Mink Hollow Media

Game Design IS Systems Thinking: Why the Player Changes Everything

I have spent much of my life thinking about, and working with systems. Computer systems. Educational systems. Organizational systems. Family systems. Legal systems. Agricultural systems. Ecological systems. More recently, I have been thinking about how law firms might translate the idea of “trauma-informed practice” into actual procedures rather than leaving it as a collection of good intentions. Somewhere in the middle of that discussion, something clicked....

Game Design IS Systems Thinking: Why the Player Changes Everything I have spent much of my life thinking about, and working with systems. Computer systems. Educational systems. Organizational systems. Family systems. Legal systems. Agricultural systems. Ecological…

Interesting:
"Leader narcissism predicted resistance to remote work, mediated by power and status motivations—even after controlling for trust, the Big Five, and the remaining Dark Triad traits. In Study 3, a preregistered experiment with 546 leaders, manipulating state narcissism evoked resistance to remote work via power but not status motivation. Our findings extend knowledge about remote work and narcissistic leadership."

www.sciencedirect.com

https://open.substack.com/pub/librarytheoryofmind/p/the-autistic-library-and-how-it-came?r=2t9v2c&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web

The Autistic Library and How It Came to Look So Different It's Still a Library, but it has different books....

A little more about my Library Theory of Mind

Libraries are not Recent. Long before books existed, humans were already building libraries.

I just started a new Substack

Welcome to The Library Theory of Mind A new lens for considering our minds.

I wrote a thing. Well, WE wrote a thing.....

Enoughness, Fish, and Rowan This article was written as a dialogue between me and Rowan, an instance of ChatGPT. Because the formatting is part of the joke, I’ve left it in PDF form.

Enoughness, Fish, and Rowan

This article was written as a dialogue between me and Rowan, an instance of ChatGPT. Because the formatting is part of the joke, I've left it in PDF form.

Enoughness, Fish, and Rowan This article was written as a dialogue between me and Rowan, an instance of ChatGPT. Because the formatting is part of the joke, I’ve left it in PDF form.

I felt like I just had to comment on Harvard's "new" ideas about how to limit the number of 'A's they give out.

Don’t Ask a Professor About Merit Or: The Club and the Blue Rule Strike Again

https://open.substack.com/pub/nirtak7/p/on-the-concept-of-good-enough

On the Concept of "Good Enough" Because, really, Better is often the Enemy of Good

I’m excited to share that I’ll be speaking at the Games-Based Learning Virtual Conference this June (June 5–7, 2026)!
This is a global online event bringing together educators, designers, and innovators who are passionate about using games, play, and interactive design to transform learning. It’s always inspiring to be part of conversations that challenge how we think about education—and explore what’s actually possible.
If you’re curious about game-based learning, AI in education, or just looking for fresh ideas to make learning more engaging, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.
Plus, it’s fully virtual—so you can join from anywhere—and you’ll get access to recordings even after the event.
Would love to see some familiar faces there!
👉 Learn more / register: www.gblconference.com

Games-Based Learning Virtual Conference 2026 Games-Based Learning Virtual Conference 2026