#keep on scrollin

[bigdealeightseven-a]

Sometimes I wonder why I even continue to write. Like... I honestly suck and I don’t know why I continue to RP...

[mrmeriwether]

Waiting til I have good pictures to use to make a proper post about this, but tonight God of War won a Golden Reel award for Best Gameplay Audio!! I got to go up on stage with a bunch of our team and it was generally very exciting. Super proud of everyone, and it's nice to have chances like this to really look back and realize how much cool stuff we get to do.

[mrmeriwether]

My thoughts re: cultural appropriation in Horizon: Zero Dawn, because I absolutely think it’s a discussion worth having.

First, the obvious disclaimers. I’m a white dude about to weigh in on cultural appropriation. I also worked on the game in question (I performed and edited a bunch of Foley for several of the game’s cinematics...cloth movement, armor, footsteps, weapons, jewelry, etc.). Also, mild spoiler warning I guess for the game’s general lore.

So does HZD hijack Native American culture (and stereotypes) in building its world? Yeah, absolutely. It barely takes a cursory glance of the characters’ outfits, weapons, and heavy-handed matriarchal brand of spirituality to confirm this. But as always, I’ve seen apologists coming out of the woodworks all over the the place defending it as necessary to the story and the world of the game.

And honestly? It is.

It is the bedrock upon which the game is thematically built. And the game does a surprisingly excellent job of selling it within its own context...but that’s missing the point entirely. 

This game doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It’s not enough to internally rationalize what it’s doing (you use a bow & arrow because it feels more tactile with the controller and lends itself to more immersive gameplay...characters have varied skin tones because they’re descendants of a modern day/near future America...Aloy is white because..... ehhhhhh.......). It’s not even enough to externally rationalize it either (Guerrilla is based in the Netherlands, at least we’ve got another strong female lead, at least we’ve got more POC characters than your average AAA title).

Because guess what? You shouldn’t be rationalizing something like this at all. It’s important to recognize WHY people are upset about this. Listen to them. Identify the problems. Accept that this is a weakness of the game, even when it enables so many of its other strengths. Learn from it. And if you’re in a position to do so, keep trying to do better. There’s a lot to love in Horizon, and you can still love the game while acknowledging the flaws. And if those flaws keep you from getting immersed and enjoying the game, don’t feel guilty for not wanting to play it or for sharing your perspective. Perspective is critical for creative works, and it continues to be one of the game industry’s great weaknesses.

[carry-a-world]

mmmm boy I really hate this cycle that my anxiety follows where inevitably either every few weeks, or maybe 2 months if I am Very Lucky, I hit that “my friends don’t like me” slide right into sad towns. of course I rationally know this is not true. I am very lucky to have wonderful people in my life that I love, and that love me back. but dude. dude. I will never be able to shake feeling like I am the second choice friend and it kills meeeeeee. especially because my social circle is even more limited than it normally is, I’m an introvert, my friend group has always been small. now it’s just my roommate, my other friend who is roommate’s friend/not SO but almost SO that I became friends with, and very rarely my other best friend who lives in town, but I don’t see much outside of work because we all work in a COVID testing lab and therefore are responsible bitches who social distance.

but what this amounts to is me being alone A Lot. roommate works many more hours than me, comes home for dinner, and then every night pretty much pops off to hang out with other friend. usually once a week all three of us hang out. the rest of the time, it is just me (and now my psycho cat) alone in the apartment day in and day out unless I get to go in to work and socialize with the one other person I’m working with. so yeah roommate bounces off and I only see her at bedtime or dinner time, neither of which times she’s generally got the juice for my chattiness, I am dying. I might be introverted but I need to talk to humans 😭 plz, I want to be included. also just massively bummed because I was supposed to go see my SO this weekend for our 5th anniversary but someone in his fam got COVID so I couldn’t and it SUCKS. FUCK THIS WHOLE GODDAMN YEAR.

[mrmeriwether]

So wait remind me,

How am I supposed to meet new people when the people I'd want to meet are ALSO staying home all night watching junk on the internet?

[mrmeriwether]

Look GameStop I dunno what your marketing team was thinking but every time I see the slogan “Do summer like a gamer should” I can feel myself losing brain cells.

[mrmeriwether]

Had a chance to see Your Name while it’s still in theatres, and it’s got me feelin all sorts of feelings. What a good film.

[mrmeriwether]

Okay but can anyone explain why I was up til like 2am watching a 12-part YouTube series dissecting the flaws in a trash harem/action anime that got soullessly pumped out last year?