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familyabolisher · 1 year

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what do you think of gretchen felker-martin’s work, if you’ve read it? I expected a lot from manhunt based on everything I heard about it but found it to be just fine

short answer: manhunt's prose sucked

long answer: i'm so over this little clique which has identified - by and large correctly - that what tends to sell in mainstream publishing scenes for genre lit is v meek, tepid writing with timid politics and didactic liberalism shaping its discourse, and used this fact to effectively carve out a marketing niche. the selling point of manhunt wasn't felker-martin's skill as a writer (to be perfectly honest: she does not have a lot of this); it was her consciously positioning herself amidst a discourse of "puritanism," liberalism, "censorship," "childishness"(!) etc in genre lit such that buying and adulating her book was a way to signal one's immediate "side" in the genre lit discourse wars. like ... that's a grift and a half, innit.

i do have some sympathy for this position! i know that gretchen is largely responding to the harassment of isabel fall, and i respect that. and i do, i guess, agree with her that the bulk of contemporary anglophone genre lit in mainstream spheres is having to measure up to a particular palatability such that eg. trans women's writing comes under heavy scrutiny & the sort of writing that fall was doing encounters precisely the backlash she got. i just - don't buy into her imagined solution of publishing a very graphic horror book about terfs with tor nightfire to own the libs.

the problem is that it's an incurious position. going to the capitalist hegemony and getting mad when there's liberalism in the literature is like going to the circus and getting mad that you saw clowns. there's no desire to move away from these circuits which reward easy stories & bury difficult ones; there's no desire to question why we hold these sites of production up as ultimately legitimating structures. there's a real sense that just getting the big names in publishing to publish the Right books is a significant accomplishment (and by extension, you as the participant who Agrees with gretchen on this matter must therefore Support Her Work).

i'll admit that i never actually finished manhunt - i didn't get very far in at all because the prose just drove me insane. so maybe i can't give a fair assessment of the book. but the problem i had reading it was that like, the prose was bad! more specifically, it was an incurious prose, reflecting what i identified above - an incurious approach to storytelling. it was an excessively didactic voice guiding me as a reader from discourse point to discourse point like she was worried i wouldn't get what she was going for if she didn't make it absolutely crystal clear in quotidian prose. this tends to make for the kind of story where i'll think about it for maybe 20 minutes and then be done with it forever, because you've already given me all the answers yourself. like. challenge me! stop patronising the reader! if i wanted this i would go read a medium article!

like, i like novels that construct discourse through literary technique such that they leave me with these various entry points & angles from which i can think about them & respond to them in a sophisticated manner. when a book comes barrelling into my living room and goes Hi, I Am About Discourse Points 1, 2, and 3, i am left with very little space in which to do that. i also just - and maybe this is boring of me, but - i like when prose is good! it's very like, well, congratulations on publishing a novel where you write jkr getting like burned alive in her castle or whatever it was but did you care about this story as anything more than a vehicle for Discourse? lol

(there's absolutely a place for quotidian + straightforward prose, fwiw, and i wouldn't appeal to Literary Technique as a measure of quality, but - like, it just wasn't a technically skilled book, and it wasn't a book which had much of a desire to be received as much more than a bit of grist for the discourse mill.)

also i find gretchen annoying on twitter but since twitter is the website for annoying people i guess i can't hold that against her

#ask #oh ALSO if anyone remembers the bitchy tell me i'm worthless review i wrote:#alison rumfitt read it (WHOOPS!) and tweeted about it & GFM was in her replies reassuring her about how good it was #which i found funny.....making waves in the annoying bad horror writer community #i have a handful of other issues w/ gretchen and the kind of claims she makes around lot #*lit #but this is the long and short of it

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echoweaver · 11 months

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Get to Know You - Sims Edition

I was tagged by @hazely-sims. It takes me a while to respond, but I love being tagged.

What’s your favorite Sims death?

I’ve had to do some extreme challenge rules to let my sims die of anything other than old age. I have a difficult time letting my sims take risks that might get them killed. Amusingly, I don’t like that that pets have no other ways to die in the vanilla game because even though I don’t let them die, I want it to be meaningful for me to take care of them. 🤷‍♀️

OTOH, I love ghosts. I’ve added death types for cats and dogs with my Pets mods, and I’ve explored ALL the ghost types ad nauseum to pick ones that go well with those death types. A lot of the most obscure ghosts are the best ones. Vampire Thirst has a beating heart that is really impressive. Mummy’s Curse has neat color effects. Freezing to Death puffs out fog breath. They’re great, and they work seamlessly with pets.

Alpha CC or MaxisMatch?

Almost exclusively MaxisMatch. I used to use a mix, but over time the clash of art styles really started bothering me. Going all-alpha is way more work than all-mm, and I actually enjoy my sims’ lightly cartoony appearance.

Do you cheat your sims weight?

No. I want my sims to have a variety of weights, and I prefer body weight to just be genetic. My second gen heir for the Samples, Lancelot, was pretty heavy, and he was Athletic, so I made him a bodybuilder. Then he passed that physique down to his kids because Sims 🙄. After that, most of my sims have ended up slim by chance. My choice of mate is in-game and almost entirely gameplay driven, so there’s no particular reason partners would be slim or fit.

Do you move objects?

Since I’m very gameplay-driven, you’d think I wouldn’t use it much, but @hazely-sims is right. How can you play without it? If you use the default game restrictions, everything in your house ends up looking like it was place on a grid, which it kinda was.

Favorite Mod?

Good grief. I’m going to set aside NRaas, since that suite is rightly most people’s choice. One mod that’s had a big effect on my game is @flotheory‘s Make a Mess. Toddlers got to be incredibly boring, and EA reacted by creating store content that allowed them to skill themselves and be as unintrusive as possible. That was the wrong choice! Toddlers need to be a big PITA. You need to watch them every minute. That’s a real simulation of toddlerhood!

I also have gotten into more detailed survival simulation with my medieval game. @anitmb‘s Hunting Mod has been a big part of making that fun. Also Ingredients Overhaul and custom harvestables and recipes (psst Plantable Wheat)

First Expansion/Game Pack/Stuff Pack?

I played The Sims and TS2, but not very long. I didn’t learn about fan-made challenges until TS3, and that’s when I really fell in love. So that’s the first game I bought expansions for.

Not very creatively, the first one I bought for TS3 was the first one that came out, World Adventures. That seems like a controversial one, but I love it. I guess the Game Pack equivalent for TS3 would be functional store content. I honestly don’t remember what I bought first.

Do you pronounce live mode like aLIVE or LIVing

aLIVE. Sims isn’t the only software to have a live mode, and that’s always how I’ve understood it to be pronounced. I didn’t even know people pronounced it like LIVing, but I can see how that would make sense for Sims.

Who’s your favorite sim that you’ve made?

I technically haven’t MADE a lot of sims because I’m obsessed with naturally born genetics. I download a lot of sims with interesting faces and load them into my game, then let NRaas StoryProgression pair them off and, using its Advanced Genetics, populate my town with interesting genetic combinations.

Have you made a simself?

Yup! Echo Weaver. Some sim friends over the years have put her in their games too.

Which is your favorite EA hair color?

I am SO SICK of all the TS3 hair presets.

Favorite EA hair?

Another difficult answer. There’s a braided updo that came with one of the expansions that I think looks wonderful on all female sims, but I’d have to look it up. That said, I don’t like repeating hairs in a game very often.

Favorite life stage?

Yeah, adult is where you can do the most stuff. I’m not sure it’s my favorite exactly. I like roleplaying each life stage to build a sim’s personality. My Gen 8 Sample sims are kids, so I’m thinking in kid mode at the moment and really enjoying @olomayasims Void Critters mod. Seems like most of the really fun gameplay for non-YA/Adult comes from mods.

Are you a builder or are you in it for the gameplay?

I can’t build my way out of a cardboard box. Definitely gameplay. I think this is the wrong question, though, since there are way more options than those two. My answer would probably still be gameplay, but the gameplay wouldn’t be nearly as fun if I weren’t building a story out of it.

Are you a CC creator?

Trick question! I mod, but I don’t art. So it depends on how broadly you mean cc? 😁

Do you have any Simblr friends or a Sim Squad?

Definitely have friends! Back in the WordPress days, I made a private Facebook community and invited a bunch of my Sims-playing pals. That was probably a “squad.” These days, I’m here, and I’m friend with folks who read and comment on each other’s stuff. I probably wouldn’t still be here without those relationships.

Do you have any sims merch?

I don’t think I’ve even seen TS3 merch. LOL.

Do you have a YouTube for sims?

I cannot stand watching other people play video games on YouTube unless it’s a tutorial. My play style would be horrible to watch because I go on random tangents to tweak lots and down population in the middle of gameplay. Yeah, I’ll skip that and keep to telling stories with screenshots.

How has your “Sims style” changed throughout your years of playing?

I have gotten increasingly wish-driven and more focused on “emergent” sim personality.

Only year 13 or 14 of playing this game, I’ve gotten into challenges that are world aesthetic in addition to gameplay, such as the medieval history challenge (Morbid’s Ultimate Decades Challenge). That involves buckets of cc, a medieval-themed custom world, and a bunch of social rules in addition to just day-to-day gameplay. I want to feel like my games are different experiences.

Since I have trouble making my sims deliberately take risks, and I don’t think I could deliberately kill an active sim, I’ve looked for ways to add hardship into the game. I want to keep my sims relatively poor. I want there to be ways in the challenge for them to die. I want to have real life obstacles for my sims to overcome.

What’s your origin id?

It’s either Echowever or Echoweaver. I misspelled it initially and tried to fix it when EA moved the site to its newer account system. I can’t remember how that turned out. I think it’s Echowever in some places and Echoweaver in others. 🤦‍♀️

Who’s your favorite CC creator?

Gah. I started to answer this 3 times.

I love cc creators! I’m afraid to list any for fear of leaving anyone out who I also love. You’re all amazing!

How long have you had simblr?

I looked this up for a different meme, and I created this account in 2013. I haven’t been on it consistently during that time. I also took a 3-year hiatus from the game entirely and came back during the pandemic.

How do you edit your pictures?

For most of my time storytelling with this game, I haven’t edited my pics at all. In the last year or so, I’ve added ReShade with a pretty unobtrustive preset. mostly just to sharpen things up a bit and improve light quality. I’ve started editing dark shots in Photoshop Elements to increase the light or remove photobombing gui elements.

Not much overall though.

What expansion/ gamepack is your favorite?

Oof with the hard questions. Probably Seasons. The weather and holidays add a lot of depth and character to the gameplay.

Mmmmm. Who to tag? I’m not sure who hasn’t done this yet. @withlovefromayre? @pudding-parade?

#echoweaver #meta-sims #memes #sims 3

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theoptimisticdaydreamer · 1 year

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Now that the season is over and everyone is released from the constraints of the bake off tent, things need to be discussed.

The final highlighted an epidemic within bake off that has honestly been growing ever since it moved out of the BBC.

Which is that bakers are never given enough time to complete the tasks set for each challenge.

Challenges get ridiculous and more difficult year after year as if they are trying to one-up the year before (which is not what bake off is about).

The judges have become very subjective in their judgments. It is very biased and not at all fair and cohesive.

The hosting has felt very stagnant and the hosts (mainly Matt Lucas) fail to deliver on their entire purpose which is to uplift the spirits of the bakers. The hosts help set the entire tone of the show for the bakers themselves apart from when their bakes are being judged by Paul and Prue. Their “comedy” and their dialogue has really fallen flat and so instead of being lighthearted, they contribute to making the atmosphere even more stressed and tense.

This is not a professional baking competition. This is not Masterchef 2.0. This should be a celebration of home bakers. And its veering further and further from that core purpose.

Everything essential to home baking which is flavor and flavor only is being overshadowed by all of these other criteria. They are being judged on creating dishes that they have never made before and will never replicate in a million years at home.

What value is this serving?

You are not teaching them any valuable skills to take home and use with their families - simple things they can make in a short period of time that will taste delicious.

Instructions for the technical never include essential information and the judges just expect them to know all of these niche details- completely forgetting that they are all AMATEUR BAKERS who bake at HOME and who have busy lives.

Baking is their hobby, it is a love language, it is not their career.

It is increasingly evident that Bake Off is setting up their contestants to fail and purposefully creating situations that bring out the bakers’ stress and anxiety.

I don’t watch bake off to see people fall apart over cake. I find no enjoyment in watching them struggle.

Bake Off has remained special to me because of the atmosphere between the bakers. The baker community.

I love it for the fact that the bakers are never competing against each other truly and help each other out at any given moment. The warm cozy vibes.

That spirit is not found in any other baking show. Period. It is unique and so precious.

But that spirit is being overshadowed by the rotten framework of this new Bake Off.

There needs to be a fundamental restructuring of Bake Off before it loses everything that makes it special.

#gbbo #bake off #gbbo 2022 #gbbo commentary #something needs to change #this is ridiculous #not giving the bakers enough time or enough information #expecting more out of the bakers every single year #stop trying to one up the previous year #this isn't masterchef #this isn't a heavy duty competition between professionals #this is a warm calm competition between regular people who bake on a sunday morning because they want to #to these bakers food is a love language #not a competition and not a career #stop purposefully stressing these bakers out #stop your subjective judging that is biased and unfair af #it has to be said this wasn't a very good final in terms of execution #and that is the fault of the parameters of the challenges #none of the showstoppers looked showstopping #when bakers are still massively struggling during the final episode there is something wrong with the competition itself #also the hosting needs to be adjusted to be of value to the bakers and to actually be funny #lower the perceived stakes #bring back the educational value #bring back Mary Berry Mel and Sue

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highly-important · 1 year

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Modernism & Fascism

Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue III 1967-1968 This painting is circling my Twitter FYP page in a meme about human-created art vs AI art.

Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue

The artist, Barnett Newman (1905-1970), is one of the foremost color field painters. Newman saw his work as a reaction to the horrors of World War II. “For Newman, figuring out what an artist could do after witnessing events such as the Holocaust and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki required ignoring all of art history, quote, “to start from scratch, to paint as if painting never existed before.”

In 1967 Newman finished his largest painting, Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue III. It shocked audiences at the time, who wrote letters to express their disgust and dismay. In the 1980s, a disgruntled painter named Gerard Jan van Bladeren slashed the painting with a box cutter. One of the main arguments the lawyer made in his defense was that the painting was a kind of cultural provocation, which called for a reaction. He was sentenced five months in prison, and people sent letters to the museum praising him, one even saying “this so-called vandal should be made the director of modern museums.”

Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue After the Attack (2006) Thomas Raat

“Anybody Can Do That”

The museum tried to restore the painting, but no one would take them up on the job. Eventually, Daniel Goldreyer said he could repair the painting. Four and a half years later the painting was revealed. It seems like it would be easy to repair the red part of the piece, but when it was revealed people immediately noticed the red paint looked different. Previously there had been a shimmering quality to the red that gave it a sense of depth, but the restoration had a flat-looking paint that, according to critics of the restoration, robbed it of its original power.

The biggest challenge to repairing Red, Yellow, and Blue III was the simplicity of the art. Regardless of how you feel about this painting, there is an undeniable truth about the craftsmanship. Usually, texture and brushwork can mask repair work, but Newman’s work is a swath of uniform color. No visible brush strokes, no uneven texture. Anyone who has worked with paint, especially oil paint, knows how particularly difficult this is to do The recreation tried, and failed, to recreate the delicate techniques of the original.

The painting was sent to a forensic lab, and it was revealed the paint Goldreyer used would be impossible to remove. The painting was destroyed a second time.

Cathedra (1951) Barnett Newman

In 1997, Bladeren returned to the museum in search of the botched restoration. When he couldn’t find Red, Yellow and Blue III, he found another painting by Newman titled Cathedra, and attacked it with a box cutter. He also scattered a packet of pamphlets to the floor that contained incoherent writing. At his second trial, Bladeren was declared mentally unfit and sent to a psychiatric institution.

You don’t have to like Newman, but this work has incredible technical skill.

But as Jacob Geller says in the youtube video essay “Who’s Afraid of Modern art” says, the debate around whether or not the art requires technical skill misses the point. “Reducing art to a linear connection between ‘skill’ and ‘value’ fundamentally just turns art into a commodity.”

Rejection of Modern Art is a form of Fascism

Newman was a Jewish artist, and Who’s Afraid of Red, Yellow, and Blue III was struck and spat upon in Germany because the attacker said it bore a mocking resemblance to the German flag. In 2018, another sculpture by Newman, Broken Obelisk, was vandalized by white supremacists. White paint was poured into the reflective pool, and scattered around were posters with the phrase "it's ok to be white." It was vandalized similarly before, with swastikas spray-painted across it.

Broken Obelisk (1963-1967) Barnett Newman

You’re not a bad person if you hate modern art, or any art created after 1800. Art is a subjective experience.

Part of the problem is also how modern art museums display artwork. When art gallery patrons are given more detailed descriptions of art, they experience more positive and fewer negative emotions.

But there is a pursuit of fascism to make everything of a specific aesthetic through rigid, culturally appropriate standards. As a nation’s mythology is built on its art, the subsequent art begins to feed into this narrative by continuously referencing this mythology. The result of this self-referential loop is a hierarchy that rejects anything new or divergent from the aesthetic. Thus, when art deviates from the established norms, it doesn’t feed into that nation’s mythology, eliciting criticism. This is because it doesn’t “contribute” to that society, but challenges it." (source)

The Nazi party seized 15,000 pieces of artwork, and in 1937 selected 640 of these pieces to be displayed in a derisive exhibition called "Degenerate Art." They wanted to invite public displays of anger and protest. This art was hung crookedly under mocking slogans like "nature as seen by sick minds.” Others were displayed with the extravagant price the original work sold for, to invite mockery and derision.

This pushed the Nazi's paradigm of what constituted good vs bad art.The argument made against this artwork was that these pieces showed no sign of craft that 'real art' does, so to celebrate them is an offense to the German people and their culture.

The fact that these pieces were held in high regard was seen by Nazis as proof of the insidious plots of the left. The art held critiques of sexual norms and norms of the family values that were important to Nazi respectability. Modern art, they said ,was made for “eradication of the last vestiges of racial consciousness.” New and transgressive styles by black and Jewish artists were indicative of their ‘degenerate intellectualism.” This is eugenics through the systematic devaluation of art. (paraphrased from here)

"Modern Art" is still used as a catch-all term to denigrate any work that ignores or rejects traditional Western standards of art and beauty, and the criticisms against modern and contemporary art are not dissimilar to the arguments made by Nazis against degenerate artwork.

"What “modern art” does, directly or indirectly, is question what constitutes ‘proper art’. The idea that Rembrandt and Shakespeare are the only valid forms of artistic expression lies directly in those artists being Christian, western Europeans. By widening the frame, by hanging a Picasso, Newman, or a Van Gogh under the same roof as a Friedrich, you visualize the idea that certain ideas are not superior. The privileges of aristocratic, white Europeans are directly threatened by the mere existence of “modern art”, which makes it a target." (source)

Here is a really fantastic article about the artist as cultural worker. Culture needs to be maintained. And art that doesn’t fit into a cultural narrative becomes a target. The rejection of non-traditional art is often a rejection of oppressed people.

Fascists didn’t vandalize “Broken Obelisk” because of its simplicity, they did it to assert power and control. The criticisms of the art are just a way to assert their own “superiority” by dehumanizing the other.

#modern art #barnett newman #fascism

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lapinaraoflimbo · 27 days

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I think a lot of something called "F.O.O. strategies" or "First Order Optimal" strategies because from what I can tell it's not really a widely used term despite being so important to game design and playing games. I only have really come across the term in a meaningful way from a really old extra credits episode and a few handful of responses to that video (which I guess I am also guilty of adding to at this point)

The basic idea behind them is that when new players pick up a game they are going to have a difficult time learning the more complex aspects of the game. Players will naturally gravitate to the strategies and techniques that have the best difficulty to reward ratio. That is strategies that are easy to pull off but are comparatively more rewarding to many other strategies. There's a lot of really interesting design space to be had within and around FOO strats, ranging from how to introduce friends into games to drawing in new players to a game to balancing learning curves and skill ceilings.

All games should have FOO strats because it's in human nature to use FOO strats. Any game that intentionally deletes any sort of strategy that could help a new player get into the game is most likely going to be a very bad game. Even games that are intended to be obtuse and difficult to pick up like Dark Souls or Dwarf Fortress have a large number of FOO strats that can help players develop the skills to engage with the more complicated strategies present in the game.

I think this is particularly interesting in games that don't require the player to ever engage with the full complexity of the mechanics of its systems. The most major example of this that comes to mind for me is Mario games, and specifically the kaizo romhacks made of them.

Mario 64 is a game with an incredible depth to its FOO strategies. Backflips are easier to pull off than triple jumps, and triple jumps can be easier to pull off than side flips. Wall kicks are a particularly challenging thing to pick up when you're a new player to Mario 64- the 5-frame window can feel very small especially when coming from other mario games that let you wall-slide before a wall jump. Long jumps are a particularly easy trick to pull off with a wide range of movement options, while doing a jump dive is significantly more complex and technical but can allow for much greater distances to be covered in a single jump. Even the more simple moves like punching, kicking, and diving can have very complex interactions with mario and his momentum.

This interesting balance between a very complex movement system and a very simple movement system is one of the reasons that I love Mario 64 so much. It is a game that is so simple it can be somebody's first video game, but it also has so much depth that thousands of hours will still leave you discovering new and interesting interactions with the physics. It's really a perfect balance of how to approach a game so that everyone can play it. Systems that truly transform to match the player are very rare in even the best of video games, and it's a wonder how they managed to find that in one of the earliest steps into 3D design.

I don't think that it's just Mario 64 that this balance between FOO strats and complex-technical strats exists either. Almost every major mario game has some amount of complexity to dive into it. It is not an accident that Super Mario World is what popularized and created Kaizo as we know it today. Super Mario 2: The Lost Levels (not to be confused with the english release of Super Mario 2) was a sequel to the original NES game that attempted to cater to master players, with very difficult levels that weren't intended to be played by beginners. That design philosophy sticks around today with the most recent mario games as well. Mario Odyssey has so much freedom of movement and tricks that are possible that it can open up entirely new ways to play without sacrificing the experience that casual need. Super Mario Maker has such a wide variety of difficulty it's almost nauseating. From levels that are near impossible to lose to some of the hardest challenges in all of video games. Mario Wonder also has this adaptive difficulty, with the badges and the range between the challenge levels and basic levels.

It's not just the complexity of the systems that enable this adaptability either. The systems being easy to pick up is an important part of it as well. There needs to be a balance between the easy and the difficult. The easy must be possible, and it must be good enough. But there needs to be a reason to learn the more complicated tricks as well. It's this balance that FOO strats really need to be focused on to achieve in any game. Make a strategy too powerful and simple and there will be no reason to learn the complicated tricks. But if you make the simple strategies too weak then the player won't be able to meaningfully engage with the system enough to learn the complexities.

Let's go back to Mario 64 though, since that is the one I am most familiar with.

If we break down Mario 64's moveset from this angle we can start to see how the game's FOO strategies look. To a brand new player, there is going to be a very limited moveset compared to that of a veteran player. To list off what comes to the top of my head: The player will be able to run, to crawl, to punch, to single jump, to backflip, to ground pound, and long jump... and that's mostly it. Wall kicks will be very difficult for a brand new player to pull off. Double jumps require tight timing that can be difficult to learn for players unfamiliar with video games. Triple jumps have even more difficult timing along with a significant amount of complex interactions with mario's momentum. Kicking in the air is going to be very difficult for a new player to pull off because of the precise momentum and speed mario needs to not dive. Side flips are probably one of the easier of the complex tricks to learn, but still require knowledge about speed and momentum that will take a new player a while to properly learn. Dives are likely going to be done mostly by mistake with new players, as the precise momentum needed to turn a punch into a dive is hard to learn. All of these are just the basic moves. When they are mixed in together, the complexity only rises. But let's just focus on the FOO strats for now and forget the ceiling that exists.

A new players is going to learn how to run as the very first thing they do. Running is often taken for granted in games, but for a brand new player it can be difficult to learn how to make a player character move properly. If the player character starts running slowly before hitting a top speed, like in Mario 64, it can be even more difficult to learn. So a player will have to learn that it takes time to run, and it takes more time to run if they are moving up a slope, and less time to run if they are moving down a slope. None of these things requires a large amount of skill to be able to achieve, nor do they require much technical knowledge despite actually being very technical. It's this very low skill floor that can allow players to start to experience with mario's momentum in a way that is easy and importantly not frustrating.

If a player tries to run up a gentle slope they will still be able to make it to the top of the slope. The technical aspects of slopes and mario's momentum will not be a barrier to a player who's using this particular FOO strat. However, the FOO strat also has some in-built limitations: mainly mario has difficulty jumping when running up a slope, and he moves much slower than if other strats were employed. Mario will have particularly hard time doing triple jumps and wall jumps if he is running up a slope, limiting his movement options rather severely.

It's the way that all of these come together that the player can start to experiment with more complicated movement strategies. Even without adding any moves in players can start to experiment with various strategies. For example, when a player is on a slope and wants to start moving, they can move down the slope and do a gentle 180 degree turn. This will help the player build up momentum quickly to run up the slope with. However, if a player attempts to turn to quickly they'll skid, removing all of the build up momentum so that mario has to build up speed again. Players can also explore complexities of running to the side on a slope, or the complexities of how mario's run is distinct from his speed.

Playing around with new moves can help introduce even more technical systems of the game. When mario is running up a slope, kicking can help give him a small speed boost. When mario is running up a slope, jumping and pressing the B button will result in a dive regardless of mario's actual speed, even though mario will typically kick when he's in the air moving at slow speeds. Diving on a slope will result in mario getting stuck in a belly slide animation, which the player may or may not be able to escape depending on the steepness of the slope and the angle and speed of mario. Players may start to learn that jumping onto a slope instead of running onto a slope will result in different effects on mario, or they might start to experiment with the differences between long jumps and regular jumps and side flips under different speed and momentum states.

All of this experimentation is found because of how easy the game made it to run. It might seem overly simple to look at something as simple as running with this much depth, but remember that automatic running is not something that every game has. Many games require a button to be pressed to run, or will switch into two completely different physics systems based on a player's speed, while other games may have extremely complex and technical systems to enable running. Mario's run is automatic, based off of a number of factors and has large changes to his moveset. There is little technical knowledge or skill that is required to run but it's still a deeply technical movement mechanic that only seems simple because it's made to be easy to engage with. There is no need to understand the complexities. It's a mechanic that is given to players to introduce them to and allow them to explore the existence of other forms of movement. In a game like mario 64, the running mechanics are more than just a way to get around, they are the game itself. And the way that this simple strategy enables beginner players to engage with more complex mechanics is part of what makes it such an easy game to pick up but such a difficult game to master.

Almost every good game will have a mechanic like this, though it isn't always going to be the movement. There are games out there that do not have complex movement. Those games will likely have other systems that are just as easy to pick up, that have complex interactions with the rest of the game. Whether that's basic damage calculations or aiming or basic combos or skill cooldowns or unit management or menu-ing, every good game will give players a way to pick it up that leads them into the other skills they need. FOO strats are easy to It's useful to be able to identify these early strategies because it can help you learn more about what makes games work by showing you the edges where the different mechanics merge together. Every game will have more depth than what you can see on first glance, and every game needs a way to show you that depth.

#Mario 64 #game design

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void-star · 8 months

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hello! ramble to me about whatever topic is your favorite atm! it's very fun to hear someone talk about what they're interested in (aka i saw you were sad about lack of asks, and want to somehow help? plus listening to people infodump is fun)

Ooo hello and thank you so much! It's been difficult to think of a topic to ramble about that's not heavy and dark... honestly I'm still going through a lot after losing my cat a few weeks ago.

But let's see... One of my fave topics though is Psychology, and because I also love art, artistic expression, and the power of human connection, I'm going to talk about how encouragement does way more for helping develop somebody's craft than criticism does!

People might have a lot of different reactions to that information, either because it seems obvious or because they might think it prevents people from improving their weak points... but if you lean into encouraging someone to see their strengths and to keep doing the art or craft, they're going to try new things and improve whatever technical skills aren't refined yet.

I've had the privileged to watch one of my friend's kids get into art and stick with it. There's a lot of people, both adults and peers, who can be really harsh on creative people-- I don't entirely know why, but I don't like it-- and yet, with some encouragement for trying new things (adding lines for clothing folds, playing with glow lighting, etc.) his art is really coming into its own.

And I think that's beautiful!

Pointing out weak points has its purpose, when it's explicitly solicited, and imo when we're in more of an intermediate place with our crafts (where you feel more in control of what you're doing and challenges feel fun and within your ability).

Otherwise, you're just crushing somebody's spirit. And as cheesy as it sounds, I think human beings are intrinsically creative and artistic.

#answered #eric-the-bmo #art #sorry if this is not super interesting but i appreciate the ask!!

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unlimitedtrees · 10 months

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youtube

thinkin about 'Evil Mode' from 'Among the Others' , my last rom hack

so, after beating sylvie lime yesterday ,it got me thinkin about silly precision platformers and kaizo stuff ... U see , despite me being a Sonic CD-loving freak , i do like to play trial and error crazy platformers , such as N++ and celeste some other games im too lazy to think about right now . i just. like a fun and silly challenge sometimes. However , as i established in me last post , i am a Picky Bitch when it comes to platformers and i tend to prefer the controls and movement of the classic sonic games compared to every other platformer out there . i just Love the unique movement and interactions u have with environment in stuff like Sonic CD ... its something that no other game feels like and is something ive always wanted to see be experimented with in something like a kaizo sort of game .. but it hasnt really been done much before aside from a kaizo sonic rom hack that i thought handled the level design Very Poorly ..

there is also a rom hack named Sonic VR which i Really Really like ... but im probably gonna save that for its own post , teehee !!

Anyways. along with Sonic VR being a Huge Inspiration for me , and also seeing all those crazy kaizo mario hacks over the years , its something i wanted to try making myself for a Long, Long time . and well ... i finally got the chance in 2018, with my rom hack named 'Among the Others'.

so. Among the Others was a rom hack of Sonic 1 that i made. there is a Lot of history behind it that i wont get into for this post , but basically it was supposed to be my final, ambitious rom hack that eventually got cancelled and then i put a wall of text at the very end complaining about the rom hacking community. i then released it to the sonic hacking contest and then left the community .. but a few months before the contest begun, i still had a bunch of free time and the main game was already complete, so i decided to just add a bunch of random extra stuff just because .. and in the end there ended up being a Lot More content for a game that Was Technically unfinished...

one of the thing i added into the game was the secret 'Evil Mode' , something which not many people have played and is what im gonna get into in this post ... click da Read More thingy if u Dare !!!

So , in the level select (which u can just access by using the normal Sonic 1 level select code) , there are 3 evil mode levels in the game. these are basically extra levels based off the normal levels in the game, except these are completely redesigned to be Very Difficult and Evil. i wanted to make a sort of kaizo like thing ,where u have to get past all sorts of Deranged challenges that take advantage of the unique controls and movement of this game (which, btw, in case u dont know, this game has special abilities unique to it that make the movement Very Crazy , Lol !!).

There Is One Big Problem However... and it has to deal with the limitations of Making A Sonic ROM Hack When You Are Just A Dumb Little Creature Who Does Not Understand Assembly Programming.

You See, designing kaizo levels for a sonic rom hack is way more difficult than you may think. there comes a lot of Limitations to making sonic rom hacks that, combined with my limited skill, made making these levels very Annoying and Difficult to Create.

First Off, the game can only handle so many objects on screen. Which, well, i Suppose is fine. after all, im sure that's the case with mario world rom hacks. But In The Case Of A Sonic ROM Hack ... Well . Not only are you limited by having few sprites on screen, but you Also are limited by how many Types of objects can be in a level. You See.. all of the artwork for the objects are loaded in by 'pattern load cues'. each zone in the game has their own table which lists all the artwork thats loaded in ,including the level art and all the art for all the objects . not only was i limited by how Much art could be loaded in a single zone .. but Also i was limited by My Ability To Program. i could Not understand how the pattern load cues worked At All. getting objects from One Zone to work in Another Zone was Nearly Impossible for me ... idont know how to describe this fully. Basically , Most of the time , i could Not bring over another object from another zone Unless it used the same amount of tiles as an object from the current zone .. if that makes sense. idont know. All I Know Is ... I Was Greatly Limited by What objects i could use , and that's on Top of worrying about having too many objects on screen .

But That's Not The End Of It. you also have to worry about objects just. Disappearing in the game. sometimes , an object will just Not Load In and i have No Idea Why. i dont understand how any of it works .. all i know is that i was Unable to fully rely on building the level out of objects ,as id constantly have to worry if an important object would Unload , making progressing in the levels difficult.

because of all this , i was Severely Limited by how i could design the levels and what hazards i could even make . i couldnt even have too many spikes anywhere like a kaizo mario level ... it was very Limiting . and thats not even getting into the Level Chunks . you see, the levels themselves are also built out of Chunks of 128x128 pixels ,which have all the level art and collision. but i was also limited by How Many Chunks a zone could have , and these zones already were using the chunks from the normal levels which already used most of the chunks .... so i couldnt design much unique areas for these levels ...

despite it all , i tried my best to make levels that would be an interesting challenge ... and u know what. i am Kind Of proud of what i managed to accomplish , especially considering all the limitations i had to deal with. there's Definitely a ton of stuff i wish i couldve done with these levels, and theres stuff i probably couldve done better ,but Damn. playing through these dickish levels is kind of fun sometimes. Lol. i tried my best to make these levels use the physics and unique abilities to their fullest potential ... i just wish i coulda done More with em.

something i am pretty proud of that i think No One has done is playing the evil levels in Encore Mode. you see, in the game there is a secret encore mode that can be accessed by entering '81, 82, 80, 80' in the sound test ... and aside from letting you play as Pepsiman it also gives every level entirely different object layouts, along with new palettes and music. The Evil Mode levels in particular were fun to make Even More Evil , with The Core Zone specifically being made to be Actually Deranged , with its palette being Pitch Black and the evil mode level being Longer than the original one . and ,while i was also a bit limited with making these encore versions as i could only edit the object layouts , they were still fun to make and i am pretty proud of Encore Mode as a whole .

anyways. if you want something insane to go through, try the Evil Mode in Among the Others if you wish. you can download the game and its source code on github, if you wish.

anywayz thats all. there is so much about Among the Others ive ought to talk about .,,,, so much about this game that people dont even know about . maybe someday i can share more about it with you all ....

#TreesThinks #Among the Others #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic rom hack #rom hack #rom hacking #game dev #game development #gamedev #indiedev #indie dev #Youtube

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psycholojosh · 2 years

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The Unwritten Part of Clinical Psych Training

Almost over two months ago, I went out spontaneously with my two good friends in MA - Mikka (she/her) and Magsi (he/him). We drove up to Antipolo one night and ate dinner with booze at Padi's Point while enjoying the lovely view overlooking Metro Manila under a clear night sky. It was spectacular! The last time we all got together in-person was before the pandemic. Since then, we just had online Zoom calls and our Telegram group chat. But, there we were in the flesh, happy to be in each other's company once again.

A significant part of one of our conversations was -- of course -- how we were all doing in our master's journey. Magsi, since the pandemic, had finally switched full-time in studying, whereas Mikka and I still had to work for a living. But all the same, we all felt like we were in the climax of our clinical training: Learning several tough pills to swallow.

The biggest 'pill' we talked about was about us. Part of the journey to become a psychologist is to do a lot of introspection and deep diving to get to know who you are as a person, before anything else. We have to know our strengths and weaknesses, and how we can improve ourselves in managing them. Paraphrasing Lori Gottlieb (a US-based psychotherapist and author), the essence of being a therapist is to lead clients in embracing vulnerability and accountability. And the amazing and scary part here is that there is no class for that -- at least, not in technicality. In fact, all classes integrate some form of reflective practice that makes us ask the difficult questions about ourselves. One of mine thus far, for example, was a question of my worth and intellect. While I did pride myself to be a nerd at best, I've had professors who taught me how to criticize that part of me and see when it serves its purpose and when it doesn't. I had many difficult conversations with myself, my loved ones, and even my professors about this. And ever since these discussions, I've noticed changes in the way I think, speak, act, or even feel.

But it goes without saying: Scrutinizing yourself is very painful. Sometimes, it can be emotionally excruciating because, well... we are our own worst therapists. We could be so harsh on ourselves that we forget that the real challenge is to not to devalue our dignity but to understand it in a realistic point of view. It's like you're breaking yourself into a million pieces to find the gems and coals underneath only to put everything back together. The good, bad, or neutral pieces of ourselves are what makes us humans after all. And to tell you the truth, I sincerely think I have only scratched the surface a couple centimeters.

There is courage in knowing things that you realize you dislike about yourself. In the past months being a working student, while juggling many responsibilities in my personal life and relationships, I found that I had so many emotional dysregulation, a lot of anxiety, and a lot of perfectionism. It wasn't healthy, to say the least. The sad part about all this, for me, is that I haven't had the time to seek professional help or guidance to sort things out. While I do think I can still manage, it would've been ideal for me to resume (yes, I've had cycles already before) my therapy.

But that takes a lot of courage too. When you subject yourself to the vulnerability that one feels when one wishes to change, it can get very uncomfortable. I can't remember how many times I've shed tears in my therapy sessions since 2016. But what I've discovered in those heartfelt moments is that I was opportunities for emotional growth and understanding. I can't really say I've perfectly mastered such a "skill", but I think I'm getting there albeit slowly.

When we hashed out these points, Magsi, Mikka, and I had this very satisfied look on our faces -- maybe because of the booze. It wasn't until Mikka's remark that everything sunk in. She said, "Ang hirap, ano? Nasa punto na tayo na tayo na yung nagbabago."

She was right. Kami na yung nagbabago.

But in our comforting smiles and sighs, we knew that we had our personal journeys at that point.

If there's any advice I could give to anyone out there -- regardless if you're in my field or not -- is that to embrace change and growth means to get uncomfortable. To transform is to bravely face the truth that you may leave behind some things that you found to be valuable to you, to discover what else must be carried in your personal journey towards growth. I know these sound so profound, but that's nonetheless true.

I think the magic about that conversation was that we were all sharing that sense of humanity. The three of us (and our friends and classmates) are figuring things out -- especially as "adults", whatever that means. The unspoken part about our road towards becoming clinical psychologists is that we are, after all, our first client. We are our first therapy. We are our first difficulty. But we can also be our first continuing success.

And I think that's something worth pushing forward for.

#rpmentries #filipino psychometrician #psychometrician #mental health #grad school #self care #studyblr #clinical psychology #grad student #gradblr

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leonleonhart · 1 year

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you play persona? Ive been gifted persona 5 royal, is there anything i should know before playing? tips, lore, just general info dumping, im pretty open to spoilers if your worried

i hope you have a lot of fun playing it! as far as tips go i say

finding the balance between raising the social stats and working on confidants might take a little work on your first run

books are a good source for social stats and you get a lot of opportunities for free reading time and there's a book later on that will help you read them faster. you can borrow one book at a time from the library and buy from shops.

go to movies, get a tv and the lifetime pass at the video store. They give social stats and funny dialogue. Cake Knight Rises is 👌

with confidants go i say focus on your teammates and the temperance arcana once she's unlocked because it gives some useful skills in its tree. Strength might be difficult if you're like me and not very savvy with the fusion system. guides exist for people like me

There's not really any arcana with bad abilities. Sun, Moon, Hanged Man, and Fortune have some good skills.

My favorite confidants character + content wise are Justice, Devil, Chariot, Tower, Hanged Man, Hierophant, Hermit, and Faith

There's romance options with gorls but uhh half of the options are adult women :-x

Playing darts with your teammates will rank up the baton pass system which was basically a necessity for me to beat the last boss ^^; also gives points towards the one you invite. Billiards can raise technical damage which I didn't learn until the end of my last playthrough.

Uhh, the Big Bang burger challenges are a good way to help get points for multiple stats once you're able to clear them plus eating big borger funny. Washing sooty armor can sometimes yield better armor than whats available at the shop but you also get a store you can sell it at later.

Gameplay wise try going through the dungeons in one day. Early game makes it so any trip to a palace or mementos means you're stuck at home for the night. Ammo regenerates after a battle (a change from the original game. late game you'll understand how insane having limited ammo was.)

Keep me updated on the story beats if you feel like it! I love seeing peoples fresh reactions

Your opinion of Goro Akechi might affect the rest of your life.

#its up to you whether you use dlc persona's. theyre all op even late game but i used em since my saves didnt transfer

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sap-01 · 1 year

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SAP Implementation Services

The SAP practise at Automatic Infotech offers businesses comprehensive consultation, implementation, and maintenance services. With the support of our own processes, frameworks, and SAP-certified tools and accelerators, we help businesses accelerate their journeys toward digital transformation. Largest supplier of SAP implementation services is Automatic , It works in collaboration with SAP to provide our corporate clients new-age digital solutions that are customised to their specific needs and can help revolutionise business processes for the future. SAP is a reliable and creative way to integrate company global expansion, improved productivity and delivering end users with real-time data. The team at Automatic Infotech is a well-equipped partner for your path through digital transformation, successfully implementing SAP for more than ten years. With order to assist our clients in overcoming the challenges of just doing business in the digital age, we offer SAP consultation, strategy, and implementation services. Enterprises of all sizes may manage their company operations, intelligence, decision-making, and digitisation with the aid of SAP, a fully integrated software system. With 77% of the world's transaction income passing via SAP, its flagship enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solutions, SAP ERP Central Component (ECC), and S/4HANA, have established themselves as the gold standard for controlling and carrying out corporate strategy. As more firms use digital transformation, SAP implementation services can aid in easing the shift to SAP cloud solutions. With qualified personnel in all SAP processes, SAP implementation services offer end-to-end assistance with planning, designing, creating, deploying, and continually enhancing SAP systems in a low-risk environment. Many businesses from all over the world have relied on Automatic Infotech as a trustworthy technology partner. We are ready to add more tangible value to your organisation by developing SAP-centric landscapes due to our proven expertise in business innovation, a seasoned workforce, industry best, and specialised technologies. We evaluate, create, prepare, and deploy SAP applications into your environment while educating your staff on how to manage it. In order to assist you transform your business, promote simplification, enable real-time data for quick decision-making, and create actual business value, we are prepared to offer comprehensive SAP S/4 HANA solutions. Without a specialist's assistance, implementing SAP software is frequently a lengthy process that necessitates several organisational adjustments and can take several years.

The SAP installation experts at Automatic Infotech are equipped with the knowledge and resources to assist our clients in implementing SAP software more rapidly and efficiently. In doing so, we provide:

Training: Everyone in your company, from technical employees to basic users, is involved with your SAP solution. To maximise value on launch day, train your personnel on how to use your SAP product. Change Management: Prepare, equip, and assist your staff members as they help your organisation navigate the transition process. Our change management solutions will help you implement your SAP solution as easily as possible. IT Support: SAP implementation is difficult in part because it requires IT skills. Momentum can provide your business with professional IT support so you can integrate the system to meet your needs. SAP Consulting: SAP consulting services provide implementation support by providing guidance and experience as necessary.

Features OF AUTOMATIC INFOTECH in SAP IMPLEMENTATION

Numerous businesses have benefited from Automatic Infotech's complete SAP support consulting services in maximising their SAP implementations. Our services assist businesses in transforming their SAP implementations to enhance how they conduct business. Businesses gain from our SAP support services in that they:

Increased Productivity: Due to improved functionality and decreased redundancy, businesses with successful SAP systems tend to experience higher staff productivity. By merging data from several departments to provide a more complete picture of your organisation, SAP consolidates these systems into a single solution in place of requiring multiple software programmes to complete tasks. Your staff may concentrate on their task rather than their platform with this system. Cost Savings: SAP lowers the cost of software for organisations by combining multiple applications into one. Labour costs are also decreased through higher productivity and lower unemployment. Both elements work together to boost revenue and cut expenditures Consistent Operations: Businesses can coordinate strategy more completely and achieve more consistent operations by combining different software solutions into one. Everyone has access to the same numbers thanks to SAP, which makes it simple to comprehend what's happening in your company.

#sap services #sap implementation #implementation #industry #service #business #company

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novasdarling · 2 years

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Ooh, so i haven’t done anything for that but i’ve applied for roles where i didn’t really know much. But what i’d do was try to find out the interviewers details to make small talk and see what type of people they were. Second i’d always search their website, read some articles about their industry and talk about something that could potentially disrupt their industry (nothing major but some stuff that’s interesting). More over, make small talk with the interviewer and get well versed with general things. There are some websites that give out mock questions of the specific company and they do help because a variation can be made. Also, for example in one of my interviews i talked about how a certain thing that was disrupting their industry could actually help the industry as a whole and they quite liked how i conducted my research on the positives.

Since you’re a graduate (or are graduating) don’t expect the technicals to be that hard. If you have a basic understanding and can elaborate on certain things then you’re good to go. Also a mistake i made once was that i panicked during the technicals and appeared to be under confident. The real reason they ask for the technicals is because they want to see how confident you are about answering hard questions, and honestly confidence is more important than in depth understanding. If you don’t know something/ are finding it hard to answer, take a sip of your water to buy time and don’t lose your composure its not about what you answer hut how you answer it. Just remember its not the end of the world!

I bonded with one of my interviews based on the fact that we went to the same uni and i kinda laughed around with them and they enjoyed my confident attitude and offered me a job.

Also ask good questions and they don’t have to be highly technical but something that can help you have a conversation with the interviewer.

Lastly, if you do know the interviewers email do email them back to thank them (depending on circumstances)

Make a list of your work experiences and write down small points about the details and read it over for competency/ scenario based questions. For weakness never say i’m a perfectionist or smth but a weakness thats an actual weakness that isn’t related to the role and then talk about how you’ve recognised this and are working to improve on it. [for example; I’m realised that Presenting had proved to be difficult for me so i worked at xyz as a marketing intern to improve on my presentation skills {stupid example but i hope you get it}]

This may not be good advice but honestly they don’t expect you to know everything, they just want to see that you’re confident and aren’t overwhelmed easily. Do some research, practice a little and walk into the interview with a “its not the end of the world” attitude and you’ll do great!

Organisations have their values on their pages and usually their scenario based questions are all derived from their values so try to showcase those ones. Showcase the skills needed for the role in these questions in sneaky ways and read up on what they’re doing these days to see how it goes. Be positive, be confident and always speak well about your previous employer something along the lines of [I left my previous job because I felt as if i had learned everything I needed to and wanted a more challenging role to improve myself type answer but also in a way that doesn’t say you’ll hop around once you get bored]

Best of luck! And i realise this may overwhelm you but just know you’re amazing and you just need to realise that and walk in with a good attitude.

This is very helpful advice so I'm gonna post it for others to see

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kenta-nm · 14 days

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A smart bottle is a technologically enhanced drink container that usually includes features such as temperature control, hydration tracking, and sometimes even smart device connectivity for notifications or data logging. Users of smart bottles often face specific pain points like struggling with drinking enough water throughout the day, maintaining the desired temperature for drinks, and forming the habit of regular water intake can be difficult without tangible goals or feedback. However, there are a lot of similar products in the market and it would be difficult for potential customers to select one since its manufacturing is easy to imitate because it does not involve technical skills in both hardware and software. As a case study, we will examine how Fitbit, which is synonymous with fitness trackers and smartwatches that offer a wide range of health monitoring features, such as step counting, heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, and more recently, integrated GPS and the ability to measure blood oxygen levels, has established its brand within many wearable devices.

Digital Promotion

Fitbit promotes a lifestyle centered around health and wellness, not just a product. This is communicated through marketing campaigns that feature real-life success stories, tips for healthier living, and motivational challenges. This strategy cultivates a community feeling among Fitbit users and aligns the brand with positive health outcomes, thereby enhancing the emotional connection customers have with the brand. It shifts the customer’s focus from merely tracking activity to achieving a healthier lifestyle, which can be more motivating and engaging.

Personalization for Customer experience.

Fitbit devices collect a significant amount of data, which is used to personalize user experiences. The Fitbit app provides personalized insights and guidance based on the user's activity levels and health data. The personalized data helps users see tangible results and progress, making the Fitbit experience highly tailored and directly relevant to each individual. Furthermore, this reinforces the brand's image as a personal health coach and advises and fosters user’s attachment to the product.

Community and Social Engagement

Fitbit leverages social tools within its app that allow users to engage with friends, family, and a global community. Features like challenges and badges make fitness fun and social. The social aspect of Fitbit’s offerings encourages users to adopt healthier behaviors through friendly competition and social support. This also increases user engagement and brand loyalty as users are not just using a product but are part of a community. Reference: Amazon HP: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=smart+water+bottle+tracker&crid=1UH1TF2DUTFW5&sprefix=smart+bottle+water+%2Caps%2C94&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_19 Fitbit HP: https://www.fitbit.com/global/us/home Fitbit Marketing Strategy: https://blog.osum.com/fitbit-marketing-strategy/

#MITSloanBranding2024A

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bebenewsblr-blog · 27 days

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AI Ethics Delimma

AI is changing the future of humanity and will affect many aspects of our daily lives.

Building an ethical framework for AI is critical but also complex and challenging.

What is Ethics?

Ethics are a system of principles or guidelines that help determine what is right versus wrong and the moral obligations of humans (including intelligent robots).

Ethical issues of concern - existing data used by designers and developers of AI reflect human biases, data privacy, and transparency. AI's ethical issues of unemployment and wealth distribution.

Human rights issues such as privacy, freedom of speech, the right to work, and non-discrimination should be prioritized. The use of AI in the criminal justice system is raising concerns about discrimination.

Existing and potential legal obligations should be translated into informed policy and technical considerations, incorporating diversity and cultural norms.

The White House statement on AI states the Federal Government should lead the way to global societal, economic, and technological progress. It calls for leadership in technological advancements and effective leadership to build and understand AI's place in a global system.

Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights | OSTP | The White House

The White House's Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights has eight guiding principles to protect innovation, societal harms, privacy, civil liberties, American workers, and AI users. These principles include concerns about biotechnology, cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, and other national security dangers.

A statement that AI's policies must be consistent with the Administration's dedication to advancing equity and civil rights.

IEEE SA - The IEEE Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems

The IEEE is a Global Initiative on The Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems. Its mission is “To ensure every stakeholder involved in the design and development of autonomous and intelligent systems is educated, trained, and empowered to prioritize ethical considerations so that these technologies are advanced for the benefit of humanity.”

ead1e.pdf (ieee.org)

IEEE SA has designed 8 high-level General Principles in Ethically Aligned Design for creating and operating AI that promote human values and ensure trustworthiness from Human Rights to Competence. Further exploration of classical and intercultural ethics is being done.

IEEE recognizes the tasks of philosophers and ethicists trained in vocabulary relating to philosophical concepts, which may make it difficult for technologists and policymakers to translate.

IEEE believes society needs to be vested in creating awareness for government officials, rural communities, and school teachers with a 'user-friendly' vocabulary on implementing classical ethics in digital societies.

Although much has been written about ethical and humanistic values in technology, it is still unclear how to implement these policies. Is it the companies who developed AI? Because technology companies are large and powerful, stakeholders' interests could be placed above human rights.

Who decides on which or whose values? Because people with more power may want to impose their values. And how is this viable in a global and intercultural world?

Vienna Manifesto on Digital Humanism — DIGHUM (caiml.org)

According to Mark Coeckelbergh, of the Department of Philosophy, University of Vienna, "They have proposed to align technology with human(istic) values and have questioned views of technology and technological practices that risk to sacrifice human, human reason, human skills and creativity (Scuotto et al., 2023), and human values to technological reason progress and innovation."

He also questions the subject of democracy and digital humanism.

"If democracy is not just about voting but also about citizen participation and deliberation, how should this be organized? What about the tendencies of authoritarianism and (geo) political power struggles at national and global levels.?"

AI is not human and is not capable of human consciousness. If ethics is the study of moral values, principles, and practical decision-making, then ethics is not law, although the law is based on ethics. Perhaps a legal framework with ethics would be helpful.

Reference

Coeckelbergh, M. (2024). What is digital humanism? A conceptual analysis and an argument for a more critical and political digital (post) humanism. Journal of Responsible Technology, 17, 100073.

#AI Ethics SMan #COML 513

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funkyphonophorae · 2 months

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Tell me about the cubes.

assuming you mean geometry dash, unfortunately there is no angsty gd cube lore for you to hear of, but i can tell you about some of my favourite levels in no particular order!!!! (decoration and vibes-wise, i am not about to actually beat these anytime soon unfortunately)

xo by krmal

xo is a very controversial level because many think it is "lazy" as it uses extremely basic blocks with no decorations on them whatsoever. the most complicated it gets decoration-wise are the effects which are cool but not particularly flashy. this is why people don't like it and don't think it is worthy to be officially uploaded onto the servers.

however, i really like xo!!! it has genuinely incredible music sync, surprisingly well thought-out design and extremely interesting structure for the limitations the creator was putting on himself!!! levels like xo are great because of how original they are. in times like these ones for the community, where most extreme demons are generic glow with tight wave spam and straightfly as the only reason they are difficult, xo isn't afraid to completely challenge the oversaturated market of extreme demons by prioritising making an interesting level over making one that exists only for it to get attention for being on the demonlist (top 150 hardest levels in the game).

i'll put the rest under a cut because WOW i didnt expect to rant that much about xo...

2. LIMBO by mindcap + more

limbo is very hard to describe because, as cheesy as it sounds, its less of a level and more of a visual experience. even just watching a run of this level (which almost every player will have to do since it is very difficult) is surreal. there is so much creativity poured into every section of limbo that sets it apart from other levels. it is also incredibly consistent for a megacollab (a level where lots of people made small parts of it) but each part still feels distinct enough to be memorable while keeping to a central theme.

3. killbot by boldstep

killbot has one of the coolest concepts for an extreme demon out there. the supposed "story" behind the level is that the player has downloaded a corrupted computer program that is out to kill them (hence the name, killbot), and throughout the level textboxes appear showing the system attempting to delete the killbot virus. the level starts out green and as it progresses, turns into red and black as the virus corrupts more and more parts, until finally at the end the virus is said to have been forcefully deleted.

the level kinda hurts to look at because of all the flashing and general air decoration but still maintains a very cool atmosphere. it does not look fun to play though.

4. decode by rek3dge

finally a level within my skill range! decode is a simple level, but very effective. it has a great song, a certain iconic wave section, and it technically isn't anything special, but who cares. i've never seen anyone hate decode. it's a universally loved level, which is incredibly rare for the gd community, and even rarer considering its rated demon (albiet only easy demon).

fun fact: spaceuk, the perpetrator of one of the game's most shocking and destructive hacking scandals, beat decode as his first ever demon level.

5. emerald realm by castrix + more

this level is based on ori and the blind forest/ori and the will of the wisps, which are great games so that already makes this level super cool. but i think i speak for everyone who's ever seen this level when i say that emerald realm has some of the most beautiful decoration in any gd level. you can appreciate emerald realm as a piece of art regardless of whether you've played the ori games or not. (yes, culuc's part is obviously the best one, all hail culuc, etc).

6. jigsaw

nothing extraordinary about this one...but it's a saw-themed gd level that looks super cool. so of course it's one of my favourites, even if it's not had a huge impact on the community.

7. congregation by presta

(insert funny congregation jumpscare meme). congregation is controversial, similar to xo, because it has less than 40,000 objects, which doesn't sound like much to someone unfamiliar with the game - but the current hardest level has over 200,000 objects. so naturally some people were irritated when congregation was rated - another case of a level being seen as "lazy" by a large number of the community.

but...congregation is so cool! it has a technological atmosphere emphasised with a fitting song that creates a feeling of mystery, unease, and the incredibly long build up to the drop of the level as more and more things begin to appear that makes it surprisingly suspenseful. the second section of the level does bring it down for me but this is still a great example of an extreme demon that stands out from the rest.

also, it has no wave or ship, the gamemodes that extremes usually rely on to create difficult segments, which makes it even more original!

8. b by motleyorc and scorchv2

b is a medium demon set in a beehive. you must navigate the beehive while avoiding some scarily large bees with ._. faces. simple but effective level that pretty much everyone loves.

oops it is now 11:21pm i should probably sleep now. yay

#ask funky #guess my current hyperfixation challenge (impossible)

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justlegal1 · 3 months

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