buru5

i wrote this essay, using the video game Romancing SaGa 2 as a springboard to tackle questions such as:

• “is life worth living?”
• “ought we eradicate all life to prevent suffering?”
• “is creating new life justified given the potential for suffering?”

if you read, let me know your thoughts here. thanks.

I'm self publishing a novel, releasing chapters as I write and edit them. The novel is a sci-fantasy influenced by JRPGs, 90s anime, Ancient Greece, and cyberpunk stuff like Samuel R. Delany's Nova. It's fairly derivative, wearing influences on its sleeve.

I've always wanted to write a novel, so I pulled the trigger and decided to Just Do It™. It has been a great learning experience thus far. I've released two chapters, and plan to keep releasing chapters between other projects I'm working on.

If you read any of it, please let me know what you think. I am kinda soft when it comes to my work, so if your feedback comes off as passive aggressive, meanspirited, insensitive, etc. I'll likely just ignore you.

registration is invite only at the moment, so please review the community guidelines then let me know if you'd like to join; i'll send you an invite link.

howdoyouspell.cool is an open community of writers who value privacy, autonomy, and creative writing – and, most importantly, we reject corporate interests and monetary incentives. We aim to be a no-pressure, polite community of writers from all walks of life, away from the ten-thousand-word user agreements of corporate-controlled platforms. If you consider yourself even the most amateur of writers, you’re welcome here. Too often, writers leave their work languishing in a folder somewhere – this community aims to change that by providing a safe space for expression without fear of ridicule or some big-word conglomerate stealing your words to power a fake-sentient SQL table.

example blog: https://howdoyouspell.cool/forrest/

i wrote a thing about Ariel Pink. but it's more of a wrestling match with the cognitive dissonance that comes with enjoying music that's made by gross people. kinda a "separating the art from the artist" thing, kinda not. bound to inspire some negativity from some, but the goal is to explore this weird dynamic that happens between art and artist and fan in an open, cordial way.

i started a new write freely instance. feel free to stat a blog there if you're interested. the community guidelines are outlined in pretty exact detail, so i encourage you to read through them to before joining. can have up to 2 blogs per user, no email required. focus on privacy and creative writing.

https://howdoyouspell.cool/cool/community-guidelines

it's that time of year again; time to let the semantics and the pedantics fly! because it's time for another round of ARBITRARY DEFINITIONS WRESTLING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RULES:

• a word/phrase/genre/etc. is provided, participants "discuss" how that word/phrase/genre/etc. should be defined. (keeping in mind that definitions should have some utility, otherwise they're just meaningless tags that tell the reader nothing; or don't keep this in mind, maybe you have a better theory on how words should be used ~ if so, tell us about it!)
• try to be nice

this week's definition is, "role-playing game." (pictured is the world's best role-plying game according to some experts.)

how do you define a "role-playing game" in video game terms?

i present to you our starting point; the so-called authority: the dictionary:

per Oxford Languages: "a game in which players take on the roles of imaginary characters who engage in adventures, typically in a particular computerized fantasy setting overseen by a referee."

let the semantics and the pedantics fly, it's round one of ARBITRARY DEFINITIONS WRESTLING.

(note that participating in ARBITRARY DEFINITIONS WRESTLING is foolish and, as such: i will not be participating. however, i may step in as referee to break up any fighting.)

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17152252

On Computer Games Monthly is back w/ the 2nd issue of the #fediverse’s only free unofficial gaming-slash-creative-writing magazine.

Inside you will find articles written by some of Mastodon's wackiest residents; nostalgic ramblings, societal critiques, personal stories, and fictional tales using #videogames as the delivery mechanism.

Issue #2 covers games released in and around December 2000 and features the following titles:

Dark Cloud

Pokemon Crystal

The Bouncer

Rollercoaster Tycoon

Guilty Gear X

Phantasy Star Online

Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo

----BONUS CHAO MINIGAME---- There is a small minigame in this issue; 16 bonus chao (yes, chao from the Sonic series) have been placed throughout the magazine. If you find them all: send me an email/message and I'll place you on the illustrious BONUS CHAO CHAMPION list on the archive!

https://archive.org/details/on-computer-games-monthly-december-2000-magazine

On Computer Games Monthly is back w/ the 2nd issue of the #fediverse’s only free unofficial gaming-slash-creative-writing magazine.

Inside you will find articles written by some of Mastodon's wackiest residents; nostalgic ramblings, societal critiques, personal stories, and fictional tales using #videogames as the delivery mechanism.

Issue #2 covers games released in and around December 2000 and features the following titles:

Dark Cloud

Pokemon Crystal

The Bouncer

Rollercoaster Tycoon

Guilty Gear X

Phantasy Star Online

Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo

----BONUS CHAO MINIGAME---- There is a small minigame in this issue; 16 bonus chao (yes, chao from the Sonic series) have been placed throughout the magazine. If you find them all: send me an email/message and I'll place you on the illustrious BONUS CHAO CHAMPION list on the archive!

https://archive.org/details/on-computer-games-monthly-december-2000-magazine

hot off the on computer games presses: a four chapter rant about capitalism with some personal stories mixed in

TLDR: which games do WEAPON BREAKING without making you want to tear your hair out?

i'm playing through Dark Cloud and had forgotten how tedious the weapon system is. weapons function as "leveling up" instead of using a traditional experience-based system. weapons need to be upgraded, fused, and repaired throughout the game. and a durability system dictates that once your weapon hits 0 durability, it breaks. broken weapons can cost you hours of gameplay if you're not careful. there's even the possibility of breaking all your weapons and starting from square one near the end of the game if you're not vigilant with repairs.

for Dark Cloud, this weapon system is a unique leveling system that differentiates itself from its action-rpg peers. it introduces a level of risk that keeps you alert while making weapons you've upgraded-and-maintained feel like valuable treasure. however, this system is also tedious to keep up with as weapon durability decreases quickly and repairs are time consuming.

after hours of playtime, i think i've isolated the reason why the weapon system is so annoying: menus. the entire system is menu-based. i often find myself pulling up the menu mid-battle to repair my weapon. there are automated repairs, but these require some setup. if Dark Cloud somehow incorporated more interactive ways (outside of a pause menu) to repair weapons or made weapon durability decrease at half the rate or made a broken weapon repairable (instead of gone for good), this would have gone a long way to reduce tedium.

games like Breath of the Wild are often criticised for similar weapon-breaking systems, and it got me thinking about the fact that i have NEVER seen a weapon-breaking system praised or even vaguely complimented.

are there any games that do weapon breaking especially well, and why?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/14812704

a short story / black comedy i wrote about gaming addiction and the value of digital treasures

if you read it, let me know what you think.

(written with over 70 footnotes that add context and flavor to the '90s-00s setting. some of the footnotes are paragraphs long. the footnotes are not necessary to understand the story as they function more as a way to break the third person perspective to provide context & personal stories around the various 90s-2000s things that pop up throughout the story. NOTE: if you read on the site, you can click a footnote number, then click the arrow after the actual footnote to take you back. you can also skip the footnotes entirely if breaking up the text takes you out of the story too much.)

a short story / black comedy about gaming addiction and the value of digital treasures