#forums and discord servers are cool with me

[indigogalaxia]

So I’m basically done with my neocities site and I’m wondering if there are any communities I could join to mingle with other web developers and stuff. Thanks!

[amyoffline]

It's done! The outline for—

—is below the cut. The goal of this project is to explore the following phenomena with as much context and nuance as I can manage, tracing our history over the past 15 years:

What about us, and what about Dan and Phil, drew in and continues to draw in a very specific audience. If they are a ranch metaphor, we are a pizza metaphor 🥗🍕🫶🏻

Why we were Like That™, by which I mean so parasocially invested in them that we became, at times, the most annoying people on the internet. Much of that reputation is undeserved, and the videos on the phandom to date have been strongly negative. So, uh, I guess I'm going to put my face on camera and (mostly) defend us.

Reblog, share in your Discord servers, reply, or send me messages/anon asks with feedback or resources if you have any! Especially if your experience being in this fandom community has been dramatically different from mine. There are TIT spoilers near the end of the outline, but I'm not tagging because certain individuals seem to be lurking over there. Thank you!

Chapters:

Full outline:

introduction

cold open

felt personally attacked by jonathan haidt's last press tour

showed up to the phrenaissance 11 months late

had an unexpectedly strong response to their new content, needed to find out why

what the hell are we doing here?

- phenomenology (academics are professionally insufferable) - research question 1: what drew the audience in? - research question 2: why were we Like That™?

what we're NOT doing here

- a strict content analysis or "wow we sucked" video - providing sources for things best left uncirculated, thank you

reflexivity (personal biases)

- american zillennial in public health - in the youtube audience by spring 2010 - lurking in the phandom on tumblr 2013-2015, back* since 2019 - fan behavior i did and did not engage in

(----): truly necessary background information, i swear

(pop) cultural trends, tech, and their intersection

- nerd/geek identity and the first online weirdos - broadcast tv & the music industry vs the internet - defining "emo" - blogging & vlogging - early internet comedy

broader social/economic trends

- so the U.S. economy collapsed in 2007 - a decade that sucked except for rom-coms and square enix games - the flip/slide phone + digital camera + mp3 player loadout

(05-8): early youtube and early phil

youtube: a great video uploader without a clear purpose

the content on the website

- crossposts, corporations, and creative/social outlets - omg guys it's amazing phil - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: justin bieber

the audience of "early adopters"

contemporary social media sites and forums

(2009): origin story

a wild dan appears… in the comments

the global constant that is teenagers being messy online

daring my old school district to sue me

- "one town's war on gay teens" (literal rolling stone headline!) - epidemiology 101: rates of… ugh… "unaliving" oneself - ways kids cope when it seems no adults will help them

the earliest days of dan & phil

- hello internet + pinof - a chronically overexamined timeline - file deleted ---* so how big WAS the audience at the time? ---* acceptable funny/edgy language was just different

contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: lucas cruikshank

omg it's meeeeeee

- how amy & friends were using youtube - ways i was just destined to end up here - being in social environments with peers 3-6 years older

(2010): is it "twenty-ten" or "two thousand ten?"

youtube is a platform about to explode in popularity

- the algorithm before it was The Algorithm™, lost site features - let's take a trip through the wayback machine :3c - actual dan & phil content in 2010 - the green brothers found vidcon - contemporary youtube-to-legacy success: darren criss

social media: also about to explode in popularity

- facebook was cool at the time, believe it or not - law of equivalent exchange: 2010 amy cringe compilation - the birth of instagram and pinterest - youtube slash livejournal (the first phanfics… sort of) - shockfic and its place in the overton window

the beginning of "the great rewiring" as haidt calls it

- ways social media is about to dramatically change - third spaces become online spaces - confounding variable: changing expectations of teens

(2011): the end of an era, the start of an age

a very long tangent on fandom and pop culture

cultural exchange

counterculture and teenagers as concepts

the first british invasion: the 1960s

- beatlemania and its descendents - moral panic about the virtue of tween/teen girls - tv/film/fashion trends being imported from the uk - in parallel, star trek births the modern fandom

the second british invasion: the 1980s

- synth/new pop that came out of the punk movement (hi, emo?) - confined mainly to music and fashion - cool britannia

it's harry freakin' potter

- absolute titan of pop culture influence - the rise of online fandom: examining the horrors ---* what is "wank" ---* flaming, sockpuppeting, and general cyberbullying ---* censorship: ffnet purges, boldthrough, & strikethrough ---* other fandom shenanigans of the time (yaoi paddles, anyone?)

harry potter's over. now what?

- for those who needed coming-of-age hero's journeys ---* twilight and YA dystopia waiting in the wings ---* some pretty iconic tv shows start or hit their stride ---* the mcu's phase one ---* takeaway: the rise of "geek culture" generally - for those who just wanted to go to hogwarts ---* doctor who & the wider world of bbc programming ---* british vloggers, you say? where? on youtube? brb--

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

dan & phil in the first half of 2011

- a continuation of 2010… for now - the videos - british pancakes as a case study of bad fan behavior

streaming and social media

- the birth of snapchat, twitch, and younow - netflix starts developing original programming - multi-channel networks (mcns) - digitour

dan & phil in the second half of 2011

- and they were roommates (omg they were roommates) - fantastic foursome - youtube glitches out - the super amazing project - the first proper baking video + wait, is that the bbc?

~ baking interlude 1: christmas cookies ~

the family sugar cookie (sorry, delia)

amy's 2011

(2012): why is anyone nostalgic for this

the transition from desktop to mobile

- massive growth in smartphone ownership 2011-2015 - things one might do on mobile one might not do on desktop - non-online ways smartphones changed being a youth™

what is tumblr and why is my child using it

- how the site is meant to work - fandom, memes, aesthetics, and SOME public figures - want to be anxious and depressed in peace? come to tumblr - this site seems a little……… gay ---* tumblr's very queer, very neurodiverse userbase ---* legacy media representation in 2012: bad! ---* actual academic research on tumblr users (yes, it exists) - the tumblr experience for non-native english speakers

amy becomes a vibrating mass of panic and paranoia

- in context of the above - additional rant about the american public school system

the growing dan & phil audience

- investigating the origin of the term "phannie" - more collaborations = more viewers - more video uploads = more /invested/ viewers - younow and interacting with fans - watch time replaces clicks in the algorithm

online etiquette, or lack thereof

- mid-transition from the 2000s to the 2010s - "professional internet celebrity" is still basically brand-new - lack of boundaries - various ways to be an asshole online - unsupervised kids simply do not engage in best practices

the end of 2012

- dan and phil move to london - wikipedia vandalism - tiptoeing around a top contender for the phandom's greatest sin - super amazing project DONE, now it's BBC RADIO TIME

(2013): arguably the most important year

- wait. what's that six-second video platform over there--

[amy's curated vine compilation]

- a new wave of internet comedians (read: future youtubers) - the zillennial lexicon - other platforms start emphasizing short-form video content - magcon

emo is BACK - well, sort of

- fob hiatus ends, mcr breaks up. my god. you had to be there - more open ties to nerd/geek culture than in the 2000s - these things once again intersect at dan and phil

dan and phil in the first half of 2013

- siri, what's a "sex symbol?" why are you booing me i'm right-- - d&p are everywhere - radio shows, interviewing, hosting - youtube uploads on their individual channels

rapidly changing cultural attitudes towards queerness

- gay marriage will be legal in places other than canada soon - a lot of assimilationist rhetoric though tbh - parallels to the pop feminism of the decade

hey kids, let's talk about compulsory heterosexuality!!

- what is it and why do people do it - academic, tumblr-level, and anecdotal research - the dannies, the phillies, and the phannies

amy

- the closet™ - mental health stigma - 2013 dnp posts from my main blog

dan and phil in the second half of 2013

- subscriber milestones, vidcon - joint content before the gaming channel - phandom starts having a major presence outside tumblr

(2014): achievement unlocked!

it's time to talk about rpf

- definitions (a chance to be annoyingly pedantic) - academic perspectives and fan discourse on the ethics - when the subjects clearly aren't fine with it - so… we can acknowledge "shipping phan" was different, right? ---* sometimes the subjects are fine* with it, actually ---* how dan and phil started to handle the shipping ---* obvious differences between phan and other rpf ships ---* sharing my favorite passages as a first-time phanfic reader

dan and phil in 2014

- wikipedia vandalism 2: electric boogaloo - bbc request show → internet takeover - the 7 second challenge - youtube content, subscriber milestones, rewind - cons and award shows

tumblr reaches the peak of its influence

- yahoo's attempts to monetize the userbase - buzzfeed and aggregators steal our jokes and bait our clicks - legacy media dangles carrots and uses us for free marketing - the legend of korra breaks TV precedent, almost out of nowhere - the tumblr user experience ---* on mobile, without xkit ---* on desktop, with xkit ---* 2014 dnp posts from my main blog

gamergate and its long shadow

- trolling, renewed and revamped - algorithms push increasingly extreme content - the broad conservative backlash conglomerate - increased normalization of conspiracism in general

my greatest sin [not clickbait] [very funny]

- so, circling back to comphet… - the actual story

anyway, let's talk about danandphilgames

- a star is born: dil howlter - different types of gaming content on youtube at the time - why did 17yo amy not subscribe? well…

~ baking interlude 2: chocolate cupcakes ~

make your own frosting. it freezes well

roasting myself further

(2015): it's not queerbaiting when it's real people

facebook "pivots to video"

- mark zuckerberg lied. water is wet - causes other platforms to REALLY double down on video - the birth of musical.ly - corporate-branded creators (read: future youtubers)

queerbaiting enters mainstream public consciousness

- academic origins - early fannish and acafan writing - johnlock, destiel, and sterek - statistics 101: type i error, type ii error, and queerbait

dan, phil, and the phandom

- bbc, cons, & the brits - danandphilcrafts - phan conspiracies ---* japhan ---* body language experts ---* timeline truthers ---* floor plan investigators ---* no but seriously imagine it - regular youtube uploads ---* solo content ---* joint content ---* subscriber milestones, rewind - tatinof uk and tabinof ---* on "selling out" ---* revisiting the statistics 101 lesson: now with real people! ---* never meet your heroes (unless they're dan and phil)

amy's (temporary) exit from the phandom

- it's legal adulthood with a steel chair!! - growing discomfort with some fans' behavior - 2015 dnp posts from my main blog - the closer: final fantasy vii

(2016): season finale

vine's imminent demise

- content platforms behaving badly - content creators behaving badly

youtube after "the great rewiring" (as haidt calls it)

- version 1.0 of the modern youtube algorithm ---* deep neural networks for dummies ---* what's holding creators accountable, or not - advertising and sponsorships ---* basically every child and youth™ is watching now ---* the battle for our attention ---* regulators start to crack down on undisclosed ads - the rise of drama/tea content (and later, channels) ---* youtubers are now seen as regular celebrities ---* dan and phil as the butt of other youtubers' jokes ---* baiting the phandom for engagement

tatinof us and aus

- a proven new model for live show tours - show & documentary released to youtube red (now premium) - [sigh] the tour bus

sea change in online fandom

- the newer, sometimes queerer media in korra's wake ---* better and more representation in live-action tv shows ---* voltron (i'm sorry!!!) ---* the mystic messenger craze ---* alice oseman & heartstopper - the new dynamics of #discourse ---* proship is to anti as phannie is to phanti ---* the bad behaviors of the 00s get a new coat of paint ---* new, though: fans harassing creators ---* a personal note on ace discourse

dan and phil presence off-tour

- the internet takeover ends - regular content, subscriber milestones

so. uh. current events.

- brexit - sorry the united states is a font of chaos - ripple effects

closing out the year

- amy finally gets an anxiety diagnosis and treatment! hurray! - dapgo, rewind - bbc radio awards & the boncas - gamingmas

(2017): time for a rebrand

tangent - sit down!!! buckle up!!! today's lecture is on PSIs & PSRs!!!

"parasocial" as defined by the current zeitgeist

- summing up youtubers' and laypeople's opinions (not dan's) - an unfairly negative stance overall, imo

older academic literature

- the 1956 paper (yes, 1956) - with traditional celebrities - with fictional characters

current academic literature

- with youtubers and other content creators - positive effects on the audience - negative effects on the audience - broader societal implications

fandom spaces as a parasocial experience

- parasocial and truly social interactions with each other - phandom as a supportive, welcoming space for oddballs - what research i can find about neurospicy folks, + anecdotes - me and everyone else on planet earth move to discord

inherent transactionality

- the nature of celebrity - positive effects on creators - negative effects on creators

reexamining early phandom through a parasocial lens

- the good, the bad, and the ugly - the role audience demographics played in all of this - entering, exiting, and remaining in the phandom

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

vine is well and truly dead

- some had prepared to become primarily youtubers (smart) - some move to musical.ly, insta, facebook, or snap (less so)

the sun sets on danisnotonfire

- i am very normal about dan's hobbit hair, i swear. - the last dnp content before the rebrand - new apartment, new floor plan investigations

adpocalypse now

- youtube has become the village elder of platforms ---* increased scrutiny, increased responsibility ---* some youtubers had been getting away with !#$!#@% - the scandals ---* pewdiepie + logan paul ---* elsagate and being "family- friendly" (read: ad-friendly) - censorship and monetization ---* adsense revenue goes down as advertisers pull out ---* the glory days of posting whatever and making bank are over

amazingphil and ~daniel howell~

- youtube & younow content - that week in march - vacations and conventions - conjoined baking and the concept of a "soft launch" - daniel & depression → dan as a mental health advocate - truth bombs, ii announcement, rewind

(2018): the phandom vs the hiatus they told us not to worry about

interactive introverts

- "giving the people what they want" - in hindsight… - let's talk about dnp fans from the global south

youtuber burnout

- it wasn't just dan: (more examples than header fits) - the old model was simply not sustainable - newer contributing factors - research on burnout, plus personal anecdotal experience

other dan and phil content

- younow/rize lives - dan's last videos before… you know… - phil's solo content in 2018 (quiff!!) - pinof → wdapteo - the gaming channel

other stuff happening online and in the world

- youtube raises the barriers to monetization - many "pivot to video" creators are now independent - the modern youtuber's multiple streams of income - continuations of societal trends in 2016 - musical.ly becomes tiktok - notable: she-ra and the princesses of power

the hiatus™: part myth, part reality

- how long dan was actually offline - major confounder: tumblr implodes almost overnight - major confounder: perception of content density from '13-'16 - major confounder: rapidly maturing audience - major confounder: our temporal awareness is about to go way ↓↓

~ baking interlude 3: scotcheroos ~

minnesotans and their obsession with "bars"

amy has one last existential crisis (you know, to date)

(2019): demolishing the closet with a nail bat

phil videos in the first 5 months of this very important year

basically i'm gay

- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - multiple things can be true at once

coming out to you

- my thoughts - its legacy in the canon of "coming out" stories - why phil waited (actual explanations, speculation)

amy's 2019

- return to the audience, not really to the phandom (rip tumblr) - strange coincidence that i also had a major life transition

dan and phil: still here, freshly queer

- twitter becomes the main nexus of phandom, by default - regular phil uploads + brief return to younow - vidcon

(2020): go home and stay there

so it's a goddamn global public health crisis

- infectious disease perspective - effects on overall well-being of adults - effects on kids and teenagers (sorry to all of you) - political and economic impacts

hitherto unforeseen levels of online content consumption

- tiktok replaces basically all short-form video content - yet another wave of new (otherwise unemployed) youtubers - you're watching a video essay. these got really popular now. - being young and isolated: thoughts from younger phannies

the Content™ bc that's the one word we use for this now

- phil's videos - when dan is around - that attitude magazine interview - pour one out for the phil solo project(s) the panini wrecked

further political disaster… avoided?

- checking in on the state of social issues previously discussed - unfortunately,

(2021): welcome to the 2020s, we have lingering trauma

THE PHOUSE?!?!?

- social media posts - the stereo shows

other dan and phil videos

- phil's solo videos - gay and not proud - hometown showdown - other joint videos - phil's #shorts (sounds normal in american english)

panini updates

- vaccines soon, uwu??? + entrenched misinformation - pros and cons of remote work - pros and cons of remote school - pros and cons of remote socializing

you will get through this night

- younger me really could have used this book too, dan - thoughts as a professional in a related field - reflecting on some of my more unique circumstances

daring my old school district to sue me (again!!)

- updates: racism and transphobia - updates: right-wing freaks take over the school board again - residents vote against improving mental health resources

(2022): dan returns (still not on fire)

hey so politics are um getting worse

- americans lose the right to reproductive freedom ---* the quickest of histories on where these freaks came from ---* this shit kills people. - trans kids become the punching bag of culture war discourse ---* fuck off! (gently) ---* fuck off! (i have a knife) ---* checking in on terf island

we're all doooooooooooooooomed

- dystopia daily my beloved - the style, the substance, the metatextual analysis-- - not everyone loved it, though. why? - the promo - dan on tour + sister daniel

amy's 2022

- i got covid - then i got long covid: brain fog, pots-like symptoms

some more news (i will work on my warmbo impression)

- dan joins tiktok + danisnotinteresting uploads - phil: uploading less, busy doing remote crisis management - twitter is acquired by an idiot jackass - heartstopper on netflix! ---* the show and what it means to people ---* drama (revisiting "real people can't queerbait") ---* why this has anything to do with the phandom

~ baking interlude 4: cinnamon rolls ~

- lovingly, recipe changes and corrections :) - if i have an opinion about anything, it's sweet yeasted breads

(2023): the phrenaissance

phil

- joins tiktok! - youtube uploads through september - what even is phannie tiktok. i've never used this app. help.

dystopia daily b-sides

- dan memes of 2022 - the 2023 dystopia daily episodes

amy: the doctoral candidacy process

- purgatory, privilege, poverty, and free pizza - checking in on what this is like outside the united states

pretending the panini is over

- complaining about post-adpocalypse censorship standards - honest take about "giving up" on covid - who gets the short end of the stick

the youtube algorithm is BAD and UNINTELLIGENT, actually,

- unhinged rant about not hearing about the gaming rephrival - because i was offline from other platforms. like, @amyoffline.

pov: you are a phannie (not me) on october 15th

- what i was doing on october 15th - saying goodbye forever, spooky week, and november - gamingmas - phil uploads through december

(2024): fifteen years of terrible, terrible influence

hey what the fuck is going on

- dan and phil ---* joint and phil videos ---* jokes they never would've made ten years ago ---* a collection of emotional posts about how far they've come ---* people want fun and silly content again. we'll get to why ---* nostalgia, hope, and other warm and fuzzy feelings - the phandom ---* ancient parasocial attachments, reactivated instantly ---* people are way more normal now. let's discuss why ---* tumblr vs twitter vs tiktok phandom

we're all doomed, youtube version

- my thoughts - thoughts on "dan should/shouldn't" do video essays - i can't objectively evaluate anything he makes bc [gunshots]

terrible influence tour

- legally phlonde - the concept: healing one's inner child / taking it back - we gotta talk about phannies in the global south again - no but seriously imagine it? ---*ogres are like onions, they have LAYERS ---* [placeholder for whatever does(n't) happen]

anglosphere current events once again

- the likely us tiktok ban - the tories get fired - [placeholder for whichever hell americans manifest] - witnessing genocide and feeling powerless

ffx full-circle moment to the intro of this video essay

- the night i found out they came back - why i am doing this, now with context - reflections on a nearly 15-year (parasocial) relationship

whatever youtube uploads we get during fall/december

AMY SEES TIT (nov 14)

- the vibes at the phamily reunion - buying merch to apologize for eternal ublock origin use - how much should i document?? (not during the show) - phanspiracies confirmed - atlanta confessions - favorite bits - the alternate universe where i went to tatinof and/or ii

(2025): the horrors persist, but so do we

whatever 2025 content is out while i'm still working on this

our parasocial social club

- let me be philosophytube for a second ---* every interaction has a parasocial element ---* what are we obligated to do as a phandom, actually? ---* as people who parasocially care about these two dorks? ---* what else should we be doing socially to be at our happiest? - "they're my gay uncles" vs "i'm a little in love, even now" ---* riffing about the boundary/overlap between these camps ---* sibling reads me for filth in a single text (sister daniel...) ---* at least we're all in this together

what's going to continue to draw people in

- grown adults drawing our cat whiskers back on - updates on queer/nd kids - updates on anxiety/depression rates - updates on tech and the broader environment of content - world still feels doomed

tangent - the "hard launch" and why people want it

what are people referring to, exactly

- general definition and other examples - when it comes to dan and phil - maybe they hard launched already and we just missed the memo

the ludonarrative of phandom

- if you got here early on - if you got here in the mid-2010s - if you got here after they came out - if you got here post-hiatus - final fantasy comparison: ffvii's chokehold over first-timers

a rom-com for the ages

- the tropes in play - brief tangent on the evolution of the genre - queer romantic comedies - final fantasy comparison: ffviii's plot and squall/rinoa

phriends… or…

- wholesome influence, slice-of-life - projection - final fantasy comparison: ffxv's gameplay loop, the chocobros

humans don't like ambiguity

- from a media perspective (narrative tension) - research from the hard sciences - final fantasy comparison: fanille ---* the first gay final fantasy characters, actually ---* ffxiii's character development process ---* fang and vanille in the text. brb, clawing at the walls ---* so, if anyone is looking for a phyuri au prompt…

tl;dr: reality is not fiction. make peace with not "knowing"

end tangent, back to your regularly scheduled programming

the phuture

- phil's big solo project when??? - dapg is just the joint channel now - youtube has changed since when dan last "regularly" uploaded - nothing lasts forever, and that's okay

~ baking interlude 5: ranch + pizza ~

- ranch propaganda and ranch metaphors - showing off my dough and sauce skills

conclusions

- a lot has happened in 15 years - [placeholders: don't write your conclusions before you do your research]

Proof this project can only be done in consultation with Tumblr: no other platform we're on could accommodate a post of this length and formatting detail lol

[angel-of-the-moons]

You can definitely ignore this little thingy if you feel uncomfortable buttttt,,,,,,, do you think Steven would like the idea of being bred? Now, breeding is cool and all I love anything that has to do with it but what if it was the opposite? Like, instead of yn it was character? (Doesn't have to be amab specifically lol cuz fake cum is a thing) but like it specifically thinking of Steven having a breeding kink, both ways not just once ʚ(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )ɞ sorry if this is not your usual type of requests or food for thought haha 😞

Okay this has been sitting in my box for a while but I finally got an idea for it asfjdlndlnd

Sorry if it's like, all over the place and not as detailed as my other stuff :'> I might come in and edit it in the morning when I'm more awake!

A Little Strange

Steven Grant x Fem! Reader

TW/CW: NSFW, Smut, Flat out smut, pegging, creampie (sorta), spanking(?), Steven is a crybaby, punishment, Sub!Steven, Top!Reader Reader has some hair that is long enough to be pushed back

MINORS DNI I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTENT YOU CONSUME

The request your lovely, mousey, nerdy little boyfriend made of you was one you were not expecting.

Sure, you had pegged him before, but the most recent time, as you helped him ride out his orgasm, you heard him whimper and sob into the pillow; "Breed me, love--"

The poor thing was so embarrassed about it all, but after a little sit down with him, he'd explained that he had fantasized about it, imagined you with a real cock; pumping him full, letting it drip down his thighs as you pulled out...

So, you started looking into online forums, Discord servers for adult toys that gave you advice as well as some stores that did custom designed dildos with cum tubes in them, as well as prep and cleanup.

You showed the messages to Steven, showing him there was no shame in what he was thinking about and you noticed how much lighter he was.

So much so that you and Steven started looking at adult toy shops online together for the "perfect" toy to play out his fantasy.

Steven wasn't yet brave enough to enter actual shops so, that task fell to you, Steven completely and utterly trusting whatever decision you made.

However, one night, while scrolling through various product lines...

You found it.

The perfect one. Lifelike, even complete with soft foreskin--matching your very own skin tone to give Steven a bit more reality in imagining that you were going to be the one to fuck him full of cum, not some obnoxiously-colored hunk of rubber.

You bought some warming lube, the fake cum, a new harness to accommodate the tube as well as a vibrator you could insert into yourself. After all, if he was the only one getting off, it wasn't much fun if you didn't, too...

You loved Steven for that. Your pleasure was always his, too.

You looked at him questioningly as you adjusted the harness, "If you're not sure about this..."

Steven had practically been drooling, watching you slip the silicone dick into place. Hell, it looked so life-like he had to blink for a moment to remind himself it was just a toy.

Not that he would have minded the real thing, per se...

He nodded, a little too enthusiastically; making his wispy raven curls bounce back down in front of his forehead, "Y-Yeah, love... I'm good. So--so good. Um--yes. Comfortable, I mean. That is, I'm--"

"Steven." You laugh softly, taking his cheeks in your hands, noticing how he leaned in on sheer instinct alone; as if your comfort was the one thing he needed most in the world.

"Baby, sloooooow down."

You boop your nose to his, making him laugh in return, an obvious red hue to his cheeks. His tongue gets his lips before he speaks, "Right, sorry. Excited, is all."

"I know." You say gently, brushing your fingers through his hair to push some of his curls back. You kissed his cheek and leaned in just a bit more, your lips brushing the shell of his ear as your hand pressed firmly against the bulge in his sweatpants.

"How do you want my cock, Steven? How do you want me to fuck you?"

The way he shudders visibly makes your toes want to curl and your pussy clench around the toy seated comfortably within you. It was off... for the moment.

"I--ah--a-all fours. From behind." He breathes, pressing his cheek into yours.

"Good boy." You purred, grazing your fingers along his jawline so you could tip his gaze upwards to meet yours.

"What about you, sweetheart?" He asked quietly.

"Oh, me?" You giggled, turning away, noticing how his gaze immediately fell to the way the dildo flopped as you sauntered your hips over to your shared dresser. You decided to spare him a quip, and grabbed a small remote.

You walked back over to him and placed the device in your hand.

And Steven, being the wonderfully curious goober that he is... pushing the button at the top, turning the vibrator on at full force.

The unexpected sensation made you squeak and squeeze your legs together; you hands cradling your midsection as your face erupted in a vibrant flush.

"W-wait!" You whined as you doubled over.

"Oh, bloody--I'm sorry!" He floundered, frantically trying to turn it off--accidentially hitting several buttons in the process so you suddenly were barraged with decreases in frequency, pulses, and even warmth--until he finally managed to succeed.

You panted as the sensations finally subsided, a sticky wet heat soaking the crotch of the harness, leaking out around the vibrator tucked snugly within you.

"Take off your pants and get on your knees." You said, your mouth twitching into a smirk.

"You are in so much trouble for that!"

"I'm s-sorry--" Steven hiccuped as you withdrew your hips oh-so slowly, your eyes watching how the strap-on sunk back in welcomingly past his tight rim of muscles.

His ass cheeks were red and swollen from the spanking you had given him--you didn't actually start fucking him with it until he was drooling and crying into the pillow he had tucked against his chest, his cock a weeping mess into the blankets below.

You didn't even let him touch himself.

You pressed the toy in as deep as it would go, pressing your hips down hard until you were grinding against his prostate; Steven whining and babbling the most filthy things as he chewed his pillow, begging for you to just move, to go just a little faster.

"You want me to go faster, baby?" You coo'd, pulling back just to slam home once again, grinding in deep.

"Ye-eeeeh-eeessss!" He cried.

You huffed, pushing back some of your hair that had gotten stuck to your sweaty forehead as you smoothed your hand up the curve of his arched spine, your fingers easily swiping through the rivulets of perspiration that flowed down his skin.

"Shh, shh, I'll give you what you want..." You murmured, leaning in to pepper soft kisses across his trembling shoulder.

He had been behaving since his "punishment"... You figured he deserved a bit of a reward.

So, you pried his tight-fisted fingers open and slipped the controller to your vibrator into his sweaty grasp.

"I want you to cum. And I want you to make sure I do at the same time. If you forget and don't let me cum..." You curled your fingers under his chin, scraping his messy stubble with your nails slightly, making his Adam's apple bomb as he swallowed the lump sum of saliva that had been gathering in his mouth.

"I--I will! Or--I w-won't? I..."

"Just make sure I do, baby. Can you do that for me?" You murmured against his ear, taking the lobe between your teeth and biting down softly.

"I--y-yes..." Steven sobbed.

"Yes..?" You hummed as you pulled back.

"Yes ma'am." He gasped as he felt the dildo inch its way out of his hole.

"Good boy." You praised him, your teeth snagging your lower lip as you feel him turn the vibrator inside of you on at a nice, comfortable setting.

Comfortable, but not what you wanted.

You thrust into him in a nice, deep, steady rhythm, groaning as you watch his hole clench and try to drag you deeper.

You almost wished this was your real cock, just so you could feel how his walls clenched and gripped--desperately trying to urge you along and deeper inside of him.

A moan was torn from your throat; as you thrusted in and out of Steven, the toy would nudge at a delicious angle to just barely catch at your g-spot.

"Steven, higher..." You panted, planting one foot down on the bed as you increased your pace.

You probably should have given him a bit more time to process your request before you began to fuck him harder, the poor man. He was a babbling mess of drool and tears, and you were relentless--pounding into his ass with vigor and energy he barely had in reserves.

His thumb shakily found it, and your breath punches from your lungs when it is turned to the highest setting on a steady pulse to almost match your rolling hips.

"F-fuck!" You groaned, gripping the soft fat on his hips for more leverage to fuck him harder, the vibrator inside of you moving around in your gummy walls, massaging you wonderfully from within, driving your impending climax closer as the seam of the leather harness you wore ground against your clit with every movement.

"'m gonna c-cum, love." Steven moaned loudly, his head lifting from the pillow.

"God--ahh!--are you?" You huffed back, your eyes rolling a little as the vibrator pulses harshly within you.

Maybe you'd chosen your toys a little too well... Neither of you were going to last at this rate. Pity. And here, you wanted to play with him just a bit longer.

Oh, well... Maybe next time you could cockwarm him; slowly fill him up with fake cum until he was begging to ride your cock. Maybe fill if with flavored lube and have him give you a blowjob? So many possibilities...

You reached down and grabbed the pump from your harness--your hand lightly squeezing it to let the fake cum solution work its way up the shaft as you moaned for Steven.

You hear a furious slide of skin as you realize he'd slipped his free hand below, stroking his flushed, fat shaft as you fucked him from behind. He'd get a punishment for breaking that rule.

He hiccuped, a broken and shattered moan coming from his soft and sweet lips was like music to your ears; making your heart skip a beat in your chest.

Later. He'd get one later.

"J-just a little more, baby--you can hold on long enough for me, can't you?" You sighed, swallowing hard to try and keep your voice level as your orgasm threatened to wash through you.

Your only reply was a choked-out whimper, your name leaving his mouth like a prayer as he sniffled; his hand on his dick slowing just a fraction to allow your budding climax to swell and bloom.

"Love, please." Steven pleaded, his hand dropping the remote to your toy--leaving it on the setting that already had your toes curling--as he gripped at the sheets blindly, drooling into the pillow once again.

"You want me to fill you up, Steven?" You moaned (perhaps a little too theatrically) your hips moving in a sharp blur; chasing every backwards jerk of his hips as much as every graze of that seam against your swollen clit.

"Want me to breed you, baby boy?"

"F-fuck--yes!" He almost bellowed

"Mmmm--" You panted, leaning down to press your chest against his back, his skin almost searing against the flesh of your breasts, "Make me cum, baby."

Steven continued to whimper and sob, arching and rolling his hips back to meet your thrusts, the jostling and tugging of the strap making those flames of pleasure lick up your spine as the vibrator pulsed and buzzed inside of you; the heat pooling in your belly battering down the walls of your self restraint.

Steven gasped and twitched, his hand going still for a moment on his dick as the first thick rope of his cum shot from the tip, coating the sheets and his hand as he picked it back up again.

You kept pumping inside of him--the sight and sound of him coming undone making your muscles go taut and flex as your own orgasm washed over you, his sweet voice muttering your name again and again as his cum began to soak into the fabric below him.

You barely had enough focus to remember the pump in your hand. You thrust once, twice, and on the third and final thrust your hand squeezed a final time, your "cum" shooting from your cock and flowing into him.

And, oh, the sounds leaving his mouth were downright sinful. They surely would have blocked any person from reaching the gates of heaven had they been uttered by a holy man.

Well... maybe holy in a different kind of religion...

As your hearts stilled, you slowly pulled out of him and watched as the white fluid dripped from his twitching hole and rolled away, onto your back as you panted for sweet oxygen--the bedroom felt so hot and humid. The smell of sweat and sex soaked into the very molecules of air between you.

You rolled onto your side as Steven collapsed, your fingers shakily reaching for the remote to turn off your vibrator as your body shuddered to a stop, the aftershocks of your orgasm finally washing away like the tide.

"You alive?" You huffed at him, reaching out to comb your fingers through his soaking wet curls.

He turned his face to you, then, a blissed-out smile on his face as he blinked his adorable little doe-eyes at you.

"I... ah.... better than okay." He mumbled, reaching out to grasp your hand in his. "You?"

"I think I found a new favorite hobby..." You grinned at him as you wiped sweat from your brow.

"Oh... I'm right properly fucked, aren't I?" He joked tiredly.

You leaned over and kissed his temple, where the vein throbbed beneath your lips.

"Oh, absolutely."

[0hmanit]

Some old tweets from the official Rain World twitter account that I find interesting

It seems that FP's overseers had a larger range, and could appear in outskirts. It also could be possible that they're were to guide you instead of Iggy. And after looking enough, this next gif confirms that:

This led me to the original forum post, have a nice read

The account retweeted a possible scrapped room? (2016)

Old rooms and a rare early look of the room SU_B04! (2014) I can't post them all, but if you scroll here you can find more screenshots of early Outskirts rooms. It's also so unbelievably funny to me that the old account was basically obsessed with using #slugcatlife in almost every Rain World related post (same with Videocult's account). It's a shame they removed their old bio and stopped doing that, because I think it's gold.

Can we bring it back please? I'll start using #slugcatlife just for the fun of it

If you're more interested in posts about Rain World's inspiration, thanks to the RW discord server I found this reply.

Another legendary slugcatlife tweet

Looking in the hashtag results in old fanart, screenshots and Videocult tweets. Like this early look of the White Lizard:

Or this gif of the noodleflies:

A couple of more honorable mentions: The room above Early DLL AI Cool decals

And FINALLY, these goofballs^

[frostedpuffs]

been a bit since i boosted my discord server so i figured i'd do it again! it's primarily miraculous ladybug focused but there are places to chat about other stuff as well. there are forums dedicated to all the new episodes and we have an episode announcements role to keep you updated about new episode info! (there are lots of other cool ping roles as well, and we sometimes have movie or game nights)

it started as a place for me to share my fic updates and art and such, hence the name, but despite my wanting to change it, the name has sort of stuck lol. it's really evolved into a creative-driven space where anyone can share their creations, which i really enjoy

anyone can join, just make sure you make an introduction or you wont be let into the server!

[laurenwalshart]

Hey

I have always wanted to rp and while I haven't been playing wow in a while it sounds really cool to dive further into the world that way? Would you have an idea on how one could could get into that? C:

Hi!

The Roleplay community in wow is definitely a hidden one so happy to share and help you get your footing!

Do you want to play Horde or Alliance? That choice may influence which server you will pick. Moon Guard is primarily Alliance, but it does have a small horde community. Wyrmrest Accord is the inverse with a big Horde community and smaller Alliance one. However now that guilds are cross server AND cross faction the barrier between these servers is starting to thin. Essentially you are really picking one server over the other for random chance world rp encounters and even there rpers have “anchor groups” for people to hop servers or phases and be in the same space for big events.

How do I find people to roleplay with? You can always walk through Stormwind or Orgrimmar on MG or WrA but the best way to get consistent rp is through guilds. Each guild is essentially a massive dnd group. Some are so big they basically have guilds within their guilds.

On top of guilds there is a massive network of discords that communities use to coordinate server wide events like the Tournament of Ages or Conquest on Moon Guard. Guilds will also advertise in these discords and open events usually advertise there as well!

You can also search the WoW forums of these servers for events and guilds to join.

Do I need addons? Yes! Addons are essential for rping. Three addons are a must Total Roleplay 3, emote splitter, and Listener/snooper.

Total Roleplay 3 or TRP is essentially a character sheet that players can mouse over you and read. You can describe your character, the way they sound, or act in glances, write a short bio, and more.

Emote Splitter - This addon with allow for you to write and post long emotes and it will split it up for you based on wow’s chat character limit.

Listener/Snooper - wow rp can be an overwhelming amount of text sometimes. This addon will ping you if someone says your name and will allow you to mouse over a character and see exactly what they said.

What lingo should I know?

OOC - out of character

IC - in character

(Text) - This is a comment being said oocly

Para - this player likes to write in descriptive paragraphs

Mirror - this player will mirror your style

Any other tips? Elune yes. Write your emotes on a google doc or something connected to the cloud. Crashes happen and you will lose an emote you spent 3 minutes writing in a flash.

/e - this creates that descriptive orange text. There is a range on this so if a player is out of range they may not see your emote. If you would like to remove your name from the descriptive text type “/e |”

Grab a bunch of elixir of tongues! They are always good to have on hand in case you run into an opposite faction player.

There’s a lot of toys and potions out there that do cool stuff! Keep your eyes open for them!

I hope this is helpful for you and others!!

================

Discord Servers to start!

Moon Guard

Grand Alliance: https://discord.gg/t4keucKH

Stormwind Crown Association: https://discord.gg/ZZD9j3xj

Horde Vanguard: https://discord.gg/R4tkuAUT

Wrymrest Accord

Wrymrest Community Project: https://discord.gg/wrawcp

Other servers

A Druid Community ran by me: https://discord.gg/w3Q7chtM

[pondering-my-rat]

Play-by-Post Western Marches Games:

Phew, that's a mouthful...

Clashing Solutions

The fact that essentially every TTRPG group on the planet struggles with scheduling is not a secret. Thankfully these issues are not new, and many ways to counter that problem have been invented by our community since then.

This post is a report of my observations from running a PBP WM group for quite some time, and how I would do things better if I were to start anew.

First up, what does any of that mean?

Starting with Western Marches (WM)- originally a campaign by Ben Robbins, in my opinion best described by his own words "No overarching plot, just an overarching environment".

Every time Ben's group would meet would be scheduled by the players themselves, drafting from a larger group, and meeting whenever enough of them had time. The game was a true sandbox, with players banding together to explore a vast world by themselves, for themselves.

Nowadays, many "WM-Style" games pop up, retaining some if not most of Ben's tenets. A large group of players is usually part of some kind of Adventuring Guild or another organisation, and organises quests based on emergent narrative.

Play(ing)-by-post however, did not originate in our sphere, instead going almost as far as board games go. People would play chess and other board games sending their respective moves in actual, physical letters to each other- sometimes even across continents. Nowadays, it is mostly done online, through forums, email or other software.

This should at the very least explain the namesake. This type of play does have one glaring problem- pace. Even with how quickly a digital message is delivered, not all of us spend our entire lives online, and thus might take time to respond. Lacking the usual atmosphere of a gaming table and the usual speed at which a game moves, this can make PBP games quite difficult to immerse yourself into.

PBPWM in Practice

So, both of these sounded like cool ways to combat the modern issue of scheduling. I created a discord server, and attempted to run a game using both, going by the false assumption of more fix = more good.

The first problem I noticed was my own fault, I believe. Namely, the players had no intrinsic interest in the world. As you might recall, true WM play will usually lack a central railroad of a story, depending heavily on players to trudge their own path. Because of this, I ended up simply hooking the players on with a generic quest.

Be it the fact my players did not have sandbox experience, or that I haven't explained fully how the game operates- or maybe even the fact that the original game was ran in an older version of D&D where the players had an internal drive to get gold, gold and more gold, pushing them out of the nest by themselves- the first tenet fell, and with it my hope of this (15ish-player strong ) game being less demanding to run than a usual story-driven game.

The second issue came as soon as the first party launched their first quest. It seemed perfect enough at first- we had two characters with the same Race, and a wizard dedicated to studying said folk. Along with two more soldiers to bolster their ranks and make it a viable fighting force, we set out on a perfect adventure with a perfect, compatible cast! Over the ONE AND A HALF MONTHS this "simple" quest would take, we have lost 3 of the players (quit, not dead), forcing me to "summon" new random people in order to make the party capable of fighting anything. Now... I admit, I could've been faster, it was a busy month. Since then however, very few relevant quests were finished quicker than that, and that is with me answering at least once a day, seven days a week.

Now, you might think that the issue here is just how long it took, and well... You wouldn't be entirely wrong, but there're two more issues:

Since the party stayed together for so long, other parties began adventuring, totalling up to four. Due to how unpredictable a quest's length can be, we have not had two parties "out of work" at the same time since we began. As you might imagine, this was hardly a Western Marches game, barely even a Match...more of a crawl...and not even the fun dungeon kind.

Another issue that arose was combat intensity. Due to how slowly the game progressed, the players ended up in a fight that was worth mapping once every few weeks. Some systems would probably not suffer from that, but we played using the 4th edition D&D rules- notorious for combat being essentially the only noteworthy element of the entire system..

My players were disappointed, to say the least, but before I began blaming myself, I thought it through. After summarising the events of the quest in my head, it actually sounded very combat-heavy! After a while of pondering my orb, I realised the problem here was just how slowly in-game time moved compared to real life.

The final nail in my PeBePeWeMe-brand coffin was actually time itself, as the good old saying goes.

After a few months, I think our average pace would be half a day per week, during normal play, and about 2 days a second while travelling! So even a game where more than every second scene was a fight left you feeling like you haven't used your sword in yeaaaaars.

Rethinking my Acronyms

I was happy with the group, or course, I met a lot of lovely people that taught me a lot about the system, that I think I'd love under different circumstances! This however, was perhaps the second worst use of this system I can think of, right after an Animal Crossing-inspired campaign...

Before I start blasting on about issues though, I just wanna remind everyone that this was my first time running all three of these things- i will happily take the blame for every single thing that went wrong. With that said however, here's my reflection on the experience:

Both Western Marches and Play-by-Post play attempt to fix the same issue, being scheduling. Despite foolishly viewing them both as just a fun alternative to normal games, they clashed quite badly.

What's the point of drafting a party from all currently available players, if it will take a genuine percentage of their life before it is over- this simply does not do anything if not a part of session play.

PBP however, was definitely my preferred one of the two, even though it forced me to entirely disregard the game's initiative system in order to finish a single combat turn in under 2-3 working days. As a neurodivergent person, I think I would also struggle to jump into my character just to text a single message and spend a few days waiting for responses- the transitions would just kill me and my will to roleplay in any capacity.

Despite this, however, I am a big believer in interpersonal relationships in games- I find it hard to imagine a great, epic quest where a character just disappears halfway through because a magic item she's looking for doesn't spawn in this biome, and promptly being replaced by a totally new and clueless guy who's 2 levels below the rest and doesn't know their names. I'm all for a party growing or shrinking with time, if there's a reasonable explanation for it within the story.

For Next Time, if I Dare

I have to admit, I probably won't be returning to session-based play until I either finish my Solo system or find a physical group that gathers around a physical table. Frankly, both of the systems I tried have their advantages and I think I'd be able to play into them far better!

My dream Play-by-Post game would most likely be something a lot less combative. Blades in the Dark was my first instinct, but I found a lot of that game to depend on momentum, I think it would lose a lot of its charm of stretched over time. I think the ideal party size for this is two to four players, depending on how many NPCs travel alongside them.

As for Western Marches, I've already fallen in love with the idea of using Modiphus' 2d20 Fallout system, its perfect for it! Not only can we have an array of different characters that can have unique ties to the factions and even be able or access completely different areas, I think the random nature of modern fallout would lend itself greatly into a monster-of-the-week style game, where every session is centered around a single, random issue.

My Tips for You!

Find people, play games, have fun, learn together, make more games, tell me about them!

With that lovely message, I hope you enjoyed this departure from my usual content regarding my own system, and I hope to see you again soon, my Trove-babies, all grown up.

~ Maple <3

[draconicpetrichor]

I went back and forth on whether to post this or not because I normally don't like callouts, but ultimately, I've decided this one is fair. This is a serious issue for low vision people like me, who have a hard enough time finding places and communities where we are accepted. This is a common issue. I run into this OFTEN. I will no longer be silent about it.

Ultimately: If you don't want me to talk about you being ableist, don't be ableist! It's very simple. I wouldn't have posted this at all if the people involved had met me with any semblance of respect, curiosity, or care, but they decided to double down on their hypocrisy instead.

Recently, I joined (and then immediately left) The Daemonism Forum's Discord server because I was invited to check it out by a friendly acquaintence and I was curious to see what it was all about. Like most servers, it's not very accessible to screenreader users, but there wasn't any place for me to make a comment on this. I couldn't open a ticket and there was no channel for server feedback, so I mostly just kept to myself and put it at the bottom of my folders, muted.

There was no suggestion for image descriptions or alt text. There was no rule banning unicode. There was nothing showing that the space was friendly for screenreader users.

The single time I tried to speak there (beyond the first day when I was giving hellos and thank yous back to the welcomers), which was yesterday, it blew up in my face.

First, I was asked to add my system tag into my username. Cool, no big deal, I'd just forgotten!

Then, when I added it, Fern (the mod) said this:

[ID: fern replying to my comment of "i forgot to put my tag in my sn, lemme fix it np! thank you for the reminder"

with "thank you for that !! we do ask that you don't use emojis only for your system tag, however, for ease of screenreaders and communication purporses! if you could please put a tag that's got a word in it also"

me replying to that with, "as a screenreader user myself (low vision), your server name is unreadable due to the unicode. emojis read fine on all three of my screenreaders. i'd be willing to add a word if it were actually to benefit screenreaders (and i will, since i am aware all are built differently), but it definitely looks quite a bit hypocritical to me that unicode symbols are perfectly allowed but my own tag is an issue. /not mad"]

Fern's display name has two unicode characters in it.

Now, I've been blind for a long time and low vision for a much longer time after that, so I'm pretty familiar with screenreaders considering I often use one! Every single screenreader I have ever used, across every device, cannot read unicode. This is fairly basic knowledge on screenreaders. This is a very quick "search or ask any screenreader user" sort of thing.

Clearly, Fern is unaware of how screenreaders work, yet is enforcing a rule in a large public space claiming it's for "screenreader accessibility" when the entire server is far from accessible whatsoever. I pointed out that there probably are screenreaders out there that struggle with emojis and that I'd add a word, but it felt very hypocritical to police me on assistive technology she clearly knew nothing about and didn't care about.

Other users (who aren't mods and therefore I've censored) chimed in.

[ID: User saying "Generally it is way easier to search for someone by their system tag if it's a word rather than emoji, at least for me"

Me replying "the issue i'm facing is correcting me claiming it's "for accessibility" while actively being far more inaccessible to far more screenreaders, showing that the person who corrected me very likely isn't educated on blindness, low vision, or how screenreaders actually function. it'd be way less an issue on my end if it were asked just for lookup purposes and not using "screenreader accessibility" as the reason whilst actively breaking my screenreaders."]

[ID: A different user saying "This is an issue we've brought up before, on the other end, as currently the rules around emojis in display names only apply for pluralkit display names instead of for everyone."

Kipling & Arkadius, another mod, replying "We ask for system tags to include text for multiple reasons. Accessibility is one, but also the ability to search (also important for moderation), a more unique and recognizable system tag (as multiple systems may use the same or similar emojis), and the fact that emojis are not universal across devices and may not even show up on some. You can still add emojis to your name but we ask that the system tag is present in text form. As far as I know we have not been made aware previously of screen reader issues with Unicode characters, so that is helpful feedback to have! I also want to say that the mod team has been discussing the current pk display name rules. This is also not the proper channel for extensive discussion of this rule."]

This is where I actively got angry. Kipling clearly doesn't know about screenreaders either, since the mods "have not been made aware previously of screenreader issues with unicode" when that's... VERY common knowledge among literally anyone who cares to look. Why are these mods making rules on assistive technology with zero knowledge of it in a large server? Did they even think to consult a blind person for two seconds?

It then somehow got worse.

[ID: Fern saying "yes sorry if I worded that incorrectly, we need a word name at least (if you want an emoji too that's fine)"

Me replying "there's not exactly anywhere for anyone to offer feedback, though. the emojis are not the issue. i do not care about the emojis. the issue is that this server claims to care about accessibility without even knowing how the assistive technology they're making rules about works. you (the staff) are actively being ableist by doing that.

here's my suggestion: you cannot claim to care about "accessibility" when you only care if it doesn't apply to you personally and you don't listen to actually legally blind people on the matter. my other suggestion is that if you (the staff) actually care about screenreader accessibility, then you need to look into what that means instead of throwing it around at everyone with absolutely zero clue of how the assistive technology you claim to care about even works to begin with. whatever, I'm out"]

The fact that the SIGHTED mods of such a large and long-running server are actively watering down and silencing my issues with actual hypocrisy and ableism when I'm the one who actually uses the screenreaders they're making rules about is disgusting.

These mods do not need to be a pillar or an educator of ANY community if they lack the emotional maturity to even read what my actual issue was. This is disgusting, abhorrent, and blatantly ableist behavior, and I know nothing will change unless people talk about it.

This space is NOT safe for screenreader users, low vision users, or blind users. The mods are actively blatantly ableist towards us, just so you're aware before you join or consider joining.

[gingerbravecookie]

devlog 1 - cursor and the horrors of game making. the agony and such of making a rewrite fangame

hello!! name's cursor/siffrin and i'm a poor loser making a fangame!! why did i commit to this i could have just made a fic but noooo i gotta pick up rpgmaker again

this devlog is made because. well. all devs do one ithink. also to write down my ocasional progress in this project!! this won't be monthly but whenever i have the time and got something to report yay. spare me from this hellhole

we begin 💥

ever since cookie run the darkest night got cancelled a few months ago and left us with only chapter 1 i did feel sad!! i liked the story!!! gingerbrave cool and fucking awesome moments. BUT!! because i am mentally ill,, i decided to rewrite the game myself and give it the ending it deserved to have!! will the ending be proper i dunno. i am still writing this stuff waugh. but hey it will have an ending at least

to gamedev stuff proper. i got rpgmaker mz around 2022 for the purpose of making a cr game still. an original one!! however after making a few stuff i left it in hiatus bc i had to focus on school (i still do. college is breathing on my neck dear lord). i still plan to continue that one but it will be after i'm done with this rewrite. in either way. i've been changing placeholder stuff for now,, such as menu icons and figuring out how to make the party have five members. also re learning how to use aseprite because i gotta make all sprites haha (breaks down)

i should remind folks that i am an artist/writer first and foremost. i will very likely go through pure trial and error while making and 'coding' all of this (why did i plan 14 chapters oh my godddd),, though i do have notes i took from the rpgmaker tutorial so i can refer to when i'm stuck whenever and hey!! forums are always a thing!! i wouldn't have figured how to have 5 party members if they weren't!!

to writing stuff. i've been planning the prologue and the locations of the first 3 chapters so far. as well as a vague idea of chapter 12 and the epilogue. with point A and point B set,, now i just gotta make the middle point. aka the rest of the game</3

the main party and a few relevant npcs and characters have already been set. as well as brainstoming stuff and showing said stuff to the gingerbrave council (personal friend server) for approval of sillyness. you guys are fucking awesome btw if you're reading this. also hi chat

mentally i've been setting a timeline of events. i plan to write these in a notebook so i can have them at anytime and not have to open my laptop whenever i get a cool idea. or dig through thousands of discord messages just to find an idea i wrote down in the moment. overall i believe writing (in comparison to art making and the game making process) will be the easier part for me. also i gotta decide for a proper name for the rewrite. naming it the same as the og is lame. i need something with more sauce. i'll figure it out. in the meantime. have this goober

i'm sure this should be it for this devlog!! hooray!! what have i gotten myself into!!!

in all seriousness i'm honestly pretty excited,, i really want to make this game work and for people to play it!! even if it might be a bit of a pain i really wanna finish this project so there's tgat

that's all. see you all in the next devlog whenever that might be 💥

[specimentality]

I’m not very active on discord but finding chill discord communities there is such a pain.

You’ll see one that looks neat, then you check the rules and it’s all “no talking about snakes or spiders. also if you say the word ‘injection’ we’re banning you,” which is annoying because those things are just part of my daily life. Even if it’s unrelated to the server topic and I’m not one to get personal, it’s still mildly annoying to see that on a blacklist

You’d think simple stuff like “don’t post pictures of dead animals, even with a spoiler” is fine. But it leaves me overthinking because does that mean I can’t share a cool red tailed hawk photo because you can see the non-graphic prey item it’s perched on? does that mean I can’t share cleaned bones?

It’s also annoying that so many small web programs use discord for support without having forums/faq/support tickets. It’s not nicely searchable for QnA and it’s frustrating to have to join a bunch of servers for different tools

[wwoodburnee]

So I'm trying to get back into roleplaying to help with my writing skills and why is it so, so unbelievably difficult to find decent roleplay servers on Discord? could just be a fundamental problem with Discord but Im seeing repeated problems that are really starting to bug me:

- requiring IRL face claims and not allowing art, even if it's drawn by yourself (but also allowing AI images instead - if the idea that using art is potentially art thief but apparently ai is fine?). I don't really feel comfortable using random people as required face claims.

- dead servers that you have to fight tooth and nail to get any activity. i totally get it being dead but sometimes it's best to just remove the listing/partnerships if youre not willing to try and revive the server or lost interest

- really annoying format options. i understand i might be biased because I'm used to forum roleplaying on a website but they're always such a pain to navigate with so many channels and not much sorting options. lore or background information is rarely presented in an easy to digest way. I want to read the lore! i want to know more about the universe! but make it easy to read and understand! and stop using annoying text fonts!! i get that it's cool looking but as someone with dyslexia i cannot read it!

- the community being super tight knit. this kind of makes me wonder why these servers are public if they actively ignore newer members. (although this could just be me - i find it hard to enter in currently ongoing conversations in general chats and my attempts to start conversations aren't really met with much success in networking).

..maybe i should just give up trying to roleplay with strangers. sigh

[rathayibacter]

Hi there! Maybe a weird question, but nonetheless: I am (in probably the far far future) planning on making a ttrpg based on source material and posting it on itch.

As the creator of (breathes in) IMMORTAL Pop!bat 2: funK.O. (Definitive Edition), although maybe not in exactly the same boat, did you do anything in order not to step on Funko's toes? Do you know of any other similar projects and what they did? Essentially, do you have any advice for a newcomer to the scene who doesn't want their shit taken down?

Thanks!

this is a really interesting question, thanks for asking!

so with IP!b2:fK.O.(DE), i specifically didnt do anything to avoid potential issues with the Funko brand because nothing would be funnier to me than getting a cease and desist letter from them. hasn't happened yet! and in fact, i guess that's kinda my point. i really don't think you're at risk here, so let's talk about why.

first off, we're small fish! that's not always enough to keep you safe from IP lawyers, Disney did famously go after day cares and Nintendo after all manner of fan games, but even then those are particularly litigious corps, and small businesses and minorly viral video games are much, much more in the zeitgeist than indie ttrpgs. i do know that Tokyo Brain Pop got harassed over its name (here's a breakdown of how that went down), but that's the only modern example i can think of.

second off, we've got a long and storied history of fair-use boundary pushing in the hobby that can serve as really solid templates for what you can get away with. in terms of physical components, IP!b2:fK.O.(DE) has good company in games like Dread or Mobile Frame Zero: Rapid Attack, both of which are played with a specific brand-name toy and tell you as much. in terms of theme, there's endless examples of both highly inspired original games that name-drop their source material (games like Dice Souls, Apocalypse Keys, Masks: A New Generation, MONSTER GUTS, Stand Up!, and Despair Dilemma all wear their inspirations on their sleeves), to the hosts of "The Unofficial ___ TTRPG" pdfs floating around every forum and fandom discord server on earth.

all this is to say, i doubt anything you do is gonna cross over the line, but if you're still worried it doesn't take more than a fresh coat of paint and a clever name to get you well within the safe zone. if you're using physical components, you can always genericise them with a wink and a nudge, though many games don't even bother to do that.

so make something cool, give it your own twist, and drop me a line whenever you're ready to share cuz id love to hear about it! good luck and godspeed.

[gatheredfates]

SEA'S COMMUNITY COMPENDIUM UPDATE

I actually have a few new resources for you all! I told you I was going to smash things out from my list. :)

As of 03/2, I have added the following resources (in no particular order) to Sea's Community Compendium.

Etheirys — a FFXIV RP Forum

Pleasant Locations in the World of FFXIV — a gpose resource made by @menphinaswhitemage.

Gposingway — a curated collection of shaders and preset collections for reshade.

Nic's BIPOC Skintone Friendly Preset Masterlist — a collection of shaders/presets friendly to BIPOC WoLs!

I am still on the hunt for Free Company & Community Focused Servers (including events) and Friend / Casual servers. If you are a part of a server that falls under these parameters, consider getting in touch with your admins to submit to the Compendium! They do not need to be on Tumblr to submit; I just ask that a contact be provided should I need to get in touch about activity/updates. If they're cool with a weird, out of the blue discord friend-request that may or may not happen in the next few months, volunteer them. >:) I also don't mind if people want to link the compendium in their discord(s). Though my focus is on Tumblr, the main idea is to have a resource that isn't locked behind Discord. If you link this on your discord to find other discords... that's okay with me!

You can submit your community/resource using the following link.

I also don't mind if Free Company / Friend servers have an application process, just please note it somewhere in your application or have it readily available on your carrd/website. As long as your community is open to new members, even if you want to vet them, that's fine with me.

I have been in the process of putting together a server that is one part a social space for myself, but the other will facilitate my projects, including the Compendium. You will not need to be a part of the social space to utilise the submission/promotional tools. Watch this space.

If you have any feedback, please let me know!

[wingedcatgirl]

hey there everynyan it's time for a new pinned post again

i'm mintleaf wingedcatgirl, it/she, local snuggly transfem catgirl #2424. i'm an adult but i've made it a policy that the entire internet is not just inherently entitled to my exact age on demand. if you truly must know, i'm sure you can dig up some birthday post i made before i had this policy and work it out yourself.

you may know me from being gay and not going to bed on time.

things i'm into include final fantasy xiv, fallen london (character list down below the cut), balatro (i'm making a mod! go look at it! it's fun!), tales of symphonia, terraria, kingdom hearts, puyo puyo, miraculous ladybug, cats (the animal, not the musical), and being queer and awesome. i write fanfic sometimes and am also vaguely attempting to work on original fic, so hello to writblr as well. a works list is below the cut

we're plural, but the headmates currently don't talk much here. this may or may not change in future. you can always say hi if you wanna

if you wanna find us elsewhere for such reasons as *gestures vaguely at fucking everything about this webbed site*:

your most reliable option is dreamwidth; we don't post there much but we do check regularly so a comment on any of our posts will get our attention

you can ask for our discord @ if we're friends (read: have interacted twice ever) or our server links if we're acquaintances (read: you're not a spambot)

we also have a sorta dead and disused forum, trouble cube. It's There™

but tbqh we don't plan to leave tumblr unless we're forced to. by the entire website being shut down, for example.

below the cut, some lists:

list of some things we're making:

Leaf Story, an OC insert fanfic of Tales of Symphonia (blog tag for it, also)

Minty's Silly Little Mod, a mod for Balatro that adds a new suit (3s) and a bunch of random other stuff because we thought it was amusing

we'll add more to this when we actually do stuff instead of letting it sit on our WIP pile forever

our fallen london character list for fellow fallen london enjoyers:

Inessa Fonseca, the Curious Lady (main, Light Fingers, Midnighter, non-canon Seven-Fold Knock someday when i feel like tormenting myself)

Inessa Fonseca in a rather more dire timeline (Seeking alt except the Seeking is canon so maybe the other Inessa is the everything-except-Seeking alt? Heart's Desire)

Lucky Kity (cat, Bag a Legend, I saw @waterlogged-detective's Boots the Cat and was like "CAT!!! i have a recurring cat character what if there was ANOTHER cat in london")

Lila Rossi (sure, crossover roleplay account for our Nemesis alt, i guess) (don't expect her to be as active as dire!Inessa and Lucky)

feel free to send us various RP and/or mechanical actions!

sideblogs we have:

@elakha-house-cube, the roleplay blog that currently consists mainly of asks from one friend

a lewd sideblog. mostly for reblogging. you can ask for it if you're cool

[julie-su]

What is the best way to handle moderating in your honest opinion

I have always felt that the best moderation looks like no moderation at all. Users only know the names of the moderators, because they come to them to ask for assistance.

You should feel that the bulk of your moderation falls more in making things run smoothly; moving things to the right place, shuffling things, changing settings, assisting members of your community with the site/application, and directing the flow of discussion. If you are constantly and exclusively punishing members of your community, then something somewhere needs to give; it's likely one of three problems... 1: The rules are too lax, and you will need to talk to the owner to append something... 2: The rules are too specific, and you will need to talk to the owner to append something... 3: You are vastly blowing minor problems out of proportion. A forum I had once moderated a category for had some strict formatting rules; one of which being, 'your font size must not be larger or smaller than [x]px' - to which, you'd give a 'warn', which just flagged the user in private messages, and put a set of points against them; these points were removed when the font size was fixed. It was 'Moving things to the right place and assisting members of the community', but one mod was always super agressive about 'rule breakages', and treated it like a punishable event that he was mad that he had to remove afterwards, because 'they deserved punishment for not reading the rules'. This... This is how you raise your blood pressure.

If you're sitting around waiting for somebody to break a rule so you can punish them, that means that something has gone wrong here; and it's usually that you've been online for a little too long, and you need to go and have a weekend offline with friends or something. Trust me. I've been there. It's really easy to get too insular, and to put too much focus on moderation; I've moderated for some really cool websites, forums, and projects over the past 14 years, and there sometimes is that feeling that you want to overperform, to always be present - but these days, and certainly after I returned to moderating public Discord servers, I made sure that I have at least 48 hours a week where I am logged off entirely and borderline unreachable (if not entirely unreachable)

If you can't take a full 48 hours a week break from moderating... O.o ... You better be getting paid for that. Most moderating is a community position which you do to assist the community (and in my experience, help take some stress off your friends' back) - it should not be like a full-time job, and it especially shouldn't be majorly stressful and detrimental to you.

The final thoughts is that things are never as complexedly motivated as they seem. Occam's Razor; the simplest option is usually the correct one. That guy did not just pirouette in order to break the rules; he just pressed the wrong button.

[thyladystark]

hey friends! i’m lore / elodie, an almost 30yo equestrian from new england. not new to forum rpg community ( 19 years and counting, oh my ) but definitely new-ish to the tumblr community and looking to expand my writing. 🫶🏻 what i’m looking for… i’m not quite sure yet. i frequent the game of thrones, house of the dragon, asoiaf, bridgerton, the last kingdom, the 100 and bridgerton fandoms, and any original verses are usually heavily fantasy inspired with sci-fi / horror in the mix.

i prefer to play feminine characters and originals, but i have some canons who are close to my heart and am easy to adapt if it means giving my writing partner a pairing they want. i consider myself an advanced literate writer who can do multi-liner, paragraph or novella style, although i really do prefer quality over quantity.

• i don’t have many triggers, please just use common sense and don’t be a total freak

• canon divergence is my go-to; i like incorporating my oc’s into existing storylines and creating my own world building within worlds

• 18+ with a preference for 21+ only as i do like dark / mature themes

• preference to discord for use of writing just because it’s the most accessible for me in my day to day life; i like having a server with my writing partner to have a spot for everything in one c:

• i am not against writing masculine male characters, but i am far better writing women, feminine men and masculine women ( go figure lmao )

• angst, adventure, betrayal… i want it allll

• i’m cool to write smut, just don’t expect me to only write it, because i do want and need connection / plotting!