clyde

New Oculus prototype: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2014/01/oculus-rift

My strategy changed significantly when I realized that step allows you to walk over occupied tiles.

I think of vampirism in the Elder Scrolls series as a allegory for addiction and withdrawl.

That sounds awesome.

I'm so glad you work with people that take care of you in spite of yourself.

I wonder if dream-sequences should count. Even the chronologically broken narratives of Gravity Bone and Thirty Flights of Loving seem somewhat related to me. Partial memory, confusion, and a sense of urgency are things I associate with some forms of intoxication. There was an instance of colors becoming very saturated and trailing in some game I played recently. I think it may have been GTA V. I thought it was pretty novel. I'd like to see a game where if your character is intoxicated, NPC's seem more intense. Maybe the environment and sound could reflect whether or not you are in their favor.

Ommegang's Dubbel is getting better. I'd still prefer a Chimay, but I am so high right now and I only drank 1. And I love this flavor!

I'm not sure how it happens, but I get all snooty about art. I start thinking that allegories must be either subtle or enormous in scope, in order to be worth my attention. I act as if thin veils are useless, failing to realize that a disguise you can see through subverts the objective of disguise, to reveal its essence when "success" is disregarded. I'm not even saying that Armada has thinly veiled metaphors; what I'm saying is that I have a tendency to judge content based on suspension of disbelief from the perspective of a character within the game. Though this can be a useful view, it's also a limited one. The metaphor of "forgetting how to play pretend" is overdone, but grown-ups tend to miss the point redundantly. It's not that the child can't demarcate fiction from reality, it's that they are capable of not being consumed and distracted by the craftmanship of the illusion. Naive-games like Armada and Galah Galah de-program me, even as my snobbery protects itself with increased levels of frustration. I compare it to the effect to Brion Gysin's cut-up poetry and psychoactive disassociatives. The process does not rip away the layer of illusion and replace it with a new one, it brings all illusion down to a level that forces me to admit that I am volunteering for any associations I make. Existential effort is involved. That's what I have to say about production value of naive-games, but there is much more to say about the mode of production for these games and what inherencies emerge. It's in this frame-of-mind that I interact with the PC game Armada and when I expose myself to it (or its walls funnel my interactions), Porpentine's world of swamp factories, MS Paint sprites, and idiosyncratic priorities create a space that I've never reacted to before. And let's be clear, the value is not that it is unique, but how it is unique. Porpentine made design decisions that are not controversial, so much as they are personal. Early game spoilers: End of game spoilers: I suspect that the essential-priority focus, short duration, and scarce assets have a part in bringing the details of the game into my consciousness as I play. I have no doubt that every side-quest and weapon-ornamentation in Skyrim is worthy of examination and extrapolation, but it's just easier to do in Armada with fewer things to distract me. That's valuable to me, especially if it has a residual effect. This shit is free.

This is one of the many reasons I hope to wander into the mountains during old-age, climb a tree, die, and be eaten by buzzards.

I've never considered running into other celebrity cave-dwellers before. Neat idea.

Taking jobs from a temp-agency can sometimes allow you to get your foot in the door.

http://storify.com/vanaman/to-be-reunited-with-your-killer-day-z-standalone-a?utm_source=t.co&awesm=sfy.co_eXKl&utm_campaign=&utm_content=storify-pingback&utm_medium=sfy.co-twitter

I watched the last episode of Master's Sun last night, I guess it's time to go back to real-life. It was nice that the ending didn't disappoint me, but I find myself wanting to hang out with the main two characters for a while longer. I know that the reality of that would be convoluted instances of one being in danger and the other having to urgently find them, but... I don't know, it was fun to be so distracted by the show for two weeks. Maybe there's some fan-fic.

The most successful I've ever been at hanging out with people was when my apartment was the crash-pad; everyone knew someone would be there. But now I am at a point in my life when I don't want to answer knocks because the only potential boon is the UPS delivery person, and I didn't order anything. I'm really jealous of people that go to church for this reason. Churches are places where people can just go to hang out without planning anything, and no one is expected to buy anything. But then churches have all sorts of weird bullshit rules so it's a no-go for me. I fantasize about having a gaming-lodge that is a modern day equivalent of an elks lodge or moose lodge.

I imagine that instead of asking "Should I have intent when creating this?", a more effective assertation is "I see an opportunity to express my perspective in the way I approach and solve this specific design problem; and I'm going to give it the love and effort it deserves."

I suspect that the thing which makes me an awesome person is the need to explain my perspectives and behaviors.

Why would Chris Remo's monogamey with Spelunky harm the podcast? Conceptually, it expresses my understanding of the podcast; a willingness to allow games to have their way with you; seeing where that goes.

I think that this is the year of Game of the Year.

Money has a tendency to fuck things up.

I'm glad that it is working for you Subbes. For me, a big part of my addiction was the oral-fixation. My solution was to carry water around with me everywhere I went and take sips as if I was taking drags. I still drink water constantly. My pee is rarely yellow.

Didn't take long for that cabal-bias to seep in.

I thought the question was simply "Why make games?" With some speculation as to what the answers may be. Are games made to change someone's perspective? Are games made to express one's own perspective? Are games made to be sold for currency? Are games made for the sheer enjoyment of creativity? The answer is yes for all of these. But the inquirer assigned additional significance to the idea that games may be able to change people's perspectives. Is it possible to change someone's perspective by making a game? Let's consider Sean's DayZ story in this context. In the game he was coerced into an increasingly vulnerable position. It seems to have affected him, not necessarily by changing his mind, but by expressing a circumstance in which he could test his perspective. I thought that his explanation of how some players are always on the hunt because it keeps them in an alert state, and his admission that it was a survival-strategy he could empathize with is a powerful argument that games have the capacity for meaning. Especially when you consider that here is a story of a victim associating the traumatic event with a survival-strategy rather than an individual. Plus, you have the antagonist looking at themself from te perspective if the victim and realizing that their's was only one of multiple relevant truths. Seems meaningful to me. So then we can consider what the artistic intention was. Did Dean Hall want to express that particular interaction? Maybe he just wanted to provide a medium in which it could take place. What about Sean? Why did Sean create a storify thing and report his experience? I ask because the results reminded me to see cause in behaviors and circumstances rather than blame individuals. It's not visually stimulating like rioting, but I would argue that it moves me a step closer towards achieving a just and compassionate society.

Today's run:

Is there anything that you have developed an appreciation for, in spite of all likeihood and now you can't convince anyone how awesome it is because they are not as fortunate? I mean... besides computer-games. My personal one that is on my mind is a specific thread of korean soap-operas. The chances that I would get into korean soap-operas was absurdly low, but through a lucky streak, everything lined up for it to happen. Fortunately, I know that you all have experienced this same phenomenon because you participate on Idle Thumbs. Evangelizing K-dramas is very similar to evangelizing games. Everyone already kinda has a symbol and opinion on the thing you are attempting to advertise, and that image is either completely wrong or wholly irrelevant. I have to admit that it's korean, because it has subtitles. I just lost %90 of the potential admirers. People are unwilling to read subtitles. But it's sooooo worth it. Then I have to explain that these are cheesy romances. Why would anyone want to watch a cheesy romance? I never enjoyed cheesy romances before k-dramas, how did this happen?! "So you are telling me that she can see ghosts, but she meets a rich, arrogant CEO who makes the ghosts disappear so she follows him around and they eventually fall in love? Why would I watch that?" -I KNOW!! But it's SOOO GOOD! "Wait, so you are telling me that the show is crap for the first 4 episodes, meaning that I will have to endure 4 hours of a crappy show until I get to a fifth hour that is actually good?" -YES! THAT is EXACTLY what I am saying! "So can't I skip the first four episode?" -NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT! You'll have no idea what is going on or why the fifth episode is so great. "But you can guarentee I'll like it?" -Of course not. It's super cheesy, filled with predictable tropes (which you may begin to learn to love the way you love inside-jokes) and the stories typically fall apart at the end and leave you disappointed. "Are you crazy?" -Yes! I got K-drama fever and there is only one cure for fever! MORE FEVER! "He sure does like grabbing her wrist and dragging her around, that's kind of offensive." -Yeah. I know. And then someone watches something like Heirs and they go "That show sucked." And you go "NOOOO! That's like the worst show you could have picked!" It's really similar to trying to get someone into computer-games. "How long do I have to run around and do stuff for people?" -This is the game, but after 5 hours, it gets really good -There's this game called Civilization 5 "I tried video-games. I'm not very good at them. And it was kind of boring." -what game did you play? "I think it was Pac-Man." -try Civ "What am. I trying to do?" -Spelunky is great! "This is hard, I die really fast." -You get better. "I have to start over?" ------------ It's so crazy that I ended up liking this stuff considering the quantity of barriers. And I did write this because I'm enjoying Master's Sun so much and I feel like I'm in the show and I can't wait til I get to watch another episode tonight, but I am curious if any of you have interests which are simularly impossible to communicate. Ones that you can't understand how you lucked into them yourself.

You are basically saying that this website is better than GTAV. I used to like Objectivergamerreviews.com, but lately it has been giving me a strong hipster vibe. I'm surprised they gave it got such a high score without having any lesbians in it. But I can't say that without being called a bigot.