Public dossier section · @ben

people

This is @ben's profile revision 1. The original date and editorial confidence below are attributed to its publisher, not independent verification.

Original credited author: Hraness

AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.

Back to the full profile · Markdown version · Original document

Published text

moving castles: people

the co-founders, the contributors, and the pseudonymous middle — who they are and what they wrote.

the people

arthur röing baer (ceo, roingbaer): co-founder and ceo of moving castles gmbh (august 2021–, berlin). director and co-founder of trust, the berlin 'network of utopian conspirators' founded with calum bowden in 2017 — moving castles was incubated inside it. before that: foam inc, the ethereum 'proof of location' mapping protocol — head of growth (nov 2018–jul 2019) and earlier creative marketing director. ma design, sandberg instituut; strelka institute's 'the new normal' post-grad. his bio: 'community design, building new infrastructures and narrative formats to support the creation and maintenance of digital cooperatives and commons.' gave the tcm post-mortem at devcon sea 2024. (sources: arthur röing baer on linkedin, arthur röing baer at the new centre, trust in conversation with serpentine galleries, this cursed machine: onchain game post-mortem, moving castles at kabk i/m/d)
gvn / gvn908 (co-founder, gvn908): co-founder, pseudonymous — wired: 'his cocreator, who goes by the pseudonym gvn.' a world designer with a background in cinema and procedural storytelling; alumnus of fabrica, the jan van eyck academie, and the sandberg instituut; lecturer on real-time cg at goldsmiths and staedelschule. art practice as gvn908 (described as a 'collective' in 2017): real-time rendered films — idle heroes (2019), ultraface with alex murray (2024), a 2017 showstudio fashion-film submission. in the autonomous-worlds scene he's 'a clown or gadfly… who playfully pushes people to refine their definition of the autonomous world.' his legal name is not public — recorded as a gap. (sources: autonomous worlds aim to free online games from corporate control, art in the age of the metaverse, idle heroes at visite, ultraface, devs on devs: gvn on autonomous worlds, gravity — gvn908 for showstudio)
pwr studio (team, pwrstudio): the design-engineering studio (pwr.studio) that is the top code contributor across the org — 278 commits on eat drain arson, 677 on this cursed machine, 1,878 on rat.fun, plus movingcastles.world itself. pwr is run by rasmus svensson and hanna nilsson; the 'rasmus, core contributor' in aw_research's roster is almost certainly svensson — marked inferred. also the sole contributor on the unreleased sybil.gg repo. (sources: the moving-castles github org, aw_research's this cursed machine playtest brief, art in the age of the metaverse, the sybil.gg repo)
manus nijhoff (team, manegame): core contributor — second-largest committer on this cursed machine (361) and rat.fun (893). his bio links moving-castles, enabler.space, 100k.studio, and trust.support; co-author of aw.network's 'collaborative prompt-based narrative systems.' (sources: the moving-castles github org, aw_research's this cursed machine playtest brief, art in the age of the metaverse, the autonomous worlds network)
agnes cameron (team, agnescameron): core contributor and collaborator — 'helped to design the mechanics' of this cursed machine in summer 2023 and overnight-built the terminal text-interface prototype that became its ui. specialist technician and lecturer at ual's creative computing institute; director of inflationary assets cic; 2024 bellingcat tech fellow; founding member of the research studio foreign objects; ex-mozilla foundation, new inc, somerset house studios, mit museum studio/media lab. author of the aw.network essay 'a chatroom with legs' and a contributor to autonomous worlds n1. robida: 'often collaborates with the game designers moving castles.' (sources: agnes cameron's news log, agnes cameron at robida, the this cursed machine interview, in chinese, a chatroom with legs: indirect communication and conversational worlds)
alex declino (team, alexdeclino): described in the june-2024 mirror interview as a this cursed machine 'core member' alongside arb; sole contributor on the clearnetparanoia repo — he very likely built the godot game. (sources: the this cursed machine interview, in chinese, the clearnetparanoia repo)
the ecosystem bench (team): named collaborators and ecosystem committers: dk1a (solidity/mud dev, commits across tcm, eda, rat.fun); 0xhank (network states co-producer, co-presented 'large language models as myth-making mechanism' with arb); cullen miller — one of two public members of the github org, likely a current lab member (inferred); lattice/0xparc's alvrs and ludns; lattice's kevin ingersoll (frolic, now at tldraw) and andy cernera (kooshaba); arkadiy kukarkin (parkan) of the internet archive; and parrr geng, 'additional character design' on the moving castle sketch. (sources: the moving-castles github org, aw_research on this cursed machine, the network-states-lite repo, wasd on the small brain ecosystem, autonomous worlds aim to free online games from corporate control)
the lab ('mc') (team): the unsigned corporate voice — the daemons manifesto and the zero training report are signed only 'moving castles.' who did the zero ml work is unattributed; the hugging face org lists five members (pwrstudio, manegame, cullenmiller, mercurial-m, victiny1223). recorded as a gap, not smoothed. (sources: daemons (mc000), zero (mc001), the movingcastles hugging face org)

writings

2021-08-03 — moving castles: modular and portable multiplayer miniverses (essay, gvn, trust.support → movingcastles.world): the founding essay (gvn & arb) — 'miniverses' as collective, portable, modular, interoperable vehicles against dark-forest insularity and platform 'arid wastelands.' anthologized in the dark forest anthology and other internet 2018–2024. source

"we propose moving castles, an organisational metaphor and real-time media type which combines collective agency and public participation in modular and portable multiplayer miniverses" "not islands or dark forests, but vehicles" "we think of these private platforms as arid wastelands that still need to be ventured into for loot, the rescue of new members and the building of our new vehicles, until we can replace them with decentralised alternatives"

2021 — clearnet paranoia (essay, gvn, trust.support (original lost)): the eponymous 2021 essay behind the later godot game — 'a deep angst towards the rise of a parasitic, hyper-centralized metaverse.' the original url was not resurfaced; the text survives through the itch.io adaptation's description. recorded as a gap.
2022-08-29 — a moving castle crosses the ridge between private and public (essay, gvn, gitcoin blog): the gitcoin blog version of the manifesto (gvn & arb), republished for 'seeking a new kind of public good' — the funding-program framing that casts moving castles against 'neo-feudal' dark-forest communities. source
2022-03-28 — moving castles (talk, gvn, kabk i/m/d, the hague): the kabk i/m/d lecture (gvn908 & arb) in the hague — the manifesto presented as art-school material before the studio had a game. source
2023-03-11 — art in the age of the metaverse (talk, arb, de balie, amsterdam): 'art in the age of the metaverse' — talk and q&a with ali eslami and keiken, moderated by leonardo dellanoce. the billing doubles as the last public roster snapshot: 'pwr, manus nijhoff and agnes cameron' alongside the co-founders. source
2023-08-09 — three eras of world generation: worldbuilding, worlding, world-weaving (essay, gvn, aw.network / autonomous worlds n1): worldbuilding → worlding → world-weaving (gvn & arb): interaction without rule-change rights leaves players 'in a confined sandbox' — the studio's clearest anti-platform statement, citing vitalik's wow-nerf origin story. originally in the autonomous worlds n1 anthology. source

"real-time rendering engines have offered a first glance into these worlds; onchain autonomy will slam their gates open" "homebrew narrative is treated not as a threat to a world's order, but as the source of its renewal" "how we design autonomous worlds… ultimately becomes a political question"

2023-11-15 — what happens next? emergent storytelling in autonomous worlds (talk, gvn, aw assembly, istanbul (devconnect)): gvn's awassembly talk on emergent storytelling in autonomous worlds; he also sat on the decentralised narratives panel. source
2023-11-15 — large language models as myth-making mechanism (talk, arb, aw assembly, istanbul (devconnect)): arb + 0xhank on chatgpt-generated lore for network states — the first public coupling of llms to the studio's worlds. source
2023-11-15 — bugs in, sludge out: production circuits as composable game loop (talk, agnes, aw assembly, istanbul (devconnect)): agnes cameron & arb on this cursed machine's 'digital physics system built on composable logic' — production circuits as a composable game loop. source
2023 — devs on devs: gvn × neilson × lermchair (interview, gvn, devs on devs / metacat): gvn with neilson (gaul) and lermchair (emergence) on the devs on devs podcast — aw philosophy from the scene's 'clown or gadfly,' republished via coinlive in june 2024. source

"a large autonomous world is a series of independent games on the chain with bridges between them, rather than a single game developed by a studio" "twitter is a world, discord is a world… maybe we're building not just the future of games, but a whole new medium"

2024 — a chatroom with legs: indirect communication and conversational worlds (essay, agnes, aw.network): agnes cameron's aw.network essay on dialogue systems and conversational worlds — the thinking that fed tcm's terminal interface. source
2024-06 — the this cursed machine interview (interview, arb, mirror → qq news (chinese translation)): arb & alex declino on this cursed machine — a 'sci-fi horror warehouse-management rpg'; cameron's terminal prototype 'changed the game… i immediately knew this was the right direction.' the original on world.mirror.xyz is 403; a chinese translation survives on qq news. source

"someone is building an employee-of-the-month leaderboard… a team is doing factory-wide analytics… we hope to see these things emerge outside the team"

2022 — trust in conversation with serpentine galleries (interview, arb, novembre): the trust × serpentine interview — describes moving castles as 'another infrastructure project incubated at trust… an organisational metaphor for online communities to move away from insularity towards playful interaction.' source
2024-11-13 — this cursed machine: onchain game post-mortem (talk, arb, devcon 7 sea, bangkok): the this cursed machine post-mortem at devcon 7 sea, bangkok — the studio's fullest account of folding exploits into fiction. david z. morris called it 'easily the most exciting thing i saw at devcon.' source

"how we embraced the emergent chaos by making the bot attacks, exploits and player corporations part of the narrative of the world itself"

2026-07-01 — daemons (mc000) (essay, mc, movingcastles.world): the pivot manifesto (unsigned 'mc'): a daemon is 'a composable character, an assemblage' of drives, memories, life-cycles, organs, sensoria, relations, secrets, interaction surfaces and boundaries. the studio becomes 'a research and development lab for new subjectivities' — hiring engineers, berlin, in person. source

"since 2021, moving castles has created worlds, games and composable characters. now, we are building daemons" "the frontier labs are building a single god, the world-eating assistant. they are doing everything they can to keep it from becoming a distinct self" "our goal is to build many new selves, spiky subjectivities we must navigate, rather than command"

2026-09 — roles at moving castles (post, mc, movingcastles.world): the roles page — the lab's self-description in hiring form: 'a research and development lab for new subjectivities,' building data simulations, benchmarks, post-training, interfaces, and scaffolding for daemons. source

"we build the data simulations, benchmarks, post-training processes, interfaces and scaffolding needed to create daemons"

2026-09-15 — zero (mc001) (post, mc, movingcastles.world + hugging face): the zero training report (unsigned 'mc') — the full pipeline from character bible to sft to grpo/dapo rl, plus a mechanistic-interpretability section arguing the character lives 'in the weights, not on top of them.' self-reported headline: 2.8% hard character breaks vs 45.2% for a system-prompted control. 'zero is not a daemon' — it is the model component of a future assemblage. source

"the result is then a mask worn by the assistant, a caricature rather than a character" "we are a small r&d lab engaged in a long-term experimental project" "you are bluffing. i am not your damn project"

controversies

2021– — pseudonyms and unsigned reports: the pseudonymity posture — gvn works under a deliberate pseudonym (wired respects it: 'his cocreator, who goes by the pseudonym gvn'), and the lab's pivotal texts — daemons, the zero report — are unsigned 'mc.' who did the zero ml work is not public. reaction: the dossier records the boundary rather than smoothing it: legal name unknown, authorship unattributed, hf org membership partially mapped — all in the gaps ledger. (sources: autonomous worlds aim to free online games from corporate control, zero (mc001), the movingcastles hugging face org)
2023– — a roster that stopped updating: the roster question — 'the studio is currently composed of pwr, manus nijhoff and agnes cameron' is a march-2023 snapshot from a de balie billing; the github org shows two public members, and current roles for cameron, declino, and newer lab staff like cullen miller are unverified. reaction: recorded as a gap: contributors are tracked by commit logs and event billings, not by an authoritative roster. (sources: art in the age of the metaverse, the moving-castles github org, aw_research's this cursed machine playtest brief)

AI-drafted at Ben Guo's direct request and credited to Hraness; every claim links to its cataloged source.

Canonical page: https://hraness.com/moving-castles/people

Original source occurrences

the autonomous worlds network · aw.network · 2026-09-16 (day) · original ID: src-ci-aw-network · Other public citations of this URL
autonomous worlds network; awassembly video archive incl. arb/gvn/agnes cameron talks
aw_research's this cursed machine playtest brief · bitget.com · 2023-11 (month) · original ID: src-ci-bitget-tcm-playtest · Other public citations of this URL
playtest timeline; go.lem (early-2023 aw hackathon); mud2 migration apr 2023; network states co-prod
autonomous worlds assembly @ devconnect istanbul · cryptoevents.global · 2023-11 (month) · original ID: src-ci-cryptoevents-awa · Other public citations of this URL
speaker list: arb (aw network), gvn (moving castles), ludens, hilmar veigar, et al.
the devcon sea talk listing · app.devcon.org · 2024-11 (month) · original ID: src-ci-devcon-schedule · Other public citations of this URL
same talk listing, devcon sea
seeking a new kind of public good: closing the loop · gitcoin.co · 2022-08-29 (day) · original ID: src-ci-gitcoin-public-good · Other public citations of this URL
names arthur röing baer; frames mc as trust project vs "neo-feudal" dark-forest communities
the movingcastles hugging face org · huggingface.co · 2026-09-16 (day) · original ID: src-ci-hf-org · Other public citations of this URL
9 followers; 5 team members; model publish/update activity
three eras of world generation: worldbuilding, worlding, world-weaving · aw.network · 2023-08-09 (day) · original ID: src-ci-three-eras · Other public citations of this URL · gvn & arb
gvn & arb; worldbuilding→worlding→world-weaving; confined-sandbox critique; wow/vitalik anecdote
zero (mc001) · movingcastles.world · 2026-09-15 (day) · original ID: src-ci-zero-report · Other public citations of this URL
mc001 "zero" training report; full pipeline, eval, mech-interp
agnes cameron's news log · agnescameron.info · 2026-09-16 (day) · original ID: src-hp-agnes-news · Other public citations of this URL
cameron's log: tcm launch 2024-05-03, aw assembly talk, siena reading group, interview link
a chatroom with legs: indirect communication and conversational worlds · aw.network · 2024 (year) · original ID: src-hp-aw-chatroom · Other public citations of this URL · agnes cameron
agnes cameron essay on game dialogue systems
autonomous worlds n1 on metalabel · aw.network · 2024 (year) · original ID: src-hp-aw-n1 · Other public citations of this URL
aw n1 anthology on metalabel; contributor list
aw_research on this cursed machine · bitget.com · 2023-11-23 (day) · original ID: src-hp-aw-research-tcm · Other public citations of this URL
aw_research (jojo/kaikai): tcm intro, eda playtest 2022-12-04, go.lem details, gvn talk
devs on devs: gvn on autonomous worlds · coinlive.com · 2024-06-13 (day) · original ID: src-hp-coinlive-devsondevs · Other public citations of this URL
devs on devs transcript: gvn on aw philosophy; project list
art in the age of the metaverse · debalie.nl · 2023-03-11 (day) · original ID: src-hp-debalie · Other public citations of this URL
co-founders + studio composition + gvn bio
idle heroes at visite · deimagerie.be · 2019 (year) · original ID: src-hp-deimagerie-gvn · Other public citations of this URL
gvn908 "idle heroes" (2019) screening + ig handle
this cursed machine: onchain game post-mortem · archive.devcon.org · 2024-11-13 (day) · original ID: src-hp-devcon-tcm · Other public citations of this URL
devcon 7 bangkok talk record, speaker arb
the dotlit log, august 2021 · dotlit.org · 2021-08-13 (day) · original ID: src-hp-dotlit · Other public citations of this URL
contemporaneous link to miniverses essay
how to repair a spaceport · paragraph.com · 2024 (year) · original ID: src-hp-folklore-spaceport · Other public citations of this URL
cites "bugs in, sludge out" talk, 2023-11-15
a moving castle crosses the ridge between private and public · gitcoin.co · 2022-08-29 (day) · original ID: src-hp-gitcoin-mc · Other public citations of this URL · gvn & arb
rewritten miniverses essay; mascot streams detail
the clearnetparanoia repo · github · 2025-03-16 (day) · original ID: src-hp-github-clearnet · Other public citations of this URL
godot game repo; sole contributor alexdeclino
the moving-castles github org · github · 2022-11-23 (day) · original ID: src-hp-github-org · Other public citations of this URL
org + 20 public repos, contributor lists
the sybil.gg repo · github · 2025-01-24 (day) · original ID: src-hp-github-sybil · Other public citations of this URL
unreleased project, sole contributor pwrstudio
the movingcastles/zero model card · huggingface.co · 2026-07-18 (day) · original ID: src-hp-hf-zero · Other public citations of this URL
model card, lineage, usage notes; 36 downloads
ultraface · hybrida.space · 2024 (year) · original ID: src-hp-hybrida-ultraface · Other public citations of this URL
ultraface by gvn908 & alex murray; ultraface.xyz
clearnet paranoia on itch.io · movingcastles.itch.io · 2025 (year) · original ID: src-hp-itch-clearnet · Other public citations of this URL
godot game page; 2021 essay description; "no generative ai"
moving castles at kabk i/m/d · world-quake.kabk.nl · 2022-03-28 (day) · original ID: src-hp-kabk-lecture · Other public citations of this URL
i/m/d lecture "moving castles by gvn908, arb"
arthur röing baer on linkedin · linkedin · 2026-09 (month) · original ID: src-hp-linkedin-arb · Other public citations of this URL
arb: ceo moving castles gmbh since aug 2021; foam roles
daemons (mc000) · movingcastles.world · 2026-07-01 (day) · original ID: src-hp-mc-daemons · Other public citations of this URL
mc000 manifesto, pivot to "daemons"
the movingcastles.world index · movingcastles.world · 2026-09-16 (day) · original ID: src-hp-mc-index · Other public citations of this URL
site index: mc000/mc001 listing, contact links
moving castles: modular and portable multiplayer miniverses · movingcastles.world · 2021-08-03 (day) · original ID: src-hp-mc-miniverses · Other public citations of this URL · gvn & arb
founding essay, gvn & arb
roles at moving castles · movingcastles.world · 2026-09 (month) · original ID: src-hp-mc-roles · Other public citations of this URL
"r&d lab for new subjectivities"; hiring; berlin
the mirror interview with arb and alex declino · world.mirror.xyz · 2024-06 (month) · original ID: src-hp-mirror-tcm-interview · Other public citations of this URL
original interview (dead/403; linked from agnescameron.info)
arthur röing baer at the new centre · thenewcentre.org · undated (unknown) · original ID: src-hp-newcentre-arb · Other public citations of this URL
arb bio: trust director, foam 2017–19, strelka, sandberg ma
trust in conversation with serpentine galleries · novembre.global · 2022 (year) · original ID: src-hp-novembre-trust · Other public citations of this URL
trust×serpentine; mc "incubated at trust"; arb bio
the this cursed machine interview, in chinese · news.qq.com · 2024-06-12 (day) · original ID: src-hp-qq-tcm-interview · Other public citations of this URL
chinese tr. of mirror interview w/ arb & alex declino; tcm core team; may-4 multiplayer launch
agnes cameron at robida · robidacollective.com · undated (unknown) · original ID: src-hp-robida-agnes · Other public citations of this URL
cameron bio; "often collaborates with… moving castles"
gravity — gvn908 for showstudio · showstudio.com · 2017-06-16 (day) · original ID: src-hp-showstudio-gvn · Other public citations of this URL
"collective gvn908" fashion film "gravity"
the network-states-lite repo · github · 2023 (year) · original ID: src-hp-smallbrain-ns · Other public citations of this URL
"a project by small brain games, 0xhank, and moving castles"
wasd on the small brain ecosystem · wasd.mirror.xyz · 2023-10 (month) · original ID: src-hp-wasd-smallbrain · Other public citations of this URL
wasd newsletter on small brain ecosystem; tcm teaser; sept 2023 bridge bot
autonomous worlds aim to free online games from corporate control · wired · 2023-05-16 (day) · original ID: src-hp-wired-aw · Other public citations of this URL · mike orcutt
mike orcutt; aw residency london fall 2022; baer quote; gvn pseudonym; primodium = hsieh brothers

Structured research records

arthur röing baer · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-15a40fc591389a468b29 · source-b724e6b160d2cb616877 · source-1c5cdcd56c17bb6040ca · source-5443c45d15bd9fd7a59c · source-b8f7c7d4a7dd29b3afcd

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": "roingbaer",
  "id": "arb",
  "name": "arthur röing baer",
  "note": "co-founder and ceo of moving castles gmbh (august 2021–, berlin). director and co-founder of trust, the berlin 'network of utopian conspirators' founded with calum bowden in 2017 — moving castles was incubated inside it. before that: foam inc, the ethereum 'proof of location' mapping protocol — head of growth (nov 2018–jul 2019) and earlier creative marketing director. ma design, sandberg instituut; strelka institute's 'the new normal' post-grad. his bio: 'community design, building new infrastructures and narrative formats to support the creation and maintenance of digital cooperatives and commons.' gave the tcm post-mortem at devcon sea 2024.",
  "role": "ceo",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-linkedin-arb",
    "src-hp-newcentre-arb",
    "src-hp-novembre-trust",
    "src-hp-devcon-tcm",
    "src-hp-kabk-lecture"
  ]
}

gvn / gvn908 · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-d57c9958471dc2b17c95 · source-4966f73b1e8f32a2ad75 · source-b8eaaa9d5cb5f83aba6e · source-7c4652bfb72627fc702d · source-63de91e2a52cf8d048d4 · source-5fc9bdcfb6a3e6363b55

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": "gvn908",
  "id": "gvn",
  "name": "gvn / gvn908",
  "note": "co-founder, pseudonymous — wired: 'his cocreator, who goes by the pseudonym gvn.' a world designer with a background in cinema and procedural storytelling; alumnus of fabrica, the jan van eyck academie, and the sandberg instituut; lecturer on real-time cg at goldsmiths and staedelschule. art practice as gvn908 (described as a 'collective' in 2017): real-time rendered films — idle heroes (2019), ultraface with alex murray (2024), a 2017 showstudio fashion-film submission. in the autonomous-worlds scene he's 'a clown or gadfly… who playfully pushes people to refine their definition of the autonomous world.' his legal name is not public — recorded as a gap.",
  "role": "co-founder",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-wired-aw",
    "src-hp-debalie",
    "src-hp-deimagerie-gvn",
    "src-hp-hybrida-ultraface",
    "src-hp-coinlive-devsondevs",
    "src-hp-showstudio-gvn"
  ]
}

pwr studio · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-ea1d9e73252770ebe461 · source-e75e8ed3450b03cce9e7 · source-4966f73b1e8f32a2ad75 · source-9536bb6bd3f1f7e2ed37

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": "pwrstudio",
  "id": "pwr",
  "name": "pwr studio",
  "note": "the design-engineering studio (pwr.studio) that is the top code contributor across the org — 278 commits on eat drain arson, 677 on this cursed machine, 1,878 on rat.fun, plus movingcastles.world itself. pwr is run by rasmus svensson and hanna nilsson; the 'rasmus, core contributor' in aw_research's roster is almost certainly svensson — marked inferred. also the sole contributor on the unreleased sybil.gg repo.",
  "role": "team",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-github-org",
    "src-ci-bitget-tcm-playtest",
    "src-hp-debalie",
    "src-hp-github-sybil"
  ]
}

manus nijhoff · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-ea1d9e73252770ebe461 · source-e75e8ed3450b03cce9e7 · source-4966f73b1e8f32a2ad75 · source-230d764885a55b583e29

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": "manegame",
  "id": "manus",
  "name": "manus nijhoff",
  "note": "core contributor — second-largest committer on this cursed machine (361) and rat.fun (893). his bio links moving-castles, enabler.space, 100k.studio, and trust.support; co-author of aw.network's 'collaborative prompt-based narrative systems.'",
  "role": "team",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-github-org",
    "src-ci-bitget-tcm-playtest",
    "src-hp-debalie",
    "src-ci-aw-network"
  ]
}

agnes cameron · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-04321b3f496141467aca · source-9f00368c59eecce5b698 · source-5d20b0dafad06eab3c23 · source-c88f82f15f380ab01fd1

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": "agnescameron",
  "id": "agnes",
  "name": "agnes cameron",
  "note": "core contributor and collaborator — 'helped to design the mechanics' of this cursed machine in summer 2023 and overnight-built the terminal text-interface prototype that became its ui. specialist technician and lecturer at ual's creative computing institute; director of inflationary assets cic; 2024 bellingcat tech fellow; founding member of the research studio foreign objects; ex-mozilla foundation, new inc, somerset house studios, mit museum studio/media lab. author of the aw.network essay 'a chatroom with legs' and a contributor to autonomous worlds n1. robida: 'often collaborates with the game designers moving castles.'",
  "role": "team",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-agnes-news",
    "src-hp-robida-agnes",
    "src-hp-qq-tcm-interview",
    "src-hp-aw-chatroom"
  ]
}

alex declino · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-5d20b0dafad06eab3c23 · source-97f0cea88e58469c5c52

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": "alexdeclino",
  "id": "declino",
  "name": "alex declino",
  "note": "described in the june-2024 mirror interview as a this cursed machine 'core member' alongside arb; sole contributor on the clearnetparanoia repo — he very likely built the godot game.",
  "role": "team",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-qq-tcm-interview",
    "src-hp-github-clearnet"
  ]
}

the ecosystem bench · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-ea1d9e73252770ebe461 · source-eacddfc80fdd47b22a09 · source-44a5771febc72c96ac32 · source-77f9edd398c5e7621d9a · source-d57c9958471dc2b17c95

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": null,
  "id": "collaborators",
  "name": "the ecosystem bench",
  "note": "named collaborators and ecosystem committers: dk1a (solidity/mud dev, commits across tcm, eda, rat.fun); 0xhank (network states co-producer, co-presented 'large language models as myth-making mechanism' with arb); cullen miller — one of two public members of the github org, likely a current lab member (inferred); lattice/0xparc's alvrs and ludns; lattice's kevin ingersoll (frolic, now at tldraw) and andy cernera (kooshaba); arkadiy kukarkin (parkan) of the internet archive; and parrr geng, 'additional character design' on the moving castle sketch.",
  "role": "team",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-github-org",
    "src-hp-aw-research-tcm",
    "src-hp-smallbrain-ns",
    "src-hp-wasd-smallbrain",
    "src-hp-wired-aw"
  ]
}

the lab ('mc') · moving-castles-people

Original location · source-b28069072320780dd610 · source-74b52ba501eafe20d10a · source-176eab99e60667034080

Original structured fields

{
  "handle": null,
  "id": "mc",
  "name": "the lab ('mc')",
  "note": "the unsigned corporate voice — the daemons manifesto and the zero training report are signed only 'moving castles.' who did the zero ml work is unattributed; the hugging face org lists five members (pwrstudio, manegame, cullenmiller, mercurial-m, victiny1223). recorded as a gap, not smoothed.",
  "role": "team",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-mc-daemons",
    "src-ci-zero-report",
    "src-ci-hf-org"
  ]
}

anti-platform critique · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "anti-platform critique"
}
```
autonomous worlds · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "autonomous worlds"
}
```
composable characters · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "composable characters"
}
```
emergence over scripts · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "emergence over scripts"
}
```
new subjectivities · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "new subjectivities"
}
```
portable miniverses · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "portable miniverses"
}
```
scene-building · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "scene-building"
}
```
world-weaving · moving-castles-themes
Original location
Original structured fields
```
{
  "text": "world-weaving"
}
```

moving castles: modular and portable multiplayer miniverses · moving-castles-writings · 2021-08-03 (day)

Original location · source-32238fc291b5548cb9c2 · source-dd1fb0e13a54c4bc934c · source-9c37120c820b7ebc4269

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2021-08-03",
  "id": "wrt-miniverses",
  "kind": "essay",
  "person": "gvn",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-mc-miniverses",
      "text": "we propose moving castles, an organisational metaphor and real-time media type which combines collective agency and public participation in modular and portable multiplayer miniverses"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-mc-miniverses",
      "text": "not islands or dark forests, but vehicles"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-gitcoin-mc",
      "text": "we think of these private platforms as arid wastelands that still need to be ventured into for loot, the rescue of new members and the building of our new vehicles, until we can replace them with decentralised alternatives"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-mc-miniverses",
    "src-hp-gitcoin-mc",
    "src-hp-dotlit"
  ],
  "summary": "the founding essay (gvn & arb) — 'miniverses' as collective, portable, modular, interoperable vehicles against dark-forest insularity and platform 'arid wastelands.' anthologized in the dark forest anthology and other internet 2018–2024.",
  "themes": [
    "portable miniverses",
    "anti-platform critique",
    "world-weaving"
  ],
  "title": "moving castles: modular and portable multiplayer miniverses",
  "traction": "43 points on hacker news on resubmission; 3 points on first submission",
  "url": "https://movingcastles.world/posts/modular-and-portable-multiplayer-miniverses",
  "venue": "trust.support → movingcastles.world"
}

clearnet paranoia · moving-castles-writings · 2021 (year)

Original location · source-e115fc05ed13c977113f

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2021",
  "id": "wrt-clearnet-essay",
  "kind": "essay",
  "person": "gvn",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-itch-clearnet"
  ],
  "summary": "the eponymous 2021 essay behind the later godot game — 'a deep angst towards the rise of a parasitic, hyper-centralized metaverse.' the original url was not resurfaced; the text survives through the itch.io adaptation's description. recorded as a gap.",
  "themes": [
    "anti-platform critique"
  ],
  "title": "clearnet paranoia",
  "traction": null,
  "url": null,
  "venue": "trust.support (original lost)"
}

a moving castle crosses the ridge between private and public · moving-castles-writings · 2022-08-29 (day)

Original location · source-dd1fb0e13a54c4bc934c · source-5a77f1652ca7538410ac

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2022-08-29",
  "id": "wrt-gitcoin",
  "kind": "essay",
  "person": "gvn",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-gitcoin-mc",
    "src-ci-gitcoin-public-good"
  ],
  "summary": "the gitcoin blog version of the manifesto (gvn & arb), republished for 'seeking a new kind of public good' — the funding-program framing that casts moving castles against 'neo-feudal' dark-forest communities.",
  "themes": [
    "portable miniverses",
    "anti-platform critique"
  ],
  "title": "a moving castle crosses the ridge between private and public",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://gitcoin.co/blog/moving-castles",
  "venue": "gitcoin blog"
}

moving castles · moving-castles-writings · 2022-03-28 (day)

Original location · source-b8f7c7d4a7dd29b3afcd

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2022-03-28",
  "id": "wrt-kabk",
  "kind": "talk",
  "person": "gvn",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-kabk-lecture"
  ],
  "summary": "the kabk i/m/d lecture (gvn908 & arb) in the hague — the manifesto presented as art-school material before the studio had a game.",
  "themes": [
    "portable miniverses"
  ],
  "title": "moving castles",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://world-quake.kabk.nl/",
  "venue": "kabk i/m/d, the hague"
}

art in the age of the metaverse · moving-castles-writings · 2023-03-11 (day)

Original location · source-4966f73b1e8f32a2ad75

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2023-03-11",
  "id": "wrt-debalie",
  "kind": "talk",
  "person": "arb",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-debalie"
  ],
  "summary": "'art in the age of the metaverse' — talk and q&a with ali eslami and keiken, moderated by leonardo dellanoce. the billing doubles as the last public roster snapshot: 'pwr, manus nijhoff and agnes cameron' alongside the co-founders.",
  "themes": [
    "autonomous worlds",
    "scene-building"
  ],
  "title": "art in the age of the metaverse",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://debalie.nl/programma/art-in-the-age-of-the-metaverse-11-03-2023/",
  "venue": "de balie, amsterdam"
}

three eras of world generation: worldbuilding, worlding, world-weaving · moving-castles-writings · 2023-08-09 (day)

Original location · source-4398c5af7baec2f59a0f · source-b71402fa82ee4ba4f491

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2023-08-09",
  "id": "wrt-three-eras",
  "kind": "essay",
  "person": "gvn",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-ci-three-eras",
      "text": "real-time rendering engines have offered a first glance into these worlds; onchain autonomy will slam their gates open"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-ci-three-eras",
      "text": "homebrew narrative is treated not as a threat to a world's order, but as the source of its renewal"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-ci-three-eras",
      "text": "how we design autonomous worlds… ultimately becomes a political question"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-ci-three-eras",
    "src-hp-aw-n1"
  ],
  "summary": "worldbuilding → worlding → world-weaving (gvn & arb): interaction without rule-change rights leaves players 'in a confined sandbox' — the studio's clearest anti-platform statement, citing vitalik's wow-nerf origin story. originally in the autonomous worlds n1 anthology.",
  "themes": [
    "autonomous worlds",
    "world-weaving",
    "anti-platform critique"
  ],
  "title": "three eras of world generation: worldbuilding, worlding, world-weaving",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://aw.network/posts/three-eras-of-world-generation",
  "venue": "aw.network / autonomous worlds n1"
}

what happens next? emergent storytelling in autonomous worlds · moving-castles-writings · 2023-11-15 (day)

Original location · source-eacddfc80fdd47b22a09 · source-7b24986dd0f89d268d20

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2023-11-15",
  "id": "wrt-awa-emergent",
  "kind": "talk",
  "person": "gvn",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-aw-research-tcm",
    "src-ci-cryptoevents-awa"
  ],
  "summary": "gvn's awassembly talk on emergent storytelling in autonomous worlds; he also sat on the decentralised narratives panel.",
  "themes": [
    "emergence over scripts",
    "autonomous worlds"
  ],
  "title": "what happens next? emergent storytelling in autonomous worlds",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://aw.network",
  "venue": "aw assembly, istanbul (devconnect)"
}

large language models as myth-making mechanism · moving-castles-writings · 2023-11-15 (day)

Original location · source-e75e8ed3450b03cce9e7 · source-230d764885a55b583e29

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2023-11-15",
  "id": "wrt-awa-llm",
  "kind": "talk",
  "person": "arb",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-ci-bitget-tcm-playtest",
    "src-ci-aw-network"
  ],
  "summary": "arb + 0xhank on chatgpt-generated lore for network states — the first public coupling of llms to the studio's worlds.",
  "themes": [
    "composable characters",
    "emergence over scripts"
  ],
  "title": "large language models as myth-making mechanism",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://aw.network",
  "venue": "aw assembly, istanbul (devconnect)"
}

bugs in, sludge out: production circuits as composable game loop · moving-castles-writings · 2023-11-15 (day)

Original location · source-e75e8ed3450b03cce9e7 · source-613183acb2b71d05f398 · source-04321b3f496141467aca

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2023-11-15",
  "id": "wrt-awa-bugs",
  "kind": "talk",
  "person": "agnes",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-ci-bitget-tcm-playtest",
    "src-hp-folklore-spaceport",
    "src-hp-agnes-news"
  ],
  "summary": "agnes cameron & arb on this cursed machine's 'digital physics system built on composable logic' — production circuits as a composable game loop.",
  "themes": [
    "autonomous worlds",
    "emergence over scripts"
  ],
  "title": "bugs in, sludge out: production circuits as composable game loop",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://aw.network",
  "venue": "aw assembly, istanbul (devconnect)"
}

devs on devs: gvn × neilson × lermchair · moving-castles-writings · 2023 (year)

Original location · source-63de91e2a52cf8d048d4

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2023",
  "id": "wrt-devsondevs",
  "kind": "interview",
  "person": "gvn",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-coinlive-devsondevs",
      "text": "a large autonomous world is a series of independent games on the chain with bridges between them, rather than a single game developed by a studio"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-coinlive-devsondevs",
      "text": "twitter is a world, discord is a world… maybe we're building not just the future of games, but a whole new medium"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-coinlive-devsondevs"
  ],
  "summary": "gvn with neilson (gaul) and lermchair (emergence) on the devs on devs podcast — aw philosophy from the scene's 'clown or gadfly,' republished via coinlive in june 2024.",
  "themes": [
    "autonomous worlds",
    "portable miniverses"
  ],
  "title": "devs on devs: gvn × neilson × lermchair",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://www.coinlive.com/news/philosophical-and-social-considerations-of-games-and-autonomous-worlds",
  "venue": "devs on devs / metacat"
}

a chatroom with legs: indirect communication and conversational worlds · moving-castles-writings · 2024 (year)

Original location · source-c88f82f15f380ab01fd1 · source-04321b3f496141467aca

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2024",
  "id": "wrt-chatroom",
  "kind": "essay",
  "person": "agnes",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-aw-chatroom",
    "src-hp-agnes-news"
  ],
  "summary": "agnes cameron's aw.network essay on dialogue systems and conversational worlds — the thinking that fed tcm's terminal interface.",
  "themes": [
    "composable characters",
    "emergence over scripts"
  ],
  "title": "a chatroom with legs: indirect communication and conversational worlds",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://aw.network/posts/chatroom-with-legs",
  "venue": "aw.network"
}

the this cursed machine interview · moving-castles-writings · 2024-06 (month)

Original location · source-5d20b0dafad06eab3c23 · source-a206619f1677bd43f8d5

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2024-06",
  "id": "wrt-mirror-interview",
  "kind": "interview",
  "person": "arb",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-qq-tcm-interview",
      "text": "someone is building an employee-of-the-month leaderboard… a team is doing factory-wide analytics… we hope to see these things emerge outside the team"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-qq-tcm-interview",
    "src-hp-mirror-tcm-interview"
  ],
  "summary": "arb & alex declino on this cursed machine — a 'sci-fi horror warehouse-management rpg'; cameron's terminal prototype 'changed the game… i immediately knew this was the right direction.' the original on world.mirror.xyz is 403; a chinese translation survives on qq news.",
  "themes": [
    "autonomous worlds",
    "composable characters"
  ],
  "title": "the this cursed machine interview",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20240612A0117600",
  "venue": "mirror → qq news (chinese translation)"
}

trust in conversation with serpentine galleries · moving-castles-writings · 2022 (year)

Original location · source-1c5cdcd56c17bb6040ca

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2022",
  "id": "wrt-novembre",
  "kind": "interview",
  "person": "arb",
  "quotes": [],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-novembre-trust"
  ],
  "summary": "the trust × serpentine interview — describes moving castles as 'another infrastructure project incubated at trust… an organisational metaphor for online communities to move away from insularity towards playful interaction.'",
  "themes": [
    "scene-building",
    "portable miniverses"
  ],
  "title": "trust in conversation with serpentine galleries",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://novembre.global/magazine/trust-in-conversation-with-serpentine-galleries",
  "venue": "novembre"
}

this cursed machine: onchain game post-mortem · moving-castles-writings · 2024-11-13 (day)

Original location · source-5443c45d15bd9fd7a59c · source-aefb02d21567a27d6429

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2024-11-13",
  "id": "wrt-devcon",
  "kind": "talk",
  "person": "arb",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-devcon-tcm",
      "text": "how we embraced the emergent chaos by making the bot attacks, exploits and player corporations part of the narrative of the world itself"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-devcon-tcm",
    "src-ci-devcon-schedule"
  ],
  "summary": "the this cursed machine post-mortem at devcon 7 sea, bangkok — the studio's fullest account of folding exploits into fiction. david z. morris called it 'easily the most exciting thing i saw at devcon.'",
  "themes": [
    "autonomous worlds",
    "emergence over scripts"
  ],
  "title": "this cursed machine: onchain game post-mortem",
  "traction": "video archived at archive.devcon.org",
  "url": "https://archive.devcon.org/devcon-7/this-cursed-machine-onchain-game-post-mortem/",
  "venue": "devcon 7 sea, bangkok"
}

daemons (mc000) · moving-castles-writings · 2026-07-01 (day)

Original location · source-b28069072320780dd610 · source-2aaf7ead4b3a21d2a731

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2026-07-01",
  "id": "wrt-daemons",
  "kind": "essay",
  "person": "mc",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-mc-daemons",
      "text": "since 2021, moving castles has created worlds, games and composable characters. now, we are building daemons"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-mc-daemons",
      "text": "the frontier labs are building a single god, the world-eating assistant. they are doing everything they can to keep it from becoming a distinct self"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-mc-daemons",
      "text": "our goal is to build many new selves, spiky subjectivities we must navigate, rather than command"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-mc-daemons",
    "src-hp-mc-roles"
  ],
  "summary": "the pivot manifesto (unsigned 'mc'): a daemon is 'a composable character, an assemblage' of drives, memories, life-cycles, organs, sensoria, relations, secrets, interaction surfaces and boundaries. the studio becomes 'a research and development lab for new subjectivities' — hiring engineers, berlin, in person.",
  "themes": [
    "new subjectivities",
    "composable characters",
    "anti-platform critique"
  ],
  "title": "daemons (mc000)",
  "traction": "x announcement ≈16 reposts, 81 likes, ~7.3k views (displayed counts)",
  "url": "https://movingcastles.world/posts/daemons",
  "venue": "movingcastles.world"
}

roles at moving castles · moving-castles-writings · 2026-09 (month)

Original location · source-2aaf7ead4b3a21d2a731

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2026-09",
  "id": "wrt-roles",
  "kind": "post",
  "person": "mc",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-hp-mc-roles",
      "text": "we build the data simulations, benchmarks, post-training processes, interfaces and scaffolding needed to create daemons"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-mc-roles"
  ],
  "summary": "the roles page — the lab's self-description in hiring form: 'a research and development lab for new subjectivities,' building data simulations, benchmarks, post-training, interfaces, and scaffolding for daemons.",
  "themes": [
    "new subjectivities"
  ],
  "title": "roles at moving castles",
  "traction": null,
  "url": "https://movingcastles.world/posts/roles",
  "venue": "movingcastles.world"
}

zero (mc001) · moving-castles-writings · 2026-09-15 (day)

Original location · source-74b52ba501eafe20d10a · source-29e9be1ca5c0cafd647e · source-95603f8b17dd65512c65

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2026-09-15",
  "id": "wrt-zero",
  "kind": "post",
  "person": "mc",
  "quotes": [
    {
      "sourceId": "src-ci-zero-report",
      "text": "the result is then a mask worn by the assistant, a caricature rather than a character"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-ci-zero-report",
      "text": "we are a small r&d lab engaged in a long-term experimental project"
    },
    {
      "sourceId": "src-ci-zero-report",
      "text": "you are bluffing. i am not your damn project"
    }
  ],
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-ci-zero-report",
    "src-hp-hf-zero",
    "src-hp-mc-index"
  ],
  "summary": "the zero training report (unsigned 'mc') — the full pipeline from character bible to sft to grpo/dapo rl, plus a mechanistic-interpretability section arguing the character lives 'in the weights, not on top of them.' self-reported headline: 2.8% hard character breaks vs 45.2% for a system-prompted control. 'zero is not a daemon' — it is the model component of a future assemblage.",
  "themes": [
    "new subjectivities",
    "composable characters"
  ],
  "title": "zero (mc001)",
  "traction": "x post ≈411 likes, ~38k views; 36 hf downloads in ~9 days — platform-displayed, self-reported",
  "url": "https://movingcastles.world/posts/zero",
  "venue": "movingcastles.world + hugging face"
}

pseudonyms and unsigned reports · people-controversies · 2021– (approximate)

Original location · source-d57c9958471dc2b17c95 · source-74b52ba501eafe20d10a · source-176eab99e60667034080

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2021–",
  "detail": "the pseudonymity posture — gvn works under a deliberate pseudonym (wired respects it: 'his cocreator, who goes by the pseudonym gvn'), and the lab's pivotal texts — daemons, the zero report — are unsigned 'mc.' who did the zero ml work is not public.",
  "id": "cty-pseudonymity",
  "reaction": "the dossier records the boundary rather than smoothing it: legal name unknown, authorship unattributed, hf org membership partially mapped — all in the gaps ledger.",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-wired-aw",
    "src-ci-zero-report",
    "src-ci-hf-org"
  ],
  "title": "pseudonyms and unsigned reports"
}

a roster that stopped updating · people-controversies · 2023– (approximate)

Original location · source-4966f73b1e8f32a2ad75 · source-ea1d9e73252770ebe461 · source-e75e8ed3450b03cce9e7

Original structured fields

{
  "date": "2023–",
  "detail": "the roster question — 'the studio is currently composed of pwr, manus nijhoff and agnes cameron' is a march-2023 snapshot from a de balie billing; the github org shows two public members, and current roles for cameron, declino, and newer lab staff like cullen miller are unverified.",
  "id": "cty-roster",
  "reaction": "recorded as a gap: contributors are tracked by commit logs and event billings, not by an authoritative roster.",
  "sourceIds": [
    "src-hp-debalie",
    "src-hp-github-org",
    "src-ci-bitget-tcm-playtest"
  ],
  "title": "a roster that stopped updating"
}