying our last night, although I’ve been working days. Reviewed 2 papers, submitted one, & worked on a draft of another so it’s been super productive! Soon we’ll go pack & do dishes, but not yet.

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

I mean, if we had to randomly get invested in playing every version of a game, at least #Qwixx is faster than #TerraformingMars. Is this a #Qwixxathon?

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Played #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 112 #bgstats This game was on the Longo boards. We enjoyed the Glückszahl rule - Bigster took 7 to my 6. Final scores 112 to 98. I wouldn’t play this often but it makes a fun change.

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Played #Qwixx on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 85 #bgstats

submitted 27 days ago • 0 comments

Played #ForestShuffle on 2025-01-29 with 2 players, winning score: 229 #bgstats I am unsure whether I am rubbish at this, the Bigster is fantastic, or (most likely) some combo of both. Here’s my pretty forest, anyway. I couldn’t draw a right handed bat, and finished with a playable lynx in hand.

submitted 27 days ago • 1 comment

They are sending everyone a plaintext non-signed non-authenticated email and will automatically resign you from federal employment if you send back the word "RESIGN" in a plaintext unsigned email. This is insane from a cybersecurity standpoint, let alone the legal issues.

submitted 27 days ago • 49 comments

Hello to my dark meme friends!

submitted 27 days ago • 2 comments

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service. “Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

submitted 28 days ago • 1664 comments

Played #ForestShuffle on 2025-01-27 with 2 players, winning score: 246 #bgstats Bigster thrashed me soundly. We find it faster to score on paper than to use the app, yet we still try it every time.

submitted 29 days ago • 1 comment

Played #JustOne on 2025-01-26 with 6 players #bgstats - great choice for a very intergenerational group spanning about 75 years.

submitted 30 days ago • 0 comments