Off Center

Host Scott Rettberg sits down with Center for Digital Narrative postdoctoral researcher Dom Ford to explore the intersection of myth, community, and artificial intelligence in video games. Tracing gaming history from early experiments like Façade and RuneScape to modern generative NPCs, they examine how players construct meaning and negotiate intentionality within digital worlds. The conversation dives into the utopian promises of dynamic procedural narrative, the growing cultural and labor backlash against AI-generated assets, and why players often prefer handcrafted, narrative-driven worlds over algorithmic efficiency.
References
Aarseth, E. (2012). A Narrative Theory of Games. Proceedings of the International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG '12), 129–133.

Barthes, R. (1972). Mythologies (A. Lavers, Trans.). The Noonday Press / Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Ford, D. (2021). Myth and Gaming: The Role of Myth in Meaning-Making in Video Games. IT University of Copenhagen.

Frog. (2015). Mythology, Language and Culture: Meaning-Making, Structural View, and Methodology. Approaching Religion, 5(1), 3–23.

Gualeni, S., & Fassone, R. (2022). Fictional Games: A Philosophy of Worldbuilding and Imaginary Play. Bloomsbury Academic.

Gualeni, S., & van de Mosselaer, N. (2020). The Implied Game Designer: On the Epistemology of Video Games and Authorial Intent. Journal of the Philosophy of Games, 3(1), 1–25.

Mateas, M., & Stern, A. (2005). Structuring Content in the Façade Interactive Drama Architecture. Proceedings of the First AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment (AIIDE'05), 93–98.

Walton, N. (2019). AI Dungeon: A Text-Based Generative Adventure. Latitude.

For the 50th episode of Off Center, host Scott Rettberg visits Sciences Po’s Médialab in Paris to speak with design research lead Donato Ricci and sociologist Gabriel Alcaras. They explore how people actually live and work with large language models in everyday practice, moving beyond broad media hype to uncover the unspoken labor, emotional crutches, and professional anxieties surrounding AI. The conversation highlights how innovative research design - from analog reflection notebooks to performative and multimodal publishing - creates space for honest dialogue about human-machine collaboration.References
Becker, H. S. (1998). Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your Research While You're Doing It. University of Chicago Press.
Clarke, A. E. (2005). Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn. SAGE Publications.
Latour, B. (2005). Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford University Press.
Latour, B., & Weibel, P. (Eds.). (2005). Making Things Public: Atmospheres of Democracy. MIT Press / ZKM Center for Art and Media.
Nova, N. (2023). The Bestiary of the Digital: Fantastic Creatures of Computing and the Internet. Editions B42.
Ricci, D., & Alcaraz, G. (2025/2026). The Vademecum Protocol: Investigating LLM Integration, Workplace Disruption, and the Studio Effect [Research Report / Publication]. Médialab Sciences Po.
Venturini, T. (2010). Diving in Magma: How to Explore Controversies with Actor-Network Theory. Public Understanding of Science, 19(3), 258–273.

In episode 11 of ALGOpod, Gabriele de Seta sits down with Ezequiel Soriano, postdoctoral researcher at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, to explore his anthropological approach to digital folklore. Together, they discuss the inherent secrecy of vaporwave and meme culture, artistic experiments with low-content publishing, and how the ecological realities of hyperscale data centers are shaping new forms of infrastructural vernacular.

Scott Rettberg sits down with philosopher Pierre Cassou-Noguès and artist-researcher Gwenola Wagon to discuss their collaborative theory-fiction book, The Pyromaniac Images (Les Images Pyromanes). Inspired by the 2022 Lande region megafires, they explore how social media and generative AI make ecological catastrophes simultaneously hyper-visible and curiously invisible. The conversation examines the energy costs of AI imagery as a form of "pyromaniac" spectacle, the role of kitsch and banality in generative media, and how speculative fiction can serve as a critical tool for navigating contemporary technological transformation.

References
Butler, S. (1872). Erewhon: or, Over the Range [Includes "The Book of the Machines"]. Trübner & Co.
Cassou-Noguès, P., & Wagon, G. (2019). Erewhon [Experimental Film].
Cassou-Noguès, P., & Wagon, G. (2021). Virus Island [Film and Book Project].
Cassou-Noguès, P., & Wagon, G. (2025/2026). The Pyromaniac Images: Theory-Fiction of Generative AI [Trans. J. Langan & E. Tapping]. UV Éditions / Set Margins'.
Ghosh, A. (2016). The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable. University of Chicago Press.
Le Lay, P. (2004). Temps de Cerveau Disponible ["Available Brain Time" Statement]. TF1 / Les Éditions du Huitième Jour.
Resnais, A. (1958). Le Chant du Styrène [The Song of Styrene] [Short Film].
Stiegler, B. (2010). Taking Care of Youth and the Generations. Stanford University Press.

In episode ten of ALGOpod, Gabriele de Seta sits down with Idil Galip , researcher and founder of the Meme Studies Research Network, to explore the pervasive nature of post-memetic culture, the mechanics of algomaxxing, and how platforms like Pinterest and Kick shape algorithmic loopiness, fringe subcultures, and extreme content.