#never played a video game that used its medium so well

[yellowocaballero]

Been a fan of your fics for YEARS. I was just telling my friend how despite how much I read fics I never actually love them, with some of your fics (especially TMA) as the exception. Felt the need to reread some of them and saw you reblogged some ISAT fanart. So. Any thoughts on ISAT you'd like to share?

Hope you have a wonderful day!! So happy I found your fics again!!

I avoided answering this for a while because I was trying to think of a way to cohesively and coherently vocalize my thoughts on In Stars and Time. I have given up because I don't want to hold everybody here all day and I have accepted that my thoughts are just pterodactyl screeching.

I love it so much. I have so much to say on it. It drove me bonkers for like a week straight. I have AUs. It's absolute Megbait. They're just a little Snufkin and they're having the worst experience of anybody's life. Ludonarratives my fucking beloved.

I am going to talk about the prologue.

The prologue is such a fascinating experience. You crack open the game and immediately begin checking off all of the little genre boxes: mage, warrior, researcher, you're the rogue...some little kid who's there for some reason...alright, you know the score. You're in yet another indie Earthbound RPG, these are your generic characters, let's get the ball rolling.

Except then you realize that these characters are people. You feel instantly how you've entered the game at its last dungeon, at the end of the adventure. They have their own in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They get along well and they're obviously close, but not in a twee or unrealistic way. They have so much chemistry and spirit and life. I fell in love with them so quickly.

But Sif doesn't. Sif kind of hates them, because they will not stop saying the same damn thing. They walk the same paths, do the same things, make the same jokes, expect Sif to say the same lines. They keep referencing a Sif we do not see, with jokes we never see him make and heroic personality he never shows - they reference a Sif who is dead - and Sif can't handle that, so he kills them too.

They become only an exercise in tedious frustration. Sif button mashes through their dialogue, Sif mindlessly clicks the same dialogue options, Sif skips through the tutorial, Sif blows through the puzzles. Sif turns their world into a video game. Sif is playing a generic RPG. Sif forgets their names. They are no longer people with in-jokes, histories, backgrounds, adventures. They're the mage, the warrior, the researcher, and...some random kid.

I did not understand the Kid's presence at first. I had no idea what they contributed to the game. They didn't do anything. As a party member in a video game, they're a bit useless. Why is the Kid there?

Because Sif's life isn't a video game. Because the kid isn't 'the kid'. They're Bonnie. Bonnie, who the party loves. Why is Bonnie there? Because they love them. There is no room for Bonnie in the boring RPG that Sif is playing. And then you realize that Sif is wrong, and that they've lost something extremely important, and that they'll never escape without it.

Watching the prologue before watching ISAT gave ISAT the most unique air of dread and horror, because you crack open ISAT and you see the person Sif used to be. You realize that Sif used to be a person. Sif used to be the person who made jokes, who gave real smiles, who interacted with the world as if they are a part of it. And you know you are sitting down to watch Sif lose everything that made them a person, to lose everything that made them a member of this world, and turn them into a character in a video game who doesn't understand the point of Bonnie at all.

At the climax of the game, when the others realize that something is deeply wrong and that Sif physically cannot tell them, they realize that there is nothing they can do. So Bonnie declares snacktime. And for the first time they have snacktime.

What is snacktime? Classic JRPGs don't have snacktime. There's literally no point to a snacktime - not in a video game, and not in Sif's terrible life. It's not fixing this, because nothing can fix this. But Bonnie gives Sif a cookie and Sif eats it.

It's meaningless. It's a cutscene. It didn't save Sif and it didn't change a thing. It will make no difference in the end.

But it did make the difference. It made all of the difference in the world. Bonnie is a character who you really don't understand the point of before you realize that Bonnie was the entire point.

ISAT is about comfort media. Why do we play the same video games over and over again? Why do we avoid watching the finale of our favorite shows? What is truly comforting: a story with no conflict, or a story where you always know what is about to happen? Do you want to live in a scary, uncontrollable world, or do you want to play Stardew Valley? Do you want a person or a character?

When I beat Earthbound for the first time (and if you don't know, the prologue/ISAT battle system is just Mother) and watched the ending cutscene where the characters part ways and say goodbye...I felt a little bit sad. I wanted them to be together forever. But that's something only characters could ever be.

#these aren't deep or unique thoughts they're just the specific aspect of ISAT that made it one of the most interesting gaming experiences #i actually like the prologue much more than ISAT for just this reason #its honestly a video game art piece that's created to give the player a very specific experience #that makes them an aspect of the narrative that is told #it's. incredible. #in stars and time #start again start again start again #start again: a prologue #isat #god and there is so so so so much more to say here #what a rich and complex and fascinating game that made me cry like a baby #i dont even kin sif. we arent similar at all. #i cant imagine how devastating this game would have been if i did #but I do have a deep relationship with escapsim #and i write about it a lot #and video games about being video games are wonderful #as are stories about being stories #and why we consume stories. how we use them. how they save us and hurt us. #never played a video game that used its medium so well #i bet undertales also pretty good at that but this is more so i think #stories about stories have to be about why we love stories #and im not an artsy person and i roll my eyes a bit when people talk about the spiritual neccesity of art #i think people need stories because the world is sad and hard and boring and we want to think about something else for a while. #some people need to be anywhere but here #and sometimes if you're Lil Depressed-Ass Snufkin that looks like being here forever #baby cringe-ass snufkin big hat idiot

[feverdreamjohnny]

The Epitaph of Anything Goes

I decided that this morning I would talk about The Museum of Anything Goes and the subject of lost media.

For the uninitiated, The Museum of Anything Goes is an obscure "game" released in 1995 by Wayzata Technologies, a company that is so far under the radar that I was unable to find any useful information about it outside of TMoAG.

All I could uncover is that they published a few multimedia projects (which are essentially lost now) alongside some asset discs (clipart, SFX, etc.). That's it.

The brains behind Wayzata are even more difficult to locate these days: there are only two main names credited inside of TMoAG - Michael Markowski and Maxwell S. Robertson.

The game alleges that Michael and Maxwell are well known in the art world, but any additional information about the duo is scarce beyond the confines of the museum. Attempting to search for either name online turns up plenty of rabbit holes - but none of them have anything to do with the Michael and Maxwell responsible for TMoAG.

This is particularly fascinating because it essentially means that TMoAG is the only accessible record of their lives. Before we dig any deeper into that statement, let me step back and actually address what this game is.

The Museum of Anything Goes is, by definition, a virtual art museum. Functionally it's a prerendered point-and-click adventure game where you can explore a bunch of multimedia exhibits that give the surface-level impression of a children's edutainment game, but once you start exploring further it reveals a side that firmly plants the game's feet into a haze of substance abuse and surreal humor.

Many exhibits are essentially just toying around with the astonishing new powers of CD-ROM. Everything has to make noise. Everything has to spin and flitter around. There's an air of genuine excitement for the medium, and I can't help but find it extremely charming.

The game also functions as a scrapbook, filled to the brim with photos of random trips to the zoo and snow-mobile rides with friends. At one point we even get insight into something as specific as Michael's one-year job as a tutor at a Chicago middle school, where he talks about how it opened his eyes to how poorly funded and mismanaged the school system is.

It's simultaneously quaint and chilling to see so much personal history packed into a world doomed to obscurity. As I explore the deeper parts of the museum, I contemplate if the creators are still alive today. It's a bit morbid, but imagine that - you create a single obscure game with your friend and it's all the world can see. TMoAG is currently the only surviving piece that gives any insight into who these two men were.

While many exhibits are lighthearted or nonsensical, there are occasional moments where the game dips into the eerie.

One exhibit has the player kill a man by dropping him from the sky, and after burying him you open the coffin to a video of a rotting pig carcass being put into an incinerator.

Other exhibits just feature simple 3D renders shifting around a dark screen while haunting groans play in the background.

While I would never refer to the game as "scary," its darker moments combined with the occasional mature subject matter definitely begs the question: Who is this game for?

You have to remember that this game came out long before the concept of "alt-games" had become codified in the digital space. Sure, unconventional digital art had been around before the advent of 256 colors, but TMoAG was being sold on disk as a game! It came out 2 years after DOOM hit shelves!

The trend of using the PC for entertainment was certainly on the upswing around that time, but It's not like TMoAG had a massive audience to find a niche in. With its mature themes it certainly wasn't suited for the kids market either, so who was it for?

At the end of the day, it's a moot question. We already know the target audience for The Museum of Anything Goes: Nobody. It doesn't have an audience because by its nature, TMoAG wasn't being made FOR someone, it was being made BY someone. It's a raw, unfiltered form of personal expression.

I think games like these are pivotal, because they question why people assume a game has to exist for the sake of being a consumable product. TMoAG certainly has the shape of a product: it features an intro cutscene, it has a tutorial, it features intuitive UX, it even has a map! These are all features that are solely integrated to provide comfort to an end-user. But once you actually wander around the museum for a bit, you realize how bizarrely its packaging fits its contents.

I think TMoAG is criminally underrated. It's not because its core content contains some earth-shaking truth, it's because the game defied all odds and cheated death.

How many thousands of other personal projects were deemed a little "too exotic" to be archived? How much history was lost these past 40 years as the digital space evolved and ate its old skin?

God knows how many other TMoAGs we'll never learn about because they weren't lucky enough to be preserved.

The Museum of Anything Goes isn't just some nonsensical art piece, it's a grave marker for so much lost media. Its existence is a reminder that some people's lives were fossilized, then macerated into nothing because a construction company built a skyscraper over them. The only evidence we have of those other games existing is this little fossil that somehow slipped out from under the skyscraper unscathed.

Even though so much has been lost, TMoAG survives as an epitaph.

#the museum of anything goes #TMoAG #writing

[lovelyyandereaddictionpoint]

( okay, I love playing resident evil 2 and 4 remake and enjoy the dynamic between Leon and Ada due to their complicated romantic history between them and thought of something)

Vil finally got a big break to be a hero, but he being a hero in a survival horror video game as main protagonist,what's more Crewle reader is there with him as acting as a partner as they both have to act and do some movement for the characters to function as the characters they are playing

And at the end product the video game became world wide as number one in best game and getting another contract to be the game protagonist again in the next game, how would Vil be even after the release of games he sees a lot of fanart of them together?

( and what is Neigen perspective when Vil get to act with Crewle reader in the video game after the release? )

I've never played or watched playthroughs of Resident Evil 2 But I guess the acting must have been really good 🖤🖤🖤🖤

Big Break w/ Crewel Daughter | Yandere Twisted Wonderland

Its natural for all sorts of media to crave the chance to capture your essence and beauty. So no doubt only the biggest studio with motion capture technology finds themselves reaching out to you, especially after Vil Schoenheit and Idia’s Shroud’s proud suggestion. But just as any medium you participate with a friend or acquaintance there’s an opportunity to make something deeper: 

Vil Schoenheit

“I’m so glad a improv’d that line.”

Totally feeds into it 

Giddy the whole time during filming and recording

So when the interviews come he loves using the opening to a flirty dialogue that prompts you naturally

“Why do you spoil them, so? I rather like seeing them gripe with what little content they create.”

“Ah but you often prefer that kind of starved creation, don’t you?”

“Oh Vil you know me too well.”

Neige Leblanche

Is fuming Is so happy for you, two

He’ll no doubt be playing the game

And cringing at your chemistry in game+

He wishes his image wasn’t so pure

He wishes there was a character more like him

“I wanted to congratulate you on you’re performance!”

“Thank you, Neige.”

“I hope we can work together in the future!”

“Perhaps.”

#yandere x creweldaughter reader #crewel daughter reader #yandere crewel dad #yandere twisted wonderland #yandere vil schoenheit x reader #yandere vil schoenheit #yandere vil #yandere neige leblanche #yandere neige #yandere x reader #yandere x you #lovelyyandereaddictionpoint #yandere twst

[decamarks]

The fake game anomalies post is amazing, how did you get the videos to look so convincing as working video games?

AHHH thank you so much!!! ^u^ I think a lot of it comes down to just knowing and keeping the way video games work in mind while animating, as well as being aware of what limitations the 'game' would have.

The games in my post were meant to resemble games with graphics somewhere between the PSX and original Xbox (Playstation 1.5, essentially), so I tried to keep poly counts close to what you'd expect for something of that era, used subdivision sparingly, and composited them with varying levels of pixelation effects to resemble game engine aliasing. Since these nonexistent games are for nonexistent consoles, I didn't try to adhere to what the actual technology would/wouldn't allow, and instead focused on what you might expect to see. Game-like lighting in particular is tricky to nail down and I definitely could've made it more 'accurate' with further adjustments, but overall I thought it was okay. As long as you think it looks visually appealing, I think it's fine. (Also it's kind of hard to be accurate to something that doesn't actually exist, LOL)

That's more about the technical side though, and like I said, you can fudge a lot of that stuff since, y'know—it's not an actual game. I think what really makes something like this more convincing is simply conveying aspects of how the game is played or being played; stuff like seemingly functional UI elements, or a player's actions appearing to influence the game in some way.

Interactivity is what distinguishes games as a medium, so this is the key component to keep in mind. Most media doesn't tend to involve active influence from its observers because the medium simply can't accommodate such a thing; printed ink and paper isn't as infinitely malleable as pixels and bytes. So things should be designed as if they are able to be altered or interacted with, even if an actual 'player' is absent. You don't need to build the engine—you just need to imply that it exists, and operates.

In my little clips, I tried to pay special attention to the supposed 'player' as well. You can't see them directly, but rather through proxy of the character or cursor they're controlling. In the first clip, the player character quickly stutters in movement, shown as a sudden stop and start in their walk cycle. You would never have a character move like this in a normal animation because it's unnatural and nonsensical on its own. But in the context of a video game, this movement is instantly recognizable. The player is pausing, tilting, and flicking the analog stick to get a better look at something—or to get away from it.

The character isn't programmed to stop and squint, and the camera isn't programmed to cut to a shot of their shocked face. The character is only a puppet for the player to interface with the game's world, and the unpredictability of a player cannot be accounted for in a preprogrammed narrative. These movements appear nonsensical and unnatural because they represent something not entirely intended. This is only one manifestation of the infinite movement possibilities within a game engine.

It's something trying to be expressed by someone that does not have the direct means to do so. But even indirectly, you can tell what is being expressed, because nothing would move like this by itself. It implies the existence of certain things beyond what is directly observable: a controller and constraints—the player, and the programming.

I think the moment you assume a player exists is the moment it becomes a game.

#tl;dr: i think way too much about this kind of thing and you can probably ignore like half of this post. #I COULD GO ON ABOUT THIS LITERALLY FOREVER. the nuances of games as a medium are so near and dear to me and infinitely fascinating. AAGHHHH #it's honestly interesting to me that a lot of people actually found these convincing... #half because i wasn't entirely intending for them to be convincing; half because i could point out at least 100 inconsistencies in each LOL #but i guess those inconsistencies become a lot more apparent when you're the one who's creating them... such an interesting thing

[dumb-teambucciarati-headcanons]

What their rooms look like

(So in my headcanons au sort of thing they all live together, like giorno and Abbacchio have their own apartments but when there is lots of work to get done for passions they just stay with Bruno and the others. Also turtle polnareff is there I just fail to mention him and I’m sorry for my sins. Also this is a everyone loves universe because I’m still grieving from what actually happened and I haven’t quite gotten to the acceptance stage.)

Giorno: has the largest room out of all of them. It’s always neat, except for his desk that is covered in paperwork. He has a big windowsill that has pillows it in and plants as well (made my Goldie). He has either hot pink or dark blue sheets and pillowcases on his bed, and his blanket is white with gold flowers. He has a big fish tank with golden experience fish in it (instead of throwing his trash away he turns it into fish or plants). He has a cork board on his wall that has his schedule on it, and a drawing of him and Dio he made when he was a kid.

Bruno: his room is medium sized. Also has paperwork on his desk, but it’s neat. The rest of his room is messy though. Like not in a sloppy way, like it’s organized and clean. But the placement of everything is messy, if you know what I mean. His dresser is in the middle of the room, in front of his desk. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor. But it’s organized. His bedspread is black, white and gold. There are zippers everywhere because of sticky fingers. He has a dead plant on his desk that he named Matthew. Matthew has a zipper in his dead/dried out stem. He only really goes in his room to sleep, he likes to take his paperwork outside and work on it there. He used to go in his room to water Matthew but then the whole “mission from the boss” thing happened. Whoops.

Abbacchio: his room is medium sized, and very dark. The walls are painted a dark purple and his bedspread is black. He has a sign on his door that says “don’t fucking bother me”. He has a really old TV and a bunch of dvds with cop movies on them that he will watch when he is drunk. He has a really fluffy purple rug that he usually ends up sleeping on instead of his bed. Like he just falls down on it and sleeps. He has a sonic the hedgehog stuffed animal that sits in the corner of his room under his bed, staring at him every night. He has a small desk with a mirror and lots of makeup. He has a ton of ramen noodles in his closet that he keeps there so Narancia and Mista don’t take them. He never opens his windows.

Mista: his room is medium sized. He sleeps on a couch instead of a bed. He has a hamster cage, the type with those tube things that can attach other hamster cages. It goes all around his room, and the pistols live in it. He has clothes everywhere on his floor. His room smells like axe body spray and dirty socks, if it were a perfume it would be called “middle school boys locker room”. He has a big screen TV. He has a calendar on his wall, and every 4th of the month has “bad day” written on it. He has like twelve nerf guns and his room is covered in nerf bullets, he shoots at the pistols who, despite how stands are not supposed to be effected by non-stand related things, always get hurt when he shoots them.

Narancia: he has the smallest room out of everybody. Bruno made him give his room to Trish, so he sleeps in this big closet that also doubles as the broom closet. There’s enough space to fit a mattress and a TV, so Narancia wasn’t super upset about it. He has paper airplanes hanging on his ceiling, and lots of posters all over his room. He has a bunch of orange and purple blankets and a stuffed monkey that has a banana in its hand. And he has like almost every gaming device. He stays in his room and plays video games for most of his time off. Whenever someone needs the broom or mop they just knock on his door and he throws it out. Sometimes he will sleep in the others rooms. Him and Mista like to pull all nighters and watch movies and eat chips and dips, and Abbacchio is a good listener when he is upset about something and he has a comfy rug, and sometimes he will fall asleep while he is doing math in Fugos room.

Fugo: has a smaller room, which he prefers. It’s full of books. He has a strawberry theme going in his room, and even has a strawberry plant in his window. His bedspread is purple checkered and he has a pink build a bear that smells like strawberries. He has a weighted blanket, like the heaviest weight. His walls are littered with covered up holes. His desk has a bunch of fidget toys on it. He has a stress ball filled with with sand that he really likes, and he gad a bowl filled with kinetic sand that he finds helps calm him down after he has gotten the rage out.

Trish: has a smaller room that used to be Narancias. He painted Tony the Tiger on the wall and she hasn’t painted over it because he begged her not to. She has a really soft mattress and lots of pink pillows. Tons of stuffed animals! She has one of those circle chairs that are big enough to sleep on. Like Abbacchio, she has a desk full of make up. She stole some of Abbacchios eyeliner and hopes he never notices. She has a pink Nintendo switch lite that she plays animal crossing on every day.

Turtle Polnareff: he just stays in giornos room and tells him stories about public restrooms in Egypt. Also “that drawing you made when you were a kid reminds me of a vampire me and my friends killed back in the day”.

#jjba part 5 #jjba #narancia ghirga #pannacotta fugo #guido mista #leone abbacchio #bruno buccellati #trish una #giorno giovanna #headcanons #jojo #jojos bizarre adventure #jean pierre polnareff #turtle polnareff #feel free to share what you think their rooms would look like #or add onto these

[robobee]

good morning i'm going to nerd out about my location choices in my silly henrydeclan fic because I know a lot of you aren't into games BUT i think the references are fun. note that none of these pictures are mine cause i dont have my game on me atm.

heclan land in a snowed-in backyard. that's a reference to the jacksonville, wyoming sections of the last of us (part 2). there's a snowstorm, too, so the environment is very dreary and foreboding. the interiors are about as decomposed as you'd expect.

(declan's mobile phone battery is at 7%, and goes to 6 as he uses it. that's a giggle to the FNAF style of "survive a week" gameplay)

once they come out on the other side, the weather is markedly different. it's still a/the same suburban area, but now things are looking a lot like the Hillcrest section in TLOU 2, overgrown and humid.

henry mentions that they keep looping back to the other side when they try to take a route that isnt directly down the street. that's because there IS nowhere to go: it's the classic video game thing of inaccessible areas being blocked by a stack of boxes that really SHOULD be jumpable. good old disguised invisible walls.

there's also a mess of cars blocking the path up the street, up to where henry has to specifically aim for inFecTeD breaking through the barriers of cars at the end of the chapter ^

now for the Ominous Looming Structure. henry misidentifies it at first, before amending himself as they get closer. the 'wall', so to speak, "pops in". that's a term referring to when assets just appear/load in out of nowhere as you're looking at them. a well-optimised game will try to avoid this, since it shows a lack of polish + breaks the immersion. if there's a lot of pop-in, it shows either the device running the game or the game itself is flawed severely.

the structure itself takes from silent hill (2 i think, but mostly the vibe of all the games). it's gross brick that's distinctly fleshy and grimy.

the "creepy hallway" is such a cemented trope in horror media that i could say anything from resident evil, to P.T., to the shining and still get the point across. specifically, though, i was referencing the evil within 2 (the right image is from a dark pictures game, you get what i mean when i say its a distinct trope)

they reach what seems to be a regular wall, before declan presses the pattern in a specific way that causes it to swing into another hall. henry does not notice this because he's trying not to have a panic attack. however this puzzle situation is a nod to the OG resident evil, which also has similar décor.

i didn't have a specific reference in mind for the locked door, but i was definitely thinking of some outlast vibes, like so

carrying on from that we are just fully in silent hill territory. just, bona fide nasty. places which look like they'll give you 4 never before seen strains of tetanus.

and we've about caught up to what's written out now! i didn't go too deep into the monsters/lore here, but a specific i want clear is that the whole place is a leyline-induced amalgamation of horror games, with a distinct fondness for the medium. things don't work cohesively, but that's kind of the point: it's a bunch of different properties stitched together.

of the two, henry canonically "watches video game walkthroughs," and declan is declan; so only one of them really has the background to even be able to recognise the patterns in what's going on. also, henry watches these games but he doesn't PLAY these games. he doesn't have that adrenaline/fear frame of reference either.

below i mention some thoughts about the arms used too. thank you for coming on this fun little journey with me! xx

obligatory mention that i barely know anything about g*ns ive never seen a pistol up close unless while getting mugged. BUT since we're going with a shooter game feel, i'll mention my choices for both of them.

i wanted henry to be a stealth/range build to declan's melee/close-range build.

henry uses a revolver with a long barrel and a very shiny finish. Declan uses a double action pistol, smaller for better concealed carry, and matte. probably a glock because i think GLOCK is the funniest word to say since it reminds me of chickens. his is a 9mm i THINK (i did the research but i forgot it so i WANT to say smth with 35, but i dont think that's right), so he's able to acquire ammo easier.

if i was held at gunpoint (lol) to pick a gun for henry, i'd go with a Korth because he would love to spend an obscene amount of money on things. accuracy over speed is the contrast between them: given declan's greywaren insanity i do NOT believe that man is a careful shooter.

if i DIDN'T have to be bound to like, relative realism, I would say Henry has a Mauser c96. it's a very funky looking ww2 era pistol that was very popular in China for a while and the base for Leon Kennedy's Red9 from the resident evil game. EYE think henry is exactly the type of person to have played re4 age 7 and decide to base his personality off of leon. side by sides of both below:

#trcposting #:P i know its niche but i think of anyone in the trc verse these two would be the calmest and best equipped in an apocalypse scenario #just another day at the market with mom/dad! vibes #viddy games

[skaruresonic]

Here's a fun fact for you: the writer of this show, Warren Ellis, wiki broused to write it because he has never played the games and was never interested to do so, describing them as "games where you just make a bunch of pixels jump around"

This isn't even a secret, he repeatedly admitted it during interviews, also stating that the other team members were fans of the games and so would help him out which...yeah they seemed to be perfectly happy with his choices

This actually brought to a bunch of hilarious moments in hindsight:

for example there's an OC in the second season that he wanted to name Mathias because he had found the name on the wiki and liked it, but Konami presumably stepped in to tell him that he couldn't use it because that's Dracula's original human name in the games. This info is on his wiki page btw!

Imagine writing a Sonic adaptation and somehow missing that Robotnik is also Eggman's name when it's one of the first things his wiki page says

Also for your information Nocturne, the sequel show that's coming out at the end of this month, is going to have a native american vampire as one of its villains (he's technically a game character who wasn't native in the games and looked nothing like the guy in the trailers but creating OCs and giving them the names and backstories of canon characters is standard fare with the show)....and let's just say that, given the show's track record with the representation of racial minorities (especially two asian totally not twins in season 3) I'm not holding my breath for that one

the writer of this show, Warren Ellis, wiki broused to write it because he has never played the games and was never interested to do so, describing them as "games where you just make a bunch of pixels jump around"

God, fauxteurs piss me off. Go work in some other medium if you hate video games so much, yeah? When will we get creators who aren't crotchety boomers who thumb their noses at the medium? It's nearing 50 years old at this point, why are we still being subjected to Roger Ebert levels of "games aren't Real Art" cold takes? The other thing is that often what ends up happening is even though they're adapting well-known game franchises (which would imply they're well-known for a reason, but logic is seldom fauxteurs' strong suit), their Superior Vision(tm) rarely manages to match the source material's quality, let alone surpass it. Hence why all of their bluster gets really fucking annoying really fast. Their hubris is unearned, and yet they still have the nerve to thumb their nose at the source material, the reason they have work to begin with. Sit down, dude, you just made things worse with all of your fart-sniffing. And they never stop to consider that according to their own logic, it's almost like video games are still so poorly regarded by the mainstream that they know they wouldn't be able to get work in any other medium precisely because their work isn't up to snuff. It's like how David Cage keeps pumping out glorified QTEs as games because if he pitched his scripts as movies, he'd get laughed out of the room.

---

This isn't even a secret, he repeatedly admitted it during interviews, also stating that the other team members were fans of the games and so would help him out which...yeah they seemed to be perfectly happy with his choices Actually, I have certain fears that this will happen with Bloober Team and the SH2 remake, despite select members of 2's dev team working with them. I can so clearly picture Reddit in a few years going, "Team Silent approved of it, why are you complaining?"

Woodchipp and I have read excerpts from interviews that heavily imply Bloober Team is attempting to capture 2's vibes and relying on their, quote, "perfect memories" without actually playing it.

Creators will sometimes approve whatever just to make money or because they don't care. For example, Kikiyama, the creator of Yume Nikki, is an intensely private person, so private that some people believed they were dead for years. Kawakura Studios approached them with the idea for Dream Diary, a game that changes the fundamentals of the original's design and symbolism, and Kikiyama approved of it. So approval from creators doesn't inherently guarantee a quality product, or ensure that the new team knows what they're doing. Also, we all know how Sega approved Pontaff's scripts :)

---

for example there's an OC in the second season that he wanted to name Mathias because he had found the name on the wiki and liked it, but Konami presumably stepped in to tell him that he couldn't use it because that's Dracula's original human name in the games. This info is on his wiki page btw! ...That was literally the very first thing I learned when watching a Castlevania lore video. Am I now officially more knowledgeable than Ellis? ...that's sad lol. tfw you're such a peak writer that you can't even read the wiki. At least Pontaff READ Sonic and Eggman's Wikipedia pages. Jesus Christ the bar is in hell and fauxteurs keep finding ways to dig under it lol ---

Also for your information Nocturne, the sequel show that's coming out at the end of this month, is going to have a native american vampire as one of its villains (he's technically a game character who wasn't native in the games and looked nothing like the guy in the trailers but creating OCs and giving them the names and backstories of canon characters is standard fare with the show)

#asks

[animebw]

Thinking back on The Last of Us now that it’s over, as good as it was, I think it also ended up revealing that this story was more attuned to the medium of video games than many of us gave it credit for.

Like, it’s one of the most common criticisms of the original TLOU game, right? “Oh, it’s just a movie with random fights every once in a while that’s ashamed of having to be a video game in the first place.” And to the show’s credit, it does a fantastic job of condensing and recontextualizing the game’s more standard gameplay-oriented sections to fit the demands of a TV show. So much of the early game is very slow-burn character growth over many long hours of fighting infected and raiders, coming to care about Joel and Ellie by spending all this goddamn time living in their shoes. But with a more time-sensitive show where every minute must be important to the story and characters, it’s able to trim that slow burn down to its most critical moments without losing any of the oomph. I think episodes 2 and 4 especially do a perfect job taking hours of game content and condensing it down to its true essentials, communicating in just a couple hours what the original game spent much longer getting you invested in. And episode 3 takes such a huge divergence from how things played out in the game that it’s fully able to stand on its own, maximized for the demands of TV show storytelling in a way that wouldn’t work in a game nearly as well. If you’re one of those people who see TLOU as a movie that’s ashamed to be a video game, you’ll find a lot of evidence here to support that theory.

But then we get to the late game. And suddenly, I find myself wanting. Yes, it’s still good and smart and makes strong adaptational choices and all that, but Joel’s injury without having to play through his rapidly deteriorating consciousness while Ellie takes charge to protect you as you’ve protected her for so long? Winter and David’s fight without that nightmarish escape through a blinding blizzard? The giraffe scene without the option to stay and linger on the view as long as you want, desperate to live inside the peace of that moment despite knowing you’ll eventually need to pull away? These moments have etched themselves into my soul. No matter how many years pass since I first played The Last of Us, I will never forget how utterly this game was able to wreck me through these incredible moments of gameplay and story dancing as one. And as good as the show is, it just can’t quite reach those dizzying heights. It can’t capture the visceral awe of experiencing this world and this story play out under the control of your own fingertips. The Last of Us is a video game; that much is undeniable now. Maybe it’s not the most interactive, but in the moments where it embraces its medium, it proves itself a true exemplar of the form. And though the HBO show was fantastic, the game will still be the definitive form of this story for me.

#the last of us #hbo the last of us #tlou #that said #I'm very interested to see how they adapt part 2 #because that game's really COULD benefit from some pretty heavy structural retooling #maybe that's where the show will truly prove its worth #but I guess we'll see

[shegoesbyjoy]

i've been thinking a lot about why Disco Elysium in particular has touched the core of my being in a way no other piece of media has and i think there are several factors at play here. this is half a review and half me dumping my various thoughts on this game ever since i finished it a couple months ago.

AS A VIDEO GAME ITSELF—i've been trying to identify what exactly it is about certain games that causes them to rise above all the rest that i've played, and i have come to the realization that in all of them, combat is usually one of the least consequential things on that list. i love Hades, have dumped 160+ hrs into it, but despite it being a very combat-heavy game with extremely tight controls that i do find truly satisfying, that is not what kept me playing. it's the characters, the art, the story, the world-building, the music...

similarly, while the combat in Horizon Zero Dawn is really quite fun, what really charmed me about it was its spunky, badass protagonist and fascinating mechanical creature designs, in addition to the story set in a world that captivated me from beginning to end. Night in the Woods took my breath away with its emotional & poignant writing told through a unique & delightful art style. i didn't even finish The Last of Us, but Ellie's moment with the giraffes is ingrained in my brain—and of course i went ahead and watched someone else play through to the end so i could enjoy the rest of the story without having to slog through zombie fights myself. so while i always appreciate well-executed combat in games (and have given up on games that do it too poorly), it's never what keeps my interest.

SO. what happens when you take combat out of a game entirely, and absolutely excel at everything else? you see where this is going.

THE CHOICE OF MEDIUM—the fact that DE's story was told through a video game (as opposed to a book, a show, a movie, etc.) is absolutely crucial, because of your active role in the consumption of said story. i think that's what gives some of its scenes such devastating emotional impact. watching this train wreck of a character that you happen to be playing blurt out the most unhinged responses despite your best attempt to salvage the situation, coming to terms with the awful reality of what's in front of you at the same time Harry does, seeing the immediate results of your choices as well as slowly realizing how your choices affect the story long-term as the pieces start coming together... all of this creates an immersive experience that is unparalleled. the game doesn't take self-insert so seriously that the protagonist ~can be anyone~ (Harry's characterization is, in fact, very strong and well-established) but there's absolutely no way a Disco Elysium book or show would have the same impact as me having to progress the story by fucking around and finding out.

GAME SPOILERS AHEAD—combining these two aspects of DE helps to explain what made the tribunal the MOST TENSE i've ever felt playing a video game. this is essentially as close to combat as you'll get in this game. you've just spent the last 20-30 hours becoming very familiar with the mechanics of the game with regards to the dice rolls. you become accustomed to the fact that most skill checks are white so you can come back to them, and that red checks are comparatively rare. enter the tribunal: suddenly you have several very high stakes red checks in a row. you can't leave. you can't try an individual check again if you fail. the story itself has been alluding to this very moment throughout the game. people are DYING, and the lives of those that remain, including your own, are on the line. your earlier decisions have come to a head.

it was 3 am when i got to this point in the game, and the reality of the situation i found myself in shook off every bit of sleepiness i'd been feeling up to this point—my eyes were wide open and my heart was pounding.

i know many people who play video games derive a lot of satisfaction from perfecting mechanics, learning patterns, or deducing the weaknesses of a difficult boss. for me, this satisfaction gets dwarfed by the frustration of having to spend far too long dealing with it in the first place. triggering a boss battle oddly takes me out of the story, because it feels like a very marked switch from "being the protagonist in the game's world" to "sitting on my couch playing a Video Game", where the same repetitive action of "killing the enemy" becomes my goal, no matter what the game is.

by contrast, the tribunal was very much a continuation of the story with each skill check having immediate results on how that story plays out. no other moment in the game was quite like it, and i had no idea how this sequence of events was going to go, so every action felt extremely fraught. i was on the edge of my seat in a way no other game has gotten me to feel, because the weight of this encounter felt monumental in DE. and of course, this is where you come across an iconic skill check where you find out exactly how much your previous choices matter...

i was so damn nervous during this check i probably would've cried if i failed it lmao

FUCK YOUR EXPECTATIONS—this leads me to the other thing that's got me smitten with this game: the subversion of expectations. dialogue options are never written so transparently as to have a "correct" answer, and trying to stay neutral with my answers got me a well-deserved smack in the head in the form of a brutal burn about the dangers of centrism. we have 3-dimensional characters that make you growl in frustration one moment and your heart swell in the next, descriptions that make you marvel at both the beauty and ugliness of humanity, situations where you feel crushed by sadness and dread then want to cry tears of happiness because despite all of it, there is still magic left in the world. it's also so goddamn funny. this game is fucking hilarious—and what is comedy, what is a punch line but the subversion of an audience's expectations established during the setup?

Disco Elysium is a game that far exceeds the sum of its parts. it excels in its storytelling, its voice acting brings incredible life to said phenomenal writing, its gorgeous painterly art style is visually compelling, its music is flawlessly incorporated to full effect, it's intellectually stimulating and fascinating philosophically, and as a murder mystery (oh yeah that's what this game's premise is, right?) it's just plain fun to reveal clue after clue while pondering theories as to what the heck is going on. these individual components come together to create a multi-dimensional piece of media that's deeply human, yet fantastical and absurd. it's uncomfortably relatable while inspiring empathy for even the most unfamiliar of experiences.

for instance, i have no personal experience with alcoholism or addiction, but boy do i sure know what it's like to have a compulsion to apologize at every opportunity for simply existing—to want to cease existing, period. i don't know what it's like to grow up and live in a post-soviet country yet the experience in-game felt as vivid as ever, inextricable from the story's identity. i felt a pang of pained recognition in Kim's complicated relationship with his race as diaspora, and found myself wishing i had the ability to respond even half as effectively as he did with the Racist Lorry Driver during my own past run-ins with racist assholes. this game has caused me to think more deeply about my own politics, my relationships, the world around me, the power of art, the role of capitalism, beauty, hope... even what it means to be alive.

A CHANGED PERSON—a realization i came to a while ago while talking to a friend was that almost all of the media i had enjoyed up to that point shared a theme of escapism in one way or another. there have been many moments in my life where i wished to be somewhere else. to be someone else. i immersed myself in stories where the fantasy of it seemed so much better than the reality of my own life. this game forced me to reckon with where i am, who i am. and not only that, it encouraged me to be accepting and loving of the here and now, despite every single flaw i seemed to be obsessed with pointing out. it made it abundantly clear that constantly running away was not a viable way of living, and that flaws were not a reason to give up. "something beautiful is going to happen"—i should very damn well let it.

it's not an exaggeration to say this game has changed me irrevocably, and the fact that this impossible piece of art even exists in this world feels like a miracle. i'm so grateful that i got to experience it.

#disco elysium #disco elysium spoilers #personal #video games #wow this was long huh? #thanks for reading!

[cosmonaughtt]

I think, part of the reason I’m quite ecstatic about the Hermitcraft & Empires crossover (The Great Crossover Event) is that... 

It was planned and followed through.

Also this ramble got long so there is a readmore LOL (￣ ‘i ￣;)

And this little ramble here isn’t a slight against any creator at all, but I first got re-involved with MCYT content with the DreamSMP. I think that using Minecraft as a medium for storytelling is super unique and underrated; there’s a bit of a juvenile energy to it as it’s a kids game, but also as a game with infinite possibilities and worlds it really has no bounds.

What DSMP did in 2020-2021 was amazing. I think that they had such great potential with storytelling and used it without even realizing what they were doing, especially in the early days. One of the reasons I fell out of it (as I’m sure everyone has) is that, for the most part, they aren’t really that organized as they maybe used to be.

And I get it. Life happens, and you lose inspiration for stories, and with COVID-19 NOT ENDING BUT EVERYONE THINKING IT IS OVER ENOUGH TO MOVE ONTO OTHER VENTURES, I’ve been there before. Well, maybe not the last part. I still wear mask everywhere I go. 

I can’t help but say that the disappointment of ccs losing interest in the DSMP storyline doesn’t hurt in a way. Call me parasocial for it all you want; but if your favorite book series or movie trilogy never had that final movie come out, or your favorite TV show never had that last season to tie up all the loose ends, you’d be dissapointed too, right? Again, this isn’t a slight against the individual ccs, just at circumstances around it.

But in come Hermitcraft and Empires; Hermitcraft was a series on my radar for years but I’ve always been intimidated by the long episode counts (except for season 8 now lmao) to ever get invested into it, but when Empires S1 came out i was hooked. People using Minecraft to tell stories! And it’s good!!!! 

There’s a sort of similar energy from early Empires episodes to early DSMP lore; none of it feels completely planned out. I can’t speak for creators of course, but it feels like both SMPs didn’t intend to get as story-based or lore-heavy as they ended up getting, but they got, eh, lost in ze sauce, as one of my friends would say. They embraced it, and it just so happened that Empires, because it was strictly MINECRAFT creators and not a mix of different types of streamers who also play Minecraft, it was able to keep that storyline to the end. And with Hermitcraft, while some people joke it’s got lore-phobic people on the server who just wanna play minecraft, after the ending of Season 8? Yeah, right, buddy.

When there started to be little pieces & foreshadowing in episodes, I got really excited, but kept my expectations low. Maybe as a response to DSMP CCs, maybe as a I get too overexcited over little things and I don’t wanna over-hype myself, if it doesn’t happen I’ll just make fanfic for it lmao type of thought. 

But they didn’t!

They actually went through with it! It’ll be a little mini-arc! They’d been planning it for more than four months, according to fWhip’s video. It’s one of the biggest crossover events in Minecraft history, and it is so cool to see these (grown-ass adults /affectionate) MCYT creators invest so heavily into storylines and “roleplay”. I think for a lot of popular storytellers, like directors or writers of different shows/movies/novels/etc, have become dissatisfied with how late capitalistic society has made “storytelling” synonymous with the dreaded word “content”; its so rare to find a unique work out there nowadays that isn’t just a remake of something else or relies on “meta” storytelling to be funny and original that it just oversells itself and becomes dull in the process (ahem Velma ahem). 

But as silly as it is, these MCYTs are putting their all into roleplaying as lil’ block people in a fantasy world. Even less roleplay-heavy creators are finding their places in the storytelling, and idk I can’t help but be appreciative and awed at the fact that they planned something and it actually went through for once.

#hermitcraft #empires #empires smp #hermitcraft season 9 #The Great Crossover Event #dreamsmp #the stars speak #this whole crossover has just made me really happy yall

[sexybabystevie]

rose with robin since I love her. I dont dont think I need to explain myself since you already know me, feel free to use my old pronouns for this one (I wont mind if its for her <33)

A/n: I'm sooo nervous to write this but I really hope you like it!!! <3 (Don't worry about old pronouns, I'll just write with a gn!reader in mind!)

Robin Buckley Masterlist

Strawberry Slushies and Arcade Games

Robin Buckley x gn!Reader

Tags and Warnings: Brief Implications of Homophobia, Shy!Robin Buckley, Soft!Robin Buckley, First Date, Headcanons

Word Count: 1325

You and Robin were barely acquaintances, having only seen one another as you passed through the hellishly crowded hallways at school. You'd never really spoken to her either, finding her friendly enough, but neither of you had really considered yourselves that great at socializing, so it remained one of those 'what-if' situations. One of the things you thought about at night when you wondered if your actions and choices could have led you to a different outcome.

Until... Robin notices you at the arcade next to Family Video. She's been working there for months, and she has a habit of spending her break time there instead of in the video store . (Steve teases her for it, but who can blame her? They have better vending machines and they have blue raspberry slurpees. What more could she ask for?)

She remembers you from school – someone who seemed kind and genuine and who she wanted to converse with but never had the courage to – and so she finally comes up with a plan to talk to you. She's going to walk into the arcade one day, see you there, and try to strike up casual, easy conversation. Maybe about the arcade or the game you've been playing for three days straight now. Easy enough, right?

Well... not so much. Robin carries out phase one of her plan; she steps into the arcade during her break and orders the usual from concessions – her blue raspberry slushie and a medium side of chili cheese fries – but that's about as far as her plan goes. You're there, hyper-focused on one of the game machines – she hasn't figured out how you always manage to be there when she's on break, but it's not as if there's much to do in Hawkins besides run from monsters, watch movies, and play games, so she doesn't really pay any mind to it – and she's rendered a bit of an anxious mess because she's just realized she'll have to talk to someone outside of her typical friend group. Sure, you give off good vibes, but the possibility of getting to know you and then finding out that you won't accept her for who she truly is keeps her from moving over to talk to you.

She keeps her eyes on you, curious and yet hesitant, until she has the fleeting thought that this might seem a little creepy, so she turns back to her food and continues intensely staring at her blue slushie, imagining what it would have been like had she been capable of following through with her plan.

However, she doesn't have to imagine it for very long, because suddenly you're next to her, asking the concession manager for your own strawberry slushie – something that actually surprises her, because she didn't have you pinned as the strawberry type. She's so shocked that she unintentionally voices her thoughts.

"Strawberry? I didn't see you as someone who could handle the sweetness of it."

"Yeah, it's surprisingly not too bad." A beat passes and then you fall into an oddly familiar routine – strange, seeing how you'd never interacted before – and you smile as you tease her. "You got something against strawberries, Buckley?"

Conversation strikes up easily, taking you both by surprise, and the difference between your demeanor and your personality has her captivated. She quickly grows fond of you – becoming friends who talk excessively about whatever is currently of interest to the both of you, listening with wide eyes as you get to know one another – and suddenly she's making sure to spend all of her breaks at the arcade, sharing snacks and various flavored slushies together as you talk alongside the machines. She finds your honest and teasing personality refreshing, finds it intriguing how you're so devoted to your hobby of gaming; you have this goal to become the player with the highest score on every machine, and she thinks it's both impressive and endearing that you're actually pretty close to achieving that, having half of the machines already showcasing your name as the number one player. In other words, it doesn't take her too long to realize that she may be developing a crush.

If it did take her any longer, then Steve would have been the one to clock it. She's prone to rambling on and on to him, as they're best friends, and you've become the latest subject of such ramblings. She talks about how much she enjoys your presence, about how she can't believe the two of you had never talked before now, and when he gives her an all-knowing glance, she just playfully rolls her eyes.

"I'm serious. If you had actually met them, you would think that they're as cool as I do."

But she's not as dense as Steve thinks she is; rather, she's just worried about exposing herself to the wrong person.

Regardless, one day when she leaves her shift a few hours early – Steve taking care of Family Video as she goes next door – she accidentally spills her secret (and her strawberry pink slurpee).

The two of you were talking at an arcade machine with your usual snacks when you had convinced her to try her hand at the game you were trying to win.

"Oh no, I've never been much of a gamer. My hands get really fidgety and they've always been a little over my head..."

She nervously laughs but you insist, and she eventually caves. She struggles at first, trying to keep up with which button does what, but she finally gets the hang of it as you cheer her on. Your support has her cheeks dusted pink, making her brain falter for a minute as she reels on how nice it feels to hear you applaud for her, and she falters. She's about to lose the game when suddenly you help her out, your hand resting on hers in order to save her little character on screen, and Robin feels like she might explode.

She's so giddy that she moves her free hand forward, knocking over her cup and sending some of it flying towards you. What remains of the strawberry drink you had convinced her to try is now on your shirt, and her eyes are wide, mortified and filled with guilt.

She rushes to hand you some napkins, quick to try and talk to explain to you.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry! I really hope that doesn't stain because your shirt is really cute and I would feel absolutely terrible if I messed it up. Like horrible, and I hope that you don't think I'm crazy for how much I talk to you because I just think you're really cool to hang out with. Like, so cool. Like, I talk about you so much to my coworker Steve that I'm pretty sure he wants to strangle me sometimes. He seems to think I have some sort of crush on you and–"

She stops, having realized what she's bumbled on about, and when you ask her if she does have a crush on you, she just lets out a nervous giggle before saying, "Um.. maybe?"

She's so anxious, heart hammering as she looks anywhere but at you, terrified that you might reject her and expose her to everyone else at Hawkins High as an outsider, someone different, but you don't. You take her hand and give her a smile, reassuring her and confirming that you feel the same, and Robin beams.

"So uh... I could take you downtown to buy you a new shirt? To make up for this one?"

You accept her offer and enjoy your first official date together, hand in hand as you go shopping right after leaving the arcade. When you leave, various brown paper bags of items hung on your fingers, you both sport matching grins of elation and golden charm bracelets, yours of the moon and stars and hers of the sun and clouds.

#the garden🌷 #aimi🌷 #stranger things #stranger things 4 #robin buckley x reader #robin buckley fanfic #robin buckley fluff #robin buckley x y/n #robin buckley #lovely requests

[magicaltear]

I was tagged by my dear @ailendolin 💕 Thank you so much!

1.  Are you named after anyone?

Not exactly. My parents picked my name because of its meaning. No one else in my family is named the same way. I actually really like my name!

2. When was the last time you cried?

This past Friday while watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 at the movies.

3. Do you have kids?

Nope! I’m still single~

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Yep. It’s actually a little bit difficult for me to not use it. I always do it for the sake of delivering a joke though, never with the intention of being mean.

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

Their eyes and their hands. They are the first indicators of whether the person feels open for communication or would rather be left alone.

6. What’s your eye colour?

Brown! Not too light, not too dark. Perfectly in the middle.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings, always. I’m chicken for scary movies and they often make it hard for me to fall asleep that night.

8. Any special talents?

I am really good at keeping secrets. I also have a decent sense of direction, so I very rarely get lost. I hope those count LOL

9. Where were you born?

Mexico.

10. What are your hobbies?

Writing and reading. I also like to draw, but I don’t do it as often. Learning about WW1...is that a hobby or a hyper-fixation? Oh, well 😂

11. Have you any pets?

Not any more. I miss my dearly beloved Beagle so much 💖

12. What sports do you play/had played?

I’ve always failed at sports... Does swimming count? I used to go on a few tournaments when I was little... Badminton is fun though~

13. How tall are you?

1.65 meters or 5′5″.

14. Favourite subject in school?

English literature, closely followed by World History.

15. Dream job?

Head of Story for either an animated film or a video game. I’m a Creative Writer who gets rather bored when writing on my own. I would love to work in a team and see our story coming to life in a visual medium.

Tagging: @atypical-snowman @csblogs @kiki-shortsnout @wandereroftherealms @vannral @sanctum-stinker (only if you feel like it, loves!)

#tear-chan talks #tumblr game #ailendolin

[sorroute]

Personality & likes Uhhhh Its a mix of alot, I get annoyed easily unless if I love you, I can be sassy and clingy but im chill. Im constantly sleepy, I get very anxious around crowds and or having to meet new people. I get very VERY excited when someone mentions anything about dogs and space,I sometimes type with typing quricks

sometimes(Like i'll replace to/too with 2)

I also enjoy using emoticons like ":3 :0 >:( 

^_−☆"  My humor is like those tiktok comments that are "We did it gang!! We springed that trap!" and fake bullying 

 I love Dr pepper, sweets (especially chocolate) and shrimp, gossiping, and sending silly pictures like those pinterest ones (i hope u get what I mean)

Any hobbies: Cosplaying, star gazing, listening to music (Like radiohead and csh, the bands I listen 2 most :]) reading homestuck

playing video games (especially rhythm games ) going on walks, reading manga and watching anime or shinjin drowning (youtuber). playing the kalimba, drawing, making oc's, 

Male or female character: Male plz :]

Which fandom: Evangelion

Gender Transgender Male

Appearance: Medium length brown hair thats messy 70% of the time, blue eyes, pale skin, eye bags, around 5'5, chubby and skinny ?

Pronouns: He/Him

Sexuality: Gay

Age:15

Romantic or platonic: Romantic

Aesthetic:scene ,Grunge and Chinese y2k

Any problems you struggle with: I have paranoid thoughts and anxiety, if someone unexpectedly opens the door i'll jump 80% of the time, autism 

Any physical disabilities have:  Hyper mobility syndrome

Waaa you seem so cool ^_^ Sorry for how long this took to post </3 I was actually a bit stuck on this one at first but then I remembered Kensuke exists !!! Yay !!!

Kensuke Aida

Silly nerd

He loves your clinginess so much

He's probably more clingy than you....

He almost always drags you camping with him, even though he often goes by himself

He just wants to spend time with you :3

He doesn't mind how sleepy you are.... Well like, maybe he does a bit

He tries to get you to stay awake with him by getting you to go hiking with him

But sometimes he also gets very sleepy and when that happens he just flops over on you and passes out

While he doesn't really understand your anxiousness regarding crowds, he does get where you're coming from

He tries to get you out of the crowd as soon as he can if he notices you're getting anxious or uncomfotable

Uses his manipulation skills to get you out of situations where you have to meet a bunch of new people, like gatherings and stuff

"Uhmm actually he has some really important things to do and can't come to the gathering tonight!! Sorry!! .... He still has to come? Because it's important.. ? But this is also important!! It's detrimental to his future!! You wouldn't really ruin a kid's life like that just so you can get your way would you??? Yeah, that's what I thought"

(You literally just slept and played video games the whole day)

Space enthusiast bf x history enthusiast bf

I hc that Kensuke is also autistic so you guys would rant about your hyperfixations to eachother

LOVES to listen to you rant about space because I feel like, besides war, he'd also be really interested in that sort of stuff

As long as you let him rant to you about war history as well <3

Whenever you two see a dog the both of you get so excited

I feel like Kensuke would also use typing quirks tbh

Doesn't use them, but thinks the little kaomojis and faces are super cute :3

He has no idea what the hell you're talking about whenever you make jokes but laughs anyway because he loves you

With the total of 5 dollars and 37 cents in his bank account he tries to get you the things you like, but he either spends the money first or loses it LMAO

He's trying he's never had a bf before pls spare him

He loves your silly pinterest pictures, you guys will literally spam them back and forth and have a whole conversation soley through those pictures

Radiohead bfs !!!!

You guys 10000% stargaze together when he drags you camping with him

Probably some of your most peaceful moments together

He plays his little war games while you play your little rhythm games !!

He asks you to play a dramatic war song while he's re-enacting scenes with himself

You may or may not have to explain that pjsk/enstars/bandori or whatever isn't really a war game (depending on what rhythm games you play)

Asks you to play the kalimba while he's doing his little war scenes instead

And then you do and it makes him look stupid because.... The kalimba isn't really a ... "dramatic" instrument as Kensuke calls it

Finds it calming sometimes though :3

You probably got him into making ocs tbh..

He would ask to hear about them and then would be like "woah!! That's so cool! I could never do that ><"

And then he stays up all night making an Eva Pilot oc with a super intricate design and backstory

WILL ask you to draw his ocs

He feels super bad when he opens the door and he startles you

But also doesn't know what to do because he's just opening a door...

So then he always knocks before entering so he doesn't scare you

He probably does still startle you because his knocks are LOUD but at least now he doesn't have to see it?😭

He does not know what hypermobility syndrome is so you probably have to explain it to him

Once he finds out he probably thinks it's super cool how you can move your joints like that but at the same time hates it because it causes you pain

Tries to help alleviate the pain as much as possible, but has no idea how </3

He just loves you and wants to make sure you're happy and healthy ^_^

(Sort of a hypocrite about it though...)

A/N

Aaa hihi!!! >_< So sorry this took so long to come out!!! It was really fun to write though, so I hope you enjoy it nonetheless <333 (also you seem so fun omg, we have like, the same type of humor.. waaa

#matchup event #x reader #evangelion x reader #neon genesis evangelion #nge x reader #kensuke aida #kensuke evangelion #nge kensuke #kensuke x reader #kensuke aida x reader #matchups

[imaginesilenthill]

so how we feeling abt the announcements ( afaik there was no news abt any of the older games getting a pc release so im kinda :/ )

As usual, this is Just My Opinion. Feel free to disagree; it's fine.

Okay, so to take it from the top…

The SH2 Remake. My usual apathy towards SH2 is aided and abetted by the fact that it’s Bloober Team doing it. On one hand, I liked Layers of Fear and I’ve beaten it twice, and that game lifted heavily from SH2 in places; on the other hand, The Medium looks godawful and I find it incredibly reductive. So… Could be better, could be worse, but ultimately damned by the fact that it’s a PS5 exclusive as far as I know, and I’m not about to buy one for a remake of a game I tolerate. (edit: I’ve been told it’s going to be on Steam as well but they didn’t announce that to us Americans; I had originally heard it’s a timed-exclusive so we will get it eventually, but that might be different) (I have more thoughts here. I'm still digesting the trailer; expect more vomit later.)

I’m intrigued by the idea of Silent Hill F. My biggest problem is that Silent Hill is, traditionally, an American setting. Specifically New England, aka My homeland. But I do have a huge predilection for J-horror, and so far it’s the thing I’m most excited about.

Townfall's teaser is so devoid of information that I don't really have much to say about it. Tentatively optimistic for it though, because I heard Observation was a good game and its the same developer.

Return To Silent Hill probably should have been done back in the game's hey-day. I think what's happening is that everyone is lining up to suck off Silent Hill 2, about ten years too late for it to be anything but pandering. But, whatever. Christoph Gans is responsible for both the best and worst Silent Hill movies, so we'll see what happens (I'm absolutely going to watch it on opening day. With popcorn. Probably more than once.)

Ascension looks dumb as rocks and its description as "a new interaction video streaming experience" solidifies that. I've never known streaming to be a good conduit for horror. At the same time, I've been known to play Dead By Daylight and get genuinely tense, but there's a world of difference between a multiplayer game with horror wallpaper and whatever the hell that was.

#silent hill 2 #silent hill f #silent hill townfall #return to silent hill #silent hill ascension

[haellen-o]

GET TO KNOW ME

its about that time again. thank you @gatheredfates for the tag!. unfortunately this is a bit more of a buzz kill post since it asks questions i don't really have happy honest answers to lol

tagging @the-unending-journey @elizabethrobertajones @dragonsongmakhali @dragoon-mid-jump @otherworldseekers and you the reader. should you find this interesting

are you named after anyone? yes. much to my dismay i am named after my father, its not that i dislike my dad. i just don't like the name very much. especially considering we could've pulled from scottish, irish, and welsh names. as we have extended family from those regions

when was the last time you cried? the details of it aren't very fun and pertain to mental abuse, so i'm not gonna share it. but it was a few months ago

do you have kids? i have a dog. and i plan on getting a rat once i have a place of my own again... Biological children? never happening lol

do you use sarcasm a lot. i'm english. sarcasm is like breathing

what sports do you play/have you played? i don't like sports. although i did pick up boxing in my youth

what is the first thing you notice about other people? how they look at me. i was forced from a very young age to learn to read peoples facial expression to interpret and separate what they actual think from what they say so i just kind of default to that now

scary movies or happy endings? i adore horror as a medium. From cheesy slasher flicks to intense atmospheric horror, and all the weird niché's in-between (body, analog, existential, ect) some of my favourite media is horror

any special talents? uuuuuhhhhh... i uh... I'm really adaptive? i learn new things pretty quick (i just forget them very easily)

where were you born? Kidderminster england, its a bit of a shit place don't visit there if you find yourself in england (i'm sorry in advance if you find yourself in england)

do you have any hobbies? video games, writing, listening to music, creating music, and looking at art.

do you have any pets? i own a jack russel by the name of timothy. tho we just call him tim or timmy for short, he' is the bestest little guy's just a little guy

how tall are you? when i last checked. which was nearly a decade ago, 6'3. Tho again it was quite awhile ago so that could've changed

favourite subject in school. i was homeschooled (poorly) and didn't enjoy any of it

dream job? i really don't know anymore. every job i've thought would be the dream job ended up getting incredibly bad very quickly for people trying to break into it, and for some just bad in general (Youtube. Streaming. Music) so i honestly have no idea what my "Dream job" would be... I guess one that pays well and allows me to have some money left over after rent/taxes/bills/groceries?

eye colour? blue, nothing special here. i'm told they're quite nice to look at though

#ffxiv unrelated #about me #i am sorry for being a buzzkill lmao

[barbieb0y]

journey: INTERNET OVERDOSE.

yeah yeah shameless song reference in the title but hey it fits my acc's theme

if you can't guess it yet, in this one i'll be talking about my relationship with the internet. of course, i still mostly am on the internet, or at least on my pc and phone, but i'm doing a whole lot better than i did a few years back lol

anyways sit back bc this is gonna be a long one.

i've always had a fascination with modern gadgets, considering i grew up with gaming consoles and a dad who's a computer science graduate.

but i never used these gadgets to actually engage with the wide community on the internet - it was mostly for playing video games, to nobody's surprise. not that i was old enough to really understand anything that's being said on the net; then again, even toddlers are being let on to social media these days.

it truly started when i was around 11. though technically it doesn't classify as a social medium, i remember being on quizup. it was there where i had my first real taste of online social interaction - it's just that it wasn't too memorable so i buried it in the depths of my mind. what came after is much more interesting (despite the sudden onslaught of... graphic pictures of the popstar that clogged the taylor swift quiz community section at one point, but i digress).

it was there where i discovered about amino - a friend of mine there shared a screenshot of what seemed to be a community dedicated to blogging exclusively about taylor swift (i was a swiftie okay you don't have to rub it in) and curious, i asked them what it was. they told me it's an app called amino and you can join any community within the app. for whatever reason, that dragged me in.

i installed amino. i joined my first ever community - the swifties community (or as we call it, swifties amino). while amino is notorious for its roleplaying community, i participated in none of that (i would argue that there is nothing roleplay about in a community about the worldwide popstar taylor swift but terminally online people are well... creative enough to come up with anything). if anything, i think i barely chatted with any of the people in that community. i mostly did my own thing, which is lurking. the only thing i remember posting was fan-made gifs of the song "out of the woods".

no, what really started my chronically online phase was none other than the sims amino. and here's the funny part - i wasn't even a massive sims fan at the time. my only exposure to it is playing the sims freeplay and the sims 2 on my old psp. but since the app was still new (or at least, the main app - there were always the standalone aminos that were their own apps, including a sims amino app i believe), it was one of the only aminos available at the time that didn't really intimidate me. so i joined, for whatever reason.

it was a small community. almost everyone was new. i remember using basic gif filters to edit pics of sims was mind-blowing back then. most people actually play the sims 4, which was new (and paid; expensive at that) at the time, and it made me jealous - i only had a mobile game and an old game to speak for. and that year, i actually begged my mom to buy me a copy of the game. once i got good grades for an exam that year, i got my copy i ordered online which was, funnily enough, the first instance of online shopping i did that i can recount. (fun fact: i also got the get together expansion pack but i don't remember if that was the same year or not)

i wanted to be like everyone else, posting their sims with a pretty gradient background. i read blogs on how to edit. i wrote my own nonsensical, corny stories that i keep cancelling because i couldn't commit. there was a point where i'd post everyday. a point where i put my deepest, darkest thoughts into an amino post because i thought it'd be entertaining. honestly, it would've been simple if it was just that.

but there was a desire for approval.

if you didn't know, aminos have this section called the "feature page" and upon entering an amino, you're instantly greeted with this section. mods can pick certain posts they think are feature-worthy and put them there. we called it "featuring" posts. it's supposed to bring attention to these posts that deserve more attention. i can't remember the first time i got featured but by god was it exhilarating.

logging in and seeing my post, sometimes at the top if it was still newly featured, was like being fed food after not having eaten for a week. i didn't know i was so starving for attention until that moment. or maybe i never craved it - that amino only sparked that need, that thirst.

i remember i would feel particularly down if a post of mine (that i think deserves to be featured) was ignored and only got 20 likes instead of 300. it's funny to think about that now because nowadays, from what i've check briefly on the web, even featured posts get only 12 likes at best. it's eerie to see an amino in such a state. it's like a graveyard.

it kind of give me the image of what it would be like if we actually destroyed the internet.

this is also where i found my first ever friend group. i remember all their (user)names still. back then, i had a tendency to "fictionalize" the people i knew, including myself. i remember making sims that "represented" us. they were even color-coded, with mine being red because that was my favorite color at the time. i've also fictionalized friends outside that group. wrote a fictional story including us living fictional lives, loving fictional men i created, even straight-up putting these characters in situations that should've made my friends uncomfortable. but they never said anything about it. i was lucky. but also not.

one of the members of this friend group actually inspired me to start writing because they were a writer themselves. and after time, they decided to make an amino of their own, exclusively for writing. all four of us joined and some others - including my very own biological sister. i still think of that place as a safe haven; it's a small place with mostly familiar faces and i can write anything i want with little to no judgement.

eventually we all started leaving amino. or at least, they did. i always had trouble moving on when it came to friends leaving, for whatever reason. but perhaps it's because i always had a small glimmer of hope inside of me that told me "but what if they come back?" and that i have to be there when they come back. but they never did.

i was feeling dejected by then. i tried searching for another amino to belong in. fortunately, around the same time, i've been joining my sister in on her danganronpa marathon so i've taken a liking to the franchise. and so that meant i was more than eligible to join danganronpa amino.

i joined. everything happened in a blur - yet it feels like i could remember it all crystal clear too. i remember posting my first ever fanfic there. i don't remember what my first post was. i remembered what was probably could only be described as falling platonically in love with your best friend. i don't remember if i had breakdowns there or not. i remember fictionalizing people and them enabling it yet again. i don't remember what i said to make people even like me.

i remember being ghosted by the girl i loved.

and i remember it cutting deep.

after all the posts i wrote about her, for her, after messaging her "i love you" everyday even after she left, after everything.

i held on. just in case she came back. but she never did. they never do.

i couldn't read any instances of her name for a while after that. being there made me yearn for all the good times again and finally, after a while of holding on to that little glimmer of hope, somehow, i left.

either i was already a part of it or until after i left danganronpa amino did i join bandori amino. i had little to no negative experiences here - if anything, i was the negative experience. i had a deep hatred for this one character back then and for whatever reason, i often had to make it known to others. but otherwise, all i really did was post edit sets, post blogs explaining why i love the characters i love and sell reroll accounts (and no the price is not real money. it's amino coins). there was a point where i did lose my game account to a scammer posing as an account farmer though.

but things really went down once i joined a3! amino, a bit after i joined bandori amino. i simply wanted to be surrounded by people who enjoys the same game i do but boy oh boy did i get more than i bargained for.

don't get me wrong. a3! amino is still a memorable place for me and i have friends and family i made through it that i am still connected and close with to this day. but to say that it was all positive would be a lie.

underneath the facade of a welcoming community, i could see fights breaking out and users making fun of each other behind each other's backs. i thought i wouldn't ever be a part of all that but well, life is unpredictable, isn't it?

i had these 3 friends. 2 of them were adults, 1 around my age. these adults does not get along with the 1 kid - and honestly, i do not blame them because this kid is insufferable and i was just too naive to really accept it earlier. that i was just friends with her because i pitied her.

one of the adults told me to tell this kid that she has problems, blah blah blah, whatever. i told my friend to get her shit together and solve her own problems and not drag me into it. well, guess what? i got dragged into it. she got mad at me instead, telling me i shouldn't listen to my other friend.

it's to the point where i would feel uncomfortable interacting with any of them. i didn't know what to do. and i don't remember what the resolution was anyway. i only remember how the whole situation made me stressed out like never before. i simply wanted everyone to get along. it seemed so easy before.

another minor dilemma i experienced was when i joined this entertainment team. and though that was where i met my younger sibling and close friend, it was also where my inferiority complex grew. everyone in the team was an artist - except for me. i was the only writer accepted, for whatever reason. though i am honored, at some point, it just made me feel small.

we published a new edition of our magazine, which was in the form of a post. everyone's submissions were amazing - and to close it all off, my fanfic was featured at the very bottom. i had hoped it would make people happy - and now i have no doubt but it must've - but one comment, though innocuous, i took to heart. the user praised all the art featured in the post,

but did not comment on my writing.

i thought that my work is not worth reading. not worth consuming. not worth experiencing, just because you can't just take it in by simply looking. and knowing me, i'm known for how quickly i lose motivation. that one comment was enough to bring me down. i brought it up with my other teammates and they sympathized with me, but eventually i had to leave due to my lack of motivation and, again, inability to commit to anything.

i left both the team and amino altogether. i couldn't take what this app was doing to me anymore. i needed a new start. and somehow, somehow, past me thought twitter was a good idea. most likely because some of my friends were already on twitter by then.

i moved. i made an account. behaved like any other twitter user would - with delusion. eventually, i made two accounts. then 3. then many more. there was my public account, my private, a writing account, a gimmick account, roleplaying accounts (ironic how i got into roleplaying after leaving amino), bot accounts, the works. i was still desperate for attention, for approval, for acceptance still.

again, just like amino, i've had positive experiences with twitter; as amusing as it is, i've met most of my current friends through twitter, through the many, many accounts i made. i fondly remember how a friend of mine messaged a roleplaying account i ran and told me that i'm doing such a great job and how they really appreciate me. i didn't think my actions held so much meaning and significance to someone. and to think there might be more out there who holds the same regards but are not bold enough to tell me.

i've had my dark moments of course. who hasn't impulsively, secretly deactivated when they were feeling like garbage to see if people would notice if they're gone or not? it did work once for me so it's not completely foolproof; but it is also, obviously, unhealthy. it's done nothing but feed into my delusion that nobody cared about me when, really, they do but they need to care about themselves - or even someone else who needs it more - at that time.

i've felt isolated too. it seemed like everyone was good at something, or at least part of a majority, except for me. it was like secondary school all over again. i remember being one of the only men in the self-shipping community and even then, i didn't self-ship romantically and/or sexually so it basically meant nothing. i was nothing.

then came the thing that pushed me to the edge.

it was an innocent tweet. out of curiosity, i was simply asking fellow aroaces at the time if they mind being in a non-platonic relationship. suddenly, a mutual of mine came into my replies with a screenshot taken from my rentry. the screenshot read "i don't think all the bandori girls are lesbians". the caption read "now what is this".

i didn't think much of it at first. it's unrelated to what i was asking and besides, shouldn't have they known that when they checked my rentry before they followed me? it barely took a few minutes for people to come and attack me for it though. first it was just 2 people. then 3. then suddenly hundreds were quote-retweeting me with nasty comments and even some death threats. only 2 of my friends defended me. only a gimmick account i liked was respectful to me.

i laugh at the incident now but at that time, i felt myself break. when i hugged myself, i could hear cracks. i asked myself if i should listen to those death threats after all. maybe they'll be satisfied if such a terrible person like me, who dares misrepresent some anime girls, died at their hands.

i held on, for the sole reason that national exams were nearing and that it's a bad decision to let a bunch of stupid terminally online maggots decide whether i live or die because of fictional girls. but it still affected me greatly. i went private.

one day, i was having it particularly bad. i remember that evening vividly: i forgot i accidentally released one of my cats and i had no idea where she went. she's been out since morning and hasn't come back for a few hours now. i start crying while studying, feeling guilty for not just her but everything. i never seemed to be able to do anything right. i called myself a cursed child, that i'm nothing but a burden and an abomination.

i deactivated, thinking it's just one of those times.

i cried, until the cat showed up at my door eventually. i felt relieved by then, that maybe im not such a failure after all. i debated reactivating now that i felt better but i thought that i could probably focus on studying better if i didn't. so i didn't.

the days i went on without twitter were the most liberating and peaceful days i had. nothing else was on my mind other than studying. i'd study while listening to my favorite albums, with a tinge of curiosity as to what's happening on twitter at the time. but i persisted.

eventually, i came back - but only to announce that i'm quitting twitter and make sure my friends know how to keep in contact with me. it only lasted a few days.

then i deactivated.

permanently.

it felt like a huge burden's been lifted off my shoulders. to this day, i haven't attempted to make a new account at all, even though i had the urges. but i'm proud to say i've been clean of twitter for a year and a few months now.

fast-forward to the present day, i am now on tumblr again and it's a peaceful alternative. plus, i'm not on here all the time like i was with twitter. it's just easier to search for content here, what with the tags and all. and it's the only social media i need.

people can say that i'm missing out for not having instagram or tiktok all they want. i'm comfortable where i am right now.

plus, maybe they haven't overdosed like i have just yet.

crazy to think ive been on the internet for like what 7 years now? but it was my only safe space for a while (and still is to some extent) so i dont blame past me

tomorrow will be the last day i post something for this miniseries. i already have a draft in the works so stay tuned~

#shut up safar