#anti-consumer

[ellisdee161]

Anti-Consumer

[0sbrain]

alternatives for ai to design ocs

hero forge

picrew

the fucking sims 4

your local furry artist

bitmoji

shitty photoshoped collage

DeviantArt bases

zepeto

making edits of your favorite character

searching "dress up game" on the app store

learning how to draw

[shewhowillrise]

DC x DP

Jason never made it to the Lazarus pit or the league of assassins.

Bruce gave him that excuse for his green eyes and short temper.

Jason knows he didn’t crawl out of his grave with the giant Y that scars his chest.

Jason knows he’s a revenant.

Jason knows he needs to kill to stay sane. To stay whole.

A soul sucker they called him.

Jason agreed not to kill, because he misses his family. No matter how much he starves himself, it’s worth it to get Dick’s hugs, experience Tim’s genius, see Cassandra’s award winning performance, to help Damian experience a childhood.

Jason didn’t realize Bruce doesn’t know what he is. Jason didn’t realize Bruce meant Black Gate when he said he’d take him in the next time he killed. Jason didn’t realize Bruce had no idea about the anti ecto acts.

Jason swore to stay in line, so he’d never end up on that metal table again.

[communistkenobi]

The deeply moralist tone that a lot of discussions about media representation take on here are primarily neoliberal before they are anything else. Like the shouting matches people get into about “purity culture” “pro/anti” etc nonsense (even if I think it’s true that some people have a deeply christian worldview about what art ought to say and represent about the world) are downstream of the basic neoliberal assumption that we can and must educate the public by being consumers in a market. “Bad representation” is often framed as a writer’s/developer’s/director’s/etc’s failure to properly educate their audience, or to educate them the wrong way with bad information about the world (which will compel their audience to act, behave, internalise or otherwise believe these bad representations about some social issue). Likewise, to “consume” or give money to a piece of media with Bad Representation is to legitimate and make stronger these bad representations in the world, an act which will cause more people to believe or internalise bad things about themselves or other people. And at the heart of both of those claims is, again, the assumption that mass public education should be undertaken by artists in a private market, who are responsible for creating moral fables and political allegories that they will instil in their audiences by selling it to them. These conversations often become pure nonsense if you don’t accept that the moral and political education of the world should be directed by like, studio executives or tv actors or authors on twitter. There is no horizon of possibility being imagined beyond purchasing, as an individual consumer in a market, your way into good beliefs about the world, instilled in you by Media Product 

[sparksinthenight]

If the economy NEEDS workers working in degrading, dehumanizing, dangerous jobs where they have very little power, then you need to get a different economy. Any world that relies upon the exploitation and abuse of the workers needs to be burned to the ground and rebuilt. We can make a society where no one has to work a job that’s physically, mentally, spiritually, socially, emotionally, or environmentally unhealthy or unsafe for them. We need to create that society.

[the-milton-fan-272]

my slight absence

I admit I have not been posting as often on this blog. This is not because of any lack of interest in supple muppet hole or lack of interest.

in truth, fellow muppets, I am having a crisis of faith.

as many of you know, I have a very intense personal history with h*rses. My own grandmother was consumed by one, her flesh torn like putty by its square and unassuming teeth. The community that has sprung up around the Croaker has been instrumental in healing from this trauma. I thank fan number 2303 most specifically. I have nothing but good to say about this lovely community and I do not wish to leave it.

My crisis lies with the very man who brought us together.

The croaker is becoming traitorous to my nature. He has embraced the very creatures who took so much from me. I do not know if I can go on worshiping a person who does not think of how many of his followers have been harmed by these creatures. I now find myself in the awkward position of having the man I have devoted myself to violating my very own DNI.

I would love some advice from my lovely community. Please advise. No matter what I will never forget the beautiful community I have been lucky to be a part of.

[lizzybeeee]

DATV is overly reliant on Supplemental Media - especially if you are a returning player

TL;DR: Supplemental material should not be required reading in order to understand what's going on in the main game -> it's additional material that enhances what we were given. If what we were given is lacking and unable to coherently tell us a story, then the writers and those in charge did not prioritize what was important.

Not a take that's unique to Dragon Age, but one that is very relevant when talking about DATV. I've made a few posts about plot/story points that either make no sense or have been dropped entirely in the lead up from DAI to DATV. Every now and then I get a few comments or messages about how certain points I made were addressed in supplemental material released in the lead up to this games release.

This isn't a call out post, by the way! But it's frustrating, to me, that this games writing is so lacking that my understanding is being inhibited because I can't remember details from a book I read two years ago - not to mention various podcasts, comics, and short stories. My understanding of a video game in a video game series should not be reliant on additional/optional content.

DATV is a weird game in that it is absolutely a 'soft/scorched earth' reboot while also marketing itself as a continuation to what was set up in Inquisition and Trespasser. Personally, I think that if you are up to number 4 in a game series, one with a continuous story-line, it should be expected that new players won't be able to catch up to everything -> it's the game developers job to make the world and story intriguing enough that the new players will go back to previous games in the series and fill in the blanks themselves.

Veilguard, as a sequel, is overly reliant on content that comes from outside the games themselves (including DLC's) if you want to make sense of the world and story. Trespasser left us with an epilogue that set up some plot points for the next game: Solas & the Veil, the Elven Rebellion, and War with the Qun - plot points that have been built up since the time of Origins. But when we get into DATV two of these points have been dropped and resolved, off-screen.

There are more questions, but these are the ones that bothered me the most while playing the game:

What happened to the Agents of Fen'harel/ Elven Rebellion? -> answered in a cursed reddit AMA.

What happened to the Qunari following Trespasser -> addressed in Tevinter Nights, and a codex entry you can pick up (optional).

Why is Skyhold infested with demons? -> mentioned in Tevinter Nights.

How did the Dalish go from worshiping their own pantheon to knowing they are false gods? (specifically those we meet in the Veil Jumpers) -> mentioned in the Missing comic series.

What's up with Nevarra's Royals? -> Tevinter Nights addresses that there is a power struggle in the Pentaghast family and the role of the Mortalitasi in making it worse - though it does not address the whole 'mage puppeting a corpse' issue and all the implications it has.

This is a video game series -> the bulk of the information required for me to understand the story and its relation to previous entries needs to be included in the final game version. I am playing a video game and not attending a uni class - I should not need to have a required reading list in order to understand what the fuck is going on. I should definitely not need to go onto a reddit AMA to understand what happened in-game, either.

What makes this stand out the most is that DAI was very successful in tying in previous games, DLC's, movies, and books! Inquisition did a great job in getting you up to speed on the events of the previous games early on, providing personalization if you played those games, and giving the player the opportunity to inquire into these events.

Hiding away the answers in additional material or a codex entry that may be missed is not good game design or good writing. DAI didn't assume that you had bought and played the Legacy DLC -> it made certain you experienced the conversation with Varric and Hawke if you wanted to proceed in the game. It didn't hide away imperative information in codex entries - it had characters talk about it in scripted scenes and encourage the player to ask more. You would actively need to avoid interacting with characters for you to not experience this information in DAI.

Leliana talks about her role during the Blight, her calling by the Maker, and her relationship with Dorothea/Justinia -> DAO and Leliana's Song DLC.

Cullen talks about his time as a templar at Kinloch & Kirkwall -> DAO and DA2.

Cassandra speaks about her history, investigation into Hawke, and the Seekers -> Dawn of the Seeker movie, DA2, & Asunder novel.

Varric talks about Hawke, Kirkwall, and Corypheous -> DA2 and Legacy DLC.

Cole talks about how he discovered he was a 'demon' - it leads to further conversations about Rhys, Evangeline, and Lord-Seeker Lambert -> Asunder novel.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts -> the game literally continues what the Masked Empire novel sets up, the Orlesian Civil War. The game does a decent job of telling us about the players (Celene, Gaspard, Briala etc...) and the reasoning behind the conflict through dialogue, the ability to explore the battlefields, quests, ambient dialogue, etc... The book is not required reading - though it greatly adds to the complexity of the characters, motivations, and political intrigue!

I never once, playing DA2 or DAI, felt penalized or like my experience was lacking because I had not engaged with supplemental material or DLC's. I got into Dragon Age when I was in high school, it wasn't until I graduated and began working after that I had the disposable income available for experiencing the extra material. I cannot say that for DATV - If you have played Inquisition and go into DATV straight from that you will, absolutely, be confused about how we got from A to B.

Which is especially strange to me!? Why is it that new players will be less confused than those that are returning players? It's like the game is actively punishing you for playing and caring about previous games in the series.

Supplemental media is bought because the main product has earned your investment, love, or interest. Not everyone has the income available to buy it with their own money - especially if you live outside the US and have to pay additional shipping costs. Not everyone has the ability to buy or 'obtain' the digital versions either. My understanding of the main story of a video game in a video game series should not require additional monetary investment into other mediums.

The game itself should be enough and DATV is not enough.

[c1trvswurld]

I really hate how whenever someone says in passing that they dont like caitvi that people immediately translate that into homophobia—or more specifically lesbiphobia*( is that the way you spell it?) Saying that they can handle toxic yaoi but cant handle yuri because of *insert some internal bias here*. And as someone who frequently likes to consume both, as I'm a sucker for mindfuck nuanced toxic type relationships of all kinds— I can say that personally that is not it. I think my personal dislike of caitvi (in arcane idc abt lol in fact I like it a lot in lol at least rn before the scrap the lore) stems from the fact both cannon and fanworks refuse to acknowledge or even play with the toxic dynamics that naturally stems from their relationship. Other than a very surface level, "you enforcers are all the same/don't understand" quips from time to time. I rarely see any works delve into the inherent power imbalances. The deep cultural and socioeconomic differences. The trauma and internal conflict from vi being, working around, and eventually becoming an enforcer. Instead, season 2 nullifies her past, her conflict—in fact almost all zaunites motivations and biases in order for them to become docile and sympathetic to not only enforcers but the uppercity as a whole. Genuinely feels like unironic copaganda/piltie support and as you should know it's a fuck pilties area over here. But I digress‐

In fact, I've seen them kind of enjoy that lack of nuance in their inherently kinda toxic relationship that has very real connection to police states, domestic abuse of police spouses, classist divides etc etc blaah blahh.

And again, personally, I just find that so boring? Like if you're going to do this toxic yuri shit do it right. I beg, I'd actually die for a fanwork that heavily played and acknowledged any aspect I just stated above, but time and time again, it's all surface level.

[copypastus]

Sign me up for the tithe in the Spring Court I hear rent prices in Velaris went up again.

[radley-writes]

Cannot believe that 'access to quality art and writing made by other people is a luxury not a right, and artists and writers deserve to be compensated for their labour, because as much as I believe in the ethos of UBI, we live in a post-capitalist hellscape, and creators need to eat' is a controversial opinion in Leftist spaces.

[gunkbaby]

tumblr users ranting about the death of media literacy and critical thinking vs an anti-vegan post with zero sources

[werewolf-cuddles]

Back to the "Gamers need to be more comfortable not owning their games" BS again for a second

No, I genuinely do not believe that anybody should be "comfortable" with the idea of not owning something they bought.

If you buy something, you should own it, and the company that sold it to you should not be able to take it away on a whim. The idea that you don't own your purchases is one that you should never be comfortable with.

Imagine if you bought a movie on DVD, and then later on, the person who sold it to you breaks into your house and takes it back. Would you be comfortable with that? Didn't think so.

Anyway, it's been said by so many people, and I said it in my original post about this, but it bears repeating; if buying something isn't owning it, then pirating it isn't stealing.

[agirlking]

The Veilguard subreddit has not heard of critical thinking or expecting quality out of something you pay for. It is insane over there. "It's not bad at all! GoTY!" Holy shit.

Btw this post isn’t for anti Solavellan people. Stop blaming us for liking a ship and acting like that made DA4 what it is. BioWare has been on a downward spiral for a long time, the game was in development hell, and many people were fired. The fans mindlessly giving them money right now (who are NOT only Solavellans) are contributing to future issues by giving them a pass, but even they didn’t create these problems.

[scarycranegame]

anyone else do this?

antis dni, what you have there is an unwarranted sense of self-righteousness, not anything of real value

proship/comship/pro-fiction safe!

[aleksanderscult]

You don't need to read the whole book of "King of Scars" to understand the stupidity of its protagonists. You only need to read only one chapter. Take for example this:

A few Grisha: *betray the Darkling*

The Darkling: *kills them*

Zoya: *shocked Pikachu face*

Didn't those Grisha choose to take Alina's side? Weren't they aware that there was a war going on and their choice might very well result in death?

Zoya loves to make martyrs the Darkling's victims even though their actions were their own and the consequences reasonable.

'Without remorse'

I didn't know that the Darkling confessed his feelings to you, Zoya.

Zoya wants her people to feel safe and suddenly realizes that the country needs to be strong and its leader capable.

The Darkling who knew all of this and tried to do just that rolls in Elizaveta's castle right now.

The heroes are so painfully dumb it's almost remarkable. They curse Aleksander for his harsh actions but when they realize that they have to do the same to bring stability and peace, they panic. Because they find it difficult to do without making hard decisions but still won't admit that the Darkling was in their position but didn't act like a chicken and instead decided to dirty his hands with more blood to put an end to all of that.

No, his way is condemned as brutal. His feelings inhuman, his goals selfish. There must be another way for them. A more pure, holy way.

The Darkling no longer gave a shit about how Ravka saw him as long as his dream came true (even though he longed for their love). While the heroes care so much about how they feel and about how they are perceived that cannot even stand doing anything radical through force and blood.

[chronically-ghosted]

day before a 5 day holiday weekend. office empty. got me thinking thoughts.