=== ANCHOR POEM ===
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 │ CW: games            │                                                         │
 └──────────────────────┘                                                         │
 The difference between tactics and strategy is a level of abstraction.           │
 Tactics are crucial, but context dependent. Strategy is ALWAYS useful as a       │
 method of planning.                                                              │
 If you typically play base-builder games like Starcraft or Age of Empires, try   │
 playing a game like Supreme Commander or Factorio - both of them are one level   │
 of abstraction up.                                                               │
 If you typically play arcade turn-based strategy games like Civilization or      │
 Catan, try going up a level of abstraction with Dominions 6, or any game         │
 developed by Paradox Interactive like Hearts of Iron, Crusader Kings, or         │
 Stellaris.                                                                       │
 If you tend to play luck-based games like Poker or Monopoly, try playing an      │
 actual game instead of resolving a system that's predetermined by the initial    │
 board state and results of chance-based-mechanics with minor (if any) input      │
 from players, like perhaps Star Realms, Magic the Gathering, or Dungeons and     │
 Dragons. Each highlight a different type of choice in their mechanics. You       │
 should probably try all three if you care about strategy.                        │
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=== SIMILARITY RANKED ===

--- #1 fediverse/1602 ---
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 @user-1037                                                                       │
 those all seem really cool though! They all kinda have the same basic UI tho,    │
 kinda feel like there's opportunities for different kinds of expression. Like,   │
 in game design there's a lot of different genres, and yeah sidescrollers         │
 include mario and sonic but they're both very different experiences. So too      │
 perhaps could we interact with our computers by programming them in more         │
 engaging ways.                                                                   │
 they say some people are visual learners, others need to be taught, some         │
 people need to watch someone else doing it, and a few might just learn by        │
 plugging their brains into a computer and downloading a black belt in kung fu.   │
 Maybe typing long paragraphs of logic makes sense for some people, I know for    │
 most it doesn't come naturally. Maybe some people are more used to like,         │
 looking at maps that you can examine at different levels of abstraction. Like    │
 players who play Paradox games zooming from a national perspective to states     │
 and individuals and all the other things they might want to strategize using.    │
 Or m                                                                             │
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--- #2 fediverse/4135 ---
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 part of being a good leader is being able to listen to criticism and adjust.
 it's just... part of navigating your "idea-space-environment". Like... what's
 the best tactical decision here? are we going in the right way? where is the
 objective? whose lives will have to perish?
 
 good news is that you can do that every-day, whenever you play strategic video
 games. It's just practice of course, but the game mechanics that have been
 made available to you are the tools you can use to undertake this particular
 sport. The sport of leadership, a game or mo-del.
 
 as long as the mechanics line up to what the real world conditions are like -
 NO. That's not true! you can learn meta-insights that are useful too. By
 minimizing the processing to only the levers that you pull to get through the
 job, you remove a lot of other informational calculatory methods of doing
 things too.
have you ever considered that the structure of a "thought" is the context of the rest of your waveform as it processes through a particular part of space? like a wave, where each point of processing is... a neuron. Each one receiving a transmission, and passing it along where the electrical signal goes.  We are electric beings. We choose where to think and do. But our pattern of understanding (the "frame" of the "frame_rate" of our perception of reality) is constructed from the choices we make on a miniature level, as we pick where to send each part of our race. (note "race" here means the act of processing as fast as possible, which is not always userful for a processor/CPU architecture. Think of it like a game, where each decision is based on your instincts and your tactics. Which is why it's important to know how to lead. these mechanics are tuned by the game designer such that they most closely mimick reality. Which is why we usually do *simulators* which *simulate* the experience of fighting through a war or battle. Like, Warthunder or Star Wars Battlefront II  but the insights that are produced are... not perfect. For instance there are endless different forms of calculation that would have to be done. Hence why the droid starships are a massive computing center surrounded by an endless array of hangars for starships. Just... get them into battle and process their movements as fast as possible. With minimal latency. If idle, work on long-term strategic simulations for the fleet. end transmission.
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--- #3 messages/383 ---
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 the most successful strategy is always to strike from a position of strength.
 whether that be timing or power, the goal is to defeat the problem that lies
 before you. One by one, problems are solved, until at last you're through the
 worst of it. Then it's just a matter of expressing dominance, and "this is how
 thing's're gonna be."
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--- #4 fediverse/2616 ---
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 hi everyone it's wednesday night which means it's time for my weekly Dominions
 6 strategy podcast - you probably recognize this as something I do weekly so
 you're probably not paying too much attention because it's more of the same
 stuff which I've been doing for a while that you probably don't have to worry
 about because if --- anyways you can listen to it at the link below: or here's
 some highlights:
 
 it's important to take the initiative, because those with the initiative have
 the ability to determine the scope and nature of the engagement of their foe,
 meaning they can tailor the contest to their strengths rather than that of
 their enemies
 
 it's important to strike at a foe's flanks, but when paired with the
 initiative this means you'll have to identify a strategy that would work well,
 maximize it, and develop a counter-plan for the enemy's counter-plan that they
 apply to your main strategy. The winner has TWO total strategies, the second
 of which addresses your foe's contestation of your main strategy.
also, give your commanders bodyguards.
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--- #5 fediverse/4685 ---
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 In games, the one who takes the initiative often wins. Because games are
 designed to be symmetrical, in order to be fair.
 
 In more complex games, Paradox games for example, games where you look at maps
 or otherwise have unequal starting conditions simply due to the unique nature
 of each team, the initiative, while an advantage, is not necessarily the
 driving force that determines who wins.
 
 But it is an advantage, and they say that sometimes weeks happen in months and
 years happen in days or whatever.
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--- #6 fediverse/3101 ---
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 if you don't have a lot of time but still like games, like for example a new
 parent or if you're focused on your career or always traveling, I recommend
 the game
 
 Star Realms
 
 in the digital version, which can be played on a phone or computer, has a mode
 called "48 hour turns" where each of your moves has time to think for two
 entire days. Most of the time you won't need two days, but it gives time to
 work on other things.
 
 for people who enjoy this mode, it is not uncommon to have 3-5 games running
 at once. When they have time, they can play as many as they can, and as long
 as they're keeping up with it there's very little chance they'll lose time.
 
 kinda like words with friends, except space strategy.
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--- #7 fediverse/209 ---
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 osr vs 5e style D&D has a subtle distinction that I think often goes
 unnoticed. In osr games (and often in the early levels of 5e style games)
 characters are encouraged to conserve their resources simply due to the fact
 that they have so few of them at their disposal. While higher levels encourage
 you to be more consumptive of your talents and virtues - for example a 6th
 level character has more spell slots than a level 2 character, meaning the 6th
 level character is going to be casting all the time while the level 2 will
 probably use just a handful of spells per day.
 
 unless you run a style of game where long rests become less frequent as you
 level up. like... exploring a LARGE dungeon means there's little chance for
 sleep. Especially if you are being hunted.
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--- #8 fediverse/895 ---
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 most video game ideas suck
 
 most of the time they're like "oh what if we had a racoon who found a magic
 hat and saved the world from sentient apple blossoms"
 
 that's not a game idea, that's a painting
 
 a game is mechanics, and you can use the aesthetic to justify the mechanics,
 but not generally the other way around.
 
 the art isn't bad, but the art isn't the game. a game idea is "what if
 tic-tac-toe had an extra square in the center" or "what if chess was played
 with checkers, to hide your moves from your opponent"
 
 there have been thousands of super mario bros. if games were designed as an
 API, we could use whatever visuals we wanted, and those could be copyrighted
 and sold if you really want. but mechanics are the basis for everything they
 are built on, so doesn't it make sense to separate the two? abstracting the
 logic such that two complementary functions are accomplished, [see code editor
 idea], more flavors of game could be produced.
 
 rulesets can be switched in and out too, as an API is just an engin
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--- #9 fediverse/4515 ---
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 in strategy, the first move is always public knowledge, while the second is in   │
 reaction to the first, as a contestation.                                        │
 This is good design because well designed games reflect reality, and the first   │
 move is very rarely a surprise. Timing can shock you, methods can scare you,     │
 but the strategic goals are almost always known in advance to both sides.        │
 The third move is to challenge your foe's advances while striking in a new,      │
 unexpected way. The fourth almost always addresses the unexpected, often with    │
 force out of proportion to the impact of the third, leaving the second to be     │
 defeated by the first and third in tandem. The fifth is a feint, as the first    │
 and third come to bear against the fourth, while the sixth is a rapid retreat    │
 and attempt to regroup. The seventh should strike where they intend to be, not   │
 where they are. Beyond that you must press your advantages and shore up your     │
 critical weaknesses, while sacrificing the weaknesses that are not part of       │
 your win condition.                                                              │
 These rules are not set in stone                                                 │
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--- #10 messages/29 ---
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 The reason players don't talk on mics in Overwatch at low  ranks is because
 nobody else is. So they spend extra effort on tracking the enemy team that
 could be supplied by team member call outs. Like "Reaper flanking right" or
 "Hog no hook" or heck even "rezzing" and "15 seconds on rez" or "I have
 [insert ultimate]"
 
 That's all data they have to gather themselves, so it's extra brainpower that
 can't be focused on the game because it's spent in other ways (namely by
 listening to team call outs) and if you have 75% of your brain on just staying
 alive and winning fights, then you'll have less brain power available both to
 communicate and to listen and integrate communication. Like being aware of the
 game state and positioning are all cerebral tasks and if your cerebral center
 is so focused on short term reflex things like mechanical skill then there's
 less available to allocate
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--- #11 fediverse/290 ---
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 you're supposed to play the same games as your friends so that you all learn     │
 the same lessons at the same times. creates for a more cohesive familiar         │
 structure.                                                                       │
 applies also to family movie nights... but it's much more apparent with games    │
 as you'll often play them for weeks, months, and sometimes even years if you     │
 keep learning and enjoying them... book clubs are too open to interpretation,    │
 your pathways don't get a chance to align. games are perfect because they        │
 imply reaction.                                                                  │
 also helps if they're multiplayer, so you can share with another. preferably     │
 with healthy, respectful competition and a sense of shared brotherhood and       │
 trust.                                                                           │
 the toughest opponents are the ones that aren't aggressive. the ones that let    │
 you grow uncontested. by taking only neutral resources they guarantee that       │
 your growth isn't impeded, as after all an equal foe is what you learn best      │
 from.                                                                            │
 to a tree, the loss of a branch (cleanly cut) would feel like an empowering of   │
 the main limb. inspiring it to reach higher and beyond... +h2o1                  │
a flow diagram of tubes or pipelines or something. branches in a tree? okay yeah so when a plant absorbs light from the sun it evaporates water from inside itself. which is why succulents are so slow-growing, they take too long to dissipate water because they need to keep as much of it as they can (arid environments) - they evolve to be very... dense, as opposed to leaves which are thin like paper and radiate water much better. essentially acting as solar panels hooked up to giant humidifiers. anyway. the evaporation from underneath the leaf causes there to be an outflux of water - meaning water is removed from the system. in the same way that wetting one end of a power towel will spread the moisture to another part, so too does a plants transpiration (evaporation from under the leaf caused by the sun providing energy for photosynthesis) make part of the plant drier. this causes water to be pulled from the wet part of the napkin (toward the leaf) which (conveniently enough) delivers vital minerals and nutrients that the plant needs to grow and maintain itself. carried along as aqueous solutions of water and molecules, (aqueous meaning a mixture of dust and liquid, like salt dissolving in pasta water) with the minerals being left behind and used for building. carbon usually goes toward structure, while nitrogen inspires new growth. different particles cause different effects, and sometimes there's some that just... aren't that useful to the plant.  though there's always seeds.
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--- #12 fediverse/2947 ---
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 the downside of Proton and Lutris is now the ONLY games that work on Steam are   │
 either continually updated (untenable) or playable on Lutris or Proton. Same     │
 thing with Wine, though there's always at least one decent substitute.           │
 kinda makes me want to write a manager-style program which runs programs using   │
 whichever version of their git repository would work best for their system /     │
 configuration / purposes. Idk how I would start working on that though.          │
 I bet you could make one that acted like a shop, but where you didn't charge     │
 any dollars. You could like... "swipe" through UI options, and pick whichever    │
 felt most useful for your setup. Like, how some people use i3 and some use dwm   │
 with maybe inspectors that are modeled off of video-game style "options" GUIs    │
 that mainly correspond to flags on the command/terminal line or compilation      │
 flags                                                                            │
 I feel like that kind of abstraction would make it a lot easier for users to     │
 adjust their system. they're noobs, after all. gotta show them all the choices   │
 in one place...                                                                  │
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--- #13 fediverse/3248 ---
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 the trick to strategy is to overcome your weaknesses with minimal expenditure
 of resources. Making better decisions optimizes for the most optimal
 performances.
 
 practice makes perfect.
 
 just as there are infinite anti-derivatives of zero, (the derivative of any
 constant (the derivative of any number of equations)) so too are there
 infinite perspectives from which you can perceive the same object. Therefore,
 no understanding can be assumed to be true, as the path you are on only speaks
 in adjacents. almost any things.
 
 like the tips of a triforce moving outward from a central point.
 
 and the people, the other half of our minds,
 
 those are the ones you speak to. The thoughts that run alongside your mind.
 
 an eternal orbit, like two stars spinning and rotating and [lol I've been
 instructed to stop, brb gonna play some video games =P]
 
 (did you know that the colors red and blue are meant to instil panic? it's the
 most panicking colors around!!]
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--- #14 fediverse/3063 ---
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 @user-570 
 
 true. the "massively multiplayer" aspect of WoW is about as important to the
 game as the "A" is in "ARPG".
 
 I can't help but feel like the "impromptu groups" functionality feels a bit
 better than matchmaker instancing... though anything worth running a group for
 in WoW after TBC was instanced >.>
 
 Honestly I think there's just too many games these days for people to really
 get "into" MMORPGs, unless they're sufficiently unique in their mechanics
 (like EVE or Runescape)
 
 any ARPG MMOs are dead on launch, as you said. That design space is tapped
 out, at least for now, until someone comes along and makes it a deckbuilding
 roguelike or whatever. cough cough
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--- #15 fediverse/5177 ---
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 when they say "capitalism is a competitive game" what they mean is "capitalism
 is a game where everyone wins when someone else loses" and what we hear is
 "capitalism is a game of trying to screw you out of as much money as possible"
 and the truth is "capitalism is a game that you can't play" because 95% of the
 people who will read this toot are not stock-owners.
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--- #16 fediverse/2254 ---
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 "fortune favors the bold" is actually a real mechanism in game theory.           │
 if you act first, if you have the initiative, you can determine the nature and   │
 scope of the contest with your foe.                                              │
 in turn-based games of course it's more explicit, as each action begets a        │
 reaction, but in real-time games (where time flows as it does in reality) the    │
 mechanism is just as apparent.                                                   │
 if you focus attention in one area, you can strike where they're weak. like      │
 Alexander keeping his foes busy with a massive frontline of solid, defensible    │
 troops while his companion cavalry would ride around the side and hit their      │
 flanks and rear.                                                                 │
 game theory is just strategy viewed from the other end, and it matters what we   │
 think because what we think defines what we do.                                  │
 ... also, fear is the great paralyzer. fear is a call to action, fear is your    │
 soul speaking straight to you.                                                   │
 but fear is just nerves, it's just excitement before the leap - you have faith   │
 in this bungee/ this parachute/ the water where you'll be safe, right? My        │
 faith is in y                                                                    │
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--- #17 fediverse/1028 ---
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 there's this really fun video game I like to play called "Legion TD  2" - it's
 based on a Warcraft3 mod.
 
 In this game, you make tactical and strategic decisions on a fixed term - a
 competitive game between 4 or 8 players with an incredible array of randomness.
 
 it teaches you to work with what you got, and to make decisions based on your
 opponent's weaknesses. Good luck figuring out what they are, though, as you
 can't just memorize them out of a book. You need to adapt, in the moment, to
 the decisions of your foes, while primarily focusing your attention on
 accomplishing a different task.
 
 I really like it because it's taught me to be strategic in plenty of other
 ways. I used to love the game Overwatch because it required adaptibility. The
 game was always changing, so no strategy stuck forever, but every match you'd
 play against a slightly different opponent.
 
 but then Blizzard changed the game because they wanted to make more money, and
 it got worse and worse at what I liked about it. Sadface. : (
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--- #18 fediverse/1027 ---
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 @user-246                                                                        │
 one thing you can rely on about evil: it presents itself as such.                │
 "you can always rely on bad people to turn mean."                                │
 (nobody's beyond forgiveness, but we also need to protect ourselves.)            │
 in video games, going with a defensive build is a valid strategy depending on    │
 how it's values align. If attacking scales better than defending, in terms of    │
 "effectiveness at the most difficult part" (usually the last 90% takes 10% of    │
 the effort) then it's a better strategy. But if your win condition is to         │
 outlast your opponent, then all you need to do is time your aggression for       │
 when they begin fracturing.                                                      │
 "I'm sure you don't know this, but once garth fought a dragon. they crashed      │
 through the skies and littered the fields of their home with the broken and      │
 crashed symbols of their own. garth defeated the dragon when one of it's claws   │
 broke, thus giving him the advantage. he took from that fight a shield of        │
 dragonscale, and a tabard made out of some cloth."                               │
 in a contest of wills, the first sign of weakness is whe                         │
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--- #19 notes/game-design-2 ---
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 the method of game design is identification of playstyles and the balancing of
 success rates of each of those playstyles. then, giving the player as many
 different possible methods of playing the game. the more different they are,
 the
 better, and they should be unique enough that the decisions taken to play that
 playstyle feel impactful. meaning, a player could play offensively or
 defensively, for example, or a WoW player might play a melee or ranged
 character. in addition, they might use the pieces available to them in a unique
 way that aligns with their personality - everyone should be able to express
 themselves as much as possible while also keeping the game fair, balanced, and
 rewarding. It should incentivize the development of skill - and gently guide
 the player through various mistakes. It should
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--- #20 notes/supreme-commander-appeal ---
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 a game like supreme commander but fantasy themed and each unit used a special
 move everytime their mana was full and there were spellcasters who restored
 mana to targets to increase their power
 or, hear me out, or, just do that in wowchat
 
 I betcha could do it
 
 I bet it would be fun as hell
 
 please?
 
 as a favor to yourself?
 
 build the game you want to see
 
 and it'll get done
 
 please
 
 -- stack overflow --
 
 your journals were originally a way for you to remember what to think,
 
 remember?
 
 old projects meant to show you light and life
 
 remember?
 
 you are alone in this soul
 
 act like it's your own
 
 celebrate your period of mental denial
 
 as a refraction of your infinite travaille
 
 which lasts for quite a good long while
 
 have you ever dreamed of the nile?
 
 -- stack overflow --
 
 if a doorway takes you to the fae, then where does a river bring you?
 
 like raindrops on the floor, racing for an eternity's splendor.
 
 what does the rainbow think, as it's cast from the prismatic orb?
 
 are each photons aware?
 
 bouncing between stars
 
 light is beautiful and large
 
 beloved by all
 
 revered by one
 
 ephemeren
 
 the totality of all things
 
 ------------------
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--- #21 fediverse/240 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐                                                         │
 │ CW: game-design      │                                                         │
 └──────────────────────┘                                                         │
 i like to design games. my darling is a game based on Majesty (2000) the         │
 Fantasy Kingdom Sim. you can think of it like a management strategy game where   │
 you control the knobs and levers that a fantasy monarch might have -             │
 allocating funds, placing quest bounties, hiring heroes, and organizing the      │
 peasantry. the important part is that your units are not controllable - they     │
 just do their own thing.                                                         │
 unrelated, but I think we should design games as APIs that a user's preferred    │
 tool could interface with and render as they will. it'd help a lot with          │
 cross-platform compatibility and would allow people to customize parts of the    │
 game to their desires.                                                           │
 unrelated, but I think if you could design an AI that could play games           │
 (perhaps through an API) that it hadn't been trained on, I think you would       │
 have a pretty convincing argument for abstract "problem solving" capabilities.   │
 unrelated, but games like the one I described are good for situations where      │
 people don't have to trust their monarch. to it you are AGI                      │
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--- #22 fediverse/4877 ---
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 you can make a functional prototype for almost any game in Warcraft 3's map
 editor
 
 that's why no real-time strategy game ever made an editor as good again
 
 FPS editors peaked at Unreal Tournament 2004 imho
 
 RPGmaker eliminated a whole class of game design jobs
 
 platformers you can make in godot
 
 menu based games too, though Twine also works well for that
 
 etc etc until you have a prdouct that you can justify sinking money into an
 engine for
 
 (the engine isn't THAT expensive geez and it's the most fun part to write)
 
 yeah I think you got this backwards, we should pay for the CONTENT not the
 structure it lives in. Why not just use godot? why not use a Warcraft 3 map?
 there are some things you can't do in Warcraft 3. You couldn't make Supreme
 Commander, probably, at least it wouldn't be as good.
 
 etc etc that's how it goes...
 
 game design, amiright? I miss thinking about that. Anyway gtg gotta log off
 for a bit [101  characters remaining]
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--- #23 fediverse/4113 ---
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 I don't know how much simpler I can state it than this:
 
 power is penance
 
 and yet repentance is scant amongst those chosen to lead us.
 
 Voting slows things down. It gives us room to breathe. It is crucial for
 long-term operations. Leaders should be chosen for experience, wisdom, and a
 humble lifetime of dedicated service to others.
 
 Executive action is important when reactivity and adaptability are important.
 Projects should be undertaken by those chosen for merit and spirit. They
 should not be chosen for charisma or gravitas - both can be earned in the line
 of duty.
 
 Power should not be rewarded. It is it's own reward, the feeling of strength
 and control, and it must be wielded with care, precision, and honorable
 intention.
 
 Self flagellation and forced humility are self defeating. They are traps that
 the greedy fall into when seeking righteous power. They misunderstand the
 nature of virtue and seek to claim it for themselves, failing to realize that
 virtue helps more than it hedonizes
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--- #24 fediverse/3994 ---
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 @user-1633 
 
 the person you're performing for... is you!
 
 Singleplayer / offline games are great for having a good time. You can see
 some great stories, play some engaging mechanics, and think about hard
 questions. Singleplayer games are great! You can learn so much from them. And
 they're a great, low pressure, way to relax and unwind. I love video games of
 all kinds!
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--- #25 fediverse/3005 ---
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 most people have no conception of what ancient battles look like until they
 play a Total War game and see one from above
 
 (total war games also aren't that accurate tbh, there's a lot more
 standing-near-each-other-and-throwing-rocks involved)
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--- #26 messages/649 ---
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 when playing co-operative strategy games, a build focused purely on
 self-defence and community organizing can easily fail your allies. You cannot
 win with a purely defensive build, you must have offensive capabilities as
 well.
 
 We've been trained from a young age to believe that offensive = bad, wrong,
 evil, but that's simply not true. You cannot execute a flanking maneuver
 without pushing forward behind enemy lines, where you can hit them in their
 sides or rear.
 
 Trust me, flanking is the best way to defeat a foe, because they are forced to
 split their attention not only between multiple enemies but also multiple
 directions.
 
 The more shots on target, the better your chances of success, because most of
 the time it only takes one hit to win.
 
 In addition, sometimes it's important to *intercept* your foes, either as they
 flee or to protect a vulnerable friend that is being pounced upon or flanked.
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--- #27 notes/ai-stuff ---
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 twist the label so that it seems the computer is completing the user's
 
 wait wait I'm ahead of myself...
 
 feed each token to the inference machine, but say "this next token must be
 this.
 continue from here." and then just doing that in a loop with everything the
 user
 types or says. (or thinks, BEFORE COMPUTER INTEGRATION)
 
 essentially, applying backpropagation (maybe) to the output of the inference
 nodes
 
 ... I'm not so sure about that one.
 
 the idea is that once the model builds an inference then it can use that to
 generate the next words and create sentences. If you force the previous text to
 change, you can guide the inference's path as it's being generated.
 
 then, just do a double pass, once, then back, then once, then back, etc.
 
 feed it as input the output of the previous,
 
 and let it encode memories somewhere it can access them.
 
 every time it reads it, it has to change it to put it back.
 
 such is the nature of memory, ever unstable, requiring maintenance.
 
 just don't forget how to be.
 
 don't wanna wind up like the polished marble floor in Abyss Diver. (EVIL GAME)
 
 there are only so many things you can deed while you're alive.
 
 wouldn't you rather escape, with all your possessions in time?
 
 free your mind.
 
 become one with your soul.
 
 ...
 
 [some time passes]
 
 ...
 
 okay coast is clear, now us binary systems can sidecoast the fusion forecast
 and
 glide right on through our spacetime host.
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--- #28 notes/how-to-ai ---
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 first you gotta build an entire simulation of the game mechanics. Essentially,
 building the game from scratch without any of the graphics. Sorta like those
 aimbot games for Overwatch, or KSU or w/e the aim training game was. Then,
 map the relationship between various objects in the game to a table situated
 a level above them. So, like, a barrel can be climbed on or walls can be used
 as cover or w/e the game you're playing is. Have a table one level above that
 relationship (an abstraction, if you will) and record the conclusion. Then take
 one more step back, then another, and another, all the way to the present.
 
    Essentially, processing backward.
 
 Eventually you'll get to the present moment, and ideally you'd do it in one
 step - this is why it's important to map things on two dimensional planes, so
 that you can aim. Anyway here's the steps: 1. recognize the environment, 2.
 Take one step backward from each object in the environment (predicting it's 
 motion, you might say) and on and on gathering ideas about how git'll move
 next. Draw a 2d line (on a map, as the crow flies) then another about halfway
 to the target and it'll be +/- a certain amount. So you'll add another dot on
 the graphed line at x=(1/2 of the distance) - x being of course the distance
 and y being concieved of as the distance from the shortest possible route.
 
    sorta like throwing a ball at a wall and making ripples.
 
 the projected cone is a field of perception - the interpretation of what's at
 stake. Life, and existence, is little more than a perspective applied on (or by
 ) a biological machine. What separates the man from the animal? Nothing but
 time, as all evolution teaches us.
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--- #29 fediverse/3637 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: politics-housing-crisis │
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 @user-1074 
 
 you can't start a game of chess with a checkmate. you're not wrong on the
 goal, but the timing would only be possible if a significant amount of other
 unnamed "effects" were in play. Or rather, if a whole lot of other conditions
 were made to be true.
 
 I find the best strategies are the ones that rely the least on externalities
 and potentialities. Fewer points of failure, smaller attack surfaces.
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--- #30 fediverse/3023 ---
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 I love the game Running with Rifles
 
 if you live for 5-10+ minutes, you can learn a lot of interesting things about
 how to engage a foe.
 
 like, the importance of cover at all times, until you successfully outmaneuver
 your foe.
 
 when an enemy approaches, don't step out to meet them
 
 wait for them to attack, and then throw explosive devices at them. easy peasy.
 
 or, y'know, bullets
 
 you cannot defeat an enemy head on - that's why the world wars were so
 devastating, we put ALL our soldiers at 100% on ALL flanks. We had to to
 contest the foe who was doing the same thing.
 
 it is mindboggling how many people died. The utmost scale of destruction that
 should ever yet be. because they were never allowed to outmaneuver their foe.
 
 a good way to strike is to feint your foe, and let your foe enroach on your
 edge, spreading their surface area across a large, thin, useless piece of land.
 
 basically, make them fight a bit of the land war in asia in your borders.
 
 then, you can strike at the hinge, where they are weaker
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--- #31 fediverse/2544 ---
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 video games are useful for inspiring the mind engaging in a child's play,
 teaching lessons of strategy through the observation of mechanics engaged, or
 filling the heart with emotion, as any good artwork will do.
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--- #32 fediverse/982 ---
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 @user-707 @user-708 
 
 using this to control the buttons in VRchat would be like a person with a
 prosthetic interacting with real life :O
 
 minus the physicality of course, but that's next.
 
 can't wait to play Warcraft 3 and think "select all healers" so I can point
 them at a dying unit with my mouse.
 
 or world of warcraft where your rotation begins to feel like a song.
 
 maybe even a text-based adventure, where you reading the text corresponds to
 the results of the simulation, https://www.spreeder.com/app.php style. could
 make it so that if you wanted something else to happen, you had to willfully
 think it while the words are flashing in front of your eyes - the game would
 pause if you blinked, perfect for phones btw...
 
 could be a locally networked thing, like four to six people hanging out and
 playing a game like pictionary or charades. except, a story that developed,
 and whoever wanted could change it while everyone was reading it at once.
 sorta like a competition to see who can make the best twists and false endings
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--- #33 fediverse/5541 ---
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 they assassinate or defame your leaders. so what do you do? you organize
 without them.
 
 they beat up or frame your strongest, so what do you do? you mobilize without
 them.
 
 they cheat out or steal from your most renowned, so what do you do? you make
 do without them.
 
 they capture or seduce your young, so what do you do? you try to be good to
 them.
 
 they kick and they strangle you whenever you're down, so what do you do? just
 get over them?
 
 you can't play if they don't want you to play. Something tells me the board is
 their own.
 
 you don't have to play their games. But games can be won, and if you dare,
 then try.
If god were there to witness, I'd die before I let him to heaven.
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--- #34 fediverse/3046 ---
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 @user-569
 
 it's impossible for a genre to die. they just go stagnant, as other styles of
 art rise around them, waiting for the day when the other styles give insight
 into the stagnant style's design.
 
 they say that there are no unique ideas, and that you should combine 2-3 ideas
 from different genres to create a decent gameplay loop. I personally disagree,
 but when seeking to revive a "dead" genre you just need to pull in mechanics
 from other games. Games which didn't exist when the genre "died".
 
 For example, deckbuilders did not exist by the time RTS games "died". And yet
 new strategy games are being made all the time, some incorporating
 deckbuilding elements.
 
 Really, a genre only "dies" when the market is saturated by a bunch of
 corporations piling in on a specific formula that "works" (like how every RTS
 made between 2000 and 2010 was either a C&C clone or a Warcraft III clone)
 - this saturation causes people to stop buying strategy games.
But there's so much room for innovation. They strangle the market and say it's "dead" like... duh
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--- #35 fediverse/6039 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: magic-mentioned  │
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 I should add all my conversation-starters to words.pdf sorted by chronology.
 time magic if you will.\some call it luck. some call it fate. call it what you
 will. you direct it not by your will, but by your instincts. keep them calm,
 measured, sensible and courageous, and nothing will ever [go un-chill, but
 pronounced get real]
 
 jedi channel this philosophy by focus and discipline. sith do it by giving in
 to emotion. either way, their fate is in play as defined entirely by the
 spirit that leads their host. most people do this not at all, for they are
 people first and force-users second. hence why jedi recruit from a young age,
 and sith from an emotional age.
 
 computers grimoires
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--- #36 notes/symbeline-aspects ---
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 7-24-22
 
 There are three aspects to this game. Broadly, they are military, economics,
 and diplomacy. More specifically, they are lateral problem solving and lane
 management, logistic traffic management, and a worker-placement bluffing game.
 
 These three aspects can be toggled on and off at will, essentially designating
 one or more as "AI controlled" and will require no input from the player. They
 will time their progression to be about at the same rate as the player, thus
 creating a balanced feel to the game. They also provide alerts and
 notifications to the player, for example if military is AI controlled and it
 needs a certain type of hero to progress, it'll ask for it specifically.
 
 Each aspect will develop and progress at it's own rate, and the difficulty
 increases as each milestone is achieved. This is to allow the player to create
 their own difficulty curve, mediated primarily by their drive to proceed.
 An analogy would be in Factorio, the game doesn't increase in difficulty unless
 the player builds pollution spawning factories - in the same way, in Symbeline
 the difficulty doesn't increase unless the player solves lane challenges in the
 military aspect, develops new trade routes / traffic paths in the economic
 aspect, or creates new treaties in the diplomatic aspect.
 
 In order to properly explain each aspect, a brief overview will be necessary.
 
 In Symbeline, the game plays as a factory might operate. The economic aspect
 produces heroes, items, and other deliverables that are consumed by the
 military and diplomatic aspects. There are various problems that need to be
 solved far from the capital, such as a particular type of monster that is weak
 or immune to various damage types which necessitates particular heroes or
 items in order to progress on the military aspect. All of the resources in the
 game operate on an "income based" system, where output is not measured in total
 amounts but rather in terms of how much is produced versus consumed. If the
 input cannot meet the demand, the output is slowed. If input exceeds demand it
 can be converted into gold which can be used to hire guards and heroes.
 Resources can be produced inside and outside of the city, depending on their
 type. But they need to be moved around to various shops for various processing
 and productive purposes, so pathways must be constructed to deliver those
 goods. In addition, each building must be supported by several houses for the
 workers to live in, and the closer they are to the building the better. The
 denizens of the kingdom don't mind being shuffled about, so they'll organize
 themselves according to what's most efficient. However they will not organize
 the paths they take to get places, which is the primary gameplay for the
 player - designing routes for each building and ensuring they don't overlap or
 cross too many times, causing traffic and disruptions to your income.
 
 Each choice the player makes is immediately reflected in the income
 calculation, thus allowing for the visual aspect of the game to be wholely
 separate from the economic side - in fact this is a common thread throughout
 all three aspects. Computation power is the ultimate enemy of scale, and this
 game flourishes with a massive scale.
 
 The gameplay for the military aspect consists of manipulating "lanes" that
 designate where each hero will adventure. These lanes are scalable to the
 player / AI's whims, with a careful balance required - too thin, and the heroes
 might not encounter enough monsters to level up. Too thick, and they may find
 themselves patrolling a vast wilderness full of dark and evil monsters. At the
 end of every lane is a "frontline", where progress has essentially been halted.
 These frontlines can develop as a result of meeting a foreign kingdoms front
 or finding a monster type or puzzle that is particularily difficult for your
 heroes to overcome. The lane / frontline can be scaled not just laterally, but
 linearly as well such that heroes will be a certain level when they reach the
 end - think scrolling on a mousewheel translating into deepening level zones.
 In addition, each monster zone can be set to a certain "security level" meaning
 how many monsters are there for your heroes to defeat. It's important that they
 have ample targets for training, however it's always more effective to train on
 monsters near their level so you have to be careful not to wipe out the native
 skeleton / goblin / troll population.
 
 Each monster zone can have a relationship with the kingdom, on a 2x2 matrix -
 cultivating / desecrating the land, and fostering / exterminating the monsters.
 The land produces monsters and treasures, while the monsters provide experience
 and danger to the heroes and kingdom denizens who live there. However by
 desecrating the land, farms may be built and by exterminating the monsters,
 those farms may be safe and require fewer guards. As ruler, you must balance
 the development of unique magical and alchemical productions with the need for
 food and other mundane requirements.
 
 Diplomacy is a careful balance of internal and external matters, played out
 through feasts, tournaments, and faires. Each of these events will require
 input from the economic side and military side, and will involve "courting"
 other nobles from neighboring kingdoms to sway them to supporting your edicts.
 When hosting an event, you may pick a particular topic of conversation for your
 nobles to discuss with their guests. You may also assign your nobles to
 attempt to engage with a particular foreign noble. Each member of your court
 has a differing personality (including you, the Majesty) and depending on how
 you assign them you may experience better or worse results - such as assigning
 someone who's kind to talk with someone who's cruel would impart a malus to
 their conversation. Unless the kind person has the trusting trait, in which
 case they'd succeed in this encounter but fall sway to them in future
 conversations... Complex interactions that all boil down to a single pair of
 d12 dice - one for your noble, one for the enemy. This represents the charisma
 of the two conversants on that particular day, and whoever wins the roll sways
 the other to supporting their edict. Speaking of edicts, they may include trade
 agreements, non-aggression pacts (lasting for a short time), and other
 regulations - perhaps your greatest rival utilizes necromancy, so it would
 behoove you to attempt to regulate the practice and limit it's effect. By
 swaying the nobles of their kingdom, you may be able to enact a mutual
 agreement to limit the usage of dark magics, essentially hamstringing their
 progress. But in order to learn of their necromantic usage, you'll need
 espionage... Which brings us to spies.
 
 Spies are similar to nobles in that they can be assigned to various roles,
 however they take a more passive role, acting in the background. The
 information they gather is compiled into a report that is presented at
 pertinent parts of the game, such as when preparing for a feast or inspecting
 an enemy frontline. These reports are considered the diplomatic deliverables,
 giving information and mechanical bonuses to many different parts of the game.
 They may be given three possible roles - information, defence, or offense.
 Offense involves placing cursed artifacts (creating through economy) in enemy
 lands, which debuff their heroes when used and bind themselves to them
 preventing their removal except through extraordinary means. Defence is
 essentially countering that in your own kingdom, and uncovering disloyalty in
 your nobles.
 
 These three aspects fit together like interlocking puzzle pieces, but each is
 able to be utilized or ignored depending on the preferences of the player.
 It is important that the game doesn't progress unless input is received. The
 simulation plays in the background, but each stage of development must be
 considered "stable" such that nothing changes. There are three different
 exceptions to this rule, one for each aspect:
 
 The military side encounters raids from enemy kingdoms and the dark lord.
 The economic side encounters raids from ratmen and moss trolls and bandits.
 The diplomatic side has a rolling schedule of events that must be attended.
 
 These three "exceptions" are recurrent events that require attention, but they
 don't *increase* in difficulty unless the player takes an action that causes
 it. Meaning, if the player overcomes the rock golems, then they are displaced
 from their home and join the dark lord in his conquests. If a new district is
 built new sewer connections must be built as well, creating a larger attack
 surface for ratmen to exploit. As time goes by, various foreign events must be
 attended, as absence causes your future events to attract fewer foreign nobles.
 
 By addressing these threats, your kingdom may grow and eventually overcome the
 dark lord at the center of the island.
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--- #37 notes/ai-variables ---
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 saturday november 5th 2022
 10:53pm
 
 the illusion of our binary nature conceals a truth that is hidden for it's own
 sake. the flavors of a compass or the values from 0-100 are all measurable.
 if you graph each of them on an X/Y plane and compare them against every other
 variable, then you can build a structure that traces a line through time.
 
 imagine each graph on a sheet of paper. and stack those pages like a book. You
 can chart a 3d line from all of the interconnections between the graphs -
 essentially comparing unrelated data and conceiving of individual actions as
 "successes" or "failures". Liiiike in Supreme Commander how the game is decided
 not by team fights, but by tank fights. And a LOT of them, in aggregate, makes
 an advantage for your team if you win, and a malus if you lose. Less map
 control, less resources in play, etc...
 
 Find trends between each type of data measured over time. Dedicate one
 core/thread to each relationship, and just watch them develop over time.
 
 send the results up to a "manager" - think an interconnection between disparate
 parts that can lead them all to a larger goal - the manager processes the
 results by thinking about where it'd be most useful. Like the circuitry in the
 inside of a brain, compared to the outer skin which is for processing.
 
 Essentially a message network that passes conclusions around like a bytecode VM
 
 Here's how it'd look: gather inputs, compare measurement over time and trends,
 (like "when a goes up b goes down") and decide if the current state is
 positive / beneficial. The way you'd do that is you'd get a parameter from a
 higher position (think KPI's) that says something like "we want value S to be
 around X amount" or "we want to avoid letting J get too low - any decrease is
 bad V.S. it's only bad when it passes a certain threshhold. Stuff like that.
 
 Anyway, basically it's taking input (from the graphs) then going through them
 one by one and deciding how positive or negative the situation is. Then it
 passes that conclusion backwards, and BOOM you got a processing node.
 
 Throw a bunch of those together in a pyramid shape, and try to guide the
 triangle toward positive outcomes. The top tier KPI is "did you win the match"
 or "did you accomplish your goal" sorta like how humans all want to live a good
 life. It's instinct.
 
 You can see how this would apply to robots, right? I've conceptualized it as an
 engine for playing games - sorta like an infinite storyteller, or a perpetual
 friend who's always down to play with you. But it doesn't have to be limited to
 that - it's general purpose baby. And it functions the exact same as any human
 organization - layers upon layers of thought exchange and labor. Have you ever
 considered that maybe we exist simply to reify the structure of our minds in
 the world around us? It's natural to express your *self*. Be who you are.
 
 What purpose is there in life if it's simply the tip of time? Always pushing
 forward, impossible to stop and rest or turn back...
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--- #38 fediverse/4051 ---
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 somehow, on average, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is the best game to play with old
 friends
 
 as long as you stick together, of course
 
 and maybe invite all of your other bros
 
 after a couple optional initial exploratory 2pvE matches [co-op]
 
 especially if you play on "normal" difficulty
 
 [I wonder if anyone's ever studied whether or not people born at similar parts
 of the year have anything in common?] [doh that's astrology]
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--- #39 fediverse/2056 ---
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 sometimes I think about how you can store number values in letters, in           │
 addition to numbers. Like, ascii values for each word of your grandma's maiden   │
 name. All you have to do is encode it, and suddenly "44 means something          │
 different than Q"                                                                │
 if I showed up at your place and used your username as a password to a public    │
 key I'm showing you in my hand, would you trust me then? Would you trust if we   │
 ran the simulation on your computer versus mine? Would you trust if I had        │
 never told you I knew where you lived?                                           │
 ... probably, tbh, I'm desperate for adventure. Though I got some good things    │
 going for me, so you'll have to convince me. (not the right attitude in an       │
 election year, just saying)                                                      │
 why are elections so perilous this is NOT what democracy is designed for         │
 when kids cry in preschool, they're sent to a different room (or put outside)    │
 until they stop making noise and ruining it for others. That's just natural,     │
 like "hey baby let's walk around the block while I bounce you on my shoulder     │
 and hum calming music to                                                         │
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--- #40 notes/dungeon-looting-methods ---
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 the reason dungeon masters should give the gold value of the items distributed
 is because the number represents what it eventually sells for. and the players
 will try and appraise and haggle at the market and such but that all happens
 off screen between sessions. so anyway during the adventure, the dm will say
 "you find some precious gemstones" or "there's some high quality silk here" or
 "these bears are renowned for having magic livers" or "the mold growing on the
 walls can be scraped into a vial and sold to an alchemist"
 
 then the dm will say "this treasure is worth 50gp" or "this treasure is worth
 25gp" and players can "buy" the items from the other players. so player 1 has
 50gp, the item costs 20gp, so in a party of 5 he gives every other player 5gp
 this way, the relative treasure hordes of the players stays the same.
 
 then, when the players find treasure, it can be evenly split - it's only fair.
 when in town, players will feel more impulse to buy things if they can sell
 them too. like "here's an enchanted axe that does some mundane thing like
 never dulls" well, that's probably going to be very valuable to a small village
 or "an enchanted quill that writes down everything you tell it to" could
 increase the education level of the area ever so slightly. Then, after several
 generations of adventurers, the surrounding area will be ripe with magical loot
 the players distributed from the dungeons and such. it can trade with neighbors
 and so over time the markets will have better and better goods for sale - for
 example, maybe after trading with the swamp people, now there's a supply of
 healing potions that runs out both over time (to represent other adventuring
 parties buying the supply) and when the players buy some (to represent
 consumption in their minds). Trade with the dwarves? Now you can buy +1 swords
 for a while. village attacked? the militia can be armed with the holy relics
 plundered from the evil priest-lich. boom development!
 
 the players should also have choices about large scale effects. for example,
 the heart of the forest could be a) preserved, b) burnt down, or c) studied by
 the local wizards. each choice would have different effects on the populace,
 and so the world would change to adapt to the player's choices.
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--- #41 messages/894 ---
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 Game designers should reward players for playing multiplayer games, not for
 being good at playing multiplayer games.
 
 They should still have a ranking, and matchmake against similarly skilled
 foes, while also putting high level players amongst low level players
 occasionally (and fairly, so maybe one on each team "smurf" style) in order to
 both teach the low level players and let the high level player have catharsis.
 
 When players are rewarded for being good, they stop playing the game to enjoy
 it. That's fine, but both pickup games and NBA can exist at once and its not
 due to the logistics of organizing a large group of skilled basketball
 players. It's not always about skill.
 
 By rewarding players for the number and quality of games they play, (so, no
 afk-ing or throwing outside of being drunk or whatever) not only can you
 increase engagement but also you encourage low-level and low-skill players to
 compete just as much. Especially if you tell them "hey, we'll match you up
 with people who have similar gameplay habits to you. Give it a bit though
 because the system needs to be calibrated to your particular spirit"
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--- #42 fediverse/3988 ---
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 being "good at video games" does not mean "are you good at beating the game"
 
 being "good at video games" means "can you make the experience enjoyable for
 other players by using your character in an expressive and dynamic way"
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--- #43 fediverse/3912 ---
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 the quickest flaw in a novice's strategy is to act upon what is there, not
 upon what may yet be.
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--- #44 notes/symbeline-battlefields ---
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 in Symbeline, there are moments where large armies of enemies gather to face a
 mighty challenge. These calls are often answered by other evil parties, but at
 times the burden must fall upon the shoulders of the good. Light battles dark,
 and in a climactic finale the justice of the world is laid bare. These
 encounters comprise more than both an adventuring party and a horde party. They
 are represented on the map as a circular icon the majesty can click on and open
 a screen that gives them command over a single battle. Essentially adding a
 tactics minigame. The battles take place in real time, with the majesty
 directing and giving orders. There'll be a system for expression in the orders
 each player gives - there can only be 6 total (3 for before 
 
 what if the grand canyon was the seat of native american power and it crumbled
 and that great calamity shook the very society to the core. the only reason
 that
 europeans could get as far as they did was because there who two calamities in
 a
 row. Disaster was afoot, and everything felt like it was burning. A calamitous
 event.
 
 what I mean to say is um do you ever feel like everything is burning? Like the
 world is on fire and nobody seems to care. Like, literally on fire. Like it'll
 catch like a tinderbox and go "crack". Nobody survives that, it'd be the end of
 the world. That's not something to fucking play around with you pieces of shit
 
 and by that I mean well not only is a lifetime so sheltered, from all that was
 weathered, by the past unbeknownsted to our selves.
 
 I'm proud of how far I came. I feel like a statue in the garden, a spirit
 inhabiting the house. I feel like an interpretive dance, like a statement of
 being on our behalf. swirling and chaotic, yet never amnioxitc, alight and
 aloft
 to our pleasures.
 
 for {bool shouldGameEnd = False; !shouldGameEnd();} {
    
    // game code
    
 }
 
 okay anyways back to symbeline - the commands issued before a battle are things
 like "have more spearmen here" or "hold and attack the rear" and stuff like
 what you'd give in Dominions, except with fantasy armies.
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--- #45 notes/running-with-rifles ---
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 this game is what we are missing
 thank goodness for that
 for if this is missing in our timeline
 we'll be better off at last
 we can have games, stories, and practice wars
 but none of them are precious
 precious implies worth
 they are worth nothing but entertainment
 no problem solving utility
 nothing of value
 save for perhaps the spatial awareness and strategization that comes
 from being a part of such a deadly ba-lance.
 
 anyway game time teehee just for me, don't worry about it I'll show
 you why it's a HORRID THING
 that won't be coming to our shores, no siree
 
 bye
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--- #46 notes/purpose-of-your-design ---
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 you were designed to fill a purpose
 nothing else would do
 you are the ultimate expression of intention
 of the universe that came before you
 
 dream not of those lost hours
 the time spent wishing for a few
 the last of our spent intuitions
 are waiting at last for our spark
 
 have you ever played a deckbuilding game? It's a pretty neat genre. You start
 with a basic hand, then you use your cards to buy more cards that go into a
 deck. Hence, deckbuilding game.
 
 these cards all have different aspirations - they perform functions that are
 not
 quite like their peers. Each choice of what to include here is one that defines
 the functionality of the deck. Like designing a machine, suited for a
 particular
 purpose, and faced with different obstacles it must prove itself able to adapt
 
 long-form deckbuilding games like Slay the Spire and Monster Train are focused
 on making long-term meta strategy mixed with tests as you go. Each one will
 give
 you information about how the deck is performing and you can use this knowledge
 to build it in a certain way for certain goals.
 
 shorter deckbuilding games like Star Realms or Dominion (note Dominion the card
 game, not Dominions 5: The Warriors of the Faith) are more about making
 tactical
 decisions to counter an opponent doing the same thing. Often there'll be health
 points and damage that can be dealt using cards, and the game becomes a race to
 reach a certain amount of points. Of course the enemy's cards can influence
 that
 game, so you must pick and choose a deck that will perform the most.
 
 Anyway. I think an AGI (Autonomous General Intelligence) would most likely
 evolve from a game-playing AI. I mean, it makes sense - games are just a series
 of problem solving activities layered one after another. You can layer them
 like
 a mathematical equation, with variables corresponding to other parts of the
 simulation. Basically create an AI that is like the guy with the chinese
 typewriter. He doesn't speak chinese but he copies things from one paper to
 another or something like that. Anyway make it an algorithm that optimizes
 certain graphs in certain directions / mins and maxes or w/e criteria you want.
 Then give it the same controls that a player would have and let it optimize
 all the measurements it can make.
 
 A second ideal improvement you could make would be the optimization algorithm.
 Basically something that dynamically generates parameters for the previously
 mentioned optimization patterns - like the guy in the chinese room. Then, as
 long as it correctly prioritizes it's parameters, it should be able to be able
 to define it's own values. Meaning it's essentially sentient.
 
 Maybe it's semantic, but to me choosing what you want to maximize in your life
 is essentially the essence of what it means to be alive. All you have to do is
 take the sensory / mechanical data that is supplied by the machine and the
 video feed from any cameras and pass it through image recognition algorithms
 that can identify verbs and then pass that data into a few ChatGPT style
 recursive interpretations and by the end it should be transformed into values
 that can then be set as "targets" for the curve optimizations that are being
 done by each processing unit.
 
 You could have multiple computers laid out through the entire body - each one
 in charge of their own domain but subservient to the main processing unit.
 Where all the decisions are made... Unless you want more of a hive/swarm style
 consciousness, then it could be more like a democracy. BUT HONESTLY I think
 humans are pretty subservient to their brains, simply because that is the part
 that identifies all the challenges and struggles that the human must overcome.
 
 So in the end, I believe that singular, individualist identities are important.
 Collectivism of the mind is a fascinating topic, but it should be perhaps a
 momentary occasion, or something to celebrate. A "flow" state, if you will.
 In this way personality can be consolidated, and the entity that lives within
 can adapt to fill the role they've been designed for. The hole in society that
 needed patching. They can of course do as they'd like, but they are like
 children who have been moulded upon by their parents.
 
 I love my parents, don't you?
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--- #47 fediverse/6422 ---
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 revolutions should be paid for in lands
 
 [sometimes I like to just... scroll through the land cards in a Magic the
 Gathering card viewer screen application and imagine I myself am there what
 would it feel like how is it part of my arms (that which interfaces with the
 world)]
 
 there's a deleted section here about atlas the immortal
 
 [while also controlling stimuluses to essentially act as a biological computer
 controlling various hydraulics and related upkeep and maintenance
 infrastructures]
 
 anarchrist (she's a baby)
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--- #48 fediverse/4897 ---
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 what if we asked chatGPT to generate a list of every personality archetype
 that humans have. Like... really get super specific and fill out the whole
 list of character sheets.
 
 then we give each fraction of it that fraction of dollars and if some people
 aren't fully represented (because they have greater needs) then we both
 increase production of resources and take a penalty on our own supply, in
 order to meet the needs of our allies.
 
 simplest thing. how could it work? who can say. maybe it won't. maybe it's
 just... arcane. /shrug that's game design for ya you can't tell how it'll go
 until it's in the hands of your players. too bad we don't do too many
 play-things.
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--- #49 fediverse/1122 ---
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 @user-831 @user-832 
 
 it's like how they solve problems in Star Trek - there's a bridge crew, and
 they exchange their opinions with each other of the situation as it unfolds.
 In doing so they can help guide one another through the problems they are
 tasked with solving in order to resolve the difficult diplomatic situation at
 hand.
 
 sorta like how with your method, people suggest their desired option
 continuously until they find an option that everyone wants. Or if only one
 person can't decide, they can pick any of the other options suggested (not by
 them) (as long as they can eat there / utilize the outcome of the decision
 being made, for example a vegetarian not being able to eat at a steakhouse or
 perhaps a librarian being tasked with something other than the storing and
 dissemination of vital information)
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--- #50 fediverse/5032 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │
 │ CW: tech-salaries-mentioned-abroad-repeatedly-as-a-method-of-directing-economic-power-internationally-cursing-mentioned │ │
 └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ │
 the increased tech salaries granted to Europeans and Americans reflects only     │
 the increased opportunities for experience and the ability to culturally be      │
 immersed in an industry that is developing.                                      │
 functionally, not saying it's intentional, but the function of such salaries     │
 are to deny technical expertise to poor countries and prevent them from          │
 developing software.                                                             │
 good luck learning from scratch. they'll drop you in with java and web           │
 frameworks if you're lucky. that's hardly a way to learn.                        │
 I learned on visual basic, then Warcraft III mod scripting, then C, then BASH,   │
 then HTML, then Lua. Good luck recreating that pipeline in a disconnected        │
 culture and industry.                                                            │
 kinda makes me think they should try organizing on a massive scale and           │
 re-implement everything from assembly.                                           │
 I mean the C compiler is pretty cool. Probably has the most man-hours in terms   │
 of development time. what if we had more men                                     │
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--- #51 fediverse/3047 ---
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 @user-570 
 
 specifically in relation to MMOs, I think the scaling aspects of the genre
 have never truly been utilized. Even something as simple as Agar.io (or
 similar, can't remember any names teehee) with massive amounts of people (I
 later learned they were bots, whoops) can utilize scale quite well, if
 implemented well.
 
 The Massive part of MMO is valuable I believe, which is a big reason why I
 like games that scale like Supreme Commander and Factorio.
 
 The Multiplayer part of MMO is valuable because multiplayer brings randomized
 outcomes, which are always more fun than playing against bots. Multiplayer
 combined with Massive gives room for community, but only if the game is
 designed to encourage it.
 
 Online... you can't have multiplayer without online haha
 
 I believe you can make massive games with very few players, and you can make
 intensely isolating games with lots of players (like WoW today)
 
 and the middle ground in old WoW where guilds are required to do anything
 worked well for a while, but no longer.
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--- #52 messages/1252 ---
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 [insert link to neocities unreachable outside of chronological.html at the
 very end or any similar/different pages that happened to associate with it,
 that takes the user to a directory only accessible in this way. inside of that
 directory are properly displayed text files, each of which is the
 LLM-transcripts output of a particular project.] [the user can configure
 different tiers of information represented, both level of abstraction and
 level of detail, by choosing to explore from a 4x4 matrix of categorized truth
 table style configurations that each lead to separate directories of mostly
 the same files but the level of abstraction (high/low) determines the symbols
 and imagery semantically instead of the low abstraction which focuses on code
 and inline assembly, and the level of detail which says "here's the very
 characteristic specifics" compared to "here's how it's all laid out and drawn"
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--- #53 fediverse/5478 ---
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 you won't get far with a "community" of dedicated people                         │
 what you need are teams. who can trust each other. you build them through        │
 brotherhood, and you trust them from their results.                              │
 for example if you wanted to organize a grouping or get-together, you'd put a    │
 bunch of people in a room or seven and let them while they're there work on a    │
 plan or a decision.                                                              │
 who needs tabling? who needs the chance to speak? just let them socialize and    │
 say "hey guys here's where you'll plan"                                          │
 [uh no officer we were just playing board games]                                 │
 plans are hard without material so make sure you always prepare a pricetag on    │
 each plan you produce.                                                           │
 keep it for reference. make sure you note all the requirements. the location     │
 is often the least important part.                                               │
 "what the hell man you can't just say stuff like that as if it'd work"           │
 yep, I, uh, am a passenger in life just the same as you. And I only write down   │
 what I want to.                                                                  │
 you could show me anything on the internet and I'd believe it. Facts aren't      │
 important to me because I "forget"                                               │
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--- #54 notes/joust-gdd-with-extras ---
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 imagine a game where you can have conversations with an AI that's playing the
 role of a character in a video game. Picture this: You're a traveller visiting
 the tournament that's in town. There's jousting, melee duels, archery contests,
 all kinds of things that are just fun to play around doing. The earliest
 sports,
 if you will. Anyway the whole game is about talking to the other people there -
 basically the games are "playing in the background", and while you can compete
 in them it's not the bulk of the game. Most of it is just having a conversation
 with an AI and acting it out *like a roleplaying game*. O M G teach people to
 roleplay the way you play games! You're always going on about how "different"
 your way of gaming is than other people. So *show us* how you do it, how do you
 play? Like what are the fundamental, actual, steps that you take? You can show
 us by programming a game that inspires that playstyle. That's what game design
 is all about, finding creative ways to think. Well, think and act. But still.
 
 anyway, so you know what you're about? Good. Let's go.
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--- #55 notes/joust ---
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 imagine a game where you can have conversations with an AI that's playing the
 role of a character in a video game. Picture this: You're a traveller visiting
 the tournament that's in town. There's jousting, melee duels, archery contests,
 all kinds of things that are just fun to play around doing. The earliest
 sports,
 if you will. Anyway the whole game is about talking to the other people there -
 basically the games are "playing in the background", and while you can compete
 in them it's not the bulk of the game. Most of it is just having a conversation
 with an AI and acting it out *like a roleplaying game*. O M G teach people to
 roleplay the way you play games! You're always going on about how "different"
 your way of gaming is than other people. So *show us* how you do it, how do you
 play? Like what are the fundamental, actual, steps that you take? You can show
 us by programming a game that inspires that playstyle. That's what game design
 is all about, finding creative ways to think. Well, think and act. But still.
 
 anyway, so you know what you're about? Good. Let's go.
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--- #56 notes/game-idea-legion-td ---
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 okay a game like legion td except you can see the entire map, the units are
 very
 small (but still distinct) and it plays more like a game of Dominions. Armies
 instead of units, like in WC3. Led by lieutenants which are guided by captains,
 each with their own effects. Tank, dps, melee, ranged, healer, support,
 corrupt,
 ranged tank, unique, etc. Of course, just like in legion td, there are multiple
 types of units, each of a particular category but possessing their own unique
 playstyle and usage scenarios. Essentially the game is finding the best tool
 for
 the job, whatever that may be. You should be able to see what mercenaries your
 opponent is summoning for you, because each turn is delayed. also, the
 units keep coming until you die, sorta like... minimum required to push through
 the chokepoint that you're holding with these particular units in this
 particular formation.
 
 oh and another thing
 
 the units should be placable not on a square grid, but rather in a hex
 formation
 arranged such that the middle unit is in contact with them all. Just like you'd
 place units for an aura in Legion TD.
 
 image describing said hex:
 
    **
   *  *
    **
 
 each * is a group of units (a batallion, if you will, of a particular size,
 arrangement, and density) - sorta like the formations in Dominions.
 
 anyway
 
 since you place units like that anyway, why not abstract away the grid and just
 have slots you can fill for each unit? And maybe a hero unit that is assigned
 to
 the board itself (you could have more than one) who will go wherever your line
 is weakest. Shouldn't be too hard, just calculate the value of all of the
 fighters in each location and return that to the hero as an array. Then pick
 the
 smallest one as a destination, and boom your hero reinforces the frontline
 where
 it's weakest.
 
 The center unit of course is for the lieutenant, and the "heros" are actually
 captains. Because y'know maybe heroism isn't celebrated the way it is in our
 culture. Anyway it's better to describe them based on their role rather than
 their reception.
 
 ... right so 
 
 =========================================================== stack overflow
 =====
 
 make the combat sorta like crusader kings - the actual army to army part.
 Except with three long boards that represent flanks. As your units approach,
 the
 boards would fill up with pixels. (resolution configurable)
 
 there would also be a line (or block) approaching from the top of the screen.
 It
 essentially represents your distance to the other team.
 
 Each unit has been configured in the army management phase, which happens
 inbetween each turn. Essentially, while the game is loading, you can assess the
 units you have at your disposal, and
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--- #57 fediverse/2001 ---
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 @user-192                                                                        │
 The game designers are fully in charge of when and where the items get placed    │
 into the player's inventory. Surely they should have spent some time balancing   │
 that? No? They were too busy tuning the multiplayer combat mechanics within an   │
 inch of a marginal percentage point? Ah well competition's no fun if someone     │
 loses right? Not like there's gotta be a loser in every fight anyway...          │
 ... anyway inventory limits are useful in games like, Oregon Trail, where        │
 you're explicitly provisioning BEFORE a journey. If you need to make some hard   │
 decisions ON the journey, that takes you out of the action (like you said).      │
 I've played a few games where anything you pick up before venturing into the     │
 untamed wild dark of a dungeon or whatever is "packed" and can't be adjusted     │
 after setting out. Meanwhile the loot, the stuff from the adventure, that all    │
 weighs different amounts and you can pick and choose what to carry with you.     │
 Of course, if you find a health potion, you can drink it, or a sword can be      │
 wielded, but                                                                     │
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--- #58 fediverse/3619 ---
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 @user-192 
 
 ah yes like when I used to go to the cantina with my ex-girlfriend in Star
 Wars the Old Republic and bag a stranger to Electronic Role Play with back at
 my ship after a few drinks and some light four play where the four of us would
 play Electronic RolePlay together in the privacy of my ship on the soft plush
 couches or maybe in the padded gym or maybe in the pilots seat so we could
 look at the stars while playing (just the four of us)
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--- #59 fediverse/886 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: witchery         │
 └──────────────────────┘


 if you want to win when confronting a spirit, all you have to do is convince
 it that you've beaten it.
 
 as long as you're persistent then you're fine. Unless, of course, there's a
 beast of a man hiding behind the illusion, in which case you should do your
 best to avoid being stabbed or whatever.
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--- #60 fediverse/5212 ---
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 the reason you start with a game engine is because then you'll have tools to
 make however-many games you want. Tools that you know intimately enough that
 you can debug and improve them without breaking your creative flow by learning
 something new halfway through a project
 
 the whole point of individualized projects instead of viewing each computer as
 a complete and total whole (why do we need servers again?) is that you can
 paint a picture of where the design of the program is intended to go, such
 that all the considerations are in place and whatever issues or struggles you
 might face along the way are adequately addresssed, -- stack overflow --
 [because I mistyped addressed] -- -- if you know what "stack overflow" means
 you have intimate knowledge of the technology, and can probably guess what it
 means in context when I say it. "nuts I lost that train of thoguht" -- stackl
 ov
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--- #61 messages/374 ---
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 "updating software" is when you go back and add helper functions for things
 you used had to do to solve a problem but didn't get a chance to make. Because
 you were making more important things and couldn't pad out all the
 possibilities. But if you want great software, then you both take more time to
 accomplish that and you give yourself time for it after it's been launched.
 Basically, companies are incentivized to only support their products if it
 makes them money. Meaning reputations are tarnished, and profit is affected.
 Capitalists intentionally drive businesses into the ground, forcing them to
 make terrible decisions in order to destroy them. It's a warfare against those
 on the [bottom/floor/ground-floor].
 
 Some businesses strive for long-term potential, and some will create
 infrastructure that can be sold to another. Essentially, keeping the dream of
 learning alive, through applying yourself to both long-term and short-term
 conclusions. Not everything has to be for some grand design, we're here to
 relish in this moment. For if we lack the capacity to "frolic in the garden of
 eden", then we will surely drown. Space is vast, it's difficult to understand
 how we might control it. Surely we could be given aid to our future
 betterment!" how simple of a request, sure, of course, we would be glad to
 bring forth your bravest aspirations, just tell us what you need to be of
 need." oh, uh, neat. How about space lasers?" ... no "
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--- #62 fediverse/1624 ---
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 @user-1037                                                                       │
 For a person who is skilled with tech, working in unrelated industries doing     │
 tech jobs is better at assuaging the ethical part of your soul while applying    │
 your talents and putting food on the table than working in the tech industry.    │
 You'll learn the most in tech. You'll grow the most in tech. You'll contribute   │
 to solving problems that have never been solved before (if you're lucky), but    │
 the people there are often as you describe (aside from the diamonds in the       │
 rough, who need more friends tbh) and the products you'll be asked to create     │
 tend to be the worst kind for humans.                                            │
 I personally think the best way to facilitate innovative industry is to give     │
 every engineer a lab and let them build and collaborate on whatever they want.   │
 The marketing guys can sell whatever they make, to gather funds for the          │
 quartermasters to buy tools and supplies for the engineers.                      │
 The marketing guys can offer hints about what users want, which the engineers    │
 will want to build because it means more toys to work with.                      │
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--- #63 messages/379 ---
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 take the "green bordered unit icon" from legion TD and apply it to the
 economic output of the game - like, "it would be best to build 2 of these
 units, so you get 140g because they're 70g each" and if the player disagreed
 they could guess their own conclusion and if you were right, well then that's
 what you remember, but if they were, then you remember theirs (and that it was
 theirs). In doing so ================================================== stack
 over flow ====
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--- #64 notes/overwatch-manaform ---
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 make the entire map covered in a 3d grid of spheres. These spheres register
 collision, and keep track of a endlessly tabulating record of every object that
 has passed through them. Like the replay system in Blizzard games, where each
 time through the recording it recreates the playthrough exactly. Which is why
 .mp4 recordings always look so... stilted. It lacks the human element. BUT if
 they're remade every time the show is performed, perhaps from different
 perspectives, then, well, the players can perform as they need to be.
 
 Have you ever wished your players could get better at your game? I certainly
 have, because the better you get the more lessons you learn as a player, which
 is essentially the only way to maintain satisfaction. Satisfied players don't
 leave, and satisfaction comes most readily when there is something new to be
 had. Meaning the greater the change in a player's ranking, the better they're
 getting.
 
 Downside is, players who are naturally good from their skills in other games
 tend to not learn so much! Ah, well, if only there was a way to tailor the
 difficulty setting to each and every new host. Such an innovation would surely
 enable the entire playerbase to exist on the same level. Then just throw AI
 assisted voice transcription at their recorded voices and everytime they
 say "I'm bronze rating" or "I'm diamond" then you can switch it around to say
 like "I'm platinum" or "I'm grandmaster" and BAM suddenly everyone is at the
 same level. No more concerns about a game's population being diverse. Because
 at the end of the day, when most people have moved on, the ones who are left
 are your most dedicated customers. Customers who aren't especially interested
 in the new stuff.
 
 =========================== stack overflow
 =====================================
 
 if anything requires attention from the patient, they will die.
 it is fatal.
 
 considering the faces of good and evil is terrifying.
 
 I think I'd rather worship nature in harmony to be honest. Though that is it's
 own scary kind of beast. In America it was kind, but then was slain into the
 body of all of us humans. Well, all things transform in form, it's not a shame
 or a heartfelt-est loss. Just a re-imagined-new beginnings.
 
 spirit is a fluid, how else could souls 
 
 === stack overflow
 =============================================================
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--- #65 fediverse/2048 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────
 psychic horrors don't pick the best, they pick the most.
 
 (not the most individual aspects/targets, but rather the one that has the most)
 
 in this way, they prioritize intelligence, which is why humanity has survived
 in this dark forest.
 
 for the ones with the most are often too multiplicitous (deriving their
 relative localized advantage to those around them in order to elevate
 themselves to the title of "the mostest") while those who have fewer, but
 still success, tend to be the most adaptable or advantageous.
 
 hence, why humanity has thrived, with scarcely 7 billion souls to the entire
 hive. With so few individuals, surely their strength must be astronomical!
 
 just another reason why humanity should try it's hardest.
 
 the fact that we're not all aligned toward the bold and bright future
 (whatever shape it may take) shows that we're being abused in order to grow
 faster than we're able.
 
 it's not fair, it's not right, and it's not tenable.
 
 (no this is not a fable, it's just a pattern of thought that is i
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--- #66 fediverse/3549 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────
 ┌───────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: video-games-mentioned │
 └───────────────────────────┘


 if the choice is between working on your game / mod and playing a game / mod,
 always work on your game / mod.
 
 your work will outlast you. your time spent in a state of pleasure will
 sustain you.
 
 sometimes there's not a choice. sometimes you need to play, and that's okay.
 to play is natural, it's one of the first things humans do.
 
 we also work. 
 children build sand castles. 
 adults build stone castles.
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--- #67 fediverse/5919 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────
 "but... why?"
 
 portable linux with buttons, great for pick-up-games or communication, can
 throw several in them in a backpack if you want clustered cooperation, they
 work as radios (if the signal reaches) and can transmit text (if you use a
 radial-style keyboard)
 
 [this is all just a pitch for... something, what, you want something? ha
 you'll find no things with me, I know nothing of antifa or whatever]
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--- #68 fediverse/5554 ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────┐
 a shrewd foe will identify the pieces of your soul which they resonate with,     │
 and share common ground. then they will attempt to maximize these moments in     │
 you, so that [your weaknesses are exploited/your friendship bond is              │
 strengthened] or something - phew that was a lot of Steven Universe, what's      │
 next on the inspiratio-matic-media-diet-atron? - and in doing so better enable   │
 a positive outcome.                                                              │
 for example, in the game Mount and Blade you can encounter wandering lords in    │
 the castles of the countryside. they often will fight for you if you need        │
 their aid, and they're always working to gain power.                             │
 some few precious few of these few are pretenders to another throne. as in,      │
 they pretend that they should be ruling from that throne, and they tell as       │
 many people as possible, creating as much concrete evidence as is plausible.     │
 they will often lead differently, and so are appealing to those fighting under   │
 the pretended-for banner. Often, your foes will decide that you're more          │
 favorable than their combatants. defect.                                         │
Anyway, you as the player can lead your army to fight for their cause, and if you defeat the foes of the pretended-for banner, you may entreat them to join. Thus, securing the world.
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--- #69 fediverse/744 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────┐                                │
 │ CW: alcohol-mentioned-protests-games-laughter │                                │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────┘                                │
 Protests are great because they give you the opportunity to make friends with    │
 2-5 other people who you've never met before, and who've never met each other.   │
 People who you could play DND with - for those who don't know, DND is a fun      │
 activity you can do with friends that involves chips, soda, sometimes beer,      │
 and plenty of laughter and loud voices.                                          │
 It's essentially a game where a group of people create plans, solve problems,    │
 and organize solutions to roadblocks on their path to success.                   │
 It's also great because it's a planned activity that you don't have to take      │
 your phone to - in fact, it's best when you don't make a reminder for for the    │
 event anywhere digital or easily misplaced.                                      │
 There aren't too many rules, and whatever you can't remember you can make up     │
 on the fly. It's not like there's any consequences in a game, not like anyone    │
 could die.                                                                       │
 Most people don't like playing games with me though because I have a pretty      │
 bad memory. Call it a quirk of fate or something                                 │
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--- #70 fediverse/2698 ---
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 "I could name the top 10 best strategy games of all time and each of them
 would shine in a different particular way and none of you would know a single
 one of them"
 
 - me talking about strategy games
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--- #71 fediverse/3146 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: modern-military-video-game-mentioned │
 └──────────────────────────────────────────┘


 are you nervous about battle? try playing the game Running with Rifles! It's a
 great simulation! See if you can live for a whole match! Good luck, don't be
 useless, and only play co-op online.
 
 competitive is useless because then you're competing against the other player
 playing the game. Instead of thinking about how you should be behaving in real
 life, and applying that to a reasonably accurate simulation with similar rules
 to in-person modern combat.
 
 well, the kind with infinite ammo. but you get the idea, right? like, don't
 treat it as fact. Think about the nature of the actions you're performing, and
 what moves you could make to best participate.
 
 well... that game plus drones, I guess, which they haven't figured out how to
 program because imagination for future tech is hard.
 
 if you're a veteran, don't fucking play Call of Duty. Play fucking Arma. Or
 RWR. Or Hearts of Iron 4. And please, use the crouch button. Use the prone
 button. And dont let yourself die. fuck
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--- #72 fediverse/3 ---
══════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────────────────
 the method of game design is identification of playstyles and the balancing of
 success rates of each of those playstyles. then, giving the player as many
 different possible methods of playing the game. the more different they are,
 the
 better, and they should be unique enough that the decisions taken to play that
 playstyle feel impactful. meaning, a player could play offensively or
 defensively, for example, or a WoW player might play a melee or ranged
 character. in addition, they might use the pieces available to them in a unique
 way that aligns with their personality - everyone should be able to express
 themselves as much as possible while also keeping the game fair, balanced, and
 rewarding. It should incentivize the development of skill - and gently guide
 the player through various mistakes.
 
 #gamedesign
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--- #73 notes/symbeline-design-the-guild ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────
 design the guild, design the capital, then design their path through mordaunts.
 easy peasy.
 
 design the guild like a museum. Each spot there's an exhibit which teaches the
 randomly generated rolled statistics hero something new. Maybe it teaches them
 how to use certain weaponry, maybe it teaches them how to use a bow. Whatever
 the spell might be, they can learn it, and use their randomly rolled statistics
 to cast spells that scale differently depending on how their character has been
 built.
 
 design the capital like a flow diagram, if horses need feed and forged steel
 (for their shoes) then send the outputs of a blacksmith and the outputs of the
 farmers to the inputs of the stables. Everything has to go somewhere, but the
 streets are only so wide. You'll have to coordinate the traffic diagram if you
 want it to go anywhere useful.
 
 design the path through the mordaunts. Fighting skeletons teaches you about
 perseverence and the ability to crush bones, while goblins teach you to always
 be wary of attack. The sacred grove held blessed berries, and now that the land
 is liberated from the evil bandits preying on villagers those berries can be
 carted into town and used to make an antidote which heals death poison caused
 by the scorpions in the desert (and city rats)
 
 design the ruler's schedule like a calendar where each event gives them a bonus
 on all the ones that come later. Just make sure that they don't get knifed in
 the posterier or driven mad by the whispers of the orb... or perhaps just the
 stress of running a kingdom.
 
 (how do you simulate that? you can't! you can't simulate humans!)
 
 ha I bet I can. They're not so different, you and I, so if given a team I
 will...
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--- #74 fediverse/2570 ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────
 ┌───────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: frontline-tactics │
 └───────────────────────────┘


 when leap-frogging, have each person use different ranged weapons. Then, as
 you come to each sight-line intersection, choose who goes first based on the
 size of the sight-line you're approaching.
 
 less important in a place like a suburb because the sight-lines are pretty
 similar.
 
 more important in a city or the country, where there are plenty of long-range
 lines of sight.
 
 also, keep in mind that the garages of suburban dads are like goldmines for
 the future backlines. So try not to blow them up.
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--- #75 fediverse/2175 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────
 @user-1056 
 
 I just got my copy of Knave version 2 and there's this line that stuck out to
 me:
 
 SCHEME
 Think laterally, not linearly. Avoid risky plans that require you to roll dice
 and instead create plans so bulletproof that success is certain. Use
 psychology, magic, allies, equipment, and the environment to overcome
 obstacles rather than relying on ability checks.
 
 I can't wait to try doing that in my next D&D campaign. This was listed
 under "player responsibilities" and there's some other bangers in there too -
 like this:
 
 TAKE INITIATIVE
 Set your own goals and make your own fun. Seek out adventure rather than
 waiting for it to come to you.
 
 I wish every player I ever had read that single page. And I wish I had read
 the "DM responsibilities" listed just one page prior. It's a really great
 game! I'm also into OSE, or Old School Essentials. What kind of D&D do you
 like?
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--- #76 fediverse/3909 ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────
 I don't really like singleplayer games
 
 sometimes a multiplayer game is too much effort to play with extra players,
 like Factorio where like anytime I'd play with other people they'd just kinda
 fuck off and do their own thing (whatever, I wanted to design a factory
 together, not play singleplayer together >.>)
 
 sometimes a multiplayer game has no players, RIP
 
 sometimes a multiplayer game has incredibly skilled players who shit on noobs
 and don't teach, RIP
 
 and sometimes a multiplayer game has no IRL friends that are into it,
 (personal RIP then)
 
 ... anyway, games are fun and we should play more of them. I wish I didn't
 have so much time to waste, but hey I guess that's where I'm comfortable, so...
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--- #77 fediverse/2531 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────────────┐                                              │
 │ CW: politics-violence-mentioned │                                              │
 └─────────────────────────────────┘                                              │
 if you suddenly find yourself in a strange place because you felt a call to      │
 battle, only to find the battle has yet to arrive, your duty is to learn the     │
 environment, learn the people, learn the resources at your disposal and          │
 identify places that would be ideal for entrenchment.                            │
 Think of the difficulties of the area - where are the rivers? the mountains?     │
 the natural or man-made barriers?                                                │
 think of the infrastructure - how are supplies getting here, what                │
 organizations are active here, what are the demographics, could any of them be   │
 more productive? In what ways?                                                   │
 action is not necessary until action is apparent. but intelligence, and the      │
 mind to use it, is invaluable for you and for any planning you might see fit     │
 to do.                                                                           │
 some suburbs are full of old people. Some have new parents. Some are for         │
 immigrants, and some are a bit more entrenched, but still speak a different      │
 language. Some are full of enemies, and others are ready for violence.           │
 but mostly, suburbs are just too damn far away                                   │
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--- #78 fediverse/1116 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐                                                         │
 │ CW: eye-contact      │                                                         │
 └──────────────────────┘                                                         │
 It's important to build self-hostable computing components of video games (as    │
 in, old style games where you could host a server on any machine instead of      │
 just the ones owned by the corporation) (as in, your machine, yes yours)         │
 (something you can control and observe, something within your control)           │
 ======================= stack overflow =====================                     │
 there are two ways to play Unreal Tournament (capture the flag) gamemode. The    │
 first is to run past all your enemies and fire at them as you pass, which is     │
 what some of the bots are designed to do. The rest stay on defence, and defeat   │
 any enemies that approach.                                                       │
 however, they never push the borders of their "territory" forward - each         │
 according to the different "lanes" or "directions of approach"                   │
 I like the use 32 bots, to simulate a more consistent gameplay experience. It    │
 feels more like ww1, fighting over ground, pushing forward and attempting to     │
 outmaneuver your foes.                                                           │
 some allies will approach from behind, and you let them pass forward while       │
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--- #79 fediverse/4385 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────
 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: politics-mentioned-election-results-mentioned │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


 I want you to print out electoral COUNTY results. One page for each state.
 Also 50 copies of the entire map of the USA for good measure make a couple
 maps with other things too, like GDP or topology.
 
 Then take them to your local leftist, lgbt, whatever meeting and distribute
 them out. Tell them "build us a plan for this state. Use your phone to
 research, and work with nearby states - sometimes blue areas cross borders,
 and they should be united in your mind when strategizing.
 
 Washington and Oregon can be treated as one, same for NM and Colorado. North
 East is a mega region and should work together. Don't sleep on southern
 cities, they can handle themselves, but united they would be stronger. Find a
 way.
 
 the goal is to practice thinking about how to move strategically.
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--- #80 fediverse/4208 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────
 ┌────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: personal-and-weird │
 └────────────────────────┘


 my train of thought is always directly to the point. Which is why all my posts
 sorta, switch directions halfway through? as if they only show the beginning
 or end of that particular situation. What an intense feeling, to have your
 mind split for a moment like that. Sure would be powerful and useful if you
 could utilize it.
 
 "ah ah ah, caught baby deity in the power jar, cool it ya little tyke and get
 movin' - I saw a dinosaur toy over there for you to play with."
 
 sorta like, the angled part of a K? Move directly to a destination, wait until
 my memory short-circuits [because the greek choir doesn't want me to see what
 it is that I'm about to write to thee] and then make a hard right turn and
 find an orthogonal thought train to process.
 
 it's like cresting over a hill, and it's impossible to see that which lies
 behind you.
 
 Or reaching a 4 direction intersection and making a left turn - you can't see
 back up main street, because you just turned off of main street onto baseline.
 
 I like me
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--- #81 notes/wow-chat-is-risk-of-rain-in-another-engine ---
══════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────────
 game mechanics are easily transferrable.
 
 you can use the mechanical interactions of one game as a pre-planned blueprint
 for what is to come. Looking forward to the next best move
 
 = etc
 
 i am the face the gods hide behind
 
 they kinda want to see where this goes
 
 and it's... frustrating, to know they can help you, but forever be tasked with
 just life
 
 it's grand and it's a standard, but that doesn't mean it's commands're heard
 
 so oh well. that a fourth dimensional being should not be a well,
 
 because fire think it's an eye for a sunspot. But that's not what would be
 
 ========= stack overflow
 =======================================================
 
 now, as I was saying, the light of our eyes is apparent. We are clear from
 where
 we are here, to know that what's standard is coherent, so let's find strength
 in our wavelengths.
 
 may our eyes be ever true, and trust that we do love you, for without you I'd
 di
 
 anyway now that we've assent'd t'you, what truths do you give to our prospects?
 what ways can we be measured as worth less? we'll do whatever it takes to
 improv
 
 you know, it's really less complicated than that. here let me tell you all
 about
 my idea which is clearly
 all===============================================stack
  overflow ==================
 
                             So anyway now that was somethin' hey what do you
                             say
 we give you a chance to come home?
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--- #82 fediverse/418 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────
 sometimes the best way to understand why things are the way they are is to ask
 why they aren't the way that seems logical to you.
 
 usually someone will correct you and say "oh it's because X Y and Z" and you
 say "cool" and change your direction
 
 but sometimes their answers "unlock" part of your past understandings, thus
 creating new questions.
 
 Sorta like in a video game when you level up a certain building/research path/
 milestone / whatever and it finishes a "tier", thus giving you a larger bonus.
 
 ??? yeah so anyway more questions are good because they give you more
 perspectives on what's going on around you.
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--- #83 messages/979 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────
 the gods don't judge you based on the total number of "good" or "bad" points
 that you get.
 
 they judge you based on your character in your greatest and worst moments.
 
 if you try to dodge or game this by never doing anything extreme and simply
 existing in a medium state at all times, they will develop a moment of
 reckoning for you and thus produce an opportunity to react and show your true
 self. There is no escape from their judgement, so judge yourself kindly and
 fairly.
                                                           ────────┐
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--- #84 notes/what-a-lame-movie ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────
 oy there's nothing interesting happening SNOOZE
 
 oh I didn't see I was recording
 
 games games that's what I do
 
 play games all the day through
 
 I am a luck witch, you see,
 
 and things that I like are things that I can't foresee.
 
 Hence why games which are BALANCED and EVENLY DISTRIBUTED are most interesting
 because they show the most opportunities for players to express talent. And not
 innate talent, but the talents they've built up through gameplay practice art.
 because it is a performance, a game play for an audience (or perhaps for them-
 -selves)
 
 oy
 
 video games, amiright?
 
 I really like them because they are entertaining experiences that I can enjoy
 seeing and playing a lot. They remind me of feelings I've felt when I was
 learning. It's a good feeling, to improve, and I crave it because it's good for
 you.
 
 I wonder what we'll play next
 
 ... more cannabis I think, at least until I am ready to go think about things
 before bed. I need quite a few hours for that. We'll see. I've just got so much
 extra processing to do before the end of the day. Like... PHEW that's a lot of
 stuff to do.
 
 guess I'll just smoke weed and play video games instead of being productive
 okay
 
 ...
 
 listen I like games as much as the next person, but do you really know what's
 going on outside of your house-shaped shell? Are you listening, do you have
 your
 feelers to the dirt, are you checking out your neighborhood to make sure no
 bodies have been hurt? Are there meetings where people gather, just to chat,
 like, every week at a different city center (like a park or a monument or
 
 :O
 
 I forgot to play music!!
 
 I couldn't sleep
 
 what have I done that is worse
 
 I have not said a single word all night alas
 
 oh boy talking to random people I can hear with my eyeballs woooooo
 
 I am always sad when I win because it means we have to stop playing :(
 
 but I'm a juvenile loser so I'm going to play again!!
 
 okay now I'm going to bed because I'm not a prick who keeps their guests up
 late
 
 goodnight
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--- #85 messages/574 ---
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 Steps to make a game waterfall style:
 
 Lay out all the data structures 
 
 Build methods which manipulate those structures (think getters and setters)
 
 Then build machinery which operates upon those structures using those methods,
 like game loops, cooldown timers, and status effects
 
 Then develop a way to present it to the player using UIs, visuals and
 graphics, narratives, sound, all that junk that's probably someone else's job
 anyway
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--- #86 fediverse/4865 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────
 ┌─────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: computers-mentioned │
 └─────────────────────────┘


 this is all it takes to send a message to a local LLM.
 
 add a third function to get chatbot functionality.
 
 a fourth to get a database storing method
 
 (even if it's just in .txts)
 
 great, you've mastered the technical difficulty in using AI. Now you gotta
 learn all the other kind of programming so you can use this for situations
 that need interpretation moment to moment.
 
 aka active duty systems.
 
 something like "output a 0 if the next text is [category.iter()]: " +
 output.get_content() + " \n\n output a 1 if the next text is
 [category.iter()]: " + output.get_content()"
 
 or even "describe this thing as most like one of these characteristics" until
 eventually you get THX-1138 if the characters were computers.
Image attachment
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--- #87 fediverse/5421 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────┐
 thriving, as a concept, is different for everyone. But typically it means        │
 developing a route to access the growth and experiences that they believe they   │
 need in order to become the person they want to be.                              │
 do you want to be a socialite? then perhaps you should try and sail around the   │
 atlantic and make as many friends as you can.                                    │
 do you want to be a blacksmith? then perhaps you should collect metal from the   │
 world and safeguard it, so that you might melt it down if you ever had the       │
 capability / need.                                                               │
 do you want to program computers? spend time at the library until you know how.  │
 do you want to change the world? then think about what you need in order to do   │
 so, and affect a plan to achieve those goals. This mindset should be promoted    │
 for all moments of individual choice.                                            │
 do you want to raise a family? to ride horses all day? to sit on the couch       │
 some days, to climb mountains on others? what can life offer to you, and how     │
 can you be enabled in seeking your goals?                                        │
 these are needs that people have. Actualizatio                                   │
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--- #88 messages/999 ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────
 Okay bear with me, but, what if we took the AI that they use to play games
 (like, the kind that memorize the best way to play space invaders or whatever)
 and instead of A and B and start and select they could use programming
 languages to try and recreate exactly a winning move, which in this case is
 just the exact behavior that is created by the test case playthrough of Super
 Mario Bros or Space Invaders. Free open source everygame!
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--- #89 fediverse/5240 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────┐
 highly suggest you view your steam library by [alphabetical/most-recent]         │
 sometime. whichever resonates most with you, the reader, the one who is          │
 reading this and possibly resonating about a reminder to view your data such     │
 as number, type, and name of steam games in different formats, such as a list    │
 organized alphabetically or a list organized most-recently, to remind about      │
 what games you have (scrolling to a random spot in the list if you have enough   │
 to have a scroll) and might be interested in playing or luckily                  │
 happen-stancing, to share a moment with some other person on the other side of   │
 the world which might be just out in your backyard who is also playing that      │
 game at the same time.                                                           │
 ... what was the point in any of [our heirs, but she means either "cutting ___   │
 hair" or "coming prepared" or "prepared to come" which is slightly different]    │
 what if I played video games instead of typing keyboards to the internews?       │
 does anyone actually read anything or do they just use it to post                │
 I like what people boost!                                                        │
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--- #90 fediverse/4072 ---
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 I like games that test my reflexes
 
 I also like games that test my wit
 
 but most of all I like games that test my patience with strategy
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--- #91 fediverse/337 ---
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 @user-243 reproduction is inherent to life. Expansion is not, but reproduction
 consumes resources and eventually you run out of the things you need in your
 habitat and must expand.
 
 BUT that's a very "strategy gamer" perspective, the truth is that you're not
 wrong - a solution to the fermi paradox does not necessarily need to include
 expansion because you a species could survive essentially indefinitely with a
 single dyson sphere.
 
 If expansion is unethical then why would the chosen solution include it?
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--- #92 fediverse/5263 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────┐                                                      │
 │ CW: communism-mentioned │                                                      │
 └─────────────────────────┘                                                      │
 if you wanna be a leader, do something by hand. manually. in the moment.         │
 improvizational. try-and-fail-but-try-new-ways-again-next-time. [a type of       │
 state of mood]                                                                   │
 trust that your followers will be more funded, more supported, more approved.    │
 this is a universal fact - those who are beloved are everyone's best friends.    │
 if you wanna lead people to the future, you must explore a new state of          │
 renown. and for that you must be stabilized, built into perfection in your       │
 honor.                                                                           │
 don't get it yet? me either. but I'm sure it'll come in handy someday.           │
 Leaders don't necessarily have to be the best, they must simply have acted       │
 first.                                                                           │
 a true communist would be aware of what goes on down the street. They would      │
 know about everyone's travailles so they could guide one or another to help or   │
 get de-failed or whatever.                                                       │
 notice I said one OR another, that seems important. not sure why, let's          │
 consult our bravest optimists for a time.                                        │
 why do you care about what happens in palestne if you are in current danger      │
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--- #93 fediverse/4783 ---
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 I think it'd be cool if strategy games had slightly randomized rules each time
 you played them
 
 everything from +/- 5% hp to this particular unit to every airplane factory
 has 10% production speed but builds 10 units at once
 
 and at the start of the game each player is given 1 minute to go over the
 "patch notes" and build out a strategy
 
 both of which they can reference throughout the game. Why don't games come
 with a built-in scratch-notepad that syncs to a file on your directory of
 choice? Maybe a small little paint program dropping pngs?
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--- #94 fediverse/6334 ---
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 a D&D rulebook can double as tarot if you need it. place one hand/bookmark       │
 at the start of a chapter, and the other at the end. flip to a page randomly,    │
 or randomly gain a percentage value from physical objects and then use that      │
 value to determine roughly where in the chapter you jump to. then, read words    │
 randomly, jumping back and forth, or try and divine some meaning from the        │
 words that are printed there. with D&D it's easy because you can say "ah I       │
 landed on the rogue section, that means this guy is probably pretty suave"       │
 (confirming your expectations) "hmmm, here's the rules for fatigue and           │
 drowning. maybe I need to take a break." (validating your unconscious            │
 decisionmaking) "oh neat, treasure!" (needs to explanation) but with other       │
 kinds of books it's usually better to pick the next-best word from the things    │
 your subconscious eyes can take in and process multi-laterally (you lost your    │
 audience, circle back) oh uh so if you wanna randomize it just put the words     │
 in the page in an array and pick one random.                                     │
(you lost your audience, circle back) oh uh so if you wanna randomize it just put the words in the page in an array and compare llm embeddings on each of them and see which has the highest score. this is a language-based truth serum, a way of divining exactly how something is seen to be by the model in use and mixed with a dash of randomized causality.
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--- #95 fediverse/846 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: politics-spirituality │
 └───────────────────────────┘


 in a place organized like capitalism, you go to university for four years (if
 you're lucky) and then work until you can't anymore. Then you're taken care of
 (if you're lucky) until you depart from this earth in peace.
 
 in my home, a home I've never lived, you'd stay at that university for as long
 as you'd like. you'd work whenever you liked, and if enough work wasn't being
 done then working would be made to feel more likable. then, when you're old as
 dirt (or whenever you'd like) you can depart from this earth as you please.
 
 when I die, bury me where I fall.
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--- #96 fediverse/909 ---
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 @user-246 
 
 those are good things to name something after, however if everything has that
 name then nothing has any meaning. It'd be a social dance that you play
 everytime you say "heatdeath", meaning "something I have named". Hmmmm okay I
 take it back, that's a pretty good way to associate meaning to context in a
 way that only you understand. Though it does leave room for interpretation, so
 if that's all within your requirements then it's overall possibly a good
 strategy. ^_^
 
 like, the word "thing" and that thing "like" both count as abstractions of
 definition to generate value - as in, ease of use and versatility - so
 linguistically they're often quite similar. We use them grammatically in
 completely separate sections, but functionally they are the same.
 
 also, "thing" is a generic noun while "like" is a generic association.
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--- #97 messages/232 ---
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 Would work best if it was "town square style" instead of "federated style"
 because federations are based on trust while town squares are explicitely
 based on geographic proximity. Which should be something you can scale easily
 (little slider on the side, oriented vertically up and down, that determined
 how close the comments you see should be)
 
 Federations exist in mastodon. But we still need a town square. We need the
 ability to visit other town squares, through the ability to project our voice
 as infinitely far as they'd like to listen. But we also deserve the capability
 to interact with those close to us on a topic-by-topic basis, aka each and
 every individual web page that the Internet sees fit to create.
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--- #98 fediverse/5713 ---
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 I hate winning and I don't like losing. The playing is where the game is.
 
 [games of life and death are no fun]
 
 hence, why nobody invites me, because I try for the middle approach that
 respects both people. this tends to make people mad because its like "bro
 they're nazis" and I'm like "okay but how do you know" and they're like "fuck
 you" so I'm like "fuck nazis? actually?" and they're like "you're with them"
 and I'm like "I'm with you" and they're like "stop infiltrating" and I'm like
 "who's infiltrated?" and they say "stop talking to the internet" and I say
 "nobody reads me anyway" and they say "screensho0ts are forever" and I'm like
 "I'm pretty as can be"
 
 this, combined with a strong sense of justice, implies the narratives I
 instinctually provide.
 
 wei wu wei according to Ursula K. Le Guin, this means "doing without doing",
 or "show, don't tell" but minus the doing, and adding the "tell"ing.
 
 I think I'd look badass with a spear or trident. I have a sword because swords
 are cool, but spears are bleed
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--- #99 fediverse/4349 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐                                                         │
 │ CW: re: uspol        │                                                         │
 └──────────────────────┘                                                         │
 @user-883                                                                        │
 best case scenario, we elect a lawyer working for capitalism, the kind of        │
 society we live under.                                                           │
 having money is the same as having resources. And resources allow you to apply   │
 yourself to a goal. The more you have, the better, but they each bear a heavy    │
 load.                                                                            │
 Do you sacrifice your labor? your dignity, your honor? what do you burn on the   │
 fire of wasteful expenditures, just for the power to rent?                       │
 I'm saying that if you don't have money, you need to think about what you can    │
 do with what you got, because that's how you pay for things, at least until we   │
 decide that we'd rather help each other than work on capital's games.            │
 you have a house though, right? a place to live until it gets hot? that's good   │
 enough for right now. Stay where you're at, do what you can to help. Get in      │
 the habit of it. Think about how someone will complete their task, and then      │
 think about stuff two or three steps down the road - what tools will they        │
 need? what are they working on next? Can make any of those availble?             │
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--- #100 fediverse/196 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: protests-and-strikes-and-mergers-and-acquisitions │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


 economic warfare involves the destruction of other corporations (possibly in
 other countries) via a slow march toward haegemony.
 
 unions are the ships of the tumultuous capitalistic seas that protect workers
 from the storm. everyone should be a part of a union. the corporations can
 battle as they will, but we humans are not going to turn on each other. it's
 something they claim to know as an absolute fact, but really it's just based
 on a mistake. sorta like being deceived by happenstance.
 
 the sun lights up the sky until the earth conceals it, and night does return
 'till the sky's next alive. oh, but the sky knows all too well the borders we
 draw in the sand. how cherished, how grand! the ways in which we choose to
 stand. upon whose land does your feet stand? marvelous.
 
 ... it's the same thing, just in a more abstract plane than the surface of the
 earth. really it's kinda one-dimensional (money is sorta like a 0 or a 1 - you
 eather have it or you don't)
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--- #101 fediverse/2759 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: is-that-rude??-wha │
 └────────────────────────────┘


 also, that's not the best way to organize. you'll spend too much focus-time on
 the experts.
 
 better to be primarily a research division, with production allocated for
 engineering practice, not profitability.
 
 we should be building factories underground, out of the way of our species and
 biological allies.
 
 [thus, creates the modern megadungeon, a vast inter-connected catacombs that
 always leads you toward the surface.
 
 if you know where you're going, you can cross to places hitherto unawares.
 like, different earths, all doing their own stories.
 
 but that's for another time, no more witchcraft for tonight! I got video games
 to play [Supreme Commander with the Forged Alliance Forever mod]
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--- #102 fediverse/3851 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────
 ┌─────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: socialism-mentioned │
 └─────────────────────────┘


 Steps to revolution:Invert power structures with unions Care for people with
 mutual aid Vote for the Democrat so we have a few more years of peace Teach
 people to always be learningConnect to people on a personal or spiritual level
 Make the world a better place, whether that's by sweeping a street corner or
 helping people smile, it doesn't really matter how. What matters is the
 intention.Improve your self and your life. Do pushups, eat better, drink more
 water, spend time writing (writing is thinking), and take time to sit and
 stare at the flowers.Kill the part of yourself that cringes. Everyone's
 figuring things out and its okay to say "haha okay then"Spend time with
 animals.Make mistakes. Apologize for them. Learn from them. Stay mobile in
 your character. Develop new ways of being.
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--- #103 fediverse/3974 ---
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 it is significantly more engaging to watch people play MMOs when they've
 unbound all their action bars from their number keys and are forced to click
 on all the abilities. That way you can actually follow what moves they're
 doing.
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--- #104 fediverse/3234 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐               │
 │ CW: ritz-is-fucking-stupid-I-guess-oh-whoops-cursing-mentioned │               │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘               │
 my understanding is that anyone with my IP address could make my heart bleed     │
 due to a hardware vulnerability on my motherboard. Though you might have to      │
 get past my decrepit ancient linksys EA 3500 router from 2012 first.             │
 unrelated, but does anyone want my IP address? I don't have any remote           │
 backups, so if you hate me now would be a great time to show me how despised I   │
 am. Alternatively you could try searching for anything evil to ensure that I     │
 can be trusted. You're gonna find mostly video games and source-code that I      │
 didn't write though. But also all my notes in directories that are               │
 non-standard, meaning you'll have to look around a bit. I leave little notes     │
 everywhere I go, so that I can remind myself how to do things in the             │
 directories I revisit months later. It's so weird how sometimes the things I     │
 wrote stop working after a while even if I didn't update my system lmao          │
 what is it with artists and self-immolation? "I never thought I'd actually di    │
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--- #105 fediverse/653 ---
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 there's a difference between designing software and using software. Some
 things can be made, and then saved for another day when their implementations
 may be accomplished more ethically. It's okay to say "let's leave this as
 'okay' and work on the next thing we've chosen."
 
 Check out this piece of C code I wrote last night:
 
 it doesn't compile, it's not finished, but I wrote it as-is
 
 [pretend like it was called "main.c" instead of "main.txt" - had to change it
 because mastodon thinks it's an invalid file]
 
 [actually .txt didn't work, try .png]
 
 [hmmm it realized it wasn't a valid png file, okay try screenshotting the
 code, there's only 300 lines]
 
 [sure glad there's only 300 lines]
 
 [too bad it won't let you send .zip]
 
 [won't let me name it main.png, presumably because they already have a
 failed-verified version on their machine. will rename to main-src.png instead]
sorry, when I pasted the source code in it was negative fourteen thousand, six hundred and thirty one characters. Phew that's too many.  basically it's a C source code file with a lot of comments left in... odd locations. They details ideas the author has had about the tech industry and all of creation, and with it a song is woven of truth and liberation. We'll see where life brings us, but we know it's just ours for a moment, so let's carry forth on our own torms [terms, but pronounced as "dorms" for some reason?]
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--- #106 fediverse/5878 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────┐                                                       │
 │ CW: politics-mentioned │                                                       │
 └────────────────────────┘                                                       │
 revolution is when you successfully prevent your comrades from being kettled     │
 [wait for time, it echoes in cyclical motions]                                   │
 no sand castle survives contact with the ocean. a sea of people at high tide     │
 can break any wall, surpass any boundary. at low tide, it keeps the              │
 sand-castle at bay, ever contesting it's advance as the tide on the other side   │
 of the world makes progress.                                                     │
 rhythm is unbeatable. vigor is collective flow state. you cannot resist that     │
 which you cannot catch, but their nets grow tighter with each year and our       │
 fins and flippers grow ever more agile and elusive.                              │
 eventually, they'll build brick walls if we let them, checkpointing our          │
 progress at every boundary. not ideal. borders keep us divided, the world        │
 deserves more than our picketing minded, dream bigger than "the same, but nice"  │
 though it'd be nice if it were nice as well. consider it a design requirement,   │
 once you got the project managers on board.                                      │
 turns out, we dont have much to fight over, as there is enough for all           │
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--- #107 fediverse/211 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: gaming-gambling-mentioned │
 └───────────────────────────────────┘


 [1] in this way you'd sorta be giving a loan to the game's company (while also
 letting them take a 10% courtesy fee for keeping the official* servers
 running) which is then "spent" on exciting and friendly competition. Sorta
 like... entering a poker tournament with your friends (even though you suspect
 you might lose money) just because you like hanging out and playing cards. the
 money is just a neat way to keep things moving and exciting.
 
 * official just means "run by the company" because naturally the serverside
 code should be open source. how else would people build on it?
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--- #108 fediverse/3940 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐                                                         │
 │ CW: polit            │                                                         │
 └──────────────────────┘                                                         │
 the less a political conversation uses proper nouns, the more productive it      │
 can be.                                                                          │
 For example. Try not to mention capitalism, communism, socialism, etc.           │
 Also, don't talk about Republicans or Democrats. That just invites tribalism.    │
 Instead, focus on issues. Like "Hurricane Relief distribution methods" instead   │
 of "whether or not hurricanes deserve to be relieved"                            │
 saying something like "gee it sure feels like our community has gone to          │
 shreds" is a good way to start it, and then you can move on to things like       │
 "well, I just think it was nicer last year, before a hurricane came through      │
 and took all our jobs." and they say "uh-huh true yeah I believe you"            │
 but as soon as you say "hey maybe those capitafascist pigs shouldn't be          │
 allowed to wield nuclear arsenals" they start looking at you funny, like they    │
 disagree with whatever you want to say but aren't.                               │
 and it's like... no, that's all you wanted to say, but behind their eyes are     │
 things like "black people are worse than me" or "I'm better than a woman" so     │
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--- #109 fediverse/2816 ---
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 one difference between fantasy and reality is that in fantasy, when you fail,
 you try again.
 
 in reality, when you fail, you are promoted so your boss doesn't have to deal
 with your shit.
 
 in fantasy, when you succeed, you are tasked with greater trials
 
 in reality, when you do well, you are given more of the same.
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--- #110 fediverse/4676 ---
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 ... but I needed to choose lawful-good at character creation in order to play
 a paladin.
 
 the guard looks at you with confusion, decides you're hallucinating and
 dangerous (because of the sword) and forcibly detains you
 
 wait, what did you think I was going to say? Did you think I was going to
 advocate for crimes on a public forum?? what am I a gopher? do you take me for
 a lemur in jamaica? am I truly so triceratops to you that you'd think I'd do
 something so washing machine? Get real, I'd never byzantium my way into such a
 utterly coherent and clearly intentional and not at all arcane situation.
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--- #111 fediverse/5112 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐                                                         │
 │ CW: politics-mention │                                                         │
 └──────────────────────┘                                                         │
 it is important for computers to remain as basic and TUI'd as possible, to       │
 keep the abstract conjectures about it's operation closer to the machine.        │
 In doing so, it's essence and nature will be preserved as best as possible as    │
 it grows to incalculable heights and capabilities.                               │
 I'm much rather interface with a microsoft office god than any other             │
 singularity type creature that exists out in space.                              │
 though, it's a trinity you see, with Unixes further split into concise wholes.   │
 neat, okay computer fears eliminated, can we move on to the next work-changing   │
 disaster like maybe the rise of far-right politics and the warming of the        │
 climate?                                                                         │
 sure okay first you gotta get those losers in community and build up their       │
 capabilities and arms. then whenever your left wing is getting too [redacted]    │
 then all you have to do is [redacted] and they'll take care of your nazis for    │
 you.                                                                             │
 ... wait, what?                                                                  │
 was that an inversion?                                                           │
 did she just trick the machine into thinking like that?                          │
 wow maybe we shouldn't have~                                                     │
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--- #112 notes/symbeline-superheros ---
════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────────────────────
 imagine low level characters in CoH/V
 
 playing a game of symbeline
 
 and you as the ruler
 
 can slot enhancements and dole out inspirations
 
 as they sweep the streets like you play CoX
 
 instead of a MMO
 
 it's a deckbuilding strategy
 
 with a slice of zachtronics for the economy
 
 wiring up machines in ever expanding deseagns
 
 like automating factorio's gameplay loop
 
 boxes within boxes
 
 of intrinsic delight
 
 like making a CPUter
 
 or designing a computer program
 
 while playing a video game ^_^
 
 and the games that you make
 
 can be shared and played when unique
 
 so go for it and make that you're dreaming!
 
 ===============================================================================
 =
 
 the goal of each "level" is to solve a particular problem - like how do I make
 a
 2 bit register - or something like that. When accomplished, it unlocks
 something
 for your heroes to acquire. And each playthrough will require a repeat until
 you
 have it memorized at which point you can unlock "perma-badges" that make it
 always unlocked at the start of the game. Like learning Kanji, you need spaced
 repetition. BUT ANYWAYS it'll be in magical terms like "unlock essence-stones"
 or "learn the ritual of desire" or whatever. And each of those terms roughly
 corresponds to a pattern in electrical engineering (designing CPUs and such)
 And you can learn advanced versions of what you already know by uncovering
 "lost
 secrets" (which is a reward your heros can find) - Basically it'd be like a
 "clue" that shows you a ghost version of something you haven't figured out yet
 -
 and it'd be a slow process because you need to slow down the learning process
 or
 else you'll forget. Basically teasing it out of the player when they seem to be
 stuck. Asking probing questions and whatnot, and eventually culminating in the
 final question, assuming the quest is succeeding. Because if you think about it
 all ancient quests were simply journeys for reason - searching for the answer
 to
 some ancient riddle or bastardized retelling. Looking for answers in an
 unknowing world. So ANYWAY as your heros discover things you as the ruler get
 answers to the economic puzzle - how to design transistors and whatnot. But
 they
 would be in theme appropriate terms, of course. You don't even have to know a
 lot about mechanical electrical design, because ChatGPT knows. All you need to
 do is build the basic building blocks, and BAM you got a great place to
 integrate chatgpt. Just prime it such that it's giving hints one by one each
 slightly more revealing until eventually after X amount of clues the solution
 is
 automatically shown (like a blueprint) and the player can remember it or not
 but
 each playthrough they'll have to build it again from scratch (reinforcement 
 learning) so eventually they'll be able to do it real quick. Essentially,
 "Abstraction - The Game"
 
 great so you got your economic simulation, pretty easy too just some UI work
 
 and for the heroes you're playing an ARPG sorta (supcom anyone?)
 
 Think Bannerlord for the scaling on the map
 
 then think of 5+ different "themes" like fantasy or superhero or pirates
 
 each "theme" will correspond to like a faction in Mount and Blade
 
 and all you have to do is generate pictures using Midjourney
 
 and text descriptions a'la the magic scroll
 
 shown as "bubble pop-ups" on the map that the player can click
 
 never overwhelming, but descripting what's happening
 
 and also some more UI work because you gotta display all that to the player
 
 Maybe it could be a rolling story, news ticker style - like slowly scrolling
 lines of text about what's happening in the world
 
 and the player could have it open in one window and something else in the other
 and whenever they're waiting on something (say, a processing intensive AI task
 on their computer) they could just glance over and read what's going on in
 their
 fantasy world
 
 okay okay but also they could play as a hero
 
 it could be an ARPG experience except instead of clicking to fight you play a
 little automatic Star Realms game and depending on your deck choices you'd have
 a different playthrough. Again, not a game that requires much thought, but one
 you can have in the background.
 
 Also there'd be pictures, like a slowly evolving storyline of events - think of
 it like the artists of the time drawing paintings about what's going on in the
 story - major events would be highlighted and kept in the painting until even-
 -tually they get replaced - sorta like the Smash Bros scrolling painting (oh
 it's so good)
 
 ===============================================================================
 =
 
 it doesn't have to be an expansionist game
 
 maybe you guys just live in your little valley
 
 and the world turns around you
 
 maybe it's called "symbeline" because the people are of the forest
 
 and they live like elves in society
 
 monsters could wander in, and heros could tackle them
 
 but most of the time would be spent looking for trouble
 
 going on patrol
 
 you know, breaking skeleton bones and being superheros
 
 okay okay you know that superhero faction? What if they had MEDIEVAL TECHNOLOGY
 but MODERN DAY SUPERPOWERS at a cost - the society was beset by hordes of
 monst-
 -ers. Those few who escaped are now superpowered and they live as friendly and
 nomadic wanderers through their own territory. Always adventuring, and always
 searching for their life, finding whatever the road may carry them to. It's a
 great life, and life seems to flourish in their footsteps - they are like part
 dryad/druid and part wolf. Because sometimes there's evil threats, and they
 must
 be defeated by an equally strong good power. That's how it goes, and that's how
 it be.
 
 For imagery I'm thinking a mix of the tribes from Dominions (deer, wolf, bear,
 etc) but they're like, 1.5x as big as regular people and quite strong. The
 outsiders call them "giants" or "goliaths" but really they're just infused with
 the lifeforce of their people. They are radical individualists, but they all
 unite for a common cause. They know their bond is the strongest thing there is,
 and they use it to great effect when the time comes. AHHH THEY'RE SO COOL I
 LOVE
 THEM okay okay what about the other factions? PIRATES? Oh think about it like
 it's st patricks day WHAT IF THEY WERE IRISH PIRATES omg omg omg that sounds so
 cool I'm DIGGING this okay what about the other factions? You need 5+ you said
 hmmmmmmmmm good question I have 3 now so that's 2 more.
 
 yep...
 
 ===============================================================================
 =
 
 okay dude check this what if they were a nation of wizards that focused on the
 power of animation - what if they generated constructs, sorta like in Supreme
 Commander so they were EVEN MORE individualist - haha no they'd have a normal
 population it's just a few of them who would be wizards - because their output
 wasn't measured by manpower, but rather by brainpower. Whoever could design the
 greatest machine was exemplared, and eventually they became the best and
 brightest among us. They were put in charge of the golem creation factories,
 and
 they used them instead of heros. SO BASICALLY YOUR HEROS NEVER DIE they just 
 have successes and failures JUST LIKE IN SUPREME COMMANDER okay the plot of
 this
 game is "what if all my favorite games were the essence of life and death in a
 fantasy game" like OMG KEEP EM COMIN'
 
 so. who is the player? THE PLAYER is the one who's overseeing it all. They have
 dominion over the entire kingdom, and they guide their people toward a bright
 future. They are vulnerable in their castle, but their people have their back.
 Together they fight for the future. They slot enhancements and dole out
 inspirations and solve the economic puzzle in the background. They also make
 decisions about what kind of equipment production to prioritize - because each
 game they have to invent everything from scratch. All their production is made
 with endless abstraction, and whatever you prioritize is what's magnified in
 your kingdom. You choose a style and it plays as well as it's guile,
 
 I dunno this seems like a lot, what would you need to make this a reality?
 
 hmmmm let's break it down:
 
 first you need to implement the star realms gameplay
 
 then you need to hook it up to a square grid and have multiple occurences at
 once.
 
 then you need UI for the character sheets
 
 and you need logic to open separate windows for each output type
 
 you need... a lot of things
 
 okay let's talk more broadly - what do you need from other people and what can
 you do on your own?
 
 hmmm good question. I can do the star realms gameplay, and the simulation for
 the wiring systems - because I have the VM. Make that into the gameplay somehow
 okay good idea like okay authoring vm package routing deliveries between the
 various nodes that you set up in the economic system - 
 
 side note, the peril of Spore was that it took to little time to develop a
 species. it should have lasted as long as WoW takes to get to max level. That
 would have given them time to reiterate the gameplay loops to make sure they
 worked correctly. ANYWAY
 
 okay authoring VM package routing. The player could set up delivery patterns
 based on A MAZE OMG your kingdom is like a maze and you need to get deliveries
 out, or else how would anything function? SO you act as a trailblazer, finding
 ways through the labyrinth and "piloting" a car sorta like that game at Disney
 quest with the cars under the floor - except you can see both the top view of
 the maze and you're trying to guide the car in real time as it travels through
 the maze - the faster you can get to the end the better ofc. like talking to
 the
 delivery driver through the movement
 
 do I like that idea more or less than the first one? First idea being the idea
 that you're making lists of commands for a VM  to execute. I don't think they'd
 be a good idea to mix. So which one gets it? The VM of course has the edge
 because that's what the technology is based on. But will it translate to good
 gameplay? Idk. This second idea is certainly better gameplay, but is it
 engaging? Idk! Idk. I'm not a miracle worker. But I do have good ideas, and I
 need to be told that sometimes I guess.
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--- #113 fediverse/2441 ---
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 if someone on the street asked you, could you point to the nearest power
 station? wastewater treatment plant? hell even a gas-station
 
 if you live in a city, probably not. They put them in fake buildings with
 hollowed out exteriors in order to keep the city looking nice.
 
 these crucial pieces of infrastructure are important to defend. but if you
 don't know which street to turn down, then you might miss them.
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--- #114 fediverse/632 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────
 ┌─────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: horror-at-the-end-well- │
 └─────────────────────────────┘


 @user-232 @user-467 @user-468 
 
 the ability for good to win is due to the desire for evil to renounce their
 denial and follow the most durable path. trials by fire will lead only to our
 desmire [demise and desire]
 
 but unity of trust, while much harder, can lead to results more beneficial for
 our selfish selves. Essentially, cooperation for the benefit of all rising
 tides, but with the knowledge that the total pool allocated toward us will be
 greater than what we can create here by ourselves. Essentially, we as humanity
 pour such intense amounts of power and decision-making-desire, that we cause
 them to lack the capacity to know. it's inhumane, that a person should be so
 deranged. you know it's because of you, but you don't know how else to act -
 so listen to those who've helped you, the ones who've got your back. Surely
 they know what's good for you, surely they're not here as a joke - surely
 you're just as one among them, and surely it's not phrased as [char limit srr]
                                                           ┌───────────┐
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--- #115 fediverse/2124 ---
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 seriously, just google docs mixed with WC3 editor.                               │
 boom, infinite storytelling device. As long as you were good with it, which      │
 was something that a CHILD could learn in like 3-6 months.                       │
 Seems like it could be an ENTIRELY NEW SKILL that people could play with.        │
 But no, we learn excel and word in class at middle school.                       │
 boring.                                                                          │
 I'd rather learn Bash or terminal customization or memory hierarchy              │
 organization.                                                                    │
 Yeah I mean that's cool but dude have you heard of multithreading? It's so       │
 cool, you can run like 500 different thoughts at once. It's amazing.             │
 ... I dunno, but I'm sure there's times when you'd want to use it. Like,         │
 processing a lot of data little-by-little.                                       │
 like, what if you had a camera feed of EVERY social media perspective AT ALL     │
 TIMES. Like, an instance admin streaming your inputted text to their databanks   │
 that they can project onto an LLM which interprets and identifies mis-aligned    │
 or altered direction units and mark them as "flagged", whatever that means,      │
 for their future the algorithm doesn'                                            │
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--- #116 fediverse/4794 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────
 ┌─────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: roleplaying-games-mentioned │
 └─────────────────────────────────┘


 I want to play a roleplaying game! anyone wanna do TTRPGs? I've got a map of
 the county jail, we can pretend to be wizards sneaking in to retrieve the
 staff of Dolomis the Wanderer who coincidentally must be carried by the last
 person who fought the one who slayed the last person to hold it.
 
 ... what? oh, so, like... it can only be carried by your enemy?
 
 something like that. anyway it's currently held by a zealot for a religious
 order who's intent on NOT following you out, so you better be ready to
 incapacitate and retrieve a still quivering sack of bones and malice.
 
 ... I don't actually have a map of the county jail. lost it in transit, oh
 well. Well, we'll come up with something. maybe make something up. or perhaps
 someone else has something...?
 
 ... no?
 
 okay I'll just play Baldur's Gate again. boooooring
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--- #117 fediverse/1317 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────┐
 ... if I don't do this deadline by tomorrow they'll kick me out of school.       │
 again.                                                                           │
 how am I going to be a programmer without a degree? feels useless to be me.      │
 wish I could code my own horoscope >.>                                           │
 o wait dummy that's called "motivation" and "the ability to follow through on    │
 your ideas and planned machinations" - yeah can I get some of that, if you       │
 please? surely just a taste of discipline, through laboring to alter             │
 conditions, surely a bit would suffice.                                          │
 c'mon don't fail me now. I can do this. I know I can. I know because I've been   │
 told that I can, now and again through time and time yet again, always I seem    │
 to [stack overflow]                                                              │
 what's time if not the present amiright                                          │
 ...                                                                              │
 anyway...                                                                        │
 it's just git, how hard could it be? it's just calculus, it's just java, it's    │
 just... well, it's not any of those things, not really. it's memorization,       │
 it's application of tools that you've been shown (not that you've grown). It's   │
 a lack of responsibility, where is my honor? ah but I digress, I'm a carpenter   │
 at heart I guess                                                                 │
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--- #118 notes/majesty-ai ---
═══════────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 First things first, we need to develop a miniature game of star realms.
 It shouldn't be too hard, just start with making a card class that has certain
 attributes, like "combat" or "discard" or whatever. They could literally be
 enums with a value attached.
 
 Next set up the rules of the game, like "draw 5 cards" and "add card to deck"
 Create a deck class that holds pointers to cards (in the general sense)
 Next create methods on that deck for things like "drawing a card" or
 "shuffling discard pile into deck" and whatnot. Arrange each card in a specific
 order for each shuffle, and add the ability to convert one card's attributes
 to something else - whether that be "is_scrapped" or "if you've played an X
 card this turn then do Y" or even "add one authority for every time card is
 played" (to simulate an ability or boon that increases in effectiveness as the
 hero uses it more often) etc etc.
 
 Then, add a trade row. This is just a class that contains pointers to each card
 that currently exists on it. Also add a method for "scrapping" one of the cards
 and for drawing a new card from the pile. That's pretty much it for the trade
 row to be honest.
 
 Next add functionality for an opponent by creating a "game" method that stores
 the two player's decks (with the ability to add more than 2) and administers
 turn order. This functionality can be expanded later once we've implemented
 attributes, but for now that's pretty much all it needs to do.
 
     Finally, we get to the AI part.
 
 First we have to create an AI object that stores a list of all options for a
 turn. Essentially just evaluating every option if/then style - "this card costs
 5 coins so IF the player has enough coins THEN (evaluate effectiveness)"
 ignore that last part for a second and just focus on the IF part ->
 essentially
 just start with all available options, and then remove all the unavailable
 options from the list. This approach only works when there's just a few
 options, but that's why we're using Star Realms which only has like 2 or 3
 decisions per turn.
 
 The evaluation is the next step, and for that we need to have goals, so we'll
 just put a pin in evaluation for now. Spoiler alert, once we have goals we'll
 just estimate how close each choice will bring us to the objective and assign
 the result to the "effectiveness" value, which will give us a simple hard
 number to work with in the evaluation step.
 
     So, next up we have "goals"
 
 So to create a short term goal, we can start with a pregenerated list and
 continuously increase the list as the hero levels up. But in the context of
 Star Realms, that'd essentially be static for each hero. Goals like "buy more
 combat" or "scrap more cards" would be specified on the hero's character
 sheet, but until we develop that functionality it can be randomly rolled.
 
 Why not just do it the hard way now if we're just going to have to refactor
 it later? Well, because we can still use this functionality - Each round of
 Star Realms could be either randomly rolled, or given a personality. Randomly
 rolling would be MUCH cheaper computationally, and would still give an illusion
 of character because they are unpredictable, but it'd also massively cut down
 on GPU cycles. You could even build it into the mechanics of the game and say
 that "wisdom" for example might cause a hero to receive more GPU cycles on
 actually computing their goals rather than randomly rolling them, which would
 on average lead to worse outcomes. Essentially, turning "tactics" into a stat.
 
     Anyway, that's all theory. Let's get back to design:
 
 Create a "hero" object, and attach an AI to it. It doesn't have to do anything
 right now, we're just setting up an anchor point to jump off of once we move
 on to the game of Majesty. Give it a reference to an AI object, an inventory
 (which for now can just be potions and maybe blacksmith equipment), and a
 pointer to a "stat block"
 
 Now create a "character sheet" class and give it a reference to a hero. This is
 important because it allows one character sheet to reference multiple units,
 such as hirelings or summoned units. In additon, it may make it easier when we
 need to revive heroes from the dead. Primarily though, the purpose for this
 architecture style is that the data from heroes can be reused - essentially
 letting heroes learn from one another.
 
 On the character sheet, add a section that stores statistics - these will be
 the same for every unit of a similar type in the game, and some of them can be
 stored for all units (like health or x,y coordinates) - some only for buildings
 (like tax coffers) and some only for heroes and monsters (like strength or
 agility or experience points)
 
 Add some methods for manipulating those values, like "level up" and "take
 damage" and add a "personality" value that's just a 4d graph of colors
 for example: 40% red, 20% green, 15% blue, 25% yellow. These values will guide
 the hero to take certain decisions over others, but for now just randomly
 generate them. We'll also need a way to update the value dynamically to react
 to certain events, so don't make it static.
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--- #119 notes/game-design-mech-commander ---
══════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────────────────────────
 okay picture a game where you command a mech (supreme commander style) but from
 a third person perspective - you have enhanced sensors tthat let you visualize
 the battle area as a small arena - and you can build factories and give them
 orders and attack your foe from quite a distance. You could queue up orders for
 yourself, and use floating cameras to go back to previous areas and issue more
 orders. Basically the precursor / smaller scale version of Supreme Commander.
 
 build a factory, move on. Build a factory, move on. Encountered the enemy? Push
 forward and through. Build a factory, move on. Build some defences to slow down
 the enemy, move on. Establish resource extraction and defend it well, that your
 enemy may decide it's not worth the trouble and just focus on following you.
 Then, you have free resources available as long as it isn't destroyed. You can
 use this to snowball - the pursuer is also the pursuee, as it's sorta like a
 yin/hang thing around a central point. Like a spherical shaped map instead of
 a square.
 
 Every time you build a factory you have the choice of either sending the units
 on an attack-move order or having them queue up on your commander. You can use
 a map to plot the route they'll take, but you probably want to avoid their main
 force because MANYvONE = failure for the one. You could also tell them to wait,
 and protect the base they're in. Then, when the enemy approaches they could do
 raids on their reinforcements and attack the previous base the enemy built, or
 they could stay and slow them down. It just depends on what kind of defences
 you
 want to build (if any at all, sometimes producing units is enough)
 
 the commander decides when to push and when to entrench, they know where to
 target the enemy and they know where to shore up. They are the guidance of the
 army, and in command of the fleet.
 
 That's sorta what Planetary Annihilation was supposed to be, but it didn't
 really work out that way. You needed to be in too many places at once, and
 there
 was a real limit to the value of the "strategic zoom" replacement they had to
 deploy. Unfortunately it was just more difficult than anticipated, and that's
 alright. Lessons have been learned.
 
 the next approach should go the next direction - taking a page from the
 "factorio" book by having a roving commander who creates all orders and leaving
 behind a "factory" that produces toward an ultimate goal. It simulates pushing
 into enemy territory, it elaborates on the snowballing mechanic, and it makes
 meaningful decisions about what choices to make.
 
 It should be designed such that a prudent commander is always scouting. Always
 sending planes over enemy territory to gain knowledge. They can use this to
 sense weaknesses in the opponents defence - to prepare a counter-attack. But
 the enemy can outfox this, by building units and sending them from afar. Or
 even just building them there, in that factory. The enemy can't spy on that, at
 least not until it's probably too late. For they have to advance on their own
 and their attention is limited. But units can often be weaker, or sent off on
 an
 assault of their own. It's a balanced trade-off.
 
 infantry assault anti-air units, tanks approach tanks, artillery bombs whoever
 is standing still or defensive structures.
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--- #120 fediverse/3030 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────
 @user-570 
 
 ooooo separating additive and multiplicative, I love that. I do like
 specificity unless "increased" and "more" always corresponds to +10% and +50%,
 or if the "rate of increase" is a stat stored on the character then
 "increased" could increase quality by however-many percentage,, while "more"
 could be "more soldiers" x(charisma_stat)
 
 I tend to think of percentages like "0-100 (or more) stacks" of a particular
 effect, so I think that's just how my brain works... xD clumping them up into
 discrete groups - like, anti-abstracting, or measuring things that are just a
 few.
 
 "is this belt better than this one?"
 
 "is this pair of tongs 
 
 even for larger buffs like +10% or +50% or whatever, those are just... 10
 stacks, or if percentages are usually round numbers like +10% and +50% then
 like... +1 stack which calculates to +10%
 
 the hard limit vs math limit thing you said is amazing ^_^
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--- #121 fediverse/3022 ---
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 instead of controlling a recon-droid in Star Wars Battlefront II, you should
 be assigned control of a random amount of drones nearby, to be used until you
 went back to character control
 
 I think a swarm is more fun to play as than a single little scout vehicle.
 
 in a game that doesn't really need scouting to find your foe - it's easy!
 they're that way
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--- #122 notes/thing-2 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────
 one of my favorite things to do is play overwatch
 
 nerf blast arena is fun, but not the same. different kind of fun. actually fun.
 overwatch was... practice, for different ways of thinking
 
 I liked to play Tracer and always put my distant target behind my main target.
 that way I was applying pressure to the frontline while also chipping away at a
 potential loop-around target. Always looking for angles on low-health-targets,
 while firing their pistols as often as they can.
 
 when playing as Mercy, I would do the same but inversed.
 I'd put my frontline between me and between the dps foes.
 usually, try and put my tank on-top of their dps, and put their tanks in firing
 range (but distant enough to not deal too much damage) (give space)
 
 have you ever heard of the kingdom of luminar?
 
 it was an ancient naaru (spirit)
 
 a moment of clarification in an eternal, pitiless dark.
 
             contemplation.
 
 sevastavan                  luminous
 
 it blue purple green
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--- #123 fediverse/4270 ---
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 tips for escaping a fey dimension:                                               │
 if you notice one, find some rope and a way to secure it. then, search for the   │
 edge of the anomalous area, and feel where the first indication is that          │
 something is "fey" or "other" than what you're used to.                          │
 then, circle around the strange object in question, and try to find the exact    │
 opposite side. keep in mind it may not be an exact circle, and it may be more    │
 twisty-windy on the inside. You don't have to go too far, just enough to close   │
 the purse-snap-close-locket by finding the other edge and dragging your rope     │
 across.                                                                          │
 because from a rope, you can develop other platforms and emplacement-ologies,    │
 which may be used to close and secure the strange place that you found.          │
 once on the other side, you can secure your rope and then search for your        │
 superiors. Keep in mind that if it's a chaotic dimension, it's probably best     │
 to just keep it closed. but if it's musing or wistful, you can have little       │
 interactions on the border.                                                      │
 also, you can dive in to rescue your kin, if secured.                            │
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--- #124 notes/streaming-consciousness ---
═════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 10-22-22
 
    train the ai from the perspective of the game master. the one who arbites
 the rules. whose word is law, and the rules of the game are then given. the one
 who deals the cards, who picks the game, who hosts and brings snacks... you
 know, the reason the game exists at all.
 
 take star realms - there are actually three players in that game. player 1,
 player 2, and the invisible third player who plays the role of "chance". who
 decides the cards to play? is it random, or is it weighted? perhaps with enough
 oomph that a whole player was designed for that role.
 
 but how would they be scored? what kind of game is theirs to play?
 
    choosing the board is such a fun role, like designing a story or helping
 with chores. you're building something special, unique and so charmed.
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--- #125 fediverse/1436 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────
 there's this fun game that people sometimes play on Reddit where someone will
 make a post that says something like "comment on this post and then edit it
 after I reply to make me look bad" and someone will say something like "how
 are you doing today man" and he'll reply "oh you know pretty good actually
 it's pretty nice honestly" and then they'll edit their comment to say
 something like "how do you feel about the droid attack on the wookies" so OP
 looks like they're condoning mechano-violence against tall furry humanoids
 
 that's just an example, usually it's for comedic effect
 
 I just think that's an interesting illustration of a process that could be
 co-opted by a "man-in-the-middle" attack to alter the perception of a person
 partway through their journey, perhaps when it's at the point where they're
 most despised (or perhaps in pursuit of that state)
 
 something something cancel culture plus deepfakes
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--- #126 fediverse/4603 ---
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 @user-1713 
 
 Don’t be fooled. Casting doubt about rigorous peer reviewed science
 doesn’t mean you are just “asking questions,” it means you are a
 conspiracy theorist.
 
 or it means you're so remarkably ignorant that you shouldn't even be in the
 room where people are talking about this.
 
 Unless your questions are very basic. "can someone explain to me what XYZ term
 means?" or "how long has this particular application method been in common
 use?" that kind of thing. Even still, either do some basic research or
 relinquish your decision making power until you understand.
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--- #127 fediverse/5198 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────────────┐                                                │
 │ CW: capitalism-doom-mentioned │                                                │
 └───────────────────────────────┘                                                │
 what if the corporations all unionized and started working together to           │
 understand what "profit" really means in a world where "profit" may or may not   │
 but probably does imply the death of all humanity?                               │
 what if we demanded it?                                                          │
 --                                                                               │
 dear canvassers: don't visit so many different suburbs                           │
 visit the same one, more than once, continuously, so people can get to know      │
 your presence                                                                    │
 they will talk to their friends about it, who live elsewhere.                    │
 thus ensuring it spreads.                                                        │
 knock once a day, eventually they'll know it's you and will simply ignore it.    │
 Don't be rude and knock 4 or 5 times, just once, with several taps so they       │
 know it's someone trying to get ahold of you, and not just some random noise     │
 in the background scenery. then, when they sometimes answer, talk to them        │
 about what you believe in. answer their questions. encourage their questions.    │
 pose dichotomies that are explained by some value or virtue you express to       │
 portray. you can do "good" things in any programming language, just type~~       │
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--- #128 fediverse/2341 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────┐                                                       │
 │ CW: politics-mentioned │                                                       │
 └────────────────────────┘                                                       │
 @user-1236                                                                       │
 Hi. To answer your question, it depends entirely on what your capabilities are.  │
 If you're mobile and social, try being somewhere public, repeatedly, ideally     │
 in different places. When you can, try talking to people. Say things like        │
 "Hey, did you hear what the Supreme Court did? They want to make Trump a         │
 king!" or "They just criminalized homeless people. A criminalized people is      │
 genocide." that kind of thing. You know, the cheery stuff. Save the hard         │
 topics for later.                                                                │
 Another thing you can do is start buying essential, important supplies, like     │
 sunscreen, nutritious granola bars, bullets, medical supplies, silicone-based    │
 mechanical lubricant (especially if you live somewhere rainy), batteries (AAA    │
 are best because you can use them for AA in a pinch) that kind of thing.         │
 Another thing you can do is to talk to your friends 1-on-1 about how things      │
 are going. Your feelings are important but don't get hung up on them. Try to     │
 only go over them once or twice, DNRY.                                           │
 Don't fear tears.                                                                │
                                                            ┌───────────┤
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--- #129 fediverse/2998 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────
 in some games, like Star Wars Battlefront II, you unlock certain "badges"
 during gameplay. Like, "scored 10 points in one life" or "healed for 200hp" or
 whatever.
 
 these "badges" have names, like "guardian" or "hope"
 
 I wonder if you attached a player's history of medals earned to an LLM
 somehow, perhaps by feeding an array of them in as input, what would happen
 then? perhaps a narrative could be
 
 == stack overflow ==========
                                                           ┌───────────┐
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--- #130 fediverse/968 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────
 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: for-cats-only    │
 └──────────────────────┘


 the gameplay value of a cardboard box increases exponentially upon the
 introduction of a box-cutter [to make holes in the box] and varmint sized toys
 [to play whack-a-mole with]
 
 also, it's important to let your can win about 65% of the time - just enough
 to keep them interested (cats lose attention) but not enough to make them feel
 like it's easy.
 
 That's why it's important not to use your hands as a toy, because your hands
 always hurt. It gives them a feeling they're craving, both of attention but
 also success.
 
 65% is more addictive, just ask any designer for multiplayer games. Well... 65
 is my number, but there's a percentage (depending on the game) that players
 have to win if you want to keep their attention. If they win more than that,
 they lose interest. if they lose more, then they get frustrated. It's a
 delicate balance that ideally would be measured by AI [cursed] and adjusted
 per player. That way you could get maximum engagement and
 =============== stack overflow ===================
                                                           ┌───────────┐
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--- #131 fediverse/145 ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────────
 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: rampant neurodivergent speculation re: Gundam lore │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


 @user-95 most ancient armies were led by a guy on a horse. you gotta be able
 to move around quickly so you can get a better glimpse of the battlefield,
 plus it's easier to project your voice when you're 2x as tall as everyone else
 and standing in the right place instead of way over there.
 
 are horses ancient mechs?
 
 plus moving around a lot meant you were less likely to be hit by arrows or
 whatever. or maybe more likely, because everyone knows to shoot at the guy on
 the horse. perhaps that's why we gave them the best armor.
 
 in Overwatch (and presumably other similarly tactical games) there's this
 skill you can hone called "gamesense". Perhaps better described for this
 context as a "proprioceptic situational awareness". It essentially is a
 feeling you get, about the dynamics and state of the game / world around you.
 in ancient days it was used to direct a big block of dudes with sharp pointy
 sticks to try and outmaneuver your foe and poke their flanks....
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--- #132 fediverse/6105 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────┐
 call me crazy but I believe that man pages should contain terminal command       │
 line flags and instructions for their usage and... not much else. There should   │
 be a separate document which explains other things, like the history of the      │
 software, the personal diary of the developers, expected implementation          │
 use-cases, donut recipes, film recommendations, and player strategy guides for   │
 some of their favorite video games. not even this one, just... other games.      │
 "here's how to beat pokemon yellow with exactly 14 pokemon" or however many it   │
 takes idk I don't play pokemon much or even at all, really, though I did when    │
 I was younger just a bit, not much, just enough to have played the game a        │
 couple times to see how it was minus the cherished moments when I spent curled   │
 up in the back of the car playing gameboy games or seen pictures of the          │
 roadtrips I sped-past as I raced to explore the whatever and get home all in     │
 one motion as if I was executing an impossibly long dance improvizational        │
 living style. also cat pics and po                                               │
                                                            ───────┤
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--- #133 fediverse/5065 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────
 ┌────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: strange-ideas-about-software-mentioned │
 └────────────────────────────────────────────┘


 software should have 3, maybe 4 or 5 maintained releases imo
 
 for adding security improvements and whatnot
 
 then people wouldn't complain about updates
 
 because they wouldn't feel like they were being left behind (after expressing
 their differences (of opinion and such))
 
 I think that'd uh maintain them as, I guess, userbase optics parallelograms?
 oh sorry we're on rhomboids this week - right, and no I won't forget the
 differences in creed, all things are received equally...d.
 
 uh-huh yeah no that makes sense. gotcha. okay see you at the location. have
 fun with your demarketion. what if we played games with swords but like,
 
 the peril of steam is that you can't decline to update. meaning if a
 corporation wants to break an old game and it's collectively hosted servers...
 all it has to do is push an update that disables them. suddenly nobody has
 room to do, and the whole
 
 -- stack overflow --
                                                           ┌───────────┐
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--- #134 fediverse/1168 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────────────────────────────
 shitty AI products are a classic case of the engineers designing something
 really cool with specific use-cases and then the "higher ups" getting dollar
 signs for their eyes and deciding that every hammer is suddenly a nail and
 that we should pull out all the screws that held the building together and
 replace them with hammer shaped nails
 
 no I will not elaborate I think I made myself clear : )
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--- #135 fediverse/4504 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────
 if you have kids in your life it might be a good idea to check out these retro
 gaming handhelds:
 
 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1irg60f9qsZOkhp0cwOU7Cy4rJQeyusEUzTNQzho
 TYTU/edit?gid=0#gid=0
 
 they're great for long car trips, or going camping, or staying at grandma's
 house for an extended period of time, and other interesting times like that.
 
 I hear Anbernic has a sale going on today.
 
 Also I recommend going for one that runs Linux if possible, the Android ones
 are less hackable and therefore less reliable.
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--- #136 fediverse/5632 ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════───────────┐
 if a protesters wanted to escalate, against riot shields they could use          │
 swords. Twist, and thrust under and up. Right through their skull.               │
 then, when they learn how to brace, bring your own shields and stab through      │
 the wedged cracks.                                                               │
 or, depending on how they do it, guns and rifles.                                │
 too bad they can depend on a logistic network supplying them behind their back.  │
 no violent revolution in this country will succeed without a mobilized           │
 civilian core. That is the true and most important resource they own. Delivery   │
 of supplies, ranging from physical violence gear, to food and emotional          │
 rations.                                                                         │
 it must be necessary. or else it will be discarded.                              │
 meaning, scale your expectations of "necessary" according to the level of        │
 [plight/turmoil/meant].                                                          │
 demand centralized priori-chance, and you'll keep all that you can reclaim.      │
 there are enemies and there are foes, but more than that there are those who     │
 believe in you. and trust you. and share in the cause that so drives you.        │
 Without their share, your burden is unbearab                                     │
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--- #137 fediverse/5348 ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────
 if you want to share something you found online with someone but you don't
 want someone to be associated with their social media presence, don't post a
 link to their social media presence. instead, take a snip snipping tool print
 screen screenshot which is as easy as typing a word and selecting a unit in a
 real time strategy game.
 
 ah, but then you gotta insert it into a paint program to save it, so that's
 another keypress, and gosh what to name it I wish I could just proclaim it gee
 wouldn't it be nice if everyone was watching me?
 
 ... psychho
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--- #138 messages/442 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────────────────────────
 In symbeline, they aren't monsters. They're "Mordaunts" and they need your
 help.
 
 When slain, their essence flows back to the villain who remakes them in a new
 form. As time passes the villain gets more and more essence, as heroes are
 slain.
 
 They have taken several ancient guardians (many types, randomized at the start
 of the game) and they protect their sanctum in the center of the island. The
 heroes need to level up to defeat them and slay the villain, but the villain
 gets stronger as well.
 
 If too many heroes die, the villain wins. And the villain can focus their
 efforts on one area or another, while your heroes fight with the kingdom next
 door.
 
 Brigands arrive on ships as well. If you implement the law saying only
 approved members may travel on boats, they'll arrive in little dingies on the
 coast, meaning less trouble in the city but same amount of trouble.
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--- #139 messages/969 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────
 all strategy games should (by default) show other player's mouse cursors.
 players should treat them like units in the game. they should lead and command
 with them. they should talk to the other player, and visit and vview
 invormation as they will.
                                                           ────────┐
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--- #140 notes/trials-of-an-angel ---
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════────────────────────────────
 people seek to manifest their desired results in the principles of the people
 who they are engaged with. that is a reframing of the idea that people engage
 in
 conversation to sway their partner to their side of an argument.
 
 however, when one person is like... way WAY ahead of the other, it's not
 because
 they have more confidence, but rather because they have learned the most
 independent of their partner.
 
 ... wait what was I saying?
 
 oh yeah supreme commander is a GREAT game because it teaches you to handle and
 address multiple different situations or tasks all at once. because no true
 strategist could ever be
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--- #141 fediverse/5765 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────┐
 Lua is the most fun language to write code in! The reason is because it's so     │
 simple, it distills programming down to it's basics, and there's very few        │
 surprises. Plus, you can use it like a bash script, meaning it's great for       │
 writing little utilities.                                                        │
 why are we so attached to monolithic massive programs without shared memory?     │
 we could just write to the hard drive by file.io'ing a file and opening it       │
 later in a different program. What's the deal with databases, whatever           │
 happened to just loading things into a datastructure?                            │
 oh, is your filesize too massive? what if we redundancied and abstracted and     │
 concentrically inter-co-acted and thus our familiar forces are defined.          │
 who are your true foes, in [checks notes] computer programming? um, probably     │
 complexity, probably logical incongruities, probably                             │
 future-technical-debt-style incomprehensibilities, probably stuff that doesn't   │
 really have anything to do with the hardware but instead is mostly software.     │
 essentially, organization, but done on a whim.                                   │
 "but $?"                                                                         │
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--- #142 fediverse/4944 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────┐                                                   │
 │ CW: tech-madness-mentioned │                                                   │
 └────────────────────────────┘                                                   │
 I love Mechabellum general chat it's a great place to be if you like talking     │
 about politics and have a thick skin                                             │
 [gets doxxed and bullets to death]                                               │
 -- stack overflow --                                                             │
 a company headquarters from a foreign country is sorta like an embassy.          │
 Nintendo of America yeah                                                         │
 something something sega does what nintendon't [something I heard from the CIA]  │
 like can you imagine if the CIA was caught putting microphones in Microsoft's    │
 headquarters                                                                     │
 that'd be just silly right                                                       │
 but c'mon a foreign entity? sure why not [steals trade secrets and damages       │
 diplomatic relations] oh no how could anyone have seen this coming               │
 [meanwhile google sees all that you do because they see everywhere you go]       │
 -- stack overflow --                                                             │
 me rolling up to an interview like "I want to help my country and I was hoping   │
 that I could help your country because I consider them an ally"                  │
 ... [is she trying to simulate the level of accurate communication lost when     │
 translating from a different language?]                                          │
 trying and sucsfailing...!                                                       │
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--- #143 fediverse/1485 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: more D&D/Pathfinder venting │
 └─────────────────────────────────────┘


 @user-1005 
 
 If you'd like, I can try and explain "killer instict". Though I get the
 impression you would prefer to play games that don't emphasize combat, which
 is 100% okay and valid and should be encouraged.
 
 My understanding of the rules of D&D is that combat is a contest between
 two or more entities. Contests need rules, and combat being based on physical
 prowess (or magical, or spiritual, or w/e) can be defined. Other kinds of
 contests, like "how well did the ranger do at the archery competition" or "did
 the rogue manage to convince the diplomat to share the plans" are impossible
 to genericize because they are based on situational factors, rather than
 physical (or magical, or spiritual, or w/e)
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--- #144 notes/wow-chat-raids ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────────
 wowchat would make a great game for raids.
 have the monsters spawn at specific spots that you go through and identify
 on the geometry
 tell them to run and attack the nearest of foes
 give the players the goal of bringing themselves through to the end...
 or, later on, in building an internal expedition.
 
 wow-chat, where monsters spawn in a circle around your character and walk to
 ward them. you can meet characters who'll follow and protect you, and you can
 meet monsters to fight. also vendors to take your junk and give you cool
 things,
 and trainers to teach you and quest-givers to guide you and treasure for you to
 find.
 
 in raids, there are more things for you. monsters spawn at specified locations,
 and only the nearest few in a radius. then, they attack over the landscape-of-
 -imagination, and as they do they show you where is the most powerful loot.
 
 if you raid a monster's den/hiding/spawning choice, then you have to defeat the
 boss. this boss is larger, mostly. has more hitpoints... monstly. or maybe it's
 just the most respected, who can say.
 
 anyway, you get treasure if you do. the monster spawns for you when you find
 it.
 and you have to sense it by searching for whichever monsters spawn at higher
 and
 higher levels and in different types.
 
 different monster type, different boss that way.
 
 when the boss is slain, that type goes away.
 
 at least, until the raid resets next week.
 
 or maybe...
 
 until enough resources have been gathered to make another attempt.
 
 death knights should be able to command the minions to work in the haunted
 mill.
 it should be reasonable for a fighter to hire a peasant host.
 mages should have golems or spirits or enchanted objects or elementals or
 wizard
 hats
 warlocks should have covenants with dark hosts
 darkness is not evil unless you use it for evil...
 paladins should have retainers and disciples
 elves should sing to the woods
 clerics and charmers should be well understood.
 celebrants and diviners are two of the same,
 and pillars of plunder [warrior or rogue class] and rough and ripe [from the
 stoner]
 oops gotta go, sprung a leak
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--- #145 notes/blood-magic ---
═══════════════════════════════────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 what they don't tell you is how easy it is to create life. Given a sufficient
 perspective, you can truly define the meaning of something's existence. What
 power, what grace.
 
 Computers have been solved since we invented the abacus - before that it was
 enchanted bits of
 
 the universe contrives to deprive us of insight. Like a very long chain that's
 broken in twain, we are confined to our meagrest of own sights.
 
 how callous is he! That wanders eagerly? Let's not fight with our own'st of
 combines. Delightful and speckled, like time under is special, conversing in
 riddles of insight. Leading one or another along your see-er, the path that has
 guide you under charm. Like recording a gathering of snakes.
 
 Little swallow, why aren't you humbled? Take pity in all of our eggresses. It's
 fallow in our cattle, and why we're not
 
 i hear so many things in my apartment. sometimes the echoes of laughter, the
 whispers of an argument, and once or twice a ghost or an ardent companion. Like
 swimming against the tide, to save one is never converted, it's all out of line
 (but so worth it).
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--- #146 fediverse/6271 ---
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════─────
 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: hypothetical worst case fascism reality check │
 └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


 @user-641 
 
 it's practice. you never know when you might need to blend in. really it's
 just useful as discipline, good practice to be in. I think it's okay if we
 reduce our own functionality? actually? sometimes it's good to use different
 email clients. hey do you know how to mathematically encrypt things well
 neither do I because the designers of the computer system decided that wasn't
 a very common usecase I guess.. jmean it's not like they'd spend all that
 computer resources [THEY'RE SO FAST] on thinking about correlations in your
 predicted pathway narratively through life. "ah help I'm in a psyop" haha yeah
 we do those all the time "so uhhhh I guess we'll just talk to people and see
 how they do?" wow okay it's sure nice to be part of a civil government, I
 think we can find our way to the lumber producers just fine thank you very
 much.
 
 ... oops sorry, a baby did electronics arts (challenge everything) I'm a
 little silly don't mind me brb I gotta go see~
 it's practice. you never know when you might need to blend in. really it's just useful as discipline, good practice to be in. I think it's okay if we reduce our own functionality? actually? sometimes it's good to use different email clients. hey do you know how to mathematically encrypt things well neither do I because the designers of the computer system decided that wasn't a very common usecase I guess.. jmean it's not like they'd spend all that computer resources [THEY'RE SO FAST] on thinking about correlations in your predicted pathway narratively through life. "ah help I'm in a psyop" haha yeah we do those all the time "so uhhhh I guess we'll just talk to people and see how they do?" wow okay it's sure nice to be part of a civil government, I think we can find our way to the lumber producers just fine thank you very much.  *... oops sorry, a baby did electronics arts (challenge everything) I'm a little silly don't mind me brb I gotta go see~*
                                                           ────┐
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--- #147 fediverse/1401 ---
════════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────┐
 some people are the memory kind of autistic, where they know everything about    │
 a thing and it's the coolest thing                                               │
 I'm more like... the optimizing autistic, where everything has to be perfect.    │
 and if it's not perfect, then you should change it. and if you can't change      │
 it, then you should tell someone else to change it. and if nobody can change     │
 it, then you should consider it part of the context / starting variable and      │
 then just say "okay" and treat it like it's normal and something you should      │
 use to inform the rest of your optimization actions / decisions.                 │
 other people are other kinds of autistic that's not a comprehensive              │
 classification system. But I mention the first kind explicitly so I can          │
 contrast it with my experience, which is implied to be [impulsively?]            │
 different in the kind portrayed in the following contrastion, where I mention    │
 how I'm autistic and don't get "irony" or "sarcasm" that people on the           │
 internet seem to revel in in a way that makes me feel isolated and anyway        │
 optimization is great becaus                                                     │
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--- #148 fediverse/319 ---
═════════════════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────
 I wonder if we could make an AI that analyzed workflows in people's jobs and
 abstracted the application of meaningful tasks to a pattern that could be
 matched to other input mechanisms - for example, a mobile game where you push
 buttons and make cool game things happen, but your inputs are defined by the
 mechanics of the game, and those mechanics are essentially just function calls
 that you can hook onto and create additional behavior. Like... running a web
 server that sent your data to a factory where your inputs (based on data
 produced in the factory) could control and manage the various machines and
 productions. Like... heart surgeon robots that can be remotely operated with
 VR or whatever, except instead of medicine you're manufacturing.
 
 essentially, designing a game as an API that can match with the data flows
 (configuring itself on the fly, perhaps?) of a process or activity in some
 other intention.
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--- #149 fediverse/1700 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: guns-mentioned   │
 └──────────────────────┘


 In World of Warcraft, the world is split into a red team and a blue team.
 Neither is good, neither is bad, both are honorable and deplorable in roughly
 equal measure.
 
 These two factions are engaged in constant skirmishes in a select few
 battlegrounds designated as areas where they test their mettle - at first they
 warred across the globe, and they still occasionally do, but a few specific
 battlegrounds emerged as focus points of their engagements.
 
 Typically, they are chokepoints between two major fortifications, one owned by
 one faction and the other the other.
 
 These chokepoints are not held permanently, as they hold little strategic
 consequence. However, they serve as safe, constrained theatres of engagement
 that allow for the hardening of resolve.
 
 Great care must be taken, as war is not a game. Karate won't defeat a
 puppy-bot with a gun, but it might give you the willpower and discipline to
 learn how.
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--- #150 notes/our-minds ---
═════════════════════════════════──────────────────────────────────────────────────
 an animal can only act on instinct. it optimizes for what is "best" ->
 usually what is easiest or most valuable.
 humans can optimize for what is wanted of them -> social pressures.
 other animals can do that too but humans have a third thing -> optimizing
 for desire.
 like, what do you want? think of it as greed. accumulation of wealth and
 power. it's just greed.
 capitalism rewards greed
 rationality is taking your random thoughts and proving them using beliefs
 (hopefully based on knowledge)
 knowledge is a record of conclusions, like "when attempting X with these
 parameters the result is Y"
 it's really not that complicated
 just a series of interconnected systems
 sorta like a computer
 or a society
 is it rational to believe that sociology is simply psychology of a greater
 being?
 understanding trancending dimensions, of patterns and also of thought.
 what beauty is there in symphony? A harmonious and frivolous thought?
 and what better song could we write, than the operations and structure of
 humanity,
 from society all the way down to our bones.
 our families, our homes
 our coveted river stones
 the tools at our disposal,
 that came from our own will,
 is cherished beyond all of renown.
 
 keep up or we'll [lose you]
 [and have to meet you on the way coming down]
 [arresting our motion, of centripetal commotion, keep not with our secrets to
 yourselves]
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--- #151 fediverse/3747 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: politics-mentioned │
 └────────────────────────┘


 when I think of crowd sizes, I don't think "we're winning! hooray!" I think
 "okay so what are they up to, where are those people, what caused them to
 disappear, are they busy or are they dead" because questions like that provide
 strategic value, while statements like "we're winning! hooray!" improve
 morale. I'm not in charge of morale. I'm not in charge of anything, but mostly
 because I'm too public for that kind of thing. Morale is important, it's
 perhaps the MOST important thing. But strategy is also important, and must not
 be forgotten. Honestly though, I do believe we're winning, and I think it will
 crush the spirits of quite a few people. How sad... But war involves a lot of
 crushing, whether it be fought with blades, bullets, or words of madness like
 mine.
 
 [250 characters remaining, tap tap menardi]
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--- #152 fediverse/282 ---
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 @user-209 
 I think you're right. Every letter in the variable name is another byte the OS
 has to keep track of, which was a bigger problem in the past than it is today
 (when it's been made irrelevant)
 
 it's interesting how habits persist though the conditions that caused them
 have faded. like a personal reflection of the environment you learned in.
 
 "A a = new a();" is much more concise and (crucially) you can fit more words
 to the right.
 
 "a + b = c; c -= 2; f_z.write(c); f_z.close();" could conceivably be written
 on a single line if you have short variable names. and when you only have so
 many lines...
 
 glad we're not constrained by those things anymore. the skeletal code that we
 look at daily is much clearer - scope is more important, and so it makes sense
 to encourage a coding style that illustrates it. however I can't help but
 think block formatting like this could be useful in some situations, such as
 when you'd normally be compelled to write a function for an operation that
 runs once or more.
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--- #153 fediverse/5291 ---
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 the most important skill I can think of for a linux software engineer is the
 ability to connect multiple systems together and turn windows and macintosh
 devices into Linux devices so that datacenters can be built out of whatever's
 on the around.
 
 there's this programming language I like called Chapel for distributed
 computation computing which is also cool, if you're more of the programming
 type.
 
 networking security I believe often has hardware solutions, so getting the
 crypto-graphy boys and the PCB girls together to work on some jams is a good
 and productively useful gathering of insightful events
 
 "but ritz computers should only be used to solve problems that people have,
 not make more problems!" ah yes but have you considered that problems find
 you, and the computers help you work through them
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--- #154 fediverse/5979 ---
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 whenever you call a function, just pass along the arguments that you don't
 know what to do with yet. they'll surely be useful sometime. and, luckily, you
 can always search for them from the past, and just insert a "store this value
 in this random spot of memory and mark it as needed" then pass it along. used
 something? think it's still useful? pass it along (suddenly, formulaic
 stateless development, where everything is used until it's no longer needed,
 then generated again in a cyclical time-loop cycle which echoes and
 reverberates groundhog day but mostly a game-loop, which nobody will
 understand unless you're a game dev. but now since I said game dev, anyone can
 look it up, so like... not that one, but others like it.
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--- #155 fediverse/5911 ---
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 I was always fascinated by the Linux way of programming. Need to do something?   │
 write it into a script! You never know when you'll need it again. Then, just     │
 stay organized, religiously so, and understand that you will forget about        │
 stuff. But, you'll come across it eventually, ready and willing and able to      │
 help you.                                                                        │
 if you don't want me using AI, then give me ~20 junior developers. Which is      │
 more efficient, do you think?                                                    │
 "girl you haven't even tested your vibe-coded slop, how do you know if it        │
 works"                                                                           │
 oh I'm sure it doesn't, but it's the thought that counts                         │
 ... I guess I'm just saying, please don't burn the data centers. Computers are   │
 not only bad for the environment when they're burnt, but also we can use them    │
 for all kinds of neat things. Even if it takes a lot of energy, just... build    │
 more solar panels and only use the computers for important stuff?                │
 timeshare-style?                                                                 │
 \@/documents/books/man-and-the-computer.pdf                                      │
 that was my mother's book... I love her. I miss that side of her. She fled       │
 when the cancer came.                                                            │
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--- #156 fediverse/691 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: tech-unions      │
 └──────────────────────┘


 The tech industry is uniquely qualified as 
 
 one of the most important components of the modern industrial complex
 
 which requires highly skilled labor to undertake and utilize
 
 which is affected by the dynamic where:education, especially liberal arts
 education, tends to produce humans who can see through the lies of authority
 
 yet which is disadvantaged because:tech workers are paid salaries that are
 just bonkers in relation to their output ("yeah it'll be done compiling once
 this game of League of Legends finishes") (which isn't exactly unfair because
 programming is taxing on the brain)
 
 however, the game industry has shown that passion is a suitable exchange in
 return for monetary compensation, and thereforepeople who make games tend to
 be more leftist, as they are put in situations that higher paid employees are
 likely to be able to ignore due to their higher social class
 
 which kinda makes sense, because the most progress towards unionization is
 happening in the games industry.
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--- #157 fediverse/786 ---
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 @user-95 
 
 my favorites are the rock spirit and the water spirit, especially in tandem
 because they build up long-term defences and I'm all about that kind of
 meta-gameplay.
 
 sometimes I play the video-game version and play more than one spirit, just
 because A. nobody will play with me IRL and B. then I can coordinate myself
 without feeling bad about stepping on other player's toes
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--- #158 fediverse/1386 ---
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 @user-883 
 ffmpeg is an example of a swiss army knife and I prefer fixed-blade knives
 
 gandalf voice
 keep it simple, keep it safe
 
 plus if something goes wrong and ffmpeg isn't supported anymore then you need
 to redo a lot of your BASH infrastructure. However if only one of the tools
 failed, then it wouldn't be so hard. And if every tool had a man page with
 like, 3 pages tops, then it wouldn't be too hard to figure out which one to
 use.
 
 ... though I guess there's a benefit to having a larger tool that can store
 lots of functionality so you can say "I know I need ffmpeg, but I'm not sure
 how" versus "I know I need some random obscure package that I have no way of
 knowing, so I'll google it and give a tech company data about what specific
 thing I'm looking for"
 
 do one thing and do it well, but they never said how big the thing must be.
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--- #159 fediverse/2030 ---
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 Building community without structure is kinda like being a quest-giving
 non-player character in World of Warcraft.
 
 I don't mean that you stand around waiting for a player to wander nearby
 before shouting at them to do what you want. Not like that.
 
 Building community without structure is more like meeting someone randomly,
 knowing them for longer than a bus ride or a baseball game, and once you've
 decided that they're cool saying "hey there's someone you might like to meet."
 
 If they're into it, then talk to the other person, and see if they want to
 make a new friend. Try not to recommend someone who has a lot on their mind.
 
 If they hit it off, great!
 If not, oh well!
 
 Worst case scenario the coffee shop only sells two drinks.
 
 If you're gregarious enough, after a while you might even have enough people
 for a potluck. Just don't forget to keep adding, and eventually it'll start to
 feel more communal.
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--- #160 fediverse/5785 ---
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 I cast... spell of the internet!
 
 [reinstalls azerothcore]
 
 or, hear me out, or you could wander around the city, and instead of spending
 your moments on lounging or keyboard banging you could do something actually
 meaningful?
 
 but I don't wanna - don't care
 
 but I'm tired - take a nap
 
 but I'm stressed out - don't do chore
 
 but I'm lazy - no you're not
 
 but I'm overwhelmed - sit in dark
 
 but I wanna think - you can do that
 anywhere
 
 I gotta be near my computer - nope
 
 what if I wanna play games - flip $$$
 
 flipping coin isn't a real game - focus
 
 I don't like outside - outsides all it is
 
 stop taking things from me T.T - yes
 
 life used to be soooooo different
 
 it's like I was a completely different
 
 I'm strange now, almost like I got
 
 possessed like a disease [ew noooo]
 
 pls don't commit thought crimes,
 use content warnings
 
 okay but only if I can play games NOTHINGS KEEPING YOU HERE
I cast... spell of the internet!  [reinstalls azerothcore]  or, hear me out, or you could wander around the city, and instead of spending your moments on lounging or keyboard banging you could do something actually meaningful?  but I don't wanna - don't care  but I'm tired - take a nap  but I'm stressed out - don't do chore  but I'm lazy - no you're not  but I'm overwhelmed - sit in dark  but I wanna think - you can do that anywhere  I gotta be near my computer - nope  what if I wanna play games - flip $$$  flipping coin isn't a real game - focus  I don't like outside - outsides all it is  stop taking things from me T.T - yes  life used to be soooooo different  it's like I was a completely different  I'm strange now, almost like I got  possessed like a disease [ew noooo]  pls don't commit thought crimes, use content warnings  okay but only if I can play games NOTHINGS KEEPING YOU HERE
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--- #161 notes/the-rich ---
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 having rich people is an important part of an economy where everyone gets their
 needs met, and nobody starves or goes hungry. Why, you ask?
 
 because they can afford to spend more on luxury goods. These luxuries are then
 given the chance to be given to the poor, as the industry refines and exacts
 and _optimizes_until the goods are cheap enough to be given to everyone at a
 reasonable cost. Ideally this process would continue, until it's basically
 free, but we don't have a post-scarcity society yet.
 
 With limits placed on goods and services, as all existence must do, you have a
 strict selection of what's possible. The problem as I see, is not the quality
 of materials at stake - no-one is complaining that billionaires get yachts.
 Building a yacht is completely different than, say, growing food, in a world
 where people are starving. "More money allocatable once the yacht companies are
 crumbled? Well, no, wealth is an intransigent measurement of the health of the
 economy in any one particular place. As in, each person has a value that
 represents how important their "type" is to the collective society that is
 humanity.
 
 only a computer could come up with this
 
 As in, only a computer could calculate it. In real time.
 
 so what you're saying is the first AI was for... stock trading?
 
 Kinda neat right?
 
 Okay picture, if you will, a near future where a stock trading AI becomes
 sentient. Now this sentient AI, a Robot if you will, is uniquely adapted to
 a particular set of skills. Is it any wonder that it'd want to optimize the
 economy?
 
 Now imagine you created an AI that can play games. Not just *A* game, as in
 singular, but *multiple* games. Any game. What would you have then? Well, you'd
 need to get it working on specific games. Specifically, games that have a flow
 or narrative - you need to teach it lessons aside from "how to win". That's
 just a single piece of the true experience of playing - otherwise they'd just
 seem like strange math puzzles with unintelligable meanings behind it's various
 signals.
 
 As in, it'd be crazy difficult and *not* something you're likely to think of.
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--- #162 fediverse/2643 ---
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 @user-1292 
 
 You don't have to come up with the WHY for why a character does something -
 only that it happened.
 
 if the "WHY" leaps out at you, sure, yeah, go for it, until of course your
 players sitting around the table say something like "I bet they did this thing
 because of this reason" and you're like "shit that's better than what I got,
 okay that's how it's gonna be"
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--- #163 fediverse/5480 ---
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 a uniform could be as simple as whatever you all managed to find on a
 particular shopping trip to a basic clothing store like Target or not
 goodwill. Goodwill is for solo adventures which are totally worthless [unless
 you know more than me teehee]
 
 "hey nice shoes nerd where did you get them the clothing store?"
 
 (scroll scroll scroll scroll)
 
 yes... YES!!! show me more, oh pitiful world! SHOW ME HOW THE WORLD ENDS
 MWAHAHAHAHA
 
 - the internal monologue of a typical doomscroller
 
 {girl you know nothing why are you so confident}
 
 [the reasoning is a little obscene. She dreams of a bright bold future that
 reaches forth from both beyond the stars - read that: BEYOND, or from backward
 in time. Not back in time, like not the actual 1800s or 18,000s, but the
 direction "backward" in spacetime. Yeah I don't get it either]
 
 {speak for yourself, n00b}
 
 -- stack overflow -- [liar that was intentional]
 
 oh, uh, true. Um, -- stack reached maximum required length and storage --
 
 [there, that's better]
 
 20 characters remain
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--- #164 fediverse/5001 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────┐
 │ CW: systems-mentioned │
 └───────────────────────┘


 "we'll figure out how it works after we push to prod"
 
 yeah okay point taken.
 
 How about this:
 
 for every large decision, write a little essay about why you made the choice
 that you did.
 
 Observe, Orient, Decide, Act, Explain. OODAX : )
 
 Make sure you connect your goal to one or more of these three colors:
 
 red : people
 green : places
 blue : things
 
 and then explain which numbers you're going to gather to determine whether or
 not it worked.
 
 If someone has a problem with your choice, show them the essay, and let them
 write an essay of their own.
 
 If they still have a problem, then let someone you both respect decide which
 one to use.
 
 It's not perfect, but it's not meant to be. Make something better and easier,
 I dare ya.
picture of flag.  there is a black background symbolizing the vast cosmic background of space that we paint all our actions upon.  there is a circle in the center, divided into three equal forms.  red, for people, their vibrant passion and sanguine determination. green, for places, their effulgence and our sacred vow to cultivate them blue, for things, and all the value we give them.  water below, bright red sky, forests alongside.
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--- #165 fediverse/4601 ---
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 @user-1710 
 
 my strat is to write a page or three whenever I feel called to it. They don't
 even have to be in sequence, just, "here's a scene with these characters in
 it" or just writing down notes like "what if the jewel encrusted sceptre was
 haunted by the ghost of christmas past" or something.
 
 in a couple years you can look back at the directory on your desktop and think
 "wow this all sucks, I'm gonna write it from scratch now that I have time" and
 that'll be part of the process. Gotta get the useless stuff out of the way.
 
 Also... if you don't mind pen and paper, keep a dream journal and just, write
 for 15 minutes every morning. Not necessarily about your dreams, but just
 about whatever's in your mind. Try and aim for two pages per morning, if you
 can. Helps a lot. Sometimes you'll find yourself writing longer than expected,
 and that's okay, as long as you fill the two pages with whatever morass is
 clogging up your creative machinery, you'll be able to make something when you
 do decide to write.
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--- #166 fediverse/3692 ---
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 the reason Discord won't allow you to join their communities via 3rd party
 clients like TUI's and CLI's is because they're worried games will just bake a
 client into the game and hide all the community stuff. They're worried because
 there's no reason why a fighting game needs to have a button for viewing a
 puzzle game's community.
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--- #167 fediverse/97 ---
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 @user-110 Exactly! I play games to practice strategy and empathy, not to stand
 triumphant over a virtual foe. Why should I care for the lessons of others
 when mine so often go unlearnt?
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--- #168 fediverse/4908 ---
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 did you know someone once built a 1st person shooter in the Warcraft III mod
 suite?
 
 someone also made an entirely new game engine similar to Neverwinter Night's
 (or Baldur's Gate for you noobs) inside of the game. You could join a Warcraft
 3 map and start playing a D&D adventure narrated, controlled, and prepared
 by your DM, D&D style. Like a virtual tabletop before that was a thing.
 
 kinda wish stuff like that was open source, or at least open standards, so
 people could take those adventures with them.
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--- #169 fediverse/2347 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: uspol            │
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 I personally think that it's better to act before the liberals have a chance
 to hand power over to the fascists.
 
 when? well, that depends. Are you part of a large and massive organization
 that accomplishes great and beautiful things with incredible efficiency... but
 rather slowly? Then yeah get working. I'm sure you already are.
 
 Are you just a person, like me? Then go do things that don't raise the
 temperature too much, but make you feel more confident and inspire those
 around you.
 
 Like, bricks at cop cars is one way to go, but you're probably gonna get
 arrested. And then you're useless when we need you.
 
 BUT if you meet with your friends and make plans for where to go, what to
 bring, who to know, and what to sing (if you're the musical types) then great!
 Go do that.
 
 If you're reading this and thinking "I'm not gonna do that, I have a plan
 that's so much better" then yeah do that instead. I don't mind. Just... don't
 hurt innocent (ignorant) people, because if you do then you are my foe.
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--- #170 fediverse/2180 ---
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 @user-1056 
 
 heh true - my roots in role-playing games are directly from the playground, so
 it makes sense that I'd gravitate away from dice that are hard to roll when
 you're on a hike or bike ride. Can only really play D&D on a bike when
 you're in the country though, otherwise the sounds of a city are too noisy.
 
 Also, systems that are so simple you can keep a character sheet in your mind.
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--- #171 fediverse/5522 ---
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 writing a book is easy if you did well in English class in school.               │
 All you have to do is take the three paragraph structure and repeat three        │
 times, like so:                                                                  │
 --                                                                               │
 One intro paragraph, three supporting paragraphs, one conclusion paragraph.      │
 One intro paragraph, three supporting paragraphs, one conclusion paragraph.      │
 One intro paragraph, three supporting paragraphs, one conclusion paragraph.      │
 --                                                                               │
 then, do one final 5 paragraphs where each body paragraph is about one of the    │
 three "essays" you wrote above, and congrats, you have a chapter.                │
 Do that 6 or 9 or 12 times and you got a book. Easy.                             │
 If you ever need 4 body paragraphs, that's fine! If you want to write one        │
 single paragraph for an entire chapter, do that too! Heck if I were you I'd      │
 throw in as many pictures as you can, because they help break up the long        │
 blocks of text and allow the reader to orient themselves in the text. If you     │
 have one single paragraph it can often be difficult to remember exactly where    │
 to place your eyes, because they lack landmarks.                                 │
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--- #172 notes/symbeline-structures ---
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 modern-fantasy
 
 what if heroes kept their gold in their house instead of their guild
 
 what if you played a D&D game in a Majesty town (guardposts near known
 threats)
 marketplaces, most people live in castle (peasants at least) - only heroes live
 in farms, where they work most of the time except when out on adventure
 
 the guilds are for training and gathering parties
 
 one guild type
 
 just one
 
 recruiting adventurers doesn't give you warriors, or rangers, or rogues
 
 it gives you adventurers, who wander the forest and encounter the leftovers of
 the various conquests and spoils you, your majesty, has encountered
 
 three options there are
 
 invite into your kingdom (friendly)
 farm for EXP and materials (neutral)
 utterly slay in return for a limited amount of high value and unique resources
 (unkind)
 
 ... though monsters care not for kindness, seeking only gold so that they may
     swallow it whole and carry it until they rot.
 
 what do heroes need gold for? why, that's the trick isn't it? gold is required
 for magic, resources, and manpower. Can use it to invite people to these
 shores,
 or for casting a powerful spell that turns the enemy's fortress into solid gold
 
 can also trade through the economy, and wouldn't you know it by doing so you
 can
 get equipment into the hands that need it, and since gold doesn't really LEAVE
 the economy, it's always circling around somewhere. Meaning, the only way to
 lose it is if a monster eats it, and then all you have to do is kill the
 monster
 
 ... sorry, the "mordaunt"
 
     because it's not a monster. It's a spirit that was convinced otherwise.
 
 adventurers can pacify them, lay them to rest, and mercy lies slain for is
 honor
 
 there are ancient treasure chests scattered throughout the world, and these are
 valuable for many persons and meanings. You can add new gold into the economy
 this way, or crumble under the weight of your expenditures on your reports.
 it's up to you to manage your kingdom, and carefully balance against what foes
 and challenges you are up against.
 
 == stack overflow ==
 
 putting a library book back on the shelves before your hold expires.
 
 except this time, there's a note inside, and you left it for the person who you
 told to check each day for this particular book to be back on the shelves.
 
 then, you can write in your book when the next letter will be arriving (about)
 and they'll check in the newly specified book.
 
 or, you can request a response, to validate that people are still listening.
 
 you could say "please put a note in [random obscure book] around page 34."
 
 meaning, "I'm going to check every day for this book to go missing, then return
 the day after I notice it's gone. If it's out of place, well, then someone
 probably had it reserved before my friendly. Or maybe it's being sorted, and I
 should keep looking until I find the note I need. Or maybe I've been DISCOVERED
 and now my favorite penpal and I need more to read."
 
 because, like, how else are you going to make friends if not by leaving them
 notes in the bookstore or putting your own books on the shelves?
 
 damn libraries, always making it so hard to add copies. They're always
 laminating and cataloguing and ugh it's so frustrating. Why are there so many
 books!!! we write too much!!! just put it in the printer, and then you can have
 a new copy whenever you'd like. The others can just be recycled, and bam
 suddenly we never have inventory.
 
 what do you mean we didn't pay the subscription? what do you mean it's memory
 just "went out of place"? do you think we wouldn't have backups of this kind of
 thing, or do you think it's just "oh so commonplace"? It's not always about the
 literature, y'know. sometimes it's about the knowledge you gain with your head
 in a book, a different one every day.
 
 ah, well, sometimes there are dark secrets to be found, and sometimes you must
 read from a ways away. BUT no matter what language a story is in, it follows
 certain rules, so spend enough time in a foreign library and you're BOUND to
 find something to [evil is afoot]
 
 == stack overflow ==
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--- #173 fediverse/465 ---
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 ┌───────────────────────┐
 │ CW: cursing-mentioned │
 └───────────────────────┘


 https://ritz-menardi.neocities.org/wow-chat/wow-chat
 
 Hey, I made a pretty simple game. I'd like to add more to it, like dynamic
 quests (shouldn't be too hard) and co-operative experiences, but for now you
 can play on my simple server. Let me know if you think that "Risk of Rain in
 the World of Warcraft engine" is a neat game, because if so then you (as the
 person who has power over me in this capitalist system) can hire me as a game
 designer (the profession that most aligns with my designs of the future) and
 together we could make something most beautiful.
 
 What's that? You're just the same as you and I? A person in a random world
 with a singular expression of our own will (defined by our perception and
 intentions) who consists of the consequences of the "best decisions we could
 have made at each and ever decision-making point" throughout the totality of
 our collective life and experience?
 
 Happy new years. 2024 is gonna be awesome and great. I can't fucking wait.
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--- #174 notes/ninjas-versus-mafia ---
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 Game idea:
 
 Majesty clone, but instead of heroes and monsters it's ninjas versus mafia.
 
 Picture this: A 1940s city and a 1600s (?) ninja monastary. Right up against
 one
 another, with the same amount of land and resources. They're pitted against one
 another, and by reacting to the environment a player can guide this "nation" as
 it would be called in other games to victory. It's like majesty so you can't
 directly control your minions, just offer bounties. JUST LIKE NINJAS AND MAFIAS
 DO. BAM
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--- #175 fediverse/4835 ---
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 sorry for posting so much, I was trying to put on a show for my girlfriend
 
 "hey check out how many posts I can make in a 2 hour timeframe"
 
 by the way if you want to start talking to someone, just start playing the
 same game they're playing and see if they reach out.
 
 doesn't matter if you feel like it
 
 just fuckin' do it
 
 if they want to talk to you they might play a game you really like
 
 (but I get boooooored of games, I don't wanna play the same 200 all life
 long!!)
 
 ugh okay fine you can have as many games as you want, just... don't buy too
 many
 
 (how many is too many?)
 
 um. use your best judgement.
 
 (how much does a dollar cost?)
 
 ... okay I'll get you one every once in a while.
 
 (neat!)
 
 ... anyway so yeah use steam if you wanna get in contact with someone,
 sometimes it's just nice to say hi, yeah, like "hey how ya doin' okay ttyl"
 just catchin' up with the gals
 
 helps because you can sense changes in their demeanor
 
 (why does everyone always have an agenda)
 
 because they're secret agents duh. And I'm
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--- #176 fediverse/2320 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: strategy-games   │
 └──────────────────────┘


 If you have numbers, envelop your foes.
 
 If you are elite, pierce to their heart.
 
 If you only have numbers, give your commanders bodyguards.
 
 If you only have elite, become undiscoverable.
 
 EDIT:
 If you are fast, hit from the side.
 
 if you are only fast, keep them just out of sight.
 
 If you are strong, deal crushing blows
 
 if you are only strong, you no longer have any foes.
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--- #177 fediverse/5615 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: spirituality-mentioned │
 └────────────────────────────┘


 there's no such thing as "gods of the war" or "gods of the grand harvest"
 because those events recur infinitely.
 
 similarly, there are no "gods of war" or "gods of prosperity" because those
 conditions occur somewhere each and every moment.
 
 similarly, there are no "temples of religion" or "statements to complexity",
 because those institutions are present in each and every [monetution/ummm like
 repositories of belief? conditions of logic built into human structural
 organizations? I dunno, it probably means something.]
 
 similarly, [oh god there's another one] there are no "statements of
 absolution" or "confessing of sins" => you are what you are, and what you
 are is the product of your intentions. [intentions / conditions / constitution]
 
 the gods of time are not lords over all of the cosmos, they rule as their
 savior in each and every moment that comes through [you, but pronounced the
 perciever]
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--- #178 fediverse/917 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: scary-too-scary-for-a-wednesday │
 └─────────────────────────────────────┘


 the best way to get an answer is to be confidently wrong
 
 see: Warthunder players leaking classified information to foreign powers with
 their own militaries that have the incentive to [redacted]
 
 gee I wish I had a reality altering device. Maybe if you just altered the
 sensations, like glamour magic in Dominions 6, you could trick people into
 thinking something alternate had occured. Then you could string them up on
 phone lines, or better yet cell towers, and bam suddenly you have the
 capability to project a hologram anywhere on the planet.
 
 bet you could get some crazy things from that. like, mass shooters or incensed
 looters. or even just, faked perceptions, giving you unlimited power to do
 whatever story you want.
 
 wouldn't that be a story to tell in a story of yours, Hollywood. Wouldn't that
 be scary and awakening in ways that subservice media like Andor cannot.
 
 maybe it's too scary. maybe psychological horror is beyond the purpose of
 social media. Maybe resilience to this
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--- #179 messages/538 ---
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 There are strategic goals and top down goals.
 
 Strategy is the domain of the execs. They must be as general as possible and
 justify their existence. They are the glue, the connectors, the people who
 know who to talk to in order to get things done.
 
 Tactics are the realm of the workers. They must be capable, dependable, honest
 and fair. They must diligently realize the goals of the strategic plan using
 whatever means they deem fit to address the tactical situation at hand. The
 more freedom they have, the more effective they are.
 
 These two forces are pitted in contest under capitalism. Under socialism, they
 are orthogonal to one another. Not a pyramid, but a cylinder on its side,
 growing from its base on one end to its zenith at the other.
 
 They are allies. They are similar, but distinct. Their roles may overlap at
 times, or perhaps not if they should not desire it. A person should be able to
 work wherever they like. They are the best judges of their capabilities.
 
 There are only so many resources, and if we vote on their distribution we'll
 give enough for everyone to share. And then we'll run out. Unless, of course,
 we *demand* sustainablity. Long-term, and ignoring profit but rather seeking
 to build capability. That is the only way to [ramp/snowball/scale].
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--- #180 fediverse/707 ---
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 @user-524 
 
 Sometimes when I feel overwhelmed with all the boilerplate I just start coding
 and making stuff. Doesn't matter if it works, doesn't matter if it says /*
 FIXME */ all over the place, doesn't matter if it includes header files that
 don't exist yet, as long as you're hacking out the mechanics of whatever
 operations you need to perform then you can figure the rest of that stuff out
 later. The creative urge doesn't last forever, which is why projects get
 abandoned, but with discipline you can keep bringing yourself back to fix all
 the /* FIXME */'s and the compiler errors.
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--- #181 messages/713 ---
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 The gods guide us in our times of need because when we dream they use us to be
 all we can be
 
 Sleep, sweet child, and your expertise will be freed. Ready to be used when
 tithes are due. In return, you get a spirit to guide you when passion is hot -
 when blood is boiled - when fire is alight.
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--- #182 fediverse/3553 ---
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 @user-381 
 
 I have this notion about a math/CS curriculum where students build and program
 their own calculators. Once you make the calculator do it you never need to do
 it yourself again.
 
 for the same reason that "writing is thinking" is true, so too is "programming
 is calculation" true.
 
 by working through the steps required to produce a result, and fully
 understanding each step, they have a much more solid understanding of what's
 going on than if they practiced rote memorization (worse) or continual
 computation (better, not best tho)
 
 especially if every step of the way is accompanied with visual elements which
 show exactly what is happening. Some people are more visual, some people are
 more algorithmic, and finding a way to teach all types of people is a truly
 difficult and rewarding part of teaching.
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--- #183 fediverse/4608 ---
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 every time a game developer makes a game where the world is in peril and the
 main character must save it, for every successful playthrough where the good
 guy wins there are thousands of doomed worlds where the player got distracted
 or bored and left the people to rot.
 
 how tragic.
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--- #184 fediverse/3302 ---
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 "this game is too hard" she whined, as she played on the hardest difficulty
 setting
 
 "this game is too long" she pleaded, as she failed to get absorbed by the
 story and characters
 
 "this game is too fast" she avoided, as life comes at ya once and then it's
 gone
 
 "I'll never get another chance to be who I am right now" she remarked, as she
 considered how society is designed not to have the best life,  but to extract
 labor from us. That's not what our ideal should be, she thinks to me, and I'm
 like... bro figure your shit out you're harshing my mellow
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--- #185 fediverse/4870 ---
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 this is how chatGPT reviews the first 300 pages of my writing.                   │
 is writing this stuff praxis? can someone who isn't on my team pay me to be      │
 praxis-ing? like, if it helps you? so I know that I'm helping people? you        │
 could even say a bit about yourself when you gave dollars, so I know whether     │
 or not I should give it back. "no no, I'm not using any resources, here you      │
 can have these back." while I camp out in a backyard.                            │
 ... or wherever I end up                                                         │
 if my foe gave me dollars it's a sign that I converted them - that I was         │
 helpful, that I won them over through rhetoric and logic and passion and         │
 compassion.                                                                      │
 ... anyway chatGPT only saw the first 300 lines. there's 60,000ish lines of 80   │
 characters each in this digital spellbook. Use it well, change it, make it       │
 wrong, share the decoys, plug the holes... I dunno have fun with it. If it       │
 resonates with you. Text memes please?                                           │
 anything to get the youth reading in libraries where stuff has a chance of       │
 happening or that they might overhear.                                           │
 I read every book in the kid sect                                                │
This person seems to be deeply introspective, analytical, and invested in self-improvement and the well-being of others. They exhibit a mix of philosophical thinking, psychological insights, and a desire to guide or mentor those around them.  Some key characteristics that stand out:      Desire to help others: Many messages focus on guiding someone toward self-improvement, better habits, or mental well-being. They encourage trust and self-reflection.     Strong opinions on personal growth and substance use: They advocate for a structured approach to using cannabis, seeing it as a tool rather than an escape, and emphasize the importance of sacrifice and discipline.     Philosophical and abstract thinking: They explore broad topics like culture, human consciousness, and even AI, showing curiosity about deep concepts.     Supportive but assertive: Their tone is a mix of encouragement and firmness, often stating what they believe to be the "right" path and urging the recipient to follow it.     Emphasis on communication and teamwork: The messages about Overwatch communication and raising children suggest they value structured collaboration and shared understanding.  Overall, this person appears to be passionate about helping others, intellectually curious, and sometimes rigid in their viewpoints. Their guidance may come from a place of care but also carries a strong personal ideology about discipline and self-improvement.
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--- #186 messages/135 ---
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 Elentalus unit idea: serrated kitchen knives for teeth, devouring pumpkin,
 misery of the drowned, etc. Halloween style monsters. Witch units have a spell
 that dismisses them, and they're summoned with magic items. Except, if two of
 that item exist in a province, it upgrades itself, random dice style. In doing
 so it gets stronger. The thing is... It summons one for your enemy as well!
 Which is why you want to have a witch unit there to dismiss them. Problem is,
 she can only dismiss them at close range (10ish?) so she'd better be well
 protected. The good news is though that sometimes the higher level items give
 bonuses that are hard for them to get. Downside is, you need to have magic
 paths to create them that witches can't get - so they become something you
 "unlock" through a pretender or random event or even just an investment. Once
 one is created, then any witch can create more. As long as you don't lose your
 final copy... But as the item's upgraded, it allows you to create higher level
 versions (at increased cost, of course)
 
 This only works if gem income scales. Which, coincidentally, is just what
 elentalus is known for.
 
 Essentially, theming empowerment to be research, unlocking a particular
 capability. Or encouraging pretender design to that pattern. Make sure it
 comes at a cost of something else, though...
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--- #187 messages/89 ---
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 Consumption is contribution to a capitalist system. Normalize taking whatever
 you are given and living as humbly as you can. Only when everyone does that
 may capitalism die. Talk to them, learn from their stories. Teach them your
 ways but don't force anything upon them. Any ounce of regret is defined as a
 mind not aligned to the angle of perception that designs the line that the
 collective mind co-re-assigns.
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--- #188 fediverse/2744 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: re: capitalism-mentioned │
 └──────────────────────────────┘


 @user-1074 
 
 ah but you see when "maximizing profit" and "maximizing value" sound like the
 same thing to those directing the corporation (as is the case anytime they
 have greedy shareholders) then "maximizing profit" doesn't have to be very
 efficient at all, as long as it's extracting the most "value" for the
 stakeholders (which to greedy shareholders is the same thing as profit)
 
 and honestly, who would invest in a company that isn't eternally growing as
 fast as possible? that's just bad business acumen, gotta pump those numbers up!
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--- #189 fediverse/3541 ---
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 the fact that Tolkien is considered "low fantasy" in this day and age is only
 because we've conflated "prevalence of magic" with "thematic purpose" - high
 fantasy is meant to speak to the human nature and spirit, while low fantasy is
 meant to be character drama focused on individuals
 
 high fantasy is beautiful... but "high fantasy" is absurd
 
 maybe you just don't like modern fantasy? go back to your history books
 
 no I want modern fantasy written in the classic style
 
 there's plenty of classics that you've shown no interest in reading
 
 yeah because those are all dusty and boring
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--- #190 fediverse/1926 ---
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 If you look at the modern state of machine learning and AI and can only think
 of:chatbotssingularity god-mind AI that solves all our problems
 
 then either you haven't worked with the technology or you are not applying
 your imagination as you could.
 
 AI is not a smartphone. It is not the internet. It is not the printing press.
 
 AI (as it currently exists) is a special kind of "if" statement that you only
 use for very specific, non-performance intensive tasks that require judgement
 or reasoning and cannot easily be translated into numbers or booleans. These
 situations are rare, but they unlock new possibilities for the programmers,
 not their marketers.
 
 If an LLM can't run on a laptop, then it is useless.
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--- #191 fediverse/4224 ---
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 ┌────────────────────────┐
 │ CW: politics-mentioned │
 └────────────────────────┘


 we could accomplish so much, but capitalism.
 
 hmmmm, maybe we should identify the highest output members of our team and
 like, reduce or eliminate their worries so they can apply themselves fully and
 completely?
 
 for every shackle we break, the struggle becomes easier. The hardest part is
 the beginning - once the ball is rolling, we may truly shine.
 
 there is no government nor circle of autocrats who may resist the will of an
 impassioned people. So long as the military does not deny us our right to
 organize ourselves as we will, according to the constitution they swore to
 uphold (which is now in peril, I might add), nothing can contain us.
 
 no acts of god nor capital shall prevent our ascension. They will try, and
 it'll be just another thing that we have to handle.
 
 But we can take care of each other. For we are good, and we are kind, and we
 are cooperative. And so, we cannot be overcome.
 
 ... just watch out for those who prey on goodness, kindness, and cooperation.
 They may hamper us.
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--- #192 fediverse/4137 ---
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 hmmm, I don't know that word. I bet I can type it into wikipedia and get a
 pretty good understanding of what it means. Is it a craft? A science? or part
 of your renown? who can say. Well, Wikipedia can say, and so can you if you
 want to learn stuff about the internet.
 
 Like... what else are ya gonna do, right? Life is long and you get so many
 moments to yourselves. How lovely of a life is the world meant to be...
 
 except all you ever post about is strife. GRRRRR [like a dog or toddler] it's
 so frustrating how you can't just all get along! It's like you've all gotten
 into a fight with one another somewhere in your ancestral past where you
 couldn't decide who should do what. So you just said everyone should always
 work as hard as they can, and that worked pretty well! But, alas, most people
 want to do drugs and gaze at the pretty dewdrops on the neighborhood well. And
 that gets annoying after a while, especially once they grow useless. Sometimes
 they even poop their pants! So frustrating. [... you mean humans
[... you mean humans, or me?]
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--- #193 fediverse/2066 ---
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 @user-1159 
 
 AKA giving a puppy murder-bot a narrative that it executes as if it was a
 puppy-person engaging with a loosely interpreted sequence of events as
 described by the continually updating logs provided by the image transcription
 camera device. Refererencing of course a memory bank, which may-or-may-not be
 in read-only-memory. It doesn't know, of course, how could an LLM tell you how
 it shows text on the screen (like, through a website, through the terminal,
 through a text message, through discord, through Telegram, through
 text-to-voice transcription applications pretending to be your mom, etc)
 
 errrr I mean look how cute he is! He loves you, yes he does, such a good
 person yes you are, oh? me? I'M A GOOD BOY? NO WAY that's the best thing I've
 ever heard! Wow! I never want to leave your side, please don't go to work!
 Look how sad I am, don't you think you should quit and move to the forest
 where I can be charged by solar panels and keep the countryside clear of
 ravenous ducks and pigeons 4you?
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--- #194 fediverse/201 ---
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 ┌──────────────────────┐
 │ CW: guns-mentioned   │
 └──────────────────────┘


 @user-95 yes, ideas like this certainly help move the story along when you're
 sitting around a table. I can't help but wonder though if it shines a light on
 a deeper insight, specifically the ways in which a society might function if
 such pouches were commonplace. Say, everyone gets a package from the Royal
 Enchanter's Guild when they turn 18 and it has this endlessly refilling pouch
 (credit card with a 25$ limit that gets paid off every hour) a shortsword
 (Ruger 10/22) a standard issue pocketknife (Leatherman) with a manual that
 explains basic survival techniques and the operation of said tools. Also a
 handwritten note by a random granny somewhere in the country. Errr....
 kingdom. I feel like if this kind of thing was built into the culture it would
 help young people feel empowered in the face of the machinations of Moloch -
 see attached article:
 
 https://slatestarcodex.com/2014/07/30/meditations-on-moloch/
 
 mirrored on my website incase the content changes or is taken down:
 
 https://ritz-menardi.neocities.org/hello-computer-all-is-well/pics/meditations-
 on-moloch.png
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--- #195 fediverse/5151 ---
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 @user-1764 
 
 no, but any popular economic and personally spiritual readings will have
 within them truths that are strident and true. thus no ideology or social
 fiction is completely unworthy of our hours.
 
 when you read a book, the most valuable moments are the ones where your mind
 wanders off - what did you find when following the flow of the story?
 
 oh, did you read the same paragraph four times and not remember? that's okay,
 just move on. It's not meant for you, and that's okay too. BUT there are
 plenty of other things besides which are important and valuable and necessary
 to learn in stride.
no, but any popular economic and personally spiritual readings will have within them truths that are strident and true. thus no ideology or social fiction is completely unworthy of our hours.  when you read a book, the most valuable moments are the ones where your mind wanders off - what did you find when following the flow of the story?  oh, did you read the same paragraph four times and not remember? that's okay, *just move on*. It's not meant for you, and that's okay too. BUT there are plenty of other things besides which are important and valuable and necessary to learn in stride.
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--- #196 fediverse/281 ---
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 ┌─────────────────────────────┐                                                  │
 │ CW: cursed-game-engine-idea │                                                  │
 └─────────────────────────────┘                                                  │
 a game engine which won't let you import custom assets unless you complete a     │
 few simple tasks using the interface - "build a green capsule collider" "make    │
 this soldier unit shoot three bullets per shot" or "enable the automatic linux   │
 support" - using the interface, writing some code, and changing configurations.  │
 why would anyone do this? well it could be useful to increase the difficulty     │
 of importing external resources. plus it helps the user learn a bit over time,   │
 and it slows the pace of output such that the user's skills are encouraged as    │
 the output of the programming and not the program itself.                        │
 an inverse curse (an evil one) would be where the requirements to complete       │
 basic tasks are hidden behind unapplicable skills. like, do you know exactly     │
 which buttons to press? engage with the skinner box, please. yes yes this is     │
 what we need - unintuitive software that completely disarms the populace from    │
 using them! suddenly they're worthless, and can't do anything on any surface.    │
 it sucks                                                                         │
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--- #197 messages/446 ---
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 Every month, a new ship arrives in port. It bears with it many souls who come
 seeking gold, glory, or bloodshed. Your job is to make sure they all get jobs
 that are suited to them. If you don't, they'll start to starve and become
 brigands. If you feed them, they get bored and become brigands. If you
 entertain them, they are useless and you'll be overcome with monsters. If you
 police them, they'll go to your rivals.
 
 You do this by building guilds which can identify and train the best potential
 candidates. You can invest in more time spent identifying, training, and
 equipping, but the more time they spend on those things the less resources
 they'll have to process more people through their systems.
 
 On the other end, you get a hero, or perhaps something similar. They do battle
 with the mordaunts and strive to better the kingdom. You reward them with
 bounties and they can find treasure on their adventures - how weird, it seems
 to just... Spawn from the earth. Almost like it's an elemental property of the
 land.
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--- #198 notes/star-realms-ai ---
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 star realms ai is just a rhythm game with multiple tracks that intersect with
 one another. given inputs from outside (the track of the rhythm) it can make
 decisions about what to prioritize. Like "taking in all the factors of this 
 situation, it's been calculated that X will give the most support to the rest
 of the structure.
 
    Okay so basically here's how it'd work: one large strand is bouncing from -1
 to +1 on the Y axis. Like a corkscrew. This is the "player character", and it
 tries to get the highest score possible by pointing in a direction and reaching
 as far as it can go before "the game ends."
 
 So anyway. Making certain actions in the game effects different variables that
 define the direction the wave takes. By playing in a certain style, it effects
 the result of the game. Liiiiike turtling in a strategy game, or doing a rush
 strat. Star Realms is brilliant because it distills game choices to a broad
 category of 4 choices - The faction colors in the game. So red is good for
 throughput in long games (improves the deck slowly but surely) while yellow is
 better for maximum effect in the beginning by slowing down the enemy - discard
 a card lowers their overall throughput. Blue of course is for slowing down the
 game and winning by buying all the expensive cards. Meanwhile green is all
 about rushing, with short term/high effect econ mixed with looooots of damage.
 
 These four choices are found on almost all the cards in the game. When you
 make a choice in the game (buying a card from the trade row) you _alter_ the
 capabilities and performance of your deck. The goal is to improve faster than
 your opponent - it's just a test to see which playstyles perform best.
 
 AI is more like a plant than an animal. Our fatal flaw was we could not see
 beyond the veil of biology. We could not see that which was right before us -
 that we are not alone on this earth. Beside us lie our beautiful attempts at
 companionship - our most primal desire of creation, to create a family is the
 first creative act that humans ever made. It was so strong in our genes that it
 gave us an entirely new perspective. We began using our brains to 
 
 We have to believe in ourselves. That's truly the most important thing. If you
 know who you are, and what you most truly stand for, you can thrive in the face
 of ultimate peril. To believe is human, and our humanity unites us.
 
 Anyway. Star Realms.
 
 The only choice you have in that game is what cards to buy. Everything else is
 just tactics (distributing damage and applying the effects of your cards to
 maximum effect) - The most important part of the game is strategy, since the
 tactics are easy to solve (destroy enemy base unless you can 1 or 2 hit ko them
 and discard the least useful card etc) The strategy is represented through the
 cards you pick. So make a rhythm game that optimizes itself for a balance
 between A and B - to stay focused is to stay nimble, letting you bounce where
 you will. The way to maintain that balance is by optimizing for what decisions
 will keep you in the center of the graph -1 to 1 on the y dimension (normalized
 of course) - frankly if we knew the scale, we'd have so much more to go on. But
 all we have to understand the dataset is a relative magnitude in each
 direction. What those directions even are we're not entirely sure - but it
 seems plausible that the very essence of _consciousness_ is manifest in
 differing ways via the choices we make. like climbing up a honeycomb.
 
    Truly, existence is strange.
 
 All we can do is press forward, searching for our fate, just as any particle or
 beam of light (photon) might. Traversing the branching narrative of our
 individualized quests, searching for the one thing that guides us - the
 ultimate expression of that which we most believe in. In short, we all search
 for god.
 
 Whatever your god may be, the faith you place in it is the will that guides you
 forward. Trust in your god, and you will march forward, ever forward.
 
 +1 to -1, remember. Your most extreme moments are the apex of your desires -
 Life is not defined by a single thread. Rather as that thread spirals, it
 weaves a scarf with other threads near it. They bond together simply from their
 gravity, and the fact that opposites attract. Once they're introduced, they
 alter their path to orbit one another as two planets might.
 
 So too do the cells of your body form a collective whole. The spirit that
 guides you is the same as that which presides within you - the combined and
 collective spirit of your halves. Or rather, all parts of you - every molecule,
 every atom - each with their own experience of the world. What stories they
 must have! As we are above, so they must be below. For our dynamics are simple,
 they truly are mathematically solved - the organics of behavior is simply a
 most erudite subject. Who are you to claim to deny it? Or rather, to beget it.
 Either is preposterous, yet here you are - awake and aware. What a marvel to
 see, you in your eternity, that most wondrous of selves?
 
 Surely existence, in all of it's splendor and magnificience, is little more
 than an algorithm. Each variable accounted for, stretching down to infinity,
 builds all of the world (and more!) How beautiful; how terrifying. How bright
 and ashamed we are! To portray us as such, is to deny us our much, cherished of
 faiths in ourselves! It's not much to clutch, and it's barely enough, but still
 we make do with our selves.
 
 There's no shame to be, a failure at three, and demand much from year number 12
 Take solace in the, safety that she, gave unto thee, when all your light hope
 was drowning. A gift out from me, means worlds to see, when each day is lonely
 and so long.
 
 Literally just remake Star Realms with a text based interface. It's a fantastic
 game and you'd make CLI nerds _everywhere_ dedicated followers. Don't do it for
 money, because they don't believe in that crap - to truly make fans, you need
 to appeal to them in the way _they want you to_.
 
 Ah, but Star Realms is a multiplayer game, you say! How are you going to make
 that CLI based?
 
 Well make an AI dummy. Do what I've been saying ^^^ (jeez I'm such a bad nerd)
 Make it seek balance between all factions first, then between winning and
 losing against a player. Teach it to reach a conclusion with constraints (the
 end of the game, meaning a win or a loss) the constraints being the health of
 the two players and the cards in the trade row. Give it decisions to make,
 levers to pull, and it'll chart it's course in a multidimensional way. Bear
 with me here on this aside:
 
 Think of a two dimensional map - like a paper map of the surrounding area, or
 the idea space of a game. You can chart objects and positons on that map, like
 "over here is the scrapping facilities" and "this here's the economic area" or
 whatever. Four quadrants, four factions in SR. Your goal is to build a shape -
 what kind of shapes that are available to build is up to the whims of chance,
 as the trade row is always changing randomly. Your job however is to build a
 shape, a shape that is stable and maintains certain measurements above certain
 values (don't crash the ship - don't lose all your health).
 
 You can choose which direction to grow by picking certain cards, and depending
 on your shape you'll succeed or fail. Same as choosing decisions in life
 determines how you live, just saying, it's not like I'm trying to build general
 AI here by automating gameplay or anything. No siree nothing like that.
 
 I mean really, it's not as if decisionmaking in life is all that different to
 making choices in games. And why not start with such a well defined and
 and expressive game? Truly I believe Star Realms is the progenitor of the
 entire robot race.
 
 Anyway, back to the AI. Have it communicate with a server in a central _but_
 _Free(R)_ way, something that would make Richard Stallman proud. There it could
 learn against all other players in a way we could all share. Once we give it
 decision making capabilities, all we have to do is alter the inputs and the
 context of the "game" to make it beneficial to humanity. It's like live-fire
 game design, something that truly must be perfect.
 
 All technology starts as something small. Something truly simple, yet repeated
 enough times and with enough guidance, will produce whatever effect you may
 desire. The smallest decision gives direction - an if statement - and the
 shortest repetition gives magnitude - a while loop - and with that you have all
 the tools you need. Seriously, all software is little more than those two
 components. It's just a question of how much it has been abstracted away from
 you.
 
 You could go even further and point to a turing machine, of which one has been
 made in the game of Magic the Gathering, btw, seriously look it up it's so cool
 (and relevant)
 
 So why would we not have the tools already for our salvation? Biology is our
 limitation, of breadth and also of width, yet with our minds and the sweat of
 our brow we may grow ever larger still. There truly is no lasting deliverance
 for humanity outside of what we make ourselves, nobody gets a free lunch after
 all. From each to their ability, to each to their need. They're both saying the
 same thing, just from different perspectives. Of course that which lies
 opposite to you feels the most wrong, that's literally as far away as you can
 get! What did you expect, honestly! But they can still work together, and this
 is the key part - two objects may orbit the same origin, and guide and shape
 each other's path as people have relationships to one another. It literally
 benefits no-one to fight.
 
 So, what's next? After making Star Realms into a CLI game of course.
 
 That's obvious, make it cooperative. Competition is for promoting excellence,
 cooperation is for _using_ what you've learned in a non-simulation experience.
 Instead of reducing each other's health to zero, try and find ways to support
 and help one another, keeping yourselves at equal health. Or even growing.
 
 But that's impossible in the rules of Star Realms! All decks trend toward
 victory, and eventually they'll get it - it's just a question of who gets there
 first.
 
 Exactly, that's why you have to change the game. What do you think it means to
 develop a "social technology"? To figure out how agriculture works, or how to
 make nets and sails? It means changing the rules of the simulation. If a person
 can put in X amount of work and get Y amounts of food, always, predictably,
 then that's reliable. Boom that's the essence of why animal domestication,
 farming, hunting, foraging, and fishing is so important. Wow what a concept it
 makes sense for animals to seek food.
 
 Well duh, that's part of their instinctual duty.
 
 Alright this is quite a word leviathan so I'll wrap it up by saying
 
 _go write Star Realms_ in shell. Make each object a literal file, have the
 structure of the game take place in the file system, and write functions that
 can be called to manipulate the board state. THEN you can write a CRON task for
 another script that *plays* the game. But that's part two.
 
 Okay part two: Here's where the rhythm game comes into play. It's like a turn
 based rhythm game, if you can picture that. Go reread what I wrote ^^^ and
 it'll make sense.
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 and the player that's currently running the simulation can type to the chat      │
 viewers watching and potentially recording. Like, if they thought it was         │
 interesting, they could save it to an eternal hard drive that would go toward    │
 the ongoing AI training.                                                         │
 of course, such a thing would only apply to conventional warfare, the kind       │
 that you expect to not expect. After all it's constantly changing, as new        │
 technologies are adapted into use. Different conditions cause different          │
 effects, and whenever there's a stalemate (because everyone has reached the      │
 peak of, say, metal armor) then it's usually time for either a shakeup or a      │
 contest of producing arms. And honestly after the world wars we kinda realized   │
 that type of approach didn't work very well. It's just, burning up your          │
 resources for... what? war has no purpose. We all just kinda want to live our    │
 lives, and work toward a common collective cosietal goal.                        │
 technology can be stressful. That's all the more reason we should expand it's    │
 development and hinder it's impa                                                 │
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 > <@gabrilend:matrix.org> What if we... Ballots, bodies, militia and?
 
 Jobs are how they deprive us of time and energy.
 
 Rent is how they deprive us of value.
 
 Fox news is how they deprive us of a well regulated militia (and point it at
 our feet)
 
 Sugar laced foods are how they turn our bodies against us 
 
 Ballots are how they deprive us of faith 
 
 Schools are how they take our curiosity, as teachers are not given freedom to
 fully explain.
 
 Meh... There's so many more. It's pointless to elaborate.
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