#we can solve this I believe in us!

[lulu2992]

Who is the voice of the female Deputy?

When I saw this question, I decided to try to find an answer.

I looked up all the actors listed in the credits, listened to their voices (in interviews, demo reels, or other videos), and… I’m still not sure who played the female Deputy.

While I usually find it relatively easy to recognize voice actors in French, my native language, it turns out that’s much harder for me to do in English. Also, it doesn’t help that they’re usually very good at changing their voice/accent and that, in real life, most of them don’t sound like the characters they play.

I still believe the person who played the female Deputy is also “Cult Follower Female 5” (CFF5), but it seems to me the actor used a different accent and tone so the cultist sounds a bit “villainous”. In any case, I didn’t find anyone that sounded exactly like the two characters…

According to my ears, though, the female Deputy and the female Captain from New Dawn have the same voice. Outside of cutscenes, the Deputy has 314 lines in Far Cry 5 (which you can listen to here, here, here, here, and here) and the audio files were all reused for the Captain. In cutscenes, so the “lines” that were specifically recorded for New Dawn, the character sounds exactly the same to me, which means the voice actor must have worked on both games.

I looked at the names that appeared in the credits of the two games and narrowed the list down to the 15 (+1; see below) likeliest candidates, so here are the people who, in my opinion, could potentially be the voice of the female Deputy, as well as, when the information was available, either in the game or on IMDb, which character(s) they played:

Claire Armstrong

Kailea Banka

Carolina Bartczak (Cult Follower in FC5; apparently not in FCND, but you never know)

Kimberly D. Brooks (Gun for Hire)

Nicki Burke (Cult Follower in FC5, Selene in FCND)

Lucinda Davis

Stacey DePass (Nana in FCND)

Amber Goldfarb (voice of Faith’s Priestesses, “Cult Follower Female 3”, and, I believe, Rae-Rae)*

Julianne Jain

Mara Junot (Sherri Woodhouse, “Civilian Female 6”)

Helen King

Erica Linbeck (voice of Anne, but also this and this)

Cynthia Kaye McWilliams (Resistance Soldier)

Debra Wilson

Kim Yarborough

Mayko Nguyen, who plays Kim Rye, was credited a second time as a “voice talent” in Far Cry 5, which implies she may have also played one of several NPC. Since she worked on New Dawn, she too could be the female Deputy’s voice.

Again, English isn’t my first language, and after spending two days listening to all those voices, everyone started to sound the same to me :’) If you’re a native English speaker and/or have a great ear, though, maybe you’ll be able to more easily solve the mystery! We can do it!

*IMDb says Amber Goldfarb played “Noodle’s owner” (the woman who called Ms. Mable for her pet snake) but the files tell me the voice is actually “Civilian Female 6”, so Mara Junot.

And under the cut, just in case, I included all the other female voices who appear in the credits.

FAR CRY 5

MAIN CAST Beryl Bain (Tracey Lader) Sarah Booth (Tammy Barnes and, according to IMDb, a “Civilian”) Luisa D’Oliveira (Deputy Joey Hudson) Jenessa Grant (Faith Seed) Debra McGrath (Nancy) Tasya Teles (Mary May Fairgrave)

VOICE TALENTS Carolina Bartczak (Cult Follower) Lauren Jackson (Skylar Kohrs) Erin Mathews Julie Nathanson (Jess Black) Kristen Peace Murry Peeters (Grace Armstrong) Claire Rankin Cara Ricketts (Dr. Sarah Perkins in FC5, Mickey in FCND) Charlotte Rogers Paula Shaw (Ms. Wilhelmina Mable) Jane Wheeler (Adelaide Drubman)

PERFORMERS (I’m not sure they recorded voices and they apparently didn’t work on FCND) Michela Cannon Roanna Cochrane (Cult Follower) Athena Karkanis Karen Knox Janet Porter Melissa Robertson Alyssa Trask Brandi Marie Ward

FAR CRY NEW DAWN

MAIN CAST Reina Hardesty (Carmina Rye) Leslie Miller (Lou)

VOICE TALENTS Rylee Alazraqui Mary Faber (in the “Additional Thanks” section in the FC5 credits and in Lost on Mars according to IMDb) Camryn Jones Rachel Kimsey Melanie Minichino (Gina Guerra) Carolyn Ratteray Marisha Ray Nadia Verrucci

PERFORMANCE CAPTURE PERFORMERS (again, I don’t know if they recorded voices in FCND) Ava Augustin Tamara Brown Jenny Raven Ajanae Stephenson Lydia Zadel (also credited in the “Additional Thanks” section in FC5 and a voice in Lost on Mars according to IMDb)

Good luck!

#if you need voice samples to help you you can request them on vohc #but this was harder than expected for me… #far cry 5 #the deputy #the junior deputy #far cry new dawn #the captain #the security captain #we can solve this I believe in us!

[mokeonn]

Before I go to sleep I leave you all with this piece of advice: sometimes you don't actually have to answer big political questions, sometimes you can just say "I am not smart enough to know that, I just know the small things I do to help." Like you can often times completely avoid making a fool of yourself if you just say you don't know.

#simon says #to explain here and not in a reblog: #sometimes when you try to explain big picture solutions you're gonna sound dumb #you might not have done enough research #you might not have a rebuttal to a counter argument #you might not be articulate enough to explain why you think this #sometimes you gotta take a step back and give the simple solution. the one man solution #you do what you can to fight against the problem #you talk to people to help spread awareness and how to fight the bad problem #and you vote and invite others to vote for bigger steps towards solving the problem #like you can talk about theory and how you believe we need to do a huge drastic thing to solve and issue #but people will disagree and argue til you're blue in the face #they'll poke and prod until you mess up or lose your temper and use it against you #and you'll feel dumb and they'll learn nothing #sometimes the best thing to do is step away from the big picture and just say 'idk what the solution is I just know the things I can do“ #sometimes you gotta admit you're not a scientist/expert and you can't answer that #i used this while talking with my Dad tonight #he brought up our climate crisis and space travel as a possible solution #and I said I think that's just addressing the symptom and not the cause and we need to care for our Earth now #and he asked me what solutions I think would fix it #and knowing my incredibly smart Dad who is articulate and ready to throw rebuttles at a moments notice to play devils advocate #and my past experience in struggling in this topic with him before #i just told him I didn't know. all i knew is the little things I can and do do to help #and that hopefully by spreading the word and habits and encouraging others to vote for those bigger solutions I could help make a change #but all I really could do is the little things I have control over #and the topic became much less stressful about the little things we have control over #like planting native plants and recycling and adopting habits that are healthier to our planet #which was 100% more preferable to if I tried to give a big solution. because I would reveal i didn't have all the knowledge needed to argue #and my articulation would make me sound like a stupid kid who only thinks they know what's best #so yeah I basically suggest that if you dont wanna feel like shit after debating someone just step away from the big picture for a moment

[cornerful]

'And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.'

-Gandalf at the Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring, JRRT

#this is the same argument i used to explain to my parents why i bother to pick garbage out of the soil #it won't be solved in my lifetime but i have to believe in a world where we do fix this mess #what's the point of leaving it there for future generations to deal with when i could do this small thing now? #why should i leave the work to them when there is work I CAN do like come on it's not much but we're better than this #lotr newsletter #anyway i have a lot of feelings about this part go gandalf #lotrn1025

[shadowedvales-a]

THINGS ARE STARTING TO COME BACK TO YOU, AND YOU'RE CURIOUS. YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON. › FROM ELIZABETH MARCH. @embodies

She still sensed it, the universe spinning around with no ending or beginning; the way her blood curdled a horrid gurgle, even if it no longer pumped to her brain. She haunted marble walls on silent feet. The place a fusion of malevolence and beauty, and Jane, despite her hollowed flesh and often unseeing eyes, couldn't help but find a strange sort of enticement within said walls, all perfectly draped and painted. She knew quite little of its happenings, bizarre spirits of muddled eras all sharing one patch of land; although the mind became a hazy thing due to submittance of the final years of her life, she was no fool. Isolated company was merely favoured, a lithe black cat scampering against corners, gaze finding deathly endurances but never remaining long enough to understand reasoning behind vile acts. Sitting, feeling, unthinking.

Where there was rot, there was Jane Ives. Stuck in the jaws of a hellish beast, taker of lives, but leaving the soul to crumble. Oftentimes she wondered what she was actually doing here; inner workings utterly vandalised by a madman's execution for warped world-peace. The toxicity resting in her bloodstream confused old memories, scorched her past-life: all she remembered of her mother entailed a whiff of perfume and a few phrases of a lullaby she used to sing. One day she'll uncover truths, the ugly and pure— but for now, the body only yearns for kindred consideration, perhaps something to call her own. Three decades would rear its date in a handful of months, and a spark had begun to litter in her mind's eye.

“Yes. I am curious.” The very first time Jane saw Elizabeth, she was positive she had moved to a better destination; swore she bore witness to an angel welcoming her to heaven's palace. (Oh Saint Peter let me in, you must know where I've been! Won't you tell me at last who I am?) Ever quickly, the hand she wished to hold, she realised, was sharp, a creature's claw; fascination did not dwindle but fear ushered the child away. It's clear the woman saw everything happening inside her hotel, including frizzled recollections resurfacing, taunting innocence of youth and marking it for horror. “I remember... things.” Honesty possessed no hesitation, as the words spilled it felt good to speak them aloud. To relieve herself. “There is a block. A... something foggy. It stops me remembering.” Frustration threatened its course, as one might perceive through her jaw tightening, lifeless pallor nearly gaining a flash of colour.

This is your story, written and rewritten, scratched out, burned and buried. “Did I... Was I always... this?” Is it foretold that I haunt the head of a girl graced for much more than her destiny provided? Chin cants, shoulders purposely squared like trying to light a guise of confidence. “Bee - cause I do not think I was always in this place.”

#⅋. [ ✦ ] ﹕ we are all just prisoners here of our own device ‚ american horror story: hotel . #embodies. #okay okay okay i gotta properly write this verse up but!! #in very simple terms: terry dies. brenner is actually a relation of jane (terry's half-brother or a distant kind of sibling relationship.) #so when terry dies jane is sent to live w him. jane is around seven at the time. #brenner is a surgeon who dedicated his life trying to come up with vaccines for diseases such as cancer and polio. #he felt that animal testing didn't give him accurate results. #so as soon as he got custody of jane. she became the subject of his experiments. #he was once a well acclaimed doctor but over the years became obsessed with trying to find cures for these diseases and his methods became #very. very unethical. so he was eventually fired from his job etc etc did his own animal testing. #jane is submitted to a range of testing and grows very weak and frail because of it. #brenner believes he finally makes a breakthrough. but knows it could kill jane and doesn't want any evidence of her left in / near #his house. so he books a room at the hotel (where so much shady shit happens anyway) and conducts his experiment. she does die and #brenner flees the scene. and in doing so makes it look like jane had an overdose. he booked the room under her name too. #he was very prepared for her dying and made it all look really nice and neat. an easy case for any cops to solve. #a ratty. skinny little girl who probably had no chance in life. her oversized clothes / short hair / grubby face indicated homelessness. #so there's not a lot of investigation. #so! yeah. they are the basics <333 #if u dont vibe with it though we can totally plot out something together if you like! #also jane doesnt remember much of her past life for the first thirty years or so of being in the hotel! the countless drugs used and #implemented into her body makes her head incredibly fuzzy. #especially because it's how she died. her brain just. stays in that fuzzy mindset for a long time. #but she does eventually begin to remember. it just takes a while!

[simcardiac-arrested]

your fever is going up? 😳well then

false disposition is a song by ferry, the second song in the parties are for losers vocaloid series, released not long after the first one. it centres around sanya and her relationship with yura and sergei (sorta). it is a series of flashbacks. the next pafl song will also focus on sanya, i suspect

the first flashback is of sergei telling sanya that the world is a cruel place to people like her (shes albino), that he'll keep her safe. he has a very "it doesnt matter if youre not happy it matters that youre alive", although he also cares about her happiness still. he prefers she'd be alive tho. their parents are dead, so, hes had to take care of her for . around a decade? almost completely alone, with the help of nikita (loser) and kolya (we'll learn about him next song i think). she does care about sergei, but dear god she wishes he'd at least let her go to school (shes homeschooled)

now, homeschooled. she gets tutored by yura in math, who sergei is also preparing to become a stalker. she loves hanging out with him. hes her only friend - he doesnt rlly consider her a friend at this point, just a weird teen he tutors. that sucks at math. she likes hearing about how his days are going, and, they don't even rlly talk about math lol they just talk about random shit. one day, sanya asks yura to take her to a party, and! after a bit of surprise he does!

she does not like it there:( more specificaly, she sees yura flirting with a girl, and she goes outside, kicks up and punches trashcans all "ohhh this world is a cruel place to people like me, he told me so- i wont give him that, damage control wont help me now- i wish i felt nothing at all" bc like, i dunno, her and yura have a weird crush thing going on. but they also don't. weirdos. yura however comes to find her n goes Oh Man i hate this town. and starts beating up the very same trashcans with a baseball bat. n they bond then and there ... besties ... their fates, sealed as buddies ....

anyway, the song ends like it started- with sanya running after yura who is going to the zone for his stalker trip, and going "its not like im saying goodbye, but just in case, i wanna tell you i-" but yura interrupts her. tells her that he'll come back, not to worry. gives her his jacket. and thats it boyyy. check these images out

heres your saff boss

#what the fuck man. character relationships. sure #it’s so wild that they all have russian names #that should be illegal i think. that should be not allowed #russian names are for 19th century russian novels where everyone is weird and then kills themselves #for example katya was in. (englit thinking) uhmmm. there was a katya in. in #scratches my head #there . was a katya in one of chekhov’s short stories …. yess … ahaha …… #<- definitely remembers class bullshit #but yeah it just feels weird it doesnt feel right #russian names are only for 19th century sad russian novels . and my classmates #yura used to be my classmate He is not in a vocaloid. i dont believe you #i just dont believe you #sanya ? i can call him rightnow. Im not going to because we dont talk often and he’s probably like fucking or drinking or vaping rn #but like i know a sanya. i know several sanyas. i know several yuras even. This other yura has my discord and occassionally sends me #math/logic problems. because he has something wrong with him and he loves solving those and seeing how ppl solve those #but i cannottttt be fucked im sorry yura we havent been classmates for a good 3 or 4 years i will not answer your riddles three #cramswering

[griffinsboyfriend]

THEORIES FOR CHAPTER 20? JUST CAUGHT UP AND GOING INSANE

Giiiirl. I have a few crack theories but I think they’ve managed to write a good mystery here. Anything could happen, and given how wild the smut has been, and how wild the story itself has been, I’m willing to bet the final chapter will blow our asses wide open.

It’s 10 minutes long too according to the description, so we should be getting a lot. I feel like they’ve managed to stuff a lot in the short chapters throughout, it’s well paced so I think the ending should be satisfying. Btw, I’d love to hear yours and everyone else’s theories!!! But here are my crack theories:

1. Charles/Charlotte is the murderer and has been leading us on a goose chase this whole time to put our sights off of them. He’s a stalker who obsessed about MC when his aunt was alive. She was genuinely kind to Charles, inviting him over or asking for his aid with the house, it would make sense that he’d see MC in photos and developed stalkerish feelings toward him. I feel like they’ve done so many coincidences with him that it’s too convenient when the writers are trying to tell us he’s innocent. He just happened to have a TRASH BAG full of foxgloves? Sure, Jan.

Additionally, in the van, if you choose one of the dialogue options with Charles (forgot exactly what it is), he tenses up… almost becoming a different person before he resurfaces and remembers where he is. He’s had a handful of those type of interactions depending on the choices you make. Could be PTSD, but idk. It smells manipulative to me, and MC has fallen hard for his savior. Moreover, the van being unlocked? Really now? 🤨 well that was easy, wasn’t it…

That cologne too, it could be one of Charles’s cologne and he planted it in the van to frame Vince. I always thought that MC was being drugged whenever they went into their fantasies early on, but MC is quite horny so I believe its likely just THEM being them lol.

I think Charles accidentally murdered his wife by overdosing her, and his grief is unprocessed or not properly dealt with. But bc of this, his mental is likely not sane. He pushed away the grief bc he thought he needed to be there for his daughter, who pushed him away bc she hasn’t been able to properly grieve either and that’s just how kids can be.

1.5 crack theory: Yvette burned down the house bc she was worried MC would leave her father and her new co-parent, who she likely looks up to. I mean who wouldn’t, this MC is one of the greats certainly. Yvette wanting to become involved in the investigation late in the game feels pointed.

Ultimately, the dirty little secret could be our lover is the murderer and we can choose to stand by him and keep it, or not. But since this book is a stand alone, I’m doubting this I actually going to happen bc I think we’d need at least 2 more chapters to connect the dots.

2. Vince and Sadie are working together and are the killers. Vince is super dumb so he’d go along with anything Sadie said, even if she didn’t intend for real murder. I think there’s evidence in ch19 to suggest he’s dumb enough to cross the line. THEN AGAIN. The evidence only stacked up in the last chapter so I feel like… this is a red herring perhaps.

I truly don’t believe that Sadie wanted us to die or be burned alive. She’s evil but idk if she’s proven to be that evil. She’s conniving and manipulative, but I haven’t seen evidence suggesting she’d go that far. Then again she did try to hide her real identity, going so far as to get surgery. Post having sex with the mayor, she seemed obedient to him. So perhaps…

3. The Mayor is the murderer. He loved MC’s aunt but she never returned the feelings. He let his rich white man ego and pride get the better of him, he has the resources and money to make it happen without a second thought against him. I feel there’s less buildup for this though…

4. Charles and Sadie are working together to take down MC. This would be the real insane reason, and honestly I feel like I’d live if they did this! I’d have to hand it to PB if they went this route bc I feel it could be successful. They def led their audience on a wild ride, why not push them over the edge type of tease lol. There’s not enough evidence yet to suggest they’re working together but I mean this book has been fucking insane sooo…

—

I think whoever captured Yvette will force Charles to show his true colors. I can’t wait for the drama to unfold!!!

Also going into that van was the last straw. I KNEW the jig was up then. Whoever the killer is KNEW MC (and maybe Charles, if he’s not the killer) would be this stupid. It’s classic horror/thriller movie scenes.

I’m willing to bet someone is going to shut that van door and force MC/Charles to watch whatever is about to unfold. God I hope they obliterate us, man!!!!

#griffinsbf ask #I don’t claim to be good at solving mysteries #I’m just going off what I feel and what’s been shown to us #but I truly believe expect anything coming up #I don’t think we can trust ANYONE in the street #as the latter chapters have proven to us #I EDITED PARTS OF THIS

[ante--meridiem]

Biggest con of study group: contains arrogant condescending guy who likes the sound of his own voice too much and I'm spending about 20% of the time actually thinking about maths, the remaining 80% internally chanting "shut the fuck up" at him.

I thought a pro was "make friends?" but nope we're making enemies here.

#You're not the only one who knows how to solve the problems and we don't need you to teach us #So you can take your 'key insights' and shove them up your ass #His girlfriend was their and when she tried to explain her solution he was just like 'I know you did it my way :)' #God. God! #I usually defend people whose enthusiasm gets misread as arrogance/condescention but this time was just too much #Can't believe I thought he was cool and was sad he didn't want to talk to me until now #If I show up to study group again it will be with the sole purpose of showing him up #Liveblogging my masters #Personal #....well at least I was right about it activating my competitiveness

[st-severus]

It's established in canon when Arthur Weasley is also bitten by Nagini that her venom prevents the bites from her wound healing, or rather, it prevents blood from clotting, so I don't know if Vulnera Sanentur would be effective. Someone at St. Mungo's did eventually find an antidote, though, and I can't imagine Snape wouldn't have gotten his hands on some and carried it with him, not trusting Voldemort? Either that or he would have come up with a spell to separate out the venom from blood.

Actually, according to facts I just made up now when Vulnera Sanentur is performed by a powerful enough wizard it also has anti-venom properties - so long as it is narratively convenient.

#sorry im not that dedicated to continuity in a series that uses magical life bonds to solve all its problems #besides it would be neat right #If harry saved the hard blood prince with one of his own spells #or rather a spell he learnt from him since its not his invention I believe #but if mcgonagall can show up a fully formed adult before she was born #we can do whatever we like #so long as it's neat #cool stuff only lol #thanks for the tip though #if I think of something else maybe i will change it?? #not sure #st severus snelebration #1000 followers #asks

[siena-sevenwits]

Lockwood thoughts - feel free to move on.

#I'm at the midpoint for Hollow Boy - they believe they've completed the staircase haunting (obviously there's unfinished business) #and have been kicked upstairs to the Chelsea Outbreak #and I am very very pleased with this setup and am hoping Jonathan Stroud can pay it off richly #What have Lockwood and Co missed? What was Lady Wintergarden's rush? Why is it so urgent to get them on the #Chelsea case - is she hoping they'll get killed/sufficiently distracted? We've had the apparition on the stairs described to us #once and shown twice - what are we misunderstanding about it? #What is the uniqueness of Cooke? What is Lady Wintergarden's aim and how is it presumably tied to the Orpheus Society (which #I have some theories on...) #I think what I really want is a proper Agatha Christie solution here - the kind that makes you smack your head and go 'OF COURSE! #How could I not see it? This changes everything!' #whereas book one was more of a Conan Doyle solution (ultimately more of an adventure with mystery trappings #lacking sufficient structure for the reader to solve the whole thing rather than just a few details) #and the second was really more of a thriller with a surprise villain. #I know - these books aren't mystery genre and I don't ask it of them - they're fine just being adventure thrillers #but this one would make me so happy if it borrowed a couple more elements from mystery - namely the 'You saw it and #understood it one way - but there's an important detail which you can logically locate based on what we've shown you which will #fundamentally transform your understand of what you saw.' #lockwood and co #save lockwood and co

[deadletterpoets]

Based on some of the complaints, not just about cut content, but just underwhelming content or content implemented poorly it definitely sounds like Larian might've added some stuff very late into production so it wasn't as fully tested and given the same amount of "love" so to speak as other stuff in the game. I bet they didn't want to delay the game another 6 months or so to get the content up to par with the rest of the game, but I wonder how it would've been if they delayed the game to better implement certain things when it comes to Dark Urge, poly romances, and just the whole third act and epilogues in general.

#baldur's gate 3 #patches are clearly gonna used a lot to make certain things better #but I don't think it's gonna solve as many problems as ppl want to believe #though it's possible we don't get an expansion or after story DLC #I can see Larian adding story and/or character story DLC to get it all at a better quality for players

[dbssh]

i fucking hate this post man neither of you are helpful

#i get the first person in the doom mindset happens to the best of us but u nihilistic bastards cant give it 20k notes #and then the 'eweeeh just kill them U_U' smugness like shut up oh my god #no we're never going to individually save the planet or whatever but if you dont believe in SOMETHING youre going to die miserable. #do what you can to make things less horrible for u and yr community. compost if you believe in it bike to work if it makes you feel better #grow food if you have the space and share the crops. get involved with local activism #do SOMETHING. we have to do SOMETHING we have to believe in SOMETHING or else whats the fucking point of being here. #until one of you ponys up and actually kills a billionare i dont want any more of this #'we should just kill billionares problem solved' is not a catchall for you to not have to get involved in anything #and in fact doesnt help the nihilist doomer shit. #red.txt

[treasure-mimic]

So, let me try and put everything together here, because I really do think it needs to be talked about.

Today, Unity announced that it intends to apply a fee to use its software. Then it got worse.

For those not in the know, Unity is the most popular free to use video game development tool, offering a basic version for individuals who want to learn how to create games or create independently alongside paid versions for corporations or people who want more features. It's decent enough at this job, has issues but for the price point I can't complain, and is the idea entry point into creating in this medium, it's a very important piece of software.

But speaking of tools, the CEO is a massive one. When he was the COO of EA, he advocated for using, what out and out sounds like emotional manipulation to coerce players into microtransactions.

"A consumer gets engaged in a property, they might spend 10, 20, 30, 50 hours on the game and then when they're deep into the game they're well invested in it. We're not gouging, but we're charging and at that point in time the commitment can be pretty high."

He also called game developers who don't discuss monetization early in the planning stages of development, quote, "fucking idiots".

So that sets the stage for what might be one of the most bald-faced greediest moves I've seen from a corporation in a minute. Most at least have the sense of self-preservation to hide it.

A few hours ago, Unity posted this announcement on the official blog.

Effective January 1, 2024, we will introduce a new Unity Runtime Fee that’s based on game installs. We will also add cloud-based asset storage, Unity DevOps tools, and AI at runtime at no extra cost to Unity subscription plans this November. We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user. We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. Also we believe that an initial install-based fee allows creators to keep the ongoing financial gains from player engagement, unlike a revenue share.

Now there are a few red flags to note in this pitch immediately.

Unity is planning on charging a fee on all games which use its engine.

This is a flat fee per number of installs.

They are using an always online runtime function to determine whether a game is downloaded.

There is just so many things wrong with this that it's hard to know where to start, not helped by this FAQ which doubled down on a lot of the major issues people had.

I guess let's start with what people noticed first. Because it's using a system baked into the software itself, Unity would not be differentiating between a "purchase" and a "download". If someone uninstalls and reinstalls a game, that's two downloads. If someone gets a new computer or a new console and downloads a game already purchased from their account, that's two download. If someone pirates the game, the studio will be asked to pay for that download.

Q: How are you going to collect installs? A: We leverage our own proprietary data model. We believe it gives an accurate determination of the number of times the runtime is distributed for a given project. Q: Is software made in unity going to be calling home to unity whenever it's ran, even for enterprice licenses? A: We use a composite model for counting runtime installs that collects data from numerous sources. The Unity Runtime Fee will use data in compliance with GDPR and CCPA. The data being requested is aggregated and is being used for billing purposes. Q: If a user reinstalls/redownloads a game / changes their hardware, will that count as multiple installs? A: Yes. The creator will need to pay for all future installs. The reason is that Unity doesn’t receive end-player information, just aggregate data. Q: What's going to stop us being charged for pirated copies of our games? A: We do already have fraud detection practices in our Ads technology which is solving a similar problem, so we will leverage that know-how as a starting point. We recognize that users will have concerns about this and we will make available a process for them to submit their concerns to our fraud compliance team.

This is potentially related to a new system that will require Unity Personal developers to go online at least once every three days.

Starting in November, Unity Personal users will get a new sign-in and online user experience. Users will need to be signed into the Hub with their Unity ID and connect to the internet to use Unity. If the internet connection is lost, users can continue using Unity for up to 3 days while offline. More details to come, when this change takes effect.

It's unclear whether this requirement will be attached to any and all Unity games, though it would explain how they're theoretically able to track "the number of installs", and why the methodology for tracking these installs is so shit, as we'll discuss later.

Unity claims that it will only leverage this fee to games which surpass a certain threshold of downloads and yearly revenue.

Only games that meet the following thresholds qualify for the Unity Runtime Fee: Unity Personal and Unity Plus: Those that have made $200,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 200,000 lifetime game installs. Unity Pro and Unity Enterprise: Those that have made $1,000,000 USD or more in the last 12 months AND have at least 1,000,000 lifetime game installs.

They don't say how they're going to collect information on a game's revenue, likely this is just to say that they're only interested in squeezing larger products (games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, Fate Grand Order, Among Us, and Fall Guys) and not every 2 dollar puzzle platformer that drops on Steam. But also, these larger products have the easiest time porting off of Unity and the most incentives to, meaning realistically those heaviest impacted are going to be the ones who just barely meet this threshold, most of them indie developers.

Aggro Crab Games, one of the first to properly break this story, points out that systems like the Xbox Game Pass, which is already pretty predatory towards smaller developers, will quickly inflate their "lifetime game installs" meaning even skimming the threshold of that 200k revenue, will be asked to pay a fee per install, not a percentage on said revenue.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Hey Gamers!

Today, Unity (the engine we use to make our games) announced that they'll soon be taking a fee from developers for every copy of the game installed over a certain threshold - regardless of how that copy was obtained.

Guess who has a somewhat highly anticipated game coming to Xbox Game Pass in 2024? That's right, it's us and a lot of other developers.

That means Another Crab's Treasure will be free to install for the 25 million Game Pass subscribers. If a fraction of those users download our game, Unity could take a fee that puts an enormous dent in our income and threatens the sustainability of our business.

And that's before we even think about sales on other platforms, or pirated installs of our game, or even multiple installs by the same user!!!

This decision puts us and countless other studios in a position where we might not be able to justify using Unity for our future titles. If these changes aren't rolled back, we'll be heavily considering abandoning our wealth of Unity expertise we've accumulated over the years and starting from scratch in a new engine. Which is really something we'd rather not do.

On behalf of the dev community, we're calling on Unity to reverse the latest in a string of shortsighted decisions that seem to prioritize shareholders over their product's actual users.

I fucking hate it here.

-Aggro Crab - END DESCRIPTION]

That fee, by the way, is a flat fee. Not a percentage, not a royalty. This means that any games made in Unity expecting any kind of success are heavily incentivized to cost as much as possible.

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: A table listing the various fees by number of Installs over the Install Threshold vs. version of Unity used, ranging from $0.01 to $0.20 per install. END DESCRIPTION]

Basic elementary school math tells us that if a game comes out for $1.99, they will be paying, at maximum, 10% of their revenue to Unity, whereas jacking the price up to $59.99 lowers that percentage to something closer to 0.3%. Obviously any company, especially any company in financial desperation, which a sudden anchor on all your revenue is going to create, is going to choose the latter.

Furthermore, and following the trend of "fuck anyone who doesn't ask for money", Unity helpfully defines what an install is on their main site.

While I'm looking at this page as it exists now, it currently says

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

However, I saw a screenshot saying something different, and utilizing the Wayback Machine we can see that this phrasing was changed at some point in the few hours since this announcement went up. Instead, it reads:

The installation and initialization of a game or app on an end user’s device as well as distribution via streaming or web browser is considered an “install.” Games or apps with substantially similar content may be counted as one project, with installs then aggregated to calculate the Unity Runtime Fee.

Screenshot for posterity:

That would mean web browser games made in Unity would count towards this install threshold. You could legitimately drive the count up simply by continuously refreshing the page. The FAQ, again, doubles down.

Q: Does this affect WebGL and streamed games? A: Games on all platforms are eligible for the fee but will only incur costs if both the install and revenue thresholds are crossed. Installs - which involves initialization of the runtime on a client device - are counted on all platforms the same way (WebGL and streaming included).

And, what I personally consider to be the most suspect claim in this entire debacle, they claim that "lifetime installs" includes installs prior to this change going into effect.

Will this fee apply to games using Unity Runtime that are already on the market on January 1, 2024? Yes, the fee applies to eligible games currently in market that continue to distribute the runtime. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

Again, again, doubled down in the FAQ.

Q: Are these fees going to apply to games which have been out for years already? If you met the threshold 2 years ago, you'll start owing for any installs monthly from January, no? (in theory). It says they'll use previous installs to determine threshold eligibility & then you'll start owing them for the new ones. A: Yes, assuming the game is eligible and distributing the Unity Runtime then runtime fees will apply. We look at a game's lifetime installs to determine eligibility for the runtime fee. Then we bill the runtime fee based on all new installs that occur after January 1, 2024.

That would involve billing companies for using their software before telling them of the existence of a bill. Holding their actions to a contract that they performed before the contract existed!

Okay. I think that's everything. So far.

There is one thing that I want to mention before ending this post, unfortunately it's a little conspiratorial, but it's so hard to believe that anyone genuinely thought this was a good idea that it's stuck in my brain as a significant possibility.

A few days ago it was reported that Unity's CEO sold 2,000 shares of his own company.

On September 6, 2023, John Riccitiello, President and CEO of Unity Software Inc (NYSE:U), sold 2,000 shares of the company. This move is part of a larger trend for the insider, who over the past year has sold a total of 50,610 shares and purchased none.

I would not be surprised if this decision gets reversed tomorrow, that it was literally only made for the CEO to short his own goddamn company, because I would sooner believe that this whole thing is some idiotic attempt at committing fraud than a real monetization strategy, even knowing how unfathomably greedy these people can be.

So, with all that said, what do we do now?

Well, in all likelihood you won't need to do anything. As I said, some of the biggest names in the industry would be directly affected by this change, and you can bet your bottom dollar that they're not just going to take it lying down. After all, the only way to stop a greedy CEO is with a greedier CEO, right?

(I fucking hate it here.)

And that's not mentioning the indie devs who are already talking about abandoning the engine.

[Links display tweets from the lead developer of Among Us saying it'd be less costly to hire people to move the game off of Unity and Cult of the Lamb's official twitter saying the game won't be available after January 1st in response to the news.]

That being said, I'm still shaken by all this. The fact that Unity is openly willing to go back and punish its developers for ever having used the engine in the past makes me question my relationship to it.

The news has given rise to the visibility of free, open source alternative Godot, which, if you're interested, is likely a better option than Unity at this point. Mostly, though, I just hope we can get out of this whole, fucking, environment where creatives are treated as an endless mill of free profits that's going to be continuously ratcheted up and up to drive unsustainable infinite corporate growth that our entire economy is based on for some fuckin reason.

Anyways, that's that, I find having these big posts that break everything down to be helpful.

#Unity #Unity3D #Video Games #Game Development #Game Developers #fuckshit #I don't know what to tag news like this

[theminecraftbee]

"So, and I can't believe I have to be the guy to point this out," Doc starts hesitantly.

"Terrible start! Go on," Cleo says.

"But you seem to be one of the only sane people left right now," Doc continues.

"Even more terrible, although I appreciate your delusion," Cleo says.

"And I have to--you know, if you're going to make fun of me for bringing you a problem maybe I just won't. I can solve it myself. I basically solved the moon thing myself," Doc says. "I am trying to be responsible before this turns into a whole thing."

"Doc, you came to me. Did you want anything that wasn't me making fun of you? Because you know, if so, I really feel bad for you. I already feel bad enough for you that you think you actually managed to do anything at all about the moon thing."

Doc throws his hands up. "I am trying to warn you the ocean is evil! It's important! This is important!"

"The deep sea being evil isn't new," Cleo starts, "I was building Atlantis last season--"

"It sent, sent, salmon people to kill me!"

Cleo stops. They look Doc in the eyes. They search for any signs of deception at all. It's a little hard to tell, on account of Doc only having one eye even capable of expressiveness, and his face being the opposite of human, but...

"What?" Cleo says dumbly.

"It was like, like, Beef and Skizz, they were crazy! They were talking about a giant fish and how I shouldn't defy it. And I was like, what is a Big Salmon? I don't know, man, but they're ocean mobsters. And then I started looking. It's not just them. It's not just them Cleo, it's everyone. The ocean, man, it's evil, it's getting everyone. I've, I've made a list. Grian. Have you looked at Grian lately?"

"I think if we were worried about every time Grian got possessed then we wouldn't have any free time," Cleo says hesitantly.

"Right, right, but it was supposed to be Demise. The killing each other, all of the killing each other. I thought, oh, that'll get it out of their systems. But it's not just him Cleo! It's--have you seen Gem? She's all, oh, I will build a boat. Oh, I'll provoke the creatures of the deep. And then. Do you know what I saw all of Team ZITS doing? Fishing!"

"Doc," Cleo says, increasingly concerned for him. He looks... disheveled.

"And not just fishing, oh no. They were standing in the water fishing! And Pearl! Have I mentioned that Pearl is dressing up as a salmon? I mentioned that, yes? The salmon Pearl?"

"You hadn't, unless that was the big fish thing," Cleo says.

"No, that was something different, I think Pearl is maybe a different salmon."

"Sure, okay, more than one salmon, that makes sense," Cleo says dryly.

"And everyone, they are fishing each other around the ocean, yes? Etho is in the ocean! XB is in the ocean! I think I saw Joe crawl out of the ocean earlier, he was all wet and haunted! Surely that is a sign the ocean is evil."

"No, he's just like that," Cleo says. "Also, I did the fishing rod thing too. I think it's just... normal fun."

"They're getting you too. My assessment that you're the sane one. I've said too much."

"I think you need sleep," Cleo says. "Doc, there isn't an ocean-based conspiracy. It's the start of the season. You know we're just like this."

"That's the thing, I can't sleep," Doc says. "I can't. I sleep and I see it. I see it, lurking beneath the waves. It's calling for me Cleo. It's calling. And when it calls, it seems so--kind. But then. But then! I wake up, and I remember the shape of it, and..."

Doc shudders and stops talking. Cleo looks at him a moment longer and then, like comforting a nervous animal, takes his shoulder.

"You should take a nap. It's the start of the season. You're over-stressing yourself. Too much too fast?" they say, as soothingly as possible.

"It's coming for us," Doc says. "It's coming. I don't want to ignore it this time, yes? What's coming for us. We should--we should--"

"Even if it is, Doc, I don't think we can fight the ocean. Come on. Maybe sleeping in my base will help reset your brain."

Doc shudders, but lets Cleo guide him inside. They watch until at last he falls asleep fitfully before shaking their head and sighing.

"A giant fish that was trying to kill him. Honestly. I don't know where he gets these things from. Always a conspiracy with him..."

They decide to go to Ren. Ren knows how to humor Doc. Surely they can get in their ridiculous games again, and Doc will forget all about this. Doc would enjoy the Ministry of Ministries. Maybe he can be an anarchist or something. That would be good for him.

Doc cries out in his sleep. Cleo turns to him.

Then again, they have this strange sinking feeling in their stomach. Doc's... awfully worked up.

But it's Doc.

Surely it's nothing.

#hermitcraft #docm77 #zombiecleo #a bee fic #SO THE CONTINUED OBSESSION EVERYONE HAS WITH THE OCEAN HUH. #hermitfic

[irregodless]

cant stop thinking about how there was an episode of louder and prouder where they got mad at zoe for going out with a guy they said only dated white women when two of the girls were willing to dump their boyfriends for the guy with lighter skin and eyes

#and like yeah they were right but they were ultimately jealous? #like dramatic irony said we know theyre right but did they have a logical reason to believe that #one of the reasons to support it was literally zoe no one would ever ask YOU out #like okay even if he only likes white women he blew a kiss to another white girl but went out with zoe anyway #so clearly he didnt just latch on to the first white girl he saw slash only one available #like at that point the point should be zoe yeah he likes you but can we reflect on how uncomfortable that makes us and what says about you #as the white friend when youre willing to go along with this #not that he was treating them poorly or anything i dont think but like #honestly i think this could be solved by just literally giving them a reason to believe that #hes a celebrity and they did nothing with that dijonay didnt even try to cancel him on twitter #so have them be like #zoe this dude is notorious for only liking white women and shitting on other poc can you PLEASE introspect on this #or have him do it in person. and then make it a matter of like. zoe being a good friend #do i need to rewrite the episode #the topic matter is good they just wrote it like shit apparently

[inkskinned]

crows use tools and like to slide down snowy hills. today we saw a goose with a hurt foot who was kept safe by his flock - before taking off, they waited for him to catch up. there are colors only butterflies see. reindeer are matriarchical. cows have best friends and 4 stomachs and like jazz music. i watched a video recently of an octopus making himself a door out of a coconut shell.

i am a little soft, okay. but sometimes i can't talk either. the world is like fractal light to me, and passes through my skin in tendrils. i feel certain small things like a catapult; i skirt around the big things and somehow arrive in crisis without ever realizing i'm in pain.

in 5th grade we read The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-time, which is about a young autistic boy. it is how they introduced us to empathy about neurotypes, which was well-timed: around 10 years old was when i started having my life fully ruined by symptoms. people started noticing.

i wonder if birds can tell if another bird is odd. like the phrase odd duck. i have to believe that all odd ducks are still very much loved by the other normal ducks. i have to believe that, or i will cry.

i remember my 5th grade teacher holding the curious incident up, dazzled by the language written by someone who is neurotypical. my teacher said: "sometimes i want to cut open their mind to know exactly how autistics are thinking. it's just so different! they must see the world so strangely!" later, at 22, in my education classes, we were taught to say a person with autism or a person on the spectrum or neurodivergent. i actually personally kind of like person-first language - it implies the other person is trying to protect me from myself. i know they had to teach themselves that pattern of speech, is all, and it shows they're at least trying. and i was a person first, even if i wasn't good at it.

plants learn information. they must encode data somehow, but where would they store it? when you cut open a sapling, you cannot find the how they think - if they "think" at all. they learn, but do not think. i want to paint that process - i think it would be mostly purple and blue.

the book was not about me, it was about a young boy. his life was patterned into a different set of categories. he did not cry about the tag on his shirt. i remember reading it and saying to myself: i am wrong, and broken, but it isn't in this way. something else is wrong with me instead. later, in that same person-first education class, my teacher would bring up the curious incident and mention that it is now widely panned as being inaccurate and stereotypical. she frowned and said we might not know how a person with autism thinks, but it is unlikely to be expressed in that way. this book was written with the best intentions by a special-ed teacher, but there's some debate as to if somebody who was on the spectrum would be even able to write something like this.

we might not understand it, but crows and ravens have developed their own language. this is also true of whales, dolphins, and many other species. i do not know how a crow thinks, but we do know they can problem solve. (is "thinking" equal to "problem solving"? or is "thinking" data processing? data management?) i do not know how my dog thinks, either, but we "talk" all the same - i know what he is asking for, even if he only asks once.

i am not a dolphin or reindeer or a dog in the nighttime, but i am an odd duck. in the ugly duckling, she grows up and comes home and is beautiful and finds her soulmate. all that ugliness she experienced lives in downy feathers inside of her, staining everything a muted grey. she is beautiful eventually, though, so she is loved. they do not want to cut her open to see how she thinks.

a while ago i got into an argument with a classmate about that weird sia music video about autism. my classmate said she thought it was good to raise awareness. i told her they should have just hired someone else to do it. she said it's not fair to an autistic person to expect them to be able to handle that kind of a thing.

today i saw a goose, and he was limping. i want to be loved like a flock loves a wounded creature: the phrase taken under a wing. which is to say i have always known i am not normal. desperate, mewling - i want to be loved beyond words.

loved beyond thinking.

#spilled ink #writeblr #personal #please don't ask me to talk on my experience on the spectrum lol. i hate how ppl talk to me about it #i really try not to write so specifically about it #bc inevitably someone talks to me like im a child #i think this is the first time i've ever openly identified with it but i've been hinting for years #i might delete this. feels big. #the thing is that being on the spectrum actually IS a spectrum #and if u say ur autistic #inevitably someone makes an assumption about ur needs/symptoms #please do not treat me differently than u usually would. like.... we can tell when you do #and like i mention. i do appreciate the effort. i do truly appreciate the effort. #but it still feels like... #when i was blind. sometimes people kind of did the same-ish thing. #they'd find out i was blind and start talking really loudly? #and while i KNOW they're just trying to help. it would be like. i'd be trying to find #the right way into a building (sometimes only 1 door is unlocked and i couldn't see the signs posted about where to go) #and ppl would be like ''OH UR BLIND? YES SO THIS IS A DOOR. IT OPENS INTO THE BUILDING. IT IS LOCKED NOW." #''A DOOR CAN BE FOUND IN MANY LOCATIONS.'' #and it feels like. when i admit to being autistic #someone comes screeching into my life being like THIS IS A DOOR.

[menlove]

honestly i think a HUGE part of the issue is that most of the left doesn't really understand antisemitism

after wwii it became wildly Unpopular to be blatantly antisemitic. obviously, it still happened. but the result of this is that instead of antisemitism being studied as a historical and pervasive form of oppression that has been around for thousands of years & has many many precedents BEFORE the holocaust.... it became:

something just simply Rude to say or do. if you're a polite liberal/conservative or a leftist, it's just something that is socially unacceptable. there is no real weight to this.

something when FIRMLY believed is ONLY held by people like nazis and white supremacists. who, as we know, are The Enemy and none of us can ever be like them at all ever by the virtue of... not being them. no need to watch your own behaviors, bc you are not a nazi! only nazis could ever be Actually antisemitic

something that erupted out of the ground in germany in the early 20th century, culminated with the holocaust, and ended after. antisemitism did not exist before that and it was solved after when the saving grace of the united states and england liberated the jews from the nazis out of the goodness of their hearts

however absolutely none of this is true. antisemitism stretches back thousands of years and it has not, for the most part, been only "fringe" conspiracy theorists and white supremacists who perpetuate it

antisemitism has been, by and large, presented as very logical. throughout, again, the thousands of years of history of antisemitism, very regular people have been antisemites. and most of them had reasons they felt were perfectly logical and understandable and most of all just. jews were trying to kill their children, of course they hated them! jews were purposefully trying to keep them poor, of course they hated them! jews believed Wrong Things and were morally and spiritually corrupt, of course there was something wrong with them. jews betrayed their country, lost them a war that ended with their husbands and brothers and sons dead, and now were living among them and taking advantage of social benefits out of the goodness of the hearts of the german people, of COURSE they hated them! and the nazis themselves were backed up by science at the time. scientific racism was THE science at the time. charles darwin was a scientific racist. it was all very logical.

and did jews actually do these things? no. but these people saw enough proof that aligned well enough with their morals and their beliefs and their fears & so to them it was completely logical and justified. it wasn't a fringe theory that only an insane person would believe in, or something impolite. it was true to them. to their morals, to their fears, to their core beliefs. it was true.

and so now we see a LOT. a lot of leftists being dragged ass first into antisemitism. because they don't even think they CAN be antisemitic. THEY aren't nazis and THEY aren't white supremacists, of COURSE they aren't antisemitic. but... well. the jews are doing things that go against their morals. they're doing things that validate their fears. the jews are violating things that go against their core beliefs! so of COURSE it is LOGICAL that they should hate them. of course, it is still rude to say "the jews are evil" so it gets replaced with "zionist". (and before you ask yes i am anti-zionism and do deeply believe what israel is doing is unjust and cruel) but even that is slipping.

it is getting all the more popular to go that one step further and instead of just making posts like "spam the hanukkah tag because the Zionists need to learn what their religion stands for" that are blatantly just replacing "jews" with "zionists", they are logically moving to being mask off. if zionism is wrong and half the world's remaining jewish population lives in israel, what about the rest? aren't they suspect? would they not ALL commit atrocities if given the chance? aren't they all racist for believing they're an ethnicity? aren't they all complicit? aren't they all threatening our deeply held leftist beliefs? it's a little weird and everyone has been too quiet for too long bc it's been rude to say but now you can get 300k notes for posting blood libel so why would you keep quiet anymore?

why WOULDN'T you just say "thank god someone finally said it i was worried about stepping on toes" when someone makes a post full of antisemitic conspiracy theory. why WOULDN'T you say "i don't care if all of israel gets bombed and every single person dies after this lmfao they deserve it"? (which would wipe out, again, half the world's population of jews- many of whom living there are anti-zionist and actively protesting their government. or. you know. children.) why WOULDN'T you make posts about how jewish identity is just nazi aryanism? why wouldn't you make posts about how the jews are privileged in america bc they run hollywood and the economy? why WOULDN'T you say the star of david is a hate symbol to you now and that you mistrust anyone using it? or that you find anyone speaking hebrew suspect?

these are all perfectly logical. to you. and YOU are not a nazi or a white supremacist. so it can't be antisemitic.

#antisemitism #long post #yall are just fucking exhausting and im going to go on a blocking spree in a moment but truly and deeply #just fucking think for two seconds about what you say