Problem Machine

This is why I try to present as completely anonymous online a lot of the time -- not anonymous in the sense of 'without name', but more 'without origin', presenting little information as to what I am like in person. I suppose probably, when presented with anonymity, a lot of people sub in the 'default' cishetwhitedude, but I try, as much as is possible, to structure the circumstances so that people will read whatever I say without that kind of bias. I doubt I actually achieve anything that way, but I still prefer that distance as a matter of taste. Unfortunately it doesn't work well for writing, where letting people into your mind and life is kind of hard to avoid, so it's really a pretty flimsy presentation layer. This is purely selfish, but one of the reasons I support feminism is because until we dismantle these systemic privileges it will be impossible to know which accomplishments stem from merit and which stem from systemic advantage. I am a ridiculous person, but the same part of my brain that hates playing a top tier character in a fighting game hates the fact that the world probably takes me more seriously for my pasty complexion and wang.

I accidentally rated this thread 2 stars. The window was in the background and I clicked on it and the part I clicked on was a rate for two stars. It was an accident and I can't rerate for a different number of stars. I suspect now that this is how threads usually get rated. I didn't actually hate this thread. Pls don't ban me for accidentally rating your thread two stars.

Animal platformer? You should play Kero Blaster! I haven't played it yet because I'm broke like always, but I hear it's the bee's knees and/or elbows. Disregard if it turns out you've talked about playing it before and I just forgot, since that's also possible.

. This sounds really interesting! Is it up somewhere I could look at it?

One achievement for each, so you have to play the game twice, thus adding replay value. "It took me 120 hours to play to completion! 10/10"

I think people feel a bit leery around the term hero for the same reason reviewers don't like to give anything 100%. Being a hero is something to be aspired to and never really achieved, perhaps... But it's really just what the word means to you, and I think that varies from person to person.

I don't know if I'd call anyone my hero, but there are definitely people I look up to a lot. If the criteria is "someone you want to be like," well, like Rxanadu I really just want to be a better version of myself. I guess the closest thing would be those people who helped shape my idea of what that ideal self would be. The first name that comes up for me is Kurt Vonnegut, who was a huge influence on my overall worldview. I respect my parents a lot. The lectures of Jon Blow and discussion of Idle Thumbs really solidified my idea of approaching games critically, analytically, and emotionally. I don't know, there are so many small but vital influences that make up a world view, it feels almost insulting to pull out a few of them as though they're fundamentally different, but yeah.

It would have been a much, much better ending without that goddamn epilogue. Some authors are their own worst enemies.

Just gonna throw this out there

Yep that is totally what he said. You are obviously an intellectually honest person arguing in good faith.

I'm not making any personal accusations, largely because I don't give a shit. I'm just saying that there's a perfectly legit reason to be wary of accounts with low post counts, and it's not an e-peen thing necessarily to bring that up. That said, if his posts had been less inflammatory, no one would have brought up the post count in the first place.

The issue is obviously that people register accounts just to bitch about something without any genuine interest in engaging with a community. Post count doesn't mean much, but below a certain level it's a red flag for that type of account.

Why kill you when you're already dead to language?

I think there have been quite a few knife attacks in China recently, actually.

It's not that it's offensive, though I can certainly see how some might find it so, but that it's reductive and distracts attention away from more substantive exploration. No one's claiming that it's out of line to say he was mentally ill: He obviously was. The problem is if you just throw up your hands and say "well he was just crazy" as though that's all the explanation needed.

Seemed like Merus explicitly pointed out that a lot of countries have guns in their post. I do think that the US has much more of a cultural narrative of justified violence than other countries do, and I worry sometimes about the role that games play in forming this narrative (though it long predates them). I don't know, this is just my impression, and I don't have a lot to back it up at the moment.

Whichever makes you happier

Regarding the MRA/PUA stuff, my concern at this point, now that a fleshlight has been shown on these subcultures, is that people are going to drill down on them as The Problem rather than a symptom of the problem. Misogyny, gender expectations, virgin-shaming, etc, may be values that are exemplified by these groups, but they weren't founded there, and are really just extreme examples of omnipresent social pressures. I worry that, now that this is starting to get acknowledged by the news outlets, the understanding is going to be "THIS IS WHAT MISOGYNY LOOKS LIKE", making it even more difficult to understand the extent to which it defines our society, far beyond the bounds of any particular subculture. This is pretty close to the popular misconception of racism, where racists are Bad Guys, obvious villains, and are motivated entirely by hate, granting onlookers license to ignore the more minor instances of racism that pervade the narrative of our culture.

The Silent Hill 2 of animal-pun themed video games. Possibly even the Citizen Kane of the Silent Hill 2's of animal-pun themed video games.

I think it's possible, and in this case intended, for something to be both dumb and likeable/funny. Baboo.

Even if he was a psychopath, the way it manifested itself into a violent rampage, the justifications used for him to get there, that still matters. Even if he was a psychopath, there are still people posting comments saying that it's women's fault this happened because they wouldn't fuck this kid. Even in cases of extreme and violently-manifested mental illness, the dialogue of rage and entitlement that turns it into a rampage has to come from somewhere.

I keep weird hours due to un/self-employment and a naturally tendency to fall into a 25-hour sleep cycle, so there's no... PARTICULAR time that works well or poorly for me.

Blazing Saddles is fantastic, everyone knows that

At some point, personally, I decided that relationships just weren't something I cared enough about to pursue. One of those things that I filed away in my mind as 'it would be nice', but never actually put any effort towards. I realized at some point that if it was something I wanted, I would have to actually work on it... and decided I didn't feel like it. I think it was a valid decision, but that doesn't stop me from occasionally feeling like an outcast by society's standards.