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theheadlessgroom · 1 year

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https://www.tumblr.com/beatingheart-bride/707405965270614016/theheadlessgroom-beatingheart-bride

@beatingheart-bride

“Uh-huh,” Randall grinned playfully as he leaned back in his seat, kind of enjoying this brief bit of banter between them: Here she was, commenting that maybe he should consider getting a little sleep, while she was yawning herself and refusing to do the same! Like student, like tutor, he supposed, given how she was encouraging him to get some sleep the previous night like she was, only for him to stay up all hours, doing the exact opposite of what she suggested...

He snickered a little to himself as he cradled his empty coffee mug, still smiling a little: When was the last time he’d been able to joke so easily with someone, affectionately ribbing each other for silly little matters such as these? So far, he could only think of doing so with Emily, and it made his chest feel warm-he enjoyed how at ease he felt with her, knowing he could be so...relaxed with her. She was a true friend, and he was grateful for that.

“Well, if you say so,” he continued, tone still amused as he set aside his mug for the moment, shrugging a little: He supposed he would just refresh his coffee here and a bit while she rested her feet...

In fact, he could kill two birds with one stone, as he suggested, “Well, why don’t I get you that tea? I was just about to get myself some fresh coffee before you arrived-that might help us both!”

#((absolutely! leroux strikes a great balance between fear and pity and setting erik up as a really great tragic villain))#((one that we should pity...but also one that shouldn't be taken lightly given the things he's done!))#((he *is* still a villain! he's a kidnapper; a murderer; like i don't even KNOW what all he'd be charged for!))#((again murder; kidnapping; let's see here...the chandelier drop probably also counts as property damage in addition to murder...))#((plus trespassing since no one else knows he's hangin' around five cellars below; ATTEMPTED murder in addition to full-on murder))#((and probably a lot of other stuff i'm forgetting now! at any rate erik is still a villain))#((and as bad as we feel for him and his lot in life-and leroux defidently pitied him-we just can't forget that!))#((and absolutely! randall doesn't have beef with all of humanity the way erik seems to; he understandably has a hatred))#((for the people who did him harm and a discomfort regarding the people who came to see the circus and him))#((and would point and laugh and scream at him but beyond that he doesn't have raw feelings towards his fellow man overall!))#((he understands that they're innocent and therefore not a target of his wrath!))#((and i enjoy noting the differences too-it makes this rewrite all the more fun; fleshing out phantom!randall))#((and seeing how he stacks up against erik himself!))#outofhatboxes #beatingheart-bride #V:Phantasm of the Mansion

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yourlocaldisneyvillain · 1 year

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i am so fucking angry and nothing seems to be going the way i want it to go

#personal #i didn't think my 26th year of life would be...this lol #but then again it could have been way worse so i can't really complain #as my therapist tells me i had terrible prognosis and yet here i am working and getting a 2nd degree and being..... not completely insane #but still i just. why can't just things go smoothly for once in my fucking life #i don't wanna lose my fucking job!!!!!#i was put in charge and things started to fall apart and i know it's not my fault #i am just the idiot who happened to be in charge when things inevitably went to shit #but also what if it IS my fault ya know :)#i swear to god i will not let things go to shit i don't. wanna lose this job!!!!#also my gf left me and i didn't sleep last night #okay that's the end of my complaining for now just needed to write that down #back to Tasks #and Screaming #oh oh one more thing i have a presentation at uni tomorrow and i haven't even started it!!! it's at 9am :)

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monstermoviedean · 2 years

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well on one hand i'm no longer feeling numb to current events. on the other hand i'm no longer feeling numb to current events.

#cw violence #these tags get really upsetting please read at your own risk #i know i'm preaching to the choir here but the police are not only useless but actively harmful.#forty minutes before they got into the school #minimum. forty minutes minimum.#and in the meantime they were arresting and restraining family members who were trying to get into the school to save their kids #literally. that detail just came out last night. and i can't get over it.#they spent their time not trying to get in but preventing others from getting in.#and the armed sro did little to nothing.#i know people know sros are harmful but even statistically (not anecdotally) speaking the only things sros have been proven to do are #1) reduce small acts of violence (fights stabbings etc) and 2) increase rates of discipline suspension and expulsion for students of color #that's it. there's no statistical evidence that they do anything else.#like i knew they were worse than useless but i didn't realize there was actual data to back it up #most of them also get no school-specific training by the way. they're literally just cops plopped into schools. they know NOTHING about kids #and all this bs about how brave police are to put their lives on the line every day. when they didn't even go into the school right away.#they think their lives are more important than those of children. and they let those kids die.#i don't know how many they could have saved but. they could have acted so much faster.#i'm thinking about when my school did a lockdown drill and didn't tell us it was a drill so we would 'take it seriously'#and how terrified i was sitting there with 35 kids hiding out of sight thinking about how i'd have to charge a shooter if they came in.#it was 15-20 minutes and it was one of the most stressful experiences of my life.#and those kids and teachers sat there while the cops did worse than nothing. for minimum 40 minutes.

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acewizardinspace · 1 year

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Maybe this is a weird opinion, but I feel like writers have a sort of, idk what to call it, but, a “duty to continuity” of sorts.

If I interpret a scene or character differently than intended, or even just toss out the intended meaning and write my own story on ao3, well whatever. That’s fandom, that’s fun. But you can bet that if I was hired to write official supplementary material for a series, I would do a ton of research first. I would figure out what the original creator was trying to say and match that vision, characterization and worldbuilding as much as possible because that is the point of those types of new canon materials, they are supposed to exist within the framework of a larger narrative.

If you decide to not do this, or try and fail, then you botched your job as a writer for this type of project. If you are writing a continuation of something, but toss out the previously established lore, characterization, continuity, ect. You are probably not a good writer, or at least not good at writing this type of story.

This isn’t to say you can’t ever add new elements to a story or you should always be beholden to the previous status quo, but these things should be carefully considered so they don’t turn into cheep retcons. Don’t get me wrong, remakes and reclaiming of older works that exist to directly challenge the original work's themes or messages are super cool! But those things are fundamentally different from works intended to take place congruently.

And yeah, any time you have more than one person working something, especially if they are not working together, you are going to get a lot of conflicting material that is not necessarily the fault of anyone, different people will view things differently and have different writing styles. I think that is why it is important to have a plan and make sure all people are on the same page before they start writing. Otherwise, you get one character acting super different in works for no reason.

#yes this is about tales of the jedi but it is about a whole lot more too #this is a thing in basically all serialized TV so not at all a new complaint #but it really goes to show that the people in charge of series continuity for basically all TV need to STEP UP #funnily fanfic authors are GREAT at writing supplementary material because we know how to write canon compliment stories #even when we disagree with established canon or the author's themes #hire fanfic authors to write your scripts maybe lol #duty to continuity sounds so serious but I don't know any other term for this idea #but like if fans are watching a series they are probably doing so because they LIKE the series #they don't want to be told all the stuff they like is bad actually and retconned #people who hate a work or the works major themes shouldn't idk be allowed to write for the series?#just write an original work at that point?? Idk #i am posting this to my sw blog but I am serious when i say I am referring to way more than sw here #my thoughts #writing

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harmcityherald · 10 days

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The turtles got their new food and they seem to be liking it well. They had been using the sandbox all night in and out so it looks like I will be building a much bigger sand unit onto their enclosure. My other tank got a very expensive cleaning last night for peppermint and foremost. I also was able to get them an air stone. I also bought anything to vacuum out their tank and so last night they got quite the cleaning which will be finished this morning. I was also able to get half of my cutting done in my garden yesterday so my garden is finally taking off as well. Hopefully today I can put it in a little more work and bring my garden a little bit closer to being started. Artemisia is very watchful that I don't overwork myself because sometimes I have a tendency to where my garden is concerned. So the coffee is made and I'm sitting outside and enjoying it right now other than the fact that all my dinosaur buddies are sitting here in a circle looking at me in the trees bullying me to give them more food but we of course has suspended operations because of the bird flu. Sorry little guys but I think I know better than you I can read the medical journals you can't. So until I feel like it's safe again you guys are on your own I hate to say that. I guess I will offset that by giving my inside buddies a little more attention than they've been getting. The little tank is looking a lot better. Foremost loves the air stone much more than peppermint does. I think our reading let us to the correct decision that the snail needs an AirStone and that is exactly what she got. I also scraped off the six masses of eggs that she laid around the top of the tank, luckily I don't have a female to fertilize them all or I would have a million snails like I'm afraid I'm going to have a million Turtles before it's all over with. I won't be able to release them in the wild if it actually happened but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. I love my critters and my critters love me.

I would add more tags but they only allow me a certain number so I should end it there. Or else I'll talk myself right into a bad mood. And that's not fair to my little buddies is it?

Mark my word, we are all going to live to see the day to read about that man doing something incredibly stupid. I'm not going to try to lay any future or philosophical View on what that could be. Trust me, he's a pedophile with an arsenal of ghost guns. And it's a situation that I'm too old to try to help and solve. My other two grandchildren the one being autistic and the other being transgender make me want to reach out and help them and yet the transgender child is under extreme brainwashing by him. One time he even told her that he would fuck the lesbianism right out of her, and for me that's not something that should ever come out of a father's lips to a daughter ever no matter what the situation is at all. And yet that same transgender child, under his pristine Direction, hates my very guts. The only one in the family who would actually call you by your real name and would refuse to use your dead name and yet I guess the fact is that Alan loves his father and any concessions that meat had makes for her must make her feel at least somewhat accepted. But because of the Meathead Saga I do not get to see those two sets of grandchildren anymore. Because I'm a deep state leftist, if you can actually believe that's a reason to hold your children back from someone. That's very sad to me I have seven grandchildren all together. It is only two that I get to react and deal with everyday living here with me and I'm so thankful of that. Many people would say it's a financial burden I should not subject to myself to. But I've always been a firm believer that you never throw kids to the wind ever. Especially not in this fucked up world the way it is now. If you throw your kids to the Wolves you're no better than a Spartan throw in your baby off the edge of a cliff. And that's not how I was ever taught that parenting was done. I have never raised a hand to a child ever not in my whole life. I've always gotten so much more from children when you talk to them and treat them like people the people that they no doubt are.

Anyway, Meatheads brand of ineffectual terrorism doesn't really scare me in any way. I have no idea why I'm really on this this morning. Perhaps the youngers are arguing last night reminded me of the tension in the house when Meathead was here pretty much destroying everything in his path. We're trying to destroy everything in his path which included me. I had six police officers and four doctors all together bum rushed me in the room to convince me that I needed to press charges. I told him if I pressed charge does that means I won't be able to get them out of my house and the only thing I want is for them to be out of my house like tomorrow so I didn't press charges against him, which I'm sure he walks around in his own little tiny house Castle now Vindicated somehow that the cops wouldn't touch him when really it was me that kept that from happening. Trust me if it had been any other situation I would have made sure he got every little bit of punishment he deserved for it but it was more important for me to clear this place out and have a nice calm place for my Artemisia and our wonderful youngers

#my turtle chronicles #my critters #turtles #fish #a snail #two kitty cats #and all my plants Aquatic and otherwise #gardening #spring has sprung in rannyland #Cthulhu is coming up I will show a picture of him later he is my Herald of spring and he is coming up and that makes the third year in a ro #Happy Coffee to all my little listeners and all My Little Critters are determined that it's going to be a good day #better just make sure you make artemisius coffee the right way #the youngers had a fight last night and it looks like one of them didn't come home so I'm a little worried about that #but I didn't like the way I heard my granddaughter being talked to and although she's upset today maybe it's for the better #he giving her a hard time for going out with her cousin while every time he goes out with his friends he ends up with a goddamn charge.#but I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing as a pop pop I'm there for her for whatever she needs #I love my grandkids more than life itself #them and my Artemisia make me so thankful to have been allowed to be part of their family and so grateful to get to be the grandfather #I think more parents should feel that way instead of feeling burdened or some idiots who like to run their house like a army base #we all remember the Meathead Saga don't we?#he is on the bus idiots who has to sit at the top of the dinner table everyday and make his children sit in front of him #like some idiot from a Twisted Sister video #there was no wonder he and I did not get along #not to mention he was trying to squat and steal my house and then he tried to take my life #somebody that's one family member I'm not to enamored of having #and I've also made it very very very clear that he is no longer welcome here and that I will have no more talks of that anything with him #I think that every family has at least one person in it who is under the completely wrong assumption that they are a master manipulator #everybody's got the narcissist #maybe yours is a parent mine was a middle-aged asshole who thought he was a parent and is still failing miserably at that fact #you know he actually convinced the state to pay him to stay at home to care for his autistic son which sounds really good on the outside

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medicinemane · 1 month

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The problem with people who are "right" because they insist they're right, and the only way to be right is to simply perfectly follow their every dictation on the subject unquestioningly is this...

Ok, let's just take it as a given that you're right... the problem here is that if that's what's right I'm afraid I have to dig my heels into being wrong. If you are as righteous and just as you insist you are then I've got no choice but to be the villain because I can't stand what you're saying I'd have to do to be good

Shockingly I even think it's wrong, which is odd because we've already defined it that you're inherently and unassailably right... yet here we are

Worst part is there's a lot of these things where I'm not even full stop against it, I actually might be on their side if they could stop and address a couple of issues I consider kind of important... but they won't, because they're morally right and don't have time for addressing nonexistent issues I'm clearly just dreaming up

Undoubtedly right they are, the defect must surely be my own... and yet here we are. Vile and wicked as it might make me, I still can't just go along with you

#mm tag so i can find things later #and whatever you think this is about and however you've already decided it agrees with you #I'll say this is about like... minimum 2 topics at very different points in the political spectrum... and probably like 20 easy #so like... it may well be talking about your own behavior on certain subjects #I'm talking about not even being willing to entertain good faith questions #and especially about labeling anyone who doesn't tow your exact party line a horrible person #...the amount of shit where it's like 'you know I actually agree with you... except for this one major sticking point'#'just tell me how we deal with this one pretty big thing and I'm fully on board' and... well actually you're terrible for that #or the amount of places where it's like I agree with your goals; but not your methods but... I don't think arguing would do a damn thing #you've already dug your heels in so deep and maybe you're even right to do it.. but I'll never go along with it no matter what that makes m #and the number of overall good people I know who this post is honestly about #they may well be far better than I am; I've never claimed to be good; quite the opposite #and yet I'm afraid I have to say that... to me you're wrong; wrong in concrete ways #maybe you could even address my concerns and help me see with my stupid brain why these aren't issues... but you won't #because you're right; and you know you're right; and so you'll never be wrong #and this isn't just some idle whataboutism... or maybe it is; I'll never say I'm the moral arbiter; again I could be wickedly wrong #and there's a variety of reasons someone believes what they believe; but... there's often blind dogma at the end #I may be stupid; but I can usually draw a line from my stance to something in the world #maybe it's a stupid nonsense line and I don't see my mental gymnastics... very well could be #but I can draw a line... it's not just circular logic; it's not just bouncing between two points #and I often can actually point to places I'm not happy with how things are or will be... we live in the real world and that sucks #example that... man it's more politically charged than I like getting; but ok #I really want this Ukrainian aid to pass even though I don't like the Israeli aid attached... but I get that's the only way it's passing #I want the Ukraine aid because I see residential houses getting stuck by missiles; but I don't want the Israeli aid for the same reason #and it comes down to that I think that the aid amount is sufficiently higher to Ukraine to make it enough of a net positive #I could be wrong... but you can at least see my work; I'm coming at it from a perspective of bombing civilians is wrong #I could be stupid; I could point to two people I know on here who would tell me I'm stupid for at least one part of this... probably all #yet there it is... and... it'll be hard to convince me otherwise

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saffronique · 24 days

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Hey guys, I know there are a lot of really severe tragedies in the world right now and I in no way desire to push those aside, nor do I really want to load another thing onto people's plates, but anyone here in the US needs to be aware that on March 11, 2024, an agricultural company known as NEW Cooperative spilled 265,000 gallons (1500 tons) of liquid nitrogen fertilizer into the East Nishnabotna River. This is the ecological equivalent of dropping a nuclear weapon into the river. Over a 60 mile stretch downstream of the spill its been a near total ecological wipeout for the river. So far, an estimate of 850,000 fish have been killed from this spill, and that's to say nothing for the insects, amphibians, reptiles and birds that relied on or lived in this river. It is literally filled with animal corpses. This river flows into the Missouri River and the impacts will likely continue to spread far past this 60 mile stretch. And this disaster has barely made local tv in Iowa, let alone national tv, despite the fact that 60 miles of river ecosystem were just wiped out in a way that may be impossible to recover from. And what's the punishment for this heinous act of destruction through negligence, you might ask? As it stands, its looking like a 6k fine from the DNR to the company. Not 600k. Not 60k. 6000 dollars. The maximum fine that the DNR can charge in Iowa is 10k unless they decide to take it further in court. That's why these spills are so frequent in Iowa: it's literally cheaper to eat the fines than it is to bother properly storing fertilizer. I don't know exactly what the proper course of action is here, or who needs to be contacted to enact change--I'm hoping someone more knowledgeable than me will chime in with that information--but at the very least, every one of us should know. Every one of us should make sure we don't forget this. And every one of us should blacklist NEW Cooperative fertilizer unilaterally.

Sources:

#iowa #iowa news #fertilizer spill #ecology #river ecology #ecological disaster #usa news

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thecherrygod · 7 months

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#my posts #look yes i keep making at least one post like this a day and it will continue but its either letting it out or i have no idea #also in my defense y believe most of my mutuals arent up so it is peak time to post about feeling like shit #my plan isnt for someone to read these its for the bullshit to get out and try to not get to the point shit hits the fan #anyways man teen me would be so fucking disappointed by so many things the mere fact we are still alive would make them livid #and alive and living like this?#probably if they knew it was gonna be like this it would have happened lmao #they would just think we are a coward and a dumbass who can't do anything right tbh but they did know then too it's not knew #if it was new we wouldn't be here wouldn't we. why am i referring to is in plural it's just two dif timed mes #but yeah they are probably like 'hey of you are gonna keep living at least you could do it in a way no one regrets it' but alas we do #and we will keep regretting it bc our death won't be our choice. the deadline for it was extended until we were 20 and it's long closed #.... things are getting worse tho they put true but like. that isn't an option anymore lmao it sucks tbh #... i don't have anything else to say that isn't repeating it #i. do wish it was still an option idek why it isn't anymore it's some stupid arbitrary rule #i hate this. it's like. i really don't do a single thing that could make any version of me proud of myself #not teen me not child me not current me. none of us is okay with whatever the fuck i have going on and yet!#.man. I've spent all day tired and wanting to cry for nothing particular but also for literally everything so like #that would fix me. i don't know how to make it happen #... I'm gonna go to sleep #i need my phone to finish charging but that'll be over soon #so yeah I'll. go to sleep soon

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bluerosefox · 8 months

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Assassin Heir? Crime Fighting Furry? NOPE NO THANK YOU!

"Danyal, its time to end this game and return with me."

Danny should had known Clockwork had something in mind when he sent him on this mission. He knew he should had been suspicious of the time keeper when he noticed the little 'this is going to be fun' smile on his face when he sent Danny off into the portal.

"Get back here you demon spawn 2.0!"

But how was he supposed to know that he'd wake up in this world version of himself in a pit full of corrupted (AND NASTY) ectoplasim at the tender age of five or that when he swam up to the surface he'd be meeting face to face with what was apparently a cult.

"-O just spotted him a block away! I'll try to cut itty bitty bridie off!"

An Assassins Cult his, new to him, loving yet a little insane mother was in charge of (though during the few months he stayed in the compound he heard rumors and gossip from maids and others alike that if his grandfather returned from the dead he'll take over once again, no doubt punish Talia for creating another heir after the failure of the last one, most likely was going to kill Danny and that... that was can of worms Danny didn't wanna deal with yet)

"Ten bucks says they try to stab RR when we get the feral thing home"

"...Losers bet...."

Danny had lived with his mother for a while after being brought back from the 'dead' for apparently the first time, it turned out training a five year old with an actual sword and a dumbass hidden revenge seeking teacher was a terrible idea.

"I swear if this one tries to murder me like the others I'm asking Zatanna if there is a curse on me."

He dealt with her high demands of perfection, the endless training, and the constant comparisons to his apparent older brother Damain... Who didn't know Danny, or rather Danyal existed.

Nor did his father (when Danny, using his powers he's kept hidden since 'waking' up in this Realm, he sneaked his way around the base and discovered how he came into the world. And tbh he couldn't blame his mom how she made him, she was an assassin first and foremost, being naturally pregnant would had painted a target on her for to long... but he also felt it was unfair and an asshole move on his unsuspecting father as well)

"As your elder brother I demand you to stop running!"

Now don't get him wrong, he did like his new mother (total badass assassin lady and all that) and he knew she loved him in her own... deadly way. But yeah, she really shouldn't be taking care of kids. He could tell she struggled with wanting to be a normal mother but her first instinct after so many years was to be an assassin first.

Something she was trying to engrave into Danny with as well.

"Ah, hello Beloved. I see you've learned of our Danyal."

"Talia. Back away from him and leave Gotham now."

"I can not do that. The League needs an heir and since Damian refuses to return... I have decided to create a new one and I shall not be leaving until he returns with me."

"Talia."

Hence why when Danny, or rather Danyal al Ghul had gotten decent control over his powers he decided to leave the League. Again nothing wrong with the life his mom leads, to each their own, but he... really, really didnt want to be an assassin. Or an assassin heir.

So here he was, after almost a year on the run, using his powers and training to out smart and out maneuver his mother and her many band of Assassins, in Gotham. One of the last places he ever wanted to run to cause he knew his father and brother lived here.

It was just his luck that his mother had managed to intercept his train ride that passed into Gotham for a few hours and forced him to run into the city...

Add her assassins into the mix and running into Robin, who heard from Oracle his mother had been spotted chasing a young boy across the city, that same night.

After that it became a full on "catch me if you can" chase for not only his mother but for the batclan as well.

And after two whole days of chase, it seemed like the final showdown was about to begin because everyone was on top of this rooftop, his mother and her assassins on one side, his father and the batclan on the other and Danny well... he was right in the middle of all of it.

He just had to hope no one would notice him once the fighting started...

#danny phantom #danny fenton #dp x dc #blue rambles #crossover #writing ideas #random idea #danny phantom dc #basicly Danny is sent on a mission by CW #he wakes up in the DC version of himself in the pits after being killed and Talia tossing him in #he was created by Talia since shes head of the LOA now and needs her own heir #but she once again wants Bruce's bloodline in it so she used some leftover dna she still had #so no one knows Danny was created until he left about a year later #danny has his ghost powers since he took a dip in the pits #but had to relearn some control and kept it secret #he knows his mom would see it as 'the pits granted my heir its powers.' mindset #so hes been on the run #and didnt wanna go to Gotham cause... his dad dresses as a gaint bat #and dont get him started on the rest of the batfam #he doesnt wanna be an assassin or a crime fighting furry #in case some people didnt get it. the words being spoken happen when Danny is running all across Gotham away from those after him #guess who said what lol #i want danny to be completely independent and trying to take care of himself tbh #but hes still baby to everyone else #talia is slowy becoming a little unhinged due to being the Demon Head now #maybe due to the stress of it all? or maybe due to a curse? idk

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treasure-mimic · 8 months

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So, let me try and put everything together here, because I really do think it needs to be talked about.

Today, Unity announced that it intends to apply a fee to use its software. Then it got worse.

For those not in the know, Unity is the most popular free to use video game development tool, offering a basic version for individuals who want to learn how to create games or create independently alongside paid versions for corporations or people who want more features. It's decent enough at this job, has issues but for the price point I can't complain, and is the idea entry point into creating in this medium, it's a very important piece of software.

But speaking of tools, the CEO is a massive one. When he was the COO of EA, he advocated for using, what out and out sounds like emotional manipulation to coerce players into microtransactions.

"A consumer gets engaged in a property, they might spend 10, 20, 30, 50 hours on the game and then when they're deep into the game they're well invested in it. We're not gouging, but we're charging and at that point in time the commitment can be pretty high."

He also called game developers who don't discuss monetization early in the planning stages of development, quote, "fucking idiots".

So that sets the stage for what might be one of the most bald-faced greediest moves I've seen from a corporation in a minute. Most at least have the sense of self-preservation to hide it.

A few hours ago, Unity posted this announcement on the official blog.

Effective January 1, 2024, we will introduce a new Unity Runtime Fee that’s based on game installs. We will also add cloud-based asset storage, Unity DevOps tools, and AI at runtime at no extra cost to Unity subscription plans this November. We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user. We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. Also we believe that an initial install-based fee allows creators to keep the ongoing financial gains from player engagement, unlike a revenue share.

Now there are a few red flags to note in this pitch immediately.

Unity is planning on charging a fee on all games which use its engine.

This is a flat fee per number of installs.

They are using an always online runtime function to determine whether a game is downloaded.

There is just so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start, not helped by this FAQ which doubled down on a lot of the major issues people had.

I guess let's start with what people noticed first. Because it's using a system baked into the software itself, Unity would not be differentiating between a "purchase" and a "download". If someone uninstalls and reinstalls a game, that's two downloads. If someone gets a new computer or a new console and downloads a game already purchased from their account, that's two download. If someone pirates the game, the studio will be asked to pay for that download.

Q: How are you going to collect installs? A: We leverage our own proprietary data model. We believe it gives an accurate determination of the number of times the runtime is distributed for a given project. Q: Is software made in unity going to be calling home to unity whenever it's ran, even for enterprice licenses? A: We use a composite model for counting runtime installs that collects data from numerous sources. The Unity Runtime Fee will use data in compliance with GDPR and CCPA. The data being requested is aggregated and is being used for billing purposes. Q: If a user reinstalls/redownloads a game / changes their hardware, will that count as multiple installs? A: Yes. The creator will need to pay for all future installs. The reason is that Unity doesn’t receive end-player information, just aggregate data. Q: What's going to stop us being charged for pirated copies of our games? A: We do already have fraud detection practices in our Ads technology which is solving a similar problem, so we will leverage that know-how as a starting point. We recognize that users will have concerns about this and we will make available a process for them to submit their concerns to our fraud compliance team.

This is potentially related to a new system that will require Unity Personal developers to go online at least once every three days.

Starting in November, Unity Personal users will get a new sign-in and online user experience. Users will need to be signed into the Hub with their Unity ID and connect to the internet to use Unity. If the internet connection is lost, users can continue using Unity for up to 3 days while offline. More details to come, when this change takes effect.

It's unclear whether this requirement will be attached to any and all Unity games, though it would explain how they're theoretically able to track "the number of installs", and why the methodology for tracking these installs is so shit, as we'll discuss later.

Unity claims that it will only leverage this fee to games which surpass a certain threshold of downloads and yearly revenue.

Only games that meet the following thresholds qualify for the Unity Runtime Fee: Unity Personal and Unity Plus: Those that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs. Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: Those that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 1,000,000 lifetime game installs.

They don't say how they're going to collect information on a game's revenue, likely this is just to say that they're only interested in squeezing larger products (games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, Fate Grand Order, Among Us, and Fall Guys) and not every 2 dollar puzzle platformer that drops on Steam. But also, these larger products have the easiest time porting off of Unity and the most incentives to, meaning realistically those heaviest impacted are going to be the ones who just barely meet this threshold, most of them indie developers.

Aggro Crab Games, one of the first to properly break this story, points out that systems like the Xbox Game Pass, which is already pretty predatory towards smaller developers, will quickly inflate their "lifetime game installs" meaning even skimming the threshold of that 200k revenue, will be asked to pay a fee per install, not a percentage on said revenue.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Hey Gamers!

Today, Unity (the engine we use to make our games) announced that they'll soon be taking a fee from developers for every copy of the game installed over a certain threshold - regardless of how that copy was obtained.

Guess who has a somewhat highly anticipated game coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2024? That's right, it's us and a lot of other developers.

That means Another Crab's Treasure will be free to install for the 25 million Game Pass subscribers. If a fraction of those users download our game, Unity could take a fee that puts an enormous dent in our income and threatens the sustainability of our business.

And that's before we even think about sales on other platforms, or pirated installs of our game, or even multiple installs by the same user!!!

This decision puts us and countless other studios in a position where we might not be able to justify using Unity for our future titles. If these changes aren't rolled back, we'll be heavily considering abandoning our wealth of Unity expertise we've accumulated over the years and starting from scratch in a new engine. Which is really something we'd rather not do.

On behalf of the dev community, we're calling on Unity to reverse the latest in a string of shortsighted decisions that seem to prioritize shareholders over their product's actual users.

I fucking hate it here.

-Aggro Crab - END DESCRIPTION]

That fee, by the way, is a flat fee. Not a percentage, not a royalty. This means that any games made in Unity expecting any kind of success are heavily incentivized to cost as much as possible.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table listing the various fees by number of Installs over the Install Threshold vs. version of Unity used, ranging from $0.01 to $0.20 per install. END DESCRIPTION]

Basic elementary school math tells us that if a game comes out for $1.99, they will be paying, at maximum, 10% of their revenue to Unity, whereas jacking the price up to $59.99 lowers that percentage to something closer to 0.3%. Obviously any company, especially any company in financial desperation, which a sudden anchor on all your revenue is going to create, is going to choose the latter.

Furthermore, and following the trend of "fuck anyone who doesn't ask for money", Unity helpfully defines what an install is on their main site.

While I'm looking at this page as it exists now, it currently says

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

However, I saw a screenshot saying something different, and utilizing the Wayback Machine we can see that this phrasing was changed at some point in the few hours since this announcement went up. Instead, it reads:

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming or web browser is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

Screenshot for posterity:

That would mean web browser games made in Unity would count towards this install threshold. You could legitimately drive the count up simply by continuously refreshing the page. The FAQ, again, doubles down.

Q: Does this affect WebGL and streamed games? A: Games on all platforms are eligible for the fee but will only incur costs if both the install and revenue thresholds are crossed. Installs - which involves initialization of the runtime on a client device - are counted on all platforms the same way (WebGL and streaming included).

And, what I personally consider to be the most suspect claim in this entire debacle, they claim that "lifetime installs" includes installs prior to this change going into effect.

Will this fee apply to games using Unity Runtime that are already on the market on January 1, 2024? Yes, the fee applies to eligible games currently in market that continue to distribute the runtime. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

Again, again, doubled down in the FAQ.

Q: Are these fees going to apply to games which have been out for years already? If you met the threshold 2 years ago, you'll start owing for any installs monthly from January, no? (in theory). It says they'll use previous installs to determine threshold eligibility & then you'll start owing them for the new ones. A: Yes, assuming the game is eligible and distributing the Unity Runtime then runtime fees will apply. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

That would involve billing companies for using their software before telling them of the existence of a bill. Holding their actions to a contract that they performed before the contract existed!

Okay. I think that's everything. So far.

There is one thing that I want to mention before ending this post, unfortunately it's a little conspiratorial, but it's so hard to believe that anyone genuinely thought this was a good idea that it's stuck in my brain as a significant possibility.

A few days ago it was reported that Unity's CEO sold 2,000 shares of his own company.

On September 6, 2023, John Riccitiello, President and CEO of Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U), sold 2,000 shares of the company. This move is part of a larger trend for the insider, who over the past year has sold a total of 50,610 shares and purchased none.

I would not be surprised if this decision gets reversed tomorrow, that it was literally only made for the CEO to short his own goddamn company, because I would sooner believe that this whole thing is some idiotic attempt at committing fraud than a real monetization strategy, even knowing how unfathomably greedy these people can be.

So, with all that said, what do we do now?

Well, in all likelihood you won't need to do anything. As I said, some of the biggest names in the industry would be directly affected by this change, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they're not just going to take it lying down. After all, the only way to stop a greedy CEO is with a greedier CEO, right?

(I fucking hate it here.)

And that's not mentioning the indie devs who are already talking about abandoning the engine.

[Links display tweets from the lead developer of Among Us saying it'd be less costly to hire people to move the game off of Unity and Cult of the Lamb's official twitter saying the game won't be available after January 1st in response to the news.]

That being said, I'm still shaken by all this. The fact that Unity is openly willing to go back and punish its developers for ever having used the engine in the past makes me question my relationship to it.

The news has given rise to the visibility of free, open source alternative Godot, which, if you're interested, is likely a better option than Unity at this point. Mostly, though, I just hope we can get out of this whole, fucking, environment where creatives are treated as an endless mill of free profits that's going to be continuously ratcheted up and up to drive unsustainable infinite corporate growth that our entire economy is based on for some fuckin reason.

Anyways, that's that, I find having these big posts that break everything down to be helpful.

#Unity #Unity3D #Video Games #Game Development #Game Developers #fuckshit #I don't know what to tag news like this

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