hungariantoast's recent activity
-
Comment on Share a link to good singing in a language that you don't understand in ~music
-
Comment on I want to play Cyberpunk 2077 at its best and it sucks that a GPU shortage is going to stop me in ~games
hungariantoast LinkI'm sweating a bit after looking at the latest system requirements chart. My RX 580 is starting to feel quite old, especially because I want to play the game at 1440p. Honestly, if I can even get...I'm sweating a bit after looking at the latest system requirements chart. My RX 580 is starting to feel quite old, especially because I want to play the game at 1440p.
Honestly, if I can even get close to 60FPS at the lowest settings at 1440p, I'll be happy. My only saving grace at this point though might be that I have two graphics cards, but I don't think anyone knows yet how well (if at all) the game will handle dual-GPUs.
What really sucks is that there aren't any good upgrade paths at the moment. The only new graphics cards released right now are the high end $500+ cards, and they're all out of stock. There aren't even any slightly newer cards in the $250 range worth upgrading to, and all the "budget" $300+ and $400+ upcoming cards won't release until late December at the earliest, and they'll probably face stock shortages as well.
-
I want to play Cyberpunk 2077 at its best and it sucks that a GPU shortage is going to stop me
6 votes -
Comment on The problem with multiple endings in video games in ~games.game_design
hungariantoast (edited )LinkI'm not super crazy about this video, but I do think it summarizes this issue very well, with "this issue" being player choice and gameplay not being managed well in how they affect a game's...I'm not super crazy about this video, but I do think it summarizes this issue very well, with "this issue" being player choice and gameplay not being managed well in how they affect a game's story.
Dishonored honestly left me feeling exhausted by the time I completed the first game, because I had spent an exorbitant amount of time save-scumming and playing stealthily to get the "good" ending.
While I really enjoyed the Metro and Mass Effect games, and will definitely play the Mass Effect remasters when they release, both of these trilogies also had me feeling a sort of weight or burden while playing. As if I needed to approach situations in a specific way to secure the result that I wanted, and the "optimal" approach did not always line up with what I actually (morally) felt like doing.
Not to really spoil anything about any of these three series, but you get the good endings by doing good things, and the bad endings by doing bad things, or even just not doing the good things.
I think this is lazy, or at least basic, game design.
First, no individual player is going to universally agree with the developers on which actions or choices are "good" or "bad", or which ending they should lead to.
Second, and even worse, is that a lot of these choices in these games don't even actually have a reason for affecting their endings other than they were programmed to do so as a system in the game.
Honestly, these kinds of arbitrary, story deciding systems just should not exist.
Having multiple endings is pretty great, but they should not be "bad" or "good", because then players will adhere to a specific play style, trying to secure a specific ending (and it will overwhelmingly be the "good" ending). Even if the players don't know the details of an ending, just that it is the "good" or "bad" ending, they will still optimize their playing to get that ending (and if they are like me, it will be a detriment to their overall experience).
Instead, endings should be logical conclusions of the choices and actions of the player throughout the game. There should not be "good" and "bad" meters that the player has to fill up in order to get a specific ending, instead the story should just build on itself as a natural result of consequences.
He talks about it in the context of worldbuilding instead of storytelling, but Shamus Young's video (or article) on Mass Effect and its "domino worldbuilding" is pretty great:
-
Comment on The problem with multiple endings in video games in ~games.game_design
hungariantoast LinkBefore you watch, you should know that this video has spoilers for the endings of tons of games, including Mass Effect 3 and Dishonored, and spoils other minor details from games like Prey.Before you watch, you should know that this video has spoilers for the endings of tons of games, including Mass Effect 3 and Dishonored, and spoils other minor details from games like Prey.
-
The problem with multiple endings in video games
7 votes -
Comment on Implement a feature that allows users to flag and challenge exemplary labels on comments they find undeserving in ~tildes
hungariantoast Link ParentNo, at least not as far as my suggestion goes. What I described above would mean that "challenging" the use of the label would basically consist of a user writing a message to the administrator...And wouldnât âchallengingâ a label have a similar effect of a downvote anyway
No, at least not as far as my suggestion goes. What I described above would mean that "challenging" the use of the label would basically consist of a user writing a message to the administrator (like how users have to write a message for the malice label). After reading the message, if the administrator decides to remove the label, then its effects would also be removed from the comment.
-
Comment on Implement a feature that allows users to flag and challenge exemplary labels on comments they find undeserving in ~tildes
hungariantoast Link ParentYeah, this is basically it. A comment that receives the label isn't actually (automatically) "exemplary" in the sense that it is objectively good, but rather that someone really, really liked it....Which is not to say it's bad and we shouldn't have it, but I suspect the semantics are at the core of OPs disapproval.
Yeah, this is basically it. A comment that receives the label isn't actually (automatically) "exemplary" in the sense that it is objectively good, but rather that someone really, really liked it.
That's fine, and certainly a valid way to go about it, but when only one person can apply the label and have it take effect immediately, then the naming and definition of the feature starts to feel kind of weird to me. Upping the number of users that must apply the label before it goes into effect solves the problem though.
-
Comment on Implement a feature that allows users to flag and challenge exemplary labels on comments they find undeserving in ~tildes
hungariantoast Link ParentI think this is the source of my dissatisfaction, because I would feel pretty icky handing out the label to a comment just to bring balance to the force or whatever, if I did not actually find the...it's fairly common that someone will use an Exemplary on one comment in a back-and-forth argument between two users, and then someone else will feel like they need to use one on a comment from the other side, to "balance out" the original Exemplary on the side they disagree with
I think this is the source of my dissatisfaction, because I would feel pretty icky handing out the label to a comment just to bring balance to the force or whatever, if I did not actually find the comment to be deserving.
In hindsight, I probably should have framed and titled this topic around the idea of raising some sort of objective bar for what is considered exemplary, and thus lowering the overall usage of the label to a more meaningful (I feel) level. That's fine though, because the comment thread started by Amarok provides the perfect remedy I think.
Even though in the topic I said we probably shouldn't try to, I kind of want there to be some sort of objective bar for comments to be considered exemplary, but of course, "objective" in the context of Tildes more often than not seems to mean "the most popular subjective opinion".
So yeah, raising the number of times the label must be used on a comment before it gets that nice blue highlight, the sorting bump, and any other benefits both raises an "objective" bar for comments to pass while still being based on the organic subjectivity of the userbase. Problem solved.
Now if only we could pick up a few thousand extra users...
-
Comment on Implement a feature that allows users to flag and challenge exemplary labels on comments they find undeserving in ~tildes
hungariantoast Link ParentNone of these describe my views on the label, and pretty extensively in the topic text did I talk about what is considered "exemplary" being a subjective or "organic" thing between users. Just...It does not mean, "This is an objectively good comment that everyone should read it and probably like it." It also doesn't mean "This comment has an objectively respectable opinion." It doesn't mean "Tildes as a whole endorses this comment."
None of these describe my views on the label, and pretty extensively in the topic text did I talk about what is considered "exemplary" being a subjective or "organic" thing between users. Just want to make sure that is clear.
The only way I am interpreting the meaning of the label is from the site's documentation:
The "Exemplary" label is for recognising excellent comments, which are of high quality and which add something significant to the discussion.
The whole concept of challenging "exemplary" rubs me the wrong way, because it should certainly seen as a strong personal endorsement from an individual, and the idea of saying "no, you don't actually endorse this" feels bad to me.
Yeah, I specifically mentioned that having your use of the exemplary label be undone would suck, and that's why I put forward this idea but am not really advocating for it. It's also why I mentioned some alternative ideas that wouldn't make Tildes "less nice" of a space than it already is (hope that makes sense).
-
How not to make an indie game
8 votes -
What are some games that work on the player's intent?
Today I rewatched the Game Maker's Toolkit video on Celeste: Why Does Celeste Feel So Good to Play? I recommend watching the entire video (and all of GMT's other content), but there's this...
Today I rewatched the Game Maker's Toolkit video on Celeste:
I recommend watching the entire video (and all of GMT's other content), but there's this fascinating point in the video, around the eleven-minute mark, when one of the developers of Celeste says "It's like working on the player's intent rather than making it a precise simulation".
What the developer is talking about in this quote are a few hidden features of Celeste that make the game more forgiving. For instance:
- The player can jump even a few frames after they have left a platform
- Dashing into a corner will gently curve the player around the corner rather than bringing them to a hard stop
- If the player tries to jump just a few frames before hitting the ground, the game will recognize their intent and perform the jump automatically once the player hits the ground
That last point is the most blatant example of what I am talking about. The game "realizes" what the player is trying to do, and allows them to do it, rather than punishing them for being off by a few frames/milliseconds. In this way, Celeste works on the player's intent, rather than sticking to the hard rules of its simulation.
I think that's a really fascinating and powerful idea, but I would also be very surprised if it were actually something new and unique.
So I wanted to ask, are there any other games that work on the player's intent? How exactly do they do it? Do they make the experience more forgiving like Celeste does, or are there any games that recognize the player's intent, but somehow make the game more difficult as a result?
Finally, just because I am curious, in what ways, both in and out of gameplay (such as interface design) could "working on the player's intent" be used to improve game and software experiences?
18 votes -
Implement a feature that allows users to flag and challenge exemplary labels on comments they find undeserving
Maybe it is just because I am particularly stingy with my use of the exemplary label, and maybe I should just start using it more often, but over the past week I have noticed quite a few comments...
Maybe it is just because I am particularly stingy with my use of the exemplary label, and maybe I should just start using it more often, but over the past week I have noticed quite a few comments that have received exemplary labels that honestly... I don't consider to have been that great.
This is not a particularly new phenomenon. I think anyone who has been on Tildes for a sufficiently long time has seen comments receive exemplary labels that they felt were undeserving. Part of that feeling is undoubtedly just disagreeing with the content of a comment, or disagreeing on what level of quality a comment should reach to be considered "exemplary". That just seems like an inevitable, organic contrast between users.
However, there should be some minimum level of quality for a comment to be considered "exemplary", right? I don't think we could ever actually define that minimum level of quality though, and I certainly don't think we should try, but exemplary labels also can be misused and abused, so how do we somehow separate out a difference of opinion from a genuine instance of abuse, when we can't come up with an actual definition of "quality"?
That's a very "organic" problem, as in, each person has a different definition of "quality", so I think the only way to solve that problem is through an organic solution.
What if we allowed users to "flag" and challenge comments with exemplary labels?
I imagine this would work much like the malice label, except it wouldn't have any effect on comment weighting or sorting, it would just require the user to enter a message explaining why they disagree with the exemplary label on the comment, and why it should be removed.
Then, our intrepid
overlordadministrator can review the message and take action if necessary.
Now, you might be wondering, why not just let the administrator handle it all in the first place, and not get users mixed up in the business of identify misuse of a label?
Well sure, that's a valid enough way to go about it, considering that is how it has been done since labels were implemented, but one of Tildes' "big ideas" is community moderation and trust. I think allowing users to participate in the process of identifying label misuse fits very well with the theme of the Tildes community moderating itself. Yes, for now the administrator would be the only person who could actually make the decision to keep or remove a label, but that responsibility could easily be handed to trusted users in the future when needed.
You also might be wondering why I don't just message the administrator about these "misused exemplary labels" when I think I have come across one.
The answer to that is actually quite frank and simple: there are often too many for me or any other person to single-handedly explain why I think each individually mislabeled comment should be "corrected".
However, I myself am not 100% sold on this idea, mostly because of one big point:
Giving a comment an exemplary label, and then finding that label to have been removed, would fucking suck.
Hm yeah, not exactly a situation overflowing with good feelings.
I almost didn't even post this, because I understand just how frustrating it could be to find that your label was removed, but I still thought the idea was worth putting forward.
And
I have a lighter, alternative suggestion that might help to amend misuse of the exemplary label (if or where it does exist) but wouldn't require as many drastic changes to the site:
Just make exemplary labels public.
To be honest, I find it kind of strange that they aren't public. For me personally, labelling a comment as exemplary is a pretty strong endorsement that I appreciate and respect the quality of a comment. If I really am going to go out of my way to give a comment some sweet, sweet blue highlighting, I personally would also be fine with my username being next to that endorsement.
Not everyone uses the label like I do though, and not everyone feels the same way about the comments they label as I do, so I can understand that having to endorse a comment with their username when labeling it as exemplary might shy some users away from using the feature.
To that point, I have a question:
- Shouldn't it though? If you're not willing to endorse a comment publicly, then is it really deserving of an exemplary label? I mean, you're having a big impact on the way discussions are ordered and presented to every other user on the site. That's a big deal. Shouldn't that sort of power carry with it some semblance of responsibility?
Maybe we could cut the difference and have "light exemplary" labels that are anonymous, with less effect than the current label, and "heavy exemplary" labels that have the same or greater effect than the current label, but the user who applies the label is publicly named. That all feels like an over-complication though.
21 votes -
"Escaping" out of the tag autocompletion box after highlighting a tag will disable the autocomplete feature until the page is reloaded
This one is a bit weird to describe, but if I start typing a tag like fe and get an autocomplete option for feature, I can then press the Tab key to highlight that first suggestion (and again for...
This one is a bit weird to describe, but if I start typing a tag like
feand get an autocomplete option forfeature, I can then press theTabkey to highlight that first suggestion (and again for the next suggestion). After that autocomplete option is highlighted, if I pressEscapeand close the autocomplete box, the autocomplete functionality will not return until the page is reloaded.6 votes -
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
hungariantoast Link ParentI don't think it will be a direct sequel, and it will be in a first-person perspective, but Avowed takes place in the same universe, so we at least have that to look forward to.I don't think it will be a direct sequel, and it will be in a first-person perspective, but Avowed takes place in the same universe, so we at least have that to look forward to.
-
Comment on YouTube Vanced: A privacy-friendly YouTube app for Android with ads and telemetry stripped out in ~tech
hungariantoast (edited )Link ParentThanks for providing your perspective, because it's one not often seen in conversations about ads and content creation. However, I do have a few comments to make. I suspect you're vastly...- Exemplary
Thanks for providing your perspective, because it's one not often seen in conversations about ads and content creation. However, I do have a few comments to make.
I suspect you're vastly overestimating the amount of content you need to produce in order to justify having a Patreon account, and even if you really, really don't want to have a Patreon account, there are plenty of other services you could use for donations. You have a ton of options here and should try to diversify how your videos earn money rather than just relying on ads, which would benefit both you and your viewers.
Ads are not just annoying, they're also manipulative and time-wasting at a minimum, and destructive to society at worst. Online advertising has destroyed the concepts of digital freedom and privacy, given rise to surveillance capitalism, and provided the groundwork for the erosion of democracies all over the world.
I disagree with the idea that people can take from you money that you don't already have, in the same way that piracy is not theft, but I do understand that in the end you might not be receiving money that you would have otherwise received.
I don't want to have a discussion about piracy or lost revenue though. I just want to again encourage you to set up a Patreon account or some other donation link, because there are very real and valid reasons for blocking ads beyond just finding them annoying and I personally don't see how the Internet could ever meaningfully improve or reach its prophesized potential until we solve the dichotomy of providing online content for free without advertising, and simultaneously supporting the creators of such content.
-
Comment on What's a noteworthy game that you never see mentioned anywhere? in ~games
hungariantoast Link ParentMinor thing but NetHack is actually copyleft free software under the "NetHack General Public License" -
Comment on I lived through a stupid coup. America is having one now in ~misc
hungariantoast Link Parent"Suddenly" probably means since 2016, or maybe even 2015. I'd go even further and say that it has been getting steadily worse since then, and I don't really see an end in sight. Kind of like..."Suddenly" probably means since 2016, or maybe even 2015. I'd go even further and say that it has been getting steadily worse since then, and I don't really see an end in sight. Kind of like cfabbro said, there has always been an undercurrent of organized, domestic violence in the United States. I don't see any reason that won't be the case in another fifty years.
-
YouTube will now show ads on all videos even if creators donât want them
what in tarnation
2 votes -
Comment on I don't expect to have an ARM-based PC any time soon in ~tech
hungariantoast LinkOne of the comments on this post is fascinating: I'd love it if someone more knowledgeable could give their thoughts on that comment, specifically the "have tons of Apple proprietary parts and...One of the comments on this post is fascinating:
My big takeaway from the latest release of Apple laptops is that these new laptops aren't necessarily ARM laptops. They are locked down, don't run any operating system other than Big Sur, and have tons of Apple proprietary parts and functions that are not easily portable to any other ARM platform (for example, the security enclave within the M1, the various IO controllers, the neural engines, even the graphics chipset within).
When a person gets an Apple Silicon Mac, they are not getting an ARM computer. They are getting an Apple computer.
I'd love it if someone more knowledgeable could give their thoughts on that comment, specifically the "have tons of Apple proprietary parts and functions that are not easily portable to any other ARM platform" part.
Nena - 99 Luftballons, Language - German
Kind of surprised no one posted this yet, or maybe I'm just misunderstanding the game đ