#and i have that other mod that enables more people on community lots

[simolemons]

Dani's been working hard lately so I decided to let her have a fun night out at the only lounge in Sunset Valley, Velvet Lounge. Sadly, it seems that no one is interested in partying at that time, as Danielle and the bartender are the only ones in the place.

She still had fun, though.

Too much fun.

[royalarchivist]

Tubbo just did a Q&A for his newly announced Realm SMP!

Here are some key takeaways and highlights from it:

Tubbo emphasized that the "team" behind Realm is just himself and Tangofrags. It's a chill server so friends have a sandbox to tell stories, do lore, and have fun.

Tubbo: "I just wanna have fun with my friends, dude. I'm not trying to be the big 'bringing communities together guy'. I just wanna play with my friends. That's a lot of pressure." (57m 12s into stream)

These are the initial 25 players, but he plans to add more people in the future, and he already has 5 people in mind to add for the next event.

There is NO mod pack! Realm SMP is vanilla, it's just custom texture packs and plugins.

There are no set DND classes, but people can use their skill points to unlock certain things on skill trees and build their own classes. Realm SMP won't be 100% accurate to DND.

Tubbo hopes to have an event every week, but he reminds people to "manage their expectations" because he's only one guy – he can't do events like Purgatory because he doesn't have a massive team like Quackity had for that.

[ Continued ↓ ]

—

He has a 6 month timeframe in mind, but if the server fizzles out in a month, then it fizzles out in a month. Realm SMP will last as long as people play it!

There's no plans for an in-game translator because it's expensive and also Tubbo "doesn't want to step on Quackity's toes" :(

Lore is dependent on what the people on the server do, he likes more freestyle flowing RP.

There IS a life system! Players have 3 lives, but it's only "semi-hardcore" because other players can craft an item to bring people back at 1 life. When a player dies, their stats are set to 0 and they go into spectator-mode. When they're revived, they are brought back at 1 life with all their stats back.

The Nether IS enabled, but the End isn't enabled yet because Tubbo wants to make a cool custom boss fight.

There's no big team behind the server, it's just Tubbo and Tango helping him with some things he might not understand (however, he has a team he wants to use for the New Year Event he has in mind). He may look into getting some admins to help enforce rules.

Tubbo says he's happy to do anything himself, but if people really want to be an admin, it'd be voluntary like a Twitch mod kind of deal. (He already has a team of people he goes to for admin stuff, it wouldn't be random people being admins). However, he says if his merch does well, maybe he can get 1 or 2 people to help.

Tubbo says he's been overwhelmed by the amount of support it's received so far, but he's a bit nervous too.

He says the Realm SMP concept came to him in a dream.

Realm SMP will have proximity chat.

Events won’t be all PVP-based because he wants people to enjoy the events even if they aren’t a huge Minecraft player.

The only two banned items are mending books and elytra, which will be tied to future events (elytra can be won in one event).

An hour before the server launches on December 5, he'll be showing off more features.

Please note that many details will likely change / be clarified / updated by Tubbo at a later date!

Check out this post for the rest of his Q&A and more details.

[vicsims3]

Welcome to Riverview Reimagined - A complete overhaul/redo of Riverview as you know it!

" Riverview is a flourishing riverfront town with a diverse population nestled in the beautiful rolling countryside. The town was founded by the Harrington family some 200 years ago, and it has since grown significantly and begun to truly flourish, with a great sense of community. This is the ideal small, yet lively town to call home for a variety of reasons, including stunning panoramas from nearly every angle, a wide range of activities to do and sights to see, and interesting individuals to meet. Riverview is undoubtedly a remarkable town! "

WARNING:

The world may be laggy at times and take a while to load, depending on your computer specifications, but then again, The Sims 3 is a rather poorly optimised game.

Here are some general 'stats':

103 lots in total

55 residential lots (7 empty)

48 community lots

150 sims (including NPCs, role sims & animals)

30 households

This world has been PLAYTESTED by 5 other people, so no major issues should occur when playing this world, at least not any issues unheard of when generally playing this game.

REQUIRED:

ALL Expansion Packs

RIVERVIEW (Free)

Since it is somehow not possible to include the bridges and distant terrain in the exported world, that metadata will not show up and you will need to download them and place them in your mods folder to appear in-game. Technically, these are not required, however, without them, parts of the town will not look very good. Luckily simsample on ModTheSims has our backs! Get them HERE

Scroll to the bottom of the page and download the following 2 files:

Bluefunk_Riverview_Bridges_InGame.package.zip

Bluefunk_Riverview_DistantTerrain_InGame.package.zip

Then, simply place them in your packages folder within your mods folder. If you do not have a mods folder, please refer to THIS easy tutorial.

They should show up in your game now.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED:

NRAAS MODS

NRAAS Mods are essential to a smooth, significantly less buggy game, as they assist in dealing with errors and things that cause performance issues in-game. - NRAAS Master Controller - NRAAS Overwatch - NRAAS Errortrap - NRAAS Register (optional) - NRAAS StoryProgression (optional)

HERE is a fantastic, in-depth explanation video of the NRAAS mods and what they do/how they work by the lovely acottonsock

FOR CAMPGROUND I could not find a way to place functional tents on the campground without them disappearing once the world was exported. There are a few workarounds, though.

1.) Simply type in the cheat "buydebug" and look for the tent/s that come with World Adventures. Purchase it for your sim, have them manually place it in their inventory, and from there you can place the tent/s on the campground for your sims to use. Alternatively, you can use the tents that come with Island Paradise, found in the miscellaneous part of the comfort section in buy mode. Do the same as instructed above and place the tent/s on the campground.

2.) Download this mod that enables the World Adventures tents from buydebug. In Edit Town, edit the campground and navigate to the community objects icon in build mode. From there, click on the infinity sign to load all community objects and rabbit holes. HERE you'll find the unlocked tents. Place them on the campground and they should be functional once you enter live mode.[I used the first option, "Tents as Community Objects"]

(NB!!! IF YOU INSTALL THIS MOD BEFORE LOADING THE WORLD, FUNCTIONAL TENTS WILL SHOW UP ON THE LOT.)

I'm really sad that I couldn't include the tents already, but I tried several different methods and none of them worked.

The world is populated, with 30 households in total, but there are plenty of houses available for purchase, as well as 7 empty lots.

CHANGES MADE TO THE WORLD ITSELF:

I manually replaced and added trees individually. It's a bit cluttered, but more lush, especially in the area around the campgrounds.

I manually replaced all the roads, intersections, and sidewalks. Credit goes to GrandeLlama

Added a small bay in the lake into which the river flows to add a campground with a pier.

Swapped the bridge near the campground with the green one found in Twinbrook.

Small changes and additions to some sidewalks.

Some lots were added and/or changed.

Some street addresses changed.

Other minor details.

~ I really wanted to add ghosts to the cemetery and some other lots, especially to add to the lore, but unfortunately it is not possible when exporting a world through CAW.

~ Most of the interior tips and tricks I used to make custom furniture/unique decor were my own, but for a few of them, the credit has to go to the wonderful and talented @theplumdot.

DISCLAIMERS/ISSUES:

~ I had several issues with the apartment lots but managed to fix most of them, except this one... The apartments are set to 'EP09 Apartments', which I accidentally set and even if I changed them to regular residential, they reverted back. This means roommates will appear after a while, but BEFORE you move your sims in, you can fix this by going into Edit Town, clicking on the lot, and changing it to 'Regular Lot'. If roommates still show up, you can cancel roommate services by clicking on your sim's phone and going to 'Real Estate and Travel Services'. Also, choosing where to move your sims in, two apartment lots in the central town area will be available for rent that is actually occupied and will add the existing sims as roommates. The only unoccupied apartment in town is the "Midview Apartments".

~ Some female sims have the weird two-tone blue and green lipstick from Into The Future for some outfits, mostly swimwear. I have no idea why this happened, but I tried multiple times to get rid of it but it keeps showing up again.

~ Pretty much all of the sims have gloves for their outerwear. I have this glitch where even if I remove them, they somehow show up again. Hey, Riverview gets cold in the winter!

~ The female butler, Arasha Shreshta's face goes all EA's "pudding face" when she is in her career outfit, but normal/the way I made her in her normal outfits. I have no why idea why this happens.

~ Some role NPCs might get stuck in the apartment buildings, but a simple reset should fix them. I've tried several workarounds to stop this from happening but to no avail. This tends to often occur in Bridgeport and would generate NRAAS "Unroutable Sim" popups.

~ Upon loading the world (no fly-in, unfortunately I'm not that technically inclined), you might notice the household thumbnails taking a while to load and pets showing up pitch black, it's just a simple graphical issue.

~ Most of the big houses are quite expensive, which I apologise for. I'm quite the perfectionist and detail is very important to me, which means it doesn't take much for my builds to become quite pricey.

CREDITS & THANK YOUS

Testers:

ShanFindsPixels YOUTUBE / TWITTER

@cowboysimmer YOUTUBE / TWITTER / TWITCH

@plantyl-m TWITTER / INSTAGRAM

Z_C0SM0 (Zach) TWITTER

MorningDew YOUTUBE / TWITTER

A special thanks to @theplumdot (YOUTUBE / TWITTER) for inspiring me to always try new things with builds and interiors and for the support!

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

If you want to install the .sims3pack version, simply click on it and install it through the launcher. Alternatively, if you wish to bypass the launcher, you can install the .world file by placing it in the Worlds folder within your root Sims 3 directory, and depending on what platform you play from, it will differ;

For Origin/EA App it will be 'ProgramFiles(x86)/OriginGames/The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/NonPackaged/Worlds'

For a disc/retail installation, it will be 'ProgramFIles(x86)/Electronic Arts/The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/NonPackaged/Worlds'

For Steam, it will be 'ProgramFiles/Steam/steamapps/The Sims 3/GameData/Shared/NonPackaged/Worlds'

If you encounter any issues with the installation, like the world not showing up in-game, please contact me on Twitter.

↓ DOWNLOAD ↓

IF YOU DOWNLOADED THE WORLD BEFORE MAY 24TH 2023, THERE IS AN UPDATED VERSION WITH MULTIPLE FIXES, MAINLY THE ISSUE WHERE EXISTING DOUBLE BEDS WERE UNUSABLE. LINKS ARE UPDATED.

Alternatively, you can fix this issue with the old version by installing the NRAAS SleepFreedom mod, although it does not apply to existing saves with the old version, unfortunately.

- (.sims3pack) SFS - (.world) SFS

MIRROR: - (.sims3pack) DRIVE - (.world) DRIVE

I hope you enjoy it! My amazing friend ShanFindsPixels made a world overview on his YouTube channel, please go show him some love!

[alexpilgrimblog]

Clove Lane Residential Rental

OK so finally finished 😅 I mean... I could go on fiddling forever with this lot but hey, I'm happy enough with the result. A residential block in San Myshuno with an art gallery and center, a bar, a Tomarani eatery, a cafeteria, a café, a community greenhouse, a kid's play area, and a little marketplace for your Sims to make some extra cash. Oh, and a spa. 6 rental units, 5 apartments with 2 bedrooms and one bath each, unfurnished except for the bathroom and kitchen, and a townhouse, unfurnished. Download and more info under the cut.

To make the "community" venues functional you can use either the Auto Employee mod by @littlemssam or this mod by @down-in-simsland, both work great, it's up to your preference. Littlemssam's is more flexible, you can allow or disallow the NPCs as you wish, and it gives you the option to hire massage therapists and a busker (and a caterer since the apartments have a stove and a fridge, haven't tested it but if your Sim hates cooking why not?). On the other hand DISL's is specifically designed for residential rentals and will bring more Sims to your lot, and the NPCs work on a realistic schedule. And if you don't like using mods you can still hire any NPC for 100$ (I haven't tested if this mod works on residential lots).

Conversely you could add a venue to a residential unit and use Littlemssam's Live in Business mod.

I know, so many options LOL!

The art gallery includes the Street Gallery item for your painter Sims to sell their work, and the room in the back is a little community art center with an easel and a woodworking table. Sims with the wellness skill can also earn money by giving massages at the spa (I tried giving a yoga class but nobody showed up but I guess it works if your Sim invited a few people over?) There's also a sales table and a HCH food stand in the outdoor area at the back, and a greenhouse with a flower arrangement table, tough I can't promise your neighbor won't steal your crops...

I think that's about it. Oh, disclaimer: Sims are dumb, they'll order food at the diner and eat it in the bar, or if they have the neat trait they might want to clean all the dishes on the lot 🤷🏼‍♂️ I recommend disabling autonomy, but still, that's how it is... also the lot and unit names won't "stick", hope that get fixed at some point.

The lot costs 230.916$ and is 30x30, I placed it on the Waterside Warble lot, but the Old Salt House lot is the same size.

I think I must have used items from every single pack out there, and remember to enable MOO before placing. Have fun!

DOWNLOAD tray files, or at the Gallery, EA ID alexpilgrim

[sims2functionalfinds]

what are the best ui mods or modernization mods that add useful qol features or general gameplay improvement from s3 and s4 to sims 2 in your opinion?

I don't use any UI mods, I've always preferred the Sims 2 UI to any of the other games. The other color schemes tend to hurt my eyes, I find a can play longer with the Sims 2 blue

I use the 3t2 Traits Project and feel that it adds some nice character work to my game, I can randomize traits for Sims then use them for inspiration in how I play them. Downtown Build/Buy Mode enabler will let you get into a Sims inventory on community lots so they can bring food and stuff on outings, the Bon Voyage update is on this page and works with all EPs

@midgethetree made playable mermaids, ghosts, and genies, and a bunch of other mods to expand game play, especially with the supernatural sims

Squinge has mods that are worth looking through, although some are out of date or have been incorporated into the Traits project. Lamare's page on Mod The Sims has a bunch of cool stuff: More Lifetime Wants, the Gardening Overhaul, and Job Options are some of my favorites. Simler90 has a ton of mods, I use the Toy & Games and Business mods. Numenor has a mod to let Sims sleep on Community lots and various people have done Community Skilling mods. I use a lot of Cyjon's mod, they haven't been active in a while and and sometimes other Simmers update their mods but the original site is still worth going through

@episims has some mods that add features to in game stuff like Biotech station and sunlamps. BSTU made a ts3 style Cooking System but I haven't used it

There's a massive amount of Sims 2 mods because the game has been around for so long, and everyone has different mod needs because we all play the game differently. The best advice is to find a few modders you like and go through their stuff, they usually talk about other mods they like which will help you find more modders that fit your game style

[darkumage]

Welcome to Greenwood !

GREENWOOD - V2

If you live in Greenwood, that has to mean you are something other than human, insane or even both. With its dense forests, crystal blue ponds and eclectic architecture, the town has the kind of bizarre charm that puts a spell on anyone who steps on its ground. For centuries, it has been a sanctuary for people who had been cast away from their homelands. But is it really such a quiet and peaceful place ? What kind of secrets do the inhabitants have ? Is it true that people were murdered ? Why are alien spaceships drawn to the town so much ?

You will find out as you play the neighborhood. It's ✨a mess✨.

Most of the Sims have some kind of tie to the supernatural, either being a supernatural Sim themselves, extremely into the supernatural, extremely against the supernatural or having had to deal with the supernatural at some point.

The hood just needed some changes, such as a more coherent architecture, less terrible community lots and less trees, because the neighborhood deco in V1 caused quite a lot of pink soup and crashes for some people with less powerful computers or who used an enlarged viewing distance in lot view with disabled fade distance. If you still experience pink soup, maybe try LazyDuchess's experimental fix or lower your lot skirt size / enable the fade distance.

WHAT IS IN THE HOOD ?

If you still have v1 and you've had that save for a while, then you don't need to delete it and grab v2, of course.

The hood has :

16 playable families and 4 bin families.

77 lots : 32 community lots, 38 residential lots (16 occupied, 22 empty), 3 apartment lots with 4 slots each, 2 buildable lots and 2 hidden lots.

Completely re-done hobby lots, to include stuff from all the expansion packs and with some stuff that made me go "WTF" removed (main hood only).

INSTALL INSTRUCTIONS :

• For the main hood, place the GRWD folder into your [Your Name] / Documents / EA GAMES / The Sims 2 / Neighborhoods folder. • For the subhood, place the SGWD folder into your C: / Program Files (x86) / EA GAMES / The Sims 2 Ultimate Collection / The Sims 2 Open For Business / TSData / Res / NeighborhoodTemplate folder.

REQUIRED MODS :

MidgeTheTree's Child Lycanthropy mod. Not having it won't break the game, but it will cause graphic glitches.

DOWNLOAD LINKS :

Main Hood : https://simfileshare.net/download/3698483/

Subhood : https://simfileshare.net/download/3698616/

THANKS

Many thanks to all the people who gave me feedback during development and after the release of v1, on Discord and MTS. Y'all are really amazing ^^

Stay tuned, because I am working on some pretty big stuff that will be revealed... someday, I don't really know, but I can't wait to show that to y'all. All I'm going to say is : if you like futuristic stuff, TS1's Magic Town and if, like me, you had a Monster High/Ever After High phase at some point, you may like what's coming next.

[wildpeachfarm]

Idk maybe I’m stupid but can someone explain it to me like I’m 5 years old how Hannah has enabled or how her audience has pushed TERF ideas or rhetoric? Because it’s the one place the dots are not connecting for me every single time this conversation gets rehashed. I think it’s fine to disagree with how she’s acted in all of this, but it feels like taking what could just be called shitty or annoying and turning it into a moral issue when it doesn’t really NEED to be one to claim she or her audience are acting like TERFs. I just would like to hear one explicit example of how this is the case. Because I just cannot see how it’s “TERF-y” for a woman who has spent years facing immense levels of misogyny to make the decision to distance herself from friends who potentially victimized another woman which looks extremely horrible on the surface, even if her decision was made suddenly and under pressure. Whether she regrets it or not is not relevant to it; it just feels like an extreme lack of empathy to take how she reacted while under a microscope to a situation that looked horrible at first glance and claim it’s her pushing harmful ideas. Especially when she deleted most of her original tweets about it anyways and has not spoken on it since. And I don’t even mean this as hate, I am just genuinely asking. Because I don’t necessarily love her distancing herself either, I just also don’t see the reason to keep harping on her about it or making it into some huge moral issue where she is in the wrong when it does not have to be one. And especially when other women involved from the sidelines have done the same or more than her. Sometimes we can just say behaviors are shitty or nasty and leave it at that.

ehhh honestly that's not even a part of that ask that I was hard agreeing with and that's also just anons opinion, but also I myself wouldn't even go as far as to say "terf rhetoric enabler" (because I don't agree with that) but more so just concerned that she could be attracting a bad crowd in her fanbase unintentionally that some people wish she became more aware of.

last time i talked about this i was getting yelled at to hell and back and being purposefully misunderstood as claiming she was somehow creating a terf army in her fanbase which...let me be crystal fucking clear I AM NOT SAYING OR EVEN IMPLYING. Nor am I saying that her actions in response to the gogcident are somehow fueling terf ideologies. Not saying that at all and please don't think or claim I am saying that.

However, recently a decent amount of people have seen an increase in people in her fanbase (even some that she interacts pretty frequently with) start speaking using terf and specifically radfem phrases (notably during and right after the gogcident) which was raising some red flags for people who are either fans of hers or on the periphery. Now, I've said before that of course hannah probably does not know this and it's not her job to do a background check on everyone she follows on twitch and interacts with on twitter (that is just a ridiculous expectation). However, I think that when you speak a lot about feminist issues, etc. (all very important topics to discuss!) sometimes terfs and radfems just come into your community because they think you are all talking about the same things and have the same ideology. But, as your community grows and as that portion of your fanbase starts concerning people, I think it could be good for CCs to at least be aware of it. Personally, I have more issue with certain fans than with hannah herself but I do think some of her mods are shitty and she needs to stop it with the idea that "any friend of hers that makes a big mistake is no longer a friend" because that's just not going to hold up for very long in the real world.

As per her reaction to the george situation: yeah it was incredibly shitty and honestly I think she could have been fine waiting a bit before making responses because her quick jumps to conclusions (and shooting friendly fire at sylvee in the process) without talking to anyone involved first was a very foolish thing to do and disappointed a lot of people.

I feel like a broken record for constantly having to say this but I get that these female CCs want to do good by the women in the gaming space, i get it. But sometimes they make impactful mistakes and publicly react to situations poorly and I will say that about any cc who I think makes a poor call, guy or gal. I will always have empathy for people reacting badly to initial news dropping like this because I don't know what these people have gone through in their lives, but what I don't have as much empathy for is people immediately broadcasting their initial emotional thoughts all over twitter and then backpedaling when they realize they were being too extreme or emotional. I have criticized Dream for that, and I will criticize Hannah for that.

And you're right not everything needs to be a moral discussion! I don't really agree with people that are trying to heavily mix these two discussions because I honestly don't think they really coincide that much anyway.

I will never say her reaction is "terf-y" because it's just not. These are two separate discussions in my mind so to put them together in that way just isn't something I necessarily will agree with. And I've said this probably 10 times at this point, that I have never once said Hannah intentionally fueling terf/radfem rhetoric in her fanbase. I'm saying it's a somewhat inevitable byproduct of being a large female CC who speaks on feminism and misogyny on the internet. It happens to tiktokers, youtubers, other streamers, etc. This is not a hannah specific issue but people in the mcyt see it with some of her fans because she's simply just a larger female CC so of course her fans are more easy to spot. (same logic on a larger scale applies to the few bad apple dream stans that get the spotlight because of how popular dream is)

Hopefully this makes sense, it is nearly midnight for me right now so I am very tired but I wanted to answer this as thoroughly as I could because it's always an important distinction I want to make and I hate being misunderstood.

[csmeanerr]

For the love of god don’t post if anon fails but with regards to the creative red stuff I see where they’re coming from with pronouns. As a trans person myself I get verbal abuse daily from my immediate family who use it/its pronouns to degrade me because they think being transgender is “bullshit made up by people online” and just a phase I’m going through. I’ve had psychiatric appointments, medical counseling and therapy, and even had a psychiatric report diagnosing me with gender dysphoria among other mental illnesses to prove this is actually affecting my daily life.

When my psychiatrist talked to my parents about family counseling to help them understand my trans identity, my parents took me away from the psychiatrist for “enabling my delusions”. They throw out my opposite gendered clothing, they constantly raid my room looking for anything I’m hiding, and they make it a point to antagonize me by using the wrong pronouns because “if you’re not going to accept you’re born a girl and are a girl then you don’t deserve to be called anything.” Being referred to as it/its is incredibly dehumanizing and degrading and I don’t care if someone wants to be referred to that way, I don’t have it in me to strip a person of their status as a living being and demean them by addressing them like an inanimate object. It’s so uncomfortable and stressful and it feels awful.

I struggle heavily with nounself/emoji/neopronouns too because of my mental illnesses and learning disabilities since they break sentence structure and don’t flow properly or they have varying pronunciations/uses and it’s difficult to remember how things work. I wouldn’t interact with people either if I can’t address them in a way I can understand because if I mess up it’s going to be the end of my social life since me messing up is going to get me labeled as a bigot or a LGBTphobic jerk when I’m not. There is truth to them being rehashed “attack helicopter” memes too which ARE harmful to the trans community.

You might think your pronouns are easy to understand and not hurting anyone but that’s not true. They are. They’re not guaranteed to be easily understandable to every other person. You’re actually just complicating things more and giving other neurodivergent people an even harder time than they might already be having, which makes the situation and stress worse.

I’m sorry to add to this topic mod but this is a matter that personally affects me every day and it hurts a lot. I have a mental wellness clinic appointment in the new year to find a therapist and my family has already said they’ll call the cops and report my car as stolen if they believe I’m going to the appointment to discuss my trans identity issues or seeking aid with transitioning. The reason they think it’s all fake bullshit is because people claim being trans is a choice and they’ve seen the emoji/nounself/neopronouns and they don’t believe in it. My psychiatric report that I brought home was even shredded and thrown out because it used my preferred name and pronouns and thus was “filled with bullshit”. I know that I’m not the only one negatively affected by these things either.

post related

nope fuck off your issues does not allow you to invalidate other people and misgender them in turn. it/it may be dehumanizing to you but to someone else might be exactly what they want to be called, same as you want your own pronouns acknowledged.

the fact you go on an entire spiel of how much your family thinks you're full of bullshit and then turn around and say other's pronouns are "attack helicopter" memes is a bigoted take. in short it basically reads: my gender identity is valid but yours aren't

and you sure did type out that the only reason you hide these insanely awful takes is solely to keep your social standing and not that you actually give a fuck about changing your perspective because clearly you don't think other neurodivergents might experience themselves differently or deserve to be respected for those choices

every reason you brought up has been an issue for YOU that YOU are then making OTHERS put above their own validation for YOURSELF.

just fuck off. use people's fucking pronouns it's not that fucking hard to not be a complete shithead. the LGTBQA+ umbrella is larger than you think and you don't get to draw a line of what is or isn't under that umbrella. it's for all of us. stop being selfish.

[if-confessions]

As a writer and a reader, who has been around this community for the last three years, it has been crazy seeing the change in the if fandom as a community.

It used to be a positive environment for supporting independent game creators, but there is so much negativity against IF writers now. the readers are pushy, critical and demanding, expect games to cater to their exact preferences or be customisable to the point it might as well be a 'fill in the blanks' game instead of a narrative. IF writers are antagonistic towards each other, resentful of other creators success. There is a trend that when games/demos are successful, the authors become the target of attacks that seem to be looking for any excuse to take them down, and punish them for their popularity. The result is that a lot of games that are in the alpha stage / completed no longer use tumblr at all, which is a shame, because it was a unique opportunity for readers to engage and support an indie game creator.

I think the IF fandom really needs to do some soul searching on the type of environment it has created for indie game development / IF writing.

[I am assuming Anon meant the Tumblr/CoG scene of IF, as this is not a sentiment/trend shared by the overall IF community. Other scenes of IF don't care or even reject customisation "expected" here (doesn't mean they don't have their issues either).]

LOL, Anon. I was having an eerily similar conversation about the customisation the other day.

Communities do change overtime. As older members leave (because they don't enjoy the Thing-tm anymore, they don't have time for it, they don't like where the community is moving, they've been rejected by the community, etc...) and newer members arrive, the dynamics adapts to the current members. Sometimes it is for the better (more positive contacts, barring less-desirable members creating conflict from staying, etc...), sometimes it's for the worse (like in your message, attracting more problematic members or enabling the worst in people).

An issue with Tumblr that other communities may not have is how "decentralised" and lawless it is. Some groups may have guidelines/rules for interactions (resource blogs/authors asks rules), but you can't control all the members like you could in a Forum, for example. There is no Code of Conduct that limits what is and isn't acceptable (aside from the very board Tumblr CoC and even a lot of shitty things can be posted). There is no mods that can take down a post that will sent the community aflame (unless it is Staff bc the post was against their ToC/CoC). There is no consequences against bandwagon hate/harassment (even with the block button). So you end up with... well, this...

It would be nice if there was a bit more unity in the community, but that would require many people changing their behaviour and essentially stop being complete asswipes. And they are not the kind to stop shitting on others...

I'm pretty sure that a lot of those issue could be solved if people:

stopped being a dick in someome's dms/asks (should be a given, but damn are anons wild sometimes) <- like +75% of the issues would be gone with just this

would be respectful when sending messages/commenting (not making request, being pushy, etc...)

stopped following authors/projects not making them happy (that's a vicious cycle, easy to start hating on them...)

didn't put their problems and frustrations on strangers on the internet*

went outside to touch some grass (or take a break from Tumblr, it will do wonders!)

*This does not apply to the confession booth btw.. I'm talking reg accounts here. This applies to everyone, btw. You'd think this would be common knowledge to be decent to one another... but I guess not.

As a side note, to remind everyone that:

you do not have to have an open inbox if you don't want to

you do not have to have your dms open either

you do not have to allow anonymous messages

you do not have to answer every messages you receive or reply to every comment you get

you can trash any message you do not feel comfortable answering

you can delete comments/replies you do not feel comfortable with

(creator) you do not have to include every request readers make

you can block/unfollow users for any reason (or no reason)

you can block/report hateful anonymous messages

you can restrict reblogs/replies

you can change your mind at any time about accepting a kind of asks (like the NSFW ones)

you do not have to be on Tumblr every free moment you have

you do not have to interact with every post crossing your dashboard

Having boundaries is good, setting and voicing those boundaries is better, enforcing those boundaries is extra important.

Until then...

🤷

Now making a fill-in the blank IF would be a fun idea...

[old comments in tags: be the change you want to see i guess im just trying to stay silly here /]

Under the cut, some more rambling and wild assumptions about how we got here.

===> Increased entitlement in the community

Note: this is a generalisation. Not every reader is entitled, not every request is outrageous, and not every author is a pushover. We are talking about visible trends.

There's no denying that it has had quite the impact on the community and how games are set. Gone(-kinda) are the days with completely unique characters with a unique voice and its set path, hail the rule of customisation that inevitably becomes too overwhelming for any creator to keep track and complete the story. Is the "CoG expectations" the culprit, there? With the CoG to Tumblr exodus, yaknow...

But it must have started from somewhere to have those vocal entitled readers hounding creators for all this stuff, they can't have appeared out of nowhere! Twine games from the 2010s were not chokefull of customisation...

Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if it all started with some minor request for customisation, which was accepted by the author, which may have made other readers realise they too could have requests or expect the same kind of customisation in other project, and this snowballed into... *wave at the mess*, creating a vicious cycle of base customisation expectations (which are getting insane...), shunning pieces who do not fit those expectations, and still having more special requests*. *Honestly, the authors could just accept those request but as like paid content. Oh, you want more that will definitely fuck my whole timeline of planned work? Tip me like 100$ and I will...

At the same time, and this is an observation that has been accentuated with the kinds of asks I've gotten here, some authors have not helped the situation either. With people almost begging for interactions and notes or just to please the readers because they are interested in that stilly little project (or the pressure from blowing up, or before the idea is set in stone), some authors will seriously bend over and backwards for those requests, even if it means forgoing the OG plans altogether because it doesn't fit with the promised request.

Readers feels more empowered to ask -> there is a pressure to cater to readers to get interactions or the request has become part of the base expectations -> request is accepted, but author might feels resentful -> readers feels more entitled to ask -> etc...

or

Readers feel more empowered to ask -> the author refuses -> readers put pressure on the author because another one accepted it or iT Is cOmMon KnOwLeDge -> author feels resentful towards the community...

Which is kind of related to point number 2...

===> Numbers go up and Jealousy

Note about this point: I am not talking about the want to be seen by other people, to feel like your message has been heard, to have your presence acknowledged. That's what we are kinda all doing by putting our stuff out there.

Every time I get an ask about someone worrying that to do have enough traction on their project or get zero interactions and they have lost all their motivations or are resentful to newer projects blowing up*, I honestly struggle to see a positive future for this scene. It seems like everything is about notes and reblogs and how many followers you have and how many ratings you can get and how many asks you get and etc... *see the no demo discussion

What is supposed to be a hobby for 99% of us is turning into some ugly race to have the highest number of *wave again at things*, by tanking other creators rating average, manipulating your followers to boost your own, creating rumours about a project/author, sending hate anons, creating dumb drama, stealing/plagiarising whole ass games, etc... Just to be at the top and have the biggest number. Numbers, I feel like I need to point out, means absolutely nothing outside of this website (or even this scene of IF). I really don't understand this dumb race...

And it is so frustrating to see, because we should be hyping each other up, discussing each others fav games, being excited to see another voice join and create stuff. It's not like we have to all be the best of friends and blind ourselves from any misgivings. No, we should still be able to criticise constructively or call out bad behaviour. But the whole envy and jealousy* oozing from the community is really... bleh. *doesn't mean you can't be jealous/envious of someone else, I know I am. Just use those feelings creatively, not to put down yourself or others.

Same with the whole notes/interaction thing. Outside affirmation is great, it really is, and boy does it gives a nice boost to the ego and the energy levels to continue when you get some (especially when the other person is gushing about your project). But basing all your motivation to create on outside approval will lead to a lot of pressure to perform when you get it, despair and disappointment when you don't, and resentment when you see other get more.

===> Parting notes

Ugh... I spent too long on this shit. I'm going for a walk before I get more sad. Then, I'm coming back to play my friend's game and create something weird.

[sobriquett]

Dear Yuletide Author 2023,

Dear Yuletide Author,

What a wonderful time of year! Thank you for thinking about writing for me, I hope this letter is useful to you. Up here, you’ll find a bunch of stuff about general loves, likes and DNWs, both generally and for certain mini-challenges. Further down, there’s fandom-specific information and a handful of prompts for each fandom.

I am Sobriquett in pretty much all fandom spaces I use (here, AO3, Dreamwidth, Discord, etc.), so at least that should be easy to remember!

Please use as much or as little of this letter as you like. As a writer, I like to have all the information and so I want to make sure my writer has everything they might need, but the intention is absolutely not to overwhelm you with minutiae or to restrict you to these prompts. If you only get 5% in but the Lightbulb of Inspiration is flashing in your mind, then go for it! I hope you have a blast.

Treats are enabled and very welcome, including drabbles – I have high hopes of writing a few of my own. I am also open to IF or poetry.

You can also poke me if you’re looking for a beta reader in this fandom or any other fandom I’ve requested before. I will sign up in relevant places as I see them, or use the ask box or email sobriquett at outlook dot com.

If you still want more information, please look through previous letters using the tags at the bottom of this post. (I've requested everything except Boston Legal before.)

I don’t have any major triggers – I’d just avoid or Alt+F4 any of my DNWs, I wouldn’t be harmed by them –  so you’re probably safe with most darker ideas, even if I haven’t explicitly opted in. However, because I do love darkfic but we’re generally a thoughtful community, by all means ask through the mods if you have an idea but it’s on the edge of the commonly acceptable and you’re not certain. Also, anything canon-typical/canonical/canon-appropriate will almost certainly get a thumbs up, except my DNWs.

Also, please don’t feel obliged to be unrelentingly positive about any or all of these characters. I am happy to read you poke at their hypocrisies, selfishness, resentments, poor decisions or unkind thoughts as appropriate. Characters don’t have to be perfect, even our favourites; people certainly aren’t.

(I spend a lot of time in disability advocacy spaces and, as the person I'm usually caring for will say, "disabled people can be arseholes too". It turns out I really want to read nuanced, imperfect disabled/neurodivergent characters being arseholes with agency who are occasionally called out by the people who know and love them; who knew? Three of my requested fandoms contain canonically disabled/neurodivergent/otherwise physically or mentally impaired characters, and I am 100% on board if you want to headcanon something for the women of The Godfather too.)

DNWs for All Fandoms and Challenges

Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics | Anyone being called “Daddy” in a sexual context | Bestiality | Body Horror | Gore | Medical Experimentation | Mpreg | Mutilation | Non-Canonical Amputation | Sadism | Scat | Torture | Vore

(Note: Nobu has canonically lost an arm and Rochester has lost a hand and I would love fic to explore or consider that – it’s more that I don’t want characters losing limbs “on-page”, so to speak.)

General Likes and Loves

5+1 Times | Alternate Endings | Angst | Backstory | Banter/Bickering | Bittersweet | Canon Compliant | Canon Divergence | Character Death | Character Death Aftermath | Character Study | Class Differences | Coming of Age | Competence | Complicated Sibling Relationships | Cultural Differences | Dark Fic | Debt & Financial Pressures | Despair | Disabled Characters | Domesticity | Different Worldviews | Enemies to Friends/Lovers | Epistolary | Examining Societal Issues | First Meetings | First Time | Fix-It | Fluff | Found Family | Friends/Lovers to Enemies | Grief/Mourning | Grumpy Character/Sunshine Character | Historical Details | Humour | Hurt/Comfort | Last Time | Laws of Magic | Living Up/Down to Expectations | Long-Distance Friendship | Marriage of Convenience | Miscommunication | Missing Moment | Obeying Canonical Boundaries (Social/Cultural/Moral) | Outsider POV | Parent/Child Relationships | Pining | Platonic Intimacy | Politics & Intrigue | Poor Life Choices | Post-Canon | Pre-Canon | Pregnancy & Babies | Presumed Dead | Protectiveness | Redemption | Religious Elements | Reunions | Romance | Sad Endings | Secret Relationships | Uneven Power Dynamics | Unexpected/Unlikely Friendship | Unreliable Narrators | Whump | Worldbuilding

Crueltide Likes

Apocalypse | Betrayal | Character Death | Character Death Aftermath | Claustrophobia | Conspiracy | Debt & Financial Pressures | Degradation | Disease | Dubious Consent | Dystopia | Fire | Forced Marriage | Gaslighting | Hauntings | Humiliation | Hypothermia | Infertility | Miscarriage/Pregnancy Loss | Murder | Paranoia | Poisoning | Prison | PTSD | Shame | Suicide | Terminal Illness | Unhappy Endings

Yuleporn Likes

Biting/Marking | Bondage | Canon Compliant/Historically Appropriate (esp. period fandoms) | Desperate Sex | Dirty Talk | Dubcon | Edging/Orgasm Delay | Fingering | First Times | Fisting | Foreplay | Hair Pulling/Touching/Playing | Last Times | Loss of virginity (either/both/all partners) | Oral (any/all combinations/intensities/setups) | Porn with Feelings | Power Imbalance (Physical or Social/Financial/Other) | Restraint/Held Down | Rough Sex | Semi-Public Sex | Sensual Details | Vanilla Sex

Honestly, I am up for near anything that feels like it fits into the canon context, would be in-character(-ish) and isn’t on my DNW list. Bonus points for anything I haven’t thought of that is really contextually appropriate!

-----

Fandoms in alphabetical order to avoid the impression of favouritism!

1. Boston Legal

Requested characters: Any Tag set characters: Alan Shore | Denny Crane | Jerry Espenson | Katie Lloyd

I watched this series for the first time this year and I really enjoyed it. There are certainly elements that haven’t aged well, and some things that are unfortunately still far too relevant, but I was so delighted by it overall. This is a first-time request this year, so this section is a little thinner and my thoughts a little more disorganised than for other fandoms!

I am interested in any or all four of these characters, and in any combination of & relationship between them, or perhaps Jerry/Katie, and but let's talk a little more about Alan~/~Denny:

Alan and Denny’s relationship was remarkable. I am 100% here for that queerplatonic dynamic – the sleepovers, the platonic intimacy, the complete joy of their friendship and their reliance but not dependence upon one another (although of course that dynamic may shift as Denny’s illness progresses). They have so many differences and yet such consistent and open love for one another. And then they get married, and it makes sense. Oh, my heart.

I would love to see more of this relationship, either during canon or post-canon. (I haven't seen The Practice, so references there will go over my head, but pre-canon is cool too!) They’re both so aggressively, offensively heterosexual that I think it would be a tough sell for me to believe in a sexual relationship here, but an incredibly intimate friendship with occasional romantic overtones where they are unambiguously the most important person in each other’s lives? Yes please. We should all be so lucky. Dysfunction also welcome.

I’m not sure Jerry’s character is 100% okay by today’s standards, but I related to so many of his quirks and tics and I rooted for him right from his first appearance. I felt a physical pang when Alan was deliberately cruel to Jerry to knock him off-balance when they were on opposing sides and I’m glad it wasn’t immediately dismissed. Equally, I was delighted when Katie stood up to Jerry when he was “using” his issues to avoid his problems or to play the victim when things were within his abilities to address.

Katie is also interesting to me. What is a young British woman doing in an American law firm? What effect does her Britishness have on her life and career in Boston? Does she have any darker shades to her personality?

I am a little short of prompts here and will try to add more if I think of them. Hopefully the likes/loves above will provide some inspiration if the below doesn't, or you already have an idea of your own! I just want a little bit more of these characters; that would be lovely.

Prompts:

How did Katie find herself in Boston, or at an American law school before that?

Post-canon:

How do these characters and their relationships develop?

Does Alan get to open his legal clinic? Do Jerry and Katie work for him?

How does Denny get on? Does he continue to work, maintain his streak?

Do Alan or Denny have any other intimate relationships outside their marriage? Is the other jealous?

How does Jerry get on after the changes at Crane, Poole & Schmidt? Does he find a new firm? Does he land on his feet? Does he keep working with Katie? Does their relationship work, despite their differences?

2. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Brontë

Requested characters: Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre is an unreliable narrator.

This is one of my favourite novels ever, but I read a new story each time I read (or rewatch – Ruth Wilson 2006 version, yes) it. I had a different experience of it as a child, teenager, young adult, and so on – and with time, I’ve come to see Rochester as more of a villain, and then also as a victim of circumstances and a product of his environment, and to increasingly believe that Jane Eyre lies to us. She’s also every bit as prejudiced and superior as those she criticises, but/because she’s also a product of her world. But I still love her, and love that she says she got a happy ending. But that doesn’t mean it has to stay happy, or even that she was telling the truth.

This is a fandom where I particularly enjoy a darker edge, and a playful approach to the text on the author’s part. The novel is a first person autobiography. Have fun with that! Jane Eyre is an unreliable narrator. The novel is her autobiography and I don’t believe that the story she told is necessarily the story that “happened”. What did she conceal? What did she tweak? What did she exaggerate or minimise? Is she trying to tell a moral story, and if so for whom? Does her faith endure and guide her quite as steadfastly, perfectly and purely as she says? I adore fics that play with this idea.

Although my only requested character is Jane herself, I am also happy with Outsider POV stories that are very much about Jane.

Prompts:

Post-canon happiness?

Post-canon unhappiness?

Canon divergence at any point.

A missing moment from the engagement - an evening spent together, a walk, a trip out. Tension, anticipation, uneasiness, a sense that all’s not quite right that can’t be entirely set aside. Rochester trying to claim more affection than Jane is yet willing to give, with either a playful or darker edge.

A missing moment between the interrupted wedding and Jane fleeing Thornfield? What if they do have a night of madness before Jane flees Thornfield, where just for a moment she gives in? Or is coerced? (Dubcon over complete non-con please? Also: gloriously awful or happy consequences welcome.)

How does Rochester discover Jane’s missing? How does Adele find out? Mrs Fairfax? How do they all react? What is that day like? (Jane’s absence would almost be the character in this case. She doesn’t have to appear, she’s still the focus.)

Jane, Mrs Fairfax and Adele are all dependents. Thornfield Hall might be where they live but it’s not their home, and there’s an inherent precariousness to their position that might be worth exploring – or what it’s worth when they finally do have a home that’s theirs, and they feel it.

Does Jane ever meet her Reed cousins again after Mrs Reed’s death? What would they think of her changed circumstances? Does Jane become – or put on the airs of – a great lady, and put them in their place? Or does she forgive, warmly, and try to cultivate relationships because she remembers what it was like to be alone, as her cousins may have become?

Do Jane and Mrs Fairfax meet again in the future? At Thornfield, they were the closest thing to peers as they were both ladies but dependents, but there was a huge gulf between them in terms of age, experience and outlook. How does their relationship change?

If Jane and Rochester have children, what does that do to Adele’s place in the family? Is she beloved sister or unwanted burden? (I can’t see Jane considering her a burden but I could perhaps see Jane being torn in too many directions and having no time left for Adele, leaving her bereft.)

What if Adele’s mother returned to collect her, or for some other (nefarious) purpose?

Rochester dies in the fire. What happens then?

Jane goes with St. John as a missionary and it doesn’t start/go/end well.

What if the first wedding isn’t interrupted? Rochester’s a bigamist and Jane a fallen woman when it comes out. (I have started writing this but not finished it.)

Jane tries to put Adele back together, after she’s traumatised by the sudden loss of her home, the dismissal of her nurse Sophie, the loss of Jane, the wrath/rage of Rochester, her cruel treatment at school, etc.

Does Jane come to see Rochester as a villain? Does she find herself corrupted, tarnished or lessened in his eyes in some way when he comes to marry/possess her and the sharper, darker side of his character turns on her once she’s off her pedestal?

Does Jane resent being Rochester’s carer, his eyes and hands?

Jane is not in the habit of receiving gifts, and still isn’t used to it. But she has grown to enjoy giving them to those she loves and cares for.

News articles of the aborted wedding, Thornfield fire and subsequent events?

Does Adele correspond with Jane or Rochester from her school? Either miserably from the school Rochester sends her to, or more happily from Jane’s choice? How does Adele find school, either the one Rochester sends her to, or the one Jane moves her to? How does this compare to Jane’

Is Rochester more of a villain? How?

How does their wedding night go? How do Rochester’s blindness and injury affect this side of their relationship?

An in-character moment of passion, with badinage and fairy talk.

There are no fics about Jane Eyre and her former teacher, Maria Temple. Do they keep in touch through Jane’s adult life, or get in touch or meet again in the future? What does the former Miss Temple (I can’t at this moment remember her married name but it is given in the novel) think of how Jane’s life turns out, her choice of husband, his story? Does she offer Jane counsel? What if Jane goes to her instead of to the Rivers when she flees Thornfield? Would the story go differently?

Jane dies on the moors.

Does Jane resent being Rochester’s carer, his eyes and hands?

Is Rochester “really” as injured as Jane writes in her autobiography? Did she provide some sort of divine/literary punishment for his sins? Or what really happened instead, did he get a comeuppance?

3. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden

Requested characters: Nitta Sayuri, Nobu Toshikazu

Nobu/Sayuri is my rarest rare pair, although I have been lucky enough to receive fic before.

I enormously prefer the novel to the movie, mostly because there’s so much more Nobu. He’s my favourite character, for the gap between how he’s perceived and how he is. He inspires such loyalty and friendship in those who know and value him – Mameha, the Chairman, Sayuri - and yet more shallow characters (Hatsumomo) can’t stand him based only on his looks (and grumpiness). In many ways, the Chairman is the more ghost-like character in the novel, floating in the background as Sayuri develops a deep and genuine friendship with Nobu despite their differences. Her entire fantasy of the Chairman is based on a five-minute encounter and a hanky and then she essentially doesn’t speak to him for a decade, and I wish she’d made a different choice. Nobu would have been an active choice, rather than continuing down the path she set as a child without consideration for how she’s changed as she’s grown up and seen more of the world. I understand Sayuri’s heartbreak knowing that having Nobu as her danna would preclude any possibility of such a relationship with the Chairman, but it would open up a world of other possibilities, and to kindness from a different source, as well as a more even relationship. Neither Nobu nor Sayuri know much kindness in their lives, and I really enjoy their repartee. It’s one of the few times Sayuri seems to have fun.

Nobu is missing an arm and disfigured by burning; there’s no need to romanticise or sanitise these parts of his character, but I am curious about their effects on any long-term or physical relationship with Sayuri (either practically or just in his head).

Prompts:

What if Sayuri chose Nobu instead, and accepted him as her danna before the war?

What if she accepted him after the war?

Sayuri appreciating Nobu, with optional romantic edge

How does Nobu feel when he realises what Sayuri’s done? What does he know, what is he told, does he try to find out more? Is his respect once lost gone forever?

Sayuri could be the Chairman’s but he could never be hers – he already had a wife – but Nobu would have been hers. Would she want this? What would Sayuri want, given the opportunity?

Nobu and Sayuri being affectionate to one another, even gruffly and distractedly.

How would an evening with Sayuri, Nobu and the Chairman unfold? With or without Mameha to guide Sayuri’s choices to their advantage?

Exploring the differences between the pair – in power (financial, sexual, influence), personal freedom, status, ability to make their own decisions, the rules they play by.

What do they have in common? They are both survivors, at the top of but on the outside of their respective worlds. (Teahouses, factories, okiyas, battlefields.)

Sayuri and Nobu have an en. How else does this manifest?          

Do Nobu and Sayuri ever meet again, in the future? Are things frosty, all bridges burned?

What if Pumpkin does bring Nobu instead of the Chairman?

4. The Godfather - Mario Puzo

Requested characters: Any Tag set characters: Apollonia Vitelli Corleone | Carmela Corleone | Kay Adams Corleone | Lucy Mancini

I reread this over the summer. (Well, more specifically, Audible finished one book and rolled straight into playing this one and I went with it.) As always, I want more of the women. The author (probably the author, but definitely the authorial voice) is wildly misogynistic, where all women are essentially defined in terms of their fuckability and/or relationships with men (specific and general), and very few women are ever really the POV character. Kay is occasionally, and possibly Lucy, but that’s it. But they are all defined by their (sexual) relationships with the Corleone men – wives, lovers, mothers. I want more of the women as women. That can include the men, but no woman is defined entirely by her relationship with a man.

Apollonia says one word in the novel: “Grazie.” Who is she? Give her some flesh, a spark, to be more than just a pretty shell. What does she want? What moves and motivates her? How would she have fit in with the New York family if she’d lived?

Mama Corleone is much the same, she turns up for a moment here and there to (magnificently) berate one of her sons or to feed somebody, but she also feels like a thread of steel in the lives of those around her, holding them up, but it’s unspoken. I love her Catholicism and how it both sustains her and supports her family, and how she converts Kay, and they go together to pray for the souls of their husbands. The ending of the novel is divine.

Kay is an outsider to the world for more than just having girl parts, and I’m curious how that changes her experience, and particularly how she relates to her mother-in-law (and sister-in-law) through cultural and generational differences.

Lucy’s character arc is literally defined by her vagina and she willingly and semi-knowingly lets herself continue to be used by the family through the hotels, but there is more to her than that. Like what? How does she balance what she wants to know, what she guesses, what she thinks, what she absolutely and definitely knows? Is Sonny a lingering ghost through her life?

I don’t really know what I want, just more of the women.

Prompts:

Apollonia and the American dream: what does she actually want? Is Michael a way to get it? (Children, comfort, fortune, adventure, love, other?)

Does Apollonia love Michael? Does it matter? Was her courtship/marriage a pleasant or a horrible experience? What did she think her future would look like?

What does Kay want? What does she think their future will look like?

The same questions for Kay as Apollonia, possibly different answers. Compare the women, be thoughtful or go dark.

I’m always intrigued by Kay’s Catholicism, especially in the book. The movie’s ending happens too, but then Kay goes to church with Mama Corleone and prays for Michael’s soul.

Michael’s grief at losing both women in his life, in very different ways. (Does he acknowledge them as women and individuals, or only as wives/lovers?)

A missing happy moment for any of these characters or either couple.

A contrast between weddings – Connie’s, Apollonia’s, Kay’s, others.

What if Apollonia had lived, and met Kay?

What if Apollonia lives?

I feel like Kay makes a “better” American wife for Michael, in the world he wants to move in. Would the path have unfolded differently with a different woman at his side?

Does the ghost of Apollonia haunt Michael at later points in his life?

How does Carmela respond to the milestones in her husband’s life? The shooting of Don Fanucci, having Clemenza and Tessio in her home, the Don’s first shooting, the rise in their fortunes, that magnificent carpet?

What if Apollonia had lived, and they’d returned to New York, and she’d lived in the compound? What place would she find in that family, in that life, in that country? What would Mama Corleone have thought of her new daughter-in-law? Would this have impacted Michael, how would he show it? Could Apollonia be happy? Or a very mixed bag?

[lets-raise-chao]

Let's Raise Chao Together!

Welcome to the community chao garden! All chao attributes are decided via suggestions and polls.

Garden Residents || About Chao (via Chao Island) || Mod's Blog

If you have any questions or suggestions, please send this blog an ask.

In the event of a tie, unless otherwise stated, the result will be chosen by rolling a random number.

If these posts keep showing up in your Tumblr searches and you don't want to see them, blacklist the tag #let's raise chao.

More info under the cut.

Chao Attributes

After a newborn chao is hatched, I'll ask for name suggestions, and run a poll based on the replies to that post and any suggestions sent via the ask box. These will not change post-reincarnation. I'll also run a poll to determine each chao's pronouns.

Chao will not be mistreated on purpose (except for hatching via throwing because it's funny). I will also use a variety of characters to raise each chao, mostly depending on its alignment.

Alignment and first evolution will be determined upon hatching and again after reincarnation. Second evolution will be determined after the chao cocoons and becomes an adult.

Chao will be raised to max level in each incarnation. Prior to first evolution, they will be raised to at least level 20 in their intended primary stat, 0 in the opposite stat (unless affected by animals), and at least level 10 in all others. Chao whose primary stat is intended to be stamina will be raised to at least level 10 in all stats.

For animals, to simplify the process a bit, we'll first vote what animal group to give them (chaos drives only, swim, fly, run, power, random, mythical, and ghost). Then, if one of the animal groups wins, we'll vote on what specific animals to give them, either 10 of just one, 5 of two, or 3 of each. I'll alternate which ones I give them so they can have a variety of traits. Afterwards, I'll balance their stats to the desired influence and minimum levels using chaos drives.

When all of our current babies and young adults have reached a stable point (waiting for first evolution or reincarnation), we'll vote on whether to add a new chao egg to our garden via either breeding or the black market.

Gameplay

Primary gameplay will take place on the PC version of Sonic Adventure 2: Battle. I am playing with the Chao World Extended Mod, and some other miscellaneous ones. I also have access to various other tools, such as Krzys2's Chao Editor, but cheating/editing will be minimal for more authentic gameplay. Basically, I will only use it to view chao stats, speed up the garden's timescale (if needed), and correct mistakes.

I have not yet decided how we should handle races, karate, and lessons; I'm open to suggestions on that.

Relevant Mods Currently Enabled

Chao World Extended

HD Chao Textures

Improved Waypoints (fixes problem with chao not using whole garden)

Character Select Plus (allows for playing as any character in the garden)

Random Race Alignment (randomizes chao race opponents' alignments in some races)

CWE Settings Currently Enabled

Day/Night cycle

Gardens won't affect alignment

Egg colour will match the chao inside it

Baby chao can be a mix of their parents' colours instead of one or the other

Newborn chao can have varying shades of colour (for more variety in monotone chao)

Stronger chao drive + chao stat multiplier (for faster leveling)

More chao animation + expression + sound

Win jewel chao in jewel race (so we have to beat races to get jewel eggs)

Black Market debug menu (so we can obtain all egg colours)

(Not all of them listed because there are a lot, these are just ones I thought people might want to know about)

[sagemoor]

#occultea response

This is super long, I apologise! I've decided to use this platform to talk about this, even though I haven't really used it in 6 years, because I feel like tumblr is the first place I was introduced to witchcraft social media on. And also, my only other media besides discord is personal and not witchcraft-related. Introduction I'm Tea, and I am a green and folk witch who has lived in and practiced the folk magic of America, Scotland, and Ireland. I have been practicing witchcraft for about 10 years (I am 25, despite what my bio says). I also am a moderator of a large online witchcraft discord, and that is what most of my answers here will be based on. I will also include here that I am a PhD candidate in plant sciences, close to finishing - I think this is relevant because a lot of my expertise and access to research (even like, JSTOR articles on witchcraft) is enabled and encouraged by my entrenchment in academia.

Topic 1 I share my practice online for community. I thankfully now live in a place where the in-person witchcraft community is pretty great, but I lived in small cities and areas where most witchcraft discussions centered around Wicca (which I have never been interested in as a path for myself). I started sharing here first on an account that was accidentally deleted in 2017 but I moved to discord a couple of years ago and really found (and then started another) community there. I have never wanted to teach but rather just wanted a serious space where I could discuss what books I was reading mainly. I think community is great at introducing me/you to new things and furthering my/your craft, and that is what I hope to accomplish by sharing my own craft. I think social media has impacted the community in a lot of ways, both good and bad. I honestly think it depends on the space in which the community operates - I will not pretend the discord I mod is perfect, but I also think a lot of other witchcraft discords I have been in can run a little rampant in misinformation found on witchtok, tumblr, etc.. I'm sure we have some too, because it's super hard to weed out when crafts are so personal. I think one of the biggest things is the spread of misinformation seems to have exploded with the explosion of short form content. There is just no nuance in any short form content, witchcraft or no. And with UPG this gets even more complicated. The only way I find I am able to combat misinformation anywhere is to not accept anything I see as fact, until I have either tried it for myself, or if it is verifiable from other sources (which a lot of my practice is - if I find folklore repeated in many books which are well sourced, I take that as good info). But I definitely struggle with knowing when someone is speaking in UPG terms or in folkloric terms especially when it comes to deities. For content creators, I do really think it is important to distinguish what is UPG and what may not be.

I also think there is an issue with people exaggerating experiences that they've had to get views / attention / whatever, and that can lead a lot of people who are beginning and can't recognize exaggerations feeling inadequate. I think with experience people begin to realise that certain claims are ridiculous, and it no longer bothers them (it no longer bothers me), but that can be a hard lesson learned. Social media allows people to compare themselves to others and can lead to overconsumption, which I won't say a ton about because I feel like this is covered a lot. I think witchcraft requires a degree of skepticism, and it may take a while for newer witches (and even some who have been practicing a while) to develop the skills needed in sorting out good information from bad information. But! There are also a lot of communities which dispel misinformation, exaggerated claims, and the like. Thankfully, I feel like these communities which are 'serious' witchcraft communities are starting to be a little more well-regarded than the areas which aren't as discerning. With discussions like these, and big creators talking about it, I think more and more awareness will spread and will prevent people from taking advantage.

And social media introduces a lot more people to the space, to know that it's even a thing that they may be able to approach. I found witchcraft here, when someone posted an aesthetic graphic of the Green Witch by Murphy-Hiscock that made it's way onto my feed. I read it, and resonated with what I read. My craft has developed since then, and I may have found witchcraft some other way eventually, but there really is this amazing reach that has helped so many people find what path was for them. I think defining witch vs new ager vs pagan is a whole other issue (one for another time) but honestly, how am I affected by you calling yourself a witch if you don't fit into my definition? I'm not. I think that will be another challenge for the community in the coming years - accepting that your definitions and practice do not rule other people's. But I digress.

In terms of consumption of media replacing practice, I definitely think it can. It's not something I personally struggle with, as I cast spells when I need to and don't consume a huge amount of witchcraft content outside of discord, but I definitely did when I was younger and living with parents who weren't witches. I mean, we have the term 'armchair witchcraft' for a reason - it definitely exists. I said earlier I had been practicing for about ten years, and when I typed it I knew I would address here that I have been practicing seriously for about six or seven. Moving into my own space allowed me to start practicing the way I wanted to. I still consume a lot of content in the way of books, but as time has passed my reading preferences are less spellbooks and more historical accounts.

Topic 2 I am not an influencer but what I share on discord is minimal (I don't share spirit workings besides showing herbs, deity workings, and many of my spells) but it is authentic. I don't really have the resources to post anything that isn't authentic if I am including a picture. I am more liable to post recipes with plant correspondences connected, or a list of folklore associated with a particular plant I am working on. If I do share a picture, I may include a list of spell components, but I never share what I did with them if that makes sense (like only sharing the ingredients of a recipe but not cooking instructions). Everything else feels too private to me.

I'm only affected by censorship by having things of certain topics like domination magic, blood magic, etc., behind an 18+ wall on the server. This is done because adults who are posting that info don't want to be sharing it with minors, which is the correct take! People will find things online anyway, but that doesn't mean it has to be through us.

I've definitely seen grifters in the community. Mainly here or spamming DMs on discord or instagram. I don't think this is a spicy take, but anyone trying to sell you something that isn't tangible (like selling a spirit) seems too risky to me, and not to mention unethical. If you get something direct in response, like a tarot reading, fine. But I personally wouldn't risk sending someone money to do a spell for me (again, unless it's tangible like a witch ladder or a knot magic hat or an oil or something). I think we talk about scammers so much in the community now though, that it's not something I really need to discuss because everyone knows about it.

I discussed misinfo in the topic above, and the only way I can think of to combat it is to talk about how it is rampant, and tell people to double and triple check their sources. Educating yourself isn't easy. Watching a tiktok or even a youtube video is not going to give you all the information. People will have to get comfortable doing research and then actually doing the witchcraft themselves 🤷🏼‍♀️. Also like I said, clearly stating UPG is important.

This has been said on every one of the videos discussing this I've watched: definitely having a large following automatically makes people think you're an expert. I've noticed this even on my relatively-small discord: being a mod in a position of power makes people believe you are all knowing. We try to staff based on activity and level-headedness and chemistry, so a lot of our staff are beginners. The rest of us who aren't beginners make it very clear what we're experts in and what we're not. Again, I think this goes back to doing my/your own research rather than maybe expecting to be spoonfed information.

Topic 3 I can get inspiration from content creators or other discord members, definitely. But I tend to take that and do my research and figure out how to do it in a way that works for me. I don't really get FOMO, but I feel like that is a product of knowing myself and knowing my craft and having lived in it for a while.

Rather than feeling FOMO, I feel like oftentimes I can feel quite burnt out. It's not a product of comparing myself to others necessarily, but especially with the moderating of the server. I don't know how content creators do it. I am a firm believer in going through seasons in your craft, and I think that can be so hard to do when you operate in a space where a lot of your community (or your job) revolves around one thing.

I don't know what my craft would look like without social media, to be honest.

Topic 4 I definitely think online communities are as valid as in-person communities. I am extremely grateful for the friends I have made on discord and online - they have pushed me and my craft to grow in a way it never would've without them by asking questions, recommending books, and sharing their own ideas.

I personally haven't been affected by people capitalising off of witchcraft, nor do I know anyone who has been. I definitely think some things should be paywalled so creators can get their due, but also almost all of the information you want to find you can find for free. It's whether you want to hunt to find that information, and whether you trust the sources that information may come from. I think the only way to ensure a course/etc is valid is to have info on who's running it. Who is teaching? What are they teaching? how long have they been practicing what they're teaching? Do they have a good bibliography / resource list for further reading? What are their accreditations? These are all questions we need to ask before we purchase something like that. Conclusions I feel like communities are always going to have issues, bad eggs, tension, all of that. There's no way to prevent it. I think the witchcraft community needs more honesty (not rudeness - honesty) about what they're doing and why, and I think it's important for people to know why they do things in their practice and why they work (the example I always use is, why do we stir tea clockwise to 'bring an intention'? It's an adaptation of movement in a circle thrice from British Traditional Witchcraft, but a lot of tiktoks don't share this when talking about the method). This will help prevent misinformation from spreading and can give context to posts. I also think people need to understand that some people's crafts will look strange to you. You may not call what they do witchcraft, but they do, and like I mentioned before, we all need to just accept that that's the way it is. This will be easier when people stop inflating their experiences (if they ever do), but for right now I think making your own experiences known to whatever extent you want is important. Even I can step up and say I did not have a deity choose me from birth, nor have my deities or spirits ever acted in a romantic, sexual, parental, or even best friend-type of way toward me. My relationships with my spirits has always been friendly and professional, but if they were not working with me, they would find another witch. I am not the Chosen One. Other people may have had these experiences, but that's not my experience, and that doesn't make me less of a witch.

Having this conversation about social media and its impact on the community is important, and I think just having this conversation by itself will make a big change.

Thank you for listening to my thoughts, especially if you made it this far. I'm not on tumblr much nowadays, but maybe I'll return to it someday.

Tea xx

[j7pht]

Hello, SSA main mod here.

I want to start with an apology, for not stepping in sooner with edqey. I should have played more of a role in your DM's with fae to try and defuse the situation.

I should have been more firm in saying that fae needed to walk away from faes DMs with you; I also should have been more firm in how aggressive edqey was to you wasn't okay way earlier. Not doing either was enabling their behavior and I am sorry for my part in that. Edqeys comment to you wasn't a threat - they were communicating that if you tried to attack fae, they would defend themselves. Edqey let faes anger get the better of them, and did this aggressively lashing out. This wasn't okay. I don't believe fae will do anything, but if I find out that fae are I will intervene.

While I am adverse to speaking with people in the Flora community, I also feel it to be unfair to send you something like this in private without giving you the opportunity to respond in kind. I set up a tumblr blog by the name of ssa-reachout for tumblr DMs, or just respond to this publicly. I don't mind either way, but don't expect me to try and debate you please.

hi i dont really care right now if edqey didnt believe fae were threatening me, "if i hear xyz you will regret it" sounds like a threat to everyone i know including my friends, family, and irls completely disconnected from flora, and i processed it as a threat. i think youre talking to me with a pov thats like.. you know edqey better than i do, so you have context for faer actions that i do not have, which i think is fine, i just took an extra day after seeing this to respond because this bothered me.

i genuinely felt threatened and in danger from edqey due to how fae spoke to me in tumblr dms and the fact that they took actions in the past that irked me a lot to read about, i do appreciate a lot though that you understand it wasnt okay. i intend to reach out to your account as well even though i said a lot of my thoughts here. i just... want to say something publicly because i understand that my words have somehow been twisted as like mindless drone following of glip??? and me doing some sort of other things i dont agree with which... i dont... know why this was said about me.

i can respect that you dont want to debate but i should mention that i struggle with social cues a lot and i may do stuff that comes across as debating without intending to. i also dont want to debate unless its about myself. i also intend to say this in dms but i want to say it publicly too because my trust is wearing very thin.

[oldcyberpunk2077truth]

honestly, zwei is the probably the worst of the lot. i have never met a more manipulative, controlling, narcissistic and petty person in any fandom or even real life.

her MO is always to first suck up to popular folks or people with talent (artists, modders, VPers) or authority (discord mods, big twitter accounts) and love bomb them/buy them up with commissions and gifts first and basically hold them hostage that way. BUT if you then disagree with her or even DARE talk to people she doesn't approve of, she will then try to start controlling who you can talk to, and if you dont listen to her, the lovebombing will suddenly end and you're suddenly off her "besties" list lmao. (you can usually tell you're no longer there because she will delete all her DMs with you, in fear that you might expose all the venom she has been spewing about other people in there xD)

she will then even go as far as to try and blacklist you in the fandom, by spreading lies and "warning" people about you, so you'll be basically ostracized by everyone. i cannot even count how many people have left the cyberpunk fandom or were turned into a black sheep because Queen Zwei decided she does not like them and so must everyone else xD

This is literally highschool bully behaviour, but zwei is in her thirties, which is even more pathetic. the only sad thing is that she has already wrapped tons of modding and fandom discords around her fingers, who's mods then kowtow to her every wish, so its really hard finding a decent community that hasnt been poisoned by zwei and her clique of enablers

The fact people let themselves get into it is also very impressive which sometimes makes me think that in the beginning they only think about getting popular and don't think about the consequences later and when they do is already too late.

And who is she to think she can decide who people will like? That's disgusting. And why she delete those things? Too afraid to people expose her?

But not only that I do know if she wants to get close to you for some reason (because will always have a reason) she will try to make herself likable so if you say you have 15 dogs she will say she has 40. If you say you can't talk english she will say her english is bad even though her english is honestly very good.

A decent community would be with people that are aware of it and aren't convent as other people.

[zwoelffarben]

It just hit me that my niche (honestly horribly coded) minecraft mod could lowkey be on the hermitcraft server. It's unlikely to be the case: They've got people better at coding and whatnot than me helping them out with their back-end. And given how badly put together and basic my mod is, coding a better version from sratch wouldn't be that difficult. But, like, it's possible.

I developed the Command Statistics mod after being told by several datapack communities that what I wanted to do was impossible in vanilla. The mod only exists because I couldn't use the existing commands to manipulate my player statistics. All it does is add a /statistics command to the game that makes it possible for my datapack that autocrafts suspicious stew for my lazy ass to also count the craft in my statistics. It enables other stuff too, but that's its' reason to exist.

Now, why do I think it could be on hermitcraft?

A month ago, Xisuma made a book, that automagically updates its' contents to report, in real time, the value of a specific stat for every hermit. There are lots of ways to do this, some more cumbersome than others.

I imagine the most direct way would be to store every player's stats to a scoreboard objective and use that the scores to update the book's contents. You can't do it that way in vanilla because there's no way to get the stats of your stats json and into your score objective. My mod makes it possible.

I uploaded my mod three months ago, which would put two months between my mod being available and Xisuma's book being on the server. Two months would be tight for a fully fletched out datapack, but, a skilled datapacker could throw together a functional proof of concept in half that.

Coincidence? Probably. They probably have some plugin on the server that's infinitely more complicated and much better designed than my little mod, tracking their statistics; and they've probably had it since the start of the server, before my mod existed.

But, technically possible.

[hillbillyoracle]

I’m going to stick to describing what I’m seeing and why it can be upsetting to me so with all of this just know I’m talking about my experience here which I acknowledge is limited. 

What I see are social groups where someone will start displaying classic narcissistic traits - entitlement, misrepresentation, grand displays of anger, intense fragility when someone disagrees or pushes back on something, etc and then when called on it or told how that action is impacting others, they’ll launch into their traumatic histories. And the focus of the group goes away from the behavior and to the “context” of what they went through. And if someone persists in requesting behavior change, that request is often labeled ableist or even abusive. 

There’s this call to consider their trauma more and consider my feelings or expectations of decency less. It’s like group mandated self-abandonment. 

I’ve been in quite a few spaces where disagreeing or proving factual information that contradicted a statement another person made got me warned or kicked from groups. Especially local ones (seriously what is it with KY discord servers) and ones run by folks about 5 years or more younger than me. 

That only seems to enable that behavior to continue. When I’ve kept my mouth shut and stuck it out, these spaces quickly get too toxic for healthy folks to stand or it makes them less healthy with time. Those people take up more and more space and people get more scared the longer they’re in their orbit. 

And I wish it was more common in communal spaces, to say “Trauma is real and important and we also have standards in how we treat each other here that aren’t going to change based on personal history. When you can abide by those standards, you’re welcome here. When you can’t, we support you in taking a break to get regulated again. We’ll be happy to have you back when you’re in a better place.” 

I know some people would make that out to be “you’re making it so that people can’t have their feelings” but feelings =/= actions. You can feel crappy and treat other people well or you can take a break. Both are valid. 

To go one step further, in open platforms, as opposed to groups, this behavior will often quickly establish itself as a norm. I saw it on Twitter, I saw it in a lot of Mastodon instances I was looking at. Only a few of these people will be loud and manipulative enough to make people advocating for like common sense decency to leave or go quiet. 

Very very often these folks will couch their anti-social behaviors in terms of social justice which is - to me - hilarious. I saw an unironic post here a few days ago talking about how an moderator of an instance had banned people who were harassing people who’d bought the new Harry Potter game and was saying how them not being okay with them telling those people to go kill themselves meant that person was a nazi-sympathizer. No joke. 

I think we are long overdue for not letting people use social justice as cover for harassment and threats but that’s probably a whole nother post. 

What the calmer and more enjoyable spaces have in common in my experience is heavy moderation with clear rules and norms that focus on describing disruptive behaviors without buzzwords (because that just opens you up to debates). They also not only allow but encourage folks to disagree in amicable ways; they value the quality of the conversation, not whether the content agrees with their own worldviews. They encourage common sense content warnings. And they have mods who are willing to warn people in a kind way then kick them out if they don’t change. 

But that’s just what I’ve noticed. Not sure if this adds clarity or mud but I’m hoping for clarity. 

One of these days, we're going to have to have a reckoning with how the rise in popularity of trauma frameworks can wind up enabling folks with strong narcissistic traits when groups start to encourage considering a person's history above a person's current behavior.