#i lost what i had for scrolling and finding semi entertaining content

[theoneofwhomisblue]

Maybe following 3,000 people isn't great

Because I fucking hate scrolling through this fucking site now

I'm not even joking, I fucking hate this shit

This site sucks ass

Also if this post has less than 10 notes in 3 hours I'm deleting it

I know this is completely my fault. I also don't give a fuck

I'm too tired to curate my page to be decent for me

I'm so fucking tired

This site sucks ass

Reddit sucks ass

Tumblr sucks ass

The Internet fucking sucks

Google is constantly bitching at me to pay for more space in my account cause I habitually download every Tumblr and reddit image resulting in 13 gigabytes of bullshit

I fucking hate this

Anyway

I'll find better stuff to post tomorrow

Or not

I don't know

I'm so fucking tired

Kill myself

What the fuck do I do with my time now? Is there another site or app worth my time?

Tumblr's ass, I'll still use it but it's dogshit

I'm too tired to even do reddit anymore

Twitter is fucking disgusting and gets worse by the day because of dipshit mcmusk

And that's all that comes to mind

YouTube is constant background noise, but the algorithm there is fucked up too

I hate every video thats recommended to me

I'm not doing fucking tiktok

I don't care about my standards anywhere else, but no fucking tiktok

What else is there now?

Oh yeah, I can't comment on webtoon because I accidentally said fuck in a comment, so all the fun community stuff there is gone now too

All the webtoons suck ass anyway

The only fucking app that hasn't disappointed me is cookie clicker

Been playing it for like 400 days

I make continual progress

I just check in every two days to pop the wrinklers

Then after a month or two on a run I check in after a week

Until my legacy points start to plateau, then I reset

And get all the upgrades I can afford

Buy 5 grandmas, then 90 more, then as many more as I can afford that'd a multiple of 100

I do the same on everything else

Except the fractile engines, which I buy as many as possible, no matter the multiple

And buy all the items

Then at that point I start the research facilities, then start one, and check back in 30 minutes until I've researched them all

Then I top off the fractile engines and leave for a day

Then check every day, popping the wrinklers until a week in, then every 2 days. Then after a few months once every week

Then I do it all again

And spend all the legacy points on the upgrades I can afford

It's rewarding you know

Consistent anyway

Unlike reddit and Tumblr and Twitter and YouTube and everything else, it doesn't fuck me over on the algorithm whatever the fuck

Reddits decent for the porn, that's all

You know, I used to use a lot of sites for porn

Dozens and dozens of sites bookmarked

Then at some point I started to only use r34 reddit nhentai, and occasionally the good ol hub

I didn't use to have accounts, I'd depend on my memory for different images and accounts and artists and comics and shit

Then I made accounts on r34 phub reddit e6 gelb nhentai and half a dozen others

And started saving things

It used to be a fun game to try to remember

Now it's gone

But I'm too tired to continue that anyway

Anyway, same shit everything else as with the porn at this point

No variety

Nothing fun

It's all annoying bullshit

With the Advent of machine learning chat bot whatever the fucks, there's a little bit new

But aside from that, it's just the same thing every day

I'm so fucking tired of living like this duxe

The fucking internet used to mean something

Now it's just the boring status quo bullshit

And I know that it's because of me

But still

It fucking sucks

I don't want to do this shit

And I spend like 10 hours a day on the Internet too

More than ever

But I'm not happy

Barely entertained

But it kills time

If I need information, porn, music, videos, whatever elze

Entertainment

I get it

But I'm not happy about it

It's shitty

I feel like shit

Like, my life outside the internet is decent. But the Internet consumes so much of it, and I don't even like it anymore

I don't know if there's a fix

Or if I should just stop being so online and shit

I'm too tired to do anything anyway

I don't know

I take pride in what I achieve for some reason

But as soon as I get the imaginary goal point, I don't give a shit

Over a year I got a shit ton of reddit karma on a new accoutn

A specific number, that I won't say to keep myself from seeming like I'm trying to brag

But once I got it, I no longer cared to comment or post

Over 2 or 3 months, I don't remember, whenever 196 shut down, I got a relative shit ton of followers

Again, a specific number, but I won't say

I'll keep that number secret, cause I can

But once I got this imaginary amount that I thought I'd never reach, I didn't care anymore

I still posted as much as I did before

But I got no joy out of it

I just post, wait a few hours, then check to see how many notes

If it's an amount equal to what I think is average for the amount of followers I have, I feel kinda good, then post again

But that's it

I don't scroll anymore, except occasionally on my followers profiles when I accidentally click on them while looking through my new notes

And I enjoy that

But other than those fleeting moments, and the small satisfaction I get from high note counts I don't care

I don't care for Tumblr or anything else on this shit

I don't know man, is this how other people do stuff on the Internet?

I don't think so, people always have strong emotions on the Internet

I emulate my internet behavior to match, which makes me think that maybe more people do the same as me

But I have no evidence

I don't know, I'm too fucking tired of this shit

I just got an apathy about the Internet at this point

Apps, sites, everything

I just don't care

But I'm always on it

It makes no sense

I should probably proofread this post as I go

This is just a stream of consciousness at this point

I won't check it as I go

Maybe I'll make this a thing

Just typing my unfiltered thoughts for like 30 minutes then posting

Depends on the notes I get

If the notes are bad I'll just delete it and forget about it

Who knows

I guess I keep trying to do that

I'll do something new on Tumblr like this

And think "oh, maybe this'll be a new thing I do" then it dies

At first it was my consistent posting of reddit shit for like a year ago

Then I stopped posting that consistently

Then it was random screenshots of mine

I even made a tag for that one

Then it died

I keep thinking of myself as someone important because of my follower count

Which doesn't make sense as it's not even a lot

But still

I don't know

My delusions of microcelebrity status are the only thing keeping me on this site/app at this point

If I didn't have that, and the fuel for the delusion that is notes I'd be gone

I did already fuck my recommended tab

And following tab

And tag tab

It's already all bullshit

I guess I can keep my narcissism about my status in this site because of the top post by notes tab on a blog

I just click into someones

And 9 times out of ten, they don't have top note counts even comparable to time

Which fuels the delusion

It's the same thing I'd do on reddit

"oh this person only has [x] karma, when they've been on reddit for 3 years. And I have triple that, and I've had this account for 6 months. I'm better"

Shit like this is what makes the internet garbage

I don't let it bleed into the theme of my posts and comments tho

I let it make me feel superior than everyone else

But if I made that obvious in any post it'd be for naught

For that reason I'm considering not posting this anymore

Whatever, this post is already super long rambling bullshit

If it gets good notes a single anecdote in it won't matter

And if it doesn't get good notes I'll delete it

Then there's no harm

I just thought of that reasoning now to keep doing this post

Cause I got sunk cost fallacy on this at this point

It was a vent thing at the start

Now it's just me trying to think mildly interesting shit to add

I guess I can use that other reasoning to post anything

If it goes bad, delete it, and no one would have saw it, and no one will, so I matters naught

And if it goes good, who gives a shit

Nothing I post would be bad, maybe cringe, maybe rambling bullshit, as this js

But not bad, so it'd be fine

I lost my train of thought

I think I was gonna say something else about what I'm posting, and how it would be fine

That's gone now

Poof, into the abyss that is lost thoughts

This does kill time tho

It's been like 40 minutes since I started this

This is basically what I do in my mind if I just let my mind run, uninterrupted

But here it's written down, with line breaks, and exact words rather than a mix of words and images and concepts

So it's more digestible

I suppose it's not completely true to say this is my pure train of thought, not just because of the exclusion of images and concepts

But also because I'm listening to music

Just enough to mild my mind so to speak

My mind is always going man, and if I don't have something to dampen it

Like music, or weird fidgety things I do with my hands (I don't know the word), or exact things to focus on, I think way too much

And spiral and shit in stress

But then my thoughts are too frantic and fast to write down before they disappear, so in a way this is as pure a log of thoughts as anything could be

You can tell the theme of how I sound now, vs at the beginning

If you don't want to scroll up you can just look at the tags

I typed them near the beginning

And haven't added to them

Nor deleted them

So you can just look slightly down to see the notes

It's not even the right topic anymore. It's still on reddit

And Tumblr and internet shit

Oh yeah, speaking of

I've just said my Tumblr scrolling is bad without specifying

But to specify now, it's like scrolling through Twitter

Weird serious discourses

Arguments

Peculiar topics

Shit like that

You know, not the Tumblr I had before

And if I don't like scrolling through Twitter, why would I be here? And that's the bind I'm in now

I only stick around anymore because of the notes, as I said

I'm back to using punctuation occasionally

Not too much, but at least some commas

No periods though, they seem too intense for a stream of consciousness thinf

Question marks too, but that's about all

Oh yeah, stuff I was talking about before

Webtoon

I shit talked webtoon

It's not too bad

I just fucking hate slice of life shit, dumb "funny" shit, and worst of all romance

I fucking hate romance webtoons

I can't stomach them

And webtoon is constantly shoving exactly those down your throat

And when my tolerance is low to begin with, and I enter webtoon, and it throws a fucking popup in my face for a dogshit new romance thing, I damn near snap my phone in half

But it's not too bad

I just read the fantasy/action/thriller/horror/drama (ones without romance shit) ones

But I can't navigate the canvas section decent at all

By design obviously, canvas doesn't make webtoon money, the originals do

But I'm too tired to work against them

So I only read originals

But at least they post regularly

I read around 70 webtoons now

Which is to say, I read the new episodes of them when they come out

With such a large selection, I have like 4 webtoons minimum updating every day at 7:00 pm

8:00 when there's time change

But 7:00 most of the timr

It notifies you at 7:30 but they update at 7:00

Except for the goblin one, which updates at like 7:20 for some reason

And the daily pass ones, those update at 8:00 for some reason

But they notify you directly at 8:00 for those if I remember correctly

Even still

I remember roughly which days are best

Tuesdays have the most, like 15 updated at once

And ones I really like too

Fridays have a handful, and the one daily pass that I read as they come out week by week

Saturdays have like 4 I really care about, then like 5 I think are mediocre, but they kill time so Saturdays are good

Mondays are ok, but that's about it

Wednesdays are kinda ass, but they're decent

Thursdays used to be amazing, but after like 3 I really care about went on hiatus, Thursdays don't matter anymore

But having like 60 (because 5-10 are on hiatus at a time) new episodes a week, divied up across the week pretty well

Is nice

Now, I did accidentally say fuck in a comment, because there was a guy shipping children and saying sexual stuff about it, then there was a reply on it from another guy defending it. So I got mad, and typed a paragraph saying why that was fucked up

But I said fuck

So I can't comment anymore

I don't know, webtoons ok tho

I was just pissed off earlier

What else was there

Oh yeah reddit

I've actually been temp banned from Reddit (like my entire account) twice for using up too much server space on bullshit

There's this thing where you type u/profanitycounter [self] and it tells you how many times youve said certain swears in like the past 500 comments

So, for a joke, twice I've copy pasted "cum cum cum cum cum cum cum cum...", The max amount of times you can in one comment (a few thousand, I can't remember), then do that in a comment chain with myself for like 150 comments in a row

And it takes me several hours, but it's funnt

But it resulted in a temp ban for 2 days

Then like 4 months later, a temp ban for a week

Cause I used too much space, or bandwidth or whatever the fuck doing that

Also I got banned from r/Barry for saying the last season was ass

And I got banned from r/notinteresting for a reason I don't fucking know

But aside from that, my accounts clean

With a shit ton of karma too

Oh yeah, I use the same username (or a derivative of it) for every porn site account I make.

If you can find it out somehow I'll give you the passwords to the accounts

I doubt anyone could, it's a different username than I use for anything else

But there's hints

If anyone cares I'll even give you a few more hints directly in a DM if you ask

Though I will be vague as fuck

Been doing this for over an hour now

I wasn't paying enough attention to when I started

I'm pretty sure I heard someone say that Tumblr has no character cap

Let's hope so

I'm too tired to continue this shit

I guess this ends it

Let me know if y'all want more bullshit like this

I, personally, always like an unfiltered look at someone mind

But that's me personally

Maybe my mind is bland and uninteresting

Who knows

I'll stick with what I said at the beginning tho

Less than 10 notes in 3 hours and this post going bye bye

I got a headache from this shit

I thought way more than I usually do

Now that I'm more chill, I don't hate tumblr

I fucked it up for me

But y'all are good

Tumblr's good

[jadienjaystoriesandart]

Sander Sides - Coraline AU

So when scrolling through one of my favorite channels on here I saw someone mention Janus as Other Father, and this got my creativity going. I’ll hash out the characters and ideas, then give you a basic idea of what is cooking in my head. However, I’m not sure on how I want things to go in terms of plot. But I do have a general idea of the characters and their roles as well as background.

Other Mother: Logan Sanders

In this idea the Other Mother would have been Patton, but given there are so many sides, I thought he’d fit another role better. Then my sister suggested Logan as Other Mother, and it fits for the basic plot I have in mind. He goes by Logic by the others in the Other World, or as they call it the Alternate World or Pocket World. 

Logan says he’s the eldest one here along with Patton and Janus, and seems to be the head of the ‘family’. He’s a very stoic mother, pushing his kids, which in this case is Roman, Remus, and Virgil, to be smart. Not in a bad way, he’s a silently content mother, and you can tell when he’s proud of you. He cleans mostly and makes sure everything is in place, and enjoys gardening. Mostly he stays in the study or outside. 

In terms of power, Logan is the most powerful of them due to being the oldest person there. And no, he doesn��t turn into a spider being, he actually is a type of bird. Looking alot like harpy when you really tick him off. His buttons are dark blue with silver thread and his skin is warm but overly smooth. 

Other Fathers: Patton and Janus Sanders No one is really sure who is older, they’ve always been with each other. Janus enjoys making music and Patton enjoys cooking for the family. Both are very fatherly and enjoy doting on their kids. Going by the names of Morality and Deceit/Self. When mother dear isn’t around, it’s up to the one of the fathers to sort things out.  Janus is strange, as in he’s the one who gives the hints something isn’t quiet right. Though it’s unknown if these are his actions or not. He seems to like challenging kids that come to the Pocket World to think about what they are seeing and why. Yet does it a very coy way. Then there are days he’ll do a 180 and ask you not to question anything and actively lie about things. His buttons are dark gold with black thread, and he does have scales on his face still. Though, to a kid that’s nothing. Patton is cheerful and bubbly, his dinners are always the best as is his sweets. He’s the one that mostly sticks to Logan the most, and enjoys gardening also. He’s the first to make sure one doesn’t question, easily deflecting odd things, and is great at distracting people. He is Nostalgia after all, his areas when your near him make you feel so happy and get you lost in happy moments. His buttons are light blue with dark blue tread.  Both take on forms of a Frog and Snake when angry, which are terrifying. Their skin is also very rubbery feeling. Other Brother: Virgil Sanders  Virgil here is the youngest, looking like he’s only 15 or 16. He’s been here the shortest... and looks oddly like a kid that went missing back in the early 2000′s. The Family calls his Anxiety, and he’s rather withdrawn. But does enjoy playing video games or board games with Patton, Janus, and Logan.  Soft spoken, sarcastic, and a little emo spiderling, he’s adored by Patton mostly. Who calls him the ‘Dark Strange Son’ alot. Virgil seems rather happy in the Other World. Stating to little Thomas that this world is much better than anything he could dream of. He’s however hesitant to answer questions about things not inside the Other World. Telling Thomas to not think about that, and just be happy. He enjoys his room/the attic, and outside in the front yard. When angry, Virgil is the one with the spider form, taking on a more glass like look and his skin is cold to the touch. His buttons are dark purple with light purple thread. 

Other Twins: Roman and Remus Sanders The two Creativity Rascals, they are slightly older then Virgil, but much younger than Janus and Patton. They can warp reality around them when in their favorite spots, be it the Basement for Remus, or the Woods for Roman. Their rooms are actually in the basement in the door near the left side of the house. While Virgil's is in the attic. They serve as the entertainment, coming up with ideas on the fly to go on adventures, play dragons and knights, or kings and castles. The forest, quiet literally, is their playground. Having their own fort and castle there, and a while bunch of land to cover.  The twins play fight alot, but they get along very well and are rather close to one another. And are like the cool older brothers who have alot of fun, but are happy to let the youngers join them.  Both have tentacles in this one, though Remus is more slimy than his brother. And when they open their extra mouths on their body when angry, it’s very scary. Roman’s buttons are red with green thread, while Remus is green with red thread. And their skin is like plastic almost.  Coraline: Thomas Anderson  He’s about 12 in this one, just moved to the country side in a little blue house on the back dirt roads. This town is dreadfully boring, with dull, muted colors, always over cast and rainy. It’s like all the happiness has been sucked out of it and left to decay.  Thomas is not upset about the move, as he never had many friends, if any, from his old home. He’s mostly upset with the fact he’s just dull, he’s not allowed to be colorful. And to top it off, his parents aren’t always there emotionally for him. Leaving him completely isolated, even more so when he’s a closeted gay in a very religious family.  So when he finds a world where everything is colorful, with three dads, well two and a mom, a family who cares about him, he’s excited. Maybe this move won’t be so bad.

Plot: The idea in my head is that Thomas has moved with his parents to a rather nice when hie father got a promotion. But, like most typical rich families, he’s not really paid attention to. And Thomas feels mostly left out, having no friends to call his own, and just his imagination and books to keep him busy.  When exploring his new house, finding the attic and basement locked, and a small golden key, he finds a little door. It’s been walled off, which is a bummer. That is until the middle of the night, when Thomas follows a shadow to the door. Finding it leads to a world that is perfect. The world represents everything Thomas wants, brothers, Roman, Remus, and Virgil. Fathers, Patton and Janus, and a mother, Logan, who actually cares about him. He isn’t sure if this is some very real dream or not. But he’s not complaining, he feels welcomed instantly byt he family.  Taken on adventures with Roman and Remus, playing games with Virgil and learning knew things from Logan, helping Patton cook, and Janus teaches him music and among other things. But when after a week of this, Thomas starts to see strange cracks in their personalities. And when they one day ask if he wants to stay forever and be part of their family, it meets getting this pink buttons in his eyes. He’s terrified, and now wonders if he’ll ever escape... or even if he wants to. Notes:

So I’m not sure how I want it to be played out. If the Others are truly evil in just that they want to kidnap Thomas just because they are selfish and/or turn him into a doll.  OR if I want it to be well meaning sinister, where they think they are doing Thomas a favor by taking him away from his neglectful family. 

One thing to note is they do really like Thomas, regardless of intentions, they do like him. And either way, they want him to stay forever.

Now, I’m not sure if I want with the Other Father for Patton to be controlling Janus or Janus to be controlling Patton. One of them is well aware of what they are doing, but can’t go against the wishes of their controller or Logan. While they are happy, the idea of luring kids tends to hurt them inside.

The Other World is bigger than Thomas things, he’s just in a small area that belongs to Logan. There are MANY others out there. Who lure people away into their realm, for better or worse. It’s like it’s own reality, only everything is just perfect. It’s like a nostalgic trap, much like Patton’s room only worse.

Logan is the main guy, he’s been at this for a long time, and either Patton or Janus is their partner depending on who is controlling who. He mainly lures kids as he likes the taste of their humanity. It’s what he feeds off of, draining them of their everything, and making them like dolls, only with a semi soul. Any who does this too becomes his kid or helper. Logan is fine with this, he enjoys having a family. And he only has to feed every few decades or so. He’s been around for a long time. Most of his ‘kids’ have grown up, and become true Others who have their own areas. Virgil, Roman, and Remus though are still MUCH too young for such a thing.  Others are NOT human, nor are they ‘aliens’ either. Best thing I can think of are like Fae, only... less magical as we know it. They are creatures who feed off of emotions and the essences that make people human. Which is why they all feel like dolls. 

Others are near immortal should they feed properly, and Others areas tend to just attract people to them. Some go after teens, others kids, some adults, taste is everything. Adults tend to be more fulling, but can be bitter and sour tasting, Teens are half and half depending on situation, and are often spicy tasting. While kids are very sweet, and typically are fulling also depending on how well you’ve gained their trust. If you can get them to agree to being an other, even better.  It’s harder than it sounds though.

Each Other does have a specific power that they use. Which I am still hashing out in my head. 

They rarely get angry, but boy is it scary when they do. 

The key only is Thomas’s interpretation of the entrance way, it can be anything to get into the Other World. It’s all up to the person in how THEY think to get in. It could be walking through two trees making a hole in them, opening a door that is only unlocked on certain days, or even just crawling under your bed. It’s up to the seeker how they wish to get in, which is why the Other World can stay in one spot, no matter the house or thing built on it. 

There is no real moral code for Others, their world is very well hidden. But they are very protective of their charges when they find the right type of feed off of. Logan gets extremely possessive of Thomas when he shows up, not as in he punishes the others, but if Thomas ever thinks about leaving or tries too, Logan would lock him up until Thomas gives into despair. 

If they are being unruly or try to escape, one way to get them ot agree is by isolating them, and cutting them off from happiness. Which makes kids and teens want to stay once they leave their isolation. Logan dislikes doing this, but going without a food source is rather painful, and he’d rather not put himself or his partner through that. So if he must, he will make sure the target stays. Even if it won’t be as filling as if they agreed willingly. 

Also, their areas is often where their power is the strongest.

-0-0-0-0-0-

So Yeah, there it is, if you guys have any question just let me know. And this goes to @fangirltothefullest who when I mentioned this idea to her really wanted to see this.  I still need more for it, but I like the concept of it, it’s much different from the books, but that’s what makes it interesting. Could easily be Angst with Happy Ending. Could even get more sinister than this. We’ll see. Might post more about this later. And fanart is well loved, I can draw, but not well enough in my mind lol. 

[r3almellow]

Before The Storm (Gojo x Reader)

Had this idea for a while and even thought about expanding it, but settled for something small to dabble with JJK writing.

Warning: Very slight manga spoilers so beware! Also if you squint super hard a dash of implied sexy times.

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October 31st 2018

Time: 8:20

You had no plans of going out for Halloween, opting to enjoy a quiet night at home. Celebrating Halloween in popular spots like Shibuya wasn’t really ideal for you. It was way too crowded and rowdy for your liking. You preferred a more relaxed environment which was what you were going for tonight. You had it all planned out, lay in the couch lazily flipping through channels until you found the right station to ignore while scrolling through your phone, with a box of takeout before you. It was going to be the perfect night. That was what you had hoped for until you received a text from a friend earlier in the day. It was a reminder that you were to meet up in Shibuya to enjoy the Halloween nightlife. You had completely forgotten you promised to partake in the festivities with a few friends. 

Now, just minutes after eight leaning against your kitchen counter, clad in only a large t-shirt and a towel wrapped around your head; a glass of lemonade in one hand and your cellphone in the other. You stared at the screen in annoyance after sending what felt like the 100th text to one of your friends who you were to meet up with. And just like the phone calls there was no response.

“Any luck?” You heard a male voice ask. 

You looked up to see your now fully dressed boyfriend, Satoru Gojo, coming from your bedroom; casually looking through his phone. You had known the famous sorcerer since your high school years and had worked together from time to time. When you later craved a less stressful environment and left that lifestyle behind, you continued seeing him but on a more intimate level.

“Nope. It seems like their phones are off. Which means I’m not leaving until they call me.” You huffed, taking another sip of your drink. 

You would rather not spend most of your time pushing through crowds of drunk people for hours just because you couldn’t find your friends. 

“If they’re in Shibuya already you probably won’t be hearing from them for a bit.” Gojo said in a matter of fact tone. 

You raised an eyebrow.

“Something going on?” You inquired as he took the glass out of your hand. You stared at the man annoyed as he drank most of the contents within the cup. Satisfied with the drink he licked his lips, savoring the taste. 

“Just a little shake up that requires my attention.” His words, so nonchalant, did nothing to ease the building anxiety. Anything that required a Special Grade sorcerer's attention had to be serious even if he played it off as if it was nothing. 

“On a scale of one to ten, how little is this ‘shake up’?” 

He shrugs, bringing the cup to his lips once more. 

“Even if it was a ten it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m the stro-” 

“The strongest, I know, but you know I still have to worry. I might not be a part of that life anymore but I know how dangerous it can be. So don’t do anything too crazy, okay?” One of the many things that frustrated you about him was his “I’m untouchable” attitude. Being in this line of work meant that death could happen at any given moment and yet it felt like he believed that he was the exception.

Gojo hummed in response before setting down the drink to cage you between him and the counter behind you, giving you no room to escape. There was a playful grin on his face and you weren’t the least bit amused.

“Do you know how cute you are?” 

“Satoru...” You really wanted to scold him, but you knew that would only end with him deflecting. You sighed letting a small pout form across your lips. 

“At least don’t be too much of a handful! Those students of yours can only handle so much of you.”

He leaned in for a chaste kiss. 

“Only you can handle all of me, huh?” The double entendre wasn’t lost to you especially not when you could practically feel his lecherous gaze behind his blindfold. 

You felt the heat in your cheeks as a hand wandered up your bare thigh, slipping underneath your t-shirt. 

You refused to have a repeat of an hour ago. You procrastinating on getting into your costume and him shirking his responsibilities by claiming every inch of your body in the bedroom.

You pushed him away and turned your back to him, trying to conceal your flustered face. “Go do your job!” 

You heard him chuckle then felt the warmth of his body against your back. You couldn’t help but smile at the feel of his lips pressed against your cheek. Your heart fluttering at the sudden gesture. 

The man was affectionate when he wanted to be and it was times like this you reveled in knowing that these moments were only reserved for you. But as quickly as the feelings of love and tenderness came they left once you felt a semi-hard slap against your ass. 

“See you, beautiful.”

That annoying little...

You turned around ready to give him an earful, but he was already gone. 

You sighed, the feeling of loneliness settling in. 

Even with his reassurance there was a feeling that kept gnawing at you.

Was it anxiety?

Whatever it was, worrying wasn’t going to do much. You just had to keep telling yourself everything was going to be fine. He was going to show up unscathed, with a bag of sweets from his latest adventure, and entertaining stories about his students. 

He’d come back to you. 

He always did.

October 31st 2018

Time: 8:29

Satoru Gojo Leaves

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I’ll be honest...wasn’t sure where I was going with this. Just like everything else I had so many ideas, but settled for just a drabble of sorts. Hope you enjoyed the read.

[zombeesknees]

a retelling of the mummy

casting picspam part one part two

THE CAIRO MUSEUM OF EGYPTIAN ANTIQUITIES A PRIVATE WORKROOM IN DIRE NEED OF DUSTING LATER THAT WEEK

“Cristos? Cristos!”

           Where was the blasted man? Probably sleeping off another bottle of contraband ouzo, drooling onto a pile of priceless manuscripts. If he had any say in how things were run around here, that lazy lump would have been dumped into the trash bins weeks ago along with his stinking bottles of cheap liquor.

So what if he was strong enough to single-handedly lift ancient statuary? This was one of the few places in the world where intelligence was worth more than brute strength.

           Of course—right now—a little brute strength would be helpful. He wasn’t nearly brutish enough to solve this problem.

Hence the shouting.

How did this lock get so bent? The provided key did no good when the hinges of the case itself were warped, compressed and, well, fused into a solid lump of metal. As if the box, hardly bigger than a briefcase, had been exposed to immense heat.

Which was ludicrous. The carved wood would have scorched or burnt away long before the metal was affected. Perhaps someone had tried to lance it with a torch?

“Cristos—!” The huge Greek lumbered into view even as he shouted and he tried to swallow the name belatedly, ending on a strangled gulp. The man had taken off his shirt again and was wearing only a sweat-stained undershirt with stretched seams. Just looking at him made him feel slovenly; he unconsciously straightened and ran a smoothing hand across his waistcoat. “Ahem. There you are. I need your help opening this.”

“Haven’t you got the key?” the man asked sullenly, scratching the tight black curls at the back of his square head.

He held it up as proof. “The hinges are bent. It’s stuck fast.”

Cristos shrugged, an action that swallowed what little neck he possessed, and gripped both sides of the box. The muscles bulged and gleamed on his bare arms.

“As carefully as you—” he began quickly, eyeing the intricacy of the carvings. There was a sharp crack and a hiss of expelled air. “…Can,” he finished lamely. “Thank you, Cristos. That will be all.”

“Sure, Dr. Abdullah.” He slouched off, disappearing between towering shelves and stacks of crates leaking sawdust and straw. The giant moved as quietly and surely as a mouse. He had never backed into a rack of pottery, or elbowed an urn, or dropped anything on a glass display case…

Mahdi Abdullah shook his head sharply. He was not envying that man. Some were born for physical labor and others were better suited for the intellectual realms. He was completely content to work back here in the cataloguing room, translating texts and documenting their provenances. He’d never been comfortable out front, anyway, giving tours or answering questions, setting up displays and adjusting lighting.

Or so he told himself every time a pang of dissatisfaction slipped between his ribs.

He sat down in his chair. It creaked. In the hush of the cavernous room, it was disquietingly loud. There were days he’d unconsciously hum in an effort to push back the heavy silence; he’d even entertained the thought of bringing in his mother’s old phonograph and a box of records.

Most of his life had been spent in libraries, classrooms, and solitary bedrooms with only books for company. He’d become a connoisseur of silences. Usually, he loved and welcomed silence. But, for some inexplicable reason, the quiet of this remote part of the museum never felt quite right. It was a tense, expectant sort of hush, the kind you got before a storm. He would find himself hunching over his work as if anticipating a blow, leaving each night with knots in his shoulders and a neck stiff from strain.

Mahdi swept errant strands of black hair from his forehead, adjusted the wire-rimmed glasses that had slipped down his long nose, and pulled on his gloves. Plenty of work to be done. He would be here late enough as it was, with that Sumerian cuneiform he’d promised to translate for Dr. Yusafi—the man was incredible when it came to dating funerary goods but rubbish at everything else. How he’d risen to the position of Assistant Curator…

Case crafted of two solid pieces of carved wood, species of tree unknown but possibly sycamore or acacia, each piece approximately

He paused to grab his ruler.

7 cm thick. Hinges and lock made with a metal alloy containing copper, as metal has a slight greenish tarnish, he wrote in his logbook, letters small and tidy as they marched along the ruled lines. He made meticulous notes for everything he touched, ever aware of how much information had been lost over the centuries from improper cataloguing and vague descriptions. Carvings are intricate and exceedingly beautiful, depicting several of the gods. Osiris stands central, an orb in his hands (possibly the sun) with holy rays extending around him. Sister-wife Isis stands to his left while brother and murderer Seth is at his right. Other gods fill each side, including Thoth, Bastet, and Anubis. There is a lingering sheen to sections of the carving; it is possible it was fully painted at one point, or perhaps gilded.

Cristos had broken the seal, but he had yet to open the box. He preferred to fully appraise the case first, then whatever was inside; he had his method for processing items and never deviated. Carefully, he flipped it over to make note of the opposing side.

Second carving seems to be a semi-inversion of the first, he wrote, brow furrowing. Osiris is kneeling, head bowed, while Seth holds the orb, Isis behind him in a position of subservience. The other gods have disappeared and there are

Mahdi dropped the pen and sat back in his chair, pulling off his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. The wave of sudden nausea ebbed slightly.

This was ridiculous—you couldn’t get physically ill just from looking at an image. He was letting his imagination run away again, as his father had so often complained when he was a child. “Monsters do not exist, Mahdi,” he would chide. “There is nothing in the shadows, nothing beneath the bed, nothing in the wardrobe that can hurt you. Fear men, fear storms, but do not fear creatures in the night.”

It was purely imagination that made him think the strange shapes carved around the gods were the same as the things that had haunted his dreams as a child. Shapes born from the folktales of his paternal grandparents, out of stories heard in front of fire pits, flavored by the garlic his grandmother used so liberally in her dishes. Scabrous hands of the dead, half-animal monstrosities, human bodies warped by profane, ancient magic…

strange shapes suggesting demons and black magic bordering the scene, he wrote in a flurry, ink blotting the last word. He stood quickly, flipped the box back over to the less disturbing side, and took a deep, steadying breath.

The hinges had snapped in half, so he lifted the lid straight up and set it aside before angling the desk lamp to better illuminate inside. Whatever it was, it was rectangular and wrapped tightly in golden linen that had browned with age.

One side of the linen was treated with a waxy substance, some sort of water repellent, and is scented with myrrh. Inside this careful wrapping is a book.

Very odd. Given the age of the case and wrappings, he would have expected loose sheets of papyrus or scrolls, even a carved tablet. Bound books would have been exceedingly rare for that time. Stranger still, the cover was not animal hide nor treated wood: it was metal. The same kind of metal used in the hinges, he would wager, though the case seemed to have been airtight, as there was no green tarnishing.

There was no title carved onto the cover, only another depiction of Osiris holding the sun.

Slowly, oh so carefully, he lifted the cover. The pages were normal papyrus, hieroglyphics inked in a rich blue ink. He lifted several pages, glancing casually, making no effort to translate yet. After perhaps forty or fifty, there was a completely blank page—yet he was perhaps only halfway through the slim volume. The next page seemed to have been put in upside down and the ink was different, no longer a royal blue but a muddy, faint brown.

Mahdi flipped the book over as he had flipped the box. Osiris was missing from the opposite cover—Seth had once again taken his place.

“It’s two books,” he said aloud. “Two in one. The story changes depending on which side you choose.” He had never, not once, come across such a thing. At a quick glance, he would have dated this odd artifact to long before the time of Jesus—hundreds, if not thousands, of years before.

He returned to the Osiris side and started translating, head buzzing and pulse racing.

Be told: This is the Book of Osiris, he who died and yet lives and thus has power over both. His kingdom is one of light. His words have power. To speak with his voice is to hold that power. Power over the living and the dead, power over light, power to reshape the world into a more holy image, power over armies that would tear all asunder.

Be warned: With power always comes a price.

Mahdi sat back and sighed. Another book of so-called magic spells. Incantations meant to bring the dead back to life and unleash plagues upon the unfaithful. Entertaining fiction, and certainly valuable to the religious studies departments, but nothing more.

…Surely, his old university reputation hadn’t come back to haunt him…?

Where was the shipping crate this came in? It had already been unpacked and left on his desk when he came in after lunch and prayer, a note beside it from Rashid in the shipping department.

This had your name on it, Boss, the cheeky blighter had written, next to a little caricature of him wearing oversized glasses and a pharaoh’s crown. Rashid wouldn’t be serious if there was a knife to his throat; he was determined to be a world-famous entertainer, as he told anyone when given half the chance. He was only working at the museum until he caught his big break, until he got the attention of some director or club owner. Someday his name was going to be up in neon lights and they’d all regret not laughing at his jokes.

That’s it. This had to be another of Rashid’s practical jokes. Mahdi had suspected for a while that he had ties with smugglers—perhaps he was supplying that disgusting ouzo to Cristos?—and the sort who created false relics and bogus mummies for a quick penny. Rumor had it he ran a brisk trade in powders and elixirs from the loading dock, palming so-called cures off to the drivers and day laborers. Getting one of his pals to make a fake Book of Magic would easily be within his reach.

He’d show this to Professor Hakeem in the morning. The statuesque Sudanese had an unerring skill for authentication as well as a healthy sense of humor: he kept a massive private collection of bogus relics purely because it made him laugh. As he’d bragged to Mahdi at the last museum patrons’ dinner, he had the shroud Christ had been buried in as well as the crown of thorns he’d worn, the cross he was crucified to, the spear that had stabbed his side, the sandals he had worn as a boy, and one of the Virgin’s shawls that he had spit up on as a newborn in the barn.

“You’re not even Christian,” Mahdi had said, confused.

“No, but they’re better in my collection than in the hands of someone who truly believes in them,” he’d explained with a booming laugh, looming over him. He was a tall man and always seemed taller with his pristine white headwrap. “The way I see it, I’m protecting the faithful. There’s just something so charming about the charlatans who concoct this hokum, don’t you think?”

Yes, Abdul Hakeem would love to add this to his collection. That’s precisely where this belonged…

Mahdi glanced back at the book. In the yellow light of the desk lamp, it gleamed a buttery brown.

There was no harm in reading a little further. Translating a couple of the spells. It was bound to be more entertaining than Yusafi’s dusty cuneiform—the last tablet he’d transcribed had been nothing but a bill for five thousand bricks.

The Book of Osiris promised something a little more exciting that that.

           The last line of the tablet shimmered.

He blinked. No—his eyes were just blurring. Little wonder, as he’d been sitting at this desk for hours, his only respite the evening prayer. He’d neglected to pause for dinner, too caught up in the poetic words of The Book of Osiris, then too preoccupied with the tedious cuneiform. He couldn’t leave for the night until this translation was done…

           He fumbled through the last word and let the pen roll from his cramping fingers. There. All done. Now he could finally return to the glorified closet he called an apartment that always smelled of falafel (when had he even eaten falafel last?) and collapse on the bed that shrieked like a dental drill whenever he rolled over. Just as soon as he could lift his head, just as soon as he could sit up and grab his jacket—

           Why did his arms suddenly feel damp? And what was that smell?

           Mahdi opened his eyes. The Book of Osiris lay at eye level just beyond his folded arms.

           The book was bleeding.

           He shot up, wide-eyed as thick, dark blood oozed from between the metal covers, pooling and pouring across the desk. The white sleeves of his shirt were bright red, his hands sticky, as he recoiled in horror. The coppery stink of blood filled the air.

           “Help!” he screamed, stumbling back, knocking the chair over with a clatter. The blood splattered onto the floor, the pitter-patter of it far, far too loud in his ears. “Somebody! Anybody!”

           Mahdi turned to run.

           A woman stood behind him, so close he should have felt her breath on his neck. She wore a white linen dress, a thick golden necklace, a braided black wig. Her eyes were dark with kohl. Her hands reached out to cup his face.

           Her hands were red with blood.

           “Doctor!”

           He jolted awake so sharply he fell from the chair, smacking his elbow against the edge of the desk on the way down. “What? What?” he gasped, struggling to stand.

           “Calm down, Dr. Abdullah,” Cristos rumbled, reaching down and picking him up single-handedly by the waistcoat. “Must have been some nightmare you were having. You were screaming.”

           Mahdi stared at the Greek, then his desk. There was Yusafi’s tablet, next to his translation. And the metal book. There was no blood—of course there wasn’t. He’d been dreaming, just as Cristos said. It had only felt terribly real, so real he could even smell the blood…

           He hadn’t dreamed like that since Oxford.

           “Thank you, Cristos,” he said, heart thrumming painfully. “For waking me and helping me up. I should be going now.”

           “Hey, doctor, do you want me to walk you home?”

           “No, no thank you, that won’t be necessary. You can just lock up after me.” He knew Cristos had a cot in another workroom and often stayed all night on guard duty when he needed more money.

           “If you say so, doctor. Good night.”

           “Good night.”

           Mahdi moved quickly down the hall to the closest side exit, Cristos following silently. He nodded and flashed a quick smile before hurrying through the door, which shut behind him with a metallic clang and the click of the lock turning.

           On the first step he paused to button his jacket and regain his breath. As he adjusted a cufflink, he saw it.

           A small red stain, just at the edge of his cuff.

           It was still damp.

[dustydata]

Directing Darwin - 2017 Iron Viz Feeder 2

It’s been a while since I last posted, but i couldn’t say no to another shot at the Iron Viz competition! The second feeder of this year had a plant or animal theme. I really like having themes that are not centered around new functionality related to data sources. Specifically, the shapefile challenge last feeder was EXTREMELY difficult to find good data to utilize. Not to say that finding data this time was easy (data is always always the hardest thing in these competitions), but I was pleased to have such a broad topic to choose from.

1) Find the Data

I went through various ideas for this feeder including the below:

- Coral Reefs

- BP Oil Spill

- Mythical Creatures

- Deforestation

- Migration Patterns

- Darwin, Mendel, Pavlov

Eventually, I settled on a story that i had seen on an online video once before. One of the keys to winning an iron viz is the story. I know that the judging says that its only worth 25%, but in my opinion its closer to 70%. Reason being, when someone is interacting with your viz, they don’t want to have to figure out why they should pay attention. Just like a good book or movie, the story should grab you immediately so you CAN’T look away!

Taking the logic above into account, I chose the topic of the Russian Fox-Farm experiment. The 2 minute version is that during the late 50′s a Russian scientist started a study to determine if and how domestication could be influenced by selective breeding specifically tailored towards “tameness” traits. After 50 years the experiment had yielded almost completely domesticated animals which closely resembled dogs in personality and visual traits.

2) The Build

For the build I knew that I wanted to have a dashboard that was long and scrolling. Honestly, one of the main reasons for this was because I knew that I would have so much content that it would be incredibly hard to pack it into anything besides a 4000 pixel long dashboard! After some tinkering I figured that my dashboard would be split into two main pieces. The first section would be dedicated to explaining what domestication was and which animals were domesticated. The data around the fox experiment itself was fairly sparse and I felt that having more robust data to investigate would be great for background info and functionality

I wanted to keep the visuals very clean for this dashboard and kept the colors to 3 (yeah three colors) for the entirety of the dashboard. It’s the least amount of color variation i’ve used in a dashboard, but I tend to get lost in dashboards that have too much color and I really wanted to direct users’ attention to the most important pieces of the viz!

The middle of the dashboard is the most dynamic functionality-wise. It breaks down the taxonomy groups of animals who are either fully domesticated or semi-domesticated. The user has the ability to click into each portion of the treemap (sized by number of animals) and it will impact the full listing of animals (in timeline form) on the bottom left. This listing will change the picture displayed by hovering over the line. When you hover over the box to the right it will give you more information including why the animals were domesticated and where they come from.

The meat of the story comes from the Fox Timeline which has points running through the last 50 years of the experiment. The key point of design here was the double helix. This took me a little bit to determine how I was going to accomplish it, but in the end it wasn’t too bad! The basic steps were:

1- Find png of double helix

2- Stack them together in powerpoint, save as image

3- Import as background image, annotate points, save coordinates in excel

4- Map points background shape

The timeline continues and gives various details about the fox farm experiment. I tried to vary between charts and visuals to keep the reader entertained without “mathing” them to death. 

The final visually interactive piece of the dashboard is the diagrams of the foxes. Obviously, everyone interested in the story to this point wanted to see what the foxes looked like after domestication. I found some really great drawings online of what the foxes looked like before and after the study and it was stunning. You can really see the transformation into a dog-like fox! Originally, I thought about having traditional bubbles to annotate the visuals, but in the theme of keeping it simple, I kept the icons as simple shapes with tool tips that give further detail.

The final touch was a conclusion paragraph to wrap everything up! All and all, I feel really good about what I created and I hope its an interesting story that everyone can gain some insight from!

Best of luck Iron Viz competitors! (especially my wife who is competing for the first time in this feeder!!!)

[ai-da-ice]

ai-da-ice in Japan: Settling In

[For all of you who have had questions about my trip to Japan thus far or just want to know what it’s like living here, I’ve decided to start a little journal of my experiences here :D If you’re here for the music, don’t worry– I pretty much am, too. The content will definitely include J-pop/Da-iCE related things and goodies!]

Week 1: Arriving, Lost in Shibuya, Da-iCE Shopping in Harajuku

This summer I went to see Da-iCE in San Jose, California with a layover in Texas, which took seven hours. That was the longest flight I’d ever been on, and it had seemed incredibly long at the time, especially since I was really antsy and eager to see the boys. Well, that flight had absolutely nothing on my trip to Japan, which was 5 hours to San Francisco, 2 hours to Vancouver, then 10 hours to Tokyo + layover waiting time. Luckily, unlike my San Jose flight, there was free entertainment provided on the flight to Tokyo–I watched the excellent animated movie “Your Name”–as well as yummy dinner service. Plus, I actually managed to get some sleep this time, though not particularly comfortable sleep.

I left Ohio at 7:00 am on the 28th and arrived in Tokyo on the 29th at 6:30 JST PM. Sounds impressive, but of course that factors in all the time zone changes that happened along the way. Needless to say, I was dead tired by time I arrived. I was so out of it that I didn’t even freak out when the airline told me my suitcase with all my clothes and bedding hadn’t arrived with the plane. I was just like “Whatever, they’ll take care of it, just get me to the nearest bed.”

It was too late to check into my apartment, so I took a taxi to a nearby hostel. It was a pretty neat setup with sleep pods that look tiny but were surprisingly cozy. I was on an all girls floor, and everyone I shared the space with was nice and quiet. So if you ever go to Japan and don’t want to pay for a hotel, I highly recommend trying one of these hostels out. I can’t say I slept soundly the whole night, but that’s more because my body was confused about why I wasn’t living in Eastern Standard Time anymore. The next few days were more of the same as I put up with waves of jet lag.

Anyways, after my one night in a sleep pod, I took another taxi to my apartment. On this adventure, I learned several things: 1) Street names are incredibly uncommon in Japan. Addresses are numbered by the “block number” and “building number,” but are not necessarily given names. This was not a happy realization for me, since I get lost even when there are street names 2) Because of this, Japanese taxi drivers may need your assistance in finding your building if they don’t have reliable GPS, but most don’t speak English. Cue to my taxi driver being unable to find my apartment, me being unable to help him, me having no phone service to call for help, and me finally being awake enough to panic. Luckily, we managed to find it after some roaming. 3) The taxi drivers are nice and fair otherwise. During the time we got lost, the taxi driver didn’t charge me since he said it wasn’t my fault. Thank you, sir!

So, I checked in to my apartment, where I am sharing a divided-by-partitions and semi-private room with 3 other girls. It’s on the small side, but cozy. Since my phone was locked to North America, and I couldn’t set up my internet without getting a router, I was a little freaked out about venturing out to the no-named streets without direction back up. Luckily, I was paying attention to the layout of my neighborhood when we were lost, and was able to find my way to the main street to get myself some bento and familiarize myself with some of the nearby stores.

When I was done with that, I was ready to pass out to sleep. Unfortunately, my lost suitcase hit me right about then. I did have pajamas in my carry on, but no bedding or day clothes to wear the next day. I had to sleep on my mattress with only a tiny fleece blanket and a neck pillow. Not comfortable. At all.

The next day, thank god, my suitcase arrived for me. After unpacking, I registered my address at the ward office, a must-do if you’re a non-tourist in Japan. I couldn’t get a Japanese cell phone without doing so, and it serves as a substitute for a driver’s license, and is also easier than constantly using a passport for an ID. I also found a wireless hotspot for my laptop so I could research where I could go get a cell phone to use in Japan. There are a few phone companies with customer service in English, and the most promising was a SoftBank in Shibuya. Since I wanted to go there anyways to see Tower Records and visit the Da-iCE promotion at SPINNS, I decided to go the next day.

Naturally, I was anxious about going to an unfamiliar area with unnamed roads without GPS, and it went about as badly as I expected. Getting to Shibuya Station was easy, but there were a gazillion SoftBank locations marked in Shibuya. It was just as I was stepping out of the station and about to freak out that I saw Da-iCE's banner and was able to calm down. 

 I couldn't find any of the SoftBanks I was looking for, but did manage to find Tower Records. I hunted down the Da-iCE section and roamed a bit, but was so anxious about the cell phone situation that I didn't enjoy myself as much as I normally would. I went back out into Shibuya and spent about two hours getting lost and finding the wrong SoftBanks before finally finding the one with English staff. My poor leg muscles were throbbing. 

 A few hours later, I had my cell phone and GPS! No more getting lost! It was the last day of Da-iCE's Harajuku promos, so I hauled tail over there. I didn't have time to explore Harajuku as much as I would have liked, but made it to SPINNS on time to get swag and some fashionable Da-iCE clothes. After getting my phone, everything in my life became so much easier.

A post shared by Julie (@ai_da_ice) on Jan 31, 2017 at 3:59am PST

Week 2: Training, Odaiba, and Settling In

During my second week, I was mainly busy completing my work training, but I also had my first Da-iCE event at Odaiba’s Venus Fort Mall. You can read about that here, but I would also like to add a little bit about Odaiba and Venus Fort. Odaiba is an artificial island on Tokyo Bay that is mainly filled with commercial shopping centers and ports. You can see the Rainbow Bridge from the island, and also they have this really cool and HUGE Gundam inhabiting the Diver City area. And I mean HUGE.

The Venus Fort mall itself was lux~ury. Definitely way cooler than my hometown mall.

Settling in to Tokyo was surprisingly easy for me. I had big-city living experience having spent several years in New York, and Tokyo is like the politer, cleaner version of New York, minus the convenience of named streets. As a foreigner, there are some snags. The general population doesn’t speak English much, and my blonde-curly self sticks out like a sore thumb, and I don’t necessarily want everyone noticing me when I do embarrassing things like trip (often) or get lost (very often) or have to fight the wind for control of my hair (almost every second). However, I’ve managed pretty well thus far with my limited Japanese, and with my GPS, I can find my way around just fine. Convenient stores are everywhere, and where I live in Shinjuku is near major shopping districts. It’s not too difficult to find the things you need. If you’re visiting the Tokyo area without much knowledge of Japanese, I would recommend learning shopping terms and etiquette the most, since that’s probably where you’ll need it the most frequently.

Week 3: Work and Exploring Shinjuku Gyoen, Akihabara, and Korea Town

Lest anyone think I’m just here to see Da-iCE and get lost, my third week here was mostly spent working. BUT, on my two days off (Wednesday and Thursday), I decided to explore some areas I was interested in. I love taking nature walks, so first stop was Shinjuku National Gyoen, one of the biggest parks in the Shinjuku area. It’s best during spring according to the locals, but my winter stroll around the massive park was lovely. There’s a little bit of everything-- traditional gardens, greenhouses, lakes, old tea houses, small shrines, and various kinds of trees, though most were bare while I was there. There was a lot to see even though it wasn’t peak season, so if you also like spending a little quality time with nature, it’s highly recommended.

After getting my fill of the park, I headed to Otaku paradise, Akihabara. If you’re not sure what otaku stuff there is to do there, don’t worry. Just take two steps into the heart of the city and you’ll quickly find anime stores, gaming arcades, hobby shops, maid cafes, and more moe girl pictures than you can handle.

I selected the popular anime/manga/etc store “Animate” for the majority of my wanderings, which took quite a bit of time because there were tons of floors. Pretty much anything you could possibly want is in Animate, and if not the first Animate you find, then in one of the many other Animate shops in the area. There’s manga of all genres, merch of all kinds (key rings, body pillows, wall scrolls, cell phone covers, pins, buttons, figures, literally everything), OSTs and Drama CDs, collectibles and magazines for seiyuu fans, art books, yaoi, yuri, doujinshi, DVDs, and on and on and on. Heavily merchandised franchises like Love Live! or Uta no Prince-sama have the merch advantage, but if you hunt around enough, you’re sure to find something from your show of choice.

After resisting several impulse buys, I moved along to TRIO, an idol shop. If you’re into Johnny’s and Hello Project and the AKB48 + spinoffs, this is your kingdom. From photo cards to concert booklets to uchiwa of your ichiban/oshimen to lightsticks to fanzines, this place had it all. I was mostly on the male idol side, and there was so much Johnny’s stuff that I, a KAT-TUN fan, had to restrain myself every other second from grabbing everything. It frustrates me to no end that almost all of the stuff there isn’t available in some online form for international fans to purchase. There were so many amazing things that I wish I could take all international Johnny’s lovers there and watch them flip.

AAA also had a pretty sizable selection there, but there weren’t many other non-Johnny’s group represented on the male idol side. They did have some Da-iCE CDs though, and their most recent photobook.

The next day, I hit Korea Town near the Shin-Okubo station. If you love K-pop, this is pretty much heaven. EVERYTHING idol related you could want is here. Albums, DVDs, posters, lightsticks, key rings, hats, hoodies, pillows, fan books, concert photos, stickers, standees, bags, magazines, photobooks, EVERYTHING. Since my favorite group, TVXQ, is super popular in Japan, I was in heaven, and I finally broke down and decided to start spending money. There was a super good deal on small posters at one shop, 100 yen per poster, so I wound up getting 9...mostly TVXQ, but also VIXX, Bigbang’s TOP, and GOT7.

After checking out every single K-idol store in the vicinity (and there were A LOT), I went back to Tower Records in Shibuya to blow more money on music

A post shared by Julie (@ai_da_ice) on Feb 15, 2017 at 7:37pm PST

While I’m here in Japan, I want to keep building my J-pop collection without having to worry about the evils of shipping! I mainly want to work on FlowBack and X4 at the moment, but I would also love to get my hands on some Ebidan group DVDs, as well as check out some boy groups whose music was difficult to access overseas like XOX. I wound up getting 2 FlowBack CDs, “Shake the World” and “Come a Long Way” (I really wanted “Heartbreaker,” but the DVD version wasn’t in, unfortunately), as well as X4′s “Funk, Dunk, Punk”. Lastly, I got one of my fave K-pop groups 100%’s Japanese debut.

Goodbye, sweet money. I’m not even showing off all 9 posters here...

So, after all that, my legs are dying! I enjoyed my day-off exploring, so tomorrow it’s back to work!

[newssplashy]

Strategy: Gen Zs never watch TV, are stressed about Snapchat, and are concerned that technology has ruined their mental health — here's what it's REALLY like to be a teen in 2018

Generation Z is the most ethnically-diverse and largest generation in American history. From talking to 104 teenagers nationwide, Business Insider discovered what makes today's teens stressed out, happy, curious, and connected.

Generation Z is the most ethnically-diverse and largest generation in American history.

They're often cast as anti-social, technology-addicted, or " target="_blank"social justice warriors."

From talking to 104 teenagers nationwide, Business Insider discovered what makes today's teens stressed out, happy, curious, and connected.

Generation Z is the most ethnically-diverse and largest generation in American history.

And they're the youngest — Pew Research Center defined them recently as everyone born after 1997.

We usually view teens and the younger generations with a tinge of derision. And Gen Zs, with their obsession over Instagram and rejection of hourly work, are primed for the utmost scorn by their elders.

But we're more likely to understand what Generation Z is all about by talking to them.

Business Insider surveyed 104 Generation Zers nationwide to find out what it's like to be a teenager in 2018. Learn below about their opinions, fears, dreams, and complexities.

Who did we talk to?

Business Insider surveyed 104 teens aged 13 to 19. They came from all over the US, including North Carolina, New York, and Michigan.

Many survey respondents came from WeAreGenZ, a consultancy and think tank powered by Gen Zs nationwide.

The average teen got their first smart phone just before their 12th birthday.

Nearly 80% of teens got their first smartphone between the ages of 11 and 13.

Almost 3% of teens got their first smartphone at age 8, and 6% at 15 or older.

"We are the first generation to have had access to smartphones our whole lives. We communicate through social media and texts, which changes the dynamic of communication." — 19-year-old

"Everything in our generation is immediate. Since we have been raised in an age where texts and messages can be sent in the blink of an eye, we are less patient than other generations because we are used to having instant gratification. But our generation is also very determined to show that we are capable of real thoughts and using the technology and communication methods we have been given for making change, despite what older generations expect from us." — 15-year-old

Most teens had an iPhone.

Among survey respondents, 94% had an Apple phone.

That's higher than what other surveys have shown, but not shockingly so. Investment bank and asset management firm Piper Jaffray found that, in their semi-annual survey of around 6,000 American teens, 84% of teens plan that their next phone will be Apple.

Gen Z spends a lot of time on their phones.

Teens spend a median of five hours a day on their phone, according to the survey. But the time spent ranges considerably.

The top 25% said they spend seven hours a day on their phone — practically every moment they’re not sleeping or in school. And the bottom 25% uses it for three hours.

Teens told Business Insider about their phone use:

"Teenagers today are completely different because of social media. Now, we have access to this world-wide platform where we can insult or make someone look like a massive fool to millions while spreading that shame anonymously, and many parents these days don't know how to help their teenagers with that, especially when it comes to depression, anxiety, etc. — 15-year-old

"We are all connected and grow up quicker, so we had less of a traditional childhood." — 18-year-old

"I believe that teenagers today are fundamentally the same as in the past, but we obviously are able to gather information from a wider variety of sources and express ourselves through different means than before." — 17-year-old

That should take up a lot of time, but many teens don’t admit that phone or internet use takes up the majority of their days.

When asked where they spend the majority of their time outside of school and studying, 26% of teens pointed to extracurriculars that aren't sports.

Some studies have indicated that Gen Zs are antisocial and don't spend time with their friends in real life.

But Business Insider found that just as many teens say they spend the majority of their time with friends or family (18%) as those who say using the internet (18%) accounts for the majority of their day.

Artistic activities, sports, and video games accounted for the rest of the responses.

Teens spend as much time on their phones as adults do watching television.

A 2016 study by Nielsen revealed that American adults spend an average of five hours and four minutes a day watching television.

Business Insider found that Gen Zs watch a lot less television than their predecessors. Only a quarter of teens say they watch four or greater hours of television per day.

A third of teens watch an hour or less of television everyday. According to AwesomenessTV, Gen Zs said cable television is best for watching TV with family (43%) or falling asleep (33%).

Only 14% of teens watch television news, compared to nearly 40% of Americans.

In 2017, 37% of Americans got their news from local TV. That number shot up to 57% among those aged 65 or older.

Gen Zs aren't so fond of television news, Business Insider found. Just 14% said it's their main news source.

Six out of 10 said they prefer social media platforms to get the news — and 10% said they don't keep up with the news at all.

Only 2% of teens said they watch traditional cable television. But 62% enjoy Netflix and other streaming services and 31% prefer watching YouTube.

Only 5% of those aged 65 and up watch television through a streaming service, according to Pew Research.

"There are more options than on cable, since you can rewind or fast forward and watch older shows like Friends easier," a 15-year-old told Business Insider.

The majority of teens prefer to stream television from services like Hulu and Netflix.

Streaming wins for the lack of commercials and variety of options. Teens told Business Insider:

"It's lot easier to find something you like and watch it that second! Netflix especially has a lot of great original movies/shows." — 15-year-old

"You can choose what you want to watch when you want to." — 14-year-old

YouTube won nearly a third of teens.

They said it's free, caters to their hobbies, and, because many YouTubers are teenagers, the content is more relatable. Teens told Business Insider:

"The content on YouTube is so much more diverse and funny and relatable. The stuff on TV is so outdated. I would watch Netflix, but I don’t have the money to sign up." — 16-year-old

"YouTube is full of content that people create to keep their fans entertained with gameplay and animation about their lives, which is something that real TV doesn't really have." — 14-year-old

"People upload videos from anywhere and they're entertaining." — 15-year-old

The hottest slang words of the moment are lit, bet, shook, yeet, key, and slay.

Teens told Business Insider that these are their most-used slang words.

Here's what they mean.

Lit: When something is very exciting or energetic — like a "lit" party.

Bet: "Bet" is usually a one-word agreement — sort of like "I bet you do." You can replace "Ok" with "bet."

Shook: Shocked or surprised. Can't believe what you're seeing.

Yeet: Yeet was a dance that went viral on Vine in 2014. Now it can be used as an expression of excitement or a verb to describe someone throwing something over a long distance.

Key: The more succinct sibling of "major key," key indicates something important or vital to one's success.

Slay: Succeeded in something amazing.

We asked teens what their most-used apps were, and three stole the show: Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube.

Three-quarters of respondents picked Snapchat, Instagram, and YouTube as their most-used. "You get to see what everyone is up to," a 19-year-old told Business Insider.

Snapchat and Instagram are used for communication.

More than half of teenagers told AwesomenessTV that it's easier to be themselves online than it is in the real world. Teens told Business Insider:

"I like Instagram the most because I think pictures tell more than just words." — 17-year-old

"Snapchat is just one of the most common social media for me and my friends." — 17-year-old

And they’re also just used to relieve boredom.

Teens told Business Insider:

"I can scroll through them and not get bored." — 18-year-old

"They are entertaining and I can always find things when I'm bored." — 16-year-old

Twitter came in fourth place.

In 2016, Business Insider found that today's teens actually like Twitter more than their millennial or Gen X cohorts.

Teens told Business Insider:

"I get to talk to my friends and see interesting things about shows or bands I like, or see funny memes." — 14-year-old

"I like Twitter because it is how I keep up to date with things going on in the world." — 17-year-old

"It’s easy to see content from other people who aren’t your friends in real life" — 15-year-old

Only 10% of teens counted Facebook among their most-used apps.

The same message came up again and again: Facebook is filled with their parents, not their peers. Teens told Business Insider:

"Facebook is outdated and filled with old people." — 18-year-old

"My friends aren't on Facebook." — 15-year-old

"Facebook transitioned to being social media that's mostly used by parents, so it's lost most of its appeal." — 17-year-old

"Not many people our age use Facebook." — 14-year-old

Teens mostly use iMessage or SMS to communicate with friends — but Snapchat text is also popular.

Nearly 57% of teens said they use iMessage or SMS the most to talk with friends.

More than a third named Snapchat text as their No. 1 communication method, which disappears once opened, and almost 8% picked Instagram direct message.

Just 1% said Facebook Messenger was their most-used communication method.

While Snapchat is still the second-most beloved social networks for Gen Z, nearly a fifth of them said they’re using it less.

Lots of teens said they were addicted to keeping up Snapchat streaks, which are consecutive days of exchanging Snaps with another person. Some said they would accrue hundreds of days of consecutive Snapchats, which is signified by a flame emoji next to the contact's name and the number of days where a streak was maintained.

One 15-year-old said she had friends who kept streaks of hundreds of days with 20 or more people.

But now some told Business Insider that the consuming social media has become too much energy:

"Snapchat is draining to keep up streaks. Even though people still do, lots of people say they hate it." — 16-year-old

"Everyone on Snapchat was annoying about streaks." — 15-year-old

"Snapchat is too much work." — 15-year-old

Teens prefer to listen to music with Spotify and Apple Music.

In our survey, 26% of teens said Apple Music is their top music app, while 60% chose Spotify.

Despite its popularity for video content, just 4% picked YouTube as their most frequently-used music service.

The remaining 10% were split among Soundcloud, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Google Play, and Trebel.

More than a third of Gen Zs say technology is the biggest hurdle they’ll deal with in their lifetimes.

They said technology addiction is rampant among their generation. Teens told Business Insider:

"I think the biggest hurdle my generation will have is removing themselves from their electronics. Teens are very addicted to electronics." — 15-year-old

"We aren't personable in real life because we put too much energy in our phones and social media." — 19-year-old

"The biggest hurdle will most likely be our soft skills, our ability to hold a conversation in person effectively." — 18-year-old

"Teens now are too obsessed with their image on social media and what's going on with celebrities than with the real world." — 17-year-old

Some researchers say that technology has driven Gen Z to have record low pregnancy rates and drug use.

"This digital generation satisfies so much of their novelty-seeking impulses through their phones, they hardly have the time or interest to pursue these old vices altogether," wrote the researchers at AwesomenessTV in a recent report.

Teens are less likely to have sex, try drugs, drink, and other classic adolescent risk-taking behavior — and some say that's because they're so taken by technology.

Teen birth rates are now a third of what they were in 1990. Drug use and drinking rates are also markedly lower from previous decades.

Politics were the second-biggest concern among teens.

Gen Zs' short lives have been marked by political turmoil and contentious national debates.

Older Gen Zs have early memories of September 11 and witnessed the historic presidential elections of both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. Teens have also been notably involved in gun control awareness protests. And Americans believe more than ever that climate change is happening due to human activity.

Teens told Business Insider:

"The biggest hurdle for my generation will be the environment and the polarization of political parties currently. By environment, I mean my generation will be confronted with figuring out how to do their part to make positive changes in protecting the environment and science in general. In terms of polarized political parties, my generation will have to navigate a world that is trying to be black and white, but really has so much gray area." — 19-year-old

There is entrenched unrest around the globe without obvious solutions, and our planet is slowly dying." — 18-year-old

We think of Gen Zs as being social-justice warriors — but they’re just as focused on economics.

Nearly 10% of teens said debt and the economy will be the biggest roadblock for Gen Zs. They’re particularly worried about how they’ll pay for college.

An equal amount pointed to social justice and identity issues:

"Honestly, social injustices are going to be a really big thing throughout my lifetime. Many things are being brought to light and I don't see them going away any time soon." — 17-year-old

"Ending police brutality towards black people." — 16-year-old

Mental health was another top concern among teens.

A quarter of Gen Zs summarized their generation's mood as "stressed." And 17% opted for "depressed."

Seven percent of teens told Business Insider that mental health will be a major problem for Generation Z. "Dealing with and overcoming stress and anxiety and depression issues," a 17-year-old told Business Insider.

And not unlike every other group of teens before them, some said their biggest long-term worries were adulthood and dealing with the biases of older generations.

Teens told Business Insider:

"Our biggest hurdle will probably be learning how to function on your own." — 14-year-old

"I believe that Generation Z will have to overcome the fact that we are not as prepared for adult life as we think. While we're politically informed, I don't think we’re practically informed, if that makes sense. Most of us don't know how to do things, like, balance a checkbook and pay bills." — 15-year-old

"Showing older generations that we are more than kids that are just attached to their phones, that we do have opinions that need to be heard, and that we have skills to offer that older generations never had. Upside to being a digital native!" — 17-year-old

Although teens have a lot of opinions about technology, the thing they’re most concerned with at this moment is school.

Nearly three-quarters of teens said their biggest source of stress was academics or college admissions.

"Most of my friends and I are almost constantly on edge. We have a lot of stress in our lives and always seem to put too much on our plates," a 17-year-old told Business Insider. "We also just have a more cynical outlook in general and are less sure about the security (financially and otherwise) of our futures."

Family was distant second at 10%, with friends and extracurricular activities following.

Arts, engineering, and medicine are the most popular major choices.

Business Insider categorized what respondents said they want to major in, and certain trends became clear.

A fifth want to major in creative fields, like dance or graphic design. At 16% each, health and engineering shared second-place popularity. Business, other science fields, and liberal arts majors trailed behind.

Though teens say technology cause them a lot of problems, they’re also positive that their unprecedented access to information makes them more unique — and even better — than the generations who came before them.

Teens told Business Insider:

"Today, teenagers are infinitely more well-informed. We're able to form our own opinions on issues, as we're able to immediately access both sides of an argument online." — 15-year-old

"Geographic location is not a problem and does not define who we are. Though the US is a mostly a Christian nation, atheism is increasing and Asian cultures, like anime and K-pop, are becoming more and more popular among Gen Z and even millennials." — 18-year-old

"The availability of information allows modern teens to be more informed and causes them to be more disillusioned than those of past generations." — 18-year-old

And they say they’re more accepting and open-minded than any generation before them.

Almost 3% of teenagers in 2018 don't identify as either male or female — a significant uptick from previous year. Almost half of Gen Zs are minorities, compared to 22% of Baby Boomers.

They're in favor of a variety of social movements, according to AwesomenessTV. Eight in 10 support Black Lives Matter, 74% are in favor of transgender rights, and 63% support feminism.

Teens told Business Insider:

"We've broken a lot of stereotypes in our generation." — 17-year-old

"Teens now are more motivated to be the change the really want to see in the world. This generation is more determined to actually make a difference in their lifetime and see the fruit of their labor." — 19-year-old

source https://www.newssplashy.com/2018/06/strategy-gen-zs-never-watch-tv-are_30.html

[symbianosgames]

Metroidvania. What image did that word create in your mind? Super Metroid? Castlevania: Symphony of the Night? Or a newer title from an independent developer, like Chasm or Axiom Verge?

1986's Metroid and its SNES sequel, in particular, are touchstone titles in what has now unquestionably become its own genre. The first in the series introduced many console gamers to the idea of a large, explorable 2D platforming world; in 1994, Super Metroid refined that gameplay immensely while adding deft storytelling. Three years after that, Symphony of the Night expanded this formula in all directions, adding both complexity and depth at every turn.

"First off, I didn't like the state of action games at the time," says Koji "IGA" Igarashi, when asked where 1997's Symphony of the Night came from. "Titles divided into discrete stages were tending to get more and more difficult, leading to the situation where good players quickly finished them and beginners were no longer getting their money's worth. There was also the fact that the people on our team, including myself, really liked The Legend of Zelda, so we wanted to create a game in that style."

In retrospect, it's little surprise that this game launched a genre; it was a clear attempt to break away and create a holistically enjoyable game for a wide audience. The result worked too well to remain unique.

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Though retro game fans can point out any number of similar titles, Igarashi and his team arrived at a functional, repeatable design -- and Symphony of the Night came quickly enough on the heels of the acclaimed Super Metroid that it could become entrenched as a formula.

"I think it wasn't until Symphony of the Night and its sequels melded Super Metroid and Castlevania that the classification narrowed to mean something like, 'Side scrolling action-adventures with a obstacles in a continuous map that you can surmount only after finding the requisite items and backtracking,'" says Tom Happ, whose upcoming Axiom Verge is one of the most promising new titles in the genre.

The next turning point for the Metroidvania was the seminal 2004 indie title Cave Story, created by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya all on his own. It wasn't just a highly creative evolution of the genre; Amaya's ethos of building the game by himself made it a title that is inextricably linked with the rise of the indie movement, and the game's art and design have proved as influential as Amaya's D.I.Y. production style.

Cave Story+

2009's Shadow Complex, developed by Chair Entertainment for Microsoft, is also worth mentioning. Its massive commercial success as the console market for independently developed games began to take off showed that the genre had a viable future.

That's not the only reason it's notable. "One moment that always stood out to me was when Donald Mustard said (to you, no less) that Super Metroid was 'the pinnacle of 2D game design'; I kind of feel that was the first moment somebody really tried intentionally to make a 'Metroidvania' rather than just an action-adventure with aspects of Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night," Happ says, referencing my 2009 interview with the Shadow Complex creative lead. 

Now that it's an entrenched genre, developers are trying to capture the essence of the Metroidvania -- and to extend it further. I spoke to a number of them to find out why and how they're doing it.

My first stop was to ask these developers what makes the genre so enduring -- why does it fascinate today's independent teams? After all, it's been a niche for years and years; it's only recently, post-indie boom, that the number of games exploded.

"The concept is universal," declares Erik Umenhofer, developer of Temporus. James Petruzzi, of Chasm developer Discord Games, agrees: "I think the core mechanics are timeless: exploration, character improvement, platforming, and combat."

Chasm

"I figure it's the excitement of enjoying the adventure, mixed with gameplay that's easy to get comfortable with. I think the exploration element makes you feel like you're moving the story along yourself a lot better than with titles divided into stages. That, and I think having character-growth elements allows gamers to enjoy the story right up to the end," says Igarashi, when discussing the genre's appeal.

"Platformers have always been an easy, up-front genre to get into... Compounded to those simple mechanics, the addition of backtracking, upgrading, power-upping and accessing new areas... adds a lot of spice to how the adventure opens itself up for the player, giving her/him the impression (even if it's a false one) of being inside a very big context that's ready to be explored in a multitude of ways," says Alonso Martin, developer of Heart Forth, Alicia.

"You are the story. You are the adventure. It is up to you to discover where to go and unearth the mysteries of the world you're stuck in," says Renegade Kid's Jools Watsham, who recently launched his own Metroidvania, Xeodrifter. He sees the genre as a way to offer players a game that focuses on "exploration, freedom, self-improvement, and overcoming previously impossible challenges."

It's the genre's blend of elements that has made the Metroidvania so enticing to players and developers both, says Umenhofer: "It's everything that you want out of an indie game. Not a huge time commitment, easy to play, fun and challenging, and usually relatively cheap to make and buy."

Symphony of the Night's map screen. Source: GameFAQs

The focus on exploration that Watsham touched on is a major part of the genre's appeal, if the words of these developers are anything to go by.

"In this genre the phrase 'knowledge is power' -- something we are taught all our childhood -- is true in a literal sense," says Andrew Bado, developer of the upcoming Legend of Iya. "At least that's why I love the genre -- to explore and discover and learn about the world I'm let loose upon by the creators."

"I think it's extremely important that players guide themselves because, ultimately, it is something the player should do. Personally, I prefer, instead of going to a park to play, I would rather go to ruins to play. Because you can think, feel, and search, for yourself, your own way to play," Cave Story creator Daisuke Amaya told me in 2011.

"Nothing is more exciting than possibility," says Matt White, developer of Ghost Song. "True discovery is only possible if you can find things that you may not have, and have experiences within a game that you may not have."

"I like it when you play through the game and learn things piece-by-piece, and that's very important. There's things like the gameplay system that you just learn it as you go along," Amaya says.

"Giving the player a sense of discovery is a crucial part of good game design, even if it's a 'fake' sense of discovery. ... Metroidvanias are at their best when the players are progressing on their own accord, or at least that's what I think," says Jo-Remi Madsen, of D-Pad Studio, developer of Owlboy.

Happ concurs: "The semi-openness of the map design gives it the feeling that you're not just experiencing a scripted sequence of events, but causing the events (in some cases not always in the same order)." And that "allows players to really get lost in the world," says Petruzzi.

Guacamelee

There's a long-term advantage to this kind of design, too: These "labyrinthine worlds filled with secrets encourage healthy communities of dedicated players who continue to play for years," says Jason Canam, game designer at Guacamelee developer DrinkBox Studios. And that capacity for replayability "is where a game can go from fun to legend," Umenhofer says.

"Well, certainly, when we were making Super Metroid, I thought, 'I want to make something lasting that will be fun even if played much later.' All I can say is I'm really happy that we succeeded in that goal. But, if I had to take a guess as to what the lasting appeal is, perhaps it's the impression left on people by the drama of the game," longtime Metroid series developer Yoshio Sakamoto told me in 2010. 

If anything, Super Metroid's reputation has actually increased since 1994. That natural drive toward replayability -- which anybody who's given Super Metroid or Symphony of the Night a second, third, or fourth spin knows well -- energizes hardcore communities, says Canam: "The genre lends itself quite well to speed-running and gameplay optimization... These games are continuously mined for new strategies, exploits and shortcuts."

[embedded content] A Super Metroid speedrun race, from Awesome Games Done Quick 2014

While the developers I spoke to are fans of classic titles in the genre, that's not the only thing that drives them toward developing new Metroidvania games.

"The child-like sense of wonder and exploration is something that can be very magical. That is what draws me to the Metroidvania genre. It can be exciting, scary, thrilling, and extremely rewarding," says Watsham. His approach to designing Xeodrifter was a case of "looking inside and seeing what my inner child wants."

Xeodrifter

As White has it, "I want to pretend the game world I'm playing in is indifferent to my presence -- I want it to feel as though I'm just a guest in this world, and it'd go on existing and being there whether I set foot in it or not."

Happ also makes a subtle but significant point about how these gameworlds function for players: "In a way the beaten path of the game exists just as an established baseline to allow off-the-beaten-path exploration."

The world-structure of the Metroidvania allows designers to add a variety of ideas, Amaya says: Cave Story is "everything that I like; whether it fits the world or not is secondary, and comes after I decide. That's why there are so many different elements to those caves. I really like how the fans see all of those different elements and reconstruct a world for themselves."

Canam offers another perspective on what the gameworld can be: "Level design is, at its core, all about how the player interacts with an area or locale, but in a Metroidvania game, since the storytelling is related to the player's progression, then the level gets to be a character in its own right. I think of the level as an adversary that the player will encounter, explore and eventually overcome. It's very satisfying to create and (hopefully) very satisfying to play!"