#inherently dangerous and are bound to hurt you

[always-a-slut-4-ghouls]

Do terfs know it’s possible to be like “I like girls but I’m not into dating someone with a penis regardless of gender. It’s just a personal preference. I can think that without saying that genderqueer people are invalid and dangerous” or do they live like they see with V.A.T.S. and everyone is marked as hostile?

I’m using someone attracted to girls in this example because the last one to show up in my feed was a lesbian who was VERY vocal about girls having a penis, but that can go for any gender and any orientation. You can just, not be attracted to an individual, that is very much a thing. You don’t need to find everyone fuckable. You don’t have to be so weird about it and start to get hostile towards random people for just existing. The stuff I have seen those people say unprompted is insane. They really do see things as “penis bad” and ignore everyone and everything else.

[valtsv]

hold on. i think i've just successfully articulated why VAL's power doesn't work when she tries to use it on herself. it's not that she doesn't necessarily believe her own delusions, that's irrelevant (since we've already had it demonstrated to us that it doesn't matter what you believe, if the last word says otherwise). it's that she's made herself and been made into something that cannot be changed. VAL's sainthood is a trauma response (which isn't to excuse all the mass murder and torture and other petty war crimes; trauma responses are not inherently admissible on the basis that they're rooted in trauma, and while traumatised people are not inherently dangerous, some trauma responses are objectively harmful). it's rooted in her desire to become something that "cannot be bound", to become something that can make it so that if her mother the world says that she cannot be loved, and that nothing she ever does will make her good enough to deserve kindness, then she can simply rewrite the reality that governs it so that it has no choice but to cede to her demands. however, in doing so, she severs herself from being able to be transformed by those changes herself - because then how would she know that they had changed? she remains fixed in place, and must endure whatever consequences her actions have for her. her body suffers under the strain of holding its form while the rest of the world twists and warps around her. she has made herself a vessel for that desire to be unable to ever be hurt or made helpless again, and in doing so defined herself by it, and made herself utterly helpless to and tormented by her own inertia. she can never move on from the pain that drove her to that point, and so she must carry it in a body not built to bear its weight.

[libellule-ao3]

NSFW Alphabet | Dark!Ominis

Picture Credit: @dvinaamesca

Hello,

Somebody asked me for it, so here it is.🙂

Summary: Some of my smutty HCs about Dark!Ominis, collected under the "NSFW alphabet" template.

🔞 | SMUT | HCs

⚠️ The "Dark!" in Dark!Ominis shows an alternative version exploring the darker aspects of Ominis' personality. According to my version, Dark!Ominis is possessive, dominant and manipulative, which implies elements with dub-con and non-con!

Other tags: domination, possessive ominis, manipulation, erotic asphyxiation, unforgivable curses, praise kink, blood pact, etc....

Since Dark!Ominis is a darker version of my perception of Ominis, some elements of this article may echo my NSFW alphabet for Ominis Gaunt or my HC: Ominis, his eyes & his experience as a blind wizard

Masterlist

A = Aftercare

After turning you into an amorphous, trembling wreck, Dark!Ominis likes to stay snuggled until your last shudder, his head against your chest to listen to the rapid beating of your heart, which beats only for him.

Then he looks after your well-being, taking care of your basic needs such as the care of your injuries inherent in the intensity of your lovemaking (bruises, chafing, burns, etc.), hygiene, diet and hydration. During this process, he wraps you in a softness that is so comforting it surprises you the first time, forcing him to remind you that you belong to him and that Ominis Gaunt, however dark he may be, always takes care of what belongs to him! Don’t forget that!

B = Body part

Ominis loves your skin. Its texture, its warmth, its smell... It’s both the direct interface with your soul and the playground where he can exert his power over you. He alone has the privilege of setting it on fire, making it quiver, marking it, breathing it, tasting it, hurting it and even... repairing it, for the pleasure of starting all over again.

C = Cum

Cumming in you is an affirmation of his total domination. However, his refusal to perpetuate his cursed lineage and his categorical refusal to share you means he will only release himself inside you if you have effective contraception. If not, he will impose one on you, and you should know that he will not hesitate to rip out any life that dares to take root in you.

D = Dirty secret

Although not normally given to exhibitionism, Dark!Ominis sometimes imagines reaffirming his exclusive possession of your charms before the entire world, especially when he witnesses the desire you arouse in someone else. Rather than act out his fantasies in the public arena, he prefers to eliminate any rivalry by cunningly imposing unshakeable bonds, such as an inviolable oath or a blood pact. And all to seal your commitment to each other.

E = Experience

If not an experienced man, Dark!Ominis is an intuitive, well-informed and terribly possessive one whose sole aim is to make you inextricably dependent on him. So he’s fervently committed to outdoing the competition, leaving such an ardent mark that even in your fantasies, it’s impossible to imagine anyone else being able to satisfy you.

F = Favourite position

His favourite position is to have you, bound and helpless, your perfection stretched out suggestively, ready to be savoured, punished or screwed as you deserve. This way, he has full control over what he gives you.

He also likes to have you, standing, chained with your arms and legs spread wide, every inch of your body quivering, accessible and ready to suffer the slightest of his whims.

G = Goofy

Dominating you and turning your body into a ruin of total dependence on him is too serious a matter to laugh at.

H = Hair

Particularly self-aware, Dark!Ominis always makes sure his appearance is impeccable so as not to attract unwanted attention. So he takes care of his appearance and trims his modest body hair. He expects you to do the same, even shaving your private area himself, turning the moment into a unique experience that’s as sensual as it is dangerous - and, much to your chagrin, horribly arousing.

I = Intimacy

The few people he’s ever loved deeply have all left him in the end, and he lives in fear that you, the only person he wants by his side, will leave him too. That’s part of the reason Dark!Ominis seeks intense intimacy during your lovemaking. It strengthens your bond and therefore his hold over you, giving him feel security. It soothes his anxieties about losing you and makes the love you’re supposed to feel for him tangible.

J = Jack off

When he was a teenager, Dark!Ominis saw masturbation as a lack of control over his impulses and, because of his strict upbringing, he associated it with depravity. As a result, he strongly repressed his sexual needs rather than satisfying them.

Today, he’s perfectly comfortable with his sexuality and his darkest desires, but he doesn’t jerk off. Why should he when you’re a slave to his lust?

K = Kink

In his eyes, your total submission is embodied in the ecstasy of erotic asphyxiation.

Closing his hand around your offered throat, savouring your life pulsing under his fingers as he possesses you in the most absolute way, holding the ultimate power of having your existence at his mercy is the quintessence of his domination. He loves to deprive you of oxygen while the pleasure builds and contracts in your core like a spring, and then for you to take in all the air, he allows you to take in as the lust surges through your body, flooding every cell.

It may seem paradoxical, but Dark!Ominis has an enormous need for validation. Receiving your praise reinforces his sense of control and power over you. Also, your praise boosts his self-esteem, which has been damaged by his traumas, and reduces his anxiety about you leaving him.

Like Ominis, he also enjoys temperature play for the variety and sensory intensity.

Dark!Ominis excels at summoning snakes, albino cobras, using the Snake Summons Spell. Far from being mere creatures, his sinister and sensual hissing transforms these reptiles into instruments of immobilisation, torture or, to your shame, pleasure.

L = Location

As soon as you agree to submit to his authority, he orchestrates your immediate removal to his lair, a place where he exercises total control over his environment and over you. In his territory, you have no choice but to bend to his wishes.

In the event of merit or misconduct outside, he uses spells to ensure your privacy while he rewards you or inflicts the punishment you deserve.

As a game, he sometimes takes pleasure in tormenting you discreetly with his fingers or his wand at social events, thus asserting his dominance and constantly reminding you of who you belong to.

M = Motivation

You. No more, no less. When you provoke him, when your kindness envelops him like a soft, warm blanket, when he feels your gaze weighing on him, the smell of your arousal, the jealousy, the need for affection... You and more you...

N = No

Dark!Ominis can be manipulative to get what he wants from you, and he enjoys hurting you until it gives you pleasure. But, dark as he is, unforgivable curses are his red line. He knows that imperius and even cruciatus curse are sometimes used for erotic, but he categorically refuses.

Cuckolding: You belong to him and exclusivity is the pillar of your relationship. Under these conditions, sharing you with someone else makes no sense.

69: When he’s eating you, Ominis refuses to be distracted by anything, even if it’s your greedy mouth.

O = Oral

Destroying your throat with his cock is certainly the most delicious tihing ever. But he also likes to savour what is rightfully his.

P = Pace

He usually savours every moment, taking pleasure in correcting you, forcing your body into submission if you upset him. While his tempo flirts with his changing moods, one constant remains: the amplitude of his movements. He loves to feel every inch of his length opening up your walls, pulling out before thrusting back into you, hard, until his hips slam against yours again and again.

Q = Quickie

He prefers to take his time. However, to punish you and remind you he owns you, he may sometimes force your body to accommodate him to his selfish climax and leave you frustrated with the desire he’s aroused despite you.

R = Risk

Dark!Ominis experiments a lot at beginning your relationship in order to study your reactions, test your limits, and then push them back. But once he’s analysed you, he generally sticks to tried and tested practices.

S = Stamina

Dark!Ominis has patience and determination in spades. Whether he’s punishing you or rewarding you, he can deal with you for hours on end.

T = Toys

Like Ominis, Dark!Ominis disdains the use of toys. They hinder his connection to the nuances of the reactions he provokes (he's already deprived of his sight, he needs to perceive all your sensations). However, he revels in a luxuriant range of accessories and spells to intensify your sessions,

U = Unfair

Dark!Ominis can be profoundly unfair, revelling in the simple pleasure of hearing you beg and sob, pleading for deliverance.

One of his favourite torments is to explore and then relentlessly push back the limits of your pleasure, whether by forcing your orgasms or delaying them.

What’s more, if you’re in need of punishment, Dark!Ominis won’t hesitate to keep you on the edge, making you look forward to a more intense climax than ever, before destroying the orgasm you covet more than anything, thus reinforcing his dominance over you.

V = Volume

His acute self-awareness means that he muffles against you or in his hand the sounds that want to come out of his mouth. However, he demands that you release every cry, every groan, every gasp, and that your lips proclaim to the world who owns you.

W = Wild card

Dark!Ominis is possessive, manipulative, and dominant. However, if he’s in a familiar environment, he may accept a temporary reversal of roles, either to reward you or for strategic reasons.

X = X-ray

Dark!Ominis is tall, slim... His skin is as clear as porcelain, a constellation of moles stretching from his flank to his pubis. His nipples are the same pink as his lips. While not exceptional, Dark!Ominis is rather well equipped in length and girth, straight as an ‘I’.

Y = Yearning (libido)

Before he met you, he had no trouble controlling his libido. Everything’s different now. This upheaval upsets him far more than he’d like, which partly explains his enthusiasm for punishing you.

Z = Zzz

Dark!Ominis struggles with various sleep disorders that are strangely comforted when you sleep in his arms. He has given up trying to understand why, and is content to savour the mystery.

[regular-gnome]

Through many AUs I've been through, yours are the one I like the most, because it's a more realistic one.

I can see that the "cruelty" of other Collectors are not like that they are evil.

For a being that is older than universe, they are like the Gardeners of Stars, as a gardener you have to cut it out what is dead, you have to treat the soil, prepare it for a new tree, now with planets it's kind the same, they visit, they watch, and so they decide if some species is worth to keep and if they are not worth for keeping.

And so, this process of leaving a juvenile collector in a planet till the dominant species dies is kinda a hardening process, in order for them to grow mature and to not let feelings intervene in the decision process, like being a doctor, you must put aside the fear of hurting the patient in order to heal the patient.

But in TOH things got different, they found a species that represented danger to themselves, so they used another species to kill the titans and the little collector paid the piper.

Im very glad you enjoy the AU:D

The concept is rooted in the idea that generally, people or characters don't choose evil simply for the sake of being evil. But nobody is omnicent, they react to whats happening, trying to figure out what might be "best" as they go without really a way to know for sure if its a right call. Having power to destroy a planet with swipe of finger rises the stakes for literally everyone. When the Collector was releashed during King's Tide the game changed. If Belos had managed to control them - nobody would have been able to challenge him. Even Odalia tried to suggest totally reshaping the isles. Seeing anyone as mostly/ only dangerous power sources creates power imbalance, something that can evolve into very shaky and actually dangerous relation when the other side realises they were never really considered a equal person and having the ability to revange. There is a lot of implications and possibilities when someone possesses such power with no oversight and unlimited time but also is a person that doesnt want to be alone:D

If involvement with mortals ends in some kind of complications the collectors will be around to see the consequences, even if they don't directly experience them so sort of desensitization toward the very life they are trying to preserve is bound to happen. "They live for so short and can cause so much change in their own system, its best to control the situation" type of mindset. Also thinking of ecosystem like gardens that need work on makes it easier to deal with, especially since with the scale of galaxy they cant just spend unlimited amout of time in one place full of creatures that do not want to be preserved. Their actions come from a place of care but there is inherent cruelty in their concern

Sooo yeah, its the perspective that might develop in that kind of situation and might end up with leaving one of their own alone for eons. But who knows, this AU is a lot of theories in a trenchcoat and i dont want to defend their actions. Killing all titans? yeah thats bad. It's more about theorizing why anyone would consider that a reasonable option while also not being evil just cuz

[gabessquishytum]

i know that dream is the obvious choice for the elegant and ancient vampire lord™️, but i think hob deserves a bit of sexy evildoing too. especially in floor length robes. and with claws for nails. and goblets full of blood. you get the gist

but a dream who gets captured by a group of handsy and rogueish vampires. they wrestle him back to their lords castle where they all reside and after preparing him for dinner (dressing him in concubines wear), they wrangle him into the dining room and try to have a feast. key word though is try, because he rips out his silver earrings and shoves them in the eye sockets of one of the vampires trying to get to him. and the others are so shocked that he actually did something to fight back (most of the others try and fail and they all laugh at them, but dream actually hurt one of them) that he flees further into the castle. no one is too worried about catching him because they know he can’t escape, but dream finds himself getting deeper and deeper into the maze of the castle walls

and eventually he bursts into a large room clearly intended for someone receiving an audience, except the only other person there is hob— the sire of the… unprofessional and mediocre band of vampire bandits (that really only succeed because vampires are inherently more dangerous than humans) and the lord of the castle. he of course knows what’s happened, he could hear from the other side that dreams made quite the effort of blinding one of his own, but hob is more impressed than anything else. he lets dream keep his life because of that

dreams life isn’t really living, though. he’s kept in chambers so poor they may as well be a luxury dungeon (not the fun kind), and only gets brought out eventually so that he can service their lord. except he’s bitey and defensive and eventually, they decide that the only way dream will be able to serve as a proper whore is if he’s sedated— which hob immediately shuts down because he doesn’t want to fuck someone who can’t even tell him how good his cock is. later, again, they instead try giving dream an aphrodisiac, which sort of works; they fuck, but only under the terms that hob sits in a chair with his hands tied and he doesn’t get to touch dream while he gets off bounding in his lap until the effects wear off. the third time though, hob finally gets what he wants, and gets to be in charge

Omg Hob as a cringefail vampire Lord is actually such a vibe?? He's living in this castle with a bunch of immortal bloodthirsty frat dudes and it SUCKS (haha). Dream is the most interesting thing that's happened in a loooong time.

And tbh within a little while, Dream is bored too!! His chamber/dungeon is boring, the vampire frat bros are boring, the only thing that isn't boring is Hob and his very large cock. Ultimately, Dream figures that Hob probably isnt going to kill and eat him (because he's interesting and fuckable). So he stops being scared and starts being mostly horny about the vampire lord and his dick. Its all very well bouncing on it, but Dream is kind of interested in seeing that vampire super strength in action.

He makes Hob promise to take a small dose of the sedative, which won't work as much as it would as a human but will keep him reasonably docile. He also makes Hob promise to send the annoying laser vampires away. Hob agrees. He definitely doesn't want to eat Dream. If anything, he wants to turn him. But that's something to discuss later. He really, really wants to fuck Dream properly and bruise up all that amazing pale skin.

They do it on the red carpeted floor of the audience chamber - Hob says that there's no point in using a bed, since he'll only break it. Dream soon discovers that Hob wasn't just bragging. His strength is almost scary, despite the sedative. When he bends Dream in half, he's a tiny bit afraid that his spine might snap. But he's just on the right side of pain and roughness, and he opens Dream up extremely thoroughly. In fact he plunges his whole hand into his little clenching hole until Dream is screaming, coming explosively and almost blacking out. When he finally plunges his cock inside Dream’s trembling body, Dream cums dry just from feeling so full.

Hob doesn't bite him. But he does cum inside him, pumping him with what feels like buckets of fluid. Dream can almost feel it up to his lungs. When he stares up at Hob, who is crouching over him and drooling... he just knows. He's not going to leave. Not today, maybe not ever.

If he gets enough of that cum inside him, he's going to be turned whether he likes it or not...

[getvalentined]

for nero! 2, 13, 37

[For the Random Character Asks game.]

2. A canon or headcanon hill I will die on.

Nero is biologically Vincent's child, which is the only reason that he made it to term in the first place while every other attempt failed. Specifically, Nero is the biological child of Vincent after he's been experimented on and has become Chaos' vessel; Hojo was unaware that Lucrecia's experiments on Vincent actually ever did anything except somehow stop him from degrading, and chose to use Vincent's genetic material entirely out of spite. Nero's project is canonically based on Grimoire's work, and I believe Hojo used Vincent as the sire for the very last attempt at getting the project working specifically to know he'd killed Vincent's kid and Grimoire's grandkid while also proving the project to be failure.

Unfortunately for Hojo, the same unique ancestry that made Vincent able to host Chaos in the first place also allowed Nero to survive the gestation process, while using material from after Vincent became genetically tied to Chaos rendered Nero as much Chaos' son as Vincent's. Between Vincent and the corrupted mako used to augment the subject, Nero is slightly more than half-Weapon, and significantly less than half-human, and as such literally can't be killed. There is very little that Hojo regret more than allowing Nero to come into being.

13. Dumbest thing they’ve ever done?

The reason Nero wears a muzzle is because he got particularly aggravated with one of his R&D handlers at one point and, since he was already bound up and had no other way to express his ire, bit him and refused to let go until the Void had woken up and sucked the jackass in completely. He genuinely considers it the stupidest thing he's ever done because the whole rig is really heavy, hurts like hell, rips his hair out all the time, and makes the process of feeding him much more difficult and thus much less common. Prior to this event, Nero was able to communicate and eat fairly normally, although he'd always been treated differently from the rest of the Deepground kids because of how much less human he is. The handler deserved what he got, but Nero wishes all the time that he hadn't done it.

Oh also when he was like eight years old he jumped off a catwalk into the mako well of Reactor 0 and had to be fished out like a toy in a giant claw machine. It took hours and he was basically tied up and thrown in a closet for a week afterward, but it was super fun and made his back stop hurting for a while so he doesn't think it was stupid. (Everyone else does.)

37. What they really think about themselves?

Nero's self-image is...complicated. He's intimately aware of pretty much every facet of himself, because the best way to keep him under control is to make sure knows exactly how much damage he could do and thereby how much trouble he would cause for Weiss if he misbehaved, and this gives him an opinion of himself that is hard to explain and dramatically misunderstood the majority of the time.

Nero knows how smart he is, how capable, and how dangerous. Nero knows he's immortal, he knows he's more monster than human, he knows he killed his mother, he knows he's energetically filthy and that the only reason Weiss can touch him is because Weiss is too clean for the Void to register him as being in need of purification. He knows he's part of something inherent to the Planet, but that his place somewhere in between Minerva's pantheon and human existence makes him unsuited to both, and thereby unsuited to everything.

If asked, Nero would not say that he hates himself, because he's a force of nature and you can't hate nature for doing what it's meant to do. You can't hate a river for flooding when there's too much rain, you can't hate a tree for burning when hit with lightning, and you can't hate a Weapon for being crafted to a purpose. That's nonsense.

But Nero sees himself as inferior to everyone else in essentially every possible way. He's ugly and filthy and disgusting, he's basically an animal that was unlucky enough to be born with a level of intelligence above that of most humans, and all he can do is accept that and carry on. He can't die, he knows that much, and he can't do his job for the Planet because it's not time and he's incomplete anyway.

In spite of all this, Weiss loves him, and Weiss is the only one that ever has, so he says Weiss is the only one that he could ever love. Nero's actions in Dirge being a clear attempt to save as much of Deepground as possible, even knowing that he couldn't leave with Omega at the end, are an undeniable indication that this isn't the case, but he still says it over and over because it's easier than addressing the truth—which is that it doesn't matter if he's capable of love. He doesn't deserve to have it returned, not by Weiss or by anyone.

It's nonsense to hate a force of nature. It's nonsense to love it, too. And that hurts so much that he can't help but hate himself for what he is, nonsense or otherwise. If he were a little more human, he'd be deserving of love; if he were a little more Weapon, he wouldn't be able to care that he isn't. But he's stuck with just too much of one and just too little of the other (or just too much of both, or just too little of both), and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

He'd never say that he hates himself, and he doesn't behave like he hates himself, but that's the only word that comes close.

[ffredmujkic]

wonderfully bizarre by bendigo fletcher is such a fish and chips song.

"And if I were to win for you the skin of a timbered snake - Would you consider me your comfort in danger?" it shows so much of gillions thinking that he could only be loved if hes earned it if hes able to show himself as someone useful.

"you could wear me like a ring" something something abt gil being status symbol. (the whole line in his, if u give fish a family, abt being adored but alone) going back to had habits (even if aware of their harm)

"You'd be the mercy under my cruelty- My revelation, bloodshed free" gillion's journery through out the campaign, his biggest change is being kinder. gentler. early campaign gil always chose violence, he saw that the only responsible action to take against a villian was to cut off their head. hes soften so much over the campaign. hes always been caring yet through his friendships with chip (and jay this just isnt abt them) he learns different methods to handling problems.

"Do you wanna get married at the Cherokee Cemetery?" he just wants to get married. hes unlearned at lot a LOT of toxic unhealthy things. but he clearly upholds marriage as still an important and loving act. i think that while their relationship is very anarchic, gil would still love a wedding. (purely my own headcannon tho)

"Where the blue grass creeps over deep decades of devotion. Warm underneath the frost" come on.

in the context of gillion though this can be further, hes incredible loyal to the undersea though it never cared for him in return. A country that made him harsh and serious despite his real personality when allowed to relax. the frost can be a strong yet harmful loyalty to the undersea. (it reminds me of that even if im stretching) his friendship with chip and jay allowing him to feel a genuine devotion which is beneficial too him, that is reciprocated.

"We can build a home in a bush of azaleas- Dress it up in true morale paraphernalia- You'll never be alone in your bad dreams- Because together we could never be lost"

gillion was taken away from his family at an early age. chip was an orphan with no memory of even his name, to than get his adopted family ripped away from him. his attempts to form a new one forcing him into a gang. the two of them have been alone for a very very long time with no family or even friends, no home of their own. gillion constantly failed in his training. chip is implied to have done things he didnt always want to do to make price happy. yet despite earlier bumps in the relationship, them clashing each disagreement helps to deepen their bond as they figure out whats okay with with each other. and they really are never alone after finding each other

"your eyes prescribe a meaning for everything I do. I even find myself believing most of the words I say as true" the most impactful moment for chip what enable him to grow into the person he becomes over the course of the campaign is the fight in epsiode 15. it forced chip to address his actions have hurt hurt someone he was growing to care abt. chip said he wouldn't lie to gil anymore and he meant it. theres times where he tries to lie and cuts himself off. they built a home with trust and communication

"We can build a home in a bush of azaleas" since the line is repeating ill only say, they feel so comfortable around each other. all three captains are each others home. but especially chip and gil the way they are always seeking each other, their friend's name always on the tip of their toungue.

"We can be defined by the things we want"

a major theme in the show (or at least grizzly is trying to make it into one) is desire. gillion while having a lot of autonomy, driving a lot of the plot. he is also honor bound to a internal law where he must always protect others. gillion never acts out of a true selflessness, his actions are born from being taught that this is simply how he should operate. Because he is inherently worthless than all those around him, he has been assigned to protect. Never does gil think abt himseld if it concerns another life. gillion must be selfless, he is never allowed to want for himself. which is wonderfully contrasted by chip who is always seen as a selfish bastard despite not behaving like it in a while.

"I'll be a life full of free haircuts from the one that I love" chip in his happiet dream imagines himself with all his crew and arlin hanging out happily on the albatross. chip always pictures himself doing this pirate thing forever, but he is only 19. and with the trauma that its brought him, the constant risking your life. i think its fair to say that what he actually wants is just a simple life with his friends

[brakingpoint]

might become a red bull fan because everyone else on tumblr has become insufferable. as long as nobody gets hurt, none of this is THAT serious. let them crash a little bit in the car crash sport and then bitch at each other. we do NOT need thinkpieces about how max is evil, actually, every week. even if he was, i think that would be funny idc. as soon as there is no more cunt behaviour i will stop watching. only some max fans (tumblrinas only, twitter users dni) seem to watch f1 with the right energy.

god THANK YOU!!!! my mantra watching f1 is always “i want max to win and if he can’t win i want whatever happens instead to be the funniest possible sequence of events” and honestly it’s the best way to watch the sport. embrace the chaos embrace the crimes embrace the soap opera. also - we are so blessed (as sir lewis hamilton would say) to be in an era where f1 and motorsports in general have advanced so much in terms of safety that we don’t have to be terrified of wheel to wheel action or act like making contact with another car is inherently tantamount to attempted murder & so like. as long as the drivers are acting within the bounds of reason and not genuinely putting each other in danger or being grossly and intentionally unsportsmanlike for the sake of it i don’t think we have to get That Deep about a little on track criminality every now and then

[musashi]

do you only enjoy sickfic for things like temporary physical illness, or do you also enjoy fics about things like chronic illness flareups, mental illness stuff (not sure if mental illness even counts as illness in sickfic tbh. i'm not super familiar with the trope)

i ask because, despite not being familiar with sickfic, i do enjoy fics about characters struggling with Symptoms and whatnot. having a friend or family member or partner take care of them when they're having a very bad mental illness episode. i was wondering if that counted, and if you did, any recommendations?

i'm like you in the sense that when it comes to that particular trope, i'm not super picky with fandoms. i prefer stuff i'm at least somewhat familiar with just so i can have context for who the characters are, what the setting is, their canon relationship, etc. but if you have any really really good ones i will read it even if i have no idea what the fandom is.

my sickfic fixation only applies to temporary & contagious illness. the low-stakes nature of it is a huge part of the appeal for me, as is the inherent danger of contagion. if i had to strip down why i like sickfic there would be a lot of reasons that are key, but chief among them is that sickness strips a person of a lot of their appeal and makes them actively dangerous to another party. the other party, then, choosing to love them regardless and unconditionally, is a huge aspect of it for me.

i still like things that don't fall within those bounds, but they don't give me 'butterflies' like 'true' sickfic does. obviously every form of h/c is lovely, but i'm only deranged about a very specific subset.

i do not really like reading about mental illness, personally. i get nothing from it. i would rather just write and read about neurodivergent characters existing, but i do not necessarily want to read about neurodivergence as the story itself, it just bores me because like. it's my actual life. so like i'd love to read a story where franziska is visibly autistic, but i don't want to read a story about her being autistic.

i would not personally tag either of those as sickfic, and i would probably be a little annoyed if i saw them in the sickfic tag, but it's ultimately up to the author.

i would reccommend using AO3's filters to search for fic of that nature~ check the 'chronic illness' / 'mental illness' and 'hurt/comfort' tags! you can go into the chronic illness tag and then add the h/c tag and run a search for only that. you can even search for a certain disorder or disability and filter that by h/c.

[tokiro07]

Cipher Academy ch.52 thoughts

[Toss a Coin to Your Cipher Soldier]

(Contents: thematic analyses - fairness/friendship, predictions)

"If you let yourself become bound to strange rules, you're basically enslaving yourself." What is this, Undead Unluck?

This was a good showing for Yosaimura, who continues to be easily in my top 5 for this series. I've always been a huge fan of Nisio Isin's mental gymnastics, and this series' running theme of malicious compliance is a particularly fun display of it. Much like Iroha used Anonymity's methods against her by basically saying "well if she got to once, then so do I," Yosaimura literally turns Hakanage's logic on its head by saying "if you're going to say that cheating is fair, then I'm going to play so fair"

Anonymity points out that this is likely only something that Yosaimura even thought to do because she saw Iroha do that during the CLP election, which also reinforces the running theme of growth through interpersonal exposure. Iroha learned how to twist technicalities in his favor from Anonymity, and Yosaimura learned how to do that from Iroha. Everyone's learning something from each other, and apparently that's a quality that only Class A has been able to cultivate

We haven't really learned much about the other classes, but I definitely would believe that everyone else is a lot more...either extremely collectivist to the point of everyone losing their sense of identity (Class E who follow Kubinashi blindly and Class F who are required to hide their faces) or overly individualistic to the point that they can't form connections to each other (Class B's wild sense of expression and Class C's psychic children who have never been depicted interacting). I guess that comes with the territory for the School of Subterfuge, doesn't it?

I'm also always a sucker for character interactions that hinge on trust. Someone trusting their friend to understand a crazy plan, to not hurt them in a wild stunt, or trusting their enemy to behave in a certain way because that's what they've always hated/respected about them; being close enough to someone to rely on them, even if what you're relying on is their unreliability, is so romantic. If you didn't think that Yosaimura and Anonymity were a great ship before, Yosaimura telling her that she trusts her to do something dangerous has to at least help change your mind

For as much of a rapport as they've developed though, it really seems like there's going to be a point where everything falls apart. The fact that everyone's approaching a convergence and we've now completely eliminated Classes D and F suggests that neither of them are going to be the major enemy once we actually reach the bottom of the dungeon, so unless Kubinashi or Yonakiuguisu are bigger threats than they appear, the final conflict is almost assuredly going to be between Class A members. If I had to guess, it's going to come down to the CLP candidates again, but this time it'll be colored by how well everyone has gotten to know each other versus their actions being based on their initial, surface-level impressions of each other

Themes of friendship aside, I feel like the thing that Nisio Isin wants me to take away from this chapter is that cryptocurrency is bad. I don't really get how crypto works (or the economy for that matter), but even I can understand that if a new currency is introduced that is inherently "worth" more than the entire world economy, that's going to cause some issues. Even if we assume that it's worth the exact same amount, doubling the world's money in an instant would theoretically tank the value of all of the world's money, assuming that anyone actually recognizes the value of that currency. I guess the question for me is why anyone would, but again, I don't know how crypto works

If nothing else, it also does raise a good question of how Iroha's plan can actually work - if the value of Morgue is based on the presence of wars, how would he be able to use it to stop wars? If you give someone war-money to stop wars, then the money you paid them is inherently worth less upon receipt because there's less war, right? The best I could see is giving one nation a ton of Morgue and telling everyone else "you know how you can tank that nation's economy? End your wars, their money will become worthless." Honestly, with Nisio at the helm, I won't be too shocked if that's even remotely close

Now that everyone is getting pretty close, I do hope that things will become a bit less episodic soon. Seeing so many different characters in so many different locations is fun, but it's starting to feel kind of..disconnected, I'd say. It's like nothing anyone is doing is having any impact on anyone else, so seeing everyone reunite should help it feel like these stories have consequences outside of floor they occur on

Beyond that, what I'm really looking forward to is seeing how people outside of the dungeon are fairing. Hakanage got knocked out a little too easily; much like Zakuroguchi who I predict is secretly pulling strings from the sidelines, I'm willing to bet that Hakanage is going to do something shady now that no eyes are on her

Until next time

[magnoliamyrrh]

i think theres something interesting to be said abt humans, like the vast majority of mammals, being inherently, unavoidably hierarchical creatures, and of the almost bound-to-fail nature of any system which seeks to fully deny or dismantle this and which does not provide adequate ways to manage this. and sure, theres definitely plenty to be said in thinking of how to build a better society abt hierarchies being inherently prone to exploitation - bc thats what happens when humans have power over others - and how it may be better to try to build societies with as little hierarchy as possible in order to avoid this as much as possible. and yet we cannot elimiate them entirely, and making it taboo to acknowledge they exist does not help

and this isnt because of class, but rather the nature of parent-child relationships and, after that, young-old relationships. and theres something to b said abt female-male relations too but i dont feel like writing a whole thing abt that now. and this isnt even getting to the relationship between humans and the natural world and divinity

the very first relationship that every human experiences, the child-parent, or child-family/adult community/tribe etc relationship, is inherently unequal and power imbalanced due to the nature of biological reality. all infants, toddlers, and young children are inherently vulnerable, weaker physically and psychologically, unknowing, innocent, less wise. all infants etc are entirely dependent on adult/reproductive age females for feeding, care, affection, and the teaching of the first skills with which our brains, cognitive abilities, and bodies cannot properly develop. and while males do often play a role in this, before the domestication of lactating animals and the creation of modern medicine, infants were indeed entirely dependent first and formost on lactating females for survival... a child is inherently different and "unequal" (not meaning less valuable etc) than an adult; theres no way around this. and for the sake of survival, yes, a child must be taught a level of obedience, respect, and following what is being told to them to do, or else they risk hurting themselves or even getting themselves killed - and they must be taught this before they can reason why they are being told to do things. "dont go to the river you will get eaten" "dont leave the tribe in the middle of the night you will die" "dont eat hot coals and poisonous berries you will die" "be quiet when i tell you to be bc if not the predator will know where we are." the lives of children arent ruled by concepts of "freedom" and "liberty," but rather by a hierarchy which they must, for survivals sake, be taught to respect. and yes. this hierarchy, like all of them, is prone to abuse - and it is infact the most out of any human one, as it is often said, children are the most vulnerable group, always, and the group with the least rights. and yes, this power imbalance is often horribly abused bc children are easy to isolate, control, exploit, subjugate, etc etc etc. however, there is literally no way whatsoever to eliminate it, and thus we must grapple with how this hierarchy ought to be one based on decency, respect, mutual responsability, love, etc, and how to create systems which will prevent abuse, help in cases of it, etc

and, even after this, there is a hierarchy between those who are younger, and those who are older. many animals have this - if we look at matriarchal orcas and elephants for example, the family group is lead by and dependent on the elder female matriarch who, with the knowledge and wisdom of routes to travel, dangers, food, etc etc etc that she had aquired throughout the decades guides the group and teaches the younger ones what she knows. similarly, i have never seen a case of any sort of human community ever who does not have a young-old hierarchy, and a hierarchy of leadership. even in commuties, peoples, tribes which i would consider lived and live better than the predominant modern system nowadays, they all have a hierarchy and leader, weather somewhat chosen by the people or elders or not - and often, though not alwsys, when we look at tribal peoples and communal peoples, this is an elder. this is also why basically every single culture on the planet has concepts or had concepts of respecting elders, learning from elders, etc - because for much of human history, we have indeed been dependent on their acquired knowled and wisdom. does this mean all elders are to be listened to no matter what and theyre always right tho - definetely not.

but there is definitely something to be said in all this abt humans being inherently bound to hierarchy through the very nature of our biology and the process of birth, childhood, agening, and death. it is simply unavoidable, it just is

and trying to take things to the exteme of saying all hierarchy and all power imbalanced are inherently bad and must be abolished, then, is an unachievable and extremist, detached, far fetched goal. i also dont think it leads to anything good. slightly similarly to how "communism" in the soviet world didnt actually abolish class conflict - it just created new classes, those with the party and those not, but made it Taboo to acknowledge the existence of these classes despite their incredibly obvious presence,,, a society so obsessed as many are nowadays with everyone being perfectly equal all the time and the same and all power imbalanced inherently being evil is just. bound to fail. because no matter what, we cannot avoid power imbalances. and thus must have a morality and system which understand how to deal with them - as many traditional systems around the world have. how to, when "freedom" and "equality" in the modern western sense arent achievable or desired, wr can equalize these imbalances in a different way - through respect, mutual responsability, mutual dependence, care, compassion, exhange, etc

[parichutes]

minecraft's hunger system is so weird, it's flawed, but also really difficult to improve simply due to the nature of the game.

in older beta versions, there was no hunger bar, no sprinting, food didn't stack, and consuming food healed you instantly at different values depending on the type of food. it was a really simple and intuitive system, and it's balanced because you can only have so much food in your hot bar. spamming heal would require you to take time to open your inventory and move food into the hot bar. it worked very well within the framework of the rest of the game at the time.

fast forward to beta 1.8 and we see the implementation of sprinting, passive regen, and the hunger system we're all familiar with. it hasn't changed at all since 13 years ago in beta 1.8! I'm gonna jot down my thoughts on it below, mostly for myself tbh but also for anyone who wants to listen or chime in.

Here's what it does well: it succeeds in incentivizing the production and consumption of food items to enhance the experience of the game, while minimally hindering the player's goals. Providing a short term effect (regen) with a long term benefit (full hp) at near maximum hunger incentivizes the player to use up their food items without feeling the need to stay 100% full 100% of the time. In other words, once the character is at full hp, regeneration loses its value and you don't feel pressured to max your hunger bar. Conversely, withholding a convenient mechanic (sprinting) at low hunger is a constant incentive for the player to prevent their hunger from getting too low. The soft upper bound and hard lower bound are a necessary part of a dynamic system, and the zone between defines the state of typical play. And naturally, to communicate that staying fed is an essential mechanic of the game, your character takes damage or even dies if hunger is completely neglected. It's a resultant system of the variable qualities of the player's HP and how often they do tasks that cause exhaustion, which is most of them. That integration with the very core elements of the game is good, but it also means that inspecting the hunger system inherently requires unthreading a whole lot of other systems.

Here's what could be improved:

1. Sprinting. The honest truth is that sprinting changed the game even more than elytra + rockets did, and aside from obviously devaluing minecart rails, here's how- Without access to sprinting, your options in a dangerous situation are to either win every combat situation (difficult early-game) or prevent the combat situation preemptively by building a barrier between you and the danger. Because mobs can't sprint and skeletons can't aim, sprinting provides a new option to outrun the danger. "It provides a new style of play, what's the problem?" The game is built around the concept of early building so heavily that this style of early play is left dangling, and by that I mean the game has very little infrastructure baked in to thematically support it. Let me explain more directly- Your first hurdle in Minecraft is surviving the night. Think about how each hostile mob is designed to hurt the player character and how to avoid it; a wall will prevent zombie and skeleton damage, and a roof will prevent spiders from climbing over. The easiest structure to protect yourself from every hostile mob looks something like a house, and that's intentional. Sprinting to the nearest village or plopping a bed down in the middle of a field and sleeping through the night erases the mobs individual purposes, and suddenly their design intent is lost. Being able to sprint past every mob changes the type of threat they pose- they all pose exactly the same threat- it's just the threat of taking damage when not sprinting. How that damage is received isn't relevant, you can just run from it, it's a catch-all solution and a no brainer option. Sprinting detaches the player from limitations and pressures that were always, and still meant to define the game.

2. Regeneration. Passive regeneration occurs at 18-20 hunger points, or 9-10 full icons on the hunger bar. With high saturation foods, you can put in a lot of exhaustion before dipping below 18 hunger points. And that passive regen in a combat situation is less interactive than popping an instant heal when things are looking tight. HP would also feel more valuable if healing came at a bit more of a cost.

3. A lot of foods provide exactly the same benefit but just look different. For example, bread, cooked cod, cooked rabbit, and baked potato all restore 2.5 hunger points and 6 saturation. This issue is secondary to the ones previously outlined, as I think everyone can agree that different food sources depending on biome and player choice is good. The problem is not Too Many Food Options, but rather maybe, each food item could be more unique regarding its benefits to the player, and how each food's benefits can contribute to different choices and circumstances.

So, given all this information, how do we address the problems while still succeeding in all the ways the system currently does? This is where things become difficult.

Why not just remove the hunger bar and revert back to beta's system? The problem there is relevant to issue #3, there are way more foods in the game now than there were in beta, and it would exacerbate the problem even more. It also overrides the purpose of potions of healing. Beta's food system was great for the state of the game at the time, but we've outgrown it and it needed to change eventually.

Defined upper and lower hunger point bounds are necessary for a dynamic hunger bar system in minecraft. Without regeneration, what can incentivize the player to fill up the bar without feeling incentivized to keep it full all the time? A long lasting benefit for reaching maximum. One solution is temporary absorption (yellow) hearts when reaching 18-20 hunger points. In the same way that regeneration becomes useless at max HP, filling the hunger bar to max isn't incentivized unless you've already lost the temporary hearts. This would require a rework of saturation, as a "better," higher saturation food source would actually decrease the frequency at which the player can generate lost temporary hearts. Perhaps reworking or removing saturation could open up an opportunity for a different system that makes each food more unique.

The lower bounds are currently defined by first losing the ability to sprint, and then at 0 hunger taking damage. Withholding sprint is a relatively gentle way to remind the player their hunger is low, and the loss of HP alone, without food-based regen, with no warning, would be harsh. It's also very noticeable when it's gone since most players sprint all the time. What would be a gentle, but still inconvenient reminder to eat, what can be withheld? Sprinting makes sense as it's related to exhaustion, so we can look at what other actions increase exhaustion. Withholding the ability to break blocks or deal significant damage by applying mining fatigue or weakness makes sense, but an applied effect doesn't provide immediate feedback the way slowing down does. Applying slowness is an option, but it would make the player Unbearably slow. Being far from a food source would make this a gruelling debuff. One good solution would be to make half of the hot bar inaccessible at low hunger. It's definitely an inconvenience, but doesn't terribly impede on the player's goals. Another idea is to remove the ability to hold an item in your off-hand, as if it takes both hands to hold what's in your main hand.

But maybe this is the wrong approach. Maybe removing sprint is a more tedious solution than overhauling the rest of the game to support it better. If sprinting were to remain in the game, a new mob should be added with a run speed equal to jump-sprinting, or alternatively allow creepers, zombies, and spiders to move that fast. Additionally, villages would need to be more sparse. Minecart speed would need to be increased, and horses must have more value.

Frankly, I love Minecraft a little more when it's slowed down. Give yourself the opportunity to take a deep breath, look at the sunset. So my personal inclination lies toward removing sprint. I might try to mod the game with the changes required to balance sprinting to see how it goes though.

if you got this far through my unorganized mess of thoughts I'm not sure whether to be impressed or concerned but thanks for readin

[numberless]

The Social Game

0. problem

Social media is not a game. But the design of modern social media encourages and rewards those who play it like one. By assigning numeric values to our interactions with others, social media reduces the intrinsic value of those interactions, and corrupts the motivations for social connection.

It makes a game out of something that isn’t a game to other people. 

To understand why this is a problem, we need to understand what is and isn’t a game. We need to understand how modern social media allows itself to be gamed. And we need to understand why our largest social systems should never be played to win.

1. play

Play is behavior that exists outside the bounds of normal social interaction. The value of play is intrinsic; it is for its own sake. We play because play is enjoyable, recreational, fun. And we play with others as a form of positive social connection.

Play is fun because it delineates its own space and context, safe from the consequences of “real” behavior. Dogs might be jumping and biting at each other, but when it’s play it’s not serious. The dogs aren’t angry; nobody’s going to get hurt; it’s for fun.

2. games

Play is a universal concept, but games are a human invention. If play is inherently unbounded, then games are inherently structured. They are the application of rules—constraints—on boundless play.

We play by tossing a ball back and forth. It becomes a game when I say that you lose if you drop the ball.

Because games are a form of play, they ascribe to the same core principle: an activity distinct from normal social context. A game creates a playful space with limited consequence outside its bounds. 

It’s okay if you lose, because it’s just a game.

A game is only a game if everyone agrees to the rules governing play. This means that playing a game requires consent: it’s not a game if you don’t know the rules; it’s not a game if you don’t know we’re playing.

3. gaming

Games are played, but games aren’t “gamed.”

Systems are gamed.

Gaming a system is a pernicious act. It is the willful manipulation of a set of rules against their intended effects. It is playing a game with something that’s not a game to other people.

Systems are often gamed in ways that benefit an individual to the detriment of others. And gamed systems are often those with real, serious consequences in the lives of those involved.

For example: Monopoly is a game, but capitalism is a gamed system, because capitalism is not a game. And while it might be fun to “win” at capitalism, it is very dangerous to lose.

4. points

In games and gamed systems, success is often quantified through numeric value. The simplest expression of this value in games is “points.” Generally, having points is a good thing. And the higher the number, the better you’re doing.

Points are also a comparative value; I win by having more than you.And if I’m focused on winning, then it matters to me that you have less than I have.

This mentality is acceptable within the context of a game, but it becomes harmful when applied to other systems.

I shouldn’t want others to have less than me; I shouldn’t define my own success by what others don’t have.

When systems incentivize this attitude, they encourage the gaming of those systems, and they encourage harmful behavior: “I want my number to be bigger than yours, no matter what it takes, because that’s how I win.”

5. gameability

Numbers make systems “gameable,” because the visibility of quantified value in a system creates opportunity and incentive for measuring success against the value of others.

So the “gameability” of a system—its susceptibility to pernicious manipulation—is often tied directly to both the presence of numeric values, and the visibility of those values to others within the system.

The more “points” expressed in a system, and the more visible those points are, the greater the implied incentive for me to have more points than other people within that system.

This incentive is particularly strong when there is an actual, material benefit to “winning” within the context of the system.

A gameable system with real stakes has greater potential for harm.

6. social systems

Social systems are formal or informal structures that define relationships between people. Families are social systems, as are friend groups, religions, schools, sports, and jobs, among many others.

Social systems connect us. They are how we find and maintain connections to others. They allow us to be part of something larger than ourselves.

We seek out social systems because we are a social species. We need each other to survive.

7. social media

Social media platforms are social systems. And they are some of the largest social systems in the world, connecting in aggregate more people than have ever been connected in history.

Social media is also, by design, highly gameable.

Any given modern social media platform contains a wide range of numeric values tied to its users, their content, and their behaviors.

These values are often highly visible, both to the individual user, and to others engaging with that user and their content. And the apps and websites for these platforms frequently call attention to these values throughout their interfaces.

For an individual user, a platform may identify:

the number of “Friends” or reciprocal connections they have

the number of “Followers” or subscribers to that user’s content

And for any piece of content posted by a user, the platform may display:

the number of users who’ve viewed that content

the number of “reactions” to the content (such as “Likes” or “Hearts”)

the number of comments or replies to the content

and the number of shares or reposts of that content.

These numbers quantify the value of a social media user. And like any point system, it is implicitly “good” when these numbers are larger, particularly when compared to the numbers of others.

8. business

The numeric values associated with social media users and their content are commonly referred to as “metrics.”

Historically, this term has been used to describe data collected when measuring the success of a business: the number of sales of a product; the number of clicks on a website; the number of visitors to a retail store.

Social media companies measure their success through user engagement with the content on their platforms. This is because these platforms typically generate revenue by selling ad space alongside their content, or by offering subscriptions that allow for more ways to engage with content. 

So the business of social media relies heavily on the content created by its users, and that content’s ability to keep both new and existing users engaged.

The more a user’s content is viewed, liked, and shared, the greater their value to the business. And users with more friends or followers have even greater value, because of their larger, more engaged audiences.

The modern usage of the term “metrics” now conflates these two ideas: the quantified value of a business, and the quantified value of a person—whether that value is to the business, or to other people.

And while business metrics are often protected, non-public information, the metrics of social media users are, by necessity, highly public. It is their public visibility that drives the incentives for users to create engaging content, which in turn benefits the platforms and their ability to generate profit.

The business of social media relies on the gameability of its platforms. It wants you to want to win, because that’s how it makes money.

9. incentive

For users of social media systems, there are real, tangible incentives for wanting the numbers to go up, beyond the simple satisfaction of seeing numeric values increase.

Bigger numbers can lead to influence and power, as the creation of engaging content increases one’s audience. And they can lead to financial opportunities, as larger audiences can, in turn, be used to further one’s career, or sell products and services. Put simply: bigger numbers change lives.

The “game” of social media, then, is not about creating positive social connections. It’s about figuring out how to make the numbers go up as much as possible, because winning at social media both feels good, and can be life-changing.

10. strategy

For those who treat social media as a game, the most effective strategies for winning are largely antisocial; they run counter to interactions that reinforce positive connection; they require playing a game with something that’s not a game to other people.

A 2021 Yale research study found that posts expressing moral outrage spread faster on social media than other types of content, teaching users to express outrage more frequently. 

A 2019 MIT study found that misinformation spreads more rapidly than the truth, incentivizing users to post false or unverifiable information to gain more likes and shares. 

And a 2021 study from Harvard Business School found that negative content engages more users than positivity, and that news outlets across the political spectrum focused on negative and divisive coverage for the sake of their businesses.

The best way to “win” at social media is to be more cruel, more antagonistic—to divide people and capitalize on their emotions and divisions.

The other optimal strategy is exploitation of the platform itself—gaming the mechanisms used to define engagement, as the inflation of those values has an additive effect. The more likes, comments, and shares a piece of content receives, the more that content is seen by others who will like, comment, and share, and the farther it spreads.

The tangible, real-world benefits to “winning” at social media will often lead its most self-serving users to optimize for the highest engagement possible—the most direct path to which is creating antisocial content, and employing antisocial strategies to maximize its spread.

11. design

The cruelty of modern social media is by design. The visibility of social metrics compels users to create the most engaging content possible; the highest engagement is most easily gained through antisocial strategies; and the business itself directly benefits from users who optimize for engagement above all else.

So greater financial success for the business can be had not by removing the mechanisms that incentivize high engagement, but by cementing their value and foundational necessity.

It is against the interests of social media platforms to discourage antisocial behavior.

There is a reason why every modern social media platform adopts the same core design, and the same social metrics: it is commonly understood to be the best practice for generating revenue and shareholder value, regardless of its impact on a platform’s users.

In other words, it is the optimal strategy for winning a game that’s not a game to other people.

12. connection

Online social systems play a critical role in our ability to build and maintain connections and communities. We’ve grown to rely on the internet to help us connect with others, but we need the value of those connections to be intrinsic—for their own sake. 

As long as we’re distilling those connections down to numeric values—friends, followers, likes, shares—we undermine their intrinsic value, and corrupt the motivations for social connection. We open up vital social systems to pernicious manipulation, with greater potential for harm through mechanisms which implicitly reward bad behavior, and are backed by real, tangible benefits for doing so.

The social game is a losing game, but leaving it behind means losing the connections we’ve already made. So we’re stuck playing a game we never agreed to play in the first place.

If we want to stop playing the game, we need somewhere else for those connections to reside. Somewhere playful, but real. Sincere and unquantified. We need a clean, well-lighted place free from devaluing forces, and free from the motivations to treat our connections as anything other than human, and valued.

Some things in life just aren’t games. 

[chamomileeteaaa]

HEAVY VENT POST (also cringe lol) DNI

How do I make a cutoff? Lmao

I hate bothering all my friends with all my issues, so I'm going here, where I don't think anyone who knows me irl will look?? Idk man, I just don't want to bother them

I've lost all purpose in life. In reality, I never really had one. When I was little, I was abused, and my purpose was to please my abusers because I thought they loved me. When they left... well honestly, I lost a lot of my reason to be alive. I was eleven, but I already understood what it meant to have no faith anywhere. Most of my life past that point has been something along the lines of trying to chase the vigor that being afraid brings me.

That's what my childhood was: being afraid. My parents did nothing to me but yell and cuss me out here and there, but I feared them. I feared they would take the people who abused me away; yet, I feared them, too. I knew what I was doing was wrong, even though I was a child (below the age of a tween the entire time) and it wasn't my fault; I knew my parents would be mad if they found out (somehow, they were, like it was my fault); I knew the people I talked to were bad. Not really, it was a child's comprehension of "bad." I understood it was bad because it was taboo—maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much, even though I was still so afraid? Because it made me feel like an adult?

My childhood is defined by fear. You are what you grow up as, and I grew up a coward who put themself in danger's way to get a kick. I was a faithful servant to the Lord who let the devil whisper in her ear, let him push me to the edge of the road, and dodge cars on my tippy-toes. Licked the skin of an apple, felt the condensation moisten my chapped lips.

What is a coward without danger? What does one do when they lose their most primary characteristic?

I have spent every day trying to answer that, and I have ended every day even further from the answer. I eat and sleep and drink and study and joke because it feels mandatory, hardly ever because I enjoy it. I love the people I talk to. Every human is an amazing person, inherently blessèd. But I would be a liar if I were to say that all my hard work "towards the future" was simply because it was obligatory, a safety net. I don't care about college or grades or clothes or parties or health.

I don't even want to die, nor do I want to cease to be. I can't decide if I wish I had never existed, never been conceived in the womb or thought of as a possibility, or if I want to find a purpose with myself.

Happiness is a condition, not an existence. If there is an up, there is a down. Anything that brings me joy is bound to hurt me in the future. What purpose is there, then, to seek out good things? What purpose is there to be good to myself, if there is always an ideal Cami that I will never be able to reach? What purpose is there to even seek out bad things?

Why am I alive? What purpose is there to my existence? I don't bring joy, and any joy I do bring can be nullified by the fact that I will bring pain—anyone who loves me, if they saw this, would experience pain at my grief. I cannot improve upon the world, I'm starting to lose my feelings *about* the world I've been in this pit of depression so long.

I just can't think anymore. I don't exist.

I'm fine, though; like actually, I'm totally good. I feel way better getting these thoughts off my chest and putting them in a public space to feel heard yet not be seen. Sorry if you read this.

[raccoonshinobi]

Simply put - cats do not meet certain people's expectations on how a pet 'should' behave. Folks don't like that cats aren't just cute round fluffy creatures full of unconditional love. They have retractable claws for a reason; they're build to be independent hunters and survivalists.

I wanted to keep this short but there's a lot to it than people think.

Dogs have very obvious body language that show they are affectionate. Cats are far more subtle in that the only way to know for sure if they appreciate and love you is when they approach you at all.

Cats prioritize safety and comfort over everything else - and I say this as a pet-owner that had cared for and looked after more than 5 cats in his lifetime - 2 of them belonging to family friends.

Notably, folks who dislike cats fall under 4 categories: - 1. Folks who have a high social life, most likely extroverts. Dogs are better suited for this sort as they both enjoy going outside, living life on the edge, and staying active. Cats are very cautious, knows that they're vulnerable despite being tiny hunters, and can take quite a while to get used to settings but very much prefer their space and safety as they do so. Some cats certainly don't like 'pet-talk' or sudden loud noises, they'll believe there's something wrong with their habitat - or with you in particular if you happen to be a loud chatty person... It really depends on the cat but by default, they're nervous wrecks.

- 2. Folks who are touchy-feely. Unlike dogs, cats are very touch-sensitive. Lots of people don't know this but cats actually have whiskers on other parts of their bodies, their faces happen to carry most of them. That's why they jump up when something small, strange, or sudden brush against or near their back or legs - it's part of their survival instincts. That said, being constantly hugged/carried/petted takes a toll on them where they get overstimulated and uncomfortable. It's like being tickled all over your body but you can't laugh and it gets irritant and painful after a while; the cat will panic if you don't listen and watch for their cues when they've had enough.

Squeezing cats is an absolute no-no as they have thin bones, it can hurt them, and they just don't like being bound against their will. But giving cat light pats, gentle rubs, and snuggles when they approach you is everything they could ever want outside meals. You just can't pet and hug cats hard like you would a dog.

- 3. Folks who are manipulative, untrustworthy, or casually argumentative. Cats like familiarity so they will pay very close attention to their surroundings, from sights to sounds to scents to someone's behavioral pattern, and will retaliate at any sign of danger even from their owner. People who are two-faced or combative can't get along with cats; once they've shown their true color, a cat's fight-or-flight response is constantly triggered as they no longer feel safe around that person. In this regard, it could take years for a cat to finally relax once they're out of that environment as it could no longer trust humans... Or a matter of weeks when the threat is finally gone for good. Dogs however are far more patient with such owners - more prone to take abuse from them... - 4. Folks who see cats as inherently rebellious. Any animal like humans will have their own set of behavior. Even with instincts, cats have minds of their own. To the typical observer, they're dumb troublemakers because they don't do what is expected of house pets; in reality cats do things people find annoying because they're bored and actually want to have fun, but they don't want to leave their comfort zone - so playing around the house is pretty difficult when your owner demands total compliance and expect it at all times. Though a cat acting out can also be one of their ways of telling you something is wrong and they need medical help.

Dogs tend to just go with the flow of life; cats take life one chill day at a time and when given the chance they'd like for you to wind down with them. Eventually they do take after their caregivers like sitting close by during radio/tv time and that's their way of making company. Also cats do not care for flashy and noisy gifts like dogs do. Cats are very simple; boxes, scratching posts, and/or handcrafted playthings are such a marvel to cats. Especially if you make the toy in front of them.

The truth is cats are introverted little nerds that are very choosy about what friends they want to have and spend time with. Much like people who don't like being forced to socialize or cater to a stranger's sensibility. And like people and even dogs, cats aren't capable of getting along with just anyone. Cats generally have a 'rule' on how to approach them and be approached by them. You follow that 'rule', you have a fluffy friend for life.

tl;dr cats dislikes clingy people, abusers, control freaks, and party animals *but* will buddy up with and trust anyone who remotely make them feel safe and give them space to adapt on their own.

The difference between dog-people-who-don’t-like-cats and cat-people-who-don’t-like-dogs is just so staggering and, quite honestly, disturbing.

Most cat people who don’t like dogs either don’t like dogs out of fear or because they don’t want the big time commitment and responsibility that owning a dog brings with it (-> going on walks, going to dog training school) and that’s that. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone do a general character assassination of dogs.

But dog people who don’t like cats will really go on about how cats aren’t… capable of love or some shit? How they don’t want an animal who sets personal boundaries - the most cited thing is always the “and they will just hit you at random” (when that’s not even true; cats hit ‘at random’ either due to trauma/abuse or because they have warned you beforehand to stop whatever behavior they dislike and you didn’t listen).

That’s just so wild to me. Cats have such an awful rep for, what exactly? Having personalities? Setting personal boundaries? Not being fucking stuffed toys?

All I’m hearing when people complain about that is that they want a stuffed toy they can pick up whenever they want and can cuddle however long they want and then put back on the shelf when they don’t want to play with it anymore and I’m sorry but you don’t want a pet at all, you want a stuffed toy.

A dog doesn’t deserve you either?? I may not have personal experience with owning a dog, but I somewhat suspect dogs to have personalities too? To want affection when they want it too, and to want to be left alone when they need downtime too…?

And cats show love. How is it that in the year 2023, when cat videos are not even just on YouTube but also on tiktok and are literally on everyone’s fingertips, that people still have the misconception that cats don’t show love or aren’t capable of love that’s so fucking messed up it’s just so severely fucked up.

[iloveabunchofgames]

Hey! I'm one half of the devs on "An Outcry, Prelude". Your opinion on it is... honestly very fair?

2020 was a difficult year for everyone (myself included), and that game was effectively made because I thought the bigger idea behind it would never happen.

It was rushed to hell (dev cycle of 5 days), and meddled with in ways I really did not agree with as a creative and writer by my collaborator. I really hate that game and wish I could unpublish it.

I guess the reason I'm reaching out is that I want to underline that it's not in any way indicative of the quality of my remaining work. It very much is a bad game I've since left way behind.

This sort of thing is bound to happen when one says mean things about games and tags their creators by name.

That review was harsh, and I stand by my 1/5 score. Games are art, art is inherently personal, and harsh criticism can hurt. That's not me saying, "It's my job as a critic to hurt people and your job as an artist to take it." I'm saying that what I do, even on a little Tumblog with no readers, has the power to affect people, and I am responsible for the consequences of my words.

I write to inform. I write to entertain. I write to persuade. I write in the hopes that my recommendations will help someone make good decisions about how to spend their time and/or money. I write about independent games because they deserve an honest chance and an honest conversation, and they're so easily overlooked. It is a miracle that any game is ever completed. I write for my own edification, which is my greatest drive and my greatest danger. I write at a relentless pace, trying never to lose sight of all the reasons I write. I write criticism. I write everything that's wrong with games made too quickly, with too few resources, by creators who are driven by their own reasons. I write to encourage and to discourage, because I believe progress is possible for everyone. My writing is not always successful. I am not above criticism. I receive it gladly, consider it honestly, and work to do better.

- - -

There is nothing in An Outcry, Prelude that calls Quinn's character into question. Nothing that warrants a personal attack. I was snide about apostrophes, vocal pauses, and the phrase, "a visit of terrific birdness," but I'm hesitant to even say I think they're a bad writer or actor. I believe Prelude might make sense to someone who knows anything about An Outcry. My review was based on a cold introduction to this world through this single application, and without any other context, it is a bewildering short story with the illusion of interactivity.

I'm no stranger to working with incompatible collaborators under impossible constraints on embarrassing games that I'd rather not acknowledge. A single data point does not imply a larger trend, and An Outcry, Prelude's failure to stand on its own does not imply any fundamental shortcoming by Quinn, but it didn't encourage me to further explore their oeuvre, either.

But perhaps I didn't praise it enough for being memorably out there. A day after wrapping up my review, "Kekekaykaykikikoo," is still rattling around in my brain. Again, I stand by the 1/5, but if Quinn says this is an outlier; that their work is usually better, I'm willing to take that challenge. I don't want to interrupt the regular schedule of daily reviews, but when I find the time, I will give another Quinn K. game and fair shot. Thank you for your sincere response. - Jake

EDIT: An Outcry, Prologue has been de-listed on Itch. I killed a game! Oh, jeez, I don't feel good about that at all.