I play a game like Vampire Survivors, and I think… where is the “play”? where is the joy, the creativity, hell, the “series of interesting decisions”? The time between level ups is just the time the reels spend spinning. After the first few, every level up is as automatic as pushing “spin again.”

You know, finally enough I had the exact same feeling as this author when I played Vampire Survivors. I knew I wasn't losing money but after a while it still felt slimy. The game relies on a LOT of stereotypical Dark Patterns, specifically those in the gambling space, to work.

I think the formula is not entirely unsalvageable -- imo, Terratech Legion iterates on it quite well and much more interestingly. But the raw, simple nature of Vampire Survivors just left a bad taste in my mouth.

Although reality shouldn’t be up for debate, the question is what happened in 2020. Even though we all lived through it, our current medical establishment doesn’t want you to remember most of it.

So, you may notice things look a bit different around here.

Bruno moved his blog to a proper selfhosted option instead of Bear, which is something I am also considering, so this was a great read of what I should expect.

It's a nice idea that "This Land Is Your Land" should be our national anthem, a wonderful song full of generous and idealistic sentiment that's actually easy to sing. [...] But the truer one, the one that speaks to our collective inability to stop repeating the sins of our forebears and the ultimate inadequacy of even the brightest and boldest among us when it comes to making our long violent history actually past, is "John Henry."

It’s one thing to hate software, but that hate takes on new dimensions when you have to use it for your job. To choose software and have it fail is unfortunate; to be chained to it for sustenance and be unable to walk away is torture. Because of this, I have nothing but hatred for Adobe. They are one of tech’s greatest villains, the software has gotten worse to use, and if you don’t like it fuck you there’s the door.

Anti-transparency is a fundamental pillar of right-wing politics. The right of powerful people to do as they please is only useful if it’s free of consequences, and the only way to assure that is if no one knows what they’re doing.

A well laid out, interactive map of the current Trump administration's connections with crypto. Really cool artifact.

Some honesty, please. Of course it feels good to own a car; sometimes it is even necessary to own a car, because enough people have decided that it feels good to own and drive a car.

Excellent article about Los Angeles and transit and cars and American culture. I do honestly believe that the car is an evil machine, and this country's reliance on the car is a sign of our general backwardness and social myopia. It is a wretched deal that was struck before my time but I still must deal with. Ain't that being a millennial.

I abhor the fatalistic pessimism that regards American public transit as unfixable, and I extend that to Los Angeles. But while increasing ridership through coverage and frequency is in the hands of LA Metro and funding, the broader experience of getting around is a bit more complicated. A lot of my complaints fundamentally boil down to a desire for there to be fewer cars.

When I think of the undercurrent of gravity moving this buoyant, lively poem, somehow I imagine one of those plums of the first line bobbing in a river.

What combat motivation studies have tended to show is that morale will get a soldier to the battlefield, but will not keep him on it; it is cohesion instead, the ability of a unit to stay together under pressure that is essential for enduring the terror of combat.

It's funny and entertaining, sometimes, to play something terrible and weird or not-quite-fun. And there are people in my personal life whom I can talk to about that kind of thing, in face-to-face conversation. That's better than posting about it.

Sinon’s story, to me, feels like a warning. Abandoning the trans community has a price. We aren’t a shame that can be buried forever. The pendulum will swing, and we have long memories.

Love this reading, even if I'm not sure I agree that it was an intentional move by Nolan. I think the beauty of any creative work is that some meanings come only through the act of creation.

Making art, making culture, has always involved some sort of dark deal with the infernal machinery of capital, but the rise of big tech and venture capital in the early 2010s changed the terms of the deal.

Do I feel robbed by being a millennial? Yes, in some ways. I don't believe in generational allegiance per se, but it is hard to say that I don't feel mad -- frustrated, underserved, et cetera -- by the 2010s and what happened to the 2010s. So much excitement, fervor, energy that was completely cratered by fascism, capitalism, imperialism. Was it "better" in the 2000s? No, I reject that framing. But there are new monsters now.

GDID is the persistent Windows ID that helped FBI trace a Scattered Spider hacker despite VPNs. Here's how it works and how to limit it.

Another great reason to use Linux.

A textbook-like anthology of classic essays and articles about video game narrative design.

Amazing resource for games narrative and storytelling techniques.

Announcing a curated, thematic link page of important essays and articles about video game narrative.

Amazing resource from Bruno. Will link in upcoming post.

The reality is thus: the people in charge either have no plan, or see no path forwards other than keeping their heads down. [...] The world’s organisations have been captured by people in the throes of frothing excitement, and saner people who now live in a state of constant commingled fear and frustration.

Not much to say here other than "yeah, I have felt the same for quite a while now."

Executives that tell the press that their company has gone insane will quickly find themselves removed from their positions. Employees who are honest will find themselves fired in short-order, or “randomly” selected for a round of layoffs. In fact, it is in the interests of almost every actor in the space – boards, executives, employees, vendors, consultants – to obfuscate and misrepresent the success rate of AI projects. Many publicly traded companies are putting out announcements about their AI productivity gains when I know for a fact that the businesses have done nothing other than purchase Copilot licenses and declare victory.

A long read but extremely worth your time.

It has become outright dangerous to even raise the possibility that AI might not be the solution to a problem, let alone be the sole focus of a company’s entire strategy.

In every sufficiently large business we have observed (say, with 500+ employees), we have noted that continued advancement, and increasingly continued employment, has started to require repeated professions of belief in the transformative power of AI for said business. I am not talking about providing ideas about how to use AI in the business – I mean religious profession, declarations of faith.

The final section of the essay -- "Navigating AI Mania" is, imo, crucial reading in this era of, well, AI mania. Funnily enough, I'd call a lot of this pretty bog-standard labor organization tips, but tailored for the AI regime. It's good reading -- if you don't want to read this whole thing, at least read that final bit.

For the worldbuilder then, thinking about fictional armies (or the student of history thinking about real ones), be sure to think about the entire military-leadership life-cycle.

When I say that First Light is built for genre, I mean that every moment of the game feels like it is perfectly contoured over the model of the James Bond concept, folded and starched over the bodily form in ways that hundreds of professionals managed to accomplish over the course of several years. When I see the developing city emerge from the desert and the labyrinth of corporate managerial space capped with natural stone, I am prepared for genre to erupt at any moment.

Spectacular piece on First Light, James Bond, genre, and the current moment of IP acquisition and exploitation by Cameron.

Neverclick uses on-device computer vision to label everything clickable with keyboard hints, so you can navigate any app without touching a mouse.

intriguing. and I appreciate the dev being honest about the AI usage (sounds like extremely minimal). The program itself does not use any LLMs as far as I can tell, no phone-homes. as a big fan of "hands stay on keyboard" I like this idea.