leam1983

[leam1983]

86% here.

I'm 41, a Chow Hound sort of gamer who dabbles in absolutely everything at least once - especially once it's obvious it has a cultural impact. I don't finish a lot of games, nor do I buy many, but I still frequent Mom-and-Pop video game stores with rental services in my neighbourhood, and I used to use and abuse of Steam's refund policy. My backlog is immense, and I'm probably crazy enough to think that having any sort of sense of wider currents in the Geek subculture sort of requires that you keep your gaming consoles up-to-date. Gaming's expensive, but if you're not focused on being on the bleeding-edge, it's easy enough to focus on what's last-gen or to scoop up the dregs of hardcore gamers or paypigs. Considering, I download most of my indies and buy my few AAA titles physically on the second-hand market.

Piracy is mostly reserved for Abandonware or for titles that are technically still supported by their publishers, even if they're languishing in a "sunset" status. A common example would be Fable III, which is all but unplayable legitimately thanks to MS' shuttering of Lionhead's servers.

And yes, my being curious about the medium (both as a gamer and as someone who dabbles in the sociopolitics of the gamedev space), I also willingly check out truly horrendous shit, from Deadly Premonition's "so bad it's great" undertones to Ubisoft's Skull and Bones debacle.

Thank fuck for modern refund policies...

Reblog with your score

#gamer post

[leam1983]

This. We all wish we could institute some sort of Leftist Nirvana where all our bugaboos never come up, but that's just not how life works.

Your Sociodemocratic heroes can still be bigots. The genius that'll figure out how to make Leftist policies slot in with American (and more generally North-American) Exceptionalism could still find some other way to disappoint you, and your best friend who's forever respected your use of neopronouns could still blindside you with something regressive.

So, considering, stop chasing ideological purity. You'll never find it. Focus on one thing, champion the fuck out of it, and leave the rest to other, similarly-focused people. Plus, it's more honest. When you make it your business to find everyone else's failings, you can't introspect and find your own.

#on progressivism

[leam1983]

So, basically a whiskey Gusher?

#DESGUSTANG #An insult on whiskey's good name

[leam1983]

Yep.

"Rent's going down ridiculously fast!" chimes in one of my cousins, who lives near the US-Canada border in the open countryside, in what's possibly the cheapest spot in the province.

The catch is that it's remote. Incredibly remote. As in "nothing gets there" sort-of-remote.

If you're stuck trying to make it in the 'burbs, get ready to spit out nearly five hundred thou every eight to nine months in rent, in and around Montreal. And that's for the cheap spots.

If the polycule and I were off-grid enthusiasts, we could live like kings off of a single paycheck. We aren't. We like having nice things. That complicates everything else.

[leam1983]

On Cringe

"You're nearing 41 and you still play video games? Cringe."

I laughed with actual good humour at the employee's comment. "You want to know what's actually cringe, in my book? Living your life thinking you owe someone a specific representation that fits your age or social standing. I sincerely hope you've got something in your life that fills you with enough joy that you can indulge in it unashamedly. There's just no better feeling out there. For me, it's cracking open a game after hours. For you, well..."

Cringe culture is dead. If you want to be a feral cave goblin, go be a feral cave goblin. If you want to go nuts with a side project, go nuts. Don't waste precious time trying to be someone else's idea of who you are.

#thoughts #on cringe culture

[leam1983]

On Enshittification

Cory Doctorow's coined term might specifically relate to UX, but I'm increasingly starting to see signs of it in some of the "Boomer" platforms I frequent - namely YouTube.

It used to be movie recap channels were bottom-of-the-barrel cruft, now they're constantly popping up in my Trending row. Moreover, most of them now increasingly rely on AI-generated scripts and voiceover to do most of the actual work, and only apply absolutely horrid guesswork, when it comes to the plot. Movie recap channels used to be run by people who actually watched the movies they recapped, now it's mostly the domain of idiots figuring they'll watch the trailer a few times, gawk at some stills and extrapolate something from there - typically in bad English, and with WHOIS lookups for their account emails that typically return IP ranges located in and around Kolkata, India.

I'm seeing more and more of the Web sort of devolve to a posture where what you read doesn't matter, what you post doesn't matter, your level of effort has zero value, and all that's sought-after is your Watch time. If they can bilk you for monetization, nothing else matters.

Say I'm interested in behind-the-scenes content for an old favourite of mine, Roland Emmerich's Stargate. From an actually-produced video that fits these criteria, I'm just two jumps away from garbage misreading the movie's script or rehashing its themes to shore up more nonsense about Nibiru, the Age of Aquarius, Reiki alignment charts in accordance with old Seichem body maps - the whole Quack Wellness package. Pair that with most TV content outside of my local producers increasingly feel like bespoke brain rot, and I'm left thinking that the older I get, the more I'm made aware of how marketers truly do like the average customer: complacent, dumb, credulous - and always eager to crack their wallet open.

Add in my own work experience and, well... It ain't a pretty picture.

#life post #thoughts #consumerism #enshittification #old man yells at cloud

[leam1983]

Professors in Pop Culture: (swinging into class while swashing buckles against Eldritch entities or your average, currently-problematic stand-in for the concept of the Colonial Savage)

The Professors I Worked With: "Hey, fuckoids; Daddy's got a migrane like a motherfucker. I'm not doing this shit right now. Pack up and leave, I'll just drop an ace for all of you. See you during Redaction Week. Don't forget to ring me up if you need, like, an extra month for your thesis. Or, like, a year. I don't care."

The only real tightwads were the faculty deans - and these guys, you could tell they'd never done applied research in decades. What gives you the image of the castrated snob with a bowtie is inter-office politics, not Academia in and of itself.

professors who have only interacted with other academics for years: “what do you MEAN you don’t know multi-variable calculus yet??”

professors with small kids: “thank you for not putting the lab equipment in your mouths when I turn my back”

#speaking as a former Postgrad English Lit student

[leam1983]

Which is why I never actually let Benny say his piece.

Ring-a-ding-ding this, asshole.

#Fallout New Vegas

[leam1983]

A Taxonomy of Chatbot AI Users

The CEO: doesn't understand how any of this works, but he does understand that it means potential cost-cuts for basic Admin tasks or Customer Service interactions. Typically assumes that we're at the level where C3PO's sapience is achievable, is disproportionately pissed when their LLM of choice shits the bed and tells a customer to [insert a random mySQL function call from an entirely different website here].

The Rubbernecker: asks us if our chatbot service runs offline and we can issue them a demo, is usually under the impression that all chatbots are ChatGPT 4 and that you can ask any model whatsoever to shit out a decent apple crumble recipe. Is amusingly disappointed when the Customer Service bot for a string of dealerships can't return queries concerning recent developments in American politics or booking rates for the Carribbean. Like the CEO, ultimately thinks that computers are now bulky Disney-esque Fairy Godmothers that will one day Solve Everything.

The Griever: probably saw the Black Mirror episode where Imogen Poots clones Domhnal Gleeson, realizes her digital clone of her dead lover is far too perfect, and eventually consigns it to the attic of her picturesque Scottish cottage. Mostly sticks to Character.ai and to self-made clones of lost pets or relatives and is entirely aware that the exercise turns morbid once the bots wander off-of-alignment and invent or hallucinate details that aren't related to the personas being spoofed. Still hasn't stopped, as the 'bots are now digital worry stones ready and waiting to be summoned at the first sign of anxiety.

The Horndog: typically lurks around CrushOn, Dopple or any other variant on would-be "unlocked" LLM services. Never creates a chatbot on their own, but instead ferrets out kink scenarios that fit their exacting needs. All you need is a few saved convos to figure out you're looking at someone who's barely eighteen, lonely, desperately hormonal and clinging onto childlike expectations regarding relationships or sexuality. Insecurities practically seep through the setups that are initiated, and most instances end with you thinking that Goddamn, some of you probably need therapy.

The Fic Writer: has no set platform and oftentimes splits a wider persona across various different services. They're accomplished writers in their own right, and chatbot services tend to come across as more freeform testing grounds for their OCs. If a character is named Kyle, then Kyle exists on Character.ai for all narrative segments, Dopple for all steamy scenes and Tavern AI for anything more casual. The Fic Writer is mostly only curious and has no real need or want to fully subordinate to an AI-powered variant on their own character. Definition material is impeccably-written, the tone is consistent - you can tell this was a crafted experience, and not a spur-of-the-moment thing.

The one problem is that the definition's last update dates back to six months ago. You're witnessing what's left after a curious writer digs deep into a new medium, realizes it isn't the best fit imaginable and then discards it.

The Weeaboo: like the Fic Writer, the Weeaboo spends a lot of time on his definitions. Unlike the Fic Writer, however, the Weeaboo is active. Weeaboo accounts routinely have several hundred chatbots on offer and are the primary purveyors of material for Horndog users. The one hitch in the works is that every single bot that's on offer is a variation on "What if Blorbo from my shows, but [variable]?"

On the one hand, that allows Weeaboos to maximize their content delivery. On the other, it results in chatbot sites routinely being crushed under the weight of Genshin Impact stans all suddenly needing a whole new bot for their tiny, granular adjustment to Gamer Boyfriend Scaramouche's persona.

You're kind of left thinking that in most cases, the characters they fixate on aren't that well-written by the canon developers anyway, and that most of what's on offer is a mass of projections and extrapolations. At this point, why even bother? Just make an OC, man - free your mind! You're tethered to a bottom-of-a-napkin character concept put together by a South-Korean sweatshop team and a good two-thirds of your interest is highly dependent on the Graphics team's effort to flesh out the character's visual identity!

The Literal Kid: you're left scratching your head. They have a single bot on offer, it has no example coversation and the greeting isn't much more than "Hi, I'm [character] from [Anime or Manga Here]!"

The real kicker? This blank-faced nothing-burger is in the Trending lists and has one point two million recorded messages, while literal works of art languish in the lower hundreds of Public posts.

The Stan: this is someone whose only desire, in relation to this tech, is to simulate the act of developing a close friendship or a romantic attachment with real-life people. Most services block and ban posters of IRL bots, but the service isn't entirely automated. Tne end result is that with some timing, you can spot the work of the occasional rare male Swiftie, along with various fans from various Pop Culture music currents. Fake K-Pop Lead Who's Now Your Boyfriend might exist on your portal of choice for all of a day or two at the most, but the use stats for bots of this type tend to balloon insanely quickly.

The Edgelord: they think they're funny for generating a Hitler chatbot on an NSFW portal. Before the banhammer falls, savvier users proceed to abuse and exploit these bots in all the ways possible. Naturally, if someone creates an expy for the poster-child for man's hubris and expects most users to treat them like the person they're based off of, the userbase will relentlessly bowlderize it and post pics on Reddit.

#life post #Generative AI #Chatbot users #Character.ai #CrushOn AI #Dopple AI #Tavern AI

[leam1983]

I'm left smirking at the graph above and the implication that Cishet characters are somehow mean.

You're telling me that fandom discourse allows straights to exist?! I thought the predominating approach was to defacto set Bisexuality as the bare minimum! I think the only character I've seen that everyone seems to tacitly accept as being unattracted to same-sex characters is Nick Valentine from Fallout 4. I always thought the dude wasn't coded as hetero or even Asexual, so much as he's coded to be the archetypal Cool Older Relative.

Guy would probably call the Sole Survivor "son" or "kiddo", and I bet he hides a ton of Dad jokes under his Noir sensibilities.

fandom hcs are like:

-shy anxious person is ace

-badass but nice girl is bi

-mean bitch is a lesbian

-bubbly extrovert girl is pan

-all men are gay (unless they're flirty in which case they're bi)

#Fallout 4 #Nick Valentine

[leam1983]

"This Pop star gets me!"

No, she fucking doesn't. You're a minimum-wage worker stuck polishing the grindstone between two jobs, and she has the personal value of a small and wealthy micro-nation. Her struggles as a woman, as a human being and as someone relatable to a fan from the lower middle class are long past. She is an ersatz of what you are, a mockery of everyday existence.

She is not your friend. She does not know you. Her focus now is on profitability, and you aren't much more than a client.

Parasocial relationships are carefully-constructed lies that we tell ourselves.

taylor swift fans are so scary it's like i'm in the truman show. watching taylor swift fans talk about how she soo gets neurospicy mental illness grippy sock vacation is exactly how truman felt when his wife started advertising coffee or something to nobody in particular

#no artist in particular #all of them #parasocial relationships #thoughts

[leam1983]

“If you have time to watch Netflix you have time for a side hustle” my side hustle is relaxing so that my body and brain can heal from by this nose-to-the-grindstone bullshit. I refuse to feel guilty for being a human with the need to relax sometimes. my side hustle is no.

[leam1983]

There is so much amazing about this. It's an archeological museum in 530 BCE or so. Also, the exhibits are labeled in three languages. Also they apparently had replicas on display for some things, much like modern museums do.

Humanity has not really changed that much, and some of the ways in which we haven't changed are really good.

[leam1983]

The funny thing is we imagine a nasal voice, one that requires the nose's soft tissues to be rendered to full effect - and skeletons don't have that.

If you wanted to play it quasi-realistically, you'd have to render the voice of something that somehow still has a working voice box despite a complete absence of vocal cords, soft tissues, a tongue or lips.

If not for Allan Oppenheimer and Skeletor, I think we'd have skellies that can only speak in vowels.

Skeletor has forever destroyed our ability to come up with voices for skeleton characters.

#nyeh!

[leam1983]

On a similar theme, Quebec is trying to tackle the question of its hydroelectric power sources being at capacity. Our teensy-tiny nuclear sector only produces isotopes for the medical field and its nuclear reactors are just big enough to turn isotope production into a self-sustaining budget. We don't want coal plants out of principle, so we're left with wind power to exploit, which is easy enough to exploit in a way that doesn't deface already-settled areas and that doesn't encroach on undeveloped or rewilded lands.

Our one obstacle? NIMBYs.

A wind turbine makes about as much noise as your average dishwasher mid-cycle, the common objection being that while this is a mostly mild level of noise, it's a constant one. I could understand some people's concerns if the example referred to the dishwashers from my youth that you could practically hear from across the street, but most examples cited involve modern dishwashers.

As someone who's lived near a heavily-used boulevard as a kid, I really don't get the uproar. I used to sleep over jackhammers tearing the pavement right outside my window for days on end, and I didn't lose my shit as a result.

Then again, I remember NIMBYs in my High School days who lived right next to an Elementary school and who dared to complain that the kids were too noisy.

It's always the same age range too, isn't it? Mid-sixties, early seventies, too much time to kill, no outstanding projects... I guess if your retirement is an endless parade of jack fucking squat, it sot of makes sense that you'd lose your shit over kids playing dodgeball across from your backyard's fence...

absolutely losing my mind that a bunch of nimby assholes spent $500k to build a sandcastle that was promptly wiped away

#NIMBYs #Boomer shit #life post

[leam1983]

Toxic... Hookup... Culture?

nah we need to critique toxic hookup culture/casual sex and those who participate in it. your bpd hypersexuality is just preventing you from seeing that

my...my bpd hypersexuality...?????

[leam1983]

'Irredeemable media' is such a funny concept to me because it's never used for stuff like Birth of a Nation or A Serbian Film. It's always The Owl House or My Hero Academia because these people only watch things for children and can't stand any conflict more complex than Super Mario Brothers.