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nyxnephilim · 8 months

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Time for a bit of FFXIV speculation :

I realize that a bulk of FFXIV players have already completed the whole of the story arc ( probably more than one time ) so please don't hold it against this 🌱 while I think-out-loud about my feelings towards the story so far even if I'm still experiencing ARR.

( also pls no spoilers, but I appreciate encouragement and assurance my questions will get answered. Lol )

Somethings have been picking at my brain since I encountered them. One of which is when the Amal'Jaa are surprised we do not fall to tempering stating our "soul must belong to another" and then Ifrit himself says that while he can see we do not already serve a primal that the paragons warned the Primals about the godless-blessed one's aborrent existence. Does that mean that while we may or may not be tempered by a primal we are controlled/ guided by some 'other' thing outside the paragons or the 12. If we are being Guided/controlled by what we don't quite understand but is big enough or strong enough for the paragons & primals to worry about —- should we be worried about its overall motive & can it truly be benevolent and omniscient with that much power? Does it seek to follow through with its own agenda regardless of the plight of others.

The reason I say this is because of another encounter that seems to stick in my mind. A point in which Y'stola chastises Merlwyb for breaking the treaty with the Kolbolds. She basically says and has a solid point (that I had already thought of before this scene) when she tells Merlwyb that this constant war with the Kobolds was of her own doing in letting Lominsans break the treaty. The kolbolds are just defending themselves. Or course there is an a back and forth that ensues but the point being both Merlwyb and the Kobolds are doing what they believe to be right for justice sake and for the sake & safety of their people.

I extrapolated this further. What makes us, the scions, so sure that what WE are doing is right? Because a giant crystal says so? We kill gods/primals and move against another society that perhaps (outside of their military) could possibly be wanting freedom and peace like those of Eorzea do. What of the Garlemald society? They can't be all military. Its not hard to believe that there are some suffering at our hands because of what their military decided to do, not them. I guess essentially what I'm saying is, how are we so certain we are not falsely lead to believe what we do is just and right when what we do is kill gods/primals, murder tribes on sight because of who they are and pushing our agenda on them. There is point where there is a kobold says that those of their community at war with us do not represent the whole of their society. … and I hear that the crafting questline with the different tribes show us that not all of the their race want to fight. So is it hard to reason that perhaps not all Ishgardians hate dragons? That not all dragons hate the elezen. That not all Garleans follow their military and that perhaps what we perceive as right may only be a perspective of one cosmologic being with enough power to have us believe in what they want?

on top of the fact that the Ascians say ' if we knew more, that we wouldn't be fighting with them.... that we would basically understand’ ... leaves me feeling 🤯

What the hell is going on? I know mother crystal is our main guide... but tbh I'm feeling pretty sus about things and honestly the motives of Hydaelyn. I realize they are presenting her as a mothering ‘goddess’ but I’ve always been the type of kid to ask “why”

The answer of ‘just because’ … ‘because I said so’….. ‘because this is how it’s always been done’ ….. ‘because I’m the boss’…..

Has NEVER sat well with me. As a kid or now. With my parents, with teachers, with management or upper level bosses. I need to know the why, the motives, the implications or consequences, the benefits. I need this information because the end does not always justify the means. Especially if on a core level I disagree with it and feel there is an alternate route.

That probably says more about me then I intended but yeah… lol

... anyhow.... thank you for letting me just babble on about the beginning of this ( I'm sure to be ) wild ride we all know and love called FFXIV.

:::: Newbie rant over ::::

#ffxiv #🌱sprout #a realm reborn #ff14 ffxiv #newgamer #lore speculation #ARR #New to FFXIV #🌱#final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #first time FFXIV #ffxiv new player #new to gaming #new to MMOs

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undertale-data · 3 years

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[Image Description: An Undertale chat box that has “WHY FANS LOVE UNDERTALE” at its center. Next to it are a line chart and an Egg from the Dating Hub on its left, and a CRIME measurer (also from the Dating Hub) on its right. End I.D.]

[Image Description: a pie chart titled, “LEVEL OF LOVE FOR UNDERTALE.” The textbox on the top right reads, “On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the least and 10 being the highest, how much do fans enjoy Undertale?” From the top going clockwise, 12 or 0% chose 5 and below; 23 or 1% chose 6; 98, or 4%, chose 7; 325, or 12%, chose 8; 529, or 20%, chose 9; and 1664, or 63%, chose 10. End I.D.]

It’s clear from all of the data analyzed so far that fans who took the time to answer our survey love Undertale. It is unlikely that they would have taken the time to answer so many questions if they had not, and even less likely that they would have come across our survey in the first place. Naturally, it comes as no surprise that 63% of our responders gave their love for Undertale a score of ten out of ten. 95% gave their love for Undertale a score of eight or higher, and only 12 responders responded with five or below, a number so small that their responses had to be lumped together to be visible on the pie chart. Of those, only 3 responders gave their love for Undertale a score of 1, and based on those responders’ other answers, it is likely that they were only intending to troll. We are very fortunate that the vast majority of responders took the survey seriously, enough so that responses like this are barely a blip in the data.

Now, for our final analysis post of the event, we will delve into the reasons that fans love Undertale so dearly.

(Essay and highlights under the cut.)

There have been countless essays on the impact that Undertale has had on people’s lives. I can hardly add more on the subject than what has already been said, but I hope this summary can provide a brief overview of what stood out among the over two thousand answers given in response to this survey. That said, due to the sheer volume of answers, I could not read every single one in depth—however, I did skim all of them, and some that stood out or were representative of several responses have been highlighted below. If you would like to see what every fan who consented to share their response had to say, you may view the full list of responses here. Note that these responses have not been edited in any way. This document may take a long time to load, as it is over 100 pages long.

(Warnings for mentions of suicidal thoughts in the following essay.)

Several responders loved the theme of choices mattering in Undertale. Whether people played the pacifist, merciless, or neutral routes, they enjoyed how the game reacted to their actions. For some, it even made them consider their own morality. One touching response explained the impact that the theme of mercy made on them. “I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.” Many fans left similar comments about how the themes of Undertale made them better people.

Undertale changed how its fans treat others, and it also changed how fans treat themselves. The theme of staying determined and the messages of hope in the game were a light to a very large portion of fans. I cannot list all of the fans who said that Undertale helped them out of a dark place, or that they would not be alive if not for Undertale. “DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.”

Undertale brought fans together in unexpected ways. Some said they met friends or significant others through the fandom. “I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale,” one fan said. A different fan who is non-native English speaking mentioned that the game and the fan community helped them to learn English.

It would be impossible to discuss Undertale without mentioning the fan community. Whether for good or bad, many responders mentioned the fandom in their responses. Overall the feelings towards the fandom seem positive, though many made references to “toxic” parts of the fandom without specifying which parts they consider toxic. Others rejected the idea of toxicity in fandom. One response said: “[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!”

One thing that makes the Undertale fandom unique is the way it embraces various AUs. Some fans are tired of AU content, but the majority of responses show a love for the creativity behind AUs. “Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.” The lack of a judgemental atmosphere seems present in the AU community, according to the responses we saw. There is an interesting balance between AU and canon (sometimes referred to as “classic”) content that another responder pointed out: “The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertale fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)”

Regardless of the many AUs the fandom has created over the years, the original game of Undertale still feels like home for many fans. They wished they could reclaim the feeling of playing the game again for the first time, but even though we can’t reset time in real life, there is still a special feeling for fans each time they play Undertale. One fan said, “Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.” This feeling is one that can be cherished time and time again. In the words of another responder: “It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it.” Others pointed out the strength of the found family trope in Undertale, which likely contributes to this feeling of “home” as well.

As mentioned briefly earlier, the music is part of what makes Undertale feel like home for fans. Even when responses focused on other aspects of the game, many would throw in a comment about the soundtrack at the end. One comment focused on the music said “IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.” Like with the game itself, the music has incredible replay value, an amazing feat considering most of the tracks use the same few motifs. “I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story,” another responder said. “They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.”

If the music sticks with fans in their hearts, then the game’s lore sticks with fans in their minds. Even six years after the release of Undertale, fans are still creating new theories and digging up new secrets. The way the game breaks the fourth wall in particular intrigued many fans and has stuck out through all these years. The awareness that the game shows for the RPG genre makes it memorable. The game plays with the player’s expectations and turns them on their heads, all while reminding the player that they’re in a game. There are few other games that do this on such a large scale, so it’s no surprise that fans cite this as one of their favorite things about Undertale.

Lastly, the LGBT+ representation in Undertale has been a huge draw for fans. Especially in 2015, the sheer volume of non-cishet characters was unprecedented, as one fan pointed out: “It's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. Hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. It's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.” The LGBT+ cast including Frisk, Chara, Napstablook, Monster Kid, Mettaton, Alphys, and Undyne each connected with fans in unique ways. It’s clear how important this is from responses such as: “There are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.” “It made me gay and trans so thanks for that.”

Once again I am overwhelmed with just how much there is to say about Undertale. One responder really understood when they compared Undertale to an iceberg, explaining that there are so many layers to the game that there is something for everyone: “everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans—from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers—is the mark of the coolest games!” I would have to agree with them.

It’s been six years, and despite everything, it’s still you. Thank you for reading, participating in this survey, and above all, staying determined.

Highlights:

DETERMINATION became a metaphor for not killing myself at a really rough time in my life and I’ll always cherish that. Undertale isn’t afraid to go to really dark places but at the same time holds on so tight to its hope.

I think the coolest thing was having the opportunity to watch the AU community grow from its bare roots. It's nearly insane how big and complex it's gotten, unlike anything I'd ever seen before. Roll your eyes at the 50th AU Sans all you want, it's encouraging people to step outside the boundaries of fanart and pushing people to make their own ideas! I mean, hell, it was how I gained the confidence to start making my own original content.

i love how the lgbt rep is so naturalized... there are just gay people! and its nobodys business!

The music is my go to answer, but what I really really REALLY love is how the minor characters have so much personality to them when you talk to them. They aren't incredibly important to the overall story, but they're all so likeable and diverse that you just can't help but like them immediately!

I think it was the first videogame I have played that broke the fourth wall that much. Of course there has been other videogames that broke it but just for one or two tongue-in-cheek jokes. The guilt of killing mama goat was also something intense as well that I appreciated as an experience and that I didn't think a videogame could cause on someone.

I love how no character can be seen as completely bad! Everyone builds up Asgore as some horrible villain, but he turns out to be a 'fuzzy pushover' who's broken and just wants his family back by the time you meet him. Then you think Flowey's an irredeemable killer who engineered the suffering of the monsters across many timelines, and he is... but he also used to be the kind and beloved Prince Asriel Dreemurr, traumatized by his death and subsequent rebirth, projecting his best friend onto you.

The fact that choices matter in the game. Your first playthrough and getting the golden ending for the first time. I can never replicate those feelings again, wish I could erase my memories and replay the game from the start.

I wouldn't have met my now husband without Undertale.

(Toxic parts of the fandom aside) The community is possibly one of the kindest I've ever met. Cringe culture is completely dead, and I feel like I can be myself. I felt a very close connection to many of the characters, and I loved consuming content about them when I was in a rough patch in my life.

just everything, the whole game has just impacted my life so much. i know it sounds really lame, but when the game first came out, i would purposely put my hands in my pockets and sway slightly, like sans' idle animation. of course i dont do that anymore haha, but undertale still really impacts me to this day, and i wouldnt have it any other way :)

it made me gay and trans so thanks for that

I realized that Mercy isn't something that's given to those who deserve it. Flowey didn't deserve it. I don't deserve it myself. Shoot, we ALL need Mercy in our lives.

The thing I love most about Undertale is no matter how many times I play or watch a playthrough it always makes me genuinely happy. It always feels welcoming like home or like comfort food that I never grow tired of no matter how many times I go to it. Toriel still makes me feel all warm and cozy in her home, the Skelebros always make me laugh, and I still cry on the inside watching Frisk comforting Asriel. And on the flip side the No Mercy run still invokes the negative emotions in me as well. In short Undertale just feels like a second home to me and I always wish I could stay.

The reader inserts are my favorite way to decompress after a hard day

I think Undertale helped me discover my love for 8-bit games, and made me realize how IMPORTANT music is in video games.

the worldbuilding and character design are my favorite parts of the main game apart from the music! I’m also a huge fan of the random AU music- not for like underswap or underfell i like the stuff where someone makes a megalovania for a random au where gru from despicable me replaces sans as the character. i think its funny

Just... the vibe, honestly? Even the best fics I've read can't capture that feeling of nostalgia/almost-"coming home" that comes with hearing the music and talking to the characters.

there are canon nonbinary characters 🥺. i have never seen representation of myself before.

[SLAMS FIST ON DESK] I KNOW MOST PEOPLE SAY THE FANDOM IS TOXIC AND CRINGE OR WHATEVER BUT OH MY GOD. The Undertale fandom, both the UTMV and the actual UT fandom, has been so much fun to be a part of. I've met countless friends because of our shared interest in something related to the game! The art people create can be breathtaking and so inspirational, and the fanfics are so so good!! I've seen people write incredible things for this fandom and it's what made me continue writing!

There's a scene where Frisk (the player) is going towards what is presumably going to be their death. They will fight Asgore and he will use their human soul to break the barrier and free his people. The music, despite the player's impending doom, is... triumphant. You are not the triumphant one here, and yet, the score invites you to experience the monsters' joy and happiness as they tell you the tale of their subjugation. The monsters are going to be free. This is their victory, but they don't hate you or want you to die. They're just... happy. That scene has always struck me very deeply. I feel it represents the best parts of Undertale.

I loved how well thought out the Geno route was. It really made me feel like I was doing something horrible, and the characters were very obviously reacting to dire circumstances.

I dunno? I like Undertale for it's characters, story, music, secrets and many more. I am not good with Headcanons but I also like the neutral endings and how different they can depending on who you spare and kill

I was very bad at english before, i thought i couldn't progress because i was very shy and not confident. But my sibling and i wanted to have the best experience with this game so we wanted to play it in english. It's this game and the fandom which helped me to make huge progress in english !

THE SOUNDTRACK. IT'S SO GOOD like I will literally go through the entire thing over and over and not be bored with it. It makes my monkey brain so happy you have no idea.

to avoid writing an essay i will say one word. Mettaton

It is like Toby specifically made the games to fit the iceberg meme and it's awesome, everyone can find something to enjoy in the lore/game regardless of what kind of fan they are! Being able to appeal to various types of fans - from simple happy shipper people to deep dive lorediggers is the mark of the coolest games!

I love almost everything about Undertale as a game on its own. The music, the art and especially the characters and how they interact. They made me feel at home. Undertale means a huge amount to me. (I even got a tattoo of the castle when you and MK walk together!) The fandom helped keep the game alive all these years, with all of its AUs. Although personally, I always enjoyed AUs that kept characters as close to the classic material as possible (dancetale, outertale) I do appreciate the creativity of the fandom. They almost created entirely new stories with new characters of their own! If it weren't for those people, the Undertake fandom would have probably not been as active as it is now. I do feel like we're getting a resurgence of classic content now too! (In 2021)

the mystery. toby fox refused to give answers to anything and i think thats very sexy of him.

I just feel guilty for liking it so much when I'm in my 30's. But I recently got diagnosed with ASD, so I guess it explains things a bit. Many ppl consider Papyrus to be neurodivergent, and some adult fans are too, so seeing that makes me feel a bit better.

i think about "Despite everything, it's still you" everyday of my life.

I like how it's just as funny as it can be serious. All routes are this way. I laughed as much as I cried when I played the Pacifist route and then once I opened the game again and Flowey was telling me to let them be happy, I immediately turned off the game. I somehow felt bad.

The Found Family Trope

The True Pacifist Ending is just...man. And the fanworks about saving everyone even when the game doesn't let you? MANNNNNN

I think what I like the most about Undertale is how the music attaches you to the story. They're simple melodies that stick with you throughout the whole game, and they can remind you of both good and bad times.

there's honestly a LOT to love about this game, but i think one of my favorite things about it is just how many lgbt+ characters there are??? i can think of alphys, undyne, frisk, chara, mettaton, napstablook, monster kid, asgore, mad mew mew, the dress lion, the royal guards, and arguably even papyrus off of the top of my head, but im sure i'm forgetting a few from just undertale alone (there's even MORE in deltarune)!! it's practically unheard of to see so MANY from just one source, especially during its heyday in 2015-16. hell, you can't even GET the true pacifist ending without helping two gay couples hook up. it's really nice to see all of them being accepted for who they are and not judged for their sexuality or gender, at least in-canon.

[Image description: A wordcloud in the shape of the capitalized word UNDERTALE. The text is white on a black background, and uses the font found in the game. Some of the most visible words are: Game, Love, Music, Life, AU, Store, Friend, and Feel, which represent the most common words in the essays people wrote about their love for the game. End of ID]

#undertale #analysis #results #undertale fandom census

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theoriginalladya · 2 years

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3, 12, and 19 for the end of year asks?

from this list

Thank you so much for asking!

3. favorite line/scene you wrote this year

Okay, so I have a number of these (which is really good since you and someone else asked the same question! lol)

So, one of my favorite things about this year is how Abby Williams has developed into such a personality of her own in Caleb Shepard's world. I mean, I knew she was going to be a bit of a player, but over the months she's developed into much more. one of my favorite scenes for her is in If London Falls (which I need to get back to writing) where she and Coats first meet. Per the ME3 game trailer, we know Coats is up in Big Ben during the Reaper attack on Earth. This scene is where Abby climbs up the tower to thank the person who saved her from a husk just minutes before when her ammo ran out...

Abby lifts her pistol and hopes to God that if they have ill intentions, having a weapon aimed at them, whether it actually has ammunition in it or not, will make them pause just long enough for her to tackle their weapon away. Or at least charm them into believing her. God, what I’d give for one of my katana blades right now…

Topping the stairs, she slips across the landing and through the doorway. It’s darker up here, though there is plenty of light to see thanks to the shattered glass of the famed clock; some glass remains in the window, other sections are empty to the skies outside, and on the ground right next to the edge of the clock face…

Abby’s arm lifts immediately even as the Naginata takes aim on her. Throwing herself back against the wall, she shouts, “Hey, man, I’m on your side!”

“Bloody hell!” he hisses, groaning as he jerks the weapon until it points upward, away from her.

12. favorite character to write about this year

Oh gosh, as a hard one, why don't you?! lol

Well, considering I've spent most of the year writing in Caleb Shepard's world, I'm going to say Abby again. Well, her and Coats, shall we say? I never intended for ABBOATS to become a 'thing'. They were both supposed to be friends to Caleb at certain points in his life, not much more than that... until I was noodling around with the beginning of Caleb's ME3 story and he whispered something about Coats needing to find Abby (while Caleb is under house arrest). As the idea started to flesh out a bit, I had a few prompts to help, and suddenly Abby was telling Coats he was going to take her dancing at some point and there was this look on her face as she said it (inside my head) and suddenly I realized it was so much more than that. So, yeah, Abby's definitely a favorite for this year (outside some of the more obvious).

19. any new fics to start next year

LOL Next silly question???

Definitely new fics to start writing next year. Also, new fics to start posting next year. Some of what I hope to be working on:

A new AU of Mass Effect/Robin Hood (basically taking an original fic that stalled out and playing with it in the ME 'verse to see if I can't inspire something to spur it on

Caleb Shepard - some of his N7 missions after he becomes N7 and between then and when he joins the Normandy. (these will be ones where he is with his battle buddy, Rosa Morales-Minton)

Caleb Shepard - hopefully finally getting into ME1 and posting some of those stories!

Caleb Shepard - post-war story #1 and #2 (I hope) and, if all things go well, #3 at least getting started writing

Caleb Shepard - more of the ME/WWII 'verse stories

Caleb Shepard - working title: Celtic AU - this is one I've been writing this year, but I'm hoping to post it next year

Lachlan Shepard - War Hero/Honeymoon story; some ME1 fic, Kaidan during the aftermath of Alchera

Rhys Shepard - BAaT story and maybe ME1

And god knows what else. I also want to get back to writing Biotic Pinball Wizard fics (which I know you're interested in!) to get some more Kandra Alenko out there, too!

#end of the year writing ask meme #ladya writes #thank you so much for asking!#jedirangerpenguin

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sunareii · 4 years

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wc: 2773

suna grits his teeth, the light's too strong for him to see. he close his eyes shut, having no intentions to torture his eyes at the glow infront of him that is brighter as his mothers cellphone brightness. a deafening sound screeches at his ears like metal scratching another metal, oh how annoying that sound is.

he squints his eyes slightly as if his default eyes wasn't squinted enough. he could see a person, a female he assumes by their figure alone whose back faced towards him but the luminescence made his sight blur, he couldn't identify who it is

voice echoed insignificantly, he doesn't know whose is it nor where it's coming from except the voice started to scratch him in the head displeasingly

rintarou! rintarou! rintarou!

sunas eyes blinks open once to be greeted by his mother scowling after he has bestir himself from a horrible dream. he could hear a small voice saying 'oh no' inside his head as it's definetely not the first time he woke up to an angry face

"do you have any idea what time it is?" his mother barked, her face continues to grimace at her son. suna sits up groggily and reached for his phone beside him

12:47 pm

"how many times to i have to tell you to not stay up late!" she berates before pulling his cushion up, causing him to fall a bit from his stance and gets hit with it

"ow─! you just hit me with a pillow!" suna winces, strands of his dark hair are all over the place

"better than a slipper or your face would look even worse than just messy hair" the mother threatens before leaving the territtory so casually like she had not scolded anything at his sons ears. senzo could only choke a laugh at the freaky scene that occured upon his room, he had identified his apathetic relative as a fellow who would only shrug their shoulders when being rebuked or insulted. suna is infact a 'take no shit' kind of man, he's just wholesomely a bit playful with his mother.

suna goes down the stairs slothfully as his body might not be running his blood yet and he took a bit too long to go to the dining room where his food rests on the table cold as a corpse

"if you have woken up ealier it would have been warmer" his mothers interrupts from the living room. suna rolls his eyes then sneers at his mother from the room

'i wasn't even complaining but i am now' he thought as he opens the large plate that covers his meal, his boiled eggs as soggy as ever

he sits down at the at the table then started contemplating about his recent dream, was it even a dream? though it seems a bit vague but vivid when he was still in a slumber. suna reckons it was just another weird hallucination. he has quite plenty of those so this one is no special, except that this peculiar reverie didnt have any sort of plot unlike the time he dreamt about the miyas and some random player from karasuno that he'd only seen once have a bachelors party at a couple he had seen in a movie before while also drinking blue liquid which now is extremely questionable but that was just an example of the long list

suna hears a soft thump going down the stairs, he glance to see his cousin all dressed up for the day

"hey sen, are you going somewhere?"

"uh.. yeah, why?"

"can i go with you?"

"sure..."

senzo probably didn't sound sure himself, well that's because he isn't used to people wanting to join him to go outside or anything at all and he was receiving a small friendly treatment from a cousin he didn't knew existed and vice versa.

the two went out briefly after suna changing into some proper clothing for the day, the walk is quiet like the usual though they do give some comments here and ther. the sun sweltered upon them while two or three clouds wafts against each other.

"im going this way, is there a place you wanted to go?" senzo asks after an abrupt stop

suna truthfully didn't have a particular destination, he went with him 'cause he felt like it. they went far for him to just go back, he thought for a long minute before a specific location passes in his head.

"yes, actually

"i'll see ya later then" senzo says before walking away

suna felt awkward since his destination is far from where they had gone to

he doesn't know why he's making his way there, for fresh air? for the scenery? for someone?

suna halts as he sees a narrow space in the side of the hill, he figured it's also a path way up to the old patio he visited. he begins walking upwards and repents at his decision mid-way. the path is rocky and hard to stay still on because of the numerous inconsistent rock shapes. it doesn't help that there's a hot atmosphere around him as he continues to go up carefully.

sweat drips down his forehead, his tiny strands of bangs sticking along on it. the heat annoyed him as he reaches the top of the mountain hill, the sun beams directly at the crest where he now stands but once he finished catching his breath the brightest star seems to appear infront of him.

somehow the fieriness of this evening─the reason he's such a sweaty mess─suna doesn't seem to mind it anymore as he watches the the girl he had came across twice stand infront of him. she was there, like she had always been, tossing a ball over her head for who knows how long.

'wait, she does volleyball?'

i mean, he could see it but at the same time not so much?

though you were tad bit taller for an average height of a female and you don't look like you hold any outstanding physical attributes either but he can't really underestimate you that quickly can he?

sunas being remained unnoticed due to her keeping her concentration firmly. she tosses the ball up into the air, patently going to do a jump serve. from her evident zealousness you would be tricked that she'll actually spike or even jump with experience. she was slow and her legs looked stiff when she leaped, hell, she didn't even swing her arms in time, she barely even touched the ball.

'uhh.. that was an awkward serve' her attempt to serve was futile and funny even, suna can't help but to chortle instead of detaining it, his attempt to be discreet wasn't great either. she let's out a light gasp as soon as she heard him cackling from the side, she already was embarrassed at her shot but now that the same cute boy she saved from the market is a witness at her own frustration made her embarrassment go off the line than where it should be

"that was an impressive serve you just did" suna starts sarcastically whilst disturbingly taking little steps towards her. she could only scream her embarrassment deep on her palm, peeking her eyes through one of the gaps to see him, picking up the ball from the ground.

"how long have you been here?"

"long enough to see eveything"

"pleas erase it from your memory" she says blatantly as she finally regains her composure, suna shrugs at her as he hands the ball back to her, she unhesitatingly grabbing it back only for him to extend his arm up. the ball being too high for her too reach since the boy teasing her is intimidatingly tall.

"it's not that easy" suna replies as he looks down at the figure shorter than him giving him an irratating frown, "what do you know about volleyball?" she mumbles, her eyes looking elsewhere.

"alot of things" he remarks with a heavy stare. the girl infront of him seems surprised and asked "do you play?" which he answers with a curt nod. the silence after that is conscious and creates a long stare-down between the two, in addition to that is the beating heat of the sun baking them from below like they weren't perspiring enough from the exercise they had done in such a time.

"i'll just take this back then" she says as her feet tip-toes close to his level, the tip of her fingers hardly brushing off the ball. suna just stands there leisurely as he watches the girl he doesn't even know struggle into obtaining her property back.

suna gazes down at her meek nature, her cheeks faintly glows a pretty shade of pink, her hair cascading down her neck every now and then, the sun rays paints her skin too perfectly

suna smiles slightly as he pokes a little fun with her and having fun himself except to the part where he begins to feel her chest nudging his whenever she jumps and immidietly gave her her ball back smoothly. "here" he says before walking away from his agitation

she cocks an eyebrow at him when she turns around to face his retreating figure, his phone buzzed at his pocket, opening it to get a message from his mom and the second years groupchat, well maybe third years for noow on. yet suna couldn't be bothered to open either of them seeing as his mom just texted him some chores whilst the groupchat is just filled with the twins nonsense.

"could you play with me for a little while?" she asks reluctantly, dugging her nails on the air-filled ball

suna is bewildered at the instantaneous request but he figured it's better to take up on her behest than do his mothers errands anyway

turning his heel back, he meets her big eyes with his flat slanted ones and his actions seems to answer her offer

✥﹤┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈﹥✥

"what made you think playing straight under the sun was a great idea?" suna complains, panting heavily as the sun eventually plummets down. they stayed up on top for hours and instead of actually playing suna ended up teaching her the basics of volleyball for goodness sake she was an extremely slow learner.

"what do you mean? i like it up here" her tone filled with confusion as she questions him

"the sun literally fried us"

"you don't look that good to me"

"huh?" suna's brain is now all muddled by her statement causing him to give a repulsive look, she didn't seem too bothered by how she voiced her proclamation and only started walking down the stairs, suna following behind.

"you must be thirsty, i'll buy us some drinks, my treat" she announces as she holds out her baby blue colored wallet, turning left as they reached down the stairs, the vending machine is conveniently there aswell. "any preference?" she inquires only for suna to shook his head

"water is enough" he answers shortly

their drinks clank down at the bottom of the machinary and some gulping could be heard subseuquently. suna exhales lowly after drinking some refreshment. the wind passes and gives a cold whisk ontop of their skin, the sky is painted deep orange along with pale red. they soon walk in silence with the cold bottles, hers being a can of juice in their hands.

"can we play again?" she unexpectedly mutters shyly

suna glances at her, the tip of her ears turning incredibly red. "don't you have your own friends?" he mentions as he takes another sip. "i know quite a few people but only one or two are actually my friends and neither of them plays volleyball" she explains with her eyes shut

"if you're that wishful to learn the sport why not join your school volleyball club?"

she groans "i can't, my father doesn't let me join any after school activities"

"why?" sounding invasive only crossed his mind once she gave him an answer

"my dad is very strict, i need to be home before five he says" she mocks her father at the end of her sentence in a playful intention

"you're already pass your curfew, you child"

"you look the same age as me though"

"oh really?" they banter and it felt like they have known each other by a relatively long time. he enjoys her company it's fairly not too solemn and to him it feels nice to have a friendly jest with someone who won't intend to cause any issues unlike some two other people..

the usual tranquil in every interaction seem to be becoming consistent and recurring, they soon throw their bottles away in the trash bin sitting down the street like any other decent person

"so can we play again?" she asks the second time with a little more anticipation

suna didn't answer and only looks at her emotionlessly. does he really want to? she was nice but she's rather tenacious, there was a moment where he wanted to leave during the whole session. it seems the longer he stayed quiet, the more she became impatient

"come on! the guys who plays at the public court always looks intimadating"

"and i'm not?" he snickers while his eyebrow rose

"well, i didn't have the ideal impression of you at first though but now you seem like a cool guy" she explains giving him a small thumbs up

"do you mean when you rescued me in the market?"

"no, earlier than that" suna thinks for a moment to the point of looking up on the dark sky before the memory finally getting into his head

"oh, you mean the birdnest hair? yeah i remember now" he teases with a little smile

"it's not like you looked any better with your own hair at the time"

"so─!" she starts a little louder than her monotonious voice before smiling at him keenly exactly how she eyed him the last time they met "how about it city boy!"

suna sighs and scrunched his nose at the nickname, he presumes because of his unfamiliar dialect "you're that persistent, and why city boy?"

"i never got your name after all this time, you know" nor did he ever got her name

suna looks down for a moment, he couldn't fathom what is wrong with him just telling her his name, it's not like he won't get hers when he answers.

"suna rintarou" he replies blankly

"suna rintarou?" she says questioningly, he nods his head

"suna rintarou... suna rintarou" she repeats in a breathy whisper as if engraving his name in her mind

"l/n y/n" she introduces herself back, "nice to meet you, suna" suna didn't reply much and only says "likewise" back and continuous the conversation where they have left just before the introduction.

suna rests his hand in his pocket, "you seem too willing to hang out with someone you only met thrice"

"i like you anyway so it's fine!" she beams a little too bluntly and it didn't help how she closed the proximity between them, literally doesn't intend to let him go off the question.

"sure" he mouthed rather than openly saying it

"what?"

"i said i'll think about it" he claims as he turns his back to her to turn on the side of the sidewalks, "see you! you should know by now where to find me if you ever want to see me" she emphasized, waving her hands at him which suna imitated briefly before disappearing to her sight completely.

✥﹤┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈﹥✥

"curse you gate!"

the door slides open revealing her father staring at her expectantly waiting for her with his arms crossed just rught after she got inside the platform

"what's your excuse this time?" he awaits, his finger tapping his forearm

y/n stops her foot on the soft muck as she faces her humble abode. she struggles to open the gate as quietly as possibly but the damned steel gate really wanted her caught, huh?

"i.. was playing volleyball.." she says with all honesty as she step infront of the doorstep

"alone again?" his father assumes, he doesn't understand why she keeps sneaking out outside just to be doing things all by herself

"nope, with a newly found friend this time" y/n murmurs as she takes off her shoes before entering her home nonchalantly. she wouldn't mind getting in trouble for the day and her father takes note of her uplifted mood quizzically

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taglist (open!); @akaaaashit @sredamancy

#suna rintarou x reader #suna rintarou #haikyuu suna rintarou #rintarou suna #haikyuu reader insert #haikyuu x reader #rintarou suna x reader #haikyuu suna

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sportsgeekonomics · 5 years

Text

Don't let the NCAA off the hook for Zion Williamson's exploitation

Zion Williamson’s (thankfully minor) injury on Wednesday night launched a flurry of activity from the hot-take industry. There were the obvious ones (in which I participated) like “gosh, I hope Zion Williamson has loss of value insurance.” And then less obvious ones like “isn’t it an outrage that NCAA rules prohibit Duke from providing that insurance with Duke’s own money (they have to use a special NCAA fund and if that’s empty, no go).”

These were generally pro-athlete and more or less correct.

But the worst of the bunch, the absolutely most suit-sniffing, barely-whisper-truth-to-power-and do-so-while groveling sort of take is the “this is not the NCAA’s fault, not at all” approach.

The NCAA itself took this approach, because of course they would.

https://twitter.com/NCAA/status/1098995124741332992

https://twitter.com/NCAA/status/1098995126117064705

So if you are a journalist, and a billion dollar industry claims to have no role whatsoever in denying athletes their market-rate of compensation, you have a choice. You can dig in and see whether that’s true, a bad spin of a barely true thing, or a bald-faced lie. Or you can just adopt that approach, more or less un-researched. Unfortunately, the latter was all too common among the hot-take sports crowd.

But besides these sorts of journalists being complicit in the exploitation of athletes by perpetuating the propaganda of the NCAA, here’s why it’s also just plain false that the “real problem” is the NBA/NBPA rule known as one-and-done. It's important to recognize that while many parties are arrayed against the economic welfare of athletes, when people say this is all the NBA's fault, it's missing the crux of the issue to focus on a side effect.

First, the NCAA is not telling the truth when it claims to have nothing to do with one-and-done. One-and-done is a legally validated rule, tested in the courts through the NFL equivalent rule (which is basically three-and-done). That rule was declared illegal by a federal court in 2003, but the NFL appealed and had the ruling reversed. During the appeals process, the NCAA decided to inject itself into the legal process. It could have stayed neutral. Or it could have supported athletes’ rights to go to the NFL and the NBA whenever they want. And if they had done that then I guess I’d agree that they were not at all responsible for one-and-done. But they did not do that. Instead, what they did was actively tell the courts that college sports NEEDED rules like one and done, and please do not make them illegal.

Don’t believe me? I’ve got receipts.

On April 12, 2004, the NCAA filed what is known as an “Amicus Brief” – a “Friend of the Court” statement where a party that is not a part of the lawsuit nevertheless advises the Court what it thinks. Sometimes courts ask for amicus briefs, to get a sense of what the ramifications of a decision might be. Other times, parties just volunteer them. Here’s what the NCAA told the court:

If you can’t read through the legalese, let me translate for you: Please make it legal for the NFL (and any other league like the NBA) to tell 18 year olds they cannot play professionally. If you don’t, we might lose our best athletes unless we pay them and that would really suck.

And so, with this advice from the NCAA in hand, the appeals court struck down the ruling that three-and-done (and other rules like it) was illegal, and declared it totally legal for a league to collectively bargain with a union to make rules like one-and-done.

So that’s how false it is to say the NCAA had nothing to do with one-and-done. Nothing to do with it other than going out of its way to tell the court that made one-and-done illegal that it ought to make it legal, and that the future of the NCAA hinged critically on making rules like one-and-done permissible.

So fast forward to today, and the NBA and the players’ union, the NBPA, have a valid collective bargaining agreement (a CBA in the labor law jargon) that says you must be one year removed from high school to play in the NBA. Like it or not, the law has blessed this. And yes, the NBA and NBPA can change this rule (and in my view should change it) but (1) it is the subject of actual bargaining between owners and athletes, and thus (2) it is a legal rule, and of course (3) the NCAA went out of its way to make it legal.

But more importantly, this NBA/NBPA is not the main reason that college athletes are being exploited economically. Far more harmful to the athletes, both for those who would have gone to the NBA directly from college and those who might never play in the Association at all, are the NCAA rules themselves, the ones that say schools cannot compete for athletes using payments above a fixed level, with that level equal to a scholarship plus $2,000 to $6,000 dollars in cash.

Note – I am not saying college athletes don’t get paid at all – quite the opposite. They are paid. They get a value in the form of a scholarship and on top of that they get paid in cash, around $3,500 a year on average. What I am saying is they are not paid what the market would pay them, if schools like Duke didn’t agree, every single year, with schools like Kentucky that they will not compete for talent like Zion Williamson with the full vigor of a real, uncapped market.

And unlike the sort of caps the NBA and NBPA collectively bargain, the NCAA cap is not bargained at all. Rather, one side of the equation – management, in the form of the schools and conferences that make up the NCAA – colludes among itself and presents the price cap to athletes as a take-it-or-leave-it offer by a monopolist.[1] Which, on its face, is an anticompetitive act, suppressing the payment that thousands of athletes would get without the cap.

Don’t believe me? Well, let’s remember back all the way to 2015, when an appeals court confirmed the 2014 ruling in O’Bannon which said that the cap the NCAA had in place from 1976 to 2015 was illegal. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled (and the Supreme Court chose not to overrule) that in the NCAA rule was “patently and inexplicably stricter than is necessary” and “an antitrust court can and should invalidate it and order it replaced.” In other words – the cap was illegal.

So the NCAA adopted a new, slightly more generous cap, which is why college athletes now get paid in cash as well as in-kind. That $2K - $6K I mentioned above? Yeah, you can thank the antitrust laws for that.

But the thing is, the court didn’t say that just because the cap was looser now that it was automatically ok. And so four years later, the new cap is back in court, awaiting a ruling from the same district court where O’Bannon was heard. In that case, we’re just waiting for the ruling but the judge (Judge Claudia Wilken) has already told us what she thinks:

What I think Judge Wilken meant was that it was clear that the current cap on compensation had an “anticompetitive effect” on thousands of athletes. What does that mean? It means there was lots of evidence that thousands of athletes had gotten less money under the current rule than they would have if there had been no rule (or a less restrictive rule).

And one of the experts in that case, my friend and business partner, Dan Rascher testified to that exact effect. He explained his conclusions recently to the New York Times.

And this is what I think the real story is. Namely, that without the NBA/NBPA rule, which is legal, a dozen people or so would each earn millions of dollars more for one year. But without the NCAA rule, which is likely illegal, thousands of athletes would each earn tens or hundreds of thousands more – which is a far larger extraction of wealth – and the only parties responsible for that are the NCAA and its member institutions.

So when the hot-take crowd gets confronted with these sorts of facts, it’s fairly typical for them to fall back onto “ok, well, hot shot, you can complain all you want but no one has proposed a viable solution.” This is what I call the “what’s your plan” fallacy, namely that it’s not enough to point out where the real blame lies, it’s the requirement of the people who see the problem to also lay out, in full and glorious detail, how to fix it, or else the current rules get to stay in place forever. It’s something like the economic version of that tourist t-shirt, “the economic exploitation will continue until someone outside the system invents the perfect solution.”

But the “what's the plan” framing – where we have to agree on a fix before we can even entertain the possibility of ending a bad system – is bogus. You don’t keep letting a company pollute a river just because you haven’t figured out where they can properly send the pollution. You tell them to stop polluting and let them figure out what to do.

But even though it’s not the responsibility of the people who point out the problem to propose a solution, the secondary hot-take that “no one has offered a solution” is also just plain wrong. I myself have laid out at least three plans that would all fix the problem.

Eliminate the NCAA cap and let each conference set its own cap in competition with one another. This is the requested relief in the current case in front of Judge Wilken and was first proposed by me and Daniel Rascher (the professor quoted by the New York Times above) in 2000. This would allow each conference to decide how much they think makes sense to offer in pay but require them to put that offer into a market where other conferences could pay more, and let the market decide, for each athlete, what a fair exchange of benefits for services is. It’s basically, you know, the way all markets work except it treats the conference as the unit of decision making rather than each school (and rather than allowing the NCAA to create a cartel[2] of all conferences, like they do now).

You can do a half-measure and end the cap on third-party payments to athletes. This is an inferior solution, because it opens up half the market – the market for athletes name, image, and likeness rights, but it leaves in place the cap on the other half of the market, the market for athletic services. In the long run, athletes will do about as well, but as appealing as this solution is – sometimes it’s called the Olympic model because it’s how Olympians are primarily (though not entirely) paid for their participation in the Olympics – it has problems. The biggest is that if compensation moves outside of the university environment, it is more likely to skirt Title IX. That is, if athletes were paid for their services by schools or conferences, as in Plan 1 above, it’s very likely that the pay would be subject to Title IX matching. Roughly speaking, this would cut the market rate for male athletes in half and push up funding for female athletes accordingly. But if it’s Nike hiring Zion Williamson to do a shoe deal, it is much less likely there would be any need for a Title IX match. If you think Title IX is good, you should prefer Plan 1 to Plan 2, but either way, you’ll get to a market outcome that is less exploitative than the current system and works more efficiently to boot. At least two States are adopting this approach now, Washington and California. You can read about these efforts here: CA:https://theathletic.com/800397/2019/02/04/thompson-new-law-seeks-to-allow-california-collegiate-athletes-to-get-paid-for-use-of-their-name-image-and-likeness/ WA:http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2019/feb/21/outside-pay-for-college-athletes-gets-committee-ok/

There can be competitive entry by a rival college basketball league that considers “Amateurism” to be a problem that needs solving rather than a positive element of the sport. This is why I am proud to be a part of the executive team of the Historical Basketball League, the HBL. Because Amateurism is a Con.

I can already hear some of you asking:

WHAT IS THE HBL?

In June 2020, the HBL will launch in 12 cities across America and will work with the HBL Foundation to provide full scholarships to the cream of the crop – the top 150 or so college basketball players – to play for the HBL. In addition to those scholarships, which cannot be cancelled for injury or even if the athlete leaves for the NBA, the HBL will also pay athletes $50,000 to $150,000 and allow athletes to fully commercialize their name, image, and likeness. In other words, if the courts and society can’t force the NCAA to adopt Plan 1 or 2, the HBL is going to do it for them, buy up all the best talent, and show the world that labor markets aren’t exactly rocket science – the league that pays the best is going to get the best talent and they get the best ratings and then get the most revenue.

Now, to be clear, there is a lot more that is cool about the HBL. We are thrilled that fifteen-year NBA veteran David West has taken over our basketball operations, and Ricky Volante, Keith Sparks, and I are eager to work with David to make the league a success. Please check us out at HBLeague.com.

We’ll be playing our games in the summer to minimize the conflict between school and sports. Our athletes will be true students from Labor Day to Memorial Day, and then professional college athletes during the summer. We’ll focus on appropriate high-performance training, professional nutrition, and proper strength and conditioning. We’ll play by NBA rules and teach NBA schemes. We’ll be working to provide our athletes and their parents with financial literacy courses, public relations training, business courses, etc. We will holistically develop the whole person and send our athletes to the NBA and to other professional leagues across the globe – far better prepared for life on and off the court, and far better prepared than anything the NCAA provides today.

And no, the HBL is not going to ask the NCAA for permission to compete against them, or to agree on the optimal salary. The biggest fallacy of the “what’s your plan” hot take is that it assumes we need a plan at all. It implies athletes can't be subject to the same rules as everyone else. They can. By entering the same market as the NCAA – the college basketball market – what the HBL is saying is let’s just let the market do its thing.

In some sense, that's the common thread for all of the solutions, which is to recognize that we don’t have a plan for how we pay athletic directors, and no one worries why not. Just treat athletes like all other humans. It will all work out fine.

[1] Ok, to be technical it’s actually a monopsonist, which is just a fancy way of saying a monopolist when the monopolist is making the payments – like when it buys supplies or pays workers -- rather than charging the money. But that’s not important, I just want to make it clear I know the difference

[2] An economic cartel is not a drug cartel. To be an economic cartel you just have to get together with your potential competitors and agree not to compete on price. For example, you could get all 350+ D1 schools to agree on how much to pay athletes for their services, and this would make you a cartel. I’m looking at you, NCAA.

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