Bjorn

I'll bet they went and searched for trans-porn as soon as they were done editing Wikipedia. This was shitty, leaving it here only so Tegan's thoughtful response makes sense. An author on Slate argued this week that kink should be considered a sexual orientation. It's an awkward piece that even gets a bit insulting to a few groups, but I don't entirely disagree with it. I think it's at least worth asking if the traditional words we've used for sexual orientation are really broken (they are), and if there is a better way to approach it.

Link to the Twine thread if you want to check it out.

I saw that all backers could now download the current version, but I was still going to hold out until release and the called it complete (since it sounds like they are still doing bug patches and some balance stuff).

I don't disagree with that statement, and I personally favor overdisclosure versus underdisclosure. But I also think you can look at Patreon as subscription to a single artist's output, and that's a completely valid interpretation of the service. I understand people having other interpretations of it, and a different interpretation may reflect their experiences more accurately. Kind of continuing this thought more in depth in reply to: I'd say that's how you approach those services, but it's not how everyone approaches them. Personally, I think the same as you for some Kickstarters, and others I view as getting a product, even if the product that I view myself as getting is just the email updates and any game that materializes is a bonus. The Catlateral Damage KS campaign emails me pictures of the dev's adorable cats with each email. PLEDGE TOTALLY WORTH IT. On a serious note, the emails and videos from Neverending Nightmares really have been the product for me on it, as I've found getting a window into his experience and world completely worth the pledge. Oh, and the same goes for a board game I backed, watching them struggle and fight to get the thing printed has ended up being more of a product than the game itself (which still isn't here). For the board game and NN, their promise to update with certain insights into their process and experience was actually a significant reason I backed. My understanding of Patreon is that it comes with an expectation, or in some cases requirement, of a certain volume of work created. Some people have it structured as X amount per article/game/song/whatever, while others have it valued at X per month (Quinn is per month). But even that per month amount carries an expectation of a certain amount of work that will appear. Quinn does not guarantee, but says you can expect, on average about a game a month plus additional writings, videos, and jokes/gags. I would view subscribing to her Patreon as a subscription to her content, in the same way I might subscribe to podcasts where all/most of their content is free (like Maximum Fun, Dan Carlin or Dan Savage). A compelling argument could probably swing me some on this, but ultimately the point I'm making is that I don't think it's an automatic, clear cut case of being unethical simply by contributing to a Patreon campaign.

One of the routine accusations hurled at her is that at least a chunk of her footage is just taken from YouTube videos and uncredited. Which, so what, you don't have to play and record through the entirety of a bunch of games to provide good criticism of them. There are at least a couple of instances of her using uncredited fan art, which I do find distasteful, if for no other reason than you should always give credit to an artist even if you aren't legally required to. I'm more ambivalent about crediting the creators of LPs. Unless you are discussing something truly unique (the Spelunky eggplant run), or specifically addressing the creator's play or commentary, then it's really just background footage and not art itself.

Okay, so first, disclosure is often the single biggest thing a writer or publication need do. If you know the influences on a writer, you can make your own call on how much you trust what they are saying ("Publisher X took me on an all expense paid trip to fire a tank and look at strippers, I think their new game looks great!" "I gave Indie Dev Y $50 through a crowdsourcing campaign and believe that the game they are making is important for our industry."). Second, Kuchera is actually in the clear here in my opinion. Even if he didn't disclose. Because journalists buy games. Does every games journalist provide an excel spreadsheet of every gaming related purchase they make per year? Do they need to update reviews announcing that they bought the latest map pack for a shooter they enjoy? I don't think so, and you can make a pretty legit argument that's what Kuchera is doing with Patreon. Is there a difference between him buying every DoubleFine game that is released, and him paying for everything that Quinn releases for free? She provides the ability to directly pay her for all of the work she does as a pay-what-you-want model. If Kuchera just went and paid her $2 every time she produced something, would that need to be disclosed? He's automated a thing that he could do manually, that if he was doing manually, no one would criticize him for. To me, he doesn't have any more of an investment in her than any other gaming journalist who is a fan of a particular dev or franchise and routinely buys those products.

I want him to make it and to continue to be himself if only because he makes the trolls so angry, but I don't want him to suffer attacks and mental anguish just for that. Most people don't have whatever kind of sick personal psychology it takes to be a professional lightning rod for hate.

Definitely will, the bit of reading I did on it today made it sound easy to set up, and I watched a few youtube videos of people playing various games, and it looked like it worked well. I'm also curious if it might just make a good input for lots of non-FPS games. Like right now I'm playing a fair amount of Torchlight 2. I only use about 6 keys with my left hand, as anymore than that and I start making mistakes. The Nav has 8(?) buttons plus the analog stick on it. I can see me finding it more comfortable to hold something like that rather than have my hand hovering over a keyboard.

Almost 6 months after a young black man died from a gunshot wound in the back of a police car in Louisiana, the number and names of all the officers involved have not been released. The coroner's report was just released, and affirms the original police findings that it was a suicide, that the young man managed to shoot himself in the right side of his chest even while his hands were handcuffed behind him. The coroner affirmed the death as a suicide because the gunshot wound would have been physiologically possible to self-inflict. Officials say he was able to retrieve a hidden gun, even though he had already been searched twice, and the searches had resulted in finding small amounts of marijuana and cocaine. But not a handgun. No other information about the incident has been released, due to a "pending" investigation that has lasted 6 months (an investigation that only involves a handful of people, a very small crime scene and most of the people involved are easy to talk to, since they're cops). That's one thing that is not getting enough press on this, is how little information there is available about many police shootings. Documents, videos, and reports that would normally be available within weeks or a few months are never released, or released long, long, long after most investigations would have been wrapped up.

This is not a thing I knew existed. Next movie night selection made.

I saw that, and there are quite a few others as well. It's disappointing to say the least seeing that from the Times. The worst part is when the describe the way almost every single toddler acts, and then call him a "handful" for behaving exactly the way you expect a 5-year-old to behave.

I thought this was an Onion headline at first (it's slightly hyperbolic, but not satirical). College dudes worried that movement to take rape seriously is ruining their sex lives

It is the way it works, and it isn't always bad, but it is a system that tends to maintain what the dominant status quo is inside of an industry (mostly white males in your industry, then mostly white males benefit). It makes it harder for outsiders to break in even when the are equally or more qualified.

I literally just did. Had a $20 credit on eBay, ordered a Nav controller for $10.50 (shipped, new in box, these things are dirt cheap now) and a Bluetooth receiver for $7. For no real cost to me, definitely worth trying. Also slightly amazed I don't already own a bt receiver amongst my drawer-o-random-usb-shit.

My brain just made the MGS Spotted sound at you saying this. A quick google makes it look like it is possible. Will have to research more. Seems like it would be a more elegant solution than many I've seen.

This weekend, a white 18-year-old guy was shot and killed by Ottawa, Kan., police (this is about 40ish miles from me). His family says he had a history of mental illness, had attempted suicide that morning, had been held in a hospital for much of the day, but was then released. Three hours after his release, a confrontation with the police ended in his death. Family members asked to intervene during the standoff, but were prevented from doing so by the police. A 911 call said he had a gun, but the police haven't said and witnesses say they didn't see one. Family members are saying they never could have imagined this happening to them, and now they understand why the people in Ferguson are angry. The funeral for Brown is today. A bunch of places are livestreaming it. Which is...ugh, I don't know. It's good for people who can't attend and know the family, or have a real emotional connection. But it also feels gross to me, and that there is a voyeur element to it.

No love for father-mother?

The Orbweaver is the one they got me, and I tried it on a half dozen games and it just didn't feel right. You're right about the directional-nub/analog stick. What I really want out of something like this is movement on my left thumb with a quality analog stick, and that's not what this is designed to deliver. But not having ever used one, I didn't realize that.

I'll try to watch a bit of it later, not going to ruin a start to my Monday morning workday listening to something super negative. I am starting to wonder just how many crazy long manifestos Quinn has spawned though. That video linked another one in its description. Yeah, I'm not entirely comfortable with having the general ethics conversation in this thread, it ought to have a thread of its own.

My family got me one of those razer thingies for Father's Day this year, a keypad with like 16 keys and an analog stick. I ended up having them return it after a week or so. I appreciated the thought, but ultimately it wasn't something I could use. The biggest thing was the analog stick, it was significantly worse than any stick on any controller I've ever used. It also sat at a weird angle. Maybe there are better ones out there, but my first experience with one didn't impress me.

I'm impressed you made it through one. I've started a couple of the Sarkeesian ones, and couldn't get past the two minute mark. Also the Bane thing is hilarious, since the Bane in the movie was just a glorified puppet dancing on the strings of a mastermind evil genius woman. Can you link the video? If someone hasn't pointed that out to the guy, they should.

The background on officers just feels like it keeps getting stranger as well. The latest is about how the force that Darren Wilson started on as a rookie had so many problems, was so corrupt and considered so irredeemable that the city council eventually disbanded their own police force, fired everyone and outsourced policing to St. Louis County. I've never heard of a town just saying, fuck it, fire them all and start over with their police department. And at least some of those officers have ended up spread all over the metro area, as other departments were willing to take them on. To be honest, I hope it keeps going on, the protests and the digging, until something changes, until people can't pretend there aren't systemic problems that have to be addressed.

You weanies.

Good lord, they're already up to $1,250 a month just for giving updates on their progress. I hate everything.