Messages

Democracy isn't about freedom anyway, it's about control just like every other form of government.

Yes, we have governments because without control we are horrible. I don't understand why you present control as a negative.

Ah, because without cops, you would be running around killing, robbing and raping people? But with the government in charge, you don't?

Not agreeing with Pertpetuall though. A (democratic) state is not about controlling people, it's about operating a capitalist nation-state.

We already tried having a society without cops in Sweden. It was called the Viking age.

Be careful you don't cut yourself on all that edge.

Seriously, no one is claiming democracy is a flawless system, but it's been better than every other system implemented so far. Also, most actual democracies don't have the idiotic two-party system and electoral college the US has. It's like saying we should abolish healthcare altogether because USA has a terrible version of it.

Also, panarchy and small communes and micronations? Those are even more vulnerable into devolving into cults, being toppled by other nations and/or have their systems toppled by a few strong and ruthless leaders. If anything, it just reminds me of the "Soverign citizen" movement in the US, and all the tinfoil hats it attracts. Also, in the case of Panarchy, as defined by wikipedia;

In an 1860 article, de Puydt first proposed the idea of panarchy: a political philosophy that emphasizes each individual's right to freely choose (join and leave) the jurisdiction of any governments they choose, without being forced to move from their current locale. A proponent of laissez-faire economics, he wrote that "governmental competition" would let "as many regularly competing governments as have ever been conceived and will ever be invented" exist simultaneously and detailed how such a system would be implemented. As David M. Hart writes: "Governments would become political churches, only having jurisdiction over their congregations who had elected to become members."

Yeah, what's to stop somebody from abusing it by committing a crime and just go "nuh-uh, I don't want these laws to apply to me"?

 It reminds me of those libertarian dudes that wanted to start a crypto-island and, in a mask-off moment, one of the guys responsible let slip that there wouldn't need to be any age of consent on the island.

Spoiler

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Any group of individuals can come together and agree to live by a specific set of rules, even children can do that.

You clearly haven't read Lord of the Flies. Heck, I've worked in daycare and I can tell from experience that it would devolve into the oldest and strongest deciding everything if we adults weren't around to ensure everyone had to respect each other and no one was allowed to beat one another.

Thank you,

Nice to see you back.

I finished Vampire Vigilante.

Good-looking game - so much so that I had to update my graphic card drivers to play it.

The gameplay and story are basic but that's a good start.
I died once because I kept misplacing the camera inside the heroine.

I'm glad to hear it!

When I heard the news, the first thing that went through my head was how Americans really will vote for anyone except a woman.

I thought the same, there are still Americans, now, in the year 2024, willing to say on TV that a woman would be "too emotional" to be president.

They really are open with their misogyny there.

I don't know if this is the end of American democracy but it will be the end of many people's lives.

What democracy?
American's literally only have two choices. That is not a democracy. That is a thinly veiled dictatorship.
At least here in Britain, there's a chance that a party other than Labour or the Conservatives can get in power (it's unlikely, but it's possible). And even if your chosen party doesn't win, if they get enough votes, then they get a voice.
But America? Don't confuse that for a democracy.

American democracy was modern and progressive in the 1770s.

The problem is that American democracy was modern and progressive... ...in the 1770s.

https://blondbraid.itch.io/vampire-vigilante

I have been trying to learn Unreal Engine as of late, and so I created a short little game project starring a vampire now
before Halloween, and of course I'd want to share it with the great community that first got me started in making games!

I'm in a similar seat, is there anything I can do instead? I want to be able to have an avatar.

Try uploading your avatar to a site that isn't imgur if you haven't already, that's what fixed it for me — I used imgbb.com instead and it worked fine.

Thanks! it seems to work!

It's a video on writing rather than art, but the reasoning still applies.

3D printer

Interesting. Did you just put it there because there was space for it or is there a reason for having it next to your bed?

It's a space issue, it's certainly not because I like having to choose between shutting down prints in the evening or go to sleep with grinding machine noises next to my head! 

It grinds my gears that despite this being the year 2024, we STILL have mainstream media featuring scenes like this trailer/short video, where a female character threatens a terrified prisoner in a sexual manner (with some groping to boot), and instead of treating it as disgusting criminal behavior, virtually the entire comment section fawns over how hot it is because the "hero" doing the interrogation is an attractive waifu, and not an ugly man or old hag.
(for context, the woman is supposed to be a playable character in a game by Hoyolab, the same big company that made Genshin Impact, and this is an official trailer and not weird fan art)

Seriously, have all the decades of activism on this matter of double standard been for naught?

I'm in a similar seat, is there anything I can do instead? I want to be able to have an avatar.

Don't have too much on my bedside table nowadays, just a lamp and a 3D printer.

Why, why are strawberries sold in open containers? And sometimes they're even piled higher than the walls of the container. They -inevitable- fall out of it when carrying them in a bag, wiggle their way down to the other groceries and get crushed. I mean, less packaging material is good, but stuff still needs to be packaged in a way that I can use it once I get it home, right?
(Such a minor grievance, I know...  )

I've seen it both ways in Sweden, some are sold in closed plastic containers, and some in open plastic containers, and yeah, it's stupid, but if there's any food/drink packaging I hate more it will always be the fact that you still see a bunch of beer sold in glass bottles, inevitably leading to drunks shattering them on streets and footpaths.

Seriously, if it isn't some super expensive artisanal craft beer, they should just make recyclable plastic alcohol bottles mandatory, with the added bonus that the deposit-refund system will incentivise the local homeless to clean them up the same way as any other plastic bottles.

So I missed the MAGS, and I also missed the vote... 

Still, congratulations to the winner!

If I'm to give my two cents on this whole AI debate, my main impression is that the more things change, the more things stay the same.

I don't think AI has stolen any real jobs as much as it's replaced outsourcing those tasks to dubious sweatshops, and instead of directly stealing art, thieves now use an AI trained on stolen art. Because let's not kid ourselves, it's not like online artists were respected before the AI boom. 

I feel a big reason you see so many jerks pretending to be artists because they threw prompts at an AI is because for a long time, that's how many non-artistic people have seen the artistic process; artists just come up with an idea and then the art just magically appear after waving your brush for a bit. They don't see any of the tiring and repetitive work, and therefore don't respect it, and don't think artists deserve compensation for it, the same way you don't think a puppy needs to be compensated for you allowing yourself to play fetch with it.

I've had so many people in high school who'd see me drawing at recess, and go "Can you draw me?" without a second thought as to whether I'd actually want to spend my time drawing them instead of what I wanted, and getting nothing in return.

So to me, AI "artists" just feels like a continuation of this mentality.

I might as well dig up an old MAGS I started years ago, hopefully I'll finally get it finished this time!

I've voted.

Trippy

Spoiler

It could use more polish, the humor wasn't quite my cup of tea, and some of the music was rather grating to me. It did have fun ideas and fit the theme though.

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Apfelmännchen

Spoiler

I never liked math, but this entry made all the references in a fun clever way, and I even learned a few new things.

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My vote:

Spoiler

Apfelmännchen, as it was overall a more polished and cohesive entry

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[A doll in a dream]

Well, I'll be going away over the weekend, and my laptop isn't coming with me, so I might as well share my submission now, and hopefully release a more polished version with proper menus and credits later on.

A doll in a dream

You play as a doll sent into a young girls dream to resolve her nightmares. This project ended up being a lot more personal and esoteric than I initially planned, but I hope you'll enjoy it all the same.

Download link:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/dnk9is3jdb5arix/A_doll_in_a_dream.zip/file

[January 31st]

Deadline: January 31st (but we'll discuss extensions nearer the time)

It's nearer the time now 

My game is playable from start to finish but I could use a few extra days for testing and polishing...

Is three days enough? Let's say the new deadline is end of the day on Feb 3rd.

I'm in the same boat, and glad for an extension.

Sorry, can't help it. GC/TERF losers speedrunning the patriarchy is my favorite tweet genre

I fail to see the fun in it, that stuff is only frustrating.

Seriously, what's funny about it? No clever comments, no clever headlines, just a bunch of incendiary twitter headlines with no context.

To me, this isn't funny, it's just a sad reminder of how modern social media throws gasoline on every single discussion, and an extra dollop of ligther fluid if LGBT+ and/or women's rights are involved.

Here's a funny animal size comparision for a palate cleanser:

Wow, Blondbraid, that one gives so many good vibes! Alice (not in Wonderland), Pippi Longstockings, Samorost, Falling Skywards, Narnia (the lamp), just to mention a few. 

Thank you, how fun that you spotted all the references I hadn't even thought of when I made the picture!