MUSINGS

Intellectual Derpism

Here wank becomes discourse and we whip out our conversational codpieces like gents to discuss the finer points of being an idiot. It is a more sophisticated and occassionally philosophical echo chamber where I pretend like the world outside it has no bearing on anything I consider to be reality and truth.

Happy Keiss Month Lol

For those who are confused, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers came with a card calendar. It's cheaply made and frankly just really disappointing BUT it's got Sqen's official blessing and so does literally any of Keiss' lines, dialogue, and just general refusal to be normal about Layle when given the chance to do his own thing. This is especially prominent in DFFOO. Yes, I do know it was probably written as them being extremely close, but I also know that if Keiss were given a fat rack, it'd consider so romantic. I'm a fan of Belle and Layle, but I also have my own weird biases that come with being gay myself.

Always Discord

I'm not expecting everyone to leave that platform that they're familiar with, but I wish they'd grow a spine if they're going to complain about it. That's the heart of me "so what are you going to do about it?" issue with it. I know that [Discord Clone] isn't going to be the same in the same ways that [Twitter Clone] is never going to be the same. It's designed to be different enough to make you feel good about leaving that data harvesting, privacy invading, tyrannical platform for one that is going to quietly sell your data, also invade your privacy, and then disappear with the cash in a few months. Most don't last a year and I wish people would get into their thick skulls that if a service does not charge you to use it, they are going to get their money from you by selling your data or bombarding your with ads.

That's not to say the world is a dark, hopeless place where we're all doomed to overstimulating mass group chats crammed full with more people than could sit at your average school lunch table. There are alternatives. I like XMPP but I also send 2k+ word emails to a friend of mine. I hate talking at length in places where you aren't really supposed to. Entire threads of conversations on [TWitter Clone], comment sections beneath someone else's topic, etc etc etc. Then, for because the universe hates me specifically for sure, it always ends up in a "do you have Discord?" And I do. I've had to because everyone else wants to use it and I don't want to be the reason someone else downloads yet another messaging app they'll only use for one person. I've had enough of that garbage in the army with KakaoTalk, WhatsApp, GroupMe, Signal, etc etc etc. Augh I hated needing to download a new app every time my squad leader changed.

One of the reasons why this is a problem is because you can find links to [Website Clones] all over the place. I'm mad guilty for that one, too. It just feel so incredibly damning to know that is just about the only option sometimes. Everyone wants to cash in on eX-Twitter users, bots plague the internet as a whole, and no one wants to use a site that won't spoon feed them their next dopamine hit. They want likes, reblogs, and to watch numbers climb. Constant pinging, pavlov'd by their own notifications. It just makes me paranoid thinking about how addictive it all is.

Why Follow Me?

I know that F4F is a pretty big part of online culture now, but I also wish people were a little more reserved with their following list. I don't always follow someone to be followed back. Usually I just like their content and, if they like my content, that's all good and great. It's when we're clearly on entirely different pages that I get confused. I am not angry or annoyed, I just don't get it. Why follow someone who doesn't post what you want to see? Do the numbers matter that much? We don't talk so ????? I wish I could beam the concept into their heads. "You don't have to follow me back." I get weirded out and it makes me act like a fool from time to time, too. Maybe that's what they're sticking around for hahaha.

It's one of the major drawbacks of Neocities and Nekoweb, in my humble opinion. The social features create this push and pull reaction with follows and links. I really don't like it. I don't want people to link me because I'm linking them. Moot culture IS annoying because it's often so parasocial that there is this sense of entitlement. "I didn't know my moots were like that!" Yeah, man, you didn't know them at all. That is why. They mistake it for friendship. If I don't know your favorite color, I do not consider you a friend. Maybe I can consider them an acquaintance at best if I care on a slightly more personal level, but that's sorta rare and often my own sin of parasocialization.

In an ideal world, no one would follow me out of obligation. We could exist in the same sphere while having complex lives and interests of our own that don't need to hinge on stupid little numbers. In that way, I miss when the internet felt smaller because it was a nearly impossible task to funnel most people online into a couple spaces. They've mastered the are of doing so via Twitter clones, though, and it's such a damningly successful format that you just can NOT catch a break wherever you go. Follow, repost, like, scroll, repeat. Keywords, algorithm, boosted, for you, recommendations. All I want is a quiet place at the edge of the internet where I can escape all that noise and push. I don't want to be the product. I don't want to be punished for not playing along with this stupid game.

That's Not A Baby Game

If you're like me and addicted to the kind of nonsensical things journalists can say out of willful ignorance about games, you might have been there for the guy who decided to pick Yoshi and the Mysterious Book as his effigy to burn in his case to be made about Nintendo pretty much only making games for babies. While I will admit Yoshi was made to be appealing to children first, I'd also argue it's a low entry barrier game. Just because something isn't mature doesn't mean adults can't enjoy it. Disney movies can be a great example of this since they do often, on some level, make attempts to appeal to the parents in the room. Insisting that something NEEDS maturity to be enjoyable is the mark of personal immaturity. It's the spiritual flailing of a child reminding everyone in the room they're a big kid now. If you want to play more mature games, it's okay to just say so without gigging a company for making games you wouldn't enjoy. Of course, I have the sneaking feeling anyone complaining about this sort of thing hasn't really played a game for their own enjoyment since they were a child. That's pretty depressing.