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Pseudogenesis wrote:

Xanatos wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:Religious zealots are by far the worst.

Keep in mind, I'm in a shit redneck town in Kentucky...We get them at our DOOR. And people wonder why I stay inside!

It's so unusual to be born into a place whose very theme you hate. Logic would suggest that one's personality would develop around the location and its motifs, but that clearly isn't the case. I'm increasingly coming to realize that I hate California. I've lived here all my life but the culture is so fucking insipid and shallow. Maybe that's the way it is everywhere, and California is simply the standard. All I know is that they air "commercials" showcasing California as being the hub of celebrity. Pathetic.

Anybody know of a region in which people tend to think more (For lack of a not hideously condescending alternative) deeply? A place where I could freely discuss "Heavy" topics like philosophy, music, science and the like as part of everyday conversation would be my idea of heaven. Why hasn't society have evolved to the point where inane smalltalk is completely unnecessary? Why do people give a single damn how your job's going or what Jessica said about Susan the other day when you could talk about things like music, and art?

I know that region, it is called internet.
On the real world dunno.
Unfortunately mainstream culture is what it is, you can't escape it but you can find little safe islands in the worlds.
The only place where i am at home are the comic an vg conventions after all. I never buy anything, i just spend time with likeminded individuals and i feels at home at the conventions, and i ruin pictures frome behind :V

I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I've lived here all my life. I find the historical aspect of the place intriguing, and the countryside is beautiful.

However, I would never, ever, even on my worst enemy, wish someone to live in this God-awful state. It's a crowded cacophony of conflicting concerns with no cadence. Were it not for financial concerns, I would uproot from this backwards state at my earliest convenience.

Everyone I meet seems to think the people here all talk like a horrible actor's portrayal of a Boston accent - it's insulting, infuriating and I'm sick of being characterized in such a one-dimensional manner.

But, I digress. There's little I can hope to accomplish by complaining about something so far-reaching as the New England misconceptions.

Helbereth wrote:I was born and raised in Massachusetts. I've lived here all my life. I find the historical aspect of the place intriguing, and the countryside is beautiful.

However, I would never, ever, even on my worst enemy, wish someone to live in this God-awful state. It's a crowded cacophony of conflicting concerns with no cadence. Were it not for financial concerns, I would uproot from this backwards state at my earliest convenience.

Everyone I meet seems to think the people here all talk like a horrible actor's portrayal of a Boston accent - it's insulting, infuriating and I'm sick of being characterized in such a one-dimensional manner.

But, I digress. There's little I can hope to accomplish by complaining about something so far-reaching as the New England misconceptions.

Wow, I heard a lot of good words about New England, I didn't imagine it like this. I guess if you don't live in a place you can't really see this kind of problems.

Pseudogenesis wrote:Why hasn't society have evolved to the point where inane smalltalk is completely unnecessary? Why do people give a single damn how your job's going or what Jessica said about Susan the other day when you could talk about things like music, and art?

Smalltalk, I think, can be a nice starter for deeper subjects. That is, if you have the right company (which, from the comments, is hard to find anywhere in the world).

I believe most people just prefer to discuss shallow things because thinking is tiring, sometimes, and they don't enjoy the fun. Pretty much like running when you are lazy. Or they hate when they are wrong, it would show their weaknesses.

Just find at least a couple of friends that enjoy discussing those things, and get to know their friends, which hopefully will like it too. Libraries, cultural events, some underground pubs, school/college clubs, I found some interesting people in these places. Who knows, maybe you find a scarred girl on a beanbag reading 'Life of Pi'...

ShinigamiKenji wrote:

Xanatos wrote:Why hasn't society have evolved to the point where inane smalltalk is completely unnecessary? Why do people give a single damn how your job's going or what Jessica said about Susan the other day when you could talk about things like music, and art?

Smalltalk, I think, can be a nice starter for deeper subjects. That is, if you have the right company (which, from the comments, is hard to find anywhere in the world).

I believe most people just prefer to discuss shallow things because thinking is tiring, sometimes, and they don't enjoy the fun. Pretty much like running when you are lazy. Or they hate when they are wrong, it would show their weaknesses.

Just find at least a couple of friends that enjoy discussing those things, and get to know their friends, which hopefully will like it too. Libraries, cultural events, some underground pubs, school/college clubs, I found some interesting people in these places. Who knows, maybe you find a scarred girl on a beanbag reading 'Life of Pi'...

You quoted that wrong. I wasn't the one who said that.

Sure as hell not gonna find any such people here though. But upon thinking on it, it's not economically feasible to leave on my own (I'd like to thank Bush for piling debt on the country and raping the economy: I'm sure fucking around for years in a foreign region with no good results was worth it)...So I have to wait out another year in this cruddy place until the lease expires again in May, then the family (read: one guy, who despite being a worthy provider is far too ignorant and generally disconnected to call family) can be dragged along...

And hell, discussing shallow things is fine as long as the capacity for deeper things is there. Not wanting to think and simply being too thick to do so are different things. I don't like knowingly associating with dumb people.

Xanatos wrote: You quoted that wrong. I wasn't the one who said that.

Damn, deleted the wrong code. I'll fix that. Sorry!

And yea, I forgot that some people are simply dumb. Need (or not) to have some more social life... Well, at least they can be easily trolled.

EDIT: Fixed (I hope).

Helbereth wrote:However, I would never, ever, even on my worst enemy, wish someone to live in this God-awful state. It's a crowded cacophony of conflicting concerns with no cadence.

Oh the alliteration!

ShinigamiKenji wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:Why hasn't society have evolved to the point where inane smalltalk is completely unnecessary? Why do people give a single damn how your job's going or what Jessica said about Susan the other day when you could talk about things like music, and art?

Smalltalk, I think, can be a nice starter for deeper subjects. That is, if you have the right company (which, from the comments, is hard to find anywhere in the world).

I believe most people just prefer to discuss shallow things because thinking is tiring, sometimes, and they don't enjoy the fun. Pretty much like running when you are lazy.

Hearing that reminded me, fondly, that the last good "deep" conversation I had was with my best friend, whom I don't get the chance to see often anymore. Every time I see her I feel as if we've drifted to becoming strangers again, but last time we met we went to an art show and ended up talking about art and books until I had to leave. Our personalities are very different, but I guess even after all this time there's a reason we're friends.

What you said about thinking being tiring also rings very true. You can see it in every genre, from music to television to games, and even to books, sadly. I've always seen books as a dependable haven from that kind of thing, but it seems now with the rising popularity of things like Fifty Shades of Gray and Twilight that even that genre could be getting poisoned. Or maybe I'm just out of touch. Either way, I've found that things that challenge me to think are far more entertaining than those that don't. Games like Shadow of the Colossus as opposed to Uncharted. It's the reason I liked Rin's route most of all, and Hanako's route second. Rin's really made you pause to think about the implications of it all, and Hanako's (Although to a lesser extent) did as well.

What you said about running, oddly enough, is the reason I'm doing it. Every time I run I feel like I'm fighting against the hedonistic, "animal" side of my personality that seeks only immediate pleasures, damn the consequences. It tells tries to convince me over and over again to stop, and I press on in spite of it. I'm not a strong person when it comes to resisting temptation, so I treat running as less of a strengthening of muscle and more a strengthening of will.

Pseudogenesis wrote:What you said about thinking being tiring also rings very true. You can see it in every genre, from music to television to games, and even to books, sadly. I've always seen books as a dependable haven from that kind of thing, but it seems now with the rising popularity of things like Fifty Shades of Gray and Twilight that even that genre could be getting poisoned. Or maybe I'm just out of touch. Either way, I've found that things that challenge me to think are far more entertaining than those that don't. Games like Shadow of the Colossus as opposed to Uncharted. It's the reason I liked Rin's route most of all, and Hanako's route second. Rin's really made you pause to think about the implications of it all, and Hanako's (Although to a lesser extent) did as well.

Did you know Fifty Shades is literally a glorified Twilight fanfic? I didn't. And it made me hate it more. You're bound to have poisonous crap in all forms, sadly. For every Dracula a Twilight and for every Taxi Driver a Titanic. Though I find equal enjoyment in SotC and Uncharted. Depends on my mood. If I want to fuck around and play an action movie, I'll go to something like Uncharted or Just Cause. If I want something with atmosphere. climbing a colossus is great. And if I just want to inject my eyeballs full of drugs and rainbows, I can opt for the safer option and play Dyad.

Xanatos wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:What you said about thinking being tiring also rings very true. You can see it in every genre, from music to television to games, and even to books, sadly. I've always seen books as a dependable haven from that kind of thing, but it seems now with the rising popularity of things like Fifty Shades of Gray and Twilight that even that genre could be getting poisoned. Or maybe I'm just out of touch. Either way, I've found that things that challenge me to think are far more entertaining than those that don't. Games like Shadow of the Colossus as opposed to Uncharted. It's the reason I liked Rin's route most of all, and Hanako's route second. Rin's really made you pause to think about the implications of it all, and Hanako's (Although to a lesser extent) did as well.

Though I find equal enjoyment in SotC and Uncharted. Depends on my mood. If I want to fuck around and play an action movie, I'll go to something like Uncharted or Just Cause. If I want something with atmosphere, climbing a colossus is great.

Probably more a matter of opinion that concrete fact, of course. It's just that I had a discussion with a friend (More like an argument, but we both love arguing so there's really no bad blood) about this a few days ago. Uncharted is probably his favourite series of all time, and I love Shadow of the Colossus. I played the entire Uncharted series and found it to be dull and predictable, but not a bad game by any means. Just not my personal taste. He tried to play SotC and quit after the first Colossus, calling it horrible. He says it's "Boring", the characters have no traits, and the controls are terrible. I tried to explain that you need to look between the lines and actually think to appreciate it, but he just brushes me off. I've noticed this trend in nearly every form of media he likes. One of his favourite "musicians" is Katy Pery, he thinks books are a complete waste of time, and he derides anything not clear at the first glance or widely popular as "Hipster." I try to tell him that things typically regarded as "fun," ie God of War, pop music and other things like that aren't fun at all to me, and he doesn't pay any attention. There was a time when art was created for the sake of art, because the artist needed to come to terms with something, or to express an emotion in a way that nothing else could. Now, so much of it is mindless "fun" created purely to sell, and people eat it up.


The fact that Katawa Shoujo is completely free just makes me think that much more highly of it.

Pseudogenesis wrote:There was a time when art was created for the sake of art, because the artist needed to come to terms with something, or to express an emotion in a way that nothing else could. Now, so much of it is mindless "fun" created purely to sell, and people eat it up.

That's truer of things like Katy Perry than you might realize. Things like that are specifically tailored to exploit the brain's natural positive reaction to repetition and predictability: The brain is designed to enjoy things it can predict. The whole of pop music is literally brainwashing people to like it. Tell that to a Katy Perry fan and they're likely to cry or something though. It sounds like your friend is somebody I'd enjoy kicking in the shins either way.

Art for fun's sake isn't really a problem to me. But if it's literally just for sales, it's a waste. To drudge up an old example from the gaming industry (though whether or not they can even be art is debated), Call of Duty: Most of its elements have gone painfully stale (helped along by other titles like it saturating the market), its only remaining fun factor is in some redundant zombie mode (also yelling at 10-year-olds online, if you're into the multiplayer). It doesn't change or innovate anywhere near enough to justify its annual releases. But they still happen because it sells. Something like God of War, while not on the artistic level of Colossus, at least has a continuing story to tell with its releases. Others (Mario and Sonic also come to mind) continue on literally just for sales. Art can be for expression, fun, self-realization, atmosphere or moral reflection (as in Shadow of the Colossus) etcetera, but it shouldn't be just for money.

Though on the subject of SotC being more mentally-engaging than something like Uncharted or GoW, that's rather subjective. Anything can be simple mindless fun if the player views it as such. I've seen people play SotC and appreciate it as little more than "Hey, I get to kill big things!" and seen others appreciate GoW's story more than the hack-n-slash gameplay. It's less an issue with the art and more an issue with those who consume the art: The majority of people don't want to think, ever, so the art reflects this major mindset as art is wont to do. Those who still think may still find something to appreciate in such things but most will just be placated by the most basic pandering drivel. Mindless art didn't ruin the people. Mindless people ruined the art. The modern age of convenience and instant gratification has taken a deep toll on humanity. Sometimes, I swear the only hope for this species is annihilation and rebirth. Maybe if the majority were all terminated in some disaster, those left to repopulate could learn a little something and do better. I'd love to see a real-life apocalypse of some kind. Whether it's zombies, some plague, or even a simple famine, it'd probably do the species overall a favor to tear all the modern bullshit away and leave us fending for ourselves.

When the most beneficial event you can think of for your species is the destruction of the species, something is very wrong with the species.

Xanatos wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:There was a time when art was created for the sake of art, because the artist needed to come to terms with something, or to express an emotion in a way that nothing else could. Now, so much of it is mindless "fun" created purely to sell, and people eat it up.

Art for fun's sake isn't really a problem to me. But if it's literally just for sales, it's a waste. To drudge up an old example from the gaming industry (though whether or not they can even be art is debated), Call of Duty: Most of its elements have gone painfully stale (helped along by other titles like it saturating the market), its only remaining fun factor is in some redundant zombie mode (also yelling at 10-year-olds online, if you're into the multiplayer). It doesn't change or innovate anywhere near enough to justify its annual releases. But they still happen because it sells. Something like God of War, while not on the artistic level of Colossus, at least has a continuing story to tell with its releases. Others (Mario and Sonic also come to mind) continue on literally just for sales. Art can be for expression, fun, self-realization, atmosphere or moral reflection (as in Shadow of the Colossus) etcetera, but it shouldn't be just for money.

Though on the subject of SotC being more mentally-engaging than something like Uncharted or GoW, that's rather subjective. Anything can be simple mindless fun if the player views it as such. I've seen people play SotC and appreciate it as little more than "Hey, I get to kill big things!" and seen others appreciate GoW's story more than the hack-n-slash gameplay.

Agreed on Call of Duty. And like I said, I don't necessarily think Uncharted or God of War are bad games, just not my personal taste. I've heard that GoW's story is fantastic, and I'd love to experience it, but I know that the story's scarcity compared to the prevalence of the hacknslash gameplay would kill it for me right now. Ever since playing KS, I can't stand games if their major focus is gameplay. Story has just become far too important for me. Even starting to replay Kingdom Hearts was a chore for me, and I adore KH1 and 2. But the fact that ever 1 minute of story was offset by 20 minutes of pointless gameplay left me with a foul aftertaste. On the other side of the coin, some people hated Metal Gear Solid 4 because its cutscenes could be up to 45 minutes long. I loved it. To me it was the most perfect balance of gameplay and story I'd ever encountered (With exception to Bioshock, which presents the story at the same time as the gameplay), and it was immensely rewarding to sit back on my bed with a contented smile on my face after dispatching a particularly tough boss and watch as the plot unfolded.

Pseudogenesis wrote:I can't stand games if their major focus is gameplay.

That's sort of like not liking a restaurant because its main focus is food. The whole point of a game is to be played! Sounds like VNs are right up your alley though.

And for the topic, KS motivated me to edit my recycle bin icon. Now when it's full, Rin peeks out. I have stopped emptying my recycle bin.

Xanatos wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:I can't stand games if their major focus is gameplay.

That's sort of like not liking a restaurant because its main focus is food. The whole point of a game is to be played! Sounds like VNs are right up your alley though.

And for the topic, KS motivated me to edit my recycle bin icon. Now when it's full, Rin peeks out. I have stopped emptying my recycle bin.

You should make it so Rin stands there when it's not full, and to get her back you have to keep it empty.

Makes more sense that way.

edit: even better, have Jigoro show up when it's full; barking stuff like, "Disgraceful. What kind of man are you that the files you don't even want are cluttering your piece of junk computer!? Get your act together, needle dick, or you'll never amount to anything!"

Or just have Nomiya pop up and stare at you creepily.

Helbereth wrote:

Xanatos wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:I can't stand games if their major focus is gameplay.

That's sort of like not liking a restaurant because its main focus is food. The whole point of a game is to be played! Sounds like VNs are right up your alley though.

And for the topic, KS motivated me to edit my recycle bin icon. Now when it's full, Rin peeks out. I have stopped emptying my recycle bin.

edit: even better, have Jigoro show up when it's full; barking stuff like, "Disgraceful. What kind of man are you that the files you don't even want are cluttering your piece of junk computer!? Get your act together, needle dick, or you'll never amount to anything!"

I would pay so much monies for this to happen.

Helbereth wrote:

Xanatos wrote:

Pseudogenesis wrote:I can't stand games if their major focus is gameplay.

That's sort of like not liking a restaurant because its main focus is food. The whole point of a game is to be played! Sounds like VNs are right up your alley though.

And for the topic, KS motivated me to edit my recycle bin icon. Now when it's full, Rin peeks out. I have stopped emptying my recycle bin.

You should make it so Rin stands there when it's not full, and to get her back you have to keep it empty.

Makes more sense that way.

edit: even better, have Jigoro show up when it's full; barking stuff like, "Disgraceful. What kind of man are you that the files you don't even want are cluttering your piece of junk computer!? Get your act together, needle dick, or you'll never amount to anything!"

Or just have Nomiya pop up and stare at you creepily.

I'd do that bit with Jigoro but I don't know how such a thing is done.

Also, my porn folder icon is a tiny rendition of Kenji's "Nobody Allowed" fort.