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lucemferto · 3 years

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WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT TECHNOBLADE (or A Narrative Analysis of the Dream SMP Doomsday Event) - Script

Heyo! Per request I am posting the script to my video of the same name here on tumblr. I must warn you that just reading the script will probably not give you the full experience, so I would encourage you to watch the video (linked above).

There might also still be a lot of grammatical errors in the text, because I don’t proofread.

Okay, so! I don’t want this to turn into a reaction channel OR a Dream SMP channel for that matter! I am planning on doing a big dumb, way too long analysis video on the Dream SMP which will – at my current pace – come out in five years. I am already way too late on this one.

Spoiler Alert for the Doomsday Event that took place on the 6th of January in the Dream SMP. Surely the worst thing to take place on the 6th of January 2021 … I’m sorry, what’s this about the Capitol?

In case you don’t watch the SMP and need context: The Dream SMP is a Minecraft Multiplayer Server, that, throughout the last year, has transformed from a normal Let’s Play to an ongoing new-media series streamed by multiple high-profile streamers such as Dream, TommyInnit or Technoblade. It comes complete with script – by which I mean loose bullet points – and story events. It has attracted a large fanbase specifically invested in the story and less so in the actual gameplay content. Like I said before, I will probably do a big video on the Dream SMP at some point in the future.

The storyline is long and complicated and trying to explain it all would take up the majority of the video and there are other channels who have already done a much better job than I could ever hope to do, so give them a watch. I’ll try to summarize all that is pertinent to what I will talk about in this video.

Okay, let’s speedrun this summary. Cue the music!

Major Players here are TommyInnit, a founder of the independent nation of L’Manburg, Technoblade, an anarchist who was deep in conflict with L’Manburg, Tubbo, Tommy’s best friend and current president of L’Manburg, and Dream, the ruler of the Kingdom of the Dream SMP (even though he is not the king, but we’re not going to get into that right now). Tommy had in the past been exiled by Tubbo for endangering L’Manburg’s shaky peace with the Dream SMP. Tommy had then teamed up with Technoblade, who was hellbent on destroying L’Manberg after some prior altercations – more on that later.

Tommy and Tubbo came into conflict during a festival set-up to celebrate the friendship between L’Manburg and the Dream SMP. After punching out their feelings, Tommy came to the realization that his friendship with Tubbo was more important than his vendetta against Dream and those who exiled him. Techno took that change of heart badly and teamed up with Dream to destroy L’Manburg … and that’s exactly what happened.

Techno and Dream, with little to no opposition, obliterated L’Manburg with no hope for recovery leaving its inhabitants stranded hopeless and alone.

… And that’s what you missed on Dream SMP!

Okay. So, usually I just put whatever thought slime drips out of my mouth hole into your subscription box. But then I asked myself: “Am I not taking this a largely improvised nonsense story from a bunch of 16–24-year-olds a little too seriously?”. And then I remembered. I’m a pretentious bitch. I made an 18-minute video explaining why the popular commentary YouTuber memeulous is secretly the time travelling Anti-Christ, REASON HAS NO SWAY OVER ME!

So, like the English Major drop-out that I am, I will present you with two theses, which I will then combine into one … supratheses! That word doesn’t exist, I just coined it, it’s mine! I am very smart!

[I know words, I have the best words!]

Thesis #1: The Fandom focuses too much on Character Analysis in Favour of Narrative Analysis

The Dream SMP is truly something special. It is uniquely singular in how it tells a story of this scope through its chosen medium. While there is an overarching script that lays out the plot points of the future, each of the 30+ streamers on the SMP are their own cameraman, director, writer and actor. You cannot watch “the Dream SMP” – if you attempted that, you would be 80 by the time you caught up to the Doomsday Event. You have to choose whom to watch. You have to choose your focal point character.

Because by the way the story is told and consumed – aka in such a compartmentalized fashion; you watch one streamer and get one character’s perspective – it has sort-of unintentionally conditioned fans to look at the SMP and its characters less as one coherent story with messages and themes and more as sports teams they can root for. You’re Team Techno or Team Tubbo or Team Tommy or Team JackManifoldTV (formerly known as Thunder1408) and every other side is in the wrong! It’s like Twilight for a decade old children’s game about virtual Lego!

Okay, I’m exaggerating, but the amount of discourse perpetuated by and revolving around so-called “apologists” – a terrible term that unfortunately has caught on – is really not something that I think is good for how we interact with the story of the Dream SMP.

The Dream SMP is discussed a lot on character-based level, which is, like I said before, hugely advantaged by the way the story is consumed by its audience. With traditional, visual media such as film for example, the audience can be made more aware of what messages the narrative might try to communicate on a narrative level without the need for an explicit narrator to tell you the moral.

As an example, in a movie you could have a smash-cut from the Butcher Army’s discussions about neutralizing the danger Technoblade poses to Techno being nice around villagers or taking care of animals. This would communicate on an extradiegetic level, that the Butcher Army is in the wrong with their assumptions. Alternatively, you could contrast Techno’s declarations that power corrupts and that Tubbo’s administration is cruel with Tubbo choosing not to punish Ranboo for his association with Techno – thus the narrative would communicate that Techno’s view of Tubbo and by extension the government is one-sided and not true to reality.

Stuff like that helps the viewer understanding a story holistically and manages to communicate stuff like themes and morals without having to solely rely on in-character logic and argumentation, which, as Ghostbur put it so eloquently, is comprised of a bunch of unreliable narrators.

Character analysis is great if we want dive deep, if we really want to give a character flavour and understand their motivations. It helps make the universe feel like it is alive, like it’s real. But – and this might be a shocker for you – it’s not real. It’s written. It is construction – and as such, in its construction, it has messages and themes and morals, intentionally or unintentionally.

By being so focused on specific characters and their individual journeys, viewpoints and motivation we really run the risk of not looking at the bigger picture and fail to see what the overarching narrative is actually communicating. And we may also fail to understand how characters might or might not fit into the overarching narrative.

Speaking of which …

Thesis #2: Technoblade experiences very little Meaningfultm Thematic Conflict

Okay, let’s talk about Technoblade. I’m sure I’m not going to get any hate for this one.

I want to preface by saying that I don’t watch Technoblade’s streams; I catch up though clip channels and summaries. I’m mainly watching Tommy, Tubbo and Quackity – which is honestly already more than I can handle – but I want to be clear that while I’ll try to be as even-handed as possible – like I explained previously – the way I consumed the storylines will undoubtedly leave me with some bias.

Also, needless to say, I’m talking about the character Technoblade, not the actual content creator, unless I specifically say so. That should be obvious.

Now, I’m not doing a Technoblade character analysis, because that would be hypocritical of me – seeing how I just bitched about the overwhelming amounts of character analyses in the fandom – but I’ll try my best to summarize what is necessary.

Technoblade’s interesting in that he is a very static character – at least inwardly – he doesn’t change much. He is very steadfast in his beliefs and ideals and has very little introspection. He doesn’t question himself; he doesn’t waver, he is never in a bind about whether what he’s doing is right or wrong. He is very much a parallel to early TommyInnit – who, of course, famously said “I’m always in the right”.

And I want to emphasize that I mean this in no way as a critique of Techno’s character. A static character provides a nice contrast to more dynamic characters and can balance them out. It can also be utilised by the writing as a character flaw – which is what I hope content creator Techno is going for.

Like Techno doesn’t have a lot of empathy in the sense that he is particularly skilled at or interested in trying to see the viewpoints of others. There is never an attempt to reconcile, for example, the goal of the Pogtopians to reclaim L’Manberg and install another administration with his desire for an anarchist society. This is also compounded with his overreliance on violence as the only tactic for conflict resolution – Techno has a whole thesis statement about violence being the only universal language. I’m sure you’ve heard the quote.

And lastly, what really drives this all over the edge, is his all-or-nothing approach when dealing with the enemy – he is not so much eye for an eye as he is – to use another biblical example – you make fun of me for being bald and I’ll sic two bears on you that maul and kill you and 41 other children.

There’s also the open and completely unacknowledged hypocrisy of a self-described anarchist working together with a man that installs and dethrones Kings with his every whim – someone who – and I cannot stress this enough – hits about every box when it comes to the definition of tyrant.

So, what I’m saying is that Technoblade is the Dream SMP equivalent of Dick Chenney. C’mon you know it’s true! He will bomb that freedom into your country whether you want him to or not. That’s some cogent political commentary in the year 2021.

Okay, so now that I’ve outlined his character, what kind of conflicts does Technoblade face. Well, it’s mostly physical or external. He fights a lot whether it’s against Quackity or Sapnap or bodying Karl Jacobs five times in a row. And – with the exception of maybe Sapnap – none of it is challenging. Technoblade is the best PvP-Player on the server – there really isn’t much tension to be had from a purely physical fight.

So, how are these fights supplemented emotionally. Well, internally there is not a lot going on. As I said before, Technoblade isn’t really an introspective character. Even during his shouting match with Tommy there’s not a sense that Technoblade is wavering or unsure of himself in the way that Tommy is. He exposits that one of the reasons, he acts like he does is that he feels dehumanized; that people only use him like a weapon and then discard or even try to neutralize him once he’s no longer useful.

But that is not something that Technoblade has to grapple with – it’s not conflict for him, it’s more conflict for Tommy. Technoblade is self-assured in that he’s a person and not a weapon – it’s almost like there was a character arc there, where Technoblade self-actualizes and breaks away from the people that want to use him. But we didn’t see any of it. Technoblade unleashes the withers; then he goes into retirement because he wants to be, I suppose, and then he returns to violence as a reaction to the Butcher Army. There is a story of vengeance here, but not any conflict about being used. There is never a point where we see Technoblade come to this realization or comes to assert himself.

In season 1 there’s never a push from Pogtopia where the narrative frames them as exploiting Technoblade. He fights with them of his own volition, he gives them weapons and armour of his own volition. Nobody pressured Techno into procuring their inventory for the fight. And in Season 2, he’s the one to approach Tommy about their potential partnership – he is in the position of power here, explicitly not Tommy.

Like, I’m sorry, if this ruffles some feathers, but I really don’t see this arc where Technoblade is being used. There’s a story of misunderstanding and maybe co-dependency – but not of dehumanization. This entire line of thought seems to solely reference that moment, where Tommy says to Sapnap “I have the blade” during one of their wars – which, to base an entire emotional arc around that without any further set-up, is, and I’m sorry to say that, incredibly flimsy.

Okay, so we covered physical and emotional conflict? But what about conflict on the narrative level? Well, that leads me to my suprathesis …

Suprathesis: The Narrative is Unclear on how it treats Technoblade … and that’s Not Good.

Here’s a Hot Take: The narrative of Season 1 treats Technoblade way less sympathetically than that of season 2.

Let me explain. The narrative of Season 1 revolves mostly around Wilbur and Tommy. The emotional fulcrum of the overall narrative is Wilbur’s rise and fall from Grace – and Tommy succeeding him as symbol of L’Manberg’s “special”-ness. Now I will talk about all that more in detail, when I talk about Season 1 of the Dream SMP. So, you’ll just have to go with me on this one for now.

Technoblade, by contrast, doesn’t really have much going on thematically in Season 1. He mostly exists as a sort-of utilitarian character – he is an accessory to make story beats happen. Like him executing Tubbo doesn’t open up any sort of thematic conflict involving him – on a character level it sets up antipathy between him and Tommy and it grants us some insight into how he operates with his violence speech – but on a larger-scale narrative level it really just shows how far Wilbur and Tommy have drifted apart in how they react to the event.

His biggest contribution is during the Season 1 finale, but even there he plays second fiddle to Wilbur. Not just because Wilbur does way more destruction with his explosion than Techno does with his Withers, but also because Wilbur had an emotional and thematic climax to his arc and by extension the entire storyline. Like Techno’s is a cool moment and very epic visual but in terms of thematic relevance, his Theseus-speech is really more set-up for Season 2.

And Season 1 is very unambiguous about L’Manberg being good and Tommy’s ideals ultimately being morally justified – I mean, they have a whole speech about it in the end and it was built-up throughout the entire Season – Techno is cast in a … less than sympathetic light. He is, if not a villain, then definitely an antagonist.

But with Season 2 the narrative is either uninterested in or not very clear on exploring Technoblade’s flaws.

Like ask yourselves: is Technoblade’s character ever consciously challenged by the narrative? Are his actions ultimately shown to not be in the right? Are his beliefs about government and power ever called into question? Are the negative consequences that his actions cause ever shown to be larger than the “good” he does?

I think what exemplifies this the most is how the Butcher Army event played out on December 16th. Now, during that event, the Butcher Army, which was comprised of Tubbo, Quackity, Fundy and Ranboo, managed to apprehend Technoblade, who at that point was living the quiet retirement life, and tried to have him publicly executed – without trial.

Now, smarter people than me have pointed out that the Butcher Army had a bevy of in-character reasons that can justify or explain their actions. And that’s definitely interesting, but as I said before, I want to get away from that and look into how the Butcher Army is treated on a narrative level. Because this is one of the few instances where the otherwise grey-loving Season 2 has some very clear narrative intent when it comes to morality.

The Butcher Army is very deliberately framed as almost cartoonishly corrupt and violent. They very forcefully investigate Philza, mock him and then put him under house arrest – and there’s just no remorse in the script even from normally sympathetic characters like Tubbo.

Compare and contrast with the Tommy-exile scene, which is also an act of moral ambiguity and is treated as such. And things get even worse once the Army arrives at Technoblade’s abode and attack him after he softly tells them that he has left that live behind him. They then proceed to take his horse hostage, mock him and execute him without fair trial – and I haven’t seen it but from live commentary I gathered that Techno really played up the whole softie-schtick before the Butcher Army arrived. I mean, before the big Technoblade vs Quackity fight, Quackity had whole villain monologue for Christ’s sake.

And even afterwards, the Butcher Army really plays up the corrupt angle with Tubbo proposing a festival as a guise to publicly execute someone. And again, I know that on an intradiegetic there’s nuances and it’s not really comparable to the Red Festival, but in combination with what the audience has seen up until that point and with how much it feeds into the already established themes of history repeating itself and becoming like your predecessors, it really does not paint a pretty picture of the Tubbo administration.

You can feel the heavy hand of the script on your shoulder, which is a feat seeing how – as discussed before – that’s not something that can be easily accomplished in this medium.

And that is what I mean when I say that Technoblade is not really challenged by the script and is in this case even emboldened by it. Because after this whole ordeal the thought of Technoblade taking revenge by destroying L’Manberg doesn’t seem like such an extreme response to the viewer – even though in my opinion, it is.

As of right now it is too early to say how the narrative will judge Technoblade’s actions in the future. Will they be framed as extreme but ultimately justified or perpetuating a cycle of ever-escalating vengeance? Will we ever see a government that’s not just at best misguided and at worst completely awful?

Ultimately, I believe and hope that Technoblade will be challenged by the narrative, mostly because a character that cannot, believably, be physically challenged, who doesn’t have any meaningful internal conflict about what he’s doing; and who does come out on the other side having everything he always believed in be proven completely in the right by the narrative, would be incredibly boring. Not just to watch but also to play as.

As it stands now, if the destruction Techno, Phil and Dream inflicted upon L’Manburg is framed as ultimately in the right, I would find it personally a distasteful message to send. I would ultimately say that the “correct” way to counter corruption in government is to completely obliterate the entire country. Like we’re not talking simply disbanding the government – that’s not what Doomsday was – we’re talking complete and utter annihilation. And that would be cynical and depressing. Like, call me a big softie, but even bothsidesing this argument would be bad.

Like, I’m not calling for Technoblade to be transformed into or treated a monster like Dream. But I personally feel like the narrative needs to acknowledge that the Doomsday was something that was taken way too far and that it ultimately brought more harm than good. And Technoblade needs to held accountable by someone who is not a cartoonishly corrupt government-official or who is in conflict with him anyway, like Tommy.

I thought Philza or Ranboo could do that but seeing how their storylines are progressing I don’t believe that will be the case. But who knows, maybe Captain Puffy will come through for us. We stan a Queen.

Conclusion

So, yeah, I made this entire video just to air out my grievances with how one-sided the mode of analysis is in the fandom, because no person actually involved with the production of Dream SMP will ever see this.

But after everything I am cautiously optimistic, that content creator Technoblade knows what he’s doing. He has talked in the past about how his character is a bad guy and he loves his Greek myths. After all what’s more Greek myth than hybris being rewarded with punishment? [Technoblade never dies] That bodes well for him.

Also, this isn’t the video I promised at the end of the last one!

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mmilkbreadd · 3 years

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Chapter eighteen: “Stand Tall”

Masterpost - Prev - Next

(These links might not work so I recommend you looking at the post linked on my profile for new updates)

Warning(s): none

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As you left the gym, the four of you sat Tendou on the bench that you had been with Bokuto the other day. Satori was frowning, refusing to speak despite Ushijima, Emiko, and you all surrounding him, trying to make him apologize to Bokuto.

Wakatoshi quietly ate his lunch while watching his friend throw a tantrum. Even though he wasn't in favor of violence, he didn't agree with the fact that you and Bokuto were going on a date. To tell the truth, Ushijima didn't understand much about the concept of love, he knew that it was about two people being very fond of each other, who liked spending time together; but the kisses? Hugs? What did they mean?

On the other hand, Tendou knew what all those things were about, and that was precisely why he wanted to prevent Bokuto from even touching your arm. He was afraid that once you fell in love with the captain of Fukurodani, you would abandon your friends… You would abandon him. Of course, Satori didn't want that, he didn't want anyone to take you away from his side; despite loving you so much (as can be seen), he didn't do it romantically. You were a great friend to him. He felt so identified with you: not trusting people, or that everyone in some way or another tries to avoid you. Tendou had lived all that during his childhood, and even now as well.

“Satori, you must stop acting like a baby,” you said after finishing your lunch. “You can't stop me from dating Bokuto. I owe it to him for everything he has done for me… I also want to do it.”

That infuriated Tendou much more. You really want to go out with him, did that mean that you wanted to part with them? Maybe you were already bored with the same jokes he made all the time, or how Ushijima didn't know how to express himself well, or maybe how Emiko was smiling twenty-four hours a day.

“If you hate us so much, why are you with us right now?” Tendou said getting up from the bench. “Go with your boyfriend, that owl.”

Hearing his words, you didn't understand what he meant. Was Satori jealous of Bokuto? Maybe. Great emotions took over your mind and body. You did not know how to react.

“Tendou, I don't hate you. Why would you say something like that?” What your friend said had hurt. Wanting to date someone didn't mean you were going to abandon the only people who had noticed your loneliness. They were your saviors. “You were the ones who insisted that I open up, that I share my thoughts. I don't understand you Satori, I never will, but I thought you would at least support me in something that I really want to do. Thanks to you, I have discovered that I enjoy playing volleyball, maybe not as much as before though. I wouldn't have said yes if you hadn't been there for me when no one was. I couldn't have played a game without the best spiker on the team! Without you, Satori, I would have plunged even further into a place full of loneliness that I would never emerge from.”

Your three friends watched you while your eyes filled with tears. Repressed feelings and emotions for years had finally come to light. Nobody knew what to say. Silence dominated the group until sobs interrupted it. You raised your eyes to see where those sounds were coming from.

“I'm so sorry, y/n!” Tendou said through tears. “It was not my intention to make you feel bad. I'm just afraid that you will find even more happiness with that Bokuto kid and abandon us. It's very stupid of me, I know.”

“Group hug?” you asked.

You still had no words to express yourself, that's why you thought that action was worth a thousand words.

“Group hug!” Emiko yelled in response and the four of you gathered in a circle and began to hug.

What had started your friendship, had sealed what would last for many more years.

You were the Friends From Shiratorizawa, and you would never cease to be.

[...]

The hour of the final had arrived. Your nerves flooded your body, a small tremor in your knee made them present every few minutes. At last, the stands were packed with spectators, including Tendou and Ushijima. There were also Bokuto and Akaashi sitting in front of them, their game would start when yours finished, so everyone could watch the game without missing out on others.

Omoyama High School was already warming up on the other side of the court, looking at Shiratorizawa with an angry face. They wanted to scare you, but their faces caused more laughter than fear. The only worrying thing about the rival team was their ace. Now that yours was injured, who would stand up to Omoyama's best player? Also, most of their players were over 5.7 feet tall. That was a little scary.

“Look at the little girls, they won’t even reach our ankles when they jump,” said the setter when she positioned herself next to the net, right next to you. She really was tall, maybe a head taller than you. “We will try not to step on you, ants.”

“Oh come on, Akito, they don't even have a flag. Don't humiliate them more than they are already” said one of her teammates, who was even taller than the setter.

You tried to ignore them as much as possible, but you also couldn't help thinking that they were partly right. Shiratorizawa women's team did not have a flag or phrase to represent them. You didn't even have as many followers as the men's, no one had come to support you at the Nationals. But of course, if the male team made it to the tournament, everyone from the school would come! It was unfair. Too unfair.

You decided to stay away from the girls who were talking crap about your team just as the whistle sounded indicating that the teams should get together.

“Stand Tall,” you said when all your teammates were together. Emiko and all the others looked at you strangely. “That is our phrase. No matter who wants to bring us down, we will always end up on top. You heard what the girls from Omoyama were saying, we don't have a flag or anything to represent us. ‘Whatever happens, we're going to stand tall’. It doesn't get better than that.”

All of your teammates looked at each other, surprised by your attitude. But then they started to smile, by what you had proposed.

The match was going to start, and only the best team was going to be victorious.

Maybe the result would not be what you expected, but you knew that in the end, it did not matter too much. Bokuto, Tendou, Ushijima, and Akaashi were watching you from the audience. And Emiko, from the bench.

The people that most mattered to you, your friends, had a lot of faith in you. They would be happy even if you lose the game.

‘Whatever happens, even if we're the last standing, we're going to stand tall.’

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Taglist: @nataliahaslosthershit @softesyoongi @allofycurlove @iwaizumi27athletictrainer @quiche-inoya @lukeyaccount @melodiamore @bokutowo @Aideen00 @amgoldena @moonlightaangel @indecisivehusky @kageyamasgirl

Thanks for the support!

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Thanks for reading🥰

#haikyuu #haikyuu x reader #bokuto x reader

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thefootballlife · 3 years

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What do Croatia do differently?

On Tuesday evening, I came across a popular tweet by a Scottish football journalist known for regularly changing his Twitter bio asking a question about Croatia and Scotland in the wake of the former knocking the latter out of Euro 2020 in 2021. It was a simple one I’ve seen lots of times in the past:

“What do they do that we don’t”

It’s something I’ve done Twitter threads on before, it’s something I started to try to reply to Mr Spence about but then I thought no, let’s do this one properly for once. After knocking us out of the Euros, what the hell do Croatia do that Scotland doesn’t.

The initial answers to the tweet in question were the sort of thing you expect - more sport in education, hangover infrastructure from the Yugoslav era, forged in war, being independent, weather (Croatia has a 6+ week winter break), funding etc.

Great answers which all lie bare probably many prejudices held in the west about the Balkans - that war made a society somehow better, that independence is an incontrovertible positive. All of which neatly ignores the fact that Scotland beat one of their neighbours to reach the Euros and that the other ex-Yugoslav states bordering them didn’t get there. It takes Croatia’s success purely in isolation as opposed to working it into the threads of everything around it.

If nothing else, many of the reasons given (specifically the war one) don’t apply to a side who qualified for the last 8 of the U21 Euros with players born well after the Dayton Peace Accords. It particularly doesn’t apply to a side where we’re multiple playing generations in to Croatia being a respected national team - the factors we often attribute to Croatia as to why they’re so successful are short-term events that don’t satisfy an explanation of consistent excellence. This is particularly stark when you consider that those same factors apply in neighbouring countries (all independent former Yugoslav nations stuffed money into sport on independence, all went through some sort of trauma) yet only Croatia has executed it so well.

We have to look for other reasons because age limit football actually contradicts the Croatian success story - in the 2010s, Scotland went to the U17 Euros more than Croatia did (and one of those Croatia only got to as hosts!)

Ultimately, there is a key period of time where Croatia jumps in standard over Scotland and it is from that 16-22 bracket. Arguably, it is ahead of pretty much every other small nation in this particular regard and it’s well worth explaining why in full.

If we go to Scotland, a 17yo at Celtic who needs some development will do what? There’s no colts side, they might make a bench or two, they probably won’t go on loan because there’s others who need it more. They play youth football. But they need to be playing senior football. Maybe when they hit 19, they go on loan if they’re lucky - Celtic didn’t send out a single player under that age on loan this season. Nor did Rangers.

Dinamo Zagreb did. And those that didn’t went into the seconds side playing in the second tier. Or in the youth side if they’re not ready for that. Same for Hajduk. Same for Osijek.

The point is simple - when Scottish players are stagnating, Croatian players are playing. For those who like the phrasing - they’re playing proper football against proper men. While Karamoko Dembele, a guy who had masses of hype in the Celtic youth system, has only 8 senior appearances at 18 for a total of 112 minutes, Roko Simic, a less heralded Lokomotiva prospect, picked up 25 appearances this season for 1465 minutes (who, in the midst of me writing this, has been linked with a multi-million move to RB Salzburg).

Obviously, that’s cherry picking examples - there are plenty of examples of teenagers getting game time at smaller clubs - but it illustrates my point. The way players get better is by playing proper games - the physicality is a notch up, the pace is a notch up and, most importantly, the pressure and mental stress is several notches up. From a transfer perspective, who is more valuable - a 22 year old with 25 senior appearances or one with 150? Any manager or scout would deviate towards the latter because their ability to settle and to manage a game is going to be that much more developed - they’ll take more effective positions, they’ll read the game better, they’ll be less of a risk.

But, as I said earlier, what makes Croatia excel when, say, Serbia flops? To get to that, we have to examine the levels of each nation’s system and why the Croatian system, a system that is scaled down from larger nations, works so damned well.

We often describe player development as like a ladder. In Croatia, it’s an elevator. If you try to get off a ladder before the top, you tend to fall off completely and we’ve seen plenty of young Scots reach a point and stagnate or drop off the scene entirely should they not “make it”. Elevators are designed to let people off at many stops without being at danger of the whims of gravity.

The ground floor is, of course, youth football. Those leagues are competitive but they are, let’s be honest, broadly similar to what you get elsewhere save that Croatian youth sides will generally be exposed to more foreign opposition than Scottish ones. That’s just kind of a Balkan thing.

The first floor, then, is our next step up - 2 HNL. At the moment, this incorporates two seconds sides - Dinamo and Osijek (Hajduk recently mothballed their seconds for cost reasons but that’s a Hajduk reason as opposed to an indictment of the system).

Seconds have been in the league for a few years and it’s important to note that they have produced - you don’t have to go far to find national team players who have 2 HNL experience. Arguably the HNL’s most effective player, Kristijan Lovric, began his rise to the national team by dropping down to Kustosija in that league. This summer already, Marko Dabro, Fran Brodic and Mateo Monjac (the three exceptional attacking players in the division last term) are stepping up - Dabro and Brodic went abroad early and came back to get game time, Monjac pootled around Slovenian second tier clubs before coming of age at Orijent. Differing backgrounds but all found their level and all grew into players who will be playing at a higher level next term.

Add to that the experience first teamers at Dinamo and more picked up in seconds and it’s clear the 2 HNL offers not just a very good development environment but also a very good jumping off point for players who develop more slowly or players who simply never will reach 1 HNL. Crucially, those players in seconds or those loaned to the 2 HNL are playing at a good standard. While, when you drop to the Treca HNL (regional leagues), the standard of opposition is naturally more varied (as are the physiques!), the 2 HNL doesn’t offer the sort of cannon fodder teams you get in other nations.

I, for one, scoffed at the concept of Celtic and Rangers playing Colts sides in the Lowland league next season - not because I take offence at the mere concept of Colts sides (as many do), but because the concept that elite young talents will pick up that much when playing against (bluntly) plumbers is utterly laughable - you can’t jump from fifth tier to first tier as part of a gradual development. Aside from that, the Scottish part time system below the Championship (where players often opt to be part time because part time wage plus wage from a trade often exceeds a full time wage from many clubs and where, as a result, the best part time sides are regularly better than the worst full time sides) probably inhibits development - I won’t argue that Rory McAllister would lead the line for Scotland if he was on full time terms but I will certainly argue that he or Danny Denholm or any other of Scotland’s high profile part time cohort would surely have benefitted in terms of the standard of player they became from additional time in full time training. If that’s not the case, then that is surely an indictment of coaching in our full time clubs.

In part, that may well be an economic difference that Scotland benefits from, but it is a footballing disadvantage. Kristijan Lovric in Croatia is an international, a player on the verge of a multi-million move and a big deal because the path of dropping down to 2 HNL was open, competitive and actively kickstarted his development. Kris McLovric would have dropped down to play in League One and we’d never have seen him rise up again because he’d be a plumber.

(I realise at this point it may seem like I have something against plumbers. Honestly, I don’t - I’m just picking a trade you get decent pay from! If you can get £40k p/a from a trade and play part time, why would you look to go full time when most clubs outside of Celtic, Hearts, Hibs, Aberdeen and Rangers are only able to pay under £1k a week)

Colt sides have one more element - they are expensive. Hajduk, as mentioned earlier, have mothballed their second team for cost reasons (as indicated earlier, this is more a Hajduk issue than a issue with seconds), Rijeka maintained one for a couple of years before doing similar in 2016 leaving only Dinamo and Osijek (who set theirs up later and have substantial financial backing) to keep theirs going on into next season. Slovenia also tried seconds and, similarly, that didn’t last long with only Maribor trying to persevere with it before finding the economics of the thing didn’t work when they got stuck in the third tier. Second teams in Scotland would only work for Celtic and Rangers - a lot of talk from the SPFL clubs that want Colts to happen has centred around how other clubs outside of those two would love to do it but the experience of other nations would suggest they would actually be financially ruinous.

Once you rise past 2 HNL, one would expect you go to 1 HNL but, oh no, instead you go into loans. Croatian clubs use the loan system well and use it in two levels - the first is somewhere like Slovenia, Bosnia or Kosovo, the other is domestically (which is the next step up in itself). This range of foreign loans we can call 1.5 HNL.

The benefit from this 1.5 HNL group isn’t just “playing football”, it’s “playing different football”. Slovenia is a slower pace, more technical, more concentration on possession and working through the middle, Bosnia is more about width and physicality, Kosovo/Albania about countering and working from deep. It’s not simply a case of loaning players to clubs who play the same as you but a bit worse (as pretty much any move from Scotland within the UK would be), it’s to clubs who play differently, who think differently, who approach things differently. Bluntly, players are going places to either improve their strengths or bring up their weaknesses. One good example of this is, of course, Luka Modric - he was sent to Zrinjski to simply harden him up. Within the club, the loan was seen as the last chance saloon for a player too small and frail. A loan sent to challenge him saw him adapt, pick up the bits of the game he needed to and send him on a journey to, well… I think we all know the answer to what happened next. Modric is obviously an outlier, but we can look at a recent example of FIlip Uremovic or Roko Baturina - both Dinamo players sent to Slovenia who swiftly got themselves big moves because of what they picked up there.

Do Scottish clubs utilise that option? Most certainly not. Even Rangers, who more or less had someone on loan at every lower league club, had barely any players outside of Scotland. Details on play styles across leagues are readily available and should help inform loan decisions as opposed to “let’s just send them to Falkirk”.

Falkirk or Finland, the objective is to ensure that the player in question reaches their ceiling. Even if they’re not a player suited to Scotland, that doesn’t mean they should be precluded the chance to play abroad and develop rather than be thrown on a scrap heap for being too small or too slow or too whatever. The crime isn’t on the player for not making a grade, the crime is on those looking after them for ensuring they can find the grade that suits them - if that’s leaving football, then so be it, but if their ceiling is a good Championship player, then they should be given the tools to reach that. If a player has a hole in their game, utilising foreign loans can open players to experiences they wouldn’t get in Scotland and that would improve areas of their game that may forever be imperfect otherwise.

Why this works as part of the Croatian elevator is because you are giving players two different options - it can be used as a stepping stone to a higher level or, failing that, it can be used as an in in that particular nation. A great example of a player doing that is Matthias Fanimo - released by West Ham into non-league in England, he ended up taking a chance in the second tier in Slovenia then, two seasons later, was winning silverware in Sarajevo and is on the brink of a move to Turkey. For him, that was him as a person taking a massive gamble but the example is obvious - if you can’t get what you want/need where you are, other paths are available which will help you excel. I could easily have pointed at Ryan Gauld as well - exposure to other ways of talking and playing football is going to offer more valuable development opportunities than going from Rangers to Raith and creating a more well rounded player.

The next step on the elevator is probably one familiar to everyone - a loan in the same league. But although familiar, it is also different enough because of the qualities already built into the Croatian system. I’ve mentioned a few times on social media my firmly held belief that a match between the bottom of the Croatian top tier and the bottom of the Scottish would result in a one-sided blowout with the Croats winning handily. The depth of the Croatian league is formidable - far more so than Scotland. At the top, of course, there are a big four sides battling it out compared to two Glasgow ones in Scotland, but below that the standard is far higher than in Scotland and this is the area where the Croatian elevator really takes hold because it’s rare that, barring exceptional club grown talents like Simic at Lokomotiva or Zvonarek at Slaven, a player would simply be chucked in at this point without senior experience. In essence, everyone at this level is a senior pro - be they imported or coming up this elevator system - and all of them have had a good level of experience at a decent standard of league be that domestic or, as we see more now, imported from Germany, Italy or other ex-Yugoslav nations. That’s more than you get in Scotland.

There is a step between this and the elite - Lokomotiva. Croatia has the oddity of a club in the top flight who are unofficially the feeder club for Dinamo. The list of players who’ve come through Lokomotiva is frankly ridiculous (Kramaric, Majer, Ivanusec, Grbic, etc) for a club that’s only really been a thing for a decade and has helped to provide a finishing school at times for Dinamo. While I’m not openly going to recommend that Celtic or Rangers become best buddies with the Buddies and make them a feeder club, having that final extra step for elite players (and also having a club serve as somewhere a lot of released youth players go to get their second chance).

Then, of course, there is the elite. Dinamo, Rijeka, Hajduk, Osijek (and Gorica have plans to get there). These teams are playing regularly in Europe and, with the advent of the Conference League, will likely be playing group football regularly. Dinamo’s Europa/Champions league pedigree shows how effective that has been in terms of making clubs competitive and opening up new revenue streams. After 21/22, the domestic TV deal will also see a big rise with the imminent prospect of better international coverage.

Ultimately, players can jump out of the elevator at any of the floors on it and the result is that, because they have plenty of senior football under their belt, they are more capable at the levle they find themselves. Players find their ceiling and, in turn, that levels clubs at the lower ends of the foodchain also - an elite pathway that ultimately just increases the elite of the elite without providing depth is simply not sustainable. You can’t improve Celtic and Rangers without at the same time improving Ayr and Morton and expect sustainability.

For Scotland, that elevator system only stops at youths/Colts, Loan locally, elite clubs. Except you rarely see even that basic system actually come to fruition at the elite clubs in Scotland. It generally looks more like Youths, *shrugs and waves hands about*, elite. Between 16 and 22, there are stages in Croatia that don’t exist in Scotland nor, for that matter, is there the political will to bend football into a system that would actually put that in place.

This is an issue that larger nations don’t experience because they have the strength in depth and variety of club destinations so that the floors that are built into the Croatian elevator exist already. Scotland, as a nation with only around twenty full time clubs, does not and the issues with the drop off in the part time tiers make efforts to introduce Colt sides into a level where they would actually be broadly beneficial to those playing in them (ie The Championship) are contentious at best. For smaller nations, it is likely that one can retain tradition or one can be successful and that the two elements are actually mutually exclusive.

In a nation like Scotland where we not only treasure our tradition, we use it as a marketing tool, this is a difficult circle to square but, ultimately, that’s the question posed. Other nations around Croatia have begun to copy them - Serbia sees Crvena Zvezda’s farm club Graficar in the second tier with Partizan’s Teleoptik in the third (albeit Serbia has other structural domestic issues to sort out first), BiH has seen clubs adapt their models into becoming finishing schools for those dropping out of Sarajevo or returning from abroad (Mladost Doboj Kakanj are a good example there) - but no-one has yet managed to match how well Croatia does it.

When you go back a few years, there have always been ideas about how Scotland should do what larger nations do - when Marc Wotte was around, much of what was en vogue was to copy the Germans or the Dutch. That wasn’t wrong-headed, but it didn’t take into appreciation Scotland itself. The point of this piece isn’t to say that Scotland should be transposing the Croatian system wholly into what Scotland does, merely to point out what Croatia does and why they experience more success. Scotland has good players but has what is, on whole, a very weak league system that both has issues with producing young talent through it (with many going to England early) and with actually getting good value for that talent (something Croatia has become very good at over the past few years).

A final note, then - If you’re reading this then the likelihood is you follow me on social media and know what I cover. Come the conclusion of the season, I decided to tot up around how many games I actually watched bits of which came to seeing at least five minutes of every 1 HNL, 2 HNL, Serbian Superliga, Serbian Prva Liga, Slovenian Prva Liga, BiH PL, Ipko Superliga e Koseves, Kategoria Superiore and then Scottish stuff for keeping familiar and for pleasure (not that watching Celtic has been that much pleasure in 2021!). Many have had double weeks so this generally means I’ve been watching somewhere in the region of 90-100 games a week (10 hours, give or take) before I do any ad hoc scouting or just plain old sit and watch a live European game or live domestic game (or, for that matter, create clips of bits happening that promote those leagues). This, obviously, doesn’t leave loads of time for other endeavours such as writing on here and, of course, writing scripts for my podcast (The History of Yugoslav Football, go check it out).

None of that’s meant to be a humblebrag or some sort of nerdy notation of why I can write about this sort of stuff with confidence, more just why me actually writing proper pieces has shrunk to near nothing while me tweeting and talking has risen. It also explains a lot of why I talk about Scottish football less - ultimately what’s out there is, to me, more engaging than what we see domestically. The football you see in the former Yugoslavia is of a different genre - it’s slower, it’s more technical, it’s on the ground more and there’s a tempo to it that is different to what you get in the UK. Unlike in Scotland, it fits comfortably into a global ecosystem with cogs that keep it running while also appreciating that it, in itself, is a cog that keeps others running. I would genuinely recommend to readers of this piece to just go and watch highlights of a couple of Croatian games or a couple of Slovenian games (these are easiest to find) to see what I mean re play style. Chaos does occur at times - of course it does, it’s football - but while a Celtic fan may not be overly surprised by the standard of a Dinamo or Osijek, I expect a Dundee United or Killie fan would be surprised by the standard of an Istra (traditionally Croatia’s relegation skirters) or Slaven Belupo (professionally 7th).

There are plenty of reasons why Croatia beat Scotland and being able to enact a gameplan based around comfort in possession as opposed to “Hit it to the big Australian lad and hope he knocks it on well” was perhaps the key difference and that sort of gameplan is hardwired into all levels of Croatian football. The pitches aren’t necessarily better (yes, they have plastic pitches in places too), the weather isn’t better (Glasgow is warmer than Zagreb in the winter and cooler in the summer) so it’s not right to give off about environmental factors.

The reality is that Scotland appears to get it right up to the mid-teens and then it all goes spectacularly wrong. We can point to physical factors (coaches do still take physical development into account too much) as to why some players don’t progress the way they should, we can point to funding, we can point to plenty of things but the fact is that where Croatia has a finely tuned machine delivering prospects from youth football to senior football with stops along the way for players who hit their heads against a developmental ceiling, Scotland has a developmental path that is full of pitfalls and spits far too many players out of football altogether. If a 16 year old fails to reach their expected potential and they’ve not got other issues going on (injuries, etc), then that is a failure of the system whether their potential is to play for Alloa or Aberdeen.

Until Scotland sorts that pathway out, then the likes of Croatia will always punish us on the elite stage.

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terrebus-fc · 4 years

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how do all y'all recommend getting into football for a newcomer? just pick a team and start watching them? or like watch previous tournaments or something?

first of all, welcome to football :3

there’s some similarities to the terror so i think you might find it quite familiar:

get ready for some rambling below the cut!

i think it’s easiest to start by watching a bigger international tournament while it’s happening. the world cup, obviously, is the biggest event in football, but other tournaments like the european championships or the copa américa (or whatever is going on where you’re from) also work well and are happening sooner (in 2020). follow the country you’re from if they qualified or pick any other country you like, really, and… just watch.

the advantage of those tournaments are that you’ll usually get to see a good mix of teams that are actually playing to win, that it all happens within the span of a month and that there will be extensive media coverage of the matches, part of it tailored to new viewers. don’t worry too much about the details of all the rules, you’ll get into the important ones quite quickly after watching some matches. part of being a football fan also is angrily disagreeing with the rules so not much knowledge is required. the emotions are the important thing. when the tournament is over you can follow the players you got to know during it back to their clubs and slip nicely into watching club football and selling your soul to the beautiful game.

of course you can also start with club football and randomly see what sticks. football is all about irrational attachments so… whatever works. (if you’re looking for club matches, this is a good site to find a stream!)

we agreed on our discord to each recommend a past match and an upcoming one to watch. i’ve thought about it for a bit and always kept coming back to the same match that’s a classic one and though it’s cliché i’m biased enough not to care. so. world cup 2014 semifinal between germany and brazil. i promise you the pay-off is very good (unless you support brazil).

for an upcoming match there’s a women’s football match between england and germany happening on 9th november. i know we’re all here for guys being lads but if you feel like it, check out the women playing, too.

- frauke

past match: my past match recommendation is Germany vs England, World Cup 2010, Round of 16. I think it’s a beautiful example of football at its best (Germany’s incredibly fluid style of play, feat. one of my favorite goals of all time) and worst (a referee completely failing to call a goal: a farcically monstrous error on the world stage). I love this game because despite everyone’s tactics, despite everyone’s efforts, the entire game arguably hinges on one incredibly stupid, incredibly human mistake, and what comes after. In a way it is a little bit like the Franklin expedition! And even nine years later the thought of what could have been evokes hilarity in some (three fifths of this mod team) and despair in others (one fifth of this mod team). That’s football babey! [WATCH IT HERE]

upcoming match: I’m gonna recommend a club match for this one! I’m a fan of German football and the Berlin derby (Union Berlin vs Hertha Berlin) is coming up this Saturday (Nov 2) at 5:30PM GMT! This is the first time these teams will be playing each other in the top league of German football, and it’s likely to be a good example of what rivalries in club football can be like. Union Berlin has a great underdog story–this is their first year ever in the Bundesliga–and it should be a lot of fun all around! Also, one week later, on Nov 9 at 4:30PM GMT, Borussia Dortmund take on perennial juggernauts Bayern Munich. Over the last decade or so Dortmund’s fast-paced, attacking football has been the only real challenge to Bayern’s throne, and with Bayern (my team, for better or worse) not playing nearly as well as they should this season, this could shape up to be an exciting match!

-ireny

past match: so i heard you like this very english show about these very english boys? you also like to suffer? FANTASTIC! croatia vs. england, the world cup 2018 semifinals, is the only match that matters on the planet and you should watch it immediately. underdog narratives on both sides! nobody expected either team to make it as far as they did – england because they’ve got a long history of disappointing in national tournaments, croatia because they’re considered a small country in football terms and because they hadn’t gotten past the group stages since 1998. england scored early, croatia equalized in the second half to drag them to extra time – their third game in a row that went to 120+ minutes – and despite how ragged and exhausted the team was, my #1 player of all time ever mario mandžukić scored the winning goal that got croatia through to their first ever world cup final. it was a truly transcendent moment. no matter whose side you’re on (i mean, there is only one right side, but who am i to judge) it’s a thrilling, scrappy game to watch. i want you to watch it so badly, i have a link for you.

upcoming match: outside of frothing at the mouth about my national team, i watch the italian league religiously. if you’d like to try out club football, this weekend has a couple high profile games in italy. on saturday (nov. 2) at 7:00 AM PT, you can watch roma vs. napoli, which are two teams that are considered hipster to like despite the fact that they’re actually massive. napoli are, regrettably, usually very good, but have had a poor start to their season, so they’ll be looking to dominate on-fire roma. it should be a shitshow, i can’t wait! meanwhile, at 12:45 PM PT you can watch the derby della mole, torino vs. juventus. juve is the most successful team in serie a, and torino are their cross-town rivals who are EXTREMELY lovable but also Not Very Good At Football. watch it and root for torino and have your heart broken (and then come talk to me about either team/any players you like because i can prime you equally on both!) (not ronaldo.)

- caitlin

past match: W O W do the attacks against england just keep coming and coming huh just like Tuunbaq huh!!!! Aside from that, the perennial sense of crisis, setback after setback, English people suffering, madness and disappointment, and betrayal of everything you hold dear are also some of the ways in which England resembles The Terror and therefore why you should also watch us.

In the spirit of England, I’m going to recommend a match in which we lose: England 1-1 West Germany, 4-3 on penalties, at the 1990 World Cup. We lose to Germany a lot. (Pls hold: 1966, babey.) But 1990 was the first time that we reached the semi-finals since ‘66, and it was crazily emotionally charged; our coach Bobby Robson was leaving amidst a scandal, there’d been fights between the police and fans, and of course there was a palpable sense of christ, we could actually do it. (I say ‘we’ as in the way football fans say ‘we’, since in 1990 I was -5 years old.) The game is rip-roaring, furious, dramatic - look for Gazza’s Tears - and also introduces you to the concept of extra time, aka sitting in your seats for a full half-hour more than you expected, and penalties, aka something we are so famously bad at that when we finally won a penalty shootout last year we celebrated as if we had won the cup itself.

upcoming match: The Engl attacks made me defend myself and I couldn’t recommend a club game, which I would otherwise have (United 2-1 Arsenal ‘99, for those interested) because my club’s current football is SO DIRE I would not recommend it to anyone unless I wanted to turn them off of football forever. You might want to tune in next week for Liverpool Vs Man City (4:30 PM GMT, 10 Nov), a giant clash with probably entertaining football for everyone except United fans, who will desperately be cheering on Team Sinkhole.

- rach

I have something to add, which is that football has a weird and wild history, and I recommend looking up something like ‘the 10 most inexplicable moments in football’, or ‘five of the most unhinged things the most unhinged managers have ever said’ to get a taste. The sport is about enjoying the actual movement of the ball across the grass, but it’s also about basking in the massive array of bizarre personalities.

past match: a lot of good bases have already been covered re: Germany so I won’t pile on by recommending our 4-0 battering of Argentina in 2010 :3c I present to you instead the FA Cup final from 2014, Arsenal-Hull City. (Have a link!) Arsenal hadn’t won a trophy in nine years. The fan discontent with iconic manager Arsene Wenger was getting nasty. Hull City was the decided underdog. An underdog who promptly scored twice in the first ten minutes. Through a mix of lovely skill and scrappy luck the match ended happily for Arsenal, and even knowing that the Wenger story wasn’t entirely on the up and up after breaking that long drought, seeing the sheer joy and relief on everyone’ faces still makes me feel a whole lot of things.

upcoming match: that aside, Arsenal are currently playing as though they’ve got lost in a damp paper bag and have yet to soggily wander their way out. Despite that I’m going to recommend Leicester-Arsenal next weekend (9 Nov, 18.30 CET). Leicester have been absolutely swanning about (they annihilated Southampton last week 0-9 in the joint-largest prem league scoreline ever) and Arsenal at the moment, with their negative confidence and cotton wool defence are precisely in position to be smashed. But we’ve also done historically quite well against Leicester, and it could be the sort of match where Arsenal get their heads up and deliver the kind of easy-passing, smooth-running performance they’re supposed to be known for. It has great potential to be either a misery or a cheer-up charm for me, and regardless it’ll be a good time for you.

- Sabina

#anonymous #anon thank you for this opportunity to basically just yell about our teams #which is what football is actually about #(very germany and england heavy simply because the mods are who they are)#the orlop

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clubcreative · 4 years

Text

Writing in Comic+Illustration

“A picture is worth a thousand words.” I have to admit that’s a pretty cliche starter, but it does help define what writing means in the art community.

One way to define “writing” is to call it a genre.

Genre 101

Before I continue, I want to make sure that you understand what I mean by genre. When I talk about genre I am simply referring to various forms something comes in. For music its different sounds like the genre of jazz or pop. In writing, a genre is a book or a shopping list. Hopefully that clears things up!

When I first began researching various writing genres in the art community I was confused because I thought I was looking for actual written texts like a research paper. Yes, there are the conventional forms of written genre within the art community like a blog, but turns out a genre in the art community simply refers to the art we create!

“I thought art didn’t have writing?”

Comics, manga, anime, ads, posters- those are all forms of genre in the art world. If you are still confused then just think about the different forms that you often see art as.

In our community, the purpose of these different genres vary between the mediums.

Some are for insiders (people who are artists themselves) some genres cater towards outsiders (people who are not artists, but consume and enjoy art).

As an artist, our main focus is to entertain others with the works of art we create. Because the nature of our job focuses on pleasing others, most genres of art are created to be consumed by outsiders.

To illustrate that let’s compare two different kinds of art projects.

Genre 1: Comic Book

SnotGirl by Bryan Lee O’Mallley/Leslie Hung

Who is it for?

Comic books come in various styles and not just what people typically think like the Marvel comics.

A comic book is written in order to entertain an outsider of the art community. That is not to say that artists do not enjoy comics as well, in fact I’ve included one of my favorites as the example!

Sometimes comics are a single page with multiple panels, and they can span multiple pages and volumes. Snot girl, for example, is currently on its 14th issue!

A comic is a very commonly produced genre. Typically, someone who writes a comic has multiple reasons to do so. Most of the artists have their own story to tell. They have created their own characters, their own world, and have a vision or lesson they want others to see as well.

What’s so special about it?

What’s great about a comic is that there is no right way to do it. Comic artists are tasked with balancing multiple parts of their project. They have to consider:

- the organization of the dialogue

-how they are going to lay out the images/ what geometric shapes the panels will be

-inclusion of sound effects

Don’t forget the art itself! The creator has to make sure they are:

- cohesive

-complete and dynamic illustrations

- they do not clash with the already established panel placement

-establish the tone and mood through colors and lighting

When Less = More

Comic books have the daunting task of developing their writing through narration and dialogue. Write too much and the reading becomes heavy and write too little and the author risks confusion.

Imagine condensing an entire essay into dialogue between characters with limited narration. Writing in comics is an art in-and-of itself.

While the writer of a comic and also be the artist, this isn’t a set rule. Sometimes the author and the illustrator are two separate people or teams!

SnotGirl as a comic book case study:

Volume 1, SnotGirl

Analyzing structure

The left page is split into three rectangles and the right page is broken down into multiple squares beside a near full body illustration of the main character, Lottie.

Lottie lives her life as an Instagram model and fashion influencer. The left page introduces us to the real Lottie, a side of her that is disgusting and unkept, snot drizzling out of her nose constantly. The right page shows her in public maintaining an idealized and aesthetic persona.

if you break a page into three sections that means more art needs to go into a single panel. In the middle rectangle her whole body is shown and the bottom panel is largely zoomed into her face. It’s nearly claustrophobic, showing Lottie’s overwhelming insecurities and having the reader up-close to a side of Lottie she wishes to ignore.

On the left page, the dialogue reads as frantic, narcissistic, Lottie is trying to convince herself that she doesn’t feel ugly and that she’s more superior than others.

On the right the multiple squares include more dialogue, space around Lottie, and more zoomed-out compositions (For example, you can see Lottie all the way down to her chest at least four times).

The squares reflect Lottie’s insecurities but they are the problems of her perfect persona: boy troubles, getting coffee, and Instagram profiles. There’s more writing on this page to reflect her more superficial ravings.

Analyzing illustration

Art wise, on the left the colors are grey, dark green or blue, and more cool-toned. In color theory cool tones portray sadder, more serious moods.

The right page which is vibrant and warm-toned, which is supposed to be energetic. If I were to ask you, you might be more attracted to the right side and its happier atmosphere.

These two pages illustrate how color, composition, and organization differ widely to emphasize how the artist wants the reader to feel and understand about the story.

Sounds complicated doesn’t it? The genre of comic books may be common, but it takes a lot of working, planning, and dedication.

Genre #2: Video Game Illustration

Illustration in game

illustration in full

Art by ZAVIR

Aren’t games 3D though?

I know that when most people think about video games the models and backgrounds are in 3-D. Think of Red Dead Redemption 2. While most mainstream games are produced that way, there are still many games who use illustrations like PC click-and-point games, mobile games, and other games use illustration for character sprites. The example I’ve included is from my favorite mobile rhythm game, Cytus II.

For those who don’t play Cytus II, the game revolves around different in-universe musicians who have different songs which the player taps the beat to. For each playable song there is an illustration. (Here’s a link to the hardest song in the game! “Floor is Lava”)

What’s the point of the art?

Most video game illustrators work in backgrounds or character sprites. The illustrations can be single items as well, clarifying items that a character may have picked up in game.

However, to stay relevant to my example I will mainly focus on the aspects of this particular video game illustration.

Cytus II as a case study:

The illustrations in Cytus 2 are meant to:

create further diversity between the different songs

provide the song with a visual outside of the beatmap

By providing the song Extinguisher by Lixound with artwork, it’s not only visually pleasing but adds memorability to the song. People who are fans of the game can now draw fanart of the song.

Differences from comics

there is very little text.

The story or context has to be told by the artist in composition, character pose, and other artistic choices like lighting or colors.

Particularly in Cytus 2, the story the artist tries to tell is set by the sound and “vibe” of the song.

“Extinguisher”, an EDM song, has fast beats and dubstep like qualities as well as a robotic vocal track. It’s chaotic and fast, which could explain why the artist interpreted explosions and a figure that looks like an anarchist.

Why Different Genres Exist: Comics vs Video Game Art

Imagine if a comic was told through dialogue-less illustrations and imagine if video games had backgrounds and illustrations that were formatted like comics.

Visual chaos would ensue. Clashing dialogue, images, colors, and a lack of clarity for what the viewer should be focusing on.

Thank goodness for the different genres of illustration, huh?

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theonyxpath · 5 years

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Yeah, the above art is pretty much us, dealing with Kickstarter shipping.

I’ll get back to that later, but right now, YAY! for our Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter that funded in less than a day! Right now we’re blasting through the Stretch Goals as noted below in the Kickstarter section of the Blurbs!

Thanks so much for everyone supporting this KS, we’ve had some great comments and ongoing conversations there, with all kinds of fantastic ideas for how folks can enjoy TC: Aberrant. That’s really one of the best parts of using a crowd-funding platform: the energy and ideas that backers share with each other and all of us.

Now, at the beginning, there were a bunch of concerns voiced about the cost of International Shipping, and I would like to poke at that just a bit here, because some folks are moving from “Yikes, that’s expensive!” to “You’re out to get us.”

The former being totally understandable – and my reaction, too, when getting those costs from our shipper – and the latter one…not so much.

Particularly because I made the decision to continue to allow international backers, and to be upfront about the costs, specifically so that our international community could have the information and options to be able to choose how they can obtain our projects. You can back the KS for a hardcover with shipping, you can back the KS for a PoD version, you can back for a PDF, you can not back and buy the hardcover in stores, you can not back and get the PDF and/or PoD version from DTRPG.

You see, other game companies have straight-up just stopped shipping internationally. Boom- full stop. And I understand why. Primarily, there are the costs. If you do as we have and put accurate shipping costs into your Kickstarter, backers and potential backers can get angry. As I understand it, a lot of these other companies have chosen not to take the chance that angry customers become customers no longer.

And really, all we do is take the numbers our shipper gives us and add them in; there’s no secret mark-up so we make more sweet, sweet, cash. But there’s still sticker shock. Like I said, I understand and have experienced it myself. It makes no sense to me why our own Dixie Cochran just spent $50 to ship a book to a friend in Canada. Canada! Right up there to the north and connected to the US by land (mostly). So seriously, we all relate.

Wr20 Book of Oblivion art by Phil Lee

The thing is, we’re not just wringing our hands and passing the shipping costs on to backers. We continue to explore other options that are actually possible for a company our size. Like, despite how big we seem, we’re still doing TTRPG Kickstarters, so even our biggest ship-outs to some 4,000 backers are once in several years things. Those numbers are “phftt!” to shippers; I mean they don’t earn us reduced rates or anything that could help from that direction.

We have tried to ship in bulk to individuals and companies outside the US, to the EU specifically, but either through logistics reasons or just bad luck, I’ve never been able to find a way to do that which didn’t wind up costing us more. Which is, y’know, the opposite of what we’re trying to do with our Kickstarters…we want to make the pledges go towards the KS’s goals, not to shipping.

So, I continue to look. Part of the reason we are working with Handiwork Games on the Scarred Lands 5e Creature Collection is to explore with them more potential solutions, as they are not a US-based company. We also continue to talk with our friends at Modiphius with the same eye towards finding solutions to the KS shipping problem.

Enough about this for now, I think, it’s a complicated issue that gets even further into the weeds once you factor in getting through Customs as well – which is probably a topic for a whole nother blog!

Scion Ready Made Characters art by Marco Gonzales

Gen Con 2019 is fast approaching in less than a month, and while we have decided that we won’t be in a booth on the exhibition floor this year, like I talked about several MMN blogs ago, you’ll be able to find Mighty Matt McElroy and myself around the con, chitting and chatting with anybody who will listen.

Specifically, we may be at either the IPR or Studio2 booths, or at these events:

Wednesday night – Diana Jones Awards

Thursday 3pm – What’s Up With Onyx Path Publishing? panel

Friday 11am – What’s Up with Onyx Path Community Content? panel

Friday 3pm – Freelancing with Onyx Path Publishing? panel

Saturday 11am – What’s Up with Onyx Path Publishing? panel

Right now, I’m not going to be able to make the Saturday panel, although if things change I will be there with bells on. But Matt and Eddy are slated to run things there, plus we always have walk-on creators stopping by.

It’s going to be a very different Gen Con for us, but I think a really good one.

V5 Chicago art by Amy Wilkins

Finally, a few notes from the meeting today:

#1: The Scarred Lands mega-epic adventure series, The Vengeance of the Shunned, started going on sale last week and will continue all month on the Slarecian Vault, the SL Community Content site. Check out interviews and profiles of the creators on our social media, and the projects themselves!

#2: The Storypath Nexus Community Content site is coming this week! Could be tomorrow or later in the week, but the chance to publish your Scion ideas is almost upon us!

#3: DTRPG is going to be starting their Christmas in July sale very, very soon, and as always there are going to be some great deals on our PDFs as part of it!

And that is a lot of PDFs, because we’re not just talking one game line on sale, but games from:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

The Trinity Continuum: Aberrant Kickstarter funded in less than a day and continues to blast its super-powered way into our lives! We’ve already passed Stretch Goals that are enabling us to recreate missing first edition books, a compilation of the web comic, and…

N!WE N!TERNATIONAL WRESTLING ENTERTAINMENT – A new PDF product discussing the N!WE, the performers and industry personnel, and various elements of professional wrestling in the world of Aberrant!

At $73,000 and climbing, we’ve got many more fantastic Stretch Goal rewards to come, so come check it out! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/trinity-continuum-aberrant

ONYX PATH MEDIA

Onyx Pathcast art by Michael Gaydos

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features a timely deep dive (considering our new errata process and forms) by our Intrepid Trio into errata, playtesting, and how to give good feedback: https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

And Here’s More Media About Our Worlds:

The Onyx Path News returns with another live edition for last week here: https://youtu.be/nlQjKxQX860 Subscribe to our channel and click the bell symbol to be informed whenever a new video goes up!

The first major chapter of Matthew’s Contagion Chronicle concludes here: https://youtu.be/JUTaYwffjI0 We will return once all the players are again available!

Keep watching Travis Legge’s Scarred Lands actual play of Myths & Matchmakers over here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmiXCaSrrCIjmCJQQ7oLwLNahmDbdn_2J

Devil’s Luck Gaming continue their epic costumed pirate journey through Scarn here: https://www.twitch.tv/DEVILSLUCKGAMING

Occultists Anonymous‘ Mage: The Awakening actual play continues here: Episode 27: Hammer & Anvil With some technical difficulties, on our part, we’ve got a short episode. Songbird delves into his soul. Wyrd, Mammon, and Atratus breach the home of… someone? https://youtu.be/xmiuK7lU_oQ

And here’s the Story Told Podcast with another episode of their excellent Dragon-Blooded actual play: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-episode-9-a-road-to-trouble

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

ELECTRONIC GAMING

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is now live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

ON AMAZON AND BARNES & NOBLE:

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these fiction books:

OUR SALES PARTNERS:

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we are offering the Werewolf: The Forsaken 2nd Edition Night Horrors book Shunned By The Moon Advance PDF on DTRPG!

Like all Night Horrors books, this is usable for any of the Chronicles of Darkness game lines, although I’m told it is especially tasty as a treat for Hunter: The Vigil and Beast!

CONVENTIONS!

Gen Con: August 1st – 4th Save Against Fear: October 12th – 14th GameHoleCon: October 31st – November 3rd We’ll also be back at PAX Unplugged later this year!

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon) Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

W20 Art Book (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Redlines

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Development

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Creatures of the World Bestiary (Scion 2nd Edition)

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Manuscript Approval

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Editing

Memento Mori: the GtSE 2e Companion (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Heroic Land Dwellers (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

DR:E Jumpstart (Dystopia Rising: Evolution)

Pirates of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Post-Editing Development

M20 Book of the Fallen (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

V5 Chicago By Night (Vampire: The Masquerade)

V5 Chicago By Night Screen (Vampire: The Masquerade)

CofD Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Distant Worlds (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Dark Eras 2 (Chronicles of Darkness)

Spilled Blood (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle – Figuring out art buy.

Dark Eras 2

VtR Spilled Blood

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds – Sketches coming in.

Trinity Continuum Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars

They Came From Beneath the Sea

TCFBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

In Layout

M20 Book of the Fallen

Trinity Core – Getting cover specs from printer.

Trinity Aeon – Getting cover specs from printer.

CoM – Witch Queen of the Shadowed Citadel

Proofing

DR: E – annotated proof back to Josh

Aeon Aexpansion

C20 Cup of Dreams – This week.

V5: Chicago – Proceeding to 2nd proof.

At Press

Dragon Blooded – Deluxe at Studio2.

Dragon-Blooded Cloth Map – Shipped at Studio2.

Dragon-Blooded Screen – Shipping to Studio2.

The Realm – PoD proofs ordered.

Trinity Core Screen – Shipping to Studio2.

TC Aeon Screen – Shipping to Studio2.

Geist 2e – Inputting Errata.

Book of Oblivion

Signs of Sorcery – Gathering Errata.

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs ordered.

Scion Jumpstart – Prepping PoD files.

Scion Ready-Made Characters – Waiting to order PoD proofs.

Blood Sea – PoD file uploaded, waiting to order proof.

WtF Shunned by the Moon – Advance PDF on sale Wednesday at DTRPG.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Today we are 6 degrees from Kevin Bacon’s birthday!

#Onyx Path Publishing

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thearkhound · 5 years

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Weekly Famitsu #572: Metal Gear Ghost Babel interview

The Game Boy Color version of Metal Gear Solid, otherwise known by its Japanese title Metal Gear: Ghost Babel, is one of the better-received side-entry in Konami’s stealth action game series. It wasn’t just a half-baked cashgrab, as was the case with many Game Boy games that happened to share their title with a popular console or PC game, but could’ve easily been a worthy successor to the prior 2D Metal Gears (particularly Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake on the MSX2) had it been made before the original Metal Gear Solid.

Prior to the release of the game, producer Hideo Kojima and three key members of the development team (Shinta Nojiri, Ikuya Nakamura and Tomokazu Fukushima) were interviewed for an article published in Weekly Famitsu #572 (December 3, 1999). This interview would later be posted online on the Twitter account Game Dankai 198X, which specializes in reposting magazine articles from Famitsu and other Japanese gaming magazines. The following is my translation of the interview.

PROFILES

Hideo Kojima - The father of the Metal Gear series, nicknamed Kantoku (Director) by his staff. He serves as producer for Ghost Babel.

Shinta Nojiri - Director of Metal Gear: Ghost Babel. Mr. Kojima calls him “our own Keanu Reeves.”

Ikuya Nakamura - In charge of everything related to the game’s imagery such as the pixel art and the screen design.

Tomokazu Fukushima - In charge of the writing. He also co-wrote the original Metal Gear Solid with Mr. Kojima.

INTERVIEW

Famitsu: Let’s start by telling us why you decided to make this new Metal Gear for the Game Boy.

Kojima: It was a few days before the release of Metal Gear Solid (henceforth MGS1) on the PlayStation. The game was already being well-received overseas, so we received a request from Europe asking us why weren’t making a Game Boy version too. They’re crazy over Metal Gear in Europe, so we decided to give it a shot.

Famitsu: So it was a development request from overseas? It’s rare for a Japanese game to be developed under such circumstances.

Kojima: That’s right. We were about to start our research on the PlayStation 2 around that period as well. While the PS2 is pretty good in terms of visuals and sounds, I wanted to be bold and re-explore the question of “what is a game”. Naturally we couldn’t use polygons. but I thought we would re-evaluate the essence of Metal Gear in sprite form.

Famitsu: Were there any concerns during the planning phase?

Nojiri: Since Ghost Babel is for a portable game platform, we designed the game around those circumstances. That’s why we went for a stage-based format for example. But in the end I think we ended up ignoring the limitations of the Game Boy by cramming too much stuff, didn’t we? (laughs)

Famitsu: The graphics are really pretty.

Kojima: The pixel art was by Nakamura, who also did the textures in MGS1. I’m willing bet there’s nobody in the entire Konami Group who draws pixel art as well as he does. However, his lifespan decreases little by little for each pixel he draws. (laughs) Since it’s a skill that can only be passed from one master to one student, he’d better train a successor soon or we’ll be in trouble.

Nakamura: I’m already dying. (laugh)

Famitsu: (laughs) But seriously, there’s a limit to what can be expressed on a Game Boy. Was it much harder than working on something on the PlayStation?

Nakamura: No, not really. The original Metal Gear released on the MSX back in 1987 was already a 2D game. However, we aimed to create a game that wouldn’t feel dumbed-down to players who already experienced MGS1.

Famitsu: I see. Were you also concerned of MGS1 while writing the story as well?

Fukushima: In order to not betray the expectations of the fans we made up to this point, we wrote the story with the idea of being worthy of the series while also surpassing all the previous games. However, I’ve been told it’s a bit too intense in some parts (glances at Mr. Kojima while stating this).

Kojima: Indeed, the game’s story is way more intense than anything I’ve written (laughs). The concept designs and such were also pretty amazing. Among the bad guys there’s a guy named Slasher Hawk who ate manatees. Naturally that idea fell through.

Fukushima: No, it wasn’t a manatee. It was a dugong (a similar-looking kind of marine mammal).

Famitsu: They both look alike (laughs).

Kojima: By the way, I know the two dolls that Marionette Owl is always holding have names. What are they called?

Fukushima: They’re Osan and Koharu. (everyone laughs) [tl’s note: These names are references to main character’s wife and lover respectively from the Japanese play The Love Suicides at Amijima]

Famitsu: The Metal Gear series is known for its strong themes that it tries to convey to players through their stories. Is it the same with Ghost Babel?

Kojima: Not having a theme in this game would be like running around a public park holding a knife. Allowing such a thing would be dangerous. That’s why after we allow players to play around with a weapon, we preach to them at the end and say to them “this is how you use that knife.”

Famitsu: I see what you mean with that statement.

Kojima: But I was a bit worried. The main demographic for Game Boy players in Japan are elementary children who are used to the worldviews of games such as the Goemon series. I was a bit worried about what kind of direction this Metal Gear would take. What players expect from a Metal Gear is not a cartoon version of Snake who lives in a world with a trivial story, but a realistic Snake who goes through a thematic story. So we stuck to the same hardboiled approach from before.

Fukushima: That’s why the scenario we wrote for the game goes beyond what people expect from a Game Boy game. It’s a story full of betrayal and conspiracies.

Nojiri: It’s not just the story. We also designed the graphics with that same mentality.

Nakamura: Instead of drawing in a strange cartoon style, we intended to respect the worldview of Metal Gear with every pixel we applied.

Kojima: The characters move really firmly on the Game Boy’s small screen. They really come to life I should say.

Nakamura: I think there’s more animation in this game than there has ever been in any other Game Boy game to date.

Kojima: Snake’s bandanna even flows into the air when he runs. Fhwaa!

Famitsu: Wow, that’s really detailed!

Kojima: The way the characters move have considerable realism to them. Even I was surprised when I saw them the first time.

Famitsu: How complete is the game in its current stage?

Kojima: I would say the game is around 50 to 60 percent finished. But each portion of game is considerably complete.

Famitsu: Can you tell us how many stages will be in the game?

Nojiri: Currently we’re planning 13 stages. The game basically revolves around infiltration and avoiding conflicts by hiding, but the objective varies depending on the stage. For example, you might have to infiltrate in darkness, demolish a building or fight a boss depending on the situation.

Famitsu: That’s quite a variety of objectives.

Nojiri: That’s the idea.

Kojima: Moreover, if you clear stage once during the story mode, you can choose to replay that stage with a different objective. The way to defeat a boss or the number of enemy soldiers you encounter and such might be different.

Famitsu: I see. It sounds very similar to the VR Training mode in MGS1.

Nojiri: It’s something of a separate bonus mode. A VR Training mode is also being added to the game.

Famitsu: Speaking of which, there’s around 180 stages planned for VR Training mode. That’s quite a lot. When I heard that number for the first time, I thought it was a mistake.

Kojima: That’s because we specialized in doing such stupid things. (laughs)

Famitsu: Stupid things…?

Kojima: Isn’t the Game Boy meant to be played outside? When you’re commuting on a train or in a car, there’s a time limit before you reach your destination. That’s why we planned lots of simple ways to play the game under such conditions.

Fukushima: There are things we ported from MGS1 and things we made specifically for this game.

Famitsu: I already feel full just hearing that.

Kojima: We haven’t revealed it yet, but there’s also a versus mode that uses the link cable that’s really fun. I can’t talk about the rules yet, but it’s an absolute blast! You’ll be thinking “I can’t believe playing against another person can be this fun.”

Famitsu: Are there any words each of you might want to give to our readers as we conclude this interview?

Nojiri: Purely as a action game, I think we ended up producing a fun one, so I hope many people will enjoy it.

Fukushima: I think Ghost Babel has a very different tone compared the usual Game Boy game. Nevertheless, I hope people will still play it since it’s a fun game.

Nakamura: Even though it was for a portable game machine, I drew the game’s pixel art with the intent to challenge its hardware limitations. Please look forward to it.

Kojima: I’ll be happy if many people after playing this game will ask themselves “what is a game?”.

The four developers discuss the creative urges they have for Ghost Babel. Even as they smile, there’s a sense of severity towards the game’s development.

#metal gear #ghost babel #hideo kojima #tomokazu fukushima #ikuya nakamura #shinta nojiri #konami #game boy #famitsu

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segadores-y-soldados · 6 years

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Null Point

Part 3 of “Retribution and Reapercussions” and “Those Who Rise Up”: exploring the consequences of “Retribution” on the characters of Overwatch. The timeframe for this covers the Null Sector’s uprising and Akande’s arrest by Overwatch agents. This is an unknown timespan but likely covers approximately several months to maybe a year.

This part will cover Null Sector’s uprising, including how they were likely backed or supported by Akande’s “new” Talon, and how Talon (in the present day) intends to help start another Omnic Uprising in King’s Row. It also covers Akande’s arrest by Winston, Tracer, and Genji, and explores how he was likely betrayed by Vialli (either to Overwatch directly, via Moira, or through other parties, such as Helix Securities).

A follow-up to “Long Reasons Not to Trust Moira in Retribution”, “A Clash of Kings,” the post about the declassified Blackwatch memorandum on Venice, a post about Overwatch and Blackwatch investigating their own organization, “The Immortal Soldier?”, and other essays. The ones linked above are the most important at the moment.

Additional essays and posts related to this topic: “Tal Pai, Tal Filho”, a write-up on the new Lúcio story and interactions between Lúcio, Symmetra, and Doomfist; a reply to an ask about if the attack on Antonio was planned or not; “An Eye for An Eye”, hypotheses on the new Soldier: 76-Moira interaction and if Soldier is “in” on Reaper’s plan.

Warning: Like “Retribution and Reapercussions” and “Those Who Rise Up”, this essay will be long. As always, a “Read more” link/cut will be provided, but tumblr mobile is a buggy app, and you may encounter problems with opening this or other links on the app.

Jack: This is Morrison. London has been attacked! King’s Row has fallen. We’re on the brink of open war. Ana: Hundreds are dead, and thousands injured! Jack: Team, it’s up to you.

In terms of the timeline of the fall of Overwatch, the year has “rounded” to the next. “Retribution,” Akande’s rise to power, Widowmaker’s creation, and likely Tracer’s Slipstream accident all occurred approximately 8 years before “Recall”, and about 2 years before Overwatch’s official disbandment.

It’s difficult to place when in the year (seasonally) Null Sector launches their attack on King’s Row in London, but we can estimate that it roughly occurs in spring, 7 years before “Recall” and 1 year before the official disbandment of Overwatch:

The weather is mild in both Switzerland and England. Lena’s Slipstream accident (or sabotage) has occurred fairly recently - we can see in the comic that Winston and Mercy are checking on her to make sure her new chronal accelerator works properly.

We know that, internally, Overwatch and Blackwatch had been enjoying a newfound equilibrium, with Gabriel and his trusted Blackwatch agents investigating corrupt or compromised agents. Overwatch had continued to work on external missions, such as investigating the Shimada clan.

However, relatively recently, the internal balance in the organization has shifted.

Talon has just recently made a horrific and effective assassination against the prominent Blackwatch agent and lead anti-Talon investigator, Gérard Lacroix. Internally, Overwatch and Blackwatch believe Talon has kidnapped - and possibly killed - his wife Amélie. However, “we the audience” know that Amélie has returned to Talon for further conditioning and training, to be recrafted into the sniper Widowmaker.

With Blackwatch losing their “leads” on Talon, and with Overwatch decommissioning the Slipstream teleporting fighter jet due to its rather convenient “accident”, Akande’s revitalized “war-creating” organization is poised to launch a conflict which will engulf the world -

Into a new Crisis.

As the new Doomfist, Ogundimu rose high in Talon and helped to orchestrate a conflict that the organization hoped would someday engulf the world. - Doomfist’s Hero Profile

---

Doomfist on King’s Row (present day):

Omnics will not be kept down forever. The ashes of the Crisis still smolder. This city is a powder keg that could ignite the world. And Talon is the flame.

(A LOT more under the cut!)

Zero-Sum: Null Sector’s uprising

“Retribution” has a number of lines which - when taken together with other pieces of evidence - point to the complexity of the mission (particularly the “masquerade” of emotions going on between Gabriel and Moira, who are trying to outplay and outwit each other).

“Uprising” has fewer interactions which show the complexity of Null Sector, instead relying on the comic to tell us why the situation in London is complicated: Jack’s hands are tied against sovereign rights, Blackwatch is already suspended, how did Null Sector “[catch Overwatch] off guard,” etc.

If fact, if you don’t pay close attention, Uprising looks extremely straightforward: the Strike Team goes in, takes down the anti-air defenses, brings in Torbjörn’s specialized bomb, and then assaults the Null Sector base before rescuing the hostages.

A much more “heroic” mission than “Retribution.”

But again -

Perspective matters.

Just like how Retribution has narrative shift from Gabriel (comic) to McCree (game), Uprising has a parallel narrative shift, from Jack (comic) to Tracer (game).

Just like how McCree is unaware of certain events that occur in the Retribution comic (e.g. Gabriel meeting with Jack to discuss the possibility of conducting an “off the book” “snatch and grab” mission for Antonio), Tracer is unaware of certain events that are brewing in the background of Uprising: in Overwatch, in Blackwatch, in Talon, and in London itself. These include the events of “Retribution”, Moira’s betrayal of Blackwatch, Gabriel’s “negotiations” with her (and his masquerade to infiltrate Talon), Akande’s rise to power in Talon, Amélie’s kidnapping and brainwashing, and possibly the “truths” about Tracer’s own Slipstream accident.

In fact, Tracer in Uprising - both the comic and the in-game playable event - fulfills a very classic storytelling type: the Heroine’s Journey. She is young (approximately 18-19), relatively naive to the more sinister elements of the world around her, brightly optimistic, eager to try out her new abilities, and enthusiastic about doing good in the world. She is surrounded by older “mentor” and “guide” figures - Reinhardt, Torbjörn, Mercy, Winston, even Jack, Ana, and Gabriel themselves.

While “Retribution” fits the role of a “spy thriller”, with a full-on conspiracy about Moira’s role and her actions that the player is encouraged to uncover, “Uprising” appears to be relatively straightforward as a “rookie’s first mission” tale against a (pretty clearly) immoral or ruthless group, Null Sector.

However, there are a few interactions in “Uprising” that imply it is much more significantly tied to the rest of the events happening around it than it initially appears:

As you play more Uprising, you can come across a very telling interaction between Tracer and Torbjörn:

Tracer: If we don’t stop Null Sector, I don’t know how humans and Omnics could ever live together in peace. Torbjörn: When are we going to learn - you just can’t trust an Omnic. Tracer: Not all Omnics are the same! Torbjörn: You don’t know what they’re capable of! Look around you! This has happened before! And it’ll happen again!

(source)

At first glance, it appears to be “character-building” - flavor text that demonstrates Tracer as optimistic and hopeful, and Torbjörn as more bitter and jaded.

Except that Torbjörn’s last line is rather...prophetic.

While Uprising-era Torbjörn is obviously biased against Omnics, what his last line actually implies is that the elements which made Null Sector and led to their revolt against the human population of London will coalesce and try again...and again...and again.

Until eventually -

They succeed.

Torbjörn’s line is a follow-up to another set of lines that “we the audience” saw in the “Uprising” comic:

Gabriel: Call them what you want; they have support, especially when you consider how people treat Omnics in the U.K. Omnics built their cities and did the jobs humans didn’t want to do. In return: no rights and no citizenship. What did we expect? The Magna Carta was written a thousand years ago.

“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.”

What Gabriel and Torbjörn are both getting at is that the elements and events which led to Null Sector’s uprising are the true issue at the heart of the Omnic revolution. It is not merely a situation of “terrorists” emerging from the ground to lead a revolt, but, as with everything:

Actions have consequences.

And decisions have repercussions.

While the decision to send in the Overwatch Strike Team into London against sovereign orders was the right choice, it is - and will be - as effective as putting a bandage on a missing limb.

Because the actual elements which helped create and support Null Sector are still present, even after Overwatch is disbanded:

Reaper: Tensions in London are boiling over. Hasn’t been this bad since after the uprising. Akande: That was a missed opportunity. But who would have thought Overwatch would get involved?

Akande’s line effectively implies that Talon either supported Null Sector by arming them, or possibly created the Omnic group as a sort of shell or staged uprising to spark a war.

This is confirmed by his voicelines on present-day King’s Row, which “occurs” after Mondatta’s death in “Alive”:

Omnics will not be kept down forever. The ashes of the Crisis still smolder. This city is a powder keg that could ignite the world. And Talon is the flame.

Notice that he does not specifically name Null Sector as the “flame” to ignite the world, but Talon.

Even after Overwatch has fallen, both the Omnic discontent in King’s Row and Talon still exist. Talon has taken steps to set fire to the Omnic discontent by assassinating Mondatta (it is not known if someone on the Talon council gave Widowmaker the order, or if she took the initiative for the mission herself).

However, even at the time of “Uprising”, Talon had taken great, often painful steps to basically prevent or actively hinder Overwatch from getting involved in the Null Sector uprising. Everything about the uprising points to Talon masking their efforts and involvement while also attempting to stop Overwatch’s actions:

1. Killing Gérard Lacroix.

Assassinating Gérard had a bigger impact than I think many people - both “in-universe” and among the fans - fully realize. As I wrote in Part 2, “Retribution” actually barely slowed Overwatch down. While there were internal elements in the organization that may have changed a few things - such as the Blackwatch suspension - the organization as a whole continued to conduct investigations and missions seemingly without problems. This includes the on-going investigations against the Shimada clan and likely an investigation against Akande Ogundimu himself:

A lot of this - especially tracking Talon both inside Overwatch and out - was probably due to Gérard’s abilities and his influences. As a trusted member of Blackwatch, and likely the lead investigator against compromised Overwatch and Blackwatch agents, Gérard was probably very crucial at tracking Talon’s members and their movements. After all, he is the one who managed to track the seemingly “random” bombing of the Oslo base back to Antonio, a whole continent away.

Removing Gérard changed things, probably significantly and certainly not in a good way for Overwatch and Blackwatch.

Without Gérard, Gabriel likely had to pare down his operations considerably, limiting them only to trusted agents like Jesse McCree and Genji Shimada. Cutting back the scope of his mission almost certainly impacted Overwatch, which relied on Blackwatch intelligence reports to help handle problems before they “evolved.” With no one actively tracking or monitoring Talon’s movements past being aware of Akande in Numbani or Oyo, Talon would’ve been able to slip into King’s Row and help build Null Sector’s base of support and weapons’ stockpile.

Which brings me to:

2. “Uprising”-era Talon’s specialty was creating armies and trading weapons.

At the time of “Retribution”, approximately one year before “Uprising”, Talon had already begun experimenting with creating genetically “enhanced” and cybernetically “augmented” soldiers and armies. While the Talon forces in “Retribution” are all human at their core, what their composition and abilities show is that Talon had adapted to making different paramilitary “classes” capable of working together to destabilize and militarize at the drop of a hat (or the drop of a body).

A point almost never brought up in discussions on Null Sector is:

How did Null Sector get decommissioned Bastions and OR14s?

But during the Omnic Crisis, [the Bastion units] were turned against their human makers, forming the bulk of the omnics' rebel army. Following the resolution of the crisis, nearly all of them were destroyed or disassembled. - Bastion’s Hero Profile

---

Originally put into service before the Omnic Crisis, the OR14 "Idina" line of security robots was built in Nigeria's massive manufacturing omnium. After the war, they were taken out of production, along with many of the other models used during the crisis. Twenty years later, Numbani revived and recommissioned the OR14 program to protect the city from external threats. - Orisa’s Hero Profile

The reveal of the OR14s among Null Sector’s troops should be a pretty solid clue as to who was backing Null Sector:

Orisa, Null Sector skin description: During the King's Row uprising, Null Sector employed redesigned and upgraded OR14 Idina bots to secure the power station.

And who has a long history of fighting Numbani defense bots like the OR14s?

The brand new leader of Talon.

All it takes is capturing a few of the OR14s.

Without Gérard tracking his movements and with Gabriel scaling back Blackwatch operations, Akande is free to start moving some of his “pieces” around in his grand conflict. Talon agents are able to enter King’s Row and begin bringing in weapons, armaments, and reconditioned Crisis-era bots for Null Sector.

Talon has also learned a pretty significant lesson from the events of Rialto a year before:

3. Anti-air defenses

While the anti-air defenses in-game are mainly just a gameplay mechanic (e.g. capture this point and hack the air defenses), they represent a drastically different approach to tactics and control than Talon showed in Rialto a year earlier.

The whole event of “Retribution” is “mission goes wrong - run like hell to the evacuation point” so that a Blackwatch dropship can rescue the team. The mission - for both Blackwatch and Talon - is messy, resulting in Blackwatching being revealed to the public, but also resulting in massive losses for Talon. Antonio’s entire force is basically decimated by four people, and they successfully escape on the dropship.

A year later, Talon and Null Sector aren’t taking any chances.

The anti-air defenses are massive and effectively prevent any forces - Overwatch, the U.K., any allies, etc - from entering London’s air space. It allows the siege of the city to go on for nearly a full month. With the anti-air defenses around, not even bombs or EMPs can be dropped, because the defensive turrets shoot them out of the sky before they land.

It is also interesting that the Null Sector uprising occurs after the Slipstream has been removed from Overwatch’s project docket. Again, while a lot of this is designed around gameplay over story, it very conveniently fits together as the backdrop for Tracer’s first mission.

Akande: That was a missed opportunity. But who would have thought Overwatch would get involved?

Uprising-era Akande and probably several of his Talon allies and followers likely believed that they had an ace in the hole with Null Sector: Blackwatch was suspended, the major Blackwatch agent investigating them was dead, the UK refused Overwatch’s help, and the situation in London was reaching “critical mass”. They had total control over the city, Null Sector was armed to the (metaphorical) teeth, several valuable hostages had been taken, and with the entire situation stalling out, it was only a matter of time before the conflict boiled over into other Omnic-tense countries or locations, such as Russia or Australia.

Except:

Someone had his own plans.

Remember: with Gérard’s death, Gabriel has likely stepped up his own personal “plan” of bringing retribution on Talon and Null Sector. Unlike Retribution, he has learned his lesson and will not be hasty or emotional in his movements. He is much more patient this time, calmer, more methodical. He recognizes, however, that he has to risk someone, but instead of risking 3-4 people on a reconnaissance mission, he sends in just one: McCree. Gabriel also acts as one of the commanders leading the Strike Team through Null Sector’s defenses and base.

The truly ingenious part of Gabriel’s involvement in Uprising?

Moira and Akande likely have no idea.

Akande, Masquerade: “That was a missed opportunity. But would would have thought Overwatch would get involved?”

If Gabriel has actually started infiltrating Talon under the guise of “Reaper,” and/or he has some sort of “compromise” with Moira, it is likely that neither Moira nor Talon realize what his role was during the course of Uprising.

After all, Gabriel doesn’t actually want recognition of his work:

Moira: Antonio was right about one thing - you will take the blame for this. Gabriel: Always have. I don’t need the statues and medals anyways.

---

McCree: Is this what we’ve become, Gabriel? Gabriel: Blackwatch has always had one purpose: to do the real work of keeping the world safe. I thought you had the stomach for it. Looks like I was wrong.

What’s also very important here is that we get a glimpse into some of the leading relationships and partnerships in Overwatch, one year after “Retribution”.

Things are terse but not angry nor bitter. The stress stems from the situation in London, not the situation in Overwatch itself:

Important in both “Retribution” and “Uprising” (the comics) is that both Gabriel and Jack innately and instinctively trust each other.

And before it gets brought up:

Yes, the parallels in both art and story between the two comics is 100% intentional:

From Gray Shuko’s Art Station, his alternate cover designs for the “Retribution” comic show that callbacks to the “Uprising” comic were absolutely intentional in how the second comic was designed, drawn, detailed, and written.

I know it is tempting to read Gabriel’s actions in “Uprising” as being unfriendly, unhelpful, or sarcastic:

But what’s important to remember is that this is an exact mirror of how Jack displayed his trust and faith in Gabriel’s decision a year before:

Jack: I’ll leave the final call to you, but ask yourself...in the long run, will this help Overwatch keep the world safe?

As an addition here, we also have to remember the influence of characters such as Ana and Tracer in “Uprising”, and Gérard and McCree in “Retribution”.

Both comics feature at least one character “pressuring” the respective commander into making “the right choice” but for reasons the commander considers unwise or hasty (even if those reasons are morally or ethically correct).

In “Retribution”, this character is McCree:

McCree: We should be sending a stronger message!

In “Uprising” -

This role is split between two principle characters:

The first is Ana.

Jack: You think we should get involved. Ana: I didn’t say that. But in the end, it should our choice. Your choice.

It’s interesting and very insightful that Ana is the “hotheaded” and reckless character in the “Uprising” comic (a personality point we will see come back to severely haunt her later). While she certainly stands for justice - just as McCree does in “Retribution” - she advocates for intervention for a moralistic reason, not necessarily the...honest one.

The second character who fits this role is Mercy:

Mercy: This is what Overwatch was made for. Instead of wasting time sitting on the sidelines, we could be saving lives. Jack: I don’t disagree, Doctor, but my hands are tied. Mercy: Well, that’s not good enough Jack, and a lot of people are going to die.

While Ana tries to argue for intervention in favor of justice or righteousness, Mercy argues in favor of ethics and humanitarian efforts.

Jack, however, knows neither Ana’s sense of justice nor Mercy’s sense of ethics will be “reason enough” for Petras, or the U.K. Prime Minister -

Or even Jack’s own personal sense of duty.

In fact, it isn’t until Lena “Tracer” Oxton arrives that Jack is finally reminded of the real reason Overwatch exists...

And what it stands to protect.

Tracer: It’s because I believe that if I could figure this out, I could be an asset. I could make this world a better place. I fought to survive, and I’m willing to fight for the world, too. I might be out line, sir, but I won’t apologize.

Jack: I remember when the Crisis broke out aross America. It’s why I enlisted, and why I signed up for the enhancement program. They were willing to try anything. Commander Reyes and I... Well, they tried everything. But politics, mismanagement, egos... At the end of the day, Overwatch was the only way to win that war. But we had to be given a chance.

Tracer: You still have one, sir.

---

Tracer is the one who gives Jack the reason that actually gets under his skin and into the core of his character:

A willingness to try to make the world better -

And the people he must take that risk for.

Which very strongly parallels:

Again, I believe it is tempting to read Gabriel’s lines and his actions in “Uprising” as sarcastic or as uninterested, but given the context of “Retribution” and the nature of Gabriel and Jack’s partnership, it is not particularly surprising for one to provide the other with information, advice, or insight, and then let the other make his choice as he needs to.

They have faith that the other commander will make the right decision not out of justice or ethics or tactics -

But for personal reasons.

For reasons that affect the core of who they are - both individually, and together.

We also need to remember that Gabriel returns to the Swiss Base situation room a day later, fully prepared and willing to help guide the Overwatch Strike Team through Null Sector’s base -

By Jack’s side once again.

The “year” spanning Retribution to Uprising is an interesting one - one with a lot of gaps in “our” knowledge, one where we don’t know everything, nor do we know why the different events happen the way they do. We do not know if Jack is aware of Gabriel’s own plans or his actions, or vice-versa.

However, we do see that other characters put pressure or vocalize arguments that may not cut the commanders to the core, but instead, Gabriel and Jack are able to - and continue to - influence each other in small and deeply emotional ways.

For Gabriel in “Retribution,” it was Jack asking him if his decision would keep the world safe...or for Gabriel, if doing this would help keep Jack safe.

For Jack in “Uprising”, it was Lena reminding Jack of why he had joined Overwatch at all - a decision he had made with his “Commander Reyes” nearly twenty-three years before.

Iron-y: Akande is arrested

We are shown Akande’s arrest by Overwatch in his Origin story. Once again, like the other Origin stories, his narration is from his own perspective, and tells us about his ideology that conflict makes humanity (and Omnics) stronger.

However, we are also shown facts about his arrest:

It occurs after Akande has “become” Doomfist, thus occuring after he overthrows Akinjide.

It takes place in Numbani. The three Overwatch members who conduct the arrest are Winston, Tracer, and Genji. Therefore, the arrest occurs after Uprising (Tracer’s first Strike Team mission) and before Genji formally leaves Overwatch.

However, we can also surmise and guess at a few things.

The Origins video shows what appears to be Akande “counting” Tracer’s Blinks (and her Recall) or at least very quickly discerning a pattern in her movements.

Akande appears to be the first person to ever correctly target Tracer’s chronal accelerator as both her major strength and her major weakness.

However, what Akande quickly discovers is that when Winston is furious -

He becomes exponentially more dangerous.

Akande’s emotions barely show on his face, but we get a split second of him realizing what he’s done.

In the present day, this fight is jokingly referred to as an “embarrassment” by Sombra, to which Akande replies (only partially joking):

Sombra: Isn't it a little embarassing to get beaten up by a monkey? Doomfist: Have you ever been hit by a giant, genetically engineered gorilla? I could arrange it for you...

And Akande appears to have a very personal vendetta against Winston in particular:

Doomfist: I didn't forget about you. Winston: I stopped you once. I can do it again!

We are shown that, in prison, Akande keeps articles on current events, especially ones focusing on Winston's movements.

However, while we can state a few clear facts about Akande’s arrest, there are some intriguing elements that are more...perspective-based. These come when we compare Akande’s arrest to two things:

Antonio’s monologue in “Retribution”

And the events of the “Masquerade” comic.

Akande’s perspective of his arrest is...very different from the “audience” perspective of it.

You remember the part of Retribution where Antonio says that his “friends” would get him released from prison within a week?

Akande doesn’t need friends for that.

Akande can literally punch his way out of prison.

Nothing is keeping him locked in there.

As the new Doomfist, Ogundimu rose high in Talon and helped to orchestrate a conflict that the organization hoped would someday engulf the world. However, before their plan came to fruition, Ogundimu was defeated and captured by an Overwatch strike team that included Tracer, Winston, and Genji. He was imprisoned in a maximum-security facility for years, where he waited patiently for events he had incited to play out.

Finally, he sensed that the time had come for him to return. He broke out of his prison and recovered Doomfist's gauntlet in a one-sided battle with Numbani's newly unveiled OR15 defense robots.

---

So what exactly made Akande sit in prison and wait for 6-7 years? After all, Overwatch was likely disbanded within months to a year of his initial imprisonment - wasn’t that what he wanted?

I think the explanation is two-fold:

Externally, even though Overwatch has collapsed and disappeared, the Second Omnic Crisis - which was actually Akande’s true goal - never fully materialized. The “aftereffects” of Overwatch’s peace - protected and maintained for so long - continued to linger, and it took another slow “build up” of tension, chaos, and struggle to create the tinder required to make that peace burn again:

Internally, however -

Talon likely went through a second major shift in alliances just before the fall of Overwatch.

And this time:

Akande took the fall.

All throughout the “Masquerade” comic, there are hints and implications that Vialli - the man who took over Antonio’s faction of Talon forces - either betrayed or set up Akande to go to prison.

Maximilien is surprised that Akande “looks well.” When Akande calls him out on it, Maximilien replies with:

Maximilien: Prison is a hard place. Accidents happen all the time. Akande: I’m very careful. Maximilien: Apparently.

The implication being that an “accident” (or several) were likely set up for Akande throughout his time in prison, but Akande either “avoided” them or managed to stop them.

Immediately after that exchange, Maximilien effectively warns Akande that his return will not be entirely welcome to everyone in Talon:

Maximilien: There are those in our organization who will be quite pleased to have you back, but some have concerns...about whether you will keep the money flowing. Akande: I will deal with them. They need to be reminded about their parts. Maximilien: I wonder, my friend. You’re not as popular as you used to be. Many were happy to see you go away. Akande: Not you, of course. Maximilien: Of course not. We have history. And I respect a man with vision. Sombra, on comms: Heads up, boss. Company headed your way.

Vialli’s men then proceed to attack Akande and Widowmaker in the casino. When Akande asks, “Who are they?” Maximilien simply repeats:

As I said...many were happy to see you go away.

Akande’s arrest, his time in prison, the fact that his “war” never fully materialized even when Overwatch was gone, and the events of the “Masquerade” comic likely confirmed Akande’s suspicions that someone (or several someones) in Talon had set him up for a battle with Overwatch.

Which parallels this moment

A lot.

Someone - almost certainly Vialli - set up Akande to be arrested by Overwatch.

We don’t know how Overwatch got this information: whether it came from Vialli to Moira to someone like Gabriel, or if Gabriel himself started tracking Akande’s movements, or if Vialli and a third party - likely Helix Securities - gave up information to Overwatch and/or the United Nations in exchange for future favors.

Often unnoticed in the discussion of the fall of Overwatch is Helix Security International (or Helix Securities): a private military and security company that secures a very lucrative and profitable contract with the United Nations and individual countries after Overwatch is disbanded:

Questions have been raised about the effectiveness and methodology of Helix, which in recent years, has greatly increased its profile as the world's security force. But after a number of high profile incidents, including the breach of a similarly top-secret facility in Egypt, those who have objected to the increased privatization of security following the shuttering of Overwatch will have been dismayed that Helix has requested, and been granted, additional funding by the UN to cope with rising threats.

(Source)

It is not a coincidence that the prison where Akande is confined is either owned or managed by Helix:

NUMBANI —Three months after initial reports of an incident at Helix Security International's classified maximum security installation, a more complete picture of what happened has emerged. Information and details of what happened were scarce as has been any news from the installation, said to be a prison for the world's most dangerous threats. However, after recent events in Numbani, it can now be confirmed that what occurred was an attack by the Talon organization with the express purpose of freeing one man: Akande Ogundimu, better known as Doomfist.

It is also not a coincidence that (in the present day) Helix is currently in charge of the confinement of the Anubis A.I. in Giza, Egypt - a facility that a certain bounty hunter has some intense interest in watching - and is also the employer of Fareeha Amari, Ana Amari’s daughter.

While the story of Overwatch so far has really centered on companies like LumériCo, Volskaya, and Vishkar, it is Helix Securities who is the “big winner” after the fall of Overwatch, gaining control over the majority of Overwatch’s old Watchpoints as well as gaining access to the organization’s technology and military gear.

What “Masquerade” shows is an added complexity to the Helix puzzle: prior to the comic, even though the company was shady as all hell, it was possible to write it off as a slightly incompetent private company up against “threats” much bigger or smarter or more sophsicated than itself (whether that’s Talon or Reaper or “Soldier: 76″ or “The Shrike” or Sombra, take your pick).

However, with the addition that someone (again, almost certainly Vialli) sold out Akande and he conveniently ended up in a Helix-run prison - which he had the physical power to escape from but not necessarily the social or political power - there’s the implication that Helix Securities (or people within it) were cooperating with Vialli for some sort of reward.

Like say:

Advanced Overwatch military weaponry?

Or possibly

Experimentation on Artificial Intelligence Programs?

Whatever the case may be, Helix Securities profited from the fall of Overwatch significantly.

And Akande’s arrest is a suspicious part of that.

Vialli (and maybe a few others) don’t particularly care who wins in the battle between Akande and Overwatch: if Akande wins, three major Overwatch agents are dead. If Overwatch wins, Akande is sent to prison, where an “accident” can take care of him. Vialli becomes “king” of the Talon castle, Helix Securities’ reputation goes up, Overwatch still falls, everyone in Talon “wins”.

Except for Akande, of course.

And for a time, Vialli probably thinks he gets the best of both worlds: Overwatch still collapses, and Akande stays in prison. Sure, those “accidents” aren’t killing him, but at least he’s “stuck” inside, out of Vialli’s way.

When Akande and Vialli finally meet face-to-face several years later, Vialli is confident enough in his position within Talon to make pretty transparent “threats” towards Akande. What Vialli doesn’t realize is that all his security has been, uh, “disposed of”:

And there is no one who will come to help him.

However, the same can be said for Akande in “Masquerade”:

He has appeared to walk right into “Reaper’s” hands talons.

What Akande apparently doesn’t recognize is that his new “ally” Reaper is very interested in Akande’s own “future downfall.” Reaper appears to position himself quite well here - he’s “in” with the most powerful leader in Talon, newly returned from prison, he’s got “tabs” on the troublemaker (Sombra, whom Reaper may actually be secretly cooperating with) which buys him some “trustworthiness” to Akande and Moira, he’s got a working relationship with Moira where he may eventually be cured -

And now he has a seat on the Talon council.

If Reaper’s goal is the destruction of Talon, or usurping its powers and armies for himself, he’s now poised in a very nice spot for that -

Which will allow him to hurt Talon the same way Talon hurt Overwatch...

However...

Although Null Sector fails...

Although Talon’s greatest leader is arrested...

Overwatch still falls.

And it is because -

Even if you have the best intentions -

Actions have consequences.

And decisions have repercussions.

For better.

Or for worse.

117 notes · View notes

your-dietician · 3 years

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It’s Good to Be Reggie Jackson, in the N.B.A. and in Baseball

New Post has been published on https://tattlepress.com/nba/its-good-to-be-reggie-jackson-in-the-n-b-a-and-in-baseball/

It’s Good to Be Reggie Jackson, in the N.B.A. and in Baseball

When insight was needed on the proverbial batting practice buzz generated by Stephen Curry’s pregame shooting routines or LeBron James’s unfamiliar pursuit of a championship in October, Reggie Jackson, the former Yankee, was a natural expert to seek out for an interview.

These unpredictable N.B.A. playoffs have provided further cause to consult Mr. October, because, well, who better to ask about basketball’s Reggie Jackson having a monster postseason?

Reggie Jackson, the baseball Hall of Famer, has never met Reggie Jackson, the resurgent Los Angeles Clipper, but the links between them are only getting stronger. The younger Jackson’s playoff flourish has made sure of it.

“I’ve always known the name and seen him around,” Reggie Jackson, who spent five seasons with the Yankees and turned 75 in May, said in a telephone interview. “And I’ve always hoped for him to do well like this. The fact that he’s got my name, I’m glad to see him doing well a little extra. I want him to make the name good.”

Jackson emphasized “good” and let out a laugh, knowing the Clippers’ Jackson is suddenly doing that regularly. The basketball Jackson began his 10th N.B.A. season with less than four minutes of playing time on opening night and started the Clippers’ first-round series against Dallas on the bench, but he has been one of the stars of this postseason ever since. On Monday night, Jackson helped the short-handed Clippers extend the Western Conference finals with 23 points in a Game 5 victory at Phoenix that staved off elimination.

The Clippers were without Kawhi Leonard, who has missed the entire series, and their starting center, Ivica Zubac, both sidelined by knee injuries. Paul George rightly soaked up the spotlight after scoring 41 gritty points in a 116-102 triumph that denied Chris Paul passage to his first N.B.A. finals. Yet Jackson remained prominent as he calmly continued his emergence as the team’s most reliable offensive option apart from George and Leonard — as predicted by no one when the playoffs began in mid-May.

Marcus Morris and Luke Kennard, each awarded a contract last off-season worth more than $60 million, haven’t approached third-option production. Jackson, playing on a $2.3 million veteran minimum deal at 31 years old, is averaging 18.1 points per game in the playoffs, while shooting a heady 49.2 percent from the field, 41.5 percent from 3-point range and 86.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Jackson has made at least three 3-pointers in 15 games this postseason, something only two other players in league history have managed: Golden State’s Curry and Klay Thompson. When Jackson and George are on the floor together with any three Clippers in small-ball lineups — any three, in other words, apart from Zubac and DeMarcus Cousins — Los Angeles is averaging a robust 1.34 points per possession.

Ian Eagle, the ace Nets broadcaster working playoff games for TNT, had seen enough by Game 5 of the Clippers’ series against Utah to excitedly trumpet a corner 3-pointer from Jackson thusly: “Ka-boom! Reggie Jackson has been Mr. June.”

Mr. October, as baseball’s Reggie Jackson has been known since the 1970s, routinely attends Golden State games and said he would plot a trip to watch his namesake in person “when the Warriors get their game back together.” It’s much easier for Jackson to relate to stars like Leonard or George than to a role player in an unforeseen breakout run, but Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue insisted that there was a tangible parallel beyond the name connection.

“Reggie, man,” Lue said of his playoff star. “He loves these type of moments to be able to play on a big stage.”

When Lue watches Jackson now, after making him a starter in response to losing the first two games of the Dallas series at home, he sees a player who is “so free.” Jackson said of the Clippers last week that “this team has empowered me” to play with that freedom — after myriad injuries (ankle, back, leg) led Jackson to a February 2020 buyout of the final year of a five-year, $80 million contract with the Detroit Pistons and uncertainty about the direction of his career.

Strong support from George, one of Jackson’s closest friends, has provided a key boost at dark times over the past year. And Lue has helped draw the best out of Jackson by simplifying his role compared with his time in Detroit. With the Clippers, Jackson has a green light to focus on scoring rather than playmaking. This season, for the first time in his career, he shot better than 40 percent from 3-point range during the regular season.

In yet another connection to Jackson’s baseball counterpart, adding eyewear to his in-game ensemble appears to have helped, too. The Yankees’ Jackson was famed for wearing aviator-style glasses at the plate and in the field that he said “kind of turned into my style.” The Clippers’ Jackson started wearing protective goggles in April after getting poked in the eye and promptly riddled the Houston Rockets for 26 points in the first game he tried them. In a foreshadowing of his playoff production, starting with the Houston game on April 9, Jackson shot 45.8 percent on 3-pointers (44 for 96) over his last 17 games of the regular season.

“The glasses are here to stay,” Jackson said.

His future with the Clippers is less certain. They can only offer a new contract that starts in the $10 million range because of financial constraints, and there is sure to be off-season interest after these playoffs.

Yet Jackson has incentive to explore staying, given how well he has settled in Clipperland, and I am throwing myself in as a beneficiary. Jackson’s postseason surge gave me one more excellent reason to reach out to the Reggie Jackson of my youth, for one of those all-my-worlds-colliding stories that I have loved sharing with you on Tuesdays in this space.

The first time I interviewed baseball’s Jackson was on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” when he agreed to join me on live television to co-narrate one of Curry’s dazzling pregame shooting sessions. Like a great home run hitter in the batting practice cage, Curry had fans arriving at Warriors games earlier than ever for a glimpse of his shooting prowess.

This is the third time I’ve interviewed Jackson for this newsletter, which made its debut in January 2018. After Kobe Bryant’s tragic death in a helicopter crash in January 2020, I asked him to share his experiences from the Yankees’ crushing loss of Thurman Munson in a 1979 plane crash. As the Lakers neared a pandemic-delayed championship, I asked him to expound on October glory and his LeBron fandom.

Because of my nostalgic bent, and the playoff story that basketball’s Jackson has been weaving with the Clippers, I thought one more chat with No. 44 was in order as I prepare to enter a new chapter in my career. After nearly four dream-come-true years here, including my introduction to the newsletter world, I am leaving The New York Times.

Some wise words from Reginald Martinez Jackson on Reginald Shon Jackson seemed like the perfect way to sign off.

“You’re always looking for a guy who can perform when it counts,” he said.

Mr. October would know.

Editor’s Note: We are sad to see Marc go, but this newsletter will be sticking around a little longer, through the end of the playoffs. We’ll have guest writers and our latest N.B.A. news, features and analysis. Stay tuned!

The Scoop @TheSteinLine

You ask; I answer. Every week in this space, I’ll field three questions posed via email at [email protected]. Please include your first and last name, as well as the city you’re writing in from, and make sure “Corner Three” is in the subject line.

(Questions may be lightly edited or condensed for clarity.)

Q: What’s the upside for playing for U.S.A. Basketball in Tokyo? The team is full of high-profile stars. I think they would benefit more, after how taxing the last two seasons were, using the off-season to train on their own and relax a bit. Are they playing for money — like endorsements? Is it to enhance their brand? Is there a performance edge to be gained? Is it for the perks of going to the Olympics? — Mike Chamernik (Chicago)

Stein: You answered your own question pretty well. Some or all of those benefits exist for N.B.A. stars when they play on the largest of world stages, which is why U.S.A.B. officials never have trouble finding 12 excellent players to fill out an Olympic roster.

The challenge is always assembling a roster worthy of the United States’ reputation in the sport for the quadrennial FIBA World Cup, which is held in much higher regard in most so-called basketball nations than Americans see it. That couldn’t have been more evident in September 2019, when the United States finished a lowly seventh — its worst showing in a major tournament since N.B.A. professionals were given permission to enter the Olympic arena starting with the Barcelona Games in 1992.

One of the biggest lures you didn’t mention: Playing for the U.S. team in men’s and women’s basketball almost always leads to a gold medal — and who wouldn’t want one of those? Trips to the Olympics are also often where star-to-star friendships can be hatched or fortified and then lead to future superteams, as we first saw with Miami-bound LeBron James and Chris Bosh after they played alongside Dwyane Wade on the gold-medal-winning U.S. team at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Yet another enticement offered by the Toyko team: San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich is coaching it. The chance to play for Popovich, if only for a few weeks, holds appeal to many players who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.

Q: Do you think Ben Simmons ever works on his shooting during the off-season? — Eric Cummings Jr. (Bronx)

Stein: Daryl Morey, Philadelphia’s president of basketball operations, had a lukewarm response last week when he was essentially asked what you asked.

“My understanding is Ben is all in with the organization,” Morey said. “We would expect the players to be willing to do whatever’s necessary.”

The statement didn’t do much to quell the notion that Simmons’s off-season work ethic is substandard. Also true: If he is working on his game more than it appears, his results demand a complete overhaul in approach regardless.

Morey nonetheless figures to receive no shortage of trade offers because Simmons only turns 25 on July 20, plays game-changing defense at multiple positions and, perhaps most crucially, is under contract for four more seasons worth more than $145 million. Teams that struggle to attract free agents are sure to have interest in an All-Star who can’t quickly flee.

Much was made last week about the meeting Simmons’s agent, Rich Paul, had with Morey to discuss Simmons’s future, but their leverage is minimal. No-trade clauses are extremely rare in the N.B.A., and Simmons didn’t qualify for one when he signed his last deal. With Morey known to be as aggressive as it gets when it comes to seeking trades, rest assured he will move him if a palatable trade materializes.

I’m convinced that Simmons, like Markelle Fultz previously with the 76ers, needs a change of scenery more than anything. I agree that alone won’t do it; hard work, as you suggest, has to be a key element of any potential resurrection. Yet playing anywhere other than Philadelphia has to help his chances of extricating himself from the funk that left Simmons, presumably mortified by the idea of being sent to the free-throw line, unwilling to shoot a single shot in the fourth quarter of the 76ers’ last four playoff games. There’s just too much baggage there to overcome.

Q: I have followed the N.B.A. for decades. I have no recollection of the No. 1-seeded Hawks in 1994. — @BennettRayford from Twitter

Stein: This was a response to one of my tweets last week about how this was the first season since 1993-94 in which both of the league’s No. 1 seeds (Philadelphia and Utah) failed to reach the conference finals.

The teams that fell short back then were Atlanta and Seattle, and the reason I remember it so well is because it was my first season as a full-time N.B.A. beat writer. The Los Angeles Daily News assigned me to cover the Clippers, home and road, in February 1994 — about 10 days before the trade deadline. The Clippers slammed home pretty quickly that I had graduated to the big leagues with the biggest trade in franchise history to that point: Danny Manning to the Hawks for the Atlanta icon Dominique Wilkins and a first-round pick.

The Hawks made the trade when they were already contending for the best record in the East during the first season of Michael Jordan’s first retirement. It meant that, as a nervy 24-year-old who may or may not have been ready for the N.B.A. beat, I was suddenly covering Wilkins, someone regarded among my high school friends as otherworldly. In the 1980s, Wilkins had us entranced when ESPN and CNN were in their infancies and disseminating game highlights nightly and nationally for the first time. David Casarez, one of my best friends, was the first person I knew with all the cable channels. He had the responsibility of getting as many dunks taped so we could all watch them later as a group.

So it was tricky for me sometimes to forget how I viewed him just a few years earlier once I was suddenly traveling to cover Wilkins just seven years after my high school graduation. Two everlasting highlights from that first season were sitting courtside for David Robinson’s 71-point game in San Antonio’s regular-season finale at the old Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena to win the scoring title and a March trip to Atlanta for Wilkins’s emotional return to the old Omni.

Robinson’s performance, with Madonna infiltrating the Spurs’ locker room after the game to see Dennis Rodman, had greater historical significance, but watching Wilkins score 36 points in a rare Clippers victory as a visitor to Atlanta will seem eternally surreal to me.

Numbers Game

34.2

Ben Simmons’s 34.2 percent free-throw shooting (25 for 73) in the playoffs was the second lowest in league history for players who attempted at least 50 free throws. Only Detroit’s Ben Wallace (18 for 66 in 2005-6) shot worse (27.3 percent).

52.1

The Houston Rockets had just a 52.1 percent chance of landing a top-four pick in last week’s draft lottery. The Rockets, to their great relief, wound up at No. 2 when they could have fallen all the way to No. 18 had they dropped out of the top four — courtesy of the pick-swap provisions of their 2019 trade with Oklahoma City to acquire Russell Westbrook for Chris Paul. Those provisions would have enabled the Thunder to stick Houston with Miami’s first-round pick, since they also control the Heat’s No. 18 selection through a separate trade. Oklahoma City prioritized rest and injury recovery for its best players after a 20-27 start and finished the season on a 2-23 slide, then ended up slipping to No. 6 in a draft many scouts say features a clear-cut top four. Cleveland (No. 3) and Toronto (No. 4) jumped into the top four to knock the Thunder down.

Charlotte and New Orleans are the only two franchises left in the 30-team N.B.A. that have yet to reach the conference finals after the Los Angeles Clippers did so this year in their 51st season in Los Angeles, San Diego and Buffalo. The Atlanta Hawks, in the conference finals for just the second time in the club’s Atlanta history, also originated in Buffalo. The Hawks spent less than 40 days of their inaugural season in what was known as the National Basketball League in 1946-47 as the Buffalo Bisons.

Paul George’s 41 points in Game 5 of the Western Conference finals established a career playoff high. Yet in the Clippers’ Game 4 home loss, George shot 0 for 6 from the floor in the fourth quarter on field-goal attempts that either could have tied the game or given his team the lead. Utah’s Donovan Mitchell, who endured a similar 0-for-6 finish in a 2019 playoff loss to Houston, is the only other player to do so since the 1997 playoffs, according to Stathead. Digitized play-by-play data for all games in an N.B.A. season was introduced in 1996-97.

36-17

The Hawks lost home-court advantage in the Eastern Conference finals by dropping Game 3 at home to Milwaukee, but Coach Nate McMillan still sports a 36-17 record (playoffs included) since replacing Lloyd Pierce on March 1. McMillan steered fifth-seeded Atlanta to upsets of the No. 4 Knicks and No. 1 Philadelphia in the first two rounds of the playoffs after failing to win a series in four consecutive trips to the playoffs with Indiana. Three of McMillan’s four Pacers teams got swept in Round 1.

Hit me up anytime on Twitter (@TheSteinLine) or Facebook (@MarcSteinNBA) or Instagram (@thesteinline).

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lostsolsdestinyblog · 6 years

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Destiny, matchmaking, SBMM, CBMM and the perspectives and attitudes of the different sides of the community

July 27, 2018

I'd like to take some time to talk about Destiny, matchmaking, SBMM, CBMM and the perspectives and attitudes of the different sides of the community. This has been an issue for a long time now and it's hitting another crescendo with not just the move back to 6v6 Quickplay, but this announcement from DMG and Derek Carroll today regarding matchmaking in QP. I've posted on this issue in the past and I think it's time to take another realistic look at matchmaking within the game and how it's working and who it's really benefiting. As I wrote in that post from way back when, there is a lot that goes into matching players in Destiny. Anyone who has continuously fast traveled on Mars to try to find an EP group understands that the first criteria the game tries to match players on is region. This is also the case in PvP as players like CammyCakes would use this pre-private matches to set up scrims and Trials players will change hosts to try to find more favorable opponents in different regions. So understanding that, it then branches out to many other factors in a complex algorithm to try to put players together. This will vary a bit from PvE where if there are no favorable matchups, the game can place players in their own instance and then matchmake others in from there. PvP obviously gets more complex, but the game is still trying to match players as quickly as possible because no one wants to sit in queues all day. Now here is where things get all wonky at least on the community end. Two of the bigger factors after region are SBMM and CBMM. These have both existed within Destiny matchmaking from day one despite claims that SBMM was only added in later on. While both did exist, they have been weighted differently throughout the course of the game sometimes favoring one more than the other. However, even with that knowledge it's not that cut and dry. Fireteams. As I stated in the post I linked, you can sing the praises of CBMM or SBMM until the cows come home, but neither can account for team compositions when players are going in grouped in a fireteam. Connection based matchmaking cannot account for players who are spread out all across the country or world who are in one fireteam together, just like it also can't account for the varying skill levels of all the players within a team. Could the game try to approximate and go from a median skill level? Maybe, but the other wildcard in all of this is that other players of similar skill or good connection quality have to be sitting in orbit in queue at the same 30-45 second window as you and not still be in a match or not in queue yet. All this has been. All this is, and all this will be again. That is a universal truth. Another universal truth is that someone is going to hate whatever system is in place while someone else loves it and that puts Bungie in the unenviable position of trying to make everyone happy when it's an impossible task. That is why ultimately I still believe the D1 approach of trying to find the right balance in weighting between the two was the best approach. Unfortunately the SBMM rebellion happened and ultimately it played a huge role in the direction Bungie went with D2. I don't want to rehash completely why I still believe the SBMM revolt was fundamentally wrong and the falsehoods of many of the claims, but I will speak on the initial complaint that lit the fuse and that was players feeling they were always in "sweaty" matches. This started with prominent content creators and was picked up and echoed by viewers. I know there is a tendency to lay the blame for everything players don't like about D2 at the feet of streamers and YouTubers and while this is not the case, they are also not without fault on some things. The general sentiment was that elite players couldn't ever relax and have fun because they were constantly "forced'' to play nothing but other elite players. The flip side to that coin of course is that their relaxing and having fun was achieved by smearing lower skilled players. This wasn't fun for those players and in year one of Destiny led to a very big problem of players just quitting out of matches as soon as the score even looked like it might get tilted (leading to the increased importance of SBMM in year 2). Unfortunately when the great SBMM revolt occurred, there was a lot of weight behind the message from very high profile people in the community and the other side just didn't have the same voice to speak with; which brings me to Destiny 2 and the past couple of days in particular. People like to say in loud voices the things players never asked for like crucible going to all 4v4, weapon changes, etc. And while technically that may be correct in the literal sense, the truth of the matter is that all the changes that happened with D2 were the developers trying to give players what they felt we wanted the game to be through all of our feedback. We didn't ask for 4v4, but what the community did ask for were games with better connections, and smoother play and going back to matchmaking, fireteams and all the variables of trying to group 12 players, lowering the player count to 8 allowed for a greater chance at better matchups. This was also the reason for the move to playlists rather than static game modes to queue for. On paper it is easy to see the upsides to all of it when weighed against player complaints from D1. Life is full of variables though and another is player population and as that dipped, it threw all of it out the window. There were no longer the extra players in queue from having 4 less in each match and only 2 playlists. The devs made a decision and they took a chance and it didn't work how they wanted. That happens and I give them all the credit in the world for owning that and resolving to make the game better. But going back to the split playlists, Quickplay and Competitive, this is something that bothered me before release and will lead into where we're at today. There was very vocal call for a ranked playlist in Destiny 2 and at launch many complaints from prominent players that Comp didn't go far enough and wasn't a true ranking system to show off skill. The reason this bothered me then is that we went through the SBMM revolt because elite players didn't like having to get sweaty all the time, but then in almost the same breath they're asking for ranked play. It made no sense at the time and we've seen this throughout D2 but really brought front and center since the last update that the ''elite'' players don't want to play ranked play. I was watching a stream yesterday discussing the topic and one of the things brought up was a top level PvP player who very publicly ''quit'' D2 earlier this year now ''loving'' Destiny again because they can go into QP and put up 60 kills. And to the credit of some viewers, it was pointed out that Quickplay maybe isn't all that fun for the lower skill players on the receiving end of those beatings, but the on stream reply was that casuals should play in Competitive if they want to play players their own skill level. And THAT is why I’m tilted on the subject enough to write about this again. Beyond the hubris of that statement, let’s really break it down. Elite players wanted a ranked playlist to show their skill, but found out they still hate actually having to play equal competition on a regular basis and it's more fun for them and entertaining for people who watch their streams and YouTube videos to see them throwing down monster games against lesser opponents. So if new or less skilled players want to play even competition and not have to not just sweat, but get their heads beat in every single match, their recourse is to play the ranked comp list that was meant for the high skilled players. FUBAR and ass-backward for sure, but it also fails to take into account that ''casual'' players can't play Control or Clash in the comp playlist. So where does that leave the game? From today's announcement that currently neither CBMM nor SBMM are functioning correctly and Bungie's response that for the time being they are going to let things lie and see how they play out, it seems that player populations over the final weeks before Forsaken are going to shape the eventual outcome. But at this point I think that it's clear that Quickplay and Competitive do not function as intended and it may be time to do a deep rethink on things there. I hate having to come to that opinion because I know how much Kevin Yanes and his team put into building ranked play, but if QP becomes the de-facto stomping grounds for the high skill crowd then where does it leave Comp? And this is where I would throw questions to the community. Does the community truly feel that the game comes down to survival of the fittest and there isn't a place for players who don't live and breathe crucible (or have time to no life grinding in PvE)? Or can we accept that the game can try to find a middle ground and have something for both types of player? The calls for the complete removal of SBMM were very clearly option one there in D1 and are fortifying that position these past few days. To state that casual players need to find someplace else to play is not something I accept or endorse and it is my hope that most of the people in this community wouldn't as well. The game can always be better. Matchmaking can always be better, but I would like to see solutions that don't leave behind one group or the other and to that end maybe it's time to rethink matchmaking completely. Thank you.

#Lost Sols #sbmm #cbmm #destiny #destiny 2 #bungie #crucible

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adeleymccormick1990-blog · 3 years

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