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nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
Nicole Carpenter
@nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
12K followers 2.9K following 1.6K posts
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text me on signal @ nicolecarpenter.87
email: [email protected]
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Nicole Carpenter @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social · Apr 27
it felt trivial at times to be writing about video games at rikers, which is so notoriously dangerous for incarcerated people. still, play and, specifically, video games are a meaningful piece of the lives of the ~12 young men i met and played with at rikers. read:

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/27/a...
A Virtual Escape for Rikers Inmates
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
danblacksberg.bsky.social
Teen Vogue is the right place for this story to land. Congrats to @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social and lucky us to get to see a few facets of this super messy story of cardboard with cute drawings. I hope there's chances to report on this scene, esp. the world of content creation that sucked me in.
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social Nicole Carpenter @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social · 21h
i wrote about pokemon cards for teen vogue!!! a big, 5,000 word story about how we got to this point, and how the community has changed (and stuck together!) through it all
www.teenvogue.com/story/pokemo...
Pokémon Cards Became a Billion-Dollar Industry. Then Came the Armed Robberies
How an innocent hobby became a target of armed robbery, break-ins, and six-figure heists.
www.teenvogue.com
September 18, 2026 at 1:58 AM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
unfortunately for me, my celebration shroomish charm came out badly. the good news is that i can see the vision
September 17, 2026 at 7:25 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
i wrote about pokemon cards for teen vogue!!! a big, 5,000 word story about how we got to this point, and how the community has changed (and stuck together!) through it all
www.teenvogue.com/story/pokemo...
Pokémon Cards Became a Billion-Dollar Industry. Then Came the Armed Robberies
How an innocent hobby became a target of armed robbery, break-ins, and six-figure heists.
www.teenvogue.com
September 17, 2026 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
diegoarguello.bsky.social
thinking about this today after having unearthed the most buried lede of all time, following weeks (months, really) of joint and individual breaking news, which wouldn't have happened without proper editorial guidance and great feedback throughout. this culmination is infuriating to say the least
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social Nicole Carpenter @nicolecarpenter.bsky.social · 2d
like @danielleri.bsky.social, @diegoarguello.bsky.social, and @kerrblimey.bsky.social, i will no longer be contributing to game developer. it was an absolute blast working with this team on my twice-a-month column! that means i’ve got more time to report and write for you!!!! hit us all up, really✨
September 17, 2026 at 3:43 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
i am sculpting shroomish and ditto :)
September 17, 2026 at 1:18 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
like @danielleri.bsky.social, @diegoarguello.bsky.social, and @kerrblimey.bsky.social, i will no longer be contributing to game developer. it was an absolute blast working with this team on my twice-a-month column! that means i’ve got more time to report and write for you!!!! hit us all up, really✨
September 16, 2026 at 2:16 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
danielleri.bsky.social
Have some BIG NEWS, and it really is wild that today is also the anniversary of the Fanbyte Apocalypse. But my time at Game Developer is done, and hence, my time as a full-time game journalist has come to an end. 20 years in a career sure is something. www.tumblr.com/danielling/8...
After 20+ years of writing professionally about games, including time at Polygon and Idle Thumbs, launching Waypoint, serving as editor in chief of Fanbyte and finally as EIC at Game Developer, my time is done. I'm officially out at Game Developer. Given the state of game journalism, this obviously means leaving the profession, at least as a full-timer. I'm out, with respect to my colleagues, and a lot of love for the site as it was. We've published work that I'm extremely proud of, particularly our reporting on labor and on how workers are finding things in a miserable, gutting moment in the game industry. I'm proud of the dev-authored features we had for so many years, the resources and knowledge and bits and pieces of know-how that I still use, to this day, in my own game design courses. What's next? Well, I'm not leaving games. I'll always be making and teaching and writing about games, it just can't be my full time gig anymore. I've actually been doing narrative design on a game since 2022, with a team I really believe in, and I can't wait until I can show that off properly. I am also OPEN TO WORK. Anything involving writing or editing words, editing video, teaching (I've been teaching college since 2009), and hey, I'm an EMT and got my phlebotomy cert a couple years back. I'm versatile! For full-time employment, I am eventually going to try my hand at medicine. I've served as an EMT here in NYC since 2016, and I've been taking science courses post-bac since January 2025, usually 2 or more at once concurrently with... the full time job, my part time adjunct job, and volunteering on said ambulance. Exhaustion set in years ago, lol, so I've settled into something beyond that at this point. I feel like I've been climbing a mountain, and trying to make many things work at once. I had a pretty good rhythm going, truth be told, despite all the burnout. I'm proud of myself for that. I'd really like to be a physician assistant one day, or potentially a nurse practitioner. It's a very, very long and hard road to either of those paths, but I'm going to make my way as best as I can. How do I feel? Again, devastated was years ago. We're pretty far past that at this point. What's happened to journalism in America is... a topic for a very depressing, very well-researched book. I hope someone writes that one day. What happened to game journalism... well, it's more of a niche, but I can say only that reporting honestly on layoff after layoff and corporate malfeasance writ large and executives gambling the whole industry down the drain was tough, but somebody had to do it. But it's not something one can do without editorial independence. It's dramatic, but I'm going to mourn this career. Twenty years of my life, at 42, is just about half of my days alive. I put a lot, and I do mean *a lot* of myself into this. I tried at all times to lead with empathy and care for the human beings around me and to be as honest and frankly honorable as possible in my work. I really, really tried to live my values in my work in this career, and the only way I can keep that reputation is the path ahead of me. So there it is. Expect to see me making games, making art, teaching game design, writing about games from time to time @VeeGeeBees. Expect to hear more about my adventures as an EMT, and hopefully, soon as a PA student, and eventually, as an advanced practitioner. I've kept telling myself, in the darkest and worst days of the last few years, that I'll fly again, somehow. It'll just look very different. To sign off, and pull an old favorite out of my pocket: be good, and be good at it.
September 15, 2026 at 10:27 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
mothership.blog
@nicolecarpenter.bsky.social has the scoop on those bedazzling TikTok videos you watch while you fall asleep — and yes, she spoke to the woman who bedazzled her entire car. This story is free to read, no account required:
Board game bling
Bedazzling is in, and that includes your board games
www.mothership.blog
September 15, 2026 at 2:35 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
wow! you can buy these as bag charms/keychains on my Etsy store!! rhis one has a cute chain link design ✨ www.etsy.com/listing/4575...
September 14, 2026 at 9:18 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
before | after
September 14, 2026 at 8:33 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
badly drawing my Dragonite cards, but i cannot explain what happened to the third one
three line drawings of Dragonite cards
September 12, 2026 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
i just put up more mini mug keychains/bag charms, but these are at an extreme discount because they're a bit flawed!!

www.etsy.com/listing/4571...
Handmade Ceramic Mini Mug Keychain/bag Charm (WITH FLAWS!) - Etsy
This Keychains item is sold by ClayByCarpenter. Ships from Stratford, CT. Listed on Sep 9, 2026
www.etsy.com
September 9, 2026 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
diegoarguello.bsky.social
update: i'm parting ways with my freelance news gig at game developer at the end of the month. helping the team since april 2025 has been a great experience and has taught me a lot

if you're looking for an experienced b2b news writer, or just an experienced freelancer that can do it all, i'm around
September 10, 2026 at 8:57 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
😬
kerrblimey.bsky.social Chris Kerr @kerrblimey.bsky.social · 7d
Okay! Here’s the opening statement provided by the fired Rockstar workers. Key points:

-There was allegedly a ‘mole’ in the union Discord server for over a year who funnelled info back to R*

-It’s claimed R* only acted shortly after union members passed the 10% threshold for statutory recognition
September 10, 2026 at 6:21 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
leylses.bsky.social
as the proud owner of some Nicole Carpenter Originals™ you should buy some lil things. they're exquisitely charming.
September 10, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
nathangrayson.bsky.social
unfortunately, biscuit had to return to the ER last night. it was another long (and expensive) one. she’s being discharged again this evening with stronger meds, but we’ve got a difficult road ahead of us. please donate if you can
September 8, 2026 at 7:22 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
jmrivera.bsky.social
blogged the video game everyone is talking about
aftermath.site/zelda-ocarin...
A Zelda Game Ought To Leave More To The Imagination Than This
A controversial remake but perhaps not a bad one
aftermath.site
September 8, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
samleecole.bsky.social
There are so many stories lately about people who died by suicide after falling into emotionally manipulative patterns with chatbots. We rarely get to hear how the people who loved them are coping after an unimaginable, senseless loss.

This is one of their stories:
www.404media.co/austin-gordo...
'Tell Everyone:' A Man Died by Suicide After Talking to ChatGPT. His Former Partner Wants to Warn the World About AI
After allegedly becoming emotionally reliant on ChatGPT, Austin died at 40 years old, leaving behind family and friends who loved him. Megan wants everyone to know what happened.
www.404media.co
September 9, 2026 at 2:21 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
i just put up more mini mug keychains/bag charms, but these are at an extreme discount because they're a bit flawed!!

www.etsy.com/listing/4571...
Handmade Ceramic Mini Mug Keychain/bag Charm (WITH FLAWS!) - Etsy
This Keychains item is sold by ClayByCarpenter. Ships from Stratford, CT. Listed on Sep 9, 2026
www.etsy.com
September 9, 2026 at 2:14 PM
Reposted by Nicole Carpenter
nathangrayson.bsky.social
blizzard workers had to fight tooth and nail for years, but they finally did it: they secured a union contract not just for one team, but for all unionized units--warcraft, overwatch, diablo, and more
“We really started mobilizing as one Blizzard unit in [the] last couple of months, and I think that really helped put the pressure on,” Paul Cox, senior game designer on World of Warcraft, told Aftermath. "I feel like the company dragged its feet and did a lot of posturing and wasting time until the very, very last moment." Prior to spring of this year, the WoW team, which unionized in 2024, had gotten the lion's share of bargaining time. Other units found themselves stuck in the mud. Higher-ups were effectively stalling the whole process—unfortunately nothing new for unionized workers under Microsoft’s umbrella. "For this whole year of bargaining on the Diablo side—and I imagine on the rest of the units as well—we received so few [bargaining] dates, but we kind of had the understanding that whatever WoW was able to win would at least influence and set the floor for the rest of our units,” Diablo senior environment artist Mahreen Fatima told Aftermath. “We adopted this messaging about how WoW's wins are our wins, so we should be out there mobilizing with them. But truly, I feel like the company dragged its feet and did a lot of posturing and wasting time until the very, very last moment this last month to finally be able to say, 'OK, yes, we are willing to extend this contract to everyone.' We really did not have any indication that we could get this done until last month."
September 9, 2026 at 1:01 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
there’s just one left 😭😭😭 ty!!!!
September 9, 2026 at 12:10 AM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
i updated with way better photos!!
Ceramic keychain on glass display Ceramic keychain on glass display
September 8, 2026 at 1:29 PM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
these are what ive been working on :)
September 8, 2026 at 2:01 AM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
i’m opening up a little etsy shop ✨ i’ve listed four of my cutie little bag charms/keychains! freelance journalism is rough, and figured this might be a fun way to make a little extra to fund my hobbies.

www.etsy.com/shop/ClayByC...
ClayByCarpenter - Etsy
Shop items by ClayByCarpenter.
www.etsy.com
September 8, 2026 at 1:56 AM
nicolecarpenter.bsky.social
the cooking process
September 5, 2026 at 1:58 AM