Evie's recent activity
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
Evie Link ParentYeah totally do whatever you want -- ideally I'd like everything that touches the main tunnel to match block pallets and line up with the lighting (ie both stops are centered relative to the...Yeah totally do whatever you want -- ideally I'd like everything that touches the main tunnel to match block pallets and line up with the lighting (ie both stops are centered relative to the ceiling lights in the main tunnel but you can add anything you want to
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
Evie LinkJust finished (for now) what I think is the first major public transit infrastructure project on the server -- the western nether tunnel (we gotta come up with a catchier name) which connects mine...Just finished (for now) what I think is the first major public transit infrastructure project on the server -- the western nether tunnel (we gotta come up with a catchier name) which connects mine and Pickles's bases with @TangibleLight's, @Minithra's, the End and the town. And looks great doing it, if I do say so myself :). High speed rail lines included!
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
Evie Link ParentOkay, so, not to get too technical but On top of the building with the copper roof, there's a boat, sitting on top of some slabs. It's leashed to that fence post with a lead -- carefully placed so...Okay, so, not to get too technical but
On top of the building with the copper roof, there's a boat, sitting on top of some slabs. It's leashed to that fence post with a lead -- carefully placed so that the lead is perfectly level, and runs at a 45 degree angle relative to the block grid (thus hitting the center of each block in its path). Temporary blocks were placed above the leads, and the copper lanterns hung from them; then, a debug stick was used to set the lanterns to their grounded mode, which both lowered them so their tops aligned with the lead, and also allowed them to float unsupported. I was also super high when I figured this out so edibles might be required, not sure -
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
Evie LinkReally happy with some of the detail work I've been doing on my base. Check out this lighting solution!Really happy with some of the detail work I've been doing on my base. Check out this lighting solution!
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
Evie Link ParentDue to a legislative exemption, because the proposed new rail line requires no new build and only utilizes existing infrastructure, it can be exempted from the impact studies and the community...Due to a legislative exemption, because the proposed new rail line requires no new build and only utilizes existing infrastructure, it can be exempted from the impact studies and the community comment period, which it should be emphasized were already performed prior to the tunnel's original construction. If you wish to raise objections you'll have to petition the Polish national government to remove the modernization exemption -- as a humble local official, I have nothing to do with it.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
Evie Link ParentHi it's me, the proper authorities. You're free to convert the tunnel to high speed rail; Ms. Pickles is right that further renovations to the line are scheduled, but construction will not start...Hi it's me, the proper authorities. You're free to convert the tunnel to high speed rail; Ms. Pickles is right that further renovations to the line are scheduled, but construction will not start there for some time, so there's no point in putting off updating the rails themselves. Your permit is granted.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft Weekly in ~games
Evie Link Parent-4018 0 784 -- Leszczyński Platform (my base)-4018 0 784 -- Leszczyński Platform (my base)
-
Comment on What private companies are you happy doing business with? in ~talk
Evie Link ParentOcean spray, the cranberry company, is also a cooperative owned by its member farmers. Don't know of any others on store shelves, but we always go out of our way to buy from those two companies.Ocean spray, the cranberry company, is also a cooperative owned by its member farmers. Don't know of any others on store shelves, but we always go out of our way to buy from those two companies.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
Evie Link ParentYou should almost always build a gold farm in the nether wastes biome above the nether roof. I would go for the classic ilmango gold farm -- with fixes applied for the current version, it more or...You should almost always build a gold farm in the nether wastes biome above the nether roof. I would go for the classic ilmango gold farm -- with fixes applied for the current version, it more or less maximizes the piglin spawns a single player can get. Requires a lot of magma so I'm happy to help with the collection thereof/anything else
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
Evie Link ParentI'm honestly taking the no-elytra pill this season so transit projects are gonna be big for meI'm honestly taking the no-elytra pill this season so transit projects are gonna be big for me
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
Evie Link ParentOh, certainly -- well, that said, I heard talk about not having our main communal storage system right within town, this time, to reduce lag -- all those block entities can be pretty resource...Oh, certainly -- well, that said, I heard talk about not having our main communal storage system right within town, this time, to reduce lag -- all those block entities can be pretty resource intensive -- so just be careful about where you build it and you'll be fine.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Season 3 Launch Day in ~games
Evie Link ParentOn the last two servers there's been a kind of communist, or at least mutualist, vibe: no shops, no economy; people going out of their way to help each other with projects where possible, farms...On the last two servers there's been a kind of communist, or at least mutualist, vibe: no shops, no economy; people going out of their way to help each other with projects where possible, farms and major storage systems publicly accessible. These aren't rules, just sort of... cultural norms, I guess?
If you're trying to find a spot to build and someone already has a big base nearby where you want to settle, it's usually polite to ask permission to build there; usually, you'll want to avoid doing major builds or digs or whatever right near the world spawn to keep it pristine for newer players; try to build major automatic farms outside of high traffic areas to reduce lag. Basic etiquette stuff that's pretty intuitive imo, and people like building close together within reason and won't stand on ceremony.
-
Comment on The Muppet Show | Teaser trailer in ~tv
Evie LinkMe when they make nostalgia bait targeted at other people: "ugh, can't believe people will eat up all this slop, no complaints, no asking for better, just fucking pigs at a trough. No wonder our...Me when they make nostalgia bait targeted at other people: "ugh, can't believe people will eat up all this slop, no complaints, no asking for better, just fucking pigs at a trough. No wonder our society is in the shitter, no wonder these rubes don't value art."
Me when they make nostalgia bait targeted at me: "omg it's the MUPPETS! :) :) :)"
-
Comment on China drafts world’s strictest rules to end AI-encouraged suicide, violence in ~tech
Evie LinkOne of the very few good things about authoritarianism is that it allows you to act quickly to implement policy solutions to urgent problems, with far less regard for the reaction of the public or...One of the very few good things about authoritarianism is that it allows you to act quickly to implement policy solutions to urgent problems, with far less regard for the reaction of the public or the business elite. The proposed regulations seem eminently sensible, like the burden of implementation will mainly fall on AI companies. And LLM-induced psychosis, mental illness, and self harm is already a very clearly serious problem.
Here in the US, business leaders are begging not to be regulated, with the excuse that any legislative speed bumps will make us lose the AI race against China. Maybe the adoption of these regulations in China will help deflate that excuse; AI regulation is so overwhelmingly popular that it almost must happen here at some point, however oligarchal the US is becoming.
-
Comment on Housemarque's Saros looks set to provide a less punishing experience than Returnal in ~games
Evie LinkIt's interesting... Returnal has this problem where if you don't fail enough, you won't get to see all the story before you get the true ending, which has been a problem for me on replay. I...It's interesting... Returnal has this problem where if you don't fail enough, you won't get to see all the story before you get the true ending, which has been a problem for me on replay. I actually think the game isn't as hard as it's been made out to be, once you're familiar with how the game wants you to play it. So I hope Housemarque does a better job dealing with the failure problem this time around.
I hope having a larger cast doesn't impair the really strong sense of atmosphere that was a core part of Returnal. But it's good to see a studio not just blindly doing more of what worked last time.
-
Comment on Movies like Dream Scenario need a warning in ~movies
Evie Link ParentFor me personally, it's a little bit yes and a little bit no. Of course you're going to have inbuilt expectations and assumptions going into a work; I find that I can make them not matter by...For me personally, it's a little bit yes and a little bit no. Of course you're going to have inbuilt expectations and assumptions going into a work; I find that I can make them not matter by viewing everything under the assumption that the filmmakers are complete masters of their craft who know better than me and who have carefully calculated the minutiae of every formal quality to produce a specific effect/response on me. Often, you'll still watch a movie and be forced to ultimately conclude that no, it's pretty graceless and inept, but if you can maintain the assumption that every work is, or at least might be, a masterpiece while watching it, I find it makes me less dependent on my own expectations and preferences and more open to whatever the artists are trying to do.
-
Comment on Half way through the 2020's. What's your favorite games so far? in ~games
Evie Link ParentSure! So, I am, generally, a believer in radical empathy, in treating everyone around you with compassion, forgiveness, and the understanding that they're their own person with their own...- Exemplary
Sure! So, I am, generally, a believer in radical empathy, in treating everyone around you with compassion, forgiveness, and the understanding that they're their own person with their own unimaginable depths. I think 1000xResist would broadly agree with that, but it has a different perspective on it, as demonstrated by the ending.
Spoilers for 1000xResist
There are a couple facets of the game's ending that jarred me. The first was mostly subtextual: core to the ending choice is the knowledge that everyone will come to a full understanding of the history that preceded them, and the understanding that this knowledge is not enough. Even though everyone knows the history of Iris, her family, and her sisters; even though, being clones, they are all in one sense the same person, their belief-forming experiences under an unjust society are so different that they will still inflict terrible harm on each other.
I think I had the kind of naive unexamined assumption that all the world's problems were due to misinformation, a lack of empathy, people just not understanding each other. But though empathy and understanding are worthwhile virtues, they are not enough, and they can also be twisted -- just as Iris twisted them.
Spoilers continue
More difficult for me to grapple with is the cold, utilitarian logic that 1000xResist applies to society building. To move forward and get a real ending to the game, you basically have to choose to kill the cops. On the one hand, based and anarchist-pilled. On the other hand, I, a bleeding heart, really struggle to make that decision, to press that button.
One of the game's core themes is "some things just don't fit in the backpack:" to live a good life, to build a good society, you have to be able to let go of people, of memories, of narratives.
On a personal level, I understand this completely. I've cut family members out of my life; I've made difficult decisions during moves, I've lost parts of myself in the growth process and come out better for it. But on a societal level?
I suppose 1000xResist's thesis here comes across as a bit grossly punitive to me. The game has gone out of its way to create a situation where some people have to be killed for society to move forward, which on the one hand mirrors the logic of revolution but on the other hand feels a bit like a forced dichotomy built into the game's procedural rhetoric, that primarily exists to justify violence, if the morally right people are doing it. And, like, it's in my opinion completely unjustifiable to kill anyone who doesn't pose an imminent danger to Blue and Watcher -- that includes, like, Principal, the Jiaos, the cult members -- but if you're already killing people, if you must, why not kill all the people who might possibly be a detriment to society in the future?
So this is a fairly dark incentive built into the ending choice that the game doesn't seem to adequately explore, in my opinion. But on the other hand, it's hard to do anything but nod along to the extremely straightforward utilitarian logic at play here, to look at history and see a thousand supportive case studies.
Interestingly, one of the other favorite games I mentioned, Reverse: 1999, takes literally the opposite perspective on society building. The main character, Vertin, has an infinitely large suitcase in which she builds a society of marginalized arcanists. All of these people are mentally ill; some of them are cruel, or even evil; some of them have good cause to hate each other. And this all sounds a bit utopian, doesn't it? Vertin will never say, "sometimes, you just don't fit in the suitcase;" her suitcase is effectively infinite, and anyone who's displaced or vulnerable can come inside, no matter how dangerous they are, no matter how special their needs.
And I think what 1000xResist made me realize is that my relative powerlessness grants me the privilege to be a utopian. I don't have to do the messy work of building a society; my praxis largely consists of letting homeless queer people live in our house while they get their feet under them, cooking for them and cleaning up after them and loving them. In this context, even when people are severely mentally ill, or grossly unsanitary, or just a bit odd, it's easy to say, "well, it is what it is." "Well, I still love you." Because it's one person, because the stakes are low and individualized, because we have more than enough money to absorb the cost. If I had to run a revolution, I'm not sure what I would do; I'm sure now that empathy wouldn't be enough.
-
Comment on Half way through the 2020's. What's your favorite games so far? in ~games
Evie LinkIn no particular order, my top 5: Alan Wake 2, I think, has a credible case for being the best game ever made. The gameplay is only "pretty good." But the story, the presentation, the writing, the...In no particular order, my top 5:
Alan Wake 2, I think, has a credible case for being the best game ever made. The gameplay is only "pretty good." But the story, the presentation, the writing, the visuals are all genuinely among the best in the industry; its narrative functions beautifully as a metafictional skewering of auteur theory, yet its characters are grounded, believable and human. It's full of audacious sequences and ideas that never feel out of place or overly cute; its structure is rhythmic and poetic, while retaining a sense of customizability and player agency. The graphics are more real than real, with a vivid and emotionally tone-perfect depiction of grimy city streets and the woods of the PNW, but the game still retains a strong sense of art direction that unified the disparate locales. It's a strange thing, to be playing a game, and constantly aware of the fact that you have maybe never played anything better before (or, for that matter, since).
Returnal might, by an incurious player, be confused for merely a sci fi roguelike with pitch-perfect core gameplay systems and a pretentious but unobtrusive tone-poem story. What shocked me about the game, however, was, on closer examination, how strongly the mechanics and gameplay reinforced the story's themes, to create an experience that only grew more existentially horrifying the longer I played. And the game is so fun that I still start a new save, sometimes, just to get my hands on more of the combat. I expect Housemarque's upcoming follow-up, Saros, to blow me away just as much.
1000xResist is a narrative game made by an experimental theatre troupe. With my own background in the performing arts, I was never not going to love it, but its sharply political sci fi story about intergenerational trauma, disease, politics and history was mature, empathetic, and at times deeply challenging to some of my most core beliefs. Its budget feels miniscule, but at the same time it never feels constrained, managing to completely exhaust the depths of its story, setting and characters and going to some very surprising places. Certain masterfully directed scenes in the game obliterate all pretense at subtext to present the full breadth of the game's ideas on a silver platter, but if the game lacks subtlety, it still never condescends to the player, and is never overly clever or precious.
Reverse: 1999, a live service visual novel game, can be thought of as a postmodernist short story collection about marginalization, community, and art history. Like all collections, there are some stories here that miss the mark. But in Reverse's best chapters, it oozes unsubtle, unselfconscious brilliance in the ways it engages with and challenges twentieth century literature; the way it fights within itself about separatism as a response to inequality; the way it embraces existentialism and yet snarls at absurdism. And yet, even with all these thematic depths, the game's surface level is arguably even more impressive, displaying exquisite art direction and character design, searing emotional honesty, and a smoothly implemented multilingual voice cast. That's when Reverse is at its best. And even when it's at its worst, it never stays there long.
Hollow Knight Silksong might be here because of recency bias, and because it's relatively recent, I don't have nearly as much to say about it. But as carefully and precisely designed as the game's punishing systems and world and combat are, what's stuck with me the most is its story, which is a Souls-style story done right: subtle, carried mostly by strong environmental design, but cohesive and sharp and thoughtful.
-
Comment on Tildes Minecraft - Get hyped countdown thread in ~games
They're made of mushroom stems! I can provide some for you next time I'm on if need be, or you can steal a few stacks from my platform, or there's a manual farm in the industrial area.