#idk its tryhard shit imo

[there-goes-trouble]

People who try so hard as an adult to maintain the blonde they had as a kid freak me out. I wanna stay 'young forever' too but you don't see me trying to shove all my baby teeth back in my gums.

[thedreadvampy]

btw about Neil Gaiman I periodically agree with the 'Neil Gaiman is annoying' stuff bc I feel like both he and Amanda Palmer seem like people who I would go insane stuck in a room with bc we have very different ideas about art and suchlike. and I also do think that the career trajectory he's on lately is cynically redoing his greatest hits and pretending that was the dream all along when it clearly was not. which is at best meh.

having said which

as far as I can tell by far the most common complaint about Neil Gaiman is "Snow, Glass, Apples is problematic/gross/it's got incest and rape and frames the child as the aggressor"

which strikes me as a weird complaint to pull out of a 40 year body of work tbh when that short story is pretty clearly coming from a place of 'how far can I push this'. like you don't have to like the story. I don't really like the story. but it is. a horror story.

like and this is the thing with particularly 90s alt horror right? a lot of the interest is in transgression and sitting in the worst possible perspective and seeing what happens if you pull those strings. like I really like Clive Barker for example but there's a good chunk of his short stories that I'm like I'm not picking up what you're putting down Clive this seems Kinda Off. but that willingness to write some trite or Bad Message horror fiction that doesn't land is imo a side effect of being willing to try writing uncomfortable and unpleasant fiction at all. which is what horror is for, among other things, it's for creating discomfort as a form of catharsis or engagement.

like I am not a huge fan of the type of sex-horror that pops up in a lot of Gaiman's work and other contemporary horror writers - to me I don't find it upsetting or horny it just ends up feeling kind of edgy and tryhard - but I'm also a bit like. it does seem like a lot of people's beef with Neil Gaiman is that In The 90s He Was A Horror Writer

and this approach to Problematic Horror in Snow, Glass, Apples I find kind of microcosmic of how The Discourse often approaches art in this kind of 1:1 way. if you write a story which seems to line up with rape apologia it can only be because you agree with it. if you write a story about transphobia you're a transphobe. if you write a story that makes me genuinely uncomfortable you're attacking me.

but artwork, especially art like horror that's not necessarily trying to provoke enjoyment as its main response, is necessarily hit and miss. and if what you're shooting for is discomfort then whether it works, falls flat or goes too far incredibly depends on your audience. and making good art - as in art that makes its audience think, art that opens the audience up to discomfort and catharsis and sticks with them and changes them - requires the space to experiment and tbh the space to fuck up. like they aren't all going to be winners and they certainly aren't all going to work for you as a singular audience.

personally I don't see the appeal of Snow, Glass, Apples, less cause it's nasty and more cause it's hack. ooh an edgy monstrous version of a fairy tale where there's lots of rape and cannibalism? you're soooo original Neil. but like. that's fine. I don't really vibe with like 70% of Neil Gaiman stuff I've read but I still like Neil Gaiman because the stuff that works for me really works for me.

idk I think there's a lot of folk on this website who shouldn't interact with horror cause they clearly aren't interested in being horrified. that's not everyone who dislikes Snow, Glass, Apples, but it's a real undercurrent to a lot of the criticism and tbh this kinda vibe is shit for art. making standout art What Is Good also requires being ready to make art which stands out for the wrong reasons. sometimes they'll be the same art to different people.

[areyouafraid]

some of my villager thoughts

bob - the newer lazy dialogue just feels unfitting for bob IMO… bob is consistently described as "laid-back" and his e-reader card implies he's a Gamer which feels fitting for him all things considered. his pocket camp profile implies he doesn't really have a filter. if you told me bob spends all day playing video games and frying his brain with THC i would believe you

croque - ive had croque twice i cant not comment on him. he was a new leaf release so i honestly dont have a lot to go off of but… his pocket camp profile suggests that he's incredibly stubborn (a nod to his daruma theme) and in both happy home games he requests a noodle shop theme. despite new leaf's crankies being comparatively a lot nicer than the ones in older games he does strike me as being more of a gamecube / wild world cranky. like a short curmudgeonly old man who runs a small restaurant like its the navy

erik - erik strikes me as kind of nerdy. i don't think he's "dumb" or anything like that but i do think he's probably kind of a recluse and says shit that comes off as rude because he just. doesn't really talk to people a lot?

eugene - in my head eugene will always be a tryhard that thinks he's cool. those are the depictions of eugene that i will die by. i don't think he's a "poser" necessarily but i think he tries extremely hard to emulate the artists he idolizes

goldie - iirc goldie's e-reader card stated that she says things she doesn't really believe just to make people happy. that's kinda how i view goldie. i don't think she's mean or catty or anything like that but i think she probably doesn't really understand how to navigate social situations and ends up just pretending to agree with the people around her so they don't reject her

goose - goose's e-reader card characterizes him as dismissive and pushy and that's kinda how i see him. i think he's kind of a stereotypical rude jock. it doesnt really help that he looks so. stupid. sorry. if the other jock villagers are the stupid but well-meaning ones that'll help you with your workout i think goose is the one who's a dick

monique - monique is probably my favorite snooty villager… i think she's THE snooty villager. has a bad habit of being passive aggressive. definitely day drinks. i mean look at her

shep - i love shep but honestly i always thought he was like, a stoner. i also always thought he looked like a grunge fan. i think he would listen to alice in chains, he also has the whole "country" look going on it kinda just makes sense to me idk. he and bob should hang out

wolfgang - honestly despite being a cranky villager i never really conceptualized wolfgang as being an older man. i think he's just a dick. we know he's been a gracie stan for all these years and i imagine he encapsulates everything that entails

[literaphobe]

a lot of mcc'c audience (but not the majority) doesnt agree that the enjoyment of the event comes from watching passionate competitive players do well and win. If I decide to watch someones vod and the first thing they say is "we didnt practice at all LOL" then I dont want to watch because it seems like they dont care about the event. Illumina is an incredible player but I once watched sot from his perspective and holy shit it was so boring mainly because everyone in the team was so quiet, almost no comunication, no strategy nothing no chemistry, like, I'm sure they were having fun and wanted to team but there was zero excitment.

The problem is that the few people who are competitive/practice and strategize, win a lot (dream and sapnap are the best two examples, purpled might be up there soon) but everyone else (and their audiences) cries about it saying "oh the same people win everytime, its boring!!" but like, if your streamer cared and practiced and got better, they would win, simple as that.

So, imo, mcc tries to please the annoying crybabies by adding non-competitive people on the event-> less likely to have cool interesting moments-> less likely to care about mcc gameplay/skill-> even when they win, its boring

Just to clarify, you're allowed to not like competitiveness, Im not very competitive myself, but if, as a player you say "I'm here to have fun and if I win then cool", you have no right to cry about other teams doing well. If I have the skills that sapnap has, I'll be happier winning against fruitberries than winning against grian (GRIAN IS FINE, I'M just saying skillwise he is not an s-tier, and he doesnt have to be). I'd much rather lose to tryhards than win an event where I was the only one who tried.

To me it comes down to passion and genuine interest in minecraft skill, if mcc adds less cracked players, it shouldnt be a championship- it should just be an event.

Also, there are issues with team creation, there sooo many cool ideas and then scott comes up with a random reason as to why some people cannot team and honestly its frustrating, I'd rather you please your audience by giving them a team/duo that they ask for than banning memorising the builds at buildmart, you know? Some rules are kinda dumb.

Tldr, people who claim they play just for fun(and their viewers) show negativity to people who play competitively when those people win, and that is just annoying

honestly. like… the truth is. mcc has become much more competitive. the unfortunate thing is that some people don’t wanna admit it? to the point where there are people who don’t try and then get upset when they don’t win. like. its a different case for players who are put there specifically to nerf and get fucked bc of underpowered teams, tina’s a good example. as much as i wish she wouldn’t sit out mccs on purpose, i completely get where she’s coming from. it feels hella embarrassing to fall so far behind, to feel like a heavy weight dragging your team down. and tina deserves better than that!!

also yeah… i mean to be honest. sapnap doesn’t even practice for mcc, he’s just good. dream is a mix between doesn’t practice vs practices heavily and strategizes actively with teammates. but yeah. team balancing just needs to be fair? op teams are a fun interesting idea and honestly i hope theres an op mcc one day just to see crazy team ups but honestly i think i just miss seeing him play maybe i dont care about anything else idk

[pluralhalman]

OH AM'S THE ABSOLUTE WORST i love him very much B) my favorite iteration is from the game!!! his lines are just GOLD.... hes way scarier in the book i think but the game just makes him sound like a tryhard </3

imo ihnmaims gets taken a little too seriously i don't go in tags often :P it was a cold war metaphor about putting too much power in computers thats not like. that relevant anymore??? and the author was kind of a huge asshole HDHFGFGD there's better fiction out there to dig into but ihnmaims is, in my opinion, more of a shock-horror kind of cold war metaphor than anything deeper. some ppl get Really Mad about AM-enjoyers...but hes SO SILLY in game he says the most ridiculous things i cant take him seriously anymore 😭😭

TAKING NOTES i peeked into the ihnmaims tags a few times just to look at AM fanart bc i thought he was funky lookin and all the art was so cool……….. im not a playing games myself kinda guy so ill have to find a playthrough somewhere to watch if its worth checking out :P i actually read the wikipedia summary of the story at one point and just kinda went “…ok” but im kind of a sucker for just Absolutely the Worst characters. that are so over the top you kinda cant take them seriously. and i mean…….. AM sure seems like a funky over the top absolutely the worst guy!

i read a lot of like. weird horror shit in my free time so i honestly might read the book if i see it anywhere. older horror stories are my favourite, i like older writing styles a lot. so. might be up my alley idk :P