autisticlalna

[autisticlalna]

reblogged all the positivity from yesterday so i can Make My Own Post TM about the epidemic of "this should've been a miniseries" -- because pacing-wise, tone-wise, plot-wise, Ocean should never have been three hours long. it's one of Legs's longest non-compilation videos and it is also full of a lot of... not much happening besides the same core gameplay loop.

that'd be fine if i was looking for podcast/"second monitor" content that i could put on in the background while i do something else, but 100DMV is an ARG. there is no reason to make a video this long for a series that is, secretly or not, part of a running plotline. the two are at odds with each other. an ARG needs to be something you want to give your full attention to, make sure you aren't missing anything, pick apart and rewatch multiple times to analyze strange details. a three-hour video is directly hostile to that and a timesink for no reason.

i don't have a problem with longer videos -- there's a reason i cite hbomberguy as my usual exception to the Three Hour Balk Point -- but with Legundo's stuff, i'm increasingly finding it just doesn't have the same substance to hold together its own runtime. i mean, Ocean is longer than:

Sculk Apocalypse (kind of on the long side and could be shorter, but generally uses that runtime to keep a strong sense of tension and fighting to survive. has a very strong hook, multiple "time limits," and a clearly defined endgoal from the start.)

Undercover (a video with Legs actively trying to pretend he's not playing on the server he's playing on, consisting of secret community interaction, cool builds, the potential for a lot of lore drops, and a clearly defined time limit/endgoal from the start.)

Nights (the S1 finale of 100DMV, containing a whole bunch of separate mods to tinker with that hadn't previously been seen before, a good deal of lore, uses its runtime to keep a strong sense of tension and fighting to survive)

the Zombie Apocalypse scenario (full of interpersonal tactics and tension, contained a lot of person-to-person interaction and discussion, had a clearly defined time limit/endgoal from the start)

Dimensional Doors (the video that got me into 100DMV! full of strong plot beats, had variety but began cutting stuff when the dungeon pockets got too repetitive, contained a good deal of lore. also had the bonus of namechecking a mod i knew, recognized, and enjoyed that then made up a good deal of the playthrough's runtime)

the entirety of Deceit Season One, including the wrap-up episode (I DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU HOW INSANE DECEIT MAKES ME. JUST. HUH???)

and then there's the one i suspect started it all, the Game of Thrones scenario.

the GoT scenario is long. it clocks in at a little under 3 hours. but the difference between GoT and a lot of the other long videos is that it uses every single second of its runtime. there is a clearly defined endgoal and a time limit for that endgoal. there are a lot of different mods that play off each other and are used in interesting ways for interesting tactics (as well as smart use of vanilla mechanics). it has clearly defined sections for people that don't want to binge-watch all at once (including one that is pointed out to the viewer in-video as a good time to take a breather). it has, and this is critical, multiple running subplots owing to the fact that there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 50+ players on the server, most of whom are working for one team or another.

GoT works because of interaction between other players. a singleplayer quest for the Iron Throne would not feel nearly as tense or engaging -- but because there's a great deal of interpersonal politics, planning, and battle tactics, it keeps up the variety and nicely flows between downtime, negotiations, and battles. and, because there are multiple players in the conflict, something is always happening offscreen. the world of GoT isn't static, and doesn't only change when Legundo Specifically does something. it is always changing, all the time, when even a single person is logged in, and it means that there is no possible way to get stuck in one gameplay loop for too long because someone is always going to either finish that loop or throw a curveball into it from completely offscreen.

i've made my peace with Haunted Winter being so long, even though it probably should've been a four-part miniseries with one episode per each season. it still has those clearly defined "season" segments, has multiple mods that are being used in different ways at different times, and contains both a known time-limit and interesting editing that keeps up a decently strong sense of tension. it's also the S2 finale of 100DMV, so i can understand how it'd run a little long.

but, and i cannot stress this enough, there is no good reason Ocean -- which consists almost exclusively of a core "loot ships, return to current base, build/mine, loot ships" gameplay loop with no real variation until the mod in the thumbnail really comes into play on day 74 -- should be three hours long. there's no good reason for it to be longer than GoT, than Sculk Apocalypse, than Deceit S1. in the time it takes to watch Ocean, i could rewatch most of Deceit S2. if i set the Ocean video to loop and walked away, i could go rewatch every single Dominion episode that Legundo has ever uploaded and come back in time to find the Ocean video only partway through its third loop.

i really hope this doesn't keep happening. 100DMV used to be something i could recommend without caveats, at the most go "it's got some slightly clickbaity intros, and it might start a little slow, but it picks up quickly and stays really good." now i'm in a situation where the second season runs incredibly long and i genuinely don't know if i'd tell people to get into it anymore -- because right now, at the pace the story is progressing, with the length of videos being put out, it just is not worth the time investment.

i like 100DMV. i like 100DMV a lot. i mean, i'm writing a multichapter fanfiction about it, of course i like it. but if i hadn't gotten into it when i did, with an hour-and-a-half long video about Dimensional Doors, i would be seeing 2-3 hour long videos in my recommended, shrug and go "nah," and then go watch something else.

and this frustrates me. i know 100DMV can be good. i know 100 Days videos can be tightly edited, engaging, interesting fiction with a lot of strong plot hooks despite having a fairly repetitive gameplay loop. i know there's got to be a way to fix this, but i can't do that. all i can do is point out how it comes across to a specific subsection of the audience and hope that it doesn't just come across as needless bashing on something kind of popular.

#long post #100dmv #yeah solar lays this out better than i could. this is exhausting.

[autisticlalna]

What if there was ANOTHER update aquatic!!!

I had some ideas in a dream and wanted to share them #minecraft

#I WISH THIS WAS REAL. #neutral sharks <333

[autisticlalna]

i'm america's sweetheart, baby! x

remembered i had this clip downloaded and decided everyone needed to see it right now. go watch AvidMc.

#IM AMERICAS SWEETHEART BABY #avidventures

[autisticlalna]

Any loony enjoyers

#SPARKLEBEAST LOONY. GOOD #MAKE THAT MAN A BEAST

[autisticlalna]

also everyone should be watching AvidMC right now, especially if you're a fan of creative-mode building and mapmaking. beyond the slightly clickbaity thumbnails is an incredibly keen sense of storytelling and some fantastic buildings, bosses and collaborations -- the Shrouded Isles have a really cool story to tell, and Avid's way of conveying that story is both intelligent and easy to hop in on.

he's really got a talent for making up a place and then getting you to care about it within a tight timespan (usually around 25 to 40 minutes), and his editing's also top-notch and very engaging without being overly flashy. great sense of humor, too!

#you have to he's americas sweetheart baby #<- prev #i love avid. hes basically everything im looking for rn when it comes to mcyt series

[autisticlalna]

okay im out of the shower so now you get a brick essay of leo thoughts

one of my favorite MCYT series of all time is Fixxiverse. it is fantastically edited, has excellent storytelling, the person behind it (Fixxitt 412) has a great personality that shines through, it's really high production quality, its good.

it's also very long, with the 100 Days episodes clocking in at at least an hour each. that makes it very daunting for friends ive tried getting into it, because while the pacing is phenomenal and its absolutely worth watching through, people see 15 hour-length episodes at the start and go "oh, god". which, honestly, understandable, the fixxiverse playlist currently clocks in at 63 hours total. it's long. it's a lot of commitment.

now we pan over to 100 Days Multiverse, and the latest 10 episodes have been two to three hours long, including a video that's eleven hours long and another that's nineteen hours long because he turned all of his series so far into a full-length movie. that nineteen hour long video also has story stuff that's not available in any other episodes, by the way.

hi, what the fuck?

i love 100DMV. solar showed me the dimensional doors video and i was instantly hooked. i have not been able to watch the past 14 episodes because theyre long and only keep getting longer. the playlist is 76 hours long (again, counting the 11 hour compilation video) with 36 episodes compared to fixxiverse having over a hundred. that's insane. i want so bad to get back into 100dmv but i cant.

different people are going to have different limits, and i respect that. see: me talking about how long Fixxiverse is and how im okay with that in the same essay where i'm balking at 100DMV. but i sincerely cant even imagine anyone that would see a 3 hour video on their recommended page and watch it without already knowing who Legundo is, what he does, and his overall storytelling and editing style, let alone a nineteen hour video.

that's not even broaching the topic of stream-focused series and how they're even more inaccessible due to long vods that are only available temporarily without an archive channel, and how that can be difficult to get into the longer the series goes on. that's why i made the powerpoint and that's why i make the transcripts, because my hyperfixation on twitch smp means i am able to keep up with it live when other people can't and i want to make it accessible to people who aren't able to. that's an essay all on its own, honestly.

i dunno, man. it's the difference between watching a tv series and a movie, yknow? even if they're the same length, or if the tv series is longer than the movie, it can be easier to watch the series because you're able to find stopping points where you're able to step back and take a break and do something else without having to book out three to four hours of your time to watch something in one sitting. like, yeah, you can pause the movie and wander off, but it's a more jarring experience and can be frustrating to have to leave in the middle of it. it's about it being a commitment.

(plus i can't even imagine what a nightmare it must be to make those. i struggle when making 20 minute videos-- how the hell do you pace a 3 hour video without it dragging on? how do you manage the workload? what are you doing that takes three uninterrupted hours?)

i want to catch up on 100dmv so bad but like. the past few videos have been Several Hours Long. why is this now the standard. i miss dimdoors

#leo.txt #long post

[autisticlalna]

we're also really starting to get tired of The Good Stuff in MCYT all hitting the 2.5+ hour mark. it's extremely frustrating; it's a balk point for new people and means a significant time investment for people interested enough to go for it.

i genuinely think 40-90 minutes is around the sweet spot, with 2 hours being a comfortable maximum. any longer than that and the pacing gets weird; i don't look at a 4 hour long video and go "oh boy, four minecraft hours!" i look at it and go "this probably should've been a miniseries"

and i get that the algorithm favors long videos more, but i also think playing to the algorithm like this makes the general MCYT scene very viewer-hostile, and requires a lot more trust in whoever's making the content that it'll actually be good, which is not something i'm going to have if i randomly come across it.

i think we're really missing that sweet spot right now -- there's a lot of videos coming out that are under 30 or even 20 minutes long where i just sit there and go "that's it?" as well, but well-edited stuff in the ideal range is just not there (or at least isn't getting pushed to me) and it bums me out a lot. i miss when someone would make a video that was an hour and fifteen minutes long and would go "sorry for the long video today guys, we did a lot of work!" yanno? not that i like people apologizing for anything about their videos, but, i miss when an hour and a half was considered a movie-length video.

uh. yeah.

[autisticlalna]

i dont have the energy to go on my usual ramble about the shift in mcyt to super long videos and how daunting that can be as a viewer that keeps slipping behind because of not having the time or focus to keep up with several 3 hour long videos in a row so please imagine that here. im so tired.

i want to catch up on 100dmv so bad but like. the past few videos have been Several Hours Long. why is this now the standard. i miss dimdoors

#leo.txt #what do you even DO in those 3 hours. it's a 100 days series.

[autisticlalna]

i want to catch up on 100dmv so bad but like. the past few videos have been Several Hours Long. why is this now the standard. i miss dimdoors

#leo.txt

[autisticlalna]

《 Minecraft 》 Steve x Alex yuri

Muscle practice woo

#GOOD

[autisticlalna]

HAIKUBOT?

navigator said the compass points to help, right? and that it was pointing to ruby because of that? what do you think the compass would be pointing towards for other vikings? maybe that's how dominion viking found The Book.

I DO HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS :D :D :D :D I HAVE HAD THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS SINCE DOMINIION i also accidentally predicted “tViking’s compass points to Ruby” but i didnt actually share it anywhere outside of dnerds before the nav stream happened lmao

hardcore & pleasant viking:

does not point anywhere in particular and will sometimes spin randomly

phantom viking:

either points at himself or at the book

tviking (before there was a canon explanation):

compass points to whatever project he’s currently focusing on. this includes ruby.

hcyt!wanderer:

points to his current destination… or maybe his destinations just keep being on the way to wherever the compass is leading him?

skyblock!wanderer:

keeps pointing to the nether portal that sent him to the shrouded isles

#leo.txt

[autisticlalna]

opinion on public transit

i wish we had more trains in my state because it is killing me that the only train i can take out leaves at 6 am in a city 1 hr away from me and goes to chicago and nowhere else so i have to have a 9 hr layover if i want to go anywhere From chicago. please i just want to go visit my blestie why do i have to to west to go east

also i miss having a bus system

#leo.txt #not sure why youre asking a minecraft blog this but i DO have opinions.

[autisticlalna]

@autisticlalna

THE PLAYLIST

Viking+Ruby vibes playlist as promised. hope this helps ♡ (i mostly NEEDED to send taixu and nevermore and it spiralled from there)

#GONNA LISTEN TO THIS TOMORROW AAAAAAAAAAAA #tsmp

[autisticlalna]

I hope you're happy to know that I am having to track down SEVERAL colors of %100 cotton fabric and %100 cotton stuffing to ensure that Viking is actually microwave safe.

This is a struggle.

adgdxjgklxdfjg best of luck on your trials ahead of you

#leo.txt #leos reply #frys-the-cat

[autisticlalna]

for those that missed the update last night bc i posted it at midnight: we're now 1 1/2 away from being caught up!

im gonna be Busy this upcoming week so its gonna be a while before 3/27 is done, but seeing as Rubyco seems to be winding up for something big now's probably a good time to catch up with everything that's happened with tViking and tRuby so far. woo!

Twitch SMP Lore Transcript Masterpost!

welcome to the cozy town of Aquarium Gravel! we've got time loops, alternate reality selves, eldritch horrors, places that Should Not Be, possession, cool item symbolism, things pretending to human that very much are not, and a guy that hallucinates scarecrows talking to him.

as someone with a burning drive to analyze as much lore as i can get my hands on, as well as someone who has trouble tracking down specific clips in hours-long VODs to back up my analyses, i decided to start transcribing VikingPilot and Rubyco's lore!

this is a bit of a massive undertaking, and there are likely going to be mistakes due to length. shoutouts to Rubyco and ghostsgone for the help on this project!

right now this only covers Viking and Ruby's plotline - if other people want to transcribe the lore streams from the other Aquarium Gravel members i 100% encourage it because everybody's got a really cool story to tell! however, i have given myself one heck of a workload, so i don't think it's in the cards for me. i would love to see it though

this post will be updated as more transcripts are finished! in the meantime, here's what we have so far!

TRANSCRIPTS:

Jan 29 - It's just so you. - A hypothetical future. Feb 8 - It's gonna be great. - Ruby confronts Viking about his weird behavior after he gets an IOU out of Miyaki. Feb 15 - Sleepwalk - Viking and Ruby investigate the strange signs Ruby leaves while sleepwalking. Feb 20 - Signposting - Ruby meets another Viking. Feb 21 - You see me. - Sapphire leaves a message. Feb 28 - Biking Pilog - An error in the timeline. Feb 28 - You belong to me. - Jay has an encounter. Feb 29 - What are you running from? - An introduction to Fiv, and a conversation with Sapphire. Mar 4 - Time and Space / The Clocktower - Viking and Ruby find a clocktower and get more questions than answers. [WIP, 1/2 done] ▷ [ Navigator & Sapphire's conversation ] Mar 10 - Snails. - Aquarium Gravel has a snail infestation. Mar 19 - Homesick - Fiv finds common ground with Ruby... or a Ruby, anyway. Mar 21 - Changed Your Mind - Fiv wants out of the deal and Viking wants to know a little more about his business partner. Mar 27 - Vintage and Ruby go on a date. [WIP]

#self rb #leo.pdf

[autisticlalna]

tore through the transcript of what happened with Fiv and OHHHH MAN. THESE SIBLINGS. these siblings are gonna be the death of me. and Fiv has SUCH COOL LORE im excited and terrified to see where these guys are gonna take their stories next

I KNOW RIGHT??? ohhhh my god. its killing me that im not able to fully document fiv's lore bc there is SO MUCH that is SO COOL. his interactions with box and jay especially. tFiv and tJay have wildly different views of each other and it kills me

on my hands and knees sobbing bc of tViking and tRuby. viking continuing to go "everything is fine! im okay!" while ruby is having constant panic attacks at the thought of being anything like sapphire. and viking Trying to be supportive in his own way-- switching from seeing fiv as a threat bc of them being an unknown variable to trying to help and reassure him and the playful bickering with ruby when theyre hugging fiv and aaaaaaa . cries

#leo.txt #leos reply #shadowthian #tsmp

[autisticlalna]

“I walked. I could do nothing but walk. And then, I saw me walking in front of myself. But it wasn’t really me. 

“Watch out. The gap in the door… it’s a separate reality. 

“The only me is me. Are you sure the only you is you?”

more experimental drawing, this time with the purple gemini twins. :D took me like 2 and a half days to do, but it paid off well, if i do say so myself!

[ full view + without backgrounds versions ]

#AAAAAAAAAAA #INSANE ABT THAT QUOTE. AUGH #yogs