#otherwise - all you see is a dead blog. a gap of a few weeks or months perhaps (if they return)

[thistledown-moved]

So funny when people make posts like "if you REALLY had [disability here] you wouldn't be ABLE to have a social media account" like god forbid disabled people do anything that isn't lament in total isolation until they are Fixed or until they die.

#thistle--down #disability #tw fakeclaiming #i shan't address the post that originally baited me into posting this because- #30 seconds on their blog was enough to see it was All about the attention for them and i refuse to give it to them. #disabilities do make social media difficult. be it pain or fatigue issues. motor issues. intellectual issues. ptsd and trauma issues. #others that are no doubt slipping my mind right now. #like you aren't going to see the people who aren't able to uae social media on the internet. #you aren't going to know when aomeone takes a step back from social media unless they tell you. #otherwise - all you see is a dead blog. a gap of a few weeks or months perhaps (if they return) #you dont see the systems people have in place to Use social media unless they show you (and you are not entitled to being shown) #social media is a huge part of modern life. diaabled people don't need to avoid it to prove to some fucking creature on the internet #that they are Disabled Enough. #get the Fuck out.

[honeypiehotchner]

intelligence & issues (Hotch x Fem!Reader) -- chapter twenty-two

I’m liking this two updates a week schedule because I hate leaving you guys hanging like that!! I hope this chapter makes it all better xx.

Oh btw the title of this chapter and last chapter are lyrics from “Hold On” by Chord Overstreet! (Also I know the gif is irrelevant but the ~emotion~ of it is relevant)

ALSO (wow I have a lot I keep forgetting to add) I meant to @ her last chapter, but all of these medical scenes and things were 100% done with the help of @thedumpsterqueen​ because I know next to nothing about all this stuff and she was an angel and let me ask all the crazy questions <333 (P.S. she has a Hotch fic called Standards of Performance on her blog that you guys should alllll read if you haven’t already!! It’s SO good it’s one of my favorites)

Warnings: angst and sadness, but that’s pretty much it

Previous chapter || Fic Masterlist

Chapter Twenty-Two: I can’t imagine a world with you gone

Everything is a blur in Hotch’s mind before and after the first gunshot rings through the air. He didn’t need to hear the buzzing in his ear to know it had hit you.

He took off at a sprint, as did the rest of the team.

His ears are ringing. His thoughts are racing. He’s never been a man who talks frequently to God, but he’s praying. Hoping you’re alive. Begging you to not be dead.

Aaron would never forgive himself if you died. As it stands, though, he won’t ever forgive himself for this.

Prentiss, Reid, and Rossi take off in one direction. Hotch and Morgan take the other. Police officers fill the gaps and follow behind, everyone searching for you and Savannah.

Morgan is the first to stumble on the room. His throat aches when he screams for Hotch, keeping his weapon aimed at Savannah.

“Put the gun down!” Morgan yells.

Hotch comes skidding to a stop in the doorway a second later, weapon raised, but his eyes are focused on you. Savannah’s boot is pressing into your thigh, blood oozing from your wound, soaking your pants, spilling onto the concrete. Hotch’s heart drops at the sight. He’s seen enough bullet wounds to know how much blood should come from them. That is too much.

The bullet must’ve hit the major artery. And the thought terrifies him.

Morgan takes the shot when Savannah refuses to move. It hits her stomach and she stumbles for a moment before falling. Morgan yells for the paramedics again, distantly thinking they should be in here by now.

Hotch falls to the ground beside you, his hands cupping your face, not caring who sees. His thumbs tap your cheeks, willing you to open your eyes. You have a pulse, but it’s weak. Weaker than what it should be.

He presses hard over your wound, hoping to slow the bleeding, but there’s more surrounding your leg than he wants to see.

“Y/N?” He says, his eyes watching your eyelids for any movement. He lets out a momentary sigh of relief when your eyes open. “Y/N, please, can you hear me?”

You stare back at him, no signs of his words registering in your eyes. They’re empty. Haunted, again, but for a different reason this time. This time it’s different. “Aaron…”

“I’m here,” Hotch says gently, pressing his hand harder, his heart breaking when you groan in pain. “I know,” he says, shushing you.

Your eyes travel around the room then, and Aaron follows. Morgan is pressing his hand over Savannah’s wound, speaking into his wrist, asking the others where the hell the paramedics are at.

But Aaron doesn’t want you to see that, so he cups your jaw again, turning your eyes back on him. He smiles as best he can, the tears beginning to spill from his eyes as he takes in your face.

“There’s my girl,” he says softly. “Keep holding on. They’re almost here.”

“Aaron,” you try to say, your voice low and strained, and Aaron shakes his head, trying to get you to stop talking. “Aaron...I don’t wanna go without-- I need to tell you that I--”

“Shhh,” he tries again, not wanting you to waste any energy. “You don’t need to.”

“I love you,” you finally get it out. And he’s stunned to complete silence and tears. “I love you so...so much. It hurts.”

“Y/N,” he says, panicked. Your eyes are closing. “Y/N! Come back, Y/N, come back to me. Y/N. Y/N, please.”

Hotch is too caught up in holding your face and keeping pressure on your wound to notice the paramedics have arrived. One team goes to Savannah, relieving Morgan, while the other comes to you, trying to usher Hotch away, but he doesn’t budge.  

“Hotch,” Morgan tugs on the unit chief, grabbing at his arms, his heart breaking for the both of you. “Hotch, you need to let them get to her.”

Reluctantly, Hotch backs up, clenching his bloodied fist, grimacing at the way your blood sticks his skin together.

Everything else is a blur.

What does it need to be clear for, anyway? If you’re not here?

+++

You’re still in surgery.

It’s been an hour. But it feels longer. It feels like it’s been an entire twenty-four hours.

The entire team has taken up camp in a waiting room at the hospital.

Reid is reading and rereading every magazine he can get his hands on to distract himself, never mind the fact that he reads them so fast that he rips a page on one from turning it so quickly. Morgan has Garcia on the phone and has left to get coffee at least three times, the first time returning with a tray of steaming cups and the next two times returning with only one, but two tearful eyes. Emily has been pacing and will wear a hole into the tile at this rate if she walks for another hour. JJ has been staring at the wall, chewing so hard on the inside of her cheek that she flinches when she draws blood.

Rossi has been staring at the wall, too, but mostly he’s been worrying about and watching Hotch.

Aaron has been biting his nails, tugging at his hair, angrily wiping away tears, and left once to go on a walk before returning two minutes later, asking if they had heard anything. Those two minutes had felt like two hours and he was worried sick for all 120 seconds that he missed something.

Dave hasn’t tried to say anything to Aaron, though he wants to. It’s heartbreaking to watch Aaron like this.

You’re going to pull through. Dave — and the rest of the team — can’t afford to think otherwise. And they refuse to think otherwise, unable to imagine what it would be like if you weren’t here.

But it seems like Aaron is thinking otherwise.

Truthfully, he is. But he’s thinking about so much more.

You love him. You love him. You love him.

And he was too stunned to say it back. The one chance he had, and it might be gone now. Ripped away. Forever.

He sent you in there. He did this to you. He had his reservations, but the call had already been made. You seemed so sure. You wanted to do this so badly. He didn’t want another fight about him not trusting you because it’s not about his trust for you, it’s about how terrified he was for you.

He’ll never forgive himself for this now. Not ever.

It’s a world he can’t even bear to imagine. One without you in it.

Yet here he is, grappling with the fact that he might not have to imagine it soon. He sent you in there. He knowingly put your life in danger. And now he’ll have to live with the consequences.

+++

Aaron is shaken from his trance by the doctor and a nurse coming in to inform the team that you’re out of surgery and that it went well.

But you’re in the ICU.

“She lost a great deal of blood,” the doctor says gravely. “But we think she’ll pull through. She just needs to be watched closely for the time being.”

Everyone nods silently, not sure of what else to say, other than feeling relief that you’re alive.

“Visiting hours are long over, so I recommend you all get some rest,” the nurse says. “She’s in good hands here.”

“Thank you,” Rossi replies.

The doctor excused himself, but the nurse stayed, offering to answer any extra questions. “Visiting hours start at seven a.m.,” she says first. “And in the ICU, only two visitors are allowed in her room at a time.” She doesn’t voice an apology, but one is in her tone as she glances between the six team members.

“Can I stay?” Hotch blurts out of nowhere. The team member’s heads all turn to look at him in surprise. “Can anyone stay the night, I mean.”

“Uh, yeah,” the nurse nods. “One person can.” Her eyebrows furrow sincerely. “Are you her dad?”

Morgan internalizes a snort.

“No,” Hotch replies kindly. “I’m not, but I’d like to stay. I’m her boss.”

Still the nurse looks skeptical. “Would she be okay with—”

“She’s his girlfriend,” Emily blurts out, tired of waiting. And when Hotch sends her a look, she says, “What? It would’ve taken you hours to say it.”

“Oh,” the nurse chuckles, embarrassed. “I’m so sorry. Yes, of course you can stay.”

Hotch lets a tiny smile shine through, but it’s not much. Truth is, he’s terrified to see you. But leaving you here alone – even if this is a hospital – terrifies him more.

The rest of the team says goodbye to head back to the hotel for some much-needed rest, if they can sleep at all. They know they’ll wake every couple hours to worry about you before sleep consumes them once more.

In the meantime, Hotch will be here to look after you for all of them. You’re like a little sister to the rest of them, even though Morgan is the only one to have voiced that. You’re loved here. Loved more than you’ll ever be able to comprehend.

You’re loved by Aaron much more than he’ll ever be able to articulate to you. But he’ll try. He’ll try to help you see.

+++

Hotch is finally walking to your room in the ICU after another half hour of waiting. The nurse said they had to get everything settled in your room before he could come back, which only made Hotch’s worry spike even more.

But eventually, he’s in your room with you. A pillow and blanket is in the chair by the window, but he’s not paying attention to it.

You. You’re asleep, of course, and probably will be for a few more hours. The nurse said you had already woken up once, but because of the pain medicine and the overall stress your body has been under in the past few hours, you fell back to sleep almost instantly.

Tears well in his eyes at the sight of you, laid up in the hospital bed, IVs and wires all over you. The beeping of the heart monitor is the only real sign to him that you’re even alive. Your chest is rising and falling, but it’s barely visible underneath the gown and blankets and wires.

You have one regular IV placed on the top of your left hand. Some other line is in your upper arm, and another in your wrist. He has no idea what they’re all for, he just knows he hates seeing you connected to so much.

Aaron wipes at his eyes angrily. Does he have a right to be this upset when he’s the one who sent you in there?

He turns and sets the pillow and blankets in the other chair, knowing he won’t sleep tonight even if he wanted to. Instead, he pulls the chair closer to your bed, where he can place his hand next to yours.

And, if you happen to wake up, you can reach for him if you need to.

+++

Three hours pass and you still haven’t woken up. Aaron knows. He’s been watching you the entire time.

The nurses have come to check on you a few times, assuring Aaron that it’s normal for you to be sleeping like this. But he just nods silently.

He wants you to wake up. Just for a minute. He needs you to just open your eyes and look at him, just once. That’s all he needs.

But it’s wishful thinking as the sky begins to lighten, showing the first signs of dawn.

Aaron links his pinky with yours, afraid to do much else and risk messing up your IV. Holding pinky fingers is enough right now. Or at least, it’ll have to be.

“I’m sorry,” he says out loud, to you, or really to no one at all, because he’s not even sure you can hear him. “I’m just so...sorry, Y/N.”

Stupid tears gather in his eyes again, clogging his throat, stopping his words.

But he keeps going.

“It’s my fault,” he says. “And I know you’ll try to convince me that it’s not, but Y/N, it is and I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I let this happen to you.”

He leans his head into the palm of his free hand, tightening his pinky finger’s grip on yours.

“I love you,” he blurts it out, tears warming his palm as they cascade down his cheeks. “I love you and I need you to wake up because I need you to hear it. I love you. I don’t think there’s ever been a day that I’ve known you that I haven’t loved you.”

He sniffles, loud and body-rattling, glad he’s alone in this room with you because he’d never let anyone else see him like this. No one but you.

“I tried to get it out before, but you were already gone, and I— You need to wake up. I need you to wake up. Please.”

Aaron keeps his eyes closed and head down for a few minutes longer. He doesn’t even see that you’ve opened your eyes.

Until your pinky finger gently squeezes his.

He lifts his head quickly, eyes wide and wild when he sees you’re looking back at him, eyes glassy with tears and exhaustion.

And just like that, just seeing your eyes open and looking right at him, the dam breaks once more. He’s a mess of tears when he leans his head down onto the bed. You lift your hand and thread your fingers through his hair, closing your eyes as more tears slip down your cheeks.

You scratch a soothing pattern on the base of his skull, moving your other hand over your body to hold onto his arm. He senses the movement and lifts his head, grabbing your hand and pressing it to his lips.

He’s not sure how long he stays there, all he knows is his back aches when he straightens up again, and you’ve fallen back asleep.

Next chapter

#intelligence & issues #aaron hotchner #hotch #criminal minds #aaron hotchner x you #aaron hotchner x fem!reader #aaron hotchner x reader #aaron hotchner x y/n #hotch x you #hotch x fem!reader #hotch x reader #hotch x y/n #criminal minds fanfic #criminal minds fanfiction #aaron hotchner fanfic #aaron hotchner fanfiction #hotch fanfic #hotch fanfiction #aaron hotchner angst #angst

[isthisthingeven0n]

you’re still here : s.r

spencer watched you die in his arms, believing you were gone forever. but when he learns the truth that you’re alive in london, he can’t help but wonder why you’ve hidden away for so long. (2.4k)

all my links

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website know it hasn’t been approved me unless specified. all rights reserved. - i have to start doing this as I had some shit on my other blog with plagiarism)

DO NOT STEAL MY WORK - IT IS ALL MY OWN WRITING

Salem, Oregon

“No, no, no Y/n, please,” Spencer pleads as he holds you close, his arms wrapped around you as your body becomes weaker by the passing second. “please don’t go,” His cries intensify as his arms shake, watching as your eyes begin to close. “no, please.”

“I’m sorry,” You manage to whisper as tears fall from Spencer’s eyes, the last sight you ever saw as your eyes closed, and your head fell back.

“No,” Spencer mutters, shaking you lightly. “no, you can’t be, no!” His cries turn to yells as Morgan approaches him slowly, resting his hand on Spencer’s shoulder as it shakes violently.

“Reid,” Morgan sighs, afraid to look down and see you lifeless in Spencer’s arms. “it’s over, I, I’m sorry.”

Looking over his shoulder, the rest of the team with solemn faces walk over and shield around Spencer whilst the police take care of Jason Lodgings; your murderer.

“Come on, Spence,” JJ speaks softly as she kneels beside Spencer as tears fill her eyes.

“I’m not leaving her.” Spencer states firmly, still not letting you go from his embrace.

“Reid,” Hotch calls out, his voice firm as he stands tall, watching as Lodgings walks away in handcuffs, glancing down with sorrow at the blood oozing from your cream jumper, dripping onto the wooden floorboards. “we have to go.” Hotch tells the team as they slowly rise to their feet, not wanting to start an argument with their superior.

Closing his eyes, Spencer releases a shaky breath as he gently lowers you to the ground. He pushes your hair out from your face and brushes his fingers across your cheek for the last time.

“Goodbye, Y/n.” Spencer whispers to you as he stands up and turns around, ignoring JJ’s open arms and walks out.

*

London, England - Two years later

It was always going to catch up with you, this life was a mere facade for your sake to have a sense of normality, but normality was never something you wanted.

Nearly two years had passed by since they last saw you. You hadn’t seen Garcia flirting with Morgan, heard JJ talk about Henry with such joy or avoided the stern looks Hotch shot over when you joked with Rossi and Emily for two years. But the one thing you’ve missed more than anything was seeing Spencer smile. You missed everything about Spencer, but seeing his smile brought a sense of indescribable joy.

This was never going to last forever, and you knew that coming into the situation. Hotch and Emily helped you figure out what to do, where to go in order to keep you safe. But keeping you safe meant everyone believing you were dead in the eyes of Jason Lodgings and his team, otherwise, they’d kill your team, your family off one by one just to get to you.

Having experienced the trauma from Emily’s ‘death’ you knew this wasn’t going to be easy on the team. You were lying in Spencer’s arms, close to death as you heard him cry for you. Every part of your body screamed to react, to tell him you’d see him again soon. If only you could have, just to provide him with some sense of relief in the long term. Yet if you did, it would’ve ruined the entire plan.

Wandering through Hyde Park, you knew he was close by. Maybe he had seen you already and was too afraid to believe it. The last time you spoke to anyone you knew was a year ago in Paris with Emily.

* Paris, France - One year Ago *

“How are they all?” You question as she sits down opposite you, files in hand as she places them on the table.

“They’re healing,” She answers, sliding the files across as you grab your bag, putting them inside without any hesitation. “it’ll get easier, but they’ll always miss you.” Emily sighs knowingly. “That contains everything you’ll need to get to London and set up a life there. But please, don’t trust anyone easily, Y/n.” She warns you as you nod.

Rising to your feet, you shrug your bag back onto your shoulder as you look down to one of your oldest friends for the last time. “Thank you, Emily.” You smile to her, wishing you could say more.

“Stay safe, okay?” She tells you, unable to form more words as thousands hover behind her lips. “I’ll be in touch soon.”

With a nod, you turn on your heels and walk down the street, not daring to look back as you’ve got to carry on.

*

Exhaling deeply, you bury your hands further into your coat pockets. Autumn was approaching as the Summer nights came to an end. You can’t help but kick through the piles of leaves that line the pathways as children giggle with their parents behind you.

“Did you know after June 21st, the Summer Solstice the sun’s direct rays will begin to shift southward from the Tropic of Cancer toward Earth’s equator?” You can’t help but tense as you hear his voice, filled with pain behind you. “As a result, the summer days become shorter, but that isn’t noticeable for a few weeks until late August when we near Fall.”

With a heavy heart, you begin to turn around and face the one person you owe the most to.

Your eyes remain locked on his feet, an old pair of sneakers lined with dried mud. Slowly, you raise your gaze past his trousers and toward the knitted sweatshirt vest, one you remember vividly even after all this time. As your eyes reach his shoulders, you can see his hair is long again and you can’t help but want to reach out and run your fingers through it like you once did.

“Hi,” You breathe out, unable to meet his scared gaze. “hi, Spencer.” You mutter, tearing apart the tissue in your left pocket as your nerves spread through your system, igniting undiscovered anxieties about this situation.

Spencer remains silent, taking in the sight before him. He never thought he’d see you again, the last time he saw you he held your lifeless body in his arms as he cried for you to stay with him. Yet you’re here, in London, alive.

“Do you wanna sit down?” You motion to the nearest vacant bench, and Spencer walks alongside you without saying a word.

Sitting down beside him, the gap between you feels too big. You’re used to the times of sitting together on the jet, resting your head on his shoulder and drifting off peacefully.

“Been up to much whilst here?” You ask, unsure what else to say. You can see out of the corner of your eye he’s looking straight ahead at the squirrels scaling the trees like buildings in the city.

“Why?” Spencer breaks his silence, his voice firm with you which takes you back by surprise.

“I,” You pause, lowering your head in defeat as you stare at the faint scar on your hand from the initial knife wound that Jason struck you with. “I had no choice.” You admit, hearing the gunfire as you blink away the memory.

“Everyone has a choice, Y/n, always.” He reminds you and just hearing him say your name causes your heart to drop. “You could’ve told us, we would’ve kept you safe, you know I,” Spencer pauses as he exhales his frustration. “we could’ve protected you.”

“I know, Spence,” You mutter, now turning to look up at him for the first time. “but I couldn’t do it, Hotch and Emily assured everyone would be safer this way.” You try to explain as you see the pain that lines his eyes, the heartache held in his gaze as he focuses on you.

He looks older, still sleep-deprived, but there’s a hint of happiness in the lines that surround his lips. A reassurance that he does have good days, the one thing you wished he'd have since you left.

“So you just left knowing we thought you died in my arms? Do you have any idea how I felt?” He’s angry, and rightfully so. “I, I thought I meant more to you than that, Y/n.” His anger subsides as his voice softens, his defences down.

You can’t help but reach out as you look at your hand on top of his, not daring to move it as you study his reaction.

“You’re the most important person to me, Spencer.” You reason, feeling his hand take a hold of yours, resting it in his palm as he curls his fingers over your hand, refusing to let go. “That’s why I had to let you believe I was gone, as Lodgings’ team would know, they’d always know and you would be in danger because of me.”

Spencer shakes his head. “We would’ve found a way, we, we,” He stumbles over his words as you squeeze his hand.

“You think me faking my death was plan A, Spence?” You chuckle, noticing a faint smile crossing his lips. “That was plan Z, actually version 3 plan Z if we’re being specific.”

“Did you ever plan on coming back?” Spencer quietly questions as his words linger around you for a moment as you slip your hand out from his.

“What did Emily tell you, Spence?” You ask, looking up at him as you hide your hands in your coat pockets, picking at the tissue once more.

“Besides the fact you’re alive and in London?” He nervously chortles, catching you rolling your eyes playfully. “She said you were doing okay, and that you were safe here.”

“I am, with Lodgings’ team having been sentenced, I’m no longer a target to them. My life is my own again, I can finally carry on living it.” Looking up, you watch as pigeons fly overhead, swarming down on the chunks of bread left for the swans. “But I made an agreement with Hotch, I’d stay away for at least three years. Three years to ensure my safety and for Lodgings’ team to be dismantled and dealt with.”

“Three years.” Spencer repeats, and you nod along. “You’re not planning on coming home, are you?” Your silence answers his question without you needing to respond. “I understand, Y/n. Three years is a long time to be gone from us all, and people change.” He reasons to himself more than to you. “I, we all thought you were gone, and finding out you’re alive I,” His voice trails off as he clenches his jaw, fighting his emotions that have been pent up for so long.

“Spence,” You mumble his name as tears fall from his eyes. “I want to come home, I do. I just don’t know if it’s home anymore.”

“Home is where the heart is.” Spencer comments.

“Elvis Presley.” You chuckle, lifting your hand up as you wipe away his tears, feeling him tense momentarily from your touch.

“Please don’t go, Y/n.” Spencer whispers as he lifts his hand up, resting it on top of yours as you cup his cheek. “I want to be selfish, I don’t want to lose you again if I don’t have to.”

Tears glaze your eyes as Spencer scans your face for any uncertainty. “Six months, Spence.” The words are barely audible for anyone passing by, but you know he heard you.

“One hundred and eighty-two point five days.” He nods as you lower your hand from his cheek, but he still keeps his on top of yours. “Then you’ll come home?”

“I can’t promise, Spence.” You know lying would be useless with him, you were never the most confident liar around him. “But before I go, I just want to tell you something.”

“Anything.” Spencer responds in a heartbeat, his entire body facing you now as you lower your gaze and take a steady breath.

“When you held me in your arms as I was,” Even after all this time, you still struggle saying the word. “well, fading, there was one thing I couldn’t help but think as you pleaded for me to stay.”

Spencer edges closer, your thighs touching as the previous gap between you both on the bench is gone. “What was it?”

“I wanted to tell you how much I care for you, how much I love you. And I wanted to thank you for being there for me through everything.” Your eyes remain locked on his as you pour your heart out to him, knowing if you don’t say it now, you never will. “But I didn’t have enough life in me to say all that then.” You nervously laugh. “So I thought I’d say it now, as it’s still true. You are a wonderful person Spencer Reid.”

A comfortable silence falls between you both as echoes of children's laughter surrounds you. And for the first time in years, you feel perfectly content.

“You know, Rossi once told me something,” Spencer speaks up, looking down at your hand as he brushes his thumb over the scar Jason caused. “scars show us where we have been, they do not dictate where we are going.”

“Wise words from a wise man.” You comment quietly as Spencer pauses.

“I know you have scars, Y/n. Externally and internally. But I’ll always be here, wherever you chose to be.” A small sweet smile lines Spencer’s lips as you focus on him, wishing there was so much more you could say. “And I’ll always love you, I’ll always miss you. But if I know you’re healing, then that is all that matters.” He lifts your hand up to his lips, kissing it softly before lowering it back to your lap, unaware of your heart-shattering in your chest.

“I’ll see you soon, Spence.” You tell him as he stands up, hands resting in his jacket pockets as he sways back and forth on his heels.

“One hundred and eighty-two point five days, Y/n.” He reminds you, and you can’t help but laugh and Spencer joins in too for a moment and everything feels okay again, just for a second. “I’ll be holding you to it.” He smiles to you one last time as he sees the glint in your eyes falter. “Bye Y/n.”

“Bye Spencer.” You wave to him as you turn around, walking down separate paths once more, unsure when you’ll next reunite.

#ow my heart #spencer reid #spencer reid imagine #spencer reid imagines #spencer reid fluff #spencer reid angst #spencer reid oneshot #spencer reid x reader #spencer reid writing #spencer reid fic #spencer reid au #spencer reid x reader au #spencer reid fanfic #criminal minds #criminal minds imagine #criminal minds imagines #criminal minds fluff #criminal minds angst #criminal minds oneshot #criminal minds x reader #criminal minds fic #criminal minds writing #criminal minds fanfic #spencer reid x y/n #spencer reid x you #spencer reid x fanfiction #mgg #Matthew gray gubler #mgg imagine #mgg imagines

[lavenderbyun]

so i’ve been seeing a lot of posts taking note of the decrease in reblogging content as of late, and you all have probably seen them a bunch of times too, so i’m sorry to be sounding like a broken record lol but i just wanted to focus on the kdrama fandom for a second

this fandom is already quite small - especially with individual kdramas 

and its always been quite uneven in regards to how many people watch certain dramas, so i never really gave it too much thought when i got few notes

but the more i think about it, there definitely is a huge gap, where before 'popular dramas' would get like over 1k reblogs, but now i assume a drama is popular if it gets even 300 - and maybe the kdrama fandom in general has become smaller, but seeing the same issue across fandoms, i’m pretty sure its because people just don’t reblog content

and thats sucks. 

content creators spend ages and ages creating the things they post - and not to sound like a bitch but ‘likes’ don’t really do that effort justice

and i’m not saying “reblog everything you ass! even the things you hate!” - if you’re physically clicking ‘like’ then theres something about the post you do enjoy, so why not validate the creator? its not like we’re asking for money, or for you to click an ad for every 5 gifsets you look at or anything lmao (i mean tumblr does, but we dont) 

and like, if you’re really really not about reblogging - maybe your blog is a mainly in another fandom or something 

i think there are 2 other big things (i feel) you can do to help content creators, especially in smaller fandoms: 

1. post in the tag. i’m sure you all know about the tag limit (you can’t post more than 3 in a row unless 5 others post between your 3rd & 4th posts) and so in smaller fandoms, there are maybe 3-4 regular content creators (honestly sometimes less)

and what has happened to me in the past is, i begin having to wait days before i can post new content bc otherwise my posts are gone (sometimes no ones posts until a week later when theres a new ep and suddenly its not just 7 posts im waiting to post, but like 14), or i just have to step back and only post 3 of the 10 gifsets i had planned (anyone who has been following me for a while might have noticed in the past i used to gif like 6/7 things per ep but now its like 2 things and thats 70% bc of dead tags) - i’ve seen my mutuals have the same problem and im sure loads of other people do too 

but if more people just jumped into the tag for the dramas they’re watching, it helps immensely!!!! and im not saying ‘make a gifset!!!’, ‘write a review!!!’, ‘post some fanfiction!’, i literally mean like going onto tags just to say “oh i love this character”, “this episode sucked”, “i hate this thing in the drama” etc etc 

and not only does this help fill the tag for content creators but it also (as corny as it sounds) brings life to the fandom, people will agree, disagree, maybe feel inspired to rant lmao - but at least it wont be like speaking to a brick wall

2. leave a reply. you don’t want to reblog and you don’t want to post in the tag either, but you do watch this drama and you did see a post you liked - drop a reply! tell OP how much you enjoyed whatever they posted, tell them what you thought during that scene/episode, just be like ‘damn he’s hot’ literally anything??? no offence, but i’d rather get 10 replies than 50 likes - it feels less robotic?? 

anyhow, im going to stop here bc this became an essay before i realised it lmao but yeah, support content creators we have nothing but validation to keep us ticking along!!!

#i aim to use my likes only when im gonna reblog later #maybe bc im on mobile and i cant even see the gifs properly #or maybe bc i have things to say/specific tags to add but im being lazy so im leaving it for later #im not saying everyone should follow suit #and im pretty bad at tagging posts and i dont really reply to posts either #but i just wanted you guys to know there are other options for when you can't reblog a post #babbles

[the-jukeboxghostlove]

This blog appears to be dead, but I am /starving/ for some content for The Inpatient and I saw that you said you'd write for both it and/or Until Dawn, so if you do come back I'd be honored if you responded to this with some Gordon Bennet x male!Inpatient content. 👀 👀

First fic of 2019! :D I’m terrible at finishing fics so it ends a bit abruptly but I do hope that it’s up to par! Also winged the dialogue so lemme know if I fucked it up :’)

- Ghost

———-

Gordon Bennet had been told it would only be for a few days. Bragg had called him in and told him as much when they’d first suggested sending someone in under a patient guise to keep watch. Just a few days to gauge if the treatments were successful and the problems with the breach were resolved, and then Gordon could kick back and enjoy a hearty raise and all the perks it entailed. He thought he should have asked more questions, suggested a contingency in case things backfired, but there wasn’t enough time to dwell on it before he’d shrugged on the patient clothes and sat down in the dingy, low lit room, heels bouncing restlessly on the floor waiting for the orderly to come.

When the door finally clicked he perked up, watching Abe wheel the patient in and help the guy get on his feet and over to the bed before leaving, looking almost too happy to be out of there. His charge wasn’t fully awake yet, Gordon realized, watching the gradual  rise and fall of the other man’s chest when his eyes didn’t open, and Gordon took the opportunity to properly gauge his new roommate.

He didn’t look the investigator type that he’d imagined, but he definitely couldn’t have pulled off pretending to be a doctor here like he’d apparently planned; frankly Gordon wanted to laugh, half wishing he’d been on shift to watch this guy scurry around like some kind of elaborate spy thinking he could get away with it. This newcomer was fresh faced and healthy, minus a slight flush from the permanent chill, and it was a welcome change from the sunken faces he was used to seeing, one he’d have to get used to over the next couple of days.

It took awhile for the guy to wake up, long enough for Gordon to rehearse things and make it believable, and the confused, blank expression on the patients face as he looked around the room only drove home to idea that Gordon wasn’t getting anything out of him just yet. Gordon guessed he remembered little, but didn’t realize just how little until he’d try coaxing a name out of the patient, seeing him stare down at the floor for a few moments, searching for something before eventually answering.

“I don’t know.”

—–

This stay was going worse than he’d first thought. It was either bearably cold or downright freezing, a dingy mattress already doing in his back while he slept; it almost made Gordon miss the heating in his office, and it was only getting worse over time. He probably would have found a way to sneak back to it by now if he didn’t have to worry about keeping up appearances - it looked like he was in it for the long run.

Time passed, and Gordon monitored his charge as instructed but only ever had short responses and long pauses to ever report back on; frustrating, but he’d handled worse. He’d almost considered letting Bragg know they’d succeeded in wiping the memories and call it done until the second night.

He’d woken up to find the patient shaking him, calling his name until he grunted to let him know he was finally up.

“-I’m a reporter” Was the only thing he heard, and suddenly Gordon was awake.

“What?”

“I’m a reporter - was, I think. I just - I, I don’t know but it feels true.” He looked almost ecstatic to know, the happiest he’d seen th guy since the beginning and Gordon felt his heart dropping into his stomach realizing this wasn’t going to be nearly as clean cut as he’d first hoped.

Gordon sighed and ran a hand over his face, pushing himself up onto his elbows and shifting to give the patient enough room to prop themselves against the bed.

“Okay” he said finally once they’d settled down. “What else do you remember?”

The rest of the night was spent trying to prod more memories out of him but Gordon couldn’t get much more information aside from the initial realisation and soon the conversation had turned to Gordon’s own story. It took a good few white lies and masked truths until his answers satisfied his patients nagging curiosity and they both returned back to their respective beds, where Gordon took the next hour mulling up a report in his fitful attempts to get back to sleep.

—–

The next wave of memories came after Gordon punched him. He regretted it now, fingers pressing against the bright red marks dusting his knuckles and frowning at the sting it left. An unpleasant reminder, one that he told himself he couldn’t leave be, not with everything else going to hell anyways.

The patient had come round some time ago but hadn’t said a word, back turned and staring at the wall, unmoving other then to shift in a useless attempt to get more comfortable. That didn’t change when Gordon sat down beside him. It was only when he reached a hand out to touch his shoulder that he moved, tensing and rolling onto his back, looking up at Gordon where he could get a good look at the side of his face, red and mottled with the growing signs of a forming bruise. Neither spoke at first, expecting the other to say something, anything; Gordon was the first to break the silence.

“Look I-” He paused “-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, well, how is it?”

He watched the patient touch his cheek, a sour expression settling in no doubt feeling the pain throbbing beneath the skin.

“Hurts; but I’ll live” A few moments of quiet passed, and Gordon found himself reaching for the hand still pressed against the patient’s cheek, pausing only when they stopped him with a noise of confusion.

“Can I…?” he trailed off, gesturing towards the patient’s face.

He seemed to mull it over for a few moments before eventually nodding. Taking his face into his hands he took some time to asses the damage, softening his grip once he noticed the discomfort. His face was softer than he thought all things considered, gaunter than before, but he looked otherwise fine aside from the mark growing darker where he’d been hit.

Gordon Grimaced seeing it up close now.

“Yeah, that’s going to bruise - we’ll have to get you something for that - soon, hopefully”

“It’ll be fine; I don’t care about it right now.” This time when Gordon’s charge looked up at him it was a lot more sure than before, less clouded confusion hazing his eyes and more clarity as they said-

“I remembered something else.”

—–

…A week had passed. A week that felt like years with the growing hunger and radio silence from the outside world making things unbearable and things were getting desperate. They were both starving in here, that much was evident, but even through the hunger Gordon could feel the mounting dread that something had gone very, very wrong out there. So what did that mean for them?

Marks marred the metal door, a desperate attempt the two had made to take it down but it still didn’t budge, and now Gordon had retreated back to the window, hands curled in a knuckle white grip against the bars and head pressed against them as he looked out across the spiraling mountain landscape; eerily beautiful but nothing but a big ironic fuck you from the nut job who built this place now that they were trapped.

The patient was curled up on the bed, conserving his strength for the next attempt at the door. He was a lot more alert in light of the returning memories, a small mercy which made him sharper than before, aware. If he cared Gordon would have considered it a loss, something to strike off of the proverbial chalkboard once the experiment was over. It didn’t matter now though, not when they were going to die down in this goddamn hellhole.

Gordon hadn’t even realized he’d booted the wall till pain blossomed up his foot and he hissed sharply, grip tightening as anger burned through his stomach - an anger towards even the very emptiness left there. His head turned at the hand suddenly pressed against one of his own, another hovering against his back as if providing a silent comfort.

The patient looked worse for wear, paler and void of the usual healthy flush that had been there just days before; he wasn’t the only one suffering, Gordon had to remind himself, but he was confused at the smile his charge still had. It was meant to be reassuring he supposed…and in a way it was.

“They’ll come back for us.”

Gordon huffed and turned back to the window.

“Sure if there’s anyone left.”

“There has to be - and they’ll come back when they know something’s happened, they have to-”

“And how do you know that?”

The two were face to face now, staring expectantly for a response from the charge, brow furrowed, and the grip on Gordon’s hand tightening when the other man spoke.

“I don’t know” he said finally, now coming to rest directly at Gordon’s side. “But I have hope; and I know that we’ve got to pull through this together if we’re getting out of here. Because I’m not dying here - and neither are you”

Maybe it was the conviction in the words the man spoke that made him almost believe it, or maybe they were finally getting bold, but the press of lips against his own as soon as the patient finished talking. It must have been a spur of the moment choice by the hesitant tongue catching across Gordon’s bottom lip as he pulled away but it was enough to spark something more.

Gordon was the one to pull him in this time, his kisses a little too eager as the sudden groan from the other man made him pull away long enough to catch the blood welling on the patients lip from the pull of teeth. The sight of it shouldn’t have sent such a rush through him, but the surge of something other than that emptiness spurred him on as the two grappled for each other and closed the gap again, sloppy open mouthed kisses filling the silence with hard breaths and pants. He felt hands digging into the collar of his shirt and was sure his own grip on the others clothes were just as tight as he pushed his tongue past his lips to meet with the patient’s own, a pleased shudder running down his spine at the muffled gasp he received in response.

By the time the two had finally pulled away Gordon was sure the two looked even more a mess than before. The patients face was flushed red as was his lips, now smeared with faint stains of blood that somehow managed to pale in comparison to the giddy grin bringing a light to his face that Gordon had all but forgotten, and Gordon could practically hear his own pulse in his ears when their foreheads came to rest together, hot breath warming his cheeks and more once hands began moving to grip at his undershirt tugging it upwards.

Things were escalating quickly, and Gordon could already tell there was no going back from this, though perhaps that point had been when he decided to go under guise in the first place; but as his hands came to join theirs in the gradual shuffle back to his bed Gordon didn’t want things to go back.

Maybe he was right; maybe help would come and he could have a couple words with that goddamn Bragg; but that could wait for now, for however long they could forget the blinding hunger and pain for something better, for as long as it lasted…

#jukebox post #scenarios #the inpatient game #The Inpatient #until dawn the inpatient #the inpatient ps4 #doctor gordon bennet #gordon bennet #gordon bennet the inpatient #male inpatient #inpatient fic #until dawn #requests #killeret-and-the-void #was gonna make this one angsty but i couldnt bring myself to do it

[glitchinthesystemspiderbyte]

[48] Glitch in the System - If Only We Could Sleep Tonight

Hi all! Sorry we missed yesterday’s story. We had a busy day and accidentally got two new pet rats (we named them Brigitte and Amelie) to join our existing colony of Overwatch pets. You can see them on E’s blog if you’re curious! They are really, really cute. Really cute.

Anyway, here’s a new fic!

By K.

A bedtime story happens.

Rare were the evenings where sleep evaded Widowmaker - a few times a year at most, often less. Only recently did she notice a change, which she reasonably attributed to the revelations tendered her that fall. Thankfully, the uptick in frequency was a mild one, relegated to the occasional evening where rest came either more slowly or fitfully than usual. Only one - the first - was truly terrible; the rest less and less as she forged by trial and error a sort of revised normalcy. To most of Talon, nothing had changed, the broadened understanding of her own reconditioning kept furiously secret. Only she and Sombra knew, nursing that burdensome truth with care in the fragile moments they grew overwhelming. Beyond that, the sniper’s day to day simply bore an asterisk and a footnote indicating the existence of that remarkable derivation from the pre-programmed norm.

She was grateful someone else recognized the addendum; moreso that someone cared to learn its terms and conditions. Not that she couldn’t have handled it alone; nearly a decade of relative interpersonal solitude spoke to that. Even her and Gabriel’s sporadic encounters with the threat of kinship were three steps removed from anything like sincerity, limited to passing acknowledgements and nothing more. It would certainly have been harder without Sombra, her attempts at coping even clumsier and arguably less healthy. Still, Widowmaker harbored no doubt she would have managed.

All things considered, she attained - with the hacker’s assistance - the best possible outcome. Messy as it was, she it afforded her a greater understanding of herself - a necessary agony, forged into armor only knowledge could provide.  She attributed her success in major part to the other woman’s surprisingly unflappable patience, its stark contrast to every other aspect of her personality. In their line of work, it was as easy as it was common to drop intel and disappear - especially for manipulators of Sombra’s caliber. She could have disappeared at any time, could have stayed uninvolved, could have leveraged that information as blackmail.

But she didn’t. More poignantly, she chose not to.

Widowmaker acknowledged that was not the norm, expressing her gratitude it in the stolen, soft quiet that bookended their days and in the spaces between breaths where found a semblance of warmth she thought dead and buried. She felt alive then, in a way she associated more closely with the snarl of gunfire than with any other human.

Some evenings, the minutes preceding sleep stretching ever longer before her, Widowmaker would tuck herself against the curve of Sombra’s back and listen contentedly to the natural syncopation of her heartbeat and breathing. This was an inversion of their standard routine, where rest greeted the sniper effortlessly but sometimes evaded her partner for minutes, an hour more. Widowmaker didn’t mind, embracing the closeness they repaired carefully over a handful of weeks. Despite the timidity with which they approached that daunting task, she felt their commitment to rebuilding had been rewarded in new and vital understandings neither knew they had lacked.

More often than not, Widowmaker eventually managed at least a few hours’ sleep. Others, she accepted with no small amount of chagrin it would be one of those unfortunate evenings where it refused a timely arrival. She attributed those nights to an aimless hamster-wheel of memories and the shadows of feelings they caused which she still lacked the capacity to parse:

Gérard, his hair tousled boyishly as he pulled her into the shower.

Searing, white-hot electricity and the smell of ozonic residue; locked muscles and clenched teeth.

Moira and Gabriel, their voices clear even beyond the med bay doors.

The biting scent of antiseptic. Blood - dark, venous blood carving canyons along the lines of her palms.

Sombra. The softness of her hands against the curve of her jaw.

She never understood the process by which her mind selected these memories. Once, they were merely confusing. They bothered her now, itched something fierce at the back of her mind and base of her skull; yet she was almost grateful that was the case — that they bothered her at all was an essential function of her finally understanding the circumstances which made them so.

It was a circuitous mess: and endless relay with neither start nor end, its checkpoints marked by substantial gaps of missing time and context.

What she did know was that wine and a bit of Balzac would probably do the trick.

Tucking a kiss beneath the hacker’s ear, Widowmaker scooted toward the edge of the bed, careful to avoid any extraneous movement that might wake the other woman. Grabbing her robe from the adjacent chaise, she shrugged it on, lazily secured its waist tie, and headed toward the door, stopping only to snag a copy of Illusions perdues from her otherwise spartan desk as she passed.

Unlike the rest of its modernized interior, there was little light throughout the western halls of Talon’s Venetian headquarters. Guided exclusively by memory and the intermittent, electric sconces along the walls, the assassin picked her way toward the kitchen, occupied solely by Gabriel and his usual late-night junk food craving.

“I did not have Kinder Happy Hippos delivered with the week’s groceries,” she observed dryly, leveling a pointed glance to the small, bulk box of chocolate-hazelnut biscuits on the counter beside him.

“Yeah, well,” he grunted in retort, though no further elaboration followed. Shaking her head, she brushed past, bumping him aside with one hip when he refused to surrender the few inches that made attaining a glass from the overhead cabinet possible. Gabriel watched quietly as she moved from cabinet to fridge, dark eyes dimmed by the exhausting cyclicality of life and death.

“Can’t sleep?” he asked.

Widowmaker peered over one shoulder as she plucked the re-corked bottle of red from atop the fridge. “Clearly,” she replied, flippant as ever until it occurred to her his inquiry may be sincere. “…Et vous?”

Reaper’s sole reply was a bemused smirk — as if she even had to ask. In all the years she knew him, Gabriel barely knew more than a few hours’ rest, if it ever came to him at all. She remembered their first deployments together, the slow realization his not sleeping was borne of a mix of pain, paranoia, and the same restlessness she knew yet somehow handled better than a decades-long veteran.

“What’s eating you?” he asked with marked trepidation, bristling at but not moving away from her as she returned to his side to pour the wine.

Tilting the glass just so, Widowmaker watched the steady flow of red into the bulb of the glass, its legs eking faint lines along the otherwise pristine surface. In nearly a decade, it was the first time either of them had ever overtly asked a question commonly relegated to exchanges of pithy remarks.

A year ago, she might have found it odd, even off-putting - not only in that the question was asked, but in that she would have never been able to answer it truthfully. Now, it felt strangely like something that should have been happening all along.

“Nothing surprising” she murmured, inclining her wrist to prevent any spillage as she righted the bottle. “We have had a month, is all,” she added with a nod toward the medical bay and the ever-locked door just ahead of it.

Before she could move to return the bottle to the fridge, Gabriel intercepted it, stealing it from her hand with a deftness she knew he possessed yet always found surprising. The contrast between them was always most marked in these casual interactions, yet Widowmaker observed a suppressed gentility beneath the harshness of his actions: it was there, in his handling the bottle with care even as he lifted to his mouth as much as it was in the softness of his late night wanderings so as to avoid waking anyone else.

Heaving a sigh, he peered into the bottle and watched its contents settle, weighing his response before lifting his eyes to meet hers. “She’s not going anywhere,” he said at last. It almost sounded like an apology. “And before you get smart - I’m not happy about it, either.”

Widowmaker nodded her understanding. “Then I suppose we shall be unhappy together.”

They watched each other a long moment, the silence succeeding her reply weighed by their implicit sympathy and unpracticed attempts at accepting it. There was something far away in his face, a piece of a man she only ever met in passing — a Gabriel Reyes known for quiet compassion as much as he was for martial brilliance.

Widowmaker hardly entertained that that version of him still lived, but in moments such as these - just the two of them, his searching glance giving way to a sad shake of the head as he clinked the mouth of the bottle against the rim of her glass - she almost thought she saw his ghost.

“Sounds like a plan,” he huffed, taking a second and final swig from the bottle before stepping aside, their closeness upended with the bottle before it. Gabriel didn’t wish her good night, nor did he say goodbye; he was there, and then, simply, wasn’t,  fading wraithlike into the shadows beyond the kitchen. Widowmaker couldn’t tell if the hissing, fading lines of his shoulders giving way to the night around him was a trick of the light or his own body.

She almost said something: that he didn’t have to disappear, didn’t have to be alone. That the thought occurred to her at all reminded her she shouldn’t.

Instead, she retired to their haphazard living room, wine in one hand, Illusions perdues in the other. Only the faint creak of the couch frame beneath her acknowledged the sniper’s presence as she propped herself up against one armrest and set the book in her lap.

How much time passed before a new, softer set of footsteps crept forth from the hall was uncertain, immeasurable only in an empty glass and the warmly-welcomed silence of her own mind.

Lifting amber eyes to the yawning archway before her, she blinked, meeting Sombra’s own, tired violet.

“You are awake,” she observed, closing the book over the skull-printed bookmark given her a few weeks back.

“No shit,” the hacker replied, a bleary grin sliding across her lips and into the shadows on either side of her. “One of those nights?” she asked, tapping one temple.

Widowmaker offered the other woman a small shrug, its delivery almost sheepish. “Unfortunately.”

“You wanna’ read to me?” Sombra asked, as if the suggestion were a natural part of their routine. It wasn’t.

Widowmaker rolled her eyes. “Balzac is not bedtime reading.”

“That’s not a no, Lacroix.”

Shaking her head, the sniper unfolded long legs and slid off the couch, stooping to pick up the empty glass in her free hand. “I am not an orator,” she huffed dismissively, retiring to the kitchen to deposit it in the sink.

Sombra followed, coming to a stop just behind her. Before Widowmaker could turn or respond, she felt the creep of arms around her waist, the press of one cheek to her back.

“I’m trying to help you, here,” she half-mumbled, half-yawned, the sentence muffled against her robe.

The assassin sighed. It wasn’t as if there were any reason not to, and she could still feel the tendrils of restlessness coiling just beneath the surface of her thoughts.

“Go to my room and grab the book by de Saint-Exupéry. It is old,” she said, patting the back of one of the other woman’s hands as she loosened her grip about her middle. Sombra was off, carried away by a patter far faster than the one that initially led her to the living room.  Widowmaker returned to the couch, scooting herself back against the arm rest again and dangling one leg over the cushions’ edge to allow her partner room.

Sombra returned a few minutes later, a worn and faded little book proffered before her. “This the one?”

“Oui. Come. Sit.”

Sombra obliged, settling neatly against the sniper.

“Why this one?” she asked, running a hand over the faded fibre cover of Le Petit Prince.

“First: it is a proper bedtime story,” Widowmaker replied, opening its cover to the opening pages. To her surprise, the vibrancy of the illustrations within was still somehow intact despite the passage of time and multiple cross-continental moves. It felt, in a way, like a little miracle. “Second, it was my favorite.”

Sombra leaned back, turning her gaze upward to meet the sniper’s. “Was?”

“I am a little old for bedtime stories,” she replied with a thin smile. “But, this one contains lessons which change over the course of one’s life. Ideas and images that last forever.”

“Like what?” the other woman asked, equally intrigued and incredulous.

Though answer came to her immediately, Widowmaker hesitated.

It was a soft lesson, precious and fragile and more tender than she could ever be. That she could apply it to anyone, let alone someone who lived in the shadows as she did, was at odds with the truth it conveyed. It carried with it a flutter of some warm something she associated exclusively with Sombra, with the compassion they fostered in the spaces between missions that left her feeling human in ways she thought impossible.

“Yoo-hoo, Spider. You in there?” the hacker asked, waving a hand in front of her face.

Widowmaker smiled - broad and genuine, the kind that always made Sombra smile in turn, though she never knew why.

“L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux,” she replied at last, the grin lingering at the corner of her mouth. “What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

*Read from the beginning or check out our intro post! All stories tagged under #glitchfic. Table of contents located here.

#spiderbyte #sombramaker #widowsombra #amélie lacroix #amelie lacroix #widowmaker #sombra #olivia colomar #reaper #gabriel reyes #sombra x widowmaker #widowmaker x sombra #overwatch #overwatch fanfic #overwatch fandom #overwatch fic #glitch in the system #glitchfic

[gluskin-the-groom-blog]

Tagged by @gutterflower-variant (Thank you! :) )

Rules

Answer the 11 questions posted for you

Create 11 new ones (optional, you can use the previous)

Tag 11 people (optional as well)

Tagging: Anyone

My Answers:

1: What is your favorite band?

I don’t really have one distinct favourite? I have a few bands that I’ve liked for a long time. Like, Led Zeppelin, Kansas and Nickelback. But that’s because I was introduced to them at a young age. 

One of my favourite artists is Simon Curtis, though. I love all his songs. And Adam Lambert is pretty awesome. Also, recently I’ve started liking quite a lot of Melanie Martinez’s music. 

I don’t know, My music taste is sorta a mix of whatever xD

2: Is there a muse you wish to write as that you haven’t made a blog for?

.Probably either Nick from Left 4 Dead 2, Dorian Pavus from Dragon Age: Inquisition, or/and Loki from Marvel/Norse Mythology. I’m thinking of making them at some point though.

Basically, my muses are the flamboyant gay ones, the assholes, and the high-key problematic individuals. 

3: Do you like musicals? Which one is your favorite?

I like musicals, though I’m not really a ‘die-hard’ fan of them. My favourite’s are probably Cats and Hamilton. 

4: What do you study in college / plan to study in college?

As a British person... Does this mean college or Uni? Cause they’re too very different things? 

I’ve just finished college, or at least I will have finished college at the end of this week. I am planning on going to University, though I’m taking a gap year first to just sorta... chill and save up some money. 

I’m planning on studying Film and Theatre ^-^

5: Do you play video games? Have any favorites?

Yup! I do! Excluding Outlast, my favourite games at the moment are probably Dragon Age (Like, the whole trilogy) and Left 4 Dead 2.

6: If you had to RP in a different fandom, which would you choose? [ for the fandomless OCs - if you had to assign your muse to a fandom, which would you choose?

I mean, judging from my earlier answer about other muses... Most likely the Dragon Age Fandom, Marvel Fandom, or Left 4 Dead Fandom. 

7: What is your favorite thing about your muse’s appearance?

His hair is pretty cool. That and his eyes, before they became all bloodshot, when they were a really striking blue.  Also, Eddie has some hella good fashion sense. If it weren’t so crudely stitched together, and covered in blood and gross shit, Eddie’s outfit would be pretty dapper.

8: Do you have a favorite starter Pokemon?

Piplup, Oshawott, Snivy or Cyndaquil

9: What is the hardest part of playing your muse?

Sometimes it can be hard to get into his head, and judge what he will do next. Eddie is very complex and unpredictable. It’s especially hard during some AU’s or before the asylum and such? Since there’s not really much ‘reference’ to go off of, like we only see Eddie and how he’s acting during the riot/after the riot? If that makes sense?

10: How did you first get into Rping?

It started off me and my friend passing notes in class, talking as if we were in character. But then we moved on to properly RPing over email. I didn’t actually know the name of it until the internet actually introduced me to the word. :)

11: Do you believe in ghosts or cryptids?

I’m sorta on the fence here. I am really into creepy shit, and I love any sort of ‘ghost hunting’ show? (Ghost Adventures is my life). So, I’d say that I’m very open minded about this stuff, and I feel like... there has to be something, otherwise there wouldn’t be so much unexplained paranormal phenomenons. 

In terms of cryptids, again, I’m pretty open minded. However, I’m pretty sure that a lot of stuff can just be explained by animals, or like new species (or sub-species) of animals that haven’t properly been discovered yet? I don’t know. I like to keep all options open until there is conclusive proof. ^-^

QUESTIONS: It’s too hot right now for me to think... So just reuse these ones?

#ooc: james's ramblings

[gsmatthews95]

The two most deplorable features of an otherwise such a beautiful country

So my final oz post. This is one I should have written after two weeks of being in Sydney. More specifically after one week living in kings cross. But, naturally, I didn't have my blog then and this piece has evolved. It would have originally just been  "the single most deplorable feature of an otherwise such a beautiful country". And no I'm not about to talk about flies again. No. Much more important to everyone who has visited oz or lives here. One of these repulsive things has even had a whole song about them describing their vile, butterz nature to the viewer in such beautifully accurate detail. I will leave a link to this video at the bottom of the peace. It is your homework to watch it. It's only a few minutes, I wish it were longer though, but alas, all good things must come to an end.

What am I talking about? What are these things that boil my blood? I am of course talking about the white ibis (bin chicken/bin bird) and the bush turkey (bin turkey). I only encountered the bush turkey recently when I was in Noosa having a BBQ but the bin chicken, they have plagued my time in oz incandescently and totally with only a few places offering me respite from their gross demeanours and habits.

I will begin with the bin chicken, the original, irritant. They are white ibises originally and they are the ultimate scavenger. Long black beaks (for getting into bins and bin bags). Dead black eyes (they have no soul). Weirdly pink lines/wrinkles on the back of the heads and gross claws. They swoop and linger, they eat bins and disrupt your picnic if you leave the table unattended for minutes, they drink bin juice and eat cigarette butts. They are the spawn of the devil, a horrible horrible bird. It actually reminds me there is also a David Attenboroughp planet earth piece on them, I'll also put that in the bottom of the blog. We all hate them. Everyone. And you will too.

Now the bush turkey. I don't know which is worse, the bin chicken is uglier but the bush turkey.... it's bolder, it's got more balls. It's also extremely ugly. They were all over my hostel in Byron bay. Just wandering round the camp site. Their heads look like a red testicle. They have weird yellow flappy necks and big black bodies. My tent smelled so bad because I couldn't leave the door open because if I did I'd have had a bush turkey in my bags eating my food and clothes. If their was a five centimetre gap in your tent they were in. If you left a plastic bag outside they'd ripped in up. If you left you food outside they were on it in seconds. I left my brekky out for 15 seconds and came back to one pecking my sausage urgh. They are also extremely territorial and chase each other very loudly and often. Irritating as hell. My first encounter with them like I say, they were lingering and getting closer and closer to my BBQ until I threw stuff at them and even then they'd come back again. Ooooohhhhh I hate them so much. Actually just writing this has made me realise that I hate the bush turkeys more. My blood is boiling now. They're both such horrible beings and need to be culled but if I could choose one to be rid of it'd be the bush turkey.

Here are the links: I hope you never have to see one for your sake people. G.

[berrycakeness]

It’s the blog post you’ve been waiting for…

So there are a couple of reasons why it’s taken me so long to blog about my birthday:

1) My Birthday celebrations were extended excessively (I still have two more outings planned). I wanted to encapsulate all events into one post.

2) Work has been relentless, and the last thing I’ve had motivation for is to write.

Anyway, ignoring the fact I have a chocolate workshop and a cocktail night to look forward to, I shall start at the best place – the start.

“I turned 30”

I had a nightmare the night before, and slept awfully on my birthday too. Either I was seriously affected by the ageing process or I think too much. I expect the latter, now off to frantically Web M.D the first.

Nothing much else has changed. I’m definitely however less likely to be the youngest person in the room. Bouncers will stop asking for ID and I’ll start drinking tonic water. Slimline obvs. As I have a fair few (older) friends who have long passed through to their 40’s or have recently levelled up, I think everything’s gunna be alright. (Name that tune, not too hard..).

I have developed an awareness of younger people more so than ever. I know for certain I’m that twat who reminds people of our age difference, but since I’ve realised recently that they teach GOOGLE DOCS in schools and not trusty ol’ Microsoft office, I now understand the generation gap. Now off to frantically join the Google learning centre. Oh my, ‘the’ and ‘google’ should never sit side by side in a sentence. Ever.

My first event was a great kick off to the new decade. Annie treated me to a wonderful set of presents. I received my sparkly new ipad case after a day of shopping and a wonderful 9 course dinner with champagne. Yes, 9 courses. Mitz and Nolwenn joined us and we stuffed ourselves with the finest of yum. We didn’t take photos, we were being too sociable for that. Of course that means I don’t have anything to share from the experience other than the memory of fine dining and wanting every dinner to taste amazing forever more. The venue was Eight Club Moorgate, a private club that has opened up it’s doors to us common folk. I recommend it highly, but definitely midweek. We had the best table in the house and were served by very attentive staff. The company was perfect, and I will remember the night for a long time to come. Thank you ladies for a fabulous evening.

 A very berry cocktail. Or two.

Next? Hmm. What was next…*checks diary, facebook and whatsapp*

I think it was my actual birthday, which I always try to spend with my parents as y’know, they gave me life and apparently I owe them some of my very valuable time every now and then. Valuable time I must add that I could spend watching shit on Netflix. Ah I’m joking, I’d be asleep instead.

Just before that though, I went to work. I try to go to work on my birthday as otherwise I’d just sit alone doing not much all day. Stevie gave me a traditional Edinburgh breakfast of a bottle of Irn Bru and a chocolate croissant (She’s a posh scot really), and around halfway through the day I was presented with a card and a balloon. Eventually my real present was given to me a few days after the day which was a beer tour! I’ve yet to cash in my vouchers so one of you lucky people will get to come with me. Unless I can go twice…ha.

SCOTLAND!

LAD LAD LAD LAD

My birthday dinner was our traditional family pasta that my dear mother makes so well. It’s a variety of vegetables in tomato sauce with the all important ingredient of bacon. And a side of garlic bread. Home comfort is what I needed the most, and I throughly enjoyed my time. Got some cash from the folks (make it raaaain), a switch game from Tom, Annie had already given me my presents and nothing from Lewis. A promise of a present was given, and I waited patiently (more to come).

My birthday weekend was prebooked many months prior, not particularly for my birthday but I’m counting it. C2C festival!

  Yes, I’m a little bit country. Ok, maybe a bit more than a little. Leaky, Lewis (still without present, attempted to make me want a cowboy hat) and I started the weekend with a bit of booze, and a lot of music. My first festival of the year (second was a beer festival), we swayed, bopped and did a bit of a jig in our seats to a few of our favourites and some new favourites. That list includes: Old Dominion, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Luke Combs, Little Big Town, Lindsay Ell and Lukas Nelson, who happens to be in a rock band but also happens to be Willie Nelsons son. Leaky almost died of boredom listening to EmmyLou Harris and disappeared to (I assume) cry halfway through.

So that’s the first week of March out of the way, and this post is beginning to become a novel. Still, I shall prevail and continue to make you wait for my birthday party verbiage.

Di, Stevie and I went out midweek and I made Di drink a glass of limes.

Boozing on a weekday

Limey goodness

The party. See, I didn’t make you wait too long.

I didn’t spend too much time with party prep this time, but as tradition dictates I took a day off to bake and to get some posters printed, but mostly enjoyed my day off drinking buckets of coffee. The theme was fancy dress, because I’m annoying like that. The fancy dress theme was musicians, which confused a few people. Apparently musicians write their own music, and so I was limiting the choice to people who were dead or too current. Regardless, I stormed ahead.

There’s not much to write about, so I will leave the pictures to tell their own story. However, it was a fantastic party and I was so glad to have lots of different friends from various walks of live attend.

Yearly photo with the flatmate

Crime busters of the sea..

Slash was supposed be swearing, but peace got in the way.

Mr and Mrs Cash, with their dearest little Ring o’fire

Cowgirl and the Dandy.

Bowiecarter

Bowiecash

Bowietracy

Where’s your Stash, Johnny Cash?

Siblings + Johnny Cash.

Moby no dick?

Midst performance of Believe.

HEY BRITNEY! Madonna ft Britney

Dollybowiecher

Bettecherbowie

Madonnabowiechercarter

Boobs propping up the keys nicely there. Apparently chord playing.

Laughing Cherbowie, pretty June!

Queen Cherbowie

Selfie

Selfie

Selfie

Give a girl a headpiece and a boy some boot covers and all of a sudden they’re fashionistas.

BetteMichael

Costumes off, no idea who these people are

Shark attack!

The datties face pull in town.

Dancing in the ring of fire, with a can of Stella.

Even inflatable monkeys need a drink

Beat that drum

I mustache you a question.

Duckface!

You’re a wizard, Harry.

BetteSlash

LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE

A lap dance, with a can of stella.

Dolly Sharkton goes to bed

Alright, I had about 6 different costumes but it was my birthday (month) and I could do what I wanted to do. (Name that tune, adapted to past tense). The intention was to start as Bowie and morph into Cher. Once Cher, I was to change my wigs periodically throughout the night. However, I rushed it and did it throughout the song “Believe” to much comic relief. There are a couple of videos, and as much as I would love to post them I can’t do that to myself. If you’re particularly intrigued and happen to be a friend, get me drunk and I’ll show you from a distance of at least 5 paces.

Leaky and I took the next day slowly recovering by mostly stuffing our faces.

At some point, we had work drinks to celebrate my birth. We ran up a healthy bar tab and got suitably tipsy. I chose the Draft House – Chancery Lane as it’s very close to the office and they have one of my favourite ales on tap. For the life of me, I cannot remember it’s name but I know that it is Australian, and is rather citrus tasting. Diana attacked Matt and he left soon afterwards. I walked Di to Charing Cross as she cannot be trusted to walk alone anymore (I’ve made it a regular excuse to walk more steps of an evening – not that she’s drunk every time..) and got home later than I really should on a Thursday evening.

The reservatation was literal.

Matt attack!

That weekend was pure indulgence. Annie, Mitz, Nolwenn and I spent a weekend in a Spa in the cute town of Stratford upon Avon. Not only was it exactly what I needed, but it left me wanting even more. I need the extravagance of being pampered on a daily basis, but girl got bills to pay. Another fantastic weekend was enjoyed by all, again, thank you ladies!

Timeline wise, we’re now near to the end of March. Let us skip forward a little bit to April where I spent an evening in POTIONS CLASS.

But just before that, on Annies Birthday (8th April) Lewis gave me my present! Some great Rick and Marty merch.

Back to POTIONS CLASS. Yes, Mitz and I were given robes and a wand, and a shit ton of mysterious liquids to make the magic happen. The cynics of you may believe it was simple chemistry but that’s what they want you to believe. #fakenews

Cocktails were made and consumed in a small basement in the middle of the slightly less magical area of London – Dalston. If you’re interested, it’s called the Cauldron and it’s definitely worth a trip. A wonderful birthday present, and I felt like a true Hogwarts student. Just don’t buy their house cocktails, they were terrible. Seriously, the worst I had ever tried, except for their gin concoction and their shooter. Urgh. But otherwise, probably the best thing related to Dalston

Stir potions

From blue to purple!

Brewing with Mitz

Magical booze tree

Smoking shooters

.

Then, Jackie had been messaging me for weeks trying to get a date in the diary the diary that I kept forgetting about, but mostly being too busy with sleeping to have time for. However, we agreed a date and I made my way to Angel (my favourite part of town) for brunch at Dead Dolls House. As I had not asked Jackie any questions, I was surprised to be asked whether I wanted to start drinking straight away or until she arrived. Yes, bottomless mimosas and a very yummy brunch indeed. After our two hours of boozing, we slipped next door to sing our hearts out at Lucky Voice. I took some convincing (I think Jackie said “Ah come on, let’s do it” and then I had to convince her when we were informed of the cost of hiring “Jacks it’s the same cost of a round of drinks, it’s nothing” Note, I sometimes call her Jacks, but mostly Jackie. It depends on my mood, but I always wonder if she notices…*waves*

Despite our protests, we both walked into the room, shooed away the guy who gives you the microphone and tells you how everything works (being lucky voice, half of it never works) and sang for a good 90 minutes. Walking out at 4pm being now relatively sober and it being sunny was quite disconcerting. Jackie then treated me to some ice cream (I know it’s a bore, its just for my throat. I need a layer of protection) and overall, it was the perfect birthday day I could have hoped for. Jackie knows me well! So thank you ma’am.

And I suppose, that’s about it. Thanks to everyone who took part, you have made it a good one xxx

Every now and then I fall apart It's the blog post you've been waiting for... So there are a couple of reasons why it's taken me so long to blog about my birthday:

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include behind-the-scenes on Hidden Folks, an interview about the Coin-Operated Americans book, interviews from E3, and much more.

Well, am back from Los Angeles, attending E3, which was - well - not that different that anyone might expect. Lots of hype and excitement for large AAA games, most of which do have guns all over them (looking forward to more Tim Rogers dispatches like this from Kotaku!), a somewhat overcrowded E3 itself thanks to the consumer influx, and enough games for everyone to be excited about at least one.

For me, that Super Mario Odyssey trailer was enough for me to pre-order the game to play with my son - and finally work out how to get a Switch, which is coming in a couple of weeks. [Sidebar: it's actually a bit crazy how much Nintendo was being counted out by many - including perhaps me. Then, whomp, two games later (new Zelda, new Mario) they're the belle of the ball again.]

But that's why E3 works as high drama, soap opera, and metacommentary hub of the year for video games - we've all got a hot take, and hot takes are king. (Also why there's not a GREAT deal of E3 coverage in this week's VGDC, heh. Not that we're 'hot take allergic', but you can get that on YouTube & Twitch right now in real-time if you'd like.) Anyway, 'til next time...

- Simon, curator.]

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Developer Q&A: Balancing storytelling and player choice in Prey (Alex Wiltshire / Gamasutra) "Talos-1 runs on eels. This large space station, setting to Arkane Studios’ recently released emergent sim Prey, deals with its residents’ effluent by sending it to large vats where it’s consumed by the things."

Nintendo of America Boss Fils-Aimé On Comebacks, the Future of the DS and Surviving the Wii U (John Davison / Simon Cox / Glixel) "It's almost exactly a year since we last spoke with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé at E3 2016. On that occasion he was standing fifteen feet above that Disney-like Nintendo E3 booth, which was dedicated solely to the forthcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

Why 'Super Mario Maker' Didn’t Kill the Mario Hacking Community (Jess Joho / Motherboard) "Yet, playing hyper-polished feats of design like Super Mario Maker leave some longtime fans of the franchise nostalgic for the days of janky programming, kill screens, and brutal challenge. That's why the heroes of the Super Mario World (SMW) ROM hacking community remain stubbornly alive, even long after the release of an official Nintendo Mario level creator."

Coin-Operated Boys: An Interview with Carly Kocurek (Dan Royles / Nursing Clio) "Carly Kocurek’s Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade (Minnesota, 2015) examines the origins of modern video game culture in the “classic” arcade era, spanning the release of Pong in 1972 and the industry’s first major collapse in 1983. She traces the formation of the “technomasculine” during that period, as the arcade became increasingly defined as the province of young men."

How we make a game called Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh / Imgur) "Hey there! I'm Adriaan, one of the two developers behind Hidden Folks, a game for smartphones and computers in which you search for hidden folks in hand-drawn, interactive, miniature landscapes by unfurling tent flaps, cutting through bushes, slamming doors, and poking crocodiles!"

Offworld Trading Company: An RTS Without Guns (Soren Johnson / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 Game Developers Conference talk, Mohawk Games' Soren Johnson dives into strategy game history to explain how he and his team developed Offworld Trading Company, a strategy game with little combat."

These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books (Sarah Laskow / Atlas Obscura) "Reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book can feel like being lost in a maze and running through twists and turns only to find dead ends, switchbacks, and disappointment. In the books—for those not familiar with them—you read until you come to a decision point, which prompts you to flip to another page, backward or forward."

A Falconer Enters the World of Video Games (Simon Parkin / New Yorker) "The story of how Nricco Iseppi, a master falconer, came to Riot Games has, among the company’s staff, acquired the malleability of myth. According to one scriptwriter, it began when Riot had an orange grove planted on its multimillion-dollar campus, in Los Angeles, a place already bristling with perks and mod cons."

Interview: “Rez” creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s unusual life evolves humanity (Staff / Denfaminicogamer) "One midnight, during an internal office chat at the Denfaminicogamer editorial department were the words “They’re crazy.” This was right at the end of 2016 after PS VR was released. As it were, the editorial departments odd excitement resulted in an impulsive interview about VR Contents “Rez Infinite” at the end of last year. This article is a written version of that insane seven hours interview. [SIMON'S NOTE: the translation isn't perfect, but this interview is AMAZING - you rarely see Japanese creators asked historical questions in this kind of depth.]"

The Garden Ages | Myst series (Sam Zucchi / Heterotopias) "How do the linking books in Myst read? These books are, in-universe, written out in the alphabet and language of a dead civilization. The text details the world that the writer wishes to visit: an island is described, its qualities delineated in some detail, and a linking pane appears on the first page, ready to literally transport the reader to the object described."

The RPG Scrollbars: In search of urban fantasy (Richard Cobbett / RockPaperShotgun) "There’s a real urban fantasy gap in the gaming industry, and it’s never made much sense. We see a thousand Tolkienesque fantasy games a minute (rough napkin calculation) and the future’s typically so bright, even the lens flares need shades. Yet when it comes to that line where the mundane meets the magical, mostly what we’ve had for the last few years is false hope."

E3 Was Different This Year, And It Wasn’t Just The Crowds (Nathan Grayson / Kotaku) "It’s the first day of E3. I’m walking the show floor—or more accurately, oozing across it, slug-like, followed by a trail of my own sweat. I’m shoulder-to-shoulder with swathes of people. Across the way, crowds of people whoop and holler, each of them hoping to win swag they can stuff in their floor-length swag bags. 15,000 new people are in attendance this year. [SIMON'S NOTE: one of the most considered of the 'what's up with E3 this year?' articles.]"

7 examples of accessibility design that developers should study (Richard Moss / Gamasutra) "Games are for everyone. And in recognizing this, ever-increasing numbers of developers are making a point to incorporate more accessibility features and options like remappable controls, configurable subtitles, resizable HUDs, and more."

The big interview: Xbox boss Phil Spencer (Wesley Yin-Poole / Eurogamer) "It was with all this in mind that I sat down with Xbox boss Phil Spencer at the Galen Center in Los Angeles to talk Xbox One X. At £449, I'm not sure who the console is for ("there is a customer out there who's looking for the premium experience"). I fear for Microsoft's first-party studio setup ("I do think we have an opportunity to get better in first-party")."

The State Of Virtual Reality (Brian Crecente / Polygon) "One could argue that the age of virtual reality kicked-off during last year's Game Developers Conference, an event that nearly coincided with the launch of two of the technology's most important head-mounted displays in recent history: the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive."

EA Boss Andrew Wilson's Vision of Gaming's Future Will Blow Your Mind (John Davison / Glixel) "The intervening years were tumultuous and challenging. Changing the company to deliver on that vision was a bumpy ride, but now 10 years later, Wilson is eager to convey what the new Electronic Arts stands for, and its vision for the future of games. [SIMON'S NOTE: Much snark online for some of the 'vision' in this interview, particularly the Emily Dickinson bit.]"

Ex-Puyo Puyo producer reveals some of the classic puzzler’s earliest prototypes (Kishi / Retronauts) "Last week, Compile founder Moo Niitani announced two previously unreleased works from the defunct developer’s glory days on MSX2 computers. Later this month, Dominon and Dominon X are both coming to Project EGG, D4 Enterprise’s prolific download service for old Japanese computer games."

Don't Change a Thing! The Challenges of Evolving Solitaire (Russell Carroll / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, MobilityWare's Russell Carroll shares the experience of updating Solitaire for a modern mobile audience, and what features they were able to update while grappling with intense resistance to any changes made to the core game.  [SIMON'S NOTE: I've known Russell - who used to run indie site GameTunnel - for a LONG time, and this talk is as much about management philosophy as it is solitaire - it's super well-considered.]"

Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs. That's OK. (For Now.) (Peter Suderman / Reason) "Video games, like work, are basically a series of quests comprised of mundane and repetitive tasks: Receive an assignment, travel to a location, overcome some obstacles, perform some sort of search, pick up an item, and then deliver it in exchange for a reward—and, usually, another quest, which starts the cycle all over again. You are not playing the game so much as following its orders. The game is your boss; to succeed, you have to do what it says."

7 roguelikes that every developer should study (Stefanie Fogel / Gamasutra) "With that in mind, we asked developers to name some of their favorite roguelikes - or games in other genres influenced by roguelike mechanics - and the lessons they can teach people today. And, many of these games are free and/or open source, which makes them easy to download, play, and study!"

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[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

#IFTTT #Blogger

[bxboy52]

Welcome back.

We’re continuing on the theme from last month of “boys will be boys”, and yet trying not to beat a dead horse.  When it comes to the thought process of “boys being boys” there happens to be one major fatal flaw and that is the ability to justify all of their actions.  It takes a strong willed, determined, stubborn man to be able to ignore all his instincts and training just too save a few minutes in his life like it’s some kind of symbolic victory even though it can just as well be the last few minutes of his life.  The Stream of Conscienceness – By the time I get to the power box to LOTO the packaging machine and then back to clear the jam and back to the power box, OMG, that could take 15 – 25 minutes!  Or another scenario, by the time I have properly anchored the lanyard to my harness so I won’t fall it’ll take 15 – 20 minutes out of my day! 

The JUSTIFICATION – It’s not a bad jam, I bet I can clear it in between the bag fills, no problem or I can just quickly walk out and grab that sheet of plywood in seconds and be done.    TRAINING – becomes irrelevant, COMMON SENSE – Over-road by the adrenalin boost from the thrill of saving 15 minutes.  But, but your training!, the little voice insists. The good news is that 80% of you will avoid this process and go with your instincts and training and do a proper L.O.T.O. or properly anchor your safety lines and wear your harness.  The rest of you will put your fellow workers in the position of scrambling to find YOUR fingers so they can place them on ice for the ride to the E.R. or watch you get zipped into a body bag.  Aren’t your fellow workers lucky to be exposed to that trauma thanks to you and why accidents continue to be the number 3 killer of men or boys being boys?  (80/20 rule – This is according to the Pareto Principle by Vilfredo Pareto a man of many talents who discovered the 80/20 rule.  His birthday is coming, July 15) 

As if that wasn’t enough, you also have to be aware of the deadly combination of the ability of “justification” with “the boss isn’t here”, which is a toxic and lethal mixture.  It appears that the excitement that young people get from hearing their parents will be leaving them home on their own for an extended period of time just never stops for some.  You remember how when mom and dad were gone for the evening or weekend, the house became your laboratory as you tried out all those awesome adult things but for some reason, our boys being boys have been able to transfer that experience to their boss not being around.  The combination gives a very intoxicating feeling which is nothing more then an open invitation to doing the stupidest, most immature thing possible with a motorized industrial piece of equipment.  Suddenly forklifts become multi-passenger, pallet jacks are midget racers and destruction of life and property never becomes a thought or concern, because the boss isn’t here to see it!

In days of yore when brawn was more important in a warehouse/manufacturing then brains, horseplay was pretty common as screwing around kept everyone loose and laughing during the demanding workday day.  Along with the colorful language, graphic humor and crass jokes, scores were settled with a fist and the occasional medicinal nip was to keep your parts well oiled and ease the pain of the brutal working conditions.  Just in the last 40 years I’ve watched leadership evolve from verbal berating on the shop floor for all to see to you’re weren’t hired to think, to verbal encouragement, taking input from workers and free thinking.  The tendency for supervisors and managers, especially new ones is to be a nice guy and if the boys need to be boys, well who am I to stand in their way, except you allowing it to go on and not saying anything, in their heads condones their actions.  You can be a nice guy in so many other ways and that’s when true leadership comes in as it can turn around any challenge your facility may face. 

Coming in to help a facility change it’s culture, the worst thing you can do is make immediate changes in a knee jerk reaction.  Yes, you’re under pressure from upper management, you’re under pressure from sales, customer service and the customers who want their orders delivered correctly.  The added pressure of poor moral and high worker turnover and HR is tired of the constant recruiting and interviews.  Remember, these problems didn’t develop over night and you have no idea what the root cause is. Is it their training, the process, the equipment, the recruiting or their supervision?  The best way to find out is allow the operation to continue as usual, walk around and engage and listen to the people.  Check over their training records and make a list of where the gaps need to be filled.  I’ve always started with introducing myself to the staff backed up with doughnuts and coffee and explain to them know my position on workplace safety and that is, because I believe everyone should go home in one piece and then stick to your position treating everyone equally and fairly.  Too further back up your commitment to safety begin having a 5 minute daily huddle at the beginning of the shift, a weekly tailgate/toolbox meeting and a monthly safety meeting.  Going this route hopefully you should be able to eliminate the term “boys will be boys” in your workplace.

Even so every once in a while a dinosaur pops-up, like this coach who thought the best way to motivate a player was to mock him in front of all.   SF school coach in hot water for alleged racially charged mocking.  This was a style of management back in the day.  A good deal of my High School teachers and coaches were Korean War Vets and when it came to doing what you were told to do, there was zero tolerance if you didn’t.  Our electric shop teacher had a paddle he had affectionately named Bertha.  He didn’t hesitate to introduce Bertha to your behind if you didn’t follow the rules.  We didn’t question it.  We knew and understood the consequences if we didn’t do what we were suppose too and punishment whether corporal or otherwise was deemed acceptable.  When you’re leading or coaching employees there is no need to call them names or give them degrading nicknames, mock or bully their physical appearance to get the results you want, you’re actually going to build a wall and choke off all communication.  The best thing to do is build a bridge by explaining your expectations and what can you do to help them be successful and achieve their goals which should mean success for you and your team.

Have you heard of the skills gap?  That thing we created in 2008 when the financial crisis hit and companies kicked all the veteran high paid labor to the door with layoffs and downsizing without any thought to the future.  People opted for other career paths and now, we have a skills gap.  Well you and your company can take care of that and develop a sustainable supply of talented employees.  Employers Have An Important Role To Play In Closing The Skills Gap.  With a good training and mentoring program in addition to offering internships to high school and college students, you can develop your own intelligent workforce, greatly increase employee retention and improve safety and productivity.  

Even the best leadership at times can get lost in trying to do what they think is the right thing, like some of our board of supervisors in San Francisco.  San Francisco officials propose banning contractors that bid on border wall from city work.  I’m not going to get into the politics of “the wall”, we all have our opinion but what I don’t like to see is politicians making matters worse for the working person.  Maybe if our leaders stopped worrying about punishing who builds “the wall” and concentrated on fixing the infrastructure which is in much NEEDED REPAIR companies would be so busy they wouldn’t need the business of the wall to keep their company and employees working.

Since we’re on the bay area, an update on Oakland.  Last month we covered the Ghost ship warehouse fire and the loss of 39 lives.  The leadership in Oakland verbalized their fears and concerns over and over about this.  As usual, it was talk, talk and more talk and now last week, guess what?  Yep we had another fire.  It took 2 deadly fires to make Schaaf push hard for inspectors and 4 more precious lives were lost due to being talked to death by the cities leadership.  We’ll keep an eye on the body count for you readers as the talk and more talk goes on.  By the way, it’s not just the lack of inspectors but the process that needs to be reviewed and improved as problems keep falling through the cracks but that will take leadership to fix so don’t hold your breath.

With the news blackout going on at OSHA, because you know, information is a dangerous thing to have go around, people may begin thinking for themselves there has been on new bright spot.  Jordan Barab, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA from 2009-2017 has started a blog called “Confined Space”.   Follow it!!  It’s a great source of what’s going on in workplace safety.

NEVER KEEP QUIET ABOUT SAFETY my friends, for the life you save may be your own.Until next month, be kind to each other and be safe.

Hello Baseball and the NBA playoffs.  Great time of year.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

  Companies Behaving Badly-Justified Welcome back. We're continuing on the theme from last month of "boys will be boys", and yet trying not to beat a dead horse.  

#accident prevention #Leadership #workplace safety

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include behind-the-scenes on Hidden Folks, an interview about the Coin-Operated Americans book, interviews from E3, and much more.

Well, am back from Los Angeles, attending E3, which was - well - not that different that anyone might expect. Lots of hype and excitement for large AAA games, most of which do have guns all over them (looking forward to more Tim Rogers dispatches like this from Kotaku!), a somewhat overcrowded E3 itself thanks to the consumer influx, and enough games for everyone to be excited about at least one.

For me, that Super Mario Odyssey trailer was enough for me to pre-order the game to play with my son - and finally work out how to get a Switch, which is coming in a couple of weeks. [Sidebar: it's actually a bit crazy how much Nintendo was being counted out by many - including perhaps me. Then, whomp, two games later (new Zelda, new Mario) they're the belle of the ball again.]

But that's why E3 works as high drama, soap opera, and metacommentary hub of the year for video games - we've all got a hot take, and hot takes are king. (Also why there's not a GREAT deal of E3 coverage in this week's VGDC, heh. Not that we're 'hot take allergic', but you can get that on YouTube & Twitch right now in real-time if you'd like.) Anyway, 'til next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Developer Q&A: Balancing storytelling and player choice in Prey (Alex Wiltshire / Gamasutra) "Talos-1 runs on eels. This large space station, setting to Arkane Studios’ recently released emergent sim Prey, deals with its residents’ effluent by sending it to large vats where it’s consumed by the things."

Nintendo of America Boss Fils-Aimé On Comebacks, the Future of the DS and Surviving the Wii U (John Davison / Simon Cox / Glixel) "It's almost exactly a year since we last spoke with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé at E3 2016. On that occasion he was standing fifteen feet above that Disney-like Nintendo E3 booth, which was dedicated solely to the forthcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

Why 'Super Mario Maker' Didn’t Kill the Mario Hacking Community (Jess Joho / Motherboard) "Yet, playing hyper-polished feats of design like Super Mario Maker leave some longtime fans of the franchise nostalgic for the days of janky programming, kill screens, and brutal challenge. That's why the heroes of the Super Mario World (SMW) ROM hacking community remain stubbornly alive, even long after the release of an official Nintendo Mario level creator."

Coin-Operated Boys: An Interview with Carly Kocurek (Dan Royles / Nursing Clio) "Carly Kocurek’s Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade (Minnesota, 2015) examines the origins of modern video game culture in the “classic” arcade era, spanning the release of Pong in 1972 and the industry’s first major collapse in 1983. She traces the formation of the “technomasculine” during that period, as the arcade became increasingly defined as the province of young men."

How we make a game called Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh / Imgur) "Hey there! I'm Adriaan, one of the two developers behind Hidden Folks, a game for smartphones and computers in which you search for hidden folks in hand-drawn, interactive, miniature landscapes by unfurling tent flaps, cutting through bushes, slamming doors, and poking crocodiles!"

Offworld Trading Company: An RTS Without Guns (Soren Johnson / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 Game Developers Conference talk, Mohawk Games' Soren Johnson dives into strategy game history to explain how he and his team developed Offworld Trading Company, a strategy game with little combat."

These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books (Sarah Laskow / Atlas Obscura) "Reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book can feel like being lost in a maze and running through twists and turns only to find dead ends, switchbacks, and disappointment. In the books—for those not familiar with them—you read until you come to a decision point, which prompts you to flip to another page, backward or forward."

A Falconer Enters the World of Video Games (Simon Parkin / New Yorker) "The story of how Nricco Iseppi, a master falconer, came to Riot Games has, among the company’s staff, acquired the malleability of myth. According to one scriptwriter, it began when Riot had an orange grove planted on its multimillion-dollar campus, in Los Angeles, a place already bristling with perks and mod cons."

Interview: “Rez” creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s unusual life evolves humanity (Staff / Denfaminicogamer) "One midnight, during an internal office chat at the Denfaminicogamer editorial department were the words “They’re crazy.” This was right at the end of 2016 after PS VR was released. As it were, the editorial departments odd excitement resulted in an impulsive interview about VR Contents “Rez Infinite” at the end of last year. This article is a written version of that insane seven hours interview. [SIMON'S NOTE: the translation isn't perfect, but this interview is AMAZING - you rarely see Japanese creators asked historical questions in this kind of depth.]"

The Garden Ages | Myst series (Sam Zucchi / Heterotopias) "How do the linking books in Myst read? These books are, in-universe, written out in the alphabet and language of a dead civilization. The text details the world that the writer wishes to visit: an island is described, its qualities delineated in some detail, and a linking pane appears on the first page, ready to literally transport the reader to the object described."

The RPG Scrollbars: In search of urban fantasy (Richard Cobbett / RockPaperShotgun) "There’s a real urban fantasy gap in the gaming industry, and it’s never made much sense. We see a thousand Tolkienesque fantasy games a minute (rough napkin calculation) and the future’s typically so bright, even the lens flares need shades. Yet when it comes to that line where the mundane meets the magical, mostly what we’ve had for the last few years is false hope."

E3 Was Different This Year, And It Wasn’t Just The Crowds (Nathan Grayson / Kotaku) "It’s the first day of E3. I’m walking the show floor—or more accurately, oozing across it, slug-like, followed by a trail of my own sweat. I’m shoulder-to-shoulder with swathes of people. Across the way, crowds of people whoop and holler, each of them hoping to win swag they can stuff in their floor-length swag bags. 15,000 new people are in attendance this year. [SIMON'S NOTE: one of the most considered of the 'what's up with E3 this year?' articles.]"

7 examples of accessibility design that developers should study (Richard Moss / Gamasutra) "Games are for everyone. And in recognizing this, ever-increasing numbers of developers are making a point to incorporate more accessibility features and options like remappable controls, configurable subtitles, resizable HUDs, and more."

The big interview: Xbox boss Phil Spencer (Wesley Yin-Poole / Eurogamer) "It was with all this in mind that I sat down with Xbox boss Phil Spencer at the Galen Center in Los Angeles to talk Xbox One X. At £449, I'm not sure who the console is for ("there is a customer out there who's looking for the premium experience"). I fear for Microsoft's first-party studio setup ("I do think we have an opportunity to get better in first-party")."

The State Of Virtual Reality (Brian Crecente / Polygon) "One could argue that the age of virtual reality kicked-off during last year's Game Developers Conference, an event that nearly coincided with the launch of two of the technology's most important head-mounted displays in recent history: the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive."

EA Boss Andrew Wilson's Vision of Gaming's Future Will Blow Your Mind (John Davison / Glixel) "The intervening years were tumultuous and challenging. Changing the company to deliver on that vision was a bumpy ride, but now 10 years later, Wilson is eager to convey what the new Electronic Arts stands for, and its vision for the future of games. [SIMON'S NOTE: Much snark online for some of the 'vision' in this interview, particularly the Emily Dickinson bit.]"

Ex-Puyo Puyo producer reveals some of the classic puzzler’s earliest prototypes (Kishi / Retronauts) "Last week, Compile founder Moo Niitani announced two previously unreleased works from the defunct developer’s glory days on MSX2 computers. Later this month, Dominon and Dominon X are both coming to Project EGG, D4 Enterprise’s prolific download service for old Japanese computer games."

Don't Change a Thing! The Challenges of Evolving Solitaire (Russell Carroll / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, MobilityWare's Russell Carroll shares the experience of updating Solitaire for a modern mobile audience, and what features they were able to update while grappling with intense resistance to any changes made to the core game.  [SIMON'S NOTE: I've known Russell - who used to run indie site GameTunnel - for a LONG time, and this talk is as much about management philosophy as it is solitaire - it's super well-considered.]"

Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs. That's OK. (For Now.) (Peter Suderman / Reason) "Video games, like work, are basically a series of quests comprised of mundane and repetitive tasks: Receive an assignment, travel to a location, overcome some obstacles, perform some sort of search, pick up an item, and then deliver it in exchange for a reward—and, usually, another quest, which starts the cycle all over again. You are not playing the game so much as following its orders. The game is your boss; to succeed, you have to do what it says."

7 roguelikes that every developer should study (Stefanie Fogel / Gamasutra) "With that in mind, we asked developers to name some of their favorite roguelikes - or games in other genres influenced by roguelike mechanics - and the lessons they can teach people today. And, many of these games are free and/or open source, which makes them easy to download, play, and study!"

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

#IFTTT #Blogger

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include behind-the-scenes on Hidden Folks, an interview about the Coin-Operated Americans book, interviews from E3, and much more.

Well, am back from Los Angeles, attending E3, which was - well - not that different that anyone might expect. Lots of hype and excitement for large AAA games, most of which do have guns all over them (looking forward to more Tim Rogers dispatches like this from Kotaku!), a somewhat overcrowded E3 itself thanks to the consumer influx, and enough games for everyone to be excited about at least one.

For me, that Super Mario Odyssey trailer was enough for me to pre-order the game to play with my son - and finally work out how to get a Switch, which is coming in a couple of weeks. [Sidebar: it's actually a bit crazy how much Nintendo was being counted out by many - including perhaps me. Then, whomp, two games later (new Zelda, new Mario) they're the belle of the ball again.]

But that's why E3 works as high drama, soap opera, and metacommentary hub of the year for video games - we've all got a hot take, and hot takes are king. (Also why there's not a GREAT deal of E3 coverage in this week's VGDC, heh. Not that we're 'hot take allergic', but you can get that on YouTube & Twitch right now in real-time if you'd like.) Anyway, 'til next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Developer Q&A: Balancing storytelling and player choice in Prey (Alex Wiltshire / Gamasutra) "Talos-1 runs on eels. This large space station, setting to Arkane Studios’ recently released emergent sim Prey, deals with its residents’ effluent by sending it to large vats where it’s consumed by the things."

Nintendo of America Boss Fils-Aimé On Comebacks, the Future of the DS and Surviving the Wii U (John Davison / Simon Cox / Glixel) "It's almost exactly a year since we last spoke with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé at E3 2016. On that occasion he was standing fifteen feet above that Disney-like Nintendo E3 booth, which was dedicated solely to the forthcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

Why 'Super Mario Maker' Didn’t Kill the Mario Hacking Community (Jess Joho / Motherboard) "Yet, playing hyper-polished feats of design like Super Mario Maker leave some longtime fans of the franchise nostalgic for the days of janky programming, kill screens, and brutal challenge. That's why the heroes of the Super Mario World (SMW) ROM hacking community remain stubbornly alive, even long after the release of an official Nintendo Mario level creator."

Coin-Operated Boys: An Interview with Carly Kocurek (Dan Royles / Nursing Clio) "Carly Kocurek’s Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade (Minnesota, 2015) examines the origins of modern video game culture in the “classic” arcade era, spanning the release of Pong in 1972 and the industry’s first major collapse in 1983. She traces the formation of the “technomasculine” during that period, as the arcade became increasingly defined as the province of young men."

How we make a game called Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh / Imgur) "Hey there! I'm Adriaan, one of the two developers behind Hidden Folks, a game for smartphones and computers in which you search for hidden folks in hand-drawn, interactive, miniature landscapes by unfurling tent flaps, cutting through bushes, slamming doors, and poking crocodiles!"

Offworld Trading Company: An RTS Without Guns (Soren Johnson / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 Game Developers Conference talk, Mohawk Games' Soren Johnson dives into strategy game history to explain how he and his team developed Offworld Trading Company, a strategy game with little combat."

These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books (Sarah Laskow / Atlas Obscura) "Reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book can feel like being lost in a maze and running through twists and turns only to find dead ends, switchbacks, and disappointment. In the books—for those not familiar with them—you read until you come to a decision point, which prompts you to flip to another page, backward or forward."

A Falconer Enters the World of Video Games (Simon Parkin / New Yorker) "The story of how Nricco Iseppi, a master falconer, came to Riot Games has, among the company’s staff, acquired the malleability of myth. According to one scriptwriter, it began when Riot had an orange grove planted on its multimillion-dollar campus, in Los Angeles, a place already bristling with perks and mod cons."

Interview: “Rez” creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s unusual life evolves humanity (Staff / Denfaminicogamer) "One midnight, during an internal office chat at the Denfaminicogamer editorial department were the words “They’re crazy.” This was right at the end of 2016 after PS VR was released. As it were, the editorial departments odd excitement resulted in an impulsive interview about VR Contents “Rez Infinite” at the end of last year. This article is a written version of that insane seven hours interview. [SIMON'S NOTE: the translation isn't perfect, but this interview is AMAZING - you rarely see Japanese creators asked historical questions in this kind of depth.]"

The Garden Ages | Myst series (Sam Zucchi / Heterotopias) "How do the linking books in Myst read? These books are, in-universe, written out in the alphabet and language of a dead civilization. The text details the world that the writer wishes to visit: an island is described, its qualities delineated in some detail, and a linking pane appears on the first page, ready to literally transport the reader to the object described."

The RPG Scrollbars: In search of urban fantasy (Richard Cobbett / RockPaperShotgun) "There’s a real urban fantasy gap in the gaming industry, and it’s never made much sense. We see a thousand Tolkienesque fantasy games a minute (rough napkin calculation) and the future’s typically so bright, even the lens flares need shades. Yet when it comes to that line where the mundane meets the magical, mostly what we’ve had for the last few years is false hope."

E3 Was Different This Year, And It Wasn’t Just The Crowds (Nathan Grayson / Kotaku) "It’s the first day of E3. I’m walking the show floor—or more accurately, oozing across it, slug-like, followed by a trail of my own sweat. I’m shoulder-to-shoulder with swathes of people. Across the way, crowds of people whoop and holler, each of them hoping to win swag they can stuff in their floor-length swag bags. 15,000 new people are in attendance this year. [SIMON'S NOTE: one of the most considered of the 'what's up with E3 this year?' articles.]"

7 examples of accessibility design that developers should study (Richard Moss / Gamasutra) "Games are for everyone. And in recognizing this, ever-increasing numbers of developers are making a point to incorporate more accessibility features and options like remappable controls, configurable subtitles, resizable HUDs, and more."

The big interview: Xbox boss Phil Spencer (Wesley Yin-Poole / Eurogamer) "It was with all this in mind that I sat down with Xbox boss Phil Spencer at the Galen Center in Los Angeles to talk Xbox One X. At £449, I'm not sure who the console is for ("there is a customer out there who's looking for the premium experience"). I fear for Microsoft's first-party studio setup ("I do think we have an opportunity to get better in first-party")."

The State Of Virtual Reality (Brian Crecente / Polygon) "One could argue that the age of virtual reality kicked-off during last year's Game Developers Conference, an event that nearly coincided with the launch of two of the technology's most important head-mounted displays in recent history: the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive."

EA Boss Andrew Wilson's Vision of Gaming's Future Will Blow Your Mind (John Davison / Glixel) "The intervening years were tumultuous and challenging. Changing the company to deliver on that vision was a bumpy ride, but now 10 years later, Wilson is eager to convey what the new Electronic Arts stands for, and its vision for the future of games. [SIMON'S NOTE: Much snark online for some of the 'vision' in this interview, particularly the Emily Dickinson bit.]"

Ex-Puyo Puyo producer reveals some of the classic puzzler’s earliest prototypes (Kishi / Retronauts) "Last week, Compile founder Moo Niitani announced two previously unreleased works from the defunct developer’s glory days on MSX2 computers. Later this month, Dominon and Dominon X are both coming to Project EGG, D4 Enterprise’s prolific download service for old Japanese computer games."

Don't Change a Thing! The Challenges of Evolving Solitaire (Russell Carroll / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, MobilityWare's Russell Carroll shares the experience of updating Solitaire for a modern mobile audience, and what features they were able to update while grappling with intense resistance to any changes made to the core game.  [SIMON'S NOTE: I've known Russell - who used to run indie site GameTunnel - for a LONG time, and this talk is as much about management philosophy as it is solitaire - it's super well-considered.]"

Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs. That's OK. (For Now.) (Peter Suderman / Reason) "Video games, like work, are basically a series of quests comprised of mundane and repetitive tasks: Receive an assignment, travel to a location, overcome some obstacles, perform some sort of search, pick up an item, and then deliver it in exchange for a reward—and, usually, another quest, which starts the cycle all over again. You are not playing the game so much as following its orders. The game is your boss; to succeed, you have to do what it says."

7 roguelikes that every developer should study (Stefanie Fogel / Gamasutra) "With that in mind, we asked developers to name some of their favorite roguelikes - or games in other genres influenced by roguelike mechanics - and the lessons they can teach people today. And, many of these games are free and/or open source, which makes them easy to download, play, and study!"

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

#IFTTT #Blogger

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include behind-the-scenes on Hidden Folks, an interview about the Coin-Operated Americans book, interviews from E3, and much more.

Well, am back from Los Angeles, attending E3, which was - well - not that different that anyone might expect. Lots of hype and excitement for large AAA games, most of which do have guns all over them (looking forward to more Tim Rogers dispatches like this from Kotaku!), a somewhat overcrowded E3 itself thanks to the consumer influx, and enough games for everyone to be excited about at least one.

For me, that Super Mario Odyssey trailer was enough for me to pre-order the game to play with my son - and finally work out how to get a Switch, which is coming in a couple of weeks. [Sidebar: it's actually a bit crazy how much Nintendo was being counted out by many - including perhaps me. Then, whomp, two games later (new Zelda, new Mario) they're the belle of the ball again.]

But that's why E3 works as high drama, soap opera, and metacommentary hub of the year for video games - we've all got a hot take, and hot takes are king. (Also why there's not a GREAT deal of E3 coverage in this week's VGDC, heh. Not that we're 'hot take allergic', but you can get that on YouTube & Twitch right now in real-time if you'd like.) Anyway, 'til next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Developer Q&A: Balancing storytelling and player choice in Prey (Alex Wiltshire / Gamasutra) "Talos-1 runs on eels. This large space station, setting to Arkane Studios’ recently released emergent sim Prey, deals with its residents’ effluent by sending it to large vats where it’s consumed by the things."

Nintendo of America Boss Fils-Aimé On Comebacks, the Future of the DS and Surviving the Wii U (John Davison / Simon Cox / Glixel) "It's almost exactly a year since we last spoke with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé at E3 2016. On that occasion he was standing fifteen feet above that Disney-like Nintendo E3 booth, which was dedicated solely to the forthcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

Why 'Super Mario Maker' Didn’t Kill the Mario Hacking Community (Jess Joho / Motherboard) "Yet, playing hyper-polished feats of design like Super Mario Maker leave some longtime fans of the franchise nostalgic for the days of janky programming, kill screens, and brutal challenge. That's why the heroes of the Super Mario World (SMW) ROM hacking community remain stubbornly alive, even long after the release of an official Nintendo Mario level creator."

Coin-Operated Boys: An Interview with Carly Kocurek (Dan Royles / Nursing Clio) "Carly Kocurek’s Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade (Minnesota, 2015) examines the origins of modern video game culture in the “classic” arcade era, spanning the release of Pong in 1972 and the industry’s first major collapse in 1983. She traces the formation of the “technomasculine” during that period, as the arcade became increasingly defined as the province of young men."

How we make a game called Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh / Imgur) "Hey there! I'm Adriaan, one of the two developers behind Hidden Folks, a game for smartphones and computers in which you search for hidden folks in hand-drawn, interactive, miniature landscapes by unfurling tent flaps, cutting through bushes, slamming doors, and poking crocodiles!"

Offworld Trading Company: An RTS Without Guns (Soren Johnson / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 Game Developers Conference talk, Mohawk Games' Soren Johnson dives into strategy game history to explain how he and his team developed Offworld Trading Company, a strategy game with little combat."

These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books (Sarah Laskow / Atlas Obscura) "Reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book can feel like being lost in a maze and running through twists and turns only to find dead ends, switchbacks, and disappointment. In the books—for those not familiar with them—you read until you come to a decision point, which prompts you to flip to another page, backward or forward."

A Falconer Enters the World of Video Games (Simon Parkin / New Yorker) "The story of how Nricco Iseppi, a master falconer, came to Riot Games has, among the company’s staff, acquired the malleability of myth. According to one scriptwriter, it began when Riot had an orange grove planted on its multimillion-dollar campus, in Los Angeles, a place already bristling with perks and mod cons."

Interview: “Rez” creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s unusual life evolves humanity (Staff / Denfaminicogamer) "One midnight, during an internal office chat at the Denfaminicogamer editorial department were the words “They’re crazy.” This was right at the end of 2016 after PS VR was released. As it were, the editorial departments odd excitement resulted in an impulsive interview about VR Contents “Rez Infinite” at the end of last year. This article is a written version of that insane seven hours interview. [SIMON'S NOTE: the translation isn't perfect, but this interview is AMAZING - you rarely see Japanese creators asked historical questions in this kind of depth.]"

The Garden Ages | Myst series (Sam Zucchi / Heterotopias) "How do the linking books in Myst read? These books are, in-universe, written out in the alphabet and language of a dead civilization. The text details the world that the writer wishes to visit: an island is described, its qualities delineated in some detail, and a linking pane appears on the first page, ready to literally transport the reader to the object described."

The RPG Scrollbars: In search of urban fantasy (Richard Cobbett / RockPaperShotgun) "There’s a real urban fantasy gap in the gaming industry, and it’s never made much sense. We see a thousand Tolkienesque fantasy games a minute (rough napkin calculation) and the future’s typically so bright, even the lens flares need shades. Yet when it comes to that line where the mundane meets the magical, mostly what we’ve had for the last few years is false hope."

E3 Was Different This Year, And It Wasn’t Just The Crowds (Nathan Grayson / Kotaku) "It’s the first day of E3. I’m walking the show floor—or more accurately, oozing across it, slug-like, followed by a trail of my own sweat. I’m shoulder-to-shoulder with swathes of people. Across the way, crowds of people whoop and holler, each of them hoping to win swag they can stuff in their floor-length swag bags. 15,000 new people are in attendance this year. [SIMON'S NOTE: one of the most considered of the 'what's up with E3 this year?' articles.]"

7 examples of accessibility design that developers should study (Richard Moss / Gamasutra) "Games are for everyone. And in recognizing this, ever-increasing numbers of developers are making a point to incorporate more accessibility features and options like remappable controls, configurable subtitles, resizable HUDs, and more."

The big interview: Xbox boss Phil Spencer (Wesley Yin-Poole / Eurogamer) "It was with all this in mind that I sat down with Xbox boss Phil Spencer at the Galen Center in Los Angeles to talk Xbox One X. At £449, I'm not sure who the console is for ("there is a customer out there who's looking for the premium experience"). I fear for Microsoft's first-party studio setup ("I do think we have an opportunity to get better in first-party")."

The State Of Virtual Reality (Brian Crecente / Polygon) "One could argue that the age of virtual reality kicked-off during last year's Game Developers Conference, an event that nearly coincided with the launch of two of the technology's most important head-mounted displays in recent history: the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive."

EA Boss Andrew Wilson's Vision of Gaming's Future Will Blow Your Mind (John Davison / Glixel) "The intervening years were tumultuous and challenging. Changing the company to deliver on that vision was a bumpy ride, but now 10 years later, Wilson is eager to convey what the new Electronic Arts stands for, and its vision for the future of games. [SIMON'S NOTE: Much snark online for some of the 'vision' in this interview, particularly the Emily Dickinson bit.]"

Ex-Puyo Puyo producer reveals some of the classic puzzler’s earliest prototypes (Kishi / Retronauts) "Last week, Compile founder Moo Niitani announced two previously unreleased works from the defunct developer’s glory days on MSX2 computers. Later this month, Dominon and Dominon X are both coming to Project EGG, D4 Enterprise’s prolific download service for old Japanese computer games."

Don't Change a Thing! The Challenges of Evolving Solitaire (Russell Carroll / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, MobilityWare's Russell Carroll shares the experience of updating Solitaire for a modern mobile audience, and what features they were able to update while grappling with intense resistance to any changes made to the core game.  [SIMON'S NOTE: I've known Russell - who used to run indie site GameTunnel - for a LONG time, and this talk is as much about management philosophy as it is solitaire - it's super well-considered.]"

Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs. That's OK. (For Now.) (Peter Suderman / Reason) "Video games, like work, are basically a series of quests comprised of mundane and repetitive tasks: Receive an assignment, travel to a location, overcome some obstacles, perform some sort of search, pick up an item, and then deliver it in exchange for a reward—and, usually, another quest, which starts the cycle all over again. You are not playing the game so much as following its orders. The game is your boss; to succeed, you have to do what it says."

7 roguelikes that every developer should study (Stefanie Fogel / Gamasutra) "With that in mind, we asked developers to name some of their favorite roguelikes - or games in other genres influenced by roguelike mechanics - and the lessons they can teach people today. And, many of these games are free and/or open source, which makes them easy to download, play, and study!"

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

#IFTTT #Blogger

[symbianosgames]

The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutra’s community. The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.

[Video Game Deep Cuts is a weekly newsletter from curator/video game industry veteran Simon Carless, rounding up the best longread & standout articles & videos about games, every weekend. This week's highlights include behind-the-scenes on Hidden Folks, an interview about the Coin-Operated Americans book, interviews from E3, and much more.

Well, am back from Los Angeles, attending E3, which was - well - not that different that anyone might expect. Lots of hype and excitement for large AAA games, most of which do have guns all over them (looking forward to more Tim Rogers dispatches like this from Kotaku!), a somewhat overcrowded E3 itself thanks to the consumer influx, and enough games for everyone to be excited about at least one.

For me, that Super Mario Odyssey trailer was enough for me to pre-order the game to play with my son - and finally work out how to get a Switch, which is coming in a couple of weeks. [Sidebar: it's actually a bit crazy how much Nintendo was being counted out by many - including perhaps me. Then, whomp, two games later (new Zelda, new Mario) they're the belle of the ball again.]

But that's why E3 works as high drama, soap opera, and metacommentary hub of the year for video games - we've all got a hot take, and hot takes are king. (Also why there's not a GREAT deal of E3 coverage in this week's VGDC, heh. Not that we're 'hot take allergic', but you can get that on YouTube & Twitch right now in real-time if you'd like.) Anyway, 'til next time...

- Simon, curator.]

-------------------

Developer Q&A: Balancing storytelling and player choice in Prey (Alex Wiltshire / Gamasutra) "Talos-1 runs on eels. This large space station, setting to Arkane Studios’ recently released emergent sim Prey, deals with its residents’ effluent by sending it to large vats where it’s consumed by the things."

Nintendo of America Boss Fils-Aimé On Comebacks, the Future of the DS and Surviving the Wii U (John Davison / Simon Cox / Glixel) "It's almost exactly a year since we last spoke with Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé at E3 2016. On that occasion he was standing fifteen feet above that Disney-like Nintendo E3 booth, which was dedicated solely to the forthcoming The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild."

Why 'Super Mario Maker' Didn’t Kill the Mario Hacking Community (Jess Joho / Motherboard) "Yet, playing hyper-polished feats of design like Super Mario Maker leave some longtime fans of the franchise nostalgic for the days of janky programming, kill screens, and brutal challenge. That's why the heroes of the Super Mario World (SMW) ROM hacking community remain stubbornly alive, even long after the release of an official Nintendo Mario level creator."

Coin-Operated Boys: An Interview with Carly Kocurek (Dan Royles / Nursing Clio) "Carly Kocurek’s Coin-Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade (Minnesota, 2015) examines the origins of modern video game culture in the “classic” arcade era, spanning the release of Pong in 1972 and the industry’s first major collapse in 1983. She traces the formation of the “technomasculine” during that period, as the arcade became increasingly defined as the province of young men."

How we make a game called Hidden Folks (Adriaan de Jongh / Imgur) "Hey there! I'm Adriaan, one of the two developers behind Hidden Folks, a game for smartphones and computers in which you search for hidden folks in hand-drawn, interactive, miniature landscapes by unfurling tent flaps, cutting through bushes, slamming doors, and poking crocodiles!"

Offworld Trading Company: An RTS Without Guns (Soren Johnson / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 Game Developers Conference talk, Mohawk Games' Soren Johnson dives into strategy game history to explain how he and his team developed Offworld Trading Company, a strategy game with little combat."

These Maps Reveal the Hidden Structures of ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ Books (Sarah Laskow / Atlas Obscura) "Reading a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book can feel like being lost in a maze and running through twists and turns only to find dead ends, switchbacks, and disappointment. In the books—for those not familiar with them—you read until you come to a decision point, which prompts you to flip to another page, backward or forward."

A Falconer Enters the World of Video Games (Simon Parkin / New Yorker) "The story of how Nricco Iseppi, a master falconer, came to Riot Games has, among the company’s staff, acquired the malleability of myth. According to one scriptwriter, it began when Riot had an orange grove planted on its multimillion-dollar campus, in Los Angeles, a place already bristling with perks and mod cons."

Interview: “Rez” creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s unusual life evolves humanity (Staff / Denfaminicogamer) "One midnight, during an internal office chat at the Denfaminicogamer editorial department were the words “They’re crazy.” This was right at the end of 2016 after PS VR was released. As it were, the editorial departments odd excitement resulted in an impulsive interview about VR Contents “Rez Infinite” at the end of last year. This article is a written version of that insane seven hours interview. [SIMON'S NOTE: the translation isn't perfect, but this interview is AMAZING - you rarely see Japanese creators asked historical questions in this kind of depth.]"

The Garden Ages | Myst series (Sam Zucchi / Heterotopias) "How do the linking books in Myst read? These books are, in-universe, written out in the alphabet and language of a dead civilization. The text details the world that the writer wishes to visit: an island is described, its qualities delineated in some detail, and a linking pane appears on the first page, ready to literally transport the reader to the object described."

The RPG Scrollbars: In search of urban fantasy (Richard Cobbett / RockPaperShotgun) "There’s a real urban fantasy gap in the gaming industry, and it’s never made much sense. We see a thousand Tolkienesque fantasy games a minute (rough napkin calculation) and the future’s typically so bright, even the lens flares need shades. Yet when it comes to that line where the mundane meets the magical, mostly what we’ve had for the last few years is false hope."

E3 Was Different This Year, And It Wasn’t Just The Crowds (Nathan Grayson / Kotaku) "It’s the first day of E3. I’m walking the show floor—or more accurately, oozing across it, slug-like, followed by a trail of my own sweat. I’m shoulder-to-shoulder with swathes of people. Across the way, crowds of people whoop and holler, each of them hoping to win swag they can stuff in their floor-length swag bags. 15,000 new people are in attendance this year. [SIMON'S NOTE: one of the most considered of the 'what's up with E3 this year?' articles.]"

7 examples of accessibility design that developers should study (Richard Moss / Gamasutra) "Games are for everyone. And in recognizing this, ever-increasing numbers of developers are making a point to incorporate more accessibility features and options like remappable controls, configurable subtitles, resizable HUDs, and more."

The big interview: Xbox boss Phil Spencer (Wesley Yin-Poole / Eurogamer) "It was with all this in mind that I sat down with Xbox boss Phil Spencer at the Galen Center in Los Angeles to talk Xbox One X. At £449, I'm not sure who the console is for ("there is a customer out there who's looking for the premium experience"). I fear for Microsoft's first-party studio setup ("I do think we have an opportunity to get better in first-party")."

The State Of Virtual Reality (Brian Crecente / Polygon) "One could argue that the age of virtual reality kicked-off during last year's Game Developers Conference, an event that nearly coincided with the launch of two of the technology's most important head-mounted displays in recent history: the Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive."

EA Boss Andrew Wilson's Vision of Gaming's Future Will Blow Your Mind (John Davison / Glixel) "The intervening years were tumultuous and challenging. Changing the company to deliver on that vision was a bumpy ride, but now 10 years later, Wilson is eager to convey what the new Electronic Arts stands for, and its vision for the future of games. [SIMON'S NOTE: Much snark online for some of the 'vision' in this interview, particularly the Emily Dickinson bit.]"

Ex-Puyo Puyo producer reveals some of the classic puzzler’s earliest prototypes (Kishi / Retronauts) "Last week, Compile founder Moo Niitani announced two previously unreleased works from the defunct developer’s glory days on MSX2 computers. Later this month, Dominon and Dominon X are both coming to Project EGG, D4 Enterprise’s prolific download service for old Japanese computer games."

Don't Change a Thing! The Challenges of Evolving Solitaire (Russell Carroll / GDC / YouTube) "In this 2017 GDC session, MobilityWare's Russell Carroll shares the experience of updating Solitaire for a modern mobile audience, and what features they were able to update while grappling with intense resistance to any changes made to the core game.  [SIMON'S NOTE: I've known Russell - who used to run indie site GameTunnel - for a LONG time, and this talk is as much about management philosophy as it is solitaire - it's super well-considered.]"

Young Men Are Playing Video Games Instead of Getting Jobs. That's OK. (For Now.) (Peter Suderman / Reason) "Video games, like work, are basically a series of quests comprised of mundane and repetitive tasks: Receive an assignment, travel to a location, overcome some obstacles, perform some sort of search, pick up an item, and then deliver it in exchange for a reward—and, usually, another quest, which starts the cycle all over again. You are not playing the game so much as following its orders. The game is your boss; to succeed, you have to do what it says."

7 roguelikes that every developer should study (Stefanie Fogel / Gamasutra) "With that in mind, we asked developers to name some of their favorite roguelikes - or games in other genres influenced by roguelike mechanics - and the lessons they can teach people today. And, many of these games are free and/or open source, which makes them easy to download, play, and study!"

-------------------

[REMINDER: you can sign up to receive this newsletter every weekend at http://ift.tt/2dUXrva we crosspost to Gamasutra later on Sunday, but get it first via newsletter! Story tips and comments can be emailed to [email protected]. MINI-DISCLOSURE: Simon is one of the organizers of GDC and Gamasutra, so you may sometimes see links from those entities in his picks. Or not!]

#IFTTT #Blogger