five things makes a post

[queenlua]

(1) fashion over function

it's a common joke that any couple will slowly "become the same person" over time—borrowing each other's verbal tics, clothing styles, and so on

with my recent acquisition of a North Face jacket i am that much closer to becoming my boyfriend, who as far as i can tell shops exclusively at REI's biannual "garage sale", which means it's entirely outdoor clothing brands (apparently Black Diamond is a favorite).

admittedly this is just a Seattle thing in general—once a dude from Toronto looked aghast at a photo of a big line in Seattle and asked "why are all those people dressed like that?"—meaning, yaknow, wearing all this outdoorsy shit even though they are definitely not presently in the outdoors. (i explained that on the west coast, Patagonia = Patagucci and they got even more confused.)

anyway, sigh, i am becoming the Seattle equivalent of Basic, but dude i can't help it, the jacket was really warm and fluffy and i love it uwu

(2) BIRB

i only went outside on Sunday for about five minutes, to pick up a delivery meal, but in that five minutes i got to see a COOPER'S HAWK GETTING MOBBED BY A HUGE FLOCK OF ROBINS LIKE RIGHT ABOVE MY HEAD OH MY GOSH SO COOL. i pointed the hawk out to the delivery driver and made her get hype too

(3) vidya games and artsy blather

my brief Stardew Valley addiction has got me thinking about compulsions, immersion, engrossment, and so on.

when people talk about their favorite books, movies, etc, they often say they "couldn't put it down"—they praise how they felt so immersed, skipped sleep because it was so good, and so on.

and i'm hardly the first one to point out that in game design, that same standard seems a little off. we call a book we "can't put down" a bestseller and interview the author on Oprah. we call a game we "can't put down" a gacha and write articles for the Times about how exploitative those games are.

furthermore, i'm not the first one to point out that the story in video games, even in "story-driven" games, is often objectively weak or hackish—it's a story you'd never sit through if it were a movie, it's too long and boring for that, but when it's doled out in little Skinner-box increments, little dopamine hits of reward, somehow we start thinking of it as good.

this was apparent in Stardew Valley—the story/writing is just not very good, at all, and yet i was still thrilled every time a cutscene came on, because aw yiss just boosted that relationship meter up another heart! like, even when i was actually cringing at some of the dialogue (Shane getting blackout drunk and moping about being "worthless" was the worst, but him immediately realizing the next day he needed a therapist was just Too Neat And Tidy And I Hated It), like—i was still grinding for those scenes nonetheless.

Stardew Valley was certainly engrossing the same way a slot machine's engrossing. is there a comparison to be drawn to thriller novels—slot machines on one end of the gradient, a technical report on the other, and thriller novels resting somewhere in the middle? or is there something categorically different about the way other mediums tend to handle these issues?

is engrossing the best thing a narrative can possibly be? is a thing that's good but not in excess? or more like a side-effect of something that's good?

i remember a friend telling me he loved Mushishi, said it was one of his favorite shows ever—but he only watched an episode or two at a time. because it felt chill, like the kind of thing you watch an episode of and think about, instead of binging it all at once.

ANYWAY, i would like to think about all this more and do a full post later. i think Breath of the Wild does a remarkable job of feeling rich and full while still letting me walk away, though maybe that means it's missing je ne sais quoi.

(another sidebar: it's interesting to think about how the way we categorize these kinds of games has changed over time. i remember when Harvest Moon was a perfectly respectable thing for a self-proclaimed "gamer" to play, but Farmville was gross and for n00bs. now mobile gaming is everywhere so the few self-proclaimed "gamers" i know who still insist mobile gaming is Not Real Gaming are losing traction, yet telling people you play Dragalia Lost vs some celebrity-branded Kardashian-esque game has subtly different "credibility" implications... i mean, i say this all as someone who has zero interest in the "gamer" community, but having grown up alongside it, it's fascinating to watch these changes.)

(4) fronds

an acquaintance is someone you can hang out and have a good time with. you can have a good time with a friend, too, but you can also be real with them—be vulnerable, be open, and so on.

it occurred to me the other day there's an S-tier of friend, where not only can you be vulnerable and such, but. when you catch up over lunch, they'll ask some questions about how life's going, and you'll notice that they're really listening to the answers—because they hone in on the breezy and glossed-over bits, they know you too well for that, and what they really want to know is—hey, how are you for real, no bullshitting allowed, we're friends here.

seattle BFF has earned said title for a reason, is what i'm sayin. it's such a nice tier of friend to have—we hadn't seen each other in a while because our schedules are stupid but whenever we catch up it's like no time passed at all. (honestly i have some great friends and i should thank them more often for their greatness. space lion theme plays, etc)

(5) onoes

there's an extremely alarming amount of power tool noises coming from downstairs, but i am too afraid to go down and look, or ask my landlord "wtf", because the last time this happened the answer made me feel worse not better

(having a literal mad scientist for a landlord/housemate sure keeps things spicy around here)

Comments

[a_j]

1.) Honestly I've finally gotten over myself in terms of "fashion." I wear mom jeans or leggings with long shirts and I just don't care anymore. I want to be comfortable, and the beauty standards of clothing seem to always entail being uncomfortable it seems. Like tight pants that fuck up your digestion and don't fit if your stomach isn't somehow flat. Luckily for me mom jeans have a pocket for my gut. ;P

But seriously, if the jacket is comf I say wear the jacket.

3.) This is a fascinating bit and I kind of wish it was its own post, because I'm interested in reading what other people have to say about it/how other people react toward it, specifically this part: "Is *engrossing* the best thing a narrative can possibly be?" I feel like I'm going to take that point into my small close-knit group discord and get some outside opinions.

I think the importance of an engrossing narrative changes depending on the medium. In literature, all you have is the narrative*, so if it's dull or overbearing it throws the entire work off. The audience is easily lost. But if you look at a video game or visual novel, even a movie or play, there are other facets to consider; the narrative is perhaps an important component, but it isn't the only one.

*There are other components but honestly if a narrative is not engrossing people put the book down? Like you can't even grow to like characters if the narrative is bad in a strictly text-based medium. At least in a visual novel you can see the characters and get attached a little that way; in video games you might have other things to keep your attention. But an engrossing narrative is what holds your attention in a book. I'm too tired to really get to the heart of this, or come up with other alternatives that would matter just as much in a book, but like an engrossing narrative trumps mediocre/dull plots and characters, I think? Not that they're not important, but they tend to be secondary. You can't get someone to like your amazing characters with a shit narrative, but an amazingly engrossing narrative will keep people around to the end even if your characters aren't the best. (inb4 people have imaginations and et cetera, so sometimes their own minds keep them engaged on the character front.)

4.) good friends are hard to come by. i don't have many but boy am i thankful for the ones i have.

[queenlua]

3) i am super-curious if the discorders bring you any enlightenment :)

i guess the only counterexample that comes to mind wrt narrative's importance in writing is perhaps the works of Virginia Woolf—but much as i liked her when i read her this past spring, i tried several times in high school to get into her and it just didn't click. like, you have to be... open to the idea that "oh there is no story here, i'm just supposed to soak in some vibes" to get into it. whereas anyone can appreciate a good story. whereas movies can be flashy/explosiony/whatever and still be compelling, games can be make-a-number-go-up-y and still be compelling... yeah, there's something to this framing i think~

[lassarina]

The Stardew Valley thing is fascinating to me because I play several gachas (with varying degrees of success at not spending the dolla), and I play FFXIV which as an MMO is explicitly designed around the dopamine hit, but Stardew Valley just did not grab me. It was the same kind of grind I got from Glitch, but without any of the charm that made Glitch my forever home that I still mourn.

(also, man, can we stop bitching about who's a real gamer? I am an avid gamer; I hate people who gatekeep; I have explicitly made it my mission to be the opposite of that. FFXIV has a system called mentoring that basically says you hit these requirements and accepted a secondary EULA and now you have a symbol next to your name and access to a special chat channel for newbies to ask questions, and I take it so seriously. Some people are like THIS IS MY DIGITAL DICK LOOK AT MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS but I am like, listen, people were so kind to me when I was learning, how can I help and improve your experience? and that's so crucial to me, for this hobby; I have always had friends and help and I am here to make it easier for people to get into it! stop shitting in my garden, random assholes!)

[queenlua]

(okay that FFXIV mentor system sounds really interesting? i don't know enough about MMORPGs/online games to write the post i'd like to about this, but there was a great thread a while back, where someone was arguing that the jankiness of early-days World of Warcraft was a feature rather than a bug, because folks built a sense of camaraderie out of teaching new people the janky shit they'd blundered through, and made it very "community"-feeling. similarly i've heard that Monster Hunter is one of the friendliest online games to play, which seems paradoxical because i hear those games have an absolutely brutal learning curve, but apparently it's so brutal that everyone sucks at first, and the only way you can fight the higher-level monsters is by teaching some scrubs to be less sucky. compare against, say, FPSes, which have a really transferrable skillset and more lone-wolf-ish... i think the way you can build systems to make communities great is so so interesting.)

[lassarina]

Hi yes it is me vs insomnia, answering ancient zombie comments!

I absolutely love the mentor system in FFXIV, and I further love that the game actively encourages old players to do old content. Like, when you load into a group instance, if anyone there hasn't cleared (and it's more than one patch/4 months old), it will tell you "one or more players has yet to complete this duty" and there will be specific bonuses for helping them clear; the bonuses depend on where you are in the game, but they can include money, items that buy Fancy Gear, experience points, etc. Apparently my server (which is perpetually one of the smallest) has an uncommonly kind and helpful newbie chat, but genuinely people are there to be like hi, how can I help you? And people are both great about providing short-term answers and long-term guidance, and if someone says "I need help" a bunch of people will pony up and go run the content with them, or answer questions about how to beat the boss, or whatever. It's honestly really delightful. And the game is constantly working to help new players catch up, with buffs to experience or alternative ways to get levels or what-have-you, and I'm going to stop before I rhapsodize into infinity, but there are just so many ways in which it is brilliantly designed and built for community, and ways the community has worked to make it stronger, and I love it.

[florescent_luminescence]

Yes watching birds of prey doing literally anything is one of life's best pleasures!

And wrt 3, I've been thinking of that sort of thing too recently. A book can suck you in an be un-put-downable, and (in my case bc I don't game) random internet stuff can also suck you in and be un-put-downable, but they don't really feel at all the same. For me, I feel like reading a book (or watching a good show or movie) "gives", while certain kinds of social media are more prone to "taking away". I'll feel compelled to finish a chapter and compelled to read through my tumblr dash but finishing the chapter feels good and scrolling has lately just made me anxious. I think this might be partly because books (and shows and movies and other things that are for telling stories) have a continuous arc that Goes Somewhere and has a definite end point, while internet stuff is fragmented (either posts read one after another don't connect to each other, or connected posts are scattered around and you have to piece the context together yourself) and ever-regenerating, so it doesn't have a coherent arc or end point, and you can't really "finish" reading it in the same way. Reading a book is more relaxing and gives me a sense of satisfaction and interesting things to think about. Social media lately has made me anxious, and while sometimes it too gives me interesting things to think about, there's a lot of worthless fluff too. (I also am more likely to use social media more if I am already anxious or otherwise in a bad mood, so that probably affects things too.) And of course there's that books won't look at you or talk back to you, and other people, including on the internet, do.

[queenlua]

Goes Somewhere and has a definite end point

that's a good point and i think a huge part of this, now that i think about it. for a while i would try to collect internet links and "group" them together, so i.e. i could read all the links about, idk, reverse-engineering in one go on a Saturday afternoon, and i noticed that was a more pleasant experience—it felt like i was learning a few perspectives on one coherent thing, rather than lots of random shit. and eventually i noticed i preferred cracking open a book about reverse engineering, to random links about it, and now i try really hard to crack open a book before anything else, even though the activation energy's greater, alas.

[florescent_luminescence]

Yes definitely! It takes more effort to start reading a book than to, like, google something and pick out links, but you get a more coherent and in-depth experience.