betterbemeta reblogged
"unalive" should just mean the opposite of undead. if undead means a dead thing thats alive, unalive shuld mean an alive things thats dead. no i dont have any examples. ☝️yet
Retail worker
betterbemeta reblogged
only-tiktoks
I've explained this exact thing to cis people multiple times. I often just brace myself before every flight to get a pat down. They always look shocked and horrified by the information.
And the funnest part of it all is airport security fucking sucks at their fucking job. The TSA in particular are so shit at their jobs its almost insulting. I get a pat down every time I show up, but my friend accidentally made it ALL the way through the airport and onto a plane with a loaded hand gun in a holster because they forgot they had it on them! And the TSA didn't catch it or do fucking shit about it!
I’ve learned from experience that these machines can’t tell the difference between a guy with contraband under his shirt and a trans man wearing a sports bra. Have to get patted down pretty much every time because I have the audacity to have visible stubble and boobs at the same time.
betterbemeta reblogged
Just gonna add a couple of resources I've found bc encyclopedia metallum is often a bit vague
One more... Anti fascist neo folk on Reddit
betterbemeta reblogged
who up experiencing divine madness
betterbemeta reblogged
see also: my single favourite tweet about my former residence
betterbemeta reblogged
re @mousebrass
Sorry for the delay, I just needed some time to simmer my answer. (for frame of reference, I'm mostly referring to fallout 3 and fallout 4. not new vegas, and I don't know enough about FO76.)
When I said 'Bethesda's fallout will never say no to you', I meant in sort of a structural sense. The gameplay and the storytelling combine in Bethesda's fallout games to do nothing but affirm the player's forward motion.
They do this so well the storytelling is ONLY a function of the gameplay loop: a relay race that progresses with total blindness to what the player actually does so long as they hit the checkpoints that advance things along.
Forward motion is good, we need stories to progress and to get from one event to another, we don't want to run around in circles in a game achieving nothing. And we don't want to encounter a true dead end, or a frustrating 'sorry mario the princess is in another castle!' situation where we feel our prior actions were pointless.
BUT. Hear me out. Negativity, 'being told no', friction along the way, is important to an 'adventure' being more than just an endless gopher loop.
Lucy MacLean IS given objectives in her journey. But the narrative is not her personal facilitator; instead she can't proceed UNLESS she does these increasingly heinous uncomfortable things, okey dokey! She COULD choose not to do them, but she'd 'fail' or thinks she would. Her struggle 'drives the story' rather than styling her actions as intuitively synonymous with 'progress.'
In Bethesda Fallout games. It really doesn't matter what dialog options you choose, progress is inevitable. And blind. If you choose peaceful or guns-blazing approaches. Want to join the fascists? You won't encounter too much content that places pressure on you for doing that. Want to side with the scrappy underdogs? Done, it won't be that much of a strain on your resources. Take the evil option? Except for maybe a few NPCs that could desert you, you won't be constrained by that commitment very much.
It's 'the customer's always right', when that idiom exists basically to facilitate transactions and nothing else.
In fact, the one time in a Bethesda fallout game where meaningful pressure or negative consequences impacted you, in fallout 3, the ending was so unpopular it was retconned in a DLC. But it doesn't have to be this way; there are many times in New Vegas where you might feel conflict or constraints on your actions, a 'no' that makes what you actually choose to do feel more interesting. Like, enough times that I think anyone who's played it, could think of one (their favorite one?) right now. I don't even have to list examples, because the variety is great enough that different people can choose which one feels compelling to them.
Remember when I said we wanted to avoid scenarios where we feel futile, running around in circles, pointless, or obstructed? Well, after a while a lot of Bethesda games become that anyway even if they always take the player's side. People just... give up playing a save usually by level 30. Boundless affirmation towards forward motion, where all paths are THE path and you're the main character of reality, it sucks. it's why Lucy MacLean's wasteland experience will leave you wanting to play fallout and then sighing when you boot up the game that just got a 'remaster' and it's still mostly drudgery. When SHE hits 'quest objectives,' her world doesn't say 'yes! now go do...'
It says "oh, hell no. but you gotta... unless maybe..."
#fallout#belated reply#the bones of the quest chains and gameplay loops show too much in bethesda games#turning them into relay race fetch simulator instead of roleplaying games or even 'action/adventure' games#a constant forward motion is also cowardice and unwillingness to make the player navigate their own choices#if that is the case just... omit the choices. remove the 'roleplaying' element. actually put us on rails instead of pretending.#long post
betterbemeta reblogged
dune is so funny it literally opens like
CHAPTER 1
“It sucks that I understand Time Cube and as such cannot avoid becoming a genocidal dictator,” young Paul Atreides said to himself. “For me. Moral complexity is such a burden.”
CHAPTER 2
“Heard any good slurs for poor people lately?” asked the Baron Harkonnen homosexually, knocking back another shot of orphan tears.
this post was a lot longer but I forced myself to cut it back because brevity is the soul of wit and I was getting carried away
anything for you darling
CHAPTER 1
“The fact that I will commit unspeakable genocide and lead a holy war across the galaxy is very bad,” said young Paul Atreides. “For me.”
“I too feel morally conflicted by my role in a ruthless eugenics program,” admitted his mother, the Lady Jessica. “Does that make me a bad mother? Who can say….”
At that moment the Duke Leto Atreides returned home from a grueling day churning out propaganda to convince his troops that he was worth dying for. His regal face was lined with deep moral complexities. “It’s tough when you’re me and everybody wants to fuck you so so bad,” he said. “But that’s the price I must pay for the future well-being of my ancestral house.” He sighed, deep and melancholy. When was the last time he’d thrown around the old pigskin with his boy? Would he ever get the chance again…?
That’s fully-manual ascetic space feudalism for you, he thought libertarianally.
Paul looked around the room and was struck by the sudden and horrific realization that he was the smartest person to ever live, and that even his own loving mother and father could never hope to understand Time Cube.
But that’s a problem for another day, Paul decided, not for the last time.
CHAPTER 2
“It’s a beautiful day to be grossnasty, don’t you think?” said the Baron Harkonnen homosexually as he surveyed the ravaged landscape beyond the window. Acid rain pelted against the glass and melted the flesh off the shrieking peasants below.
“Sure. Whatever,” said Feyd-Rautha, not looking up from his sketchbook, upon which he had scrawled the words ‘I love killing and maiming’ in large bubble letters.
“A-h-h,” said the Baron. “That was a trick question: every day is a beautiful day for being grossnasty. You must learn this lesson well, nephew, if you ever hope to get anywhere in life. Piter, what are you doing over there with that huge and evil brain of yours?”
The mentat violated the Hays Code six times in the few seconds it took him to reply. “I’m calculating a mathematically perfect slur for orphans,” he said in a gay voice. “Just as you requested.”
“Finally! A productive use of your time,” said the Baron, and flipped him off. Without a word, he snatched the pen from Feyd-Rautha’s hand and wrote ‘and oppressing the populace’ beneath the words the youth had already written. “There,” he said. “Much better.”
betterbemeta reblogged
when autism
I HIT POST TOO EARLY SORRY
Stand alone complex? I find it quite simple,
betterbemeta reblogged
betterbemeta reblogged
I will say it is hard to be nice to people here when so much of casual tumblr vernacular is just… inherently hostile. Some of you genuinely do not seem to understand that there are alternatives to flippantly insulting strangers.
betterbemeta reblogged
So initially I'm watching without audio, cause "oh cool, some pole dancing". But turn the fucking audio on
Do you know how hard it is to do this while standing still.
Do you know how hard it is to do this while doing something incredibly physically demanding.
Sound on.
So shook that I recognized them! That's Khadija Mbowe, a brilliant video essayist on youtube. Here's a link to their channel. They're brilliant and compassionate. Go check them out!
Do they have seven lungs oh my GOD
betterbemeta reblogged
I work in gaming and do this all the time. I learnt long ago that no matter what games I name, when a guy demands I name what I'm playing, that they will shit on them.
So now I just make shit up when they try to "catch me out" and listen as they list how wrong I am and all the things wrong with something that doesn't even exist. It's a wonderful hobby and I heartily recommend it.
betterbemeta reblogged
Reading comments saying how in Deep Space Nine whenever the crew faces a moral dilemma, they often just turn to Garak, and it made me want to make this