#maybe that's me being negative I don't know

[thydungeongal]

I've been recommended by the algorithm a surprising amount of your posts about 5e and while I do agree to some degree to them, they were also been made in the span of less than 2 weeks. They were also negative about 5e and the community (again, I agree).

But you know that there are other ttrpg other than 5e, and that you don't need to constantly wallow into (what I presume you think is) the raw sewage that is the game and the community? At this point your blood is so stuck into your hate-boner that you're risking brain damage due to the lack of blood flow.

You have better-than-average takes, I'm giving you the ttrpg version of "Go outside and touch grass"

When I write things critical of D&D 5e or for that matter any RPG I'm not frothing at the mouth angry about the game but simply sharing my observations. You're just hella projecting what you think I must have been feeling when I wrote those posts which is a pretty silly assumption of you to make. I genuinely just enjoy thinking about games and posting even though my opinions are often critical and I do have a tendency to be polemic in my tone it's just a fun hobby for me. So like. Maybe stop being silly.

[max1461]

@deaths-accountant I will, if I remember, think carefully about your thought experiment and respond to it soon (although I will probably change some details so that it is less similar to current events because I don't want people to misunderstand the nature of the discussion and get mad at me), but, in the mean time, here is a counter-thought-experiment for you:

Suppose there is a guy Bob, currently hanging out in the heavenly realm or whatever, and he is presented by an angel with the following choice:

Bob will be born into the world, and live an ordinary-seeming life. Over the course of his life, the net utility (under whatever form of utilitarianism you endorse; hedonic, preferential, etc.) which he contributes to everyone else in the world besides himself will be 0. In other words, the people of the world (not including him) will be no better off nor worse off for his being born. However, he himself, under the same conception of utility, will receive -ε net utils. He will have N (for reasonable large N) utils worth of joys, triumphs, etc., and -(N+ε) utils worth of pains, failures and so on. Thus, he will live a net-negative life.

Bob will not be born into the world, he will cease to exist.

Implicitly I'm discounting here all the thoughts and feelings that Bob experiences here in the heavenly realm before he is born (or not) as irrelevant, but if you don't feel comfortable with this you can just adjust the numbers so that the net utility of each choice comes out as intended above.

It is possible, I think, that in light of the above choice, Bob would select (2) and cease to exist. But I think it's also possible that Bob would say "no, I'll take (1), I want to have the joys and triumphs even if there turn out also to be a greater number of failures and losses". In particular, I am almost certain that I would choose (1), and not just for fear of death (the above scenario is an abstraction of choices that I have actually made, where no risk of death was involved).

The question is: would it be moral for the angel to override Bob here, "for his own good", and choose (2) for him?

By construction a utilitarian has to say yes. If ε is small the utilitarian might say "well, it's not a very big deal; the normative force behind overriding Bob and choosing (2) is low". But I can think of scenarios in which I would chose (1) even if (I believed that) ε was pretty significant, where this excuse doesn't work.

Also consider for instance... the archetype of the starving artist. The man who is committed to producing his Great Work even at significant cost to himself. Suppose that he has made many sacrifices in order to hone his craft, he's given up financial success and a social life, he lives in the mountains and, you know, carves statue after statue in pursuit of perfection. Suppose that he can rationally conclude that, when (if) he does complete his masterpiece, the satisfaction will be relatively small in the face of all the sacrifices he's made. I mean, yeah, he'll be happy, he'll feel fulfilled and genuinely, deeply satisfied. But on a literal, summative level, that just won't add up to the lifetime of late nights, missed opportunities for social connection, etc., either in terms of net pleasure or net preference satisfaction or whatever. But suppose also that on the day to day level he doesn't feel miserable, he's not suffering. He's toiling in pursuit of a deeply held personal goal, and it feels... well, "good" isn't always the word. But he is plenty motivated to keep going; he's out here in the mountains of his own accord. The fact that he judges that at the end of his life the utility tally won't come up positive for him doesn't weigh on him much. "Why should I care about some number?" he says. "Maybe I'd be net happier if I went out on the town and found a wife and settled down, but I don't want to do that. I want to complete my Great Work."

Is this artist doing something immoral by living his life the way he has? Would it be moral for a third party to step in and prevent him from pursuing his endeavors?

In both of these thought experiments, my extremely strong intuition is that the answer is "no", making choices for other people "for their own good" in this way is not moral. But this seems like a necessary consequence of any kind of utilitarianism, so I can't get behind utilitarianism.

The starving artist example gets to a more fundamental issue, too. I kept saying things like "he really wants to complete his Great Work, and it will make him very satisfied, but he will be more net satisfied if he gives up on that and lives a normal life". Well... what the hell does "net satisfied" mean? How do you measure the strength of a preference? He "really wants" to complete his Great Work, and materially that corresponds to a certain neural state, but how do you put a number on that neural state which is fungible with the numbers you put on all the other neural states of human life? You run into this problem in both hedonic and preference utilitarianism, because "preference" is a neural phenomenon. Is there even a well-defined abstraction here, is there even a coherent thing to which "preference strength" can possibly refer? Maybe, but I don't know that there is. And the problem is that if you pick the wrong abstraction, if you pick the wrong way of getting a fungible quantity out of a fundamentally non-numerical arrangement of matter, then what you have doesn't correspond to "ethics" anymore, right, it lacks normative force. It's just some number.

This is why I say that utilitarian-ish ethics are fine on the large scale, they're fine for the policy maker or the economist, who for methodological reasons simply needs to pick an ok enough abstraction on run with it. But on the scale of individual humans, individual minds, and what it "really means" to treat people right, I don't think utilitarianism can possibly hold up.

I might have made this exact post before somewhere, if so apologies for repeating myself.

[raconteur-wanpi]

One Piece 1131

It's finally here after the 2 week break!

I'm glad we begin right where we left off, with Luffy and Loki finally having a proper interaction! This instantly made me laugh, Luffy is a certified yapper. His true power really is responding to the most serious and broody of intimidating figures with his silly guy ADHD and making fools out of these try-hards by annoying them. He really is a walking cartoon! I just knew in my heart, turning the page, Loki would cut him off by telling him to shut-up already. This is a classic bit and I live for it.

This also instantly kinda makes Loki more fun of a character to me lmao. Being presented with a scary guy only to immediately kinda make fun of him is Oda's expertise. Nobody is immune to being laughed at a bit, and it does instantly make Loki more charming.

He soon confirms what fans have been theorizing since Water 7; that the Yggdrasil-style-tree that encompasses Elbaf is the Treasure Tree Adam! Nice to finally know for sure, it'll be interesting for the Sunny in a sense to have returned to its "birthplace".

Also interesting how he introduces himself as the "pride of Elbaf's strength" when in the last chapter we learn of him as the "shame of Elbaf". Is it his own ego? Trying to twist the way his people see him? Is this him being a liar similar to Usopp, exaggerating who he is? Or is it his own delusions? It's an interesting contrast, I wonder what the language used here is in the original Japanese.

Loki is also, well... extremely Luffy-like in some ways actually. Being introduced as a "sun god", getting new people's names wrong, and as we'll see later, befriending wild beastly animals... This is an extremely interesting parallel. It seems to me they're already sides of the same coin, and I am soooo intrigued by it going forward.

It seems Loki has really met his match, and I doubt he expected someone like that to show up. Luffy responds to the beasts with nostalgia instead of fear, I wonder how that make the "accursed prince" feel...

Interestingly enough, Loki seems to have a sort of cult or following of human-sized people dedicated to him! They call him master and listen to his commands... maybe they're people who really see him as the Sun God?

Luffy immediately tames the beasts, like he did back during the timeskip! Of course, once he hears Loki insulting Shanks, his good mood seems to go away.

Loki also pulls a "I'm just joking bro, I'm just a silly guy c'moooon, you wouldn't punch a guy tied to a tree would ya? A birthday boy?" when he realized Luffy is actually pretty powerful. Good 'ol Schrodinger's douchebag. He does showcase a lot of duality, acting all mighty and smug towards "puny humans", but then his facade breaks a few times, he twists his reputation and claims he's just joking etc, it does fit the idea of a "trickster" a lot, considering his mythological basis. I'm still struggling to grasp his true personality and goals, and while he does speak the way you'd a expect a villain would... he kind of doesn't feel like he's going to be the main obstacle of the arc to me, and I can't truly explain why.

He also, interestingly, seems to have a negative bounty!? If I read that right, at least. Perhaps the government's way of saying "we don't want him, if you bring him in YOU'LL have to pay us to deal with him" or something??? We'll see if it's indeed a minus or not, it is described as a "special bounty".

Back to the Strawhats on the bridge, Gerd, Goldberg and Rodo seem to be rushing out with the Sunny as fast as possible. I'm assuming they're trying to get to where Harjudin is and explain the situation to him, considering that the ship belongs to their crew's grand fleet commanders. These two are probably mad as hell at Rodo lol. I can't tell if they're chasing him angrily here or what, haha.

Despite Usopp's insistence (and him being correct as always) the group still decides to run away from these giants. Oh Usopp, if only they listened to you, this debacle would be over much quicker. As per usual.

Speaking of Harjudin (and the one missing member of his crew, Stansen), here they are! They're in the same area actually, going for a hunt so they can prepare a feast for the Strawhats! That's kinda sweet, I wonder how the reunion of all separated groups so far will happen.

I wonder if it'll end up going to disaster because of Luffy accidentally freeing Loki or something. Loki did try to convince Luffy to find the key to his seastone chains earlier, but Luffy seemed to kinda ignore him. I wonder if Luffy will end up actually being manipulated, especially after Loki insulted Shanks and pissed him off. Then again, Luffy not only forgives easily, but he is also convinced easily, so who knows!

Back to the giants' ship...... oooooh my god. I think I almost cried. My heart expanded in size seeing this alone, you have no idea how happy I am. She's back. Our girl cut her hair so Saul will recognize her....shut up. Shut UP. That's so sweet, I think I am going to explode. Welcome back bangs Robin I missed you so much. This better be permanent!!!

In which Franky is literally me. I knew it before they confirmed it, it really is about meeting Saul........ I'm going to explode.

But uuuh, bad news. Saul might.... not be in good health? Did he get injured? What does this mean. I swear to god, if something happens to him before Robin gets to see him......... Please god tell me this is going to just be a bit or something, oh god. Ending the chapter here, huh? Straight up evil!!!!

Anyway, I am soooo looking forward the next chapter. I am still... on the fence about Loki being the main Bad Guy. He clearly thinks of himself as a grand destructive force, yes, and looks down upon "puny humans" and the such, sure, and even contemplates about killing Luffy after he is freed if need be, but... I'm just so suspicious of the way he's introduced. Maybe he'll be more of a morally gray anti-hero, or a temporary antagonist. Maybe I'm wrong and he'll indeed be the next pure-evil Doflamingo type threat. But maybe he could even be a "redeemable" Bellamy type character instead. I have no clue, it's way too early to tell. But just seeing the way Luffy just kinda chills with him in some of the panels in this chapter.... I'm kinda hoping it's the latter, they have a charming dynamic. They're already so similar, surely there's more to Loki's story.

After all, this is the guy that was infatuated with a lovable character we know dearly as the audience, Lola, to the point of denying to marry her identical sister. That tells me there's more to this guy than meets the eye. Am I reading too much into it? I could be completely off the mark, but we'll see!

[hashimasims]

Absalom is really enjoying this no longer working thing. The happy moodlets caring for the infants continue to pile up and even with the negative stinky diaper moodlet he's never unhappy. Who knew being a dad could be so fulfilling.

He cuddles and talks to the babies autonomously. Even if he has a bunch of interactions queued up he drops all of it if any of the babies need the slightest bit of attention.

Absalom: How did I ever get so lucky little guppy? Having four of the most perfect children on this planet? The most amazing loving, nurturing fiance as their mother? This is the life I always dreamed of having, minus all your mom's fuzzy buddies of course *laughs* and it's even better than I could have ever hoped for, even with your Daddy in the picture too. I'm gonna confide in you and you can't tell anyone promise?

Finnbri coos and smiles at him, she seems to enjoy the conversation.

Absalom: Good. I'm going to hold you to that. I'm afraid Finny. I'm afraid I'm going to woohock it all up. Oh shi-eep, oh sheep, don't repeat that, your mom will kill me. You're trying to repeat more than your siblings, all of you have said your first word but mama seems to be the only one that understands any of you, but I think YOU are going to talk before any one else so don't repeat anything your Dadas say. I've messed up a lot already when it comes to your mom so we REALLY need to work better at making sure we don't teach you any adult words yet. Everything's been going so well, almost too good to be true really, I'm afraid that things are going to hit the fan. But I won't let it. And neither will your other Daddy. Maybe I'm just still so wound over the fact that no one has found Eclipse yet, it's like he's been deleted from the save. And your Papa Daolong is hiding your Uncle Ecinno, I know he is. I hope none of you ever learn of what happened but if I see them . . . just know it's not going to be pretty. Now no more negativity hmm? I hear your siblings waking so time for breakfast. Faelyn and Felynyrr don't seemed to like wake up time huh? Not like you my sunny little baby.

Beginning|Previous|Next

[nqueso-emergency]

No offense but I don't know why anyone is taking you seriously any more. You proudly declared that the episode wouldn't be called "Confessions" when it was. You made it clear that BuckTommy were moving in together when the actual plan was to break them up. You post vague shit about things being done in the background and Buddie's digging their own graves and then turn around and say actually you know nothing.

Tommy's not coming back. That sucks and maybe if your cousin exists you can feed back to her that all the show has done, all Oliver has done, is reward the worst parts of this shit stain fandom.

Okay. Please block me if you're going to just spread negativity.

Is it my fault that people might have leaked the title? No.

Is it my fault that the information I was told was shifted into this? No.

I have said from day 1 that no one has to believe me.

I really do not care. ❤️

[tixdixl]

🌹🎈🥩

Maybe for Oisin and Kingsley? Or whoever's shouting "ASK ME!" in your brain :-3

Oooh!!! These are fun! Thank you!!

🌹 (rose) - What does your oc find attractive in other people? Are these traits found in their friends and/or romantic partners? Are they found in themselves?

Kingsley is aromantic~ lol. He is in the painful place of quoiromantic where he is not capable of experiencing romantic love. However, he finds out thanks to a couple of folks that he is willing to be on the receiving end so long as he is not expected to reciprocate those feelings.

Also I need you to know... the moment you asked, my dullahan emerged looking like this:

Oisín is such a hopeless romantic and has only ever fallen in love with one person. But they could give you a long list of what all they love about Lilia Vanrouge.

Personality is huge for them. As is the sense of humor. Being demisexual, those things and how they mesh with them are incredibly huge.

That said though, they love a partner who could absolutely snap their neck metaphorically. One who is willing to take the time to get to know how their existence works and would be as much of a threat to them as they are to their partner. They dont like the idea of a power differential- unless that differential is created willingly. And the realest thing? Is that they are happiest when both their partner and they themself are capable of being strong on their own and also in the presence of each other.

They love a partner who is willing to exist and be and live with them, with no regrets or shame. They are a hopeless romantic, and thus would love a partner who would be willing to things as they hit them. They love a partner who would willingly receive their affections as their heart and the moment carry them- and a partner who would reciprocate that energy. To dance in the rain; to hold their partner until they fell asleep in their arms; to go on little outtings sporatically and with or even without any plan. To live in the moment as though no one else in the world exists.

They love having a partner who they can reflect like the moon reflects the light of the sun.

🎈 (balloon) - What does your character do at parties? Are they a wallflower or a party animal? Do they go with friends or alone?

Kingsley canonically refuses to participate in the theatrical performance during GloMas. He refuses to dance. He refuses to enjoy the festivities because that motherfucker tried to almost kill everyone and got off scott free. In general though, he really isnt much of a party goer. The only real party he actively like... participates in is his coorination celebration way after he graduates and thats kind of because his found family won't let him be a wallflower.

Oisín is shy at like... parties where there are a lot of folks they don't know. In particular, they dont go to parties unless they are going with someone they know. But if its like... a party where everyone coming is a friend or family? They will be there and they WILL participate.

🥩 (steak) - Does your oc have any coping mechanisms? Healthy or unhealthy?

This is... such an interesting question. I honestly had to spend a lot of time pondering this...

If we are being technical, fighting and hunting start out being sort of coping mechanisms for Kingsley. But when he starts making friends (cough- Jack), he starts to develop other coping mechanisms. Running and training begin to slowly become forms of coping mechanisms for him. But he still... does target practice... a lot.

Oisín on the other hand tends to self isolate and write- write everything. Positive. Negative. All their feelings conveyed on a page rather than expressed outwardly.

If you made it this far- thank you for reading ^^;

Prompt

Tag list: @ramshacklerumble @the-trinket-witch @starry-night-rose @elenauaurs @rainesol

@cyanide-latte @winterweary @thehollowwriter @theleechyskrunkly @boopshoops

@lumdays @twstinginthewind @inmateofthemind

[maniccatra]

uggghh dude in spop s5e6 'taking control' tho

when adora basically tells catra "look ok fine, we're removing the chip forsure cause if we don't, i know horde prime will inevitably find you eventually and tbh i just dunno if i can live w worrying about that ok but also afterwards, if you really wanna be dropped off on the next planet - then alright i guess."

just omfg tho, the fact that what finally snaps catra in half but in regards to breaking her walls down i guess - what gets this gurl to finally be vulnerable w adora after all this time - what leaves her feeling absolutely defeated but in doing so, also forces her to give in and just fucking say how she feels/what she wants - something adora kinda needs tbh as the emotionally oblivious (but also very lovable) dummy she can often be - is simply just adora saying "you'll never have to see me again."

cause like, same as adora couldn't fucking handle fathoming losing catra for life when she thought she was straight gonna die in her arms during save the cat - catra couldn't conceive of an existence that didn't include adora in some way either. i mean, imo it's even why catra kept her close as an enemy in their time at odds w each other lol (aside from s4 when she thinks adora hates her now and will forever)

i think it's in the og script for save the cat - something i def rec looking up if you haven't read it btw - before bringing out catra, prime says something to adora along the lines of,

"of course. you're catra. bitter enemies, and yet, the two of you can never seem to stay away from from each other, can you?"

(ps i truly despise the way prime says catra's name tbh like it makes me so angry esp in his interactions mentioning her to adora before she comes out in save the cat.. like w this kinda condescending, mocking inflection. i fucking hate him so much lmao but i also know ain't no one tryna argue w me on that lol)

holy shit tho fr i get the decision to opt outta prime being the one to tell adora that she broke catra's heart - so much more weighted coming to adora from catra herself tbh. but there's another line i kinda woulda liked to see make it to the screen that also really got to me from the og script, it's something like "you used to talk of ruling the world together. up on that little spot on the roof that only you knew about. then you left... you broke her heart. you always wanted more... but all she ever wanted was you."

like honestly dude, if that minus the broke heart part - given as a line to catra later on in the ep instead - had actually been included in save the cat... hahaha omg idk if i coulda survived it tbh lol

and like just dude.. it's hard to fully fathom how fucking difficult it prob was for catra in that moment to swallow her pride, shut up the dumb neg self-talk in her head, and grab adora's hand before she could walk away. and omg, so so the most vulnerable moment we've yet to see for catra, aside from i guess maybe in the Promise ep where light hope fucks w both their heads so hard that catra does legit cry in front of adora -

[maeve-is-annoying-about-books]

Wow, Bloomburrow is so cool. I wanna set a whole story in it, I really wanna. Its vibe is immaculate. I just wish its holder wasn't... all of that. Moon above where would I even start?

Cause the setting itself is ripe for adventure. Oh huge calamity beasts based on massive predators? Rad. Adventurous mice with leaf armour? Rad. Sagacious bats who guard the night and gain wisdom by watching the stars? Rad. Otter mages of lightning and Rabbit communities and just everything. Fucking radical, I love it. Redwall was an astounding setup and this is too.

Just, wish it wasn't so difficult to be a fan of the set. Not only knowing it's gonna vanish quickly but also the everything else.

[sergle]

man, you know, nobody asked me, but I have such conflicting opinions on some of the fat falin art, where on one hand: it's always nice to see A Fat Body in fanart anywhere + it's being done in positive ways, for funsies and on the other hand, there is something so familiar about how you are automatically The Fat One if you are a woman simply standing next to a more petite woman, bc I've had a 0% hitrate in seeing people change Marcille's body type and keep Falin's, or change both of them. it's just Falin

[i-still-dont-know-a-username]

Don't get me wrong, "The Beauty of the House is immeasurable; its Kindness infinite" is a quote that absolutely hits me square in the chest every time.

..But I feel like putting it in italics under an aesthetic picture is kinda neglecting the context, since Piranesi has Nearly Drowned when he first says that.

[m-a-r-i--c-h-a-t]

but who told them all my distorted thoughts lmao

[dont-offend-the-bees]

Anyone else just not feeling like a real person much lately?

[alliepretends]

Really need people to stop trying to argue on the merits of JH:JY based on the idea that the theme of the season was rage. It isn't! It wasn't! It never was and was never going to be! You've got the right problem but the wrong reasoning and it's extremely annoying. Theme doesn't originate with antagonists. Theme is what a story is trying to say. FH:JY has nothing to say about rage. It never had anything to say about rage. Because rage is not an important topic to the protagonists. And a story can't say something without it mattering to the protaginists in some way. Rage has never been and will never be an important part of how the protagonists of FH:JY think about the world. The theme of JY was academic pressure and burnout. The overall theme of FH is heroism, which in this context is defined as doing dangerous things with your friends to help others. Those were the themes. They weren't well executed but that's what the characters cared about, it's what the story cared about, it's what the story was trying to say. The rage part comes in at the very end with the antagonists. And people are right to say that this was bad! Having random antagonists whose motive and identity is wholly unrelated to the themes the story has been persuing so far is bad storytelling! This was a problem. But there's no version of the story in which reshaping the themes around the antagonist's motive was a good idea. Antagonists only work as purveyors of theme when the thematic conflict between the protagonist and antagonists is clear from the start. (It's why Grix + Ratgrinders did feel like good antagonists at the beginning. Increased pressure on academic achievement + a kind of rigid rules following that doesn't actually allow you to help anyone. Very responsive to FH's overall themes and what our protagonists care about.) If you're going to critique FH:JY on the grounds of its storytelling (which you should), you should understand what's happening in the story. The thematic confusion doesn't come from FH:JY not having something coherent to say about rage; it comes from the fact that it managed to give you the impression in the last handful of episodes that it was ever about Rage at all.

[wereh0gz]

I'm sure there's posts out there that say this better than I ever could but it pisses me off when ppl try to reinvent the binary in "progressive" ways like the whole men/non-men thing like. Gender is way too fucking complicated and categories like that don't really help ppl they just continue to exclude ppl who don't fit neatly into your ideas of gender (multigender and genderfluid ppl for example. Or y'know. Ppl like me)

Like can we please just throw this idea away I'm sick of it

[mayomkun]

man the bear SS3 EP6

[mariemariemaria]

Does anybody else feel like mental health awareness has done very little to help them in material reality