#relatable question mark

[veryrealauthorthings]

[nightwingenjoyer]

My knowledge on internet safety flying out the window when someone finds me genuinely interesting

[sealhaus]

nefarious beanpole

This is the only thing not related to school I’ve been able to do in like, 2 weeks. Save me winter break winter break save me.

[ouaw-facts-i-just-made-up]

Mikey is I believe 3 years sober now (from his posts on Twitter talking about AA) so the whole staying away from drugs thing for Gricko runs a lot deeper then you think

I actually completely forgot about that when I scheduled the submission. Not to be all parasocial but I saw him show off this coin thingy on stream and I was like aww fuck yeah man let's go.

I dunno if that was related to the whole DARE parody thing (I thought it was just cause Gricko was trying to be Cool and Hip and those anti drug things were also like that), but I can understand if it was. But I'm also hesitant to speculate on such things cause you know, real life people.

Either way, very proud of Mikey in the least parasocial way I can muster. And anyone reading this in a similar situation I am very proud of you!

[wowyoulikeflowers]

Sirius Black 100% has a ton of fears he nonchalantly expands upon that are from abuse; a fear of small spaces from being locked in a closet or a fear of wands being pointed at him suddenly, but he always explains it and then moves on, so his friends are used to it/don't think much of it.

then one day, while they're out and about doing gay wizard things, Sirius starts freaking out. like, screaming, panicking, crying, Freaking Out. they calm him down, take him back to their dorm or something, and ask what happened. he quietly mumbles, "I saw a squirrel." they sit and wait for him to explain, but he absolutely refuses to. they bribe him, James uses his puppy eyes, they even get Lily in on it because she's always able to get information out of someone. nothing. they hesitantly move on and all decide to try and help Sirius avoid squirrels from now on, thinking it's so traumatizing for him he can't even joke about it like normal.

a few months later, James and Regulus are dating and they update him on all of Sirius' fears from his childhood so he can help them with it, and they mention squirrels. Regulus stops, looks at them, and laughs so hard he genuinely pulls an abdominal muscle. he eventually calms down and explains that, when they were younger, the Black brothers and sisters were playing outside somewhere and saw a squirrel. all five of them approached it, and it backed up and ran until it caught sight of Sirius. for whatever reason, that squirrel decided to chase Sirius. it scrambled after him, chattering away, and even managed to scratch his ankle.

and to this day, Sirius is terrified of squirrels.

[mandibugs]

I need him dead. tav who is an illithid tadpole manipulating a vessel

[exforgot]

been 50/50 on posting this for like a month or so

[lulu2992]

I’d like to (finally) talk about this interview with Mark Thompson, Narrative Director on Far Cry 4:

I love it when devs talk about their work because it’s always super interesting and informative! This video is no exception.

But what struck me most when I first saw the interview is what he says about Far Cry 3, a title he also worked on as a Level Design Director, which I believe means he was not (or barely) involved in the writing of the script. When he mentions what he thinks the issues with the game were and what had to be “fixed” in Far Cry 4, the thing is that... he often contradicts what Jeffrey Yohalem, Lead Writer on Far Cry 3, explained in various articles.

Under the cut, I highlighted some parts of Mark Thompson’s interview (in red) and compared them to Jeffrey Yohalem’s words (in blue, with the sources) so you can see how different their points of view are.

In this case, when it comes to the story and meaning of Far Cry 3, I’m inclined to give more credence to the Lead Writer’s explanations, but I think this example perfectly illustrates how even people who worked on the same project can have very different (and sometimes equally valid) opinions, understandings, and feelings about it, and why it can therefore be difficult for the audience to determine what the “truth” or the “right” interpretation is…

Open world vs story

MT: We ended up shipping a game where the open world had a lot of cool stuff, but it didn’t have a lot of depth or meaning, and it had almost no connection to what was happening in the story. And in fact, in some ways, the two were kind of opposed and they were kind of conflicting each other. So, on one hand, the story itself had this ticking time bomb of “I have these friends that I need to rescue, but holy sh*t, collecting plants, finding that next animal I need for the next upgrade, getting that next skill point… Oh, look, there’s a radio tower! Wait, wasn’t I heading to that outpost?” And then you’re like, “Oh yeah, sh*t, my friend Keith’s trapped in the basement, I should probably go rescue him… I’m a terrible friend.” That was my main goal: fix this sh*t and make sure that the story and the open world speak to each other, complement each other; strip everything down so that the story and the open world are the same thing and it’s the same game.

JY: People who have looked at the surface of the game think that the story and the game are at war with each other as they are in most games, with the story just plugging potholes and the gameplay is going along its merry way. I think it’s very exaggerated that, “Oh, go save the friends! Go save the friends!” but most people are out on the island doing all this other crazy stuff and experiencing the gameplay. And that’s actually the point of the story. It’s not a game about go save your friends. It’s a game about – doing a lot of picking skins from things, and wait, it’s just a pile of meat – this doesn’t even make sense, yet I’m still doing it instead of saving the friends. (Rock Paper Shotgun - Dec. 19, 2012)

The “white savior” trope

MT: We were definitely aware of some of the tropes that we fell into - unintentionally in some cases, intentionally in some - and (…) almost the first thing that we did was decide how we were gonna address the white savior trope, the outsider who comes in and helps simple people with his outsider’s kind of more advanced understanding of the world. (...) The first thing we said was, “This guy is from Kyrat, no matter what happens. That is the most important thing; he is part of this world, he belongs here.”

JY: “It’s a first-person game, and Jason is a 25-year old white guy from Los Angeles. From Hollywood. So his view of what’s going on on this island is his own view, and you happen to be looking through his eyes, so you’re seeing his view,” Yohalem explained. “It’s set on an island in the South Pacific, so immediately the thing that comes to mind is the white colonial trope, the Avatar trope. I started with that, and it’s like, ‘Here’s what pop culture thinks about traveling to a new place,’ and the funny thing is, that’s an exaggeration of most games, they just don’t expose it. (The Penny Arcade Report - Dec. 17, 2012)

JY: There’s a reason why Jason is a 25 year old white guy from Hollywood – these are all ideas that are in his head. You’re seeing things through his eyes. (...) It’s not that [Citra] needed a white saviour at all. She didn’t need a white guy at all. She was just looking for the ultimate warrior and someone to be her gun. (...) If this was about the white messiah motif, would I be so stupid as to have a main character’s nickname be Snow White? I’m making fun of that! (Rock Paper Shotgun - Dec. 19, 2012)

The player and the protagonist

MT: When we were doing the script review, almost immediately, the first thing we would do would be, “Okay, so how many lines does Ajay have? Okay, cut that by 75%”, and then we would review it and then cut out even more. Whenever possible, we would set up a scenario where we know or we think we know how players would react, and so we would remove the line that the character would actually say and then have the other person react to it. “Oh, you think that, do you?” - in that kind of way, so they’re like, “Oh f*ck, how did he know I was gonna say that?” Whereas, if the protagonist said that line, they’re like, “Oof, I wouldn’t have said that”, and then suddenly you’re kind of broken out of the experience. (…) When you’re in first-person, all you hear is this disconnected voice that might not be agreeing with what you’re doing. So, again, it’s just about stripping away those barriers of immersion so you can imagine yourself in this scenario.

JY: In Far Cry 3, Jason is a character and he’s not the player. The player is another character in the game. Sometimes Jason disagrees with the player, and sometimes Jason agrees with him. And the magic of that is that then it doesn’t matter! Basically, as long as the whole narrative is directed towards what the player is feeling—which for me is how videogames should be—then I get to target Jason as a resource where players can go: “I disagree with Jason.” And the player gets to convince Jason to do something else. So instead of trying to force the two of them together, I’ve decoupled them. (Killscreen - Dec. 12, 2012)

[raincoquteee]

phones

[gaydexvocaloid]

wil zola project with locs is my everything

[louwhose]

Rumors script question mark????

oooh! okay so this is one I've had for a couple of years now (but I think I figured out a zelinktines that will work with it so hopefully I'll be able to actually finish it next month)

basically it's a crack fic about a speedrun link who, after defeating ganon less than a day after waking up gets a HUGE ego and especially likes puns and flirting with zelda. it's just silly and fun, and after my first attempt stagnated I read a fic that was in a script-like style, and thought it would be fun and I really enjoy it so far

Link: It’s not that cold. Besides, I think the world deserves to see these. [flexes] Zelda: Uh. Zelda: I… [looks away] They do look very nice. Link: Of course! And if I’m some great warrior— Zelda: Swordsman. Link: But I wasn’t using a sword earlier? Zelda: Well you used to… nevermind. You were saying? Link: Don’t I have a right to bare arms?

[armasthekooiker]

Best of breed kooikerhondje 2024

[copper-skulls]

Grillstertember: wartime

local dragon has to remind his guy after a long day to turn off his green before he manages to faint them both

[gillespiejr]

Im not dysphoric but i would also give literally anything to be a man

[reluctanttrabbit]

still thinking about that fuhnaff interview with jtop where he said 'carrot cake' in response to what they were planning for the fnaf anniversary

[agendratum]

canon lesbian pairing in my russian comics? it's more likely than you think

...in 2016