Presumably for the research on voting.

I had to do a double take too! Great photo!

Is there anything wrong with !shortstories@literature.cafe that I’m not aware of?

Ah I see. I don’t think so, unfortunately. Something like that would definitely be useful, I guess as a browser extension? I wonder if something like that exists…

What’s stopping you?

Inertia is a hell of a thing. Also TikTok has one of the most efficient algorithms of any social media, and I doubt it would be easily replicated. Especially if you’re doing it in the classic Fediverse spirit of trying to be non-invasive, non-addictive, caring for the users’ privacy etc.

Yeah, and that’s really the crux of it. To 90% of people, the content is all that matters. That’s why comments like: “hey, you like TikTok? Why don’t you try Loops instead?” or “Check out Pixelfed, it’s a bit like Instagram!” are unlikely to work. For most people, it’s just a strictly worse version. The same thing but without the content. Why would they downgrade for no reason?

You have to care about something external to the core experience of consuming content to actually be here. That’s why our population at the moment is, well, just us here *gestures around.* You have to care about FOSS, or decentralisation, or anti-corporatism, or really value the more human interactions you get in a smaller setting with fewer bots, or actually enjoy putting in more work and get less served to you by an algorithm.

Most of the people with those values I believe will eventually trickle over here naturally. The rest though, this is a really hard sell for.

If anyone knew, you wouldn’t have to ask. Everyone’d already been here.

Damn, losing your saved games like that absolutely sucks. I’m so sorry. I’m glad you got to experience most of it, at least. The lost film in the cinema is so good too, almost more audacious than the We Sing chapter is shoving a whole ass European art house short film in there haha.

The first one or two bosses are alright, I think. I’m pretty sure you can parry all their attacks. But I can see what you mean, there is definitely a very simple design behind a lot of the bosses in vanilla. None of them were really super fun, but they also weren’t really all that difficult so I guess that’s why I didn’t think too much of it. I died way more to the environment than to any boss, except Isidora. She got my ass like 50 times. Though to be fair I never did the rest of the DLC so there may well be another equally tough boss there.

But yeah, the game seems to really lean into the whole “virtue of suffering” theme - which works great with the story, world building and vibe and all, it’s just… not necessarily fun.

I absolutely love the art, music, story and world building in Blasphemous, but I could also not really vibe with the gameplay. Way too much platforming combined with instant kill hazards and janky ledge//ladder grabbing. Also enemy placement that seems deliberately designed to waste your time and prevent you from rushing through areas, even when you backtrack.

I didn’t have much issue with the bosses though, at least in the main game. Isidora from the DLC was a fucking pain, though.

I finished The Drifter yesterday. It took me three weeks to get through a 10-hour game, that tells you a bit about how little I’ve been gaming lately. Anyway.

Game is absolutely great. 9.9/10, a must-play if you like the genre of point-and-click adventure games, and a game you should seriously consider even if you don’t.

I’ve already waxed lyrical about it in past weekly threads, so I am not going to repeat myself here. All I can add is that the game does stick the landing.

From what I have played, this is the most logical puzzle game ever. There were only something like 5 convoluted puzzles over the course of the whole game, and even those did make some sense in retrospect. Besides those five I got stuck on, I was able to figure out the rest of the game without outside help, and everything felt like it was logical and made sense.

The story is a lot of fun, it was more sci-fi than I expected but I don’t really mind it. It’s a breakneck pulp thriller and it keeps throwing curve balls at you, there is always a twist and turn and you never know what to expect. The writing is super sharp, it’s witty and fun and the dialogue is great. In the latter half there were a couple of voice actors that were only okay, but the rest of the cast is absolutely top shelf and the protagonist especially is great.

Overall I can’t say enough good things about it. The conclusion is satisfying, the main theme of the OST hitting with its heavy synths at a climactic moment was epic and there is even an emotional arc.

Play it, it’s fantastic. Even if you don’t like puzzle games, the story and presentation is great, so if you have to look up a few hints or solutions then so what? You’ll have a good time regardless.

Ah, good to hear. I checked out his other games on Steam and wishlisted Telwynium immediately after finishing The Drifter, but it will probably be some time before I play it. I like to switch things up genre-wise game to game. But I’m glad to hear it’s also quality, I’ll definitely pick it up at some point during some future sale.

Sorry for barging in through the door like a Jehovah’s Witness, but if you like these kinds of games you must try The Drifter. I finished it yesterday and it’s the best point-and-click I’ve ever played, may well have ruined the genre for me. It’s an adventure game that actually doesn’t use moon logic. A couple puzzles were a bit convoluted, but even those I felt like actually were based on some logic and made sense.

Plus it’s a great pulp story with phenomenal voice acting. Can’t recommend it enough. Well anyway, sorry for the interruption, I’ll move on to the next house. Thanks for your time.

It’s an inherent problem with having both users and communities on the same instances, and just how humans tend to operate in general in that we automatically gravitate to others and clump together.

I think it was @rglullis@communick.news who was saying that in an ideal world there would be two types of instances, one for users and one that only served as hosting space for communities. That way you could block or defederate user groups without losing access to entire communities.

Of course, we’re way past the point where reorganization into a structure like that is feasible. But it’s interesting to think about.

That sounds like a great idea, that’s some of the most important information.

Welcome back! Hope you’re doing well :)

Four years ago, fucking hell.

It’s a great game. In some ways I might even prefer it to Human Revolution. Also, make sure you do the DLCs after. A Criminal Past is some of the best “new Deus Ex” they ever produced.