I didn't even bother trying to put my digressions in any kind of order here so bear with me. I was holding the mic and yelling for some reason so it's peaky and there's a sound like my stomach grumbling sometimes but here we are and we're back, and so on.

Episode spoiler: The book club beginning...at some point...is going to be covering the first couple (?) of chapters Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll.

I mentioned this so here you go: https://mastodon.social/@theodoraward

In which we, belatedly, return

We're confused. We're trying our best

0:00 - intro

20:14 - I try again, kind of

32:57 - I make a note that there's a weirdly "serious" digression later, though I maybe overstate its seriousness, though maybe not

33:49 - Back to the "action"

49:35 - Aforementioned digression

1:01:36 - "Block Koala" Level 4

Stuff I mention and context etc.:

Eggplant: The Secret Life of Games Discord // http://discord.gg/eggplant

Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux, Metagaming // https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816687169/metagaming/

Joey Schutz, "To Kill a Dragon: Video Games and Addiction" (the blog post I was talking about) // https://blog.joeyschutz.com/to-kill-a-dragon-video-games-and-addiction/

Bernard Suits, The Grasshopper ("The Suits Book") // https://broadviewpress.com/product/the-grasshopper-third-edition/#tab-description

Alfred Archer, "How to Destroy an Epistemic Game: Epistemic Triflers, Cheats and Spoilsports" (An academic paper I found on Google and looked at while riffing on the trifler/cheater/spoilsport trifecta. The website title is pretty funny) // https://philarchive.org/archive/ARCHTD 

World of Warcraft // https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/

"Best Fishing Locations in World of Warcraft Classic" // https://www.wowhead.com/classic/guide/best-fishing-pools-farming-locations-classic-wow

AnyAustin, "Where Do Skyrim's Rivers Come From?" // https://youtu.be/69u_Pxb_8zI?si=H9b6kCZD5llmXJmt 

AnyAustin, Unemployment Count Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs1_AOpP2yz4rroQz25ezXH_iT8_KGufR

(Secret zones in World of Warcraft: https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Old_Ironforge // https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Mount_Hyjal#The_zone_before_Cataclysm)

Hollow Knight: Silksong // https://hollowknightsilksong.com/

Scott Rigby, "Intrinsic and Extrinsic Player Motivation: Implications for Design and Player Retention" (GDC talk that I don't think is the one I'm thinking of but whatever) https://gdcvault.com/play/1015568/Intrinsic-and-Extrinsic-Player-Motivation

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Victoria M. E. Bridgland, Payton J. Jones, and Benjamin W. Bellet, "A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Trigger Warnings, Content Warnings, and Content Notes" // (https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026231186625)

Natasha Dow Schüll, Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas // https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691160887/addiction-by-design (here's an NYU Game Center talk about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y2HTYGLCiA)

Balatro // https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/

Luck be a Landlord // https://store.steampowered.com/app/1404850/Luck_be_a_Landlord/

CloverPit ("evil slots") // https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314790/CloverPit/

I mention, once again, as if I hadn't before, Joey Schutz, "To Kill a Dragon: Video Games and Addiction" // https://blog.joeyschutz.com/to-kill-a-dragon-video-games-and-addiction/

Nathan Grayson, "'One More Turn' Doesn't Always Mean a Game is Good" (critical article on "One More Turn") // https://aftermath.site/aftermath-hours-podcast-civilization-vii-one-more-turn

Paul Solotaroff and Eli Senor, "There's Now a Casino in Everyone's Pocket. For Some Young Men, It's A Near-Fatal Gamble" (one emblematic "young men doing crazy parleys on the toilet" article) // https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/mobile-sports-betting-gambling-addiction-fanduel-draftkings-1235444172/ 

Wikipedia, "Binge Watching" // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binge-watching

Austin Perlmutter, "The Truth about Dopamine and Your Brain" // https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-modern-brain/202403/the-truth-about-dopamine-and-your-brain

Peter Grinspoon, "Dopamine fasting: Misunderstanding science spawns a maladaptive fad" // https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/dopamine-fasting-misunderstanding-science-spawns-a-maladaptive-fad-2020022618917

Diablo // https://www.gog.com/en/game/diablo

Genshin Impact // https://genshin.hoyoverse.com/en/

Sara Abdul Qader, "Doomscrolling and the Dopamine Loop: How Endless Scrolling Is Rewiring Our Brains" // https://www.medreport.foundation/post/doomscrolling-and-the-dopamine-loop-how-endless-scrolling-is-rewiring-our-brains

Jody Macgregor, "Every Warhammer 40,000 Game, Ranked" // https://www.pcgamer.com/best-warhammer-40k-games/

"Horus Heresy Omnibus XIV: Shadow of the Warmaster II: Lords of Death" // https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus/xiv-shadow-of-the-warmaster-ii-lords-of-death

UFO50 // https://50games.fun/

Twilight Imperium // https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/twilight-imperium-fourth-edition/

"The Pin, In Case You Want Proof" // https://i.imgur.com/wDgUb4i.jpeg

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Locke's Political Philosophy: 4. Consent, Political Obligation, and the Ends of Government" // https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/#ConsPoliObliEndsGove

Fred Block, "The Problem with a Job Guarantee" (for a critique of the job guarantee as a political stance with which I think I'm broadly sympathetic) // https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-problem-with-a-job-guarantee/

Erik Baker, Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America // https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674293601 // (I haven't read this one but I did listen to this PODCAST EPISODE about it lol https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/know-your-enemy-the-entrepreneurial-ethic/) 

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Wikipedia, "Lupercalia" // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia (I want the record to show that I am not endorsing a return to this particular ritual practice)

Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (an example of scholarship about the symbolic and religious significance of food of which I have only read the first chapter but I've heard it's really good and have been wanting to read it for literally ten years so maybe I will soon idk) // https://www.ucpress.edu/books/holy-feast-and-holy-fast/paper

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, "Qualia" // https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/

"Block Koala" // https://ufo50.miraheze.org/wiki/Block_Koala

Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: The Sacred Work of Grief (I read this a long time ago idk take rec with a grain of salt if you want ????? Idk???????) https://www.francisweller.net/the-wild-edge-of-sorrow-the-sacred-work-of-grief.html

The Dhammapada, Chapter 17, Anger ("the Buddhist tradition...holds that anger is not something to be exorcised") // https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp17/

Sophie L. Kjærvik and Brad J. Bushman, "A meta-analytic review of anger management activities that increase or decrease arousal: What fuels or douses rage?" ("punching a punching bag")// https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735824000357

Suzie Pileggi Pawelski and James Pawelski, "Why Venting Might Not Actually Be Good for You" (I say this is a study and it's definitely actually just an article by a couple of randos but it links to studies) // https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/suzie-pileggi-pawelski-mapp-and-james-pawelski-phd

Cinco Paus // https://smestorp.itch.io/cinco-paus

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Mordaak, "Block Koala Level 4" // https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCDrchVxHog&list=PL8LHCrRpkbTreIXdAdySxx0EIimZSA0Vw&index=5

GuyWithLegs, "Block Koala's Cherry + Ending! | UFO 50: The Gold Disk Journey!" // https://youtu.be/GAwa1OffiXA?si=lnpFqeBMeAKKcLX6

Isles of Sea & Sky // https://islesofseaandsky.com/

Theodor Adorno, "51. Memento," from Minima Moralia (for what I was like maybe basing this utterly nonsensical bit on? Re: "fundamental aesthetic coherence") // https://read.seas.harvard.edu/~kohler/z/adornoonwriting.html

We're talking books. We're talking cards. We're talking games, and gaming...

We're getting real with block koala

We take care of some business...then get into the action

In which the premise of the podcast is established