#critical discourse

[neo-somnovem-thirst-account]

Okay I'm not current on CR at ALL (every time I have enough time try and catch-up I'll get through an a handful of episodes and then be inundated with time consuming tasks and have to set it down again, but one day I will catch up) but I'm hearing about some ™️Discourse happening so I'm just gonna say something, but I don't even know if it's at all relevant. (I think it might actually be anti-thetical to whatever is currently happening but I'm having thoughts) I guess let me know if I'm making a fool of myself due to lack of context, this is maybe more about CR in general though so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .

When in real play, TTRPGs aren't always going to flow smoothly or have characters make the smartest choices or even the choices that make sense for them as characters. It's just a fact of how weird the play space that role-playing games exist in can get, especially when it's done in formats geared towards an audience. Sometimes a player will just be in a weird place and it will blend into a session, or time between sessions might get stretched and suddenly you feel very differently about certain in games decisions. If you care a lot about making a perfect story that can be sold as a streamlined story, then it would be an issue, but if your just playing for fun then it doesn't really matter.

I feel like this is exacerbated by the fact that CR in my mind has always tried to be a game/player first situation over being a story/viewer first situation. What I mean by that is, in the game itself they don't always try and force a streamlined well thought-through story, though they definitely do try to make it more polished and well written. It's one of the things I always liked about CR, that the funky amorphous feeling of the role-playing heads pace is way more tangible in the campaign. Characters sometimes make wildly out-of-character decisions, or stories take weirdly convulated and unnecessary turns. It makes it feel more wobbly and imperfect and I love it dearly, as that just happens sometimes in role-playing, Shit gets weird when you let your friends into your brain.

That being said, when you're viewing it as a weekly show, that aspect can be so VERY frustrating because we're used to getting streamlined thought-out storylines from media. It can totally be enough to stop people from watching CR altogether if it bothers them enough. It's almost certainly the reason why people prefer other TTRPG shows like D20 or TAZ (refering entirely to the mini-seasons as ive never made it all the way through the big seasons of TAZ, so major grain of salt on this one), but it's also what makes CR feel different. D20 and TAZ and most other live play shows are usually short-form stories which allows/forces them to cut through the role-player brain fog and just focus on telling good stories.

Obviously CR does sometimes let the fact that the audience is watching 👀 affect their in game moments, and that's okay... because their role-playing, and role-playing is inherently imperfect. CR is more likely to experiences both ends of this dichotomy (being widely unstreamlined/convulated and being very streamlined/railroaded) because they are longer form and trying to capture that role-playing headspace, but they are ALSO a company who has based their careers around those organic (and imperfect) stories they tell, and how they are recieved by fans.

At the end of the day, I guess what I'm saying is, if you want CR but as a perfectly streamlined and well told story, but also maintaining some well-placed and intentional wobbliness, then the live campaign just isn't what you're looking for. Honestly in my mind that's what you'll get from the adaptations of the campaigns (Tlovm, TM9 show when it comes out, the comics, the books etc.) so I bet people who don't like the wonkiness of the campaign love those right!...right?

Obvs I'm not saying you can't be upset with whatever decision the Hells made (or didn't make) that has people fighting, but I also think that this decision they made being wrong, imperfect, or unsatisfying from a story perspective is just what can happen in TTRPGs. Capturing that is, to me, what CR is all about, and what endeared me to it so much before other liveplays. It captures the unique thing that happens during roleplay that is specifically experienced by the roleplayer and not the audience. Which can obvs be a little unsatisfying for the audience member sometimes if we're wanting it to feel like a show and not an experience.

[princeofassassins]

I have to readjust to this site, I left for 4 years, came back at the tail end of a campaign which has a ton of different viewpoints, saw an interesting one and, tagged someone I have followed for a while (and think is a really good creator, who makes great meta) who has a differing viewpoint re: the gods and said "hey do you think this could work?" (genuinely and not as a gotcha) and its was unfortunately viewed as snitch tagging to create drama or discourse and you're blocked immediately.

Gotta remember this place isnt twitter where people will see tags and usually ignore you if they dont want to engage with the prompt, or otherwise. Also I didnt get "No ask box = do not tag me" as a concept

To the person involved sorry for bothering you with that, what seemed like a generic "what do you think" came across as bait and switchy or some kind of trap, and I did not intend it as such. I dont interact much with the CR community on here, at least compared to what I did in C2 but as a former meta writer on here I wasnt trying to ruin your experience on this site. I wont make this mistake again.

[topazsink]

Jeezum Pete all the debate over character alignments and stuff after last week’s episode 😅

Y’all thought Vox Machina was evil after how they killed Ripley y’all gotta chill tf out.

I know this fandom loves ANGST and debating characters but it always feels like people just wait for a character they don’t like to have a bad day and then try to conflate that into “SEE THEY’RE A BAD PERSON.”

(Either that, or they want to use it so the other person in the ship they like will try and bring them back from the dark side lol)

Idk I’m just tired of the constant “omg they’ve GONE TOO FAR.” You guys didn’t even think Essek went too far in STARTING A WAR but this episode is where ya drawn the line?

The fandom always hates when the characters are complex and try to boil it down to something too simple, if that makes sense.

[shyjusticewarrior]

At some point "fanfic can be as good as professional writing" became "fanfic should be as good as professional writing" and that's caused major damage to fandom spaces.

[mofsblog]

"This is some gay shit" Good. Silly. Fair enough. Doesn't inherently invalidate other interpretations of the relationship. Honestly yeah, it is kind of gay regardless of their canonical relationship status

"There's literally no platonic explanation for th-" WRONG!! KILLING YOU WITH AMATANORMATIVITY KILLING LOBSTERS 🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞

[opuestocomplementario]

I been working on this idea for a while, meaning I have been thinking about this and seeing in everything

I have been seeing a lot of fans talking about the artists they follow (ex., kpop) and how they praised how said artists do a lot of things in one year, and how they keep making content and music and how they stay until late to make stuff....and not to be like that but those artists then have a ton of health issues and are the first to said they (fans) should take care of their health.

Do they not see it????? Do none of them notice it?? Artists nowadays should not be praised for overworking themselves even if its because they are the ones who put themselves through.

A lot of fans like to jump into companies and management for these people and say things like "they are overworking them, they are doing too much, they should take a break", but they are praised when the artist themself shows EXPLICIT SIGNS of unhealthy relationship with their work as an artist. Also, at this point, blaming anyone but the artist is quiet childish. Maybe years ago the artist didn't have as much as a voice and that could be a valid argument. Right now, is not.

A lot see this "overwork" as dedication to the art and to the fans and stuff. Which is good sometimes, love your job or whatever. I just think the way they choose to talk about it isn't the best to what they are trying to archieve.

[automaticdata]

So, um.

I may be starting to get a weeeee bit annoyed with people on the r/Hermitcraft subreddit.

Like, when I made the meme that is still getting an insane amount of notes (holy crap thank you so much I am super flattered), it was understandable that people didn't know what it was in reference to. I went, "ah, probably should have linked Cleo's vid!" and lived and learned, you know?

But Cleo's video has been out for a week. It's only twenty minutes long, and the moment when they and Grian meet up is five minutes into the video.

And like. Grian seems to really want people to see his friends' videos? Like when Gem's snail arrived, he deliberately left that plot thread dangling to be answered in Gem's video. The guy has made an eight hour video showing off the other Hermits' bases. I also highly suspect that one reason Grian is one of the last people to upload collab videos he's in is because his higher subscriber count means his video will automatically racket up to the top of the recommended page, and he wants his friends' videos to get a head start on him.

So the fact that there's this significant amount of Grian fans who won't even watch five minutes of someone else's video to get an answer that Grian left hanging is ... it's just super disappointing, ngl.

And just. Don't even get me started on that "continuity error" comment. I actually had a pretty long response to that on reddit. TL;DR: it's not a continuity error because there's perfect continuity as long as you watch Cleo's video.

Grian does not have to fill in the gaps, that's not his responsibility, nor should it be. The point of a series like Hermitcraft is that you get multiple perspectives. If you're upset that one perspective doesn't show everything, then you shouldn't be watching SMPs.

[writing-for-life]

“Some of what I see […] is even pre-operational thinking. It’s I can only see it from my point of view.” (add by me: pre-operational = under 7).

“I avoided the topic entirely because I knew the drill: If you don’t agree with me, you’re wrong. If you offend me, you’re canceled.”

“Levine says that what alarms her about the rigid, concrete take on right or wrong she sees in my generation is that without the “capacity to hear opposing points of view, you don’t develop empathy.”

“We’re in desperate need of humans who can grapple openly with ideas, and disagree, as reasonable people will, without villainizing each other.”

“I see teenagers unintentionally becoming more unforgiving and judgmental rather than open-minded and compassionate.”

This article has been written by a high school senior, btw.

[eggwhiteswithspinach]

Since the 20th-century inception of the one-drop rule, widespread critical discourse on the validity of the concept has followed. Some critics argue the importance for mixed-race children to identify themselves by all racial classifications involved, rather than choosing a dominant one. Some assert that Black being a dominant gene, is justifiable as grounds for primary race classification over other racial identities involved. While some simply contend the possibility to identify as both mixed-race and Black.

Willi Quinn

[stheresya]

i love the way sansa is so proud to be catelyn's daughter. in a world where women are expected to assimilate to their husbands' world once they get married, there's sansa adopting her mother's gods into her creed, taking pride in having her mother's looks, often choosing to wear the colors of her mother's house and, most importantly, drawing strength from her mother's memory. what's so great about this is that it's not an act of spite against her father. she's just proud of being both stark and tully. it's like arya said: the woman is important too.

[topazsink]

Alright, OBVIOUSLY I get the real world context of what’s going on in the game. Forcing religion is bad. Obviously.

But it feels like this, along with every single person in this game, except Orym and Ashton and Bor’Dor, being like “pft what have the gods ever done for me” is starting to get frustrating. Not to mention the gods suddenly being more “do this thing for me NOW.”

Isn’t the goal to SAVE the gods? Like the Wildmother that saved Fjord? Or everyone’s bae the Everlight? I’m not saying everyone in the game has to be pro-god, but there should be, I dunno, motivation to reach the goal? Instead of continuing the idea of “mehhhhhh fuck em.”

[vigilskept]

this whole idea in both the fandom and the games themselves that being a people attached to their past & a lost civilization is a failing whereas a celebration of the present is something to strive for wrt elven & dwarven culture is something that reads as fundamentally western & liberal to me.

[septembermonologues]

i love when i fall behind on bell's hells, see people being incredibly angry at orym with no context, and then when i catch up i find out it's over something like him (33 passive perception) overhearing a conversation that was happening out loud in the same room that he (33 passive perception) was in and him (33 passive perception) finding comfort in his friends (a normal thing for people to do) before he (33 passive perception) tuned out and away from them because he (33 passive perception) wasn't eavesdropping on purpose (he has a 33 passive perception and the conversation was happening in the same room)

[unhookedchalk48]

Might chug some haterade and write about how a lot of the CR fandom fails to understand mechanics as a form of storytelling and how that's part of what makes TTRPGs a unique medium.

[helaenamyqueen]

I found this on Reddit and it perfectly explains my problems with the show and the direction it has taken

[callahanisms]

yellowjackets i know your writer's room is mostly, if not all, white people.

mari being pit girl? okay fine. full circle moment. i have accepted and liked this theory since i saw the pilot.

but season 3? is such a fucking shit storm that reinforces everything non-white fans have been saying for such a long time. treating non-white characters as disposable and sidelining these characters for white ones.

and also. did NO ONE think it would be weird if shauna was the antler queen and then the hair she's collected is mari's? is that not WEIRD when you consider the VERY LONG history of white people using the parts of non-white people as war trophies, as decorations, as literal objects?

i stopped watching when i heard lottie died because i'm just fed up with the way the non-white people are treated in this show. treated as plotlines, as disposable, as trophies. never as people. doesn't even get into how this bleeds into fandom discourse. and yellowjackets has always been racist, but s3 really is just mask off about it. and i feel like we should sit down and actually talk about it.