(no subject)

Now that I think about it, anticapitalist fiction is the only kind of story that draws a battle line between good and evil and isn’t kinda offensive about it. People call you out for making your bad guys a different race from your good guys, or making your bad guys fat, or making your bad guys gender non-conforming. But no one’s gonna defend the honor of middle-aged generically handsome white men who have identical haircuts and talk about “synergy.”

Final Fantasy XIV

I thought about a name for my Warrior of Light that would feel like a character within the world. Then I started playing, and most people had names like “Ishide Mypants.”

(no subject)

Dear fic writer, I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but Madoka Magica is the funniest setting to make trans inclusive. Kyubey looked at young trans girls and thought “yeah, I can drive them to misery just as easily as cis girls.”

An example of why I don’t really roleplay in video games

There’s a quest in Dungeon Siege 3 where you have to decide a case of owner’s rights vs. squatter’s rights, based on two contradictory laws that were passed at different times for different reasons. I thought it through and decided the goal should be to keep both laws in effect. If I ruled in favor of the owner, it would essentially invalidate any future squatter’s case, but if I ruled in favor of the squatter, the law the owner cited would still apply in some situations, just not this one.

Then I remembered it’s a video game, and the options are “the owner gets the land,” “the squatter gets the land,” or “make them co-own it.” There’s no “philosophize about precedents” option, because the character isn’t me, and philosophizing isn’t something they’re programmed to do. Making my own choices and playing a nuanced character is for tabletop games.