Random Rants LXIX: Life is a Dismal Chore

[aimeeandbeatles]

I woke up this morning to find out my cat was sick all over the floor. At least I didn't step in it?

 

[warpus]

If the backpack doesn't have a metal frame it would probably go inside one of the big washers laundromats have for things like blankets.

Yep, it has a metal frame. It's the same backup I've used for my New Zealand, Thailand, Norway, Japan, and Peru trips. Oh yah and California.

It will be sitting out the Nepal trip. Bad backpack

In the end I don't mind that all I'm gonna bring is my medium-sized backpack. I am planning this trip for 3 of us, so my friend felt indebted and is looking after the duffel bag. I will stuff my extra stuff in there. So it works out better for me in the end.. sometimes it's tough finding positives in a sea of negatives, but there it is! Plus it will help the porter, as I believe they prefer carrying duffel bags

Yeah do something with that backpack, either clean it (get long gloves!) or replace it. The allergy can get seriously worse with further contact. I had an outdoorsy professor who developed an allergy and when were launching balloons into the stratosphere and fishing them out of the woods when they landed he had to hang back. He had been exposed a few times and was to the point where he would have to go to the emergency room to avoid death (literally). He loved being in the woods but couldn't risk an accidental exposure - it kind of ruined his outdoorsy lifestyle. So please be extra careful.

Yeah, I could barely sleep last night. I was itching .. everywhere. I started wondering whether any of the poison ivy chemical made its way into my bed. I am not itchy now at all, and I was fine at work, so I don't think it did.

I am going to stay away from that backpack until after my trip.. plus anything near it. Not taking any risks!

 

[Samson]

With a lot of strains of flu, it's the very young and elderly who are most at risk, as well as people with compromised systems (ie. people with asthma or COPD). The Spanish flu attacked young adults

I have heard that this years strain is another that is hitting young adults, so even more reason to get the shot this year.

 

[Commodore]

Wow. Just wow.

I have just read probably the most ridiculous thing about video games I've read in a long time. I'm seeing a bunch of posts on social media calling the game Cuphead both racist and ablelist. Here is the ridiculous reasoning for each one:

Racist: Apparently Cuphead is a racist game because it's animation style is similar to that of cartoons from the 1930s and since those cartoons were racist, that makes Cuphead racist too.

Ableist: Because Cuphead is a challenging game. Seriously. That is the only reason being given for how this game is ableist.

 

[Akka]

You're ableist. You're writing on a forum, that's oppressive against people with reading or visual disabilities. Boo !

 

[The_J]

Wow. Just wow.

I have just read probably the most ridiculous thing about video games I've read in a long time.

Chill.
Life gets a lot easier when you accept that most people's opinions are unimportant.
What 10 nutballs, who are randomly distributed over the planet, who have no power or importance whatsoever, what they think, that is totally unimportant.
And next time don't read it, makes life also easier .

 

[Traitorfish]

You browse a few books on Jewish history, and Amazon assumes that you want to become either a convert or an anti-Semite. I'd have hoped that there was some space between the two.

 

[Commodore]

Chill.
Life gets a lot easier when you accept that most people's opinions are unimportant.
What 10 nutballs, who are randomly distributed over the planet, who have no power or importance whatsoever, what they think, that is totally unimportant.
And next time don't read it, makes life also easier .

My annoyance doesn't come from this specifically, but more from the fact that I'm just tired of someone being offended about literally everything, even something as innocent as a sidescrolling platformer that doesn't make any kind of social or political statement at all.

It's also not just some random unimportant opinion. If such opinions were prominent enough for me to see them, then the developers of Cuphead may have seen it as well. And if they don't see anything countering such ridiculous arguments, they may think that such opinions are the majority opinion and affect future games they may develop. And that is why we, as a society, can't have fun things anymore. Because those who make fun things are so afraid now of offending someone that they dare not do anything that could even be remotely construed as controversial.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Wow. Just wow.
I have just read probably the most ridiculous thing about video games I've read in a long time. I'm seeing a bunch of posts on social media calling the game Cuphead both racist and ablelist. Here is the ridiculous reasoning for each one:
Racist: Apparently Cuphead is a racist game because it's animation style is similar to that of cartoons from the 1930s and since those cartoons were racist, that makes Cuphead racist too.
Ableist: Because Cuphead is a challenging game. Seriously. That is the only reason being given for how this game is ableist.

People complained about Resident Evil 5 as racist for a white person hitting and killing black zombies. Even though you can play as an Africa black women for half the game.
They whined and complained so much, making such a stink that capcon make white zombies and I mean really WHITE zombies like Albinos in order to appease the racist attacks.
So dumb given that Resident evil 4 all the zombies were Spanish because it was set in Spain, no one complained.

Then people whined about how sexist Metal gear was with Quiet, Even though you had male butts and male nudity right there in your face, along with some hyper realistic violence. It became a massive scandal. Have journalist not been expose to the oversexualisation of women in video games ? so dumb

 

[choxorn]

Then people whined about how sexist Metal gear was with Quiet, Even though you had male butts and male nudity right there in your face, along with some hyper realistic violence. It became a massive scandal. Have journalist not been expose to the oversexualisation of women in video games ? so dumb

Where were the male butts in the game? I've admittedly barely played any of it, but the only male butt I remember seeing was that hospital patient in the beginning with the gown that didn't close all the way, and that didn't really seem all that sexualized to me, more like "Yep, here's a butt"

With Quiet, she dresses in a ridiculous outfit that nobody would ever actually wear for any reason that only serves to highlight certain parts of her and has a really flimsy justification for why she dresses like that. Oversexualiztion is really the only reason for her outfit, and it's perfectly reasonable to complain about that.

 

[Ryika]

Where were the male butts in the game? I've admittedly barely played any of it, but the only male butt I remember seeing was that hospital patient in the beginning with the gown that didn't close all the way, and that didn't really seem all that sexualized to me, more like "Yep, here's a butt"

With Quiet, she dresses in a ridiculous outfit that nobody would ever actually wear for any reason that only serves to highlight certain parts of her and has a really flimsy justification for why she dresses like that. Oversexualiztion is really the only reason for her outfit, and it's perfectly reasonable to complain about that.

Do you also complain when real women share images of themselves in underwear on social media?

Ableist: Because Cuphead is a challenging game. Seriously. That is the only reason being given for how this game is ableist.

Can you link the article that claims that Cuphead - the game itself - is ableist? I've read a few that argue that the "If it's too hard for you, get better, noob!"-attitude is ableist, but the game itself?

About the "Git Gud"-thing being abelist:
I can sort of understand why people would feel that way. Being told to "Git Gud" when an actual disability is the reason you can't win a game, must certainly be annoying.

That does however not mean that games should stop "fetishizing skill" - because first of all, the people who do are a subgroup of gaming, and everybody can choose freely what communities they want to be part of and what communities they don't want to be part of. And secondly, a whole community must change what they value just for some people to be happy about themselves? What? Imagine saying to a basketball player that they must stop fetishizing skill so people in wheelchairs don't feel bad about not being able to jump very high.

And it does also not mean that the game "must" or "should" have an easy mode for you ("imaginary person"-you) to breeze through anyway as some people are arguing. After all, in many cases the difficulty IS what is fun about the game. Cuphead without difficult battles would be a 30-minute-to-complete shell of a game if it weren't for the relatively high difficulty that stops you from progressing when you first pick up that thing. The difficulty is clearly necessary for the intended experience, video games are not movies where the narrative stands on its own. So in my opinion the cries for every game to be accessible for everybody are seriously misguided.

Overall, all it means is that some games may just not be for you, because you don't meet the physical requirements. That may be sad for you, but there are tons and tons of other games out there that you can play successfully. Know your limits.

 

[Cutlass]

I like how I can have the TV running for about 40 minutes in the morning while having breakfast and getting dressed, and still miss the weather forecast, which is the only reason I turn it on in the first place.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

You browse a few books on Jewish history, and Amazon assumes that you want to become either a convert or an anti-Semite. I'd have hoped that there was some space between the two.

Hahaha I once bought my friend a confederate flag as a joke and man was my suggestions queue messed up for a while.

 

[The_J]

I probably shouldn't show my suggestions .

It's also not just some random unimportant opinion. If such opinions were prominent enough for me to see them, then the developers of Cuphead may have seen it as well.

You're sure?
It takes some time/some people to flood random things to the top so that they can be seen.

(but then again: My threshold there is extremely high, since I'm not into that stuff anymore, and am atm in general very uninformed)

 

[Ryika]

Those arguments are most certainly visible for them, as even their own steam forums had some large threads about difficulty being a barrier to entry. The reaction there was of course that people were told to git gud, and that the difficulty is one of the positive sides of the game. Interesting enough, Polygon out of all places describes how the game actually allows you to "git gud" by paying attention, not by doing acrobatics with your fingers, in their review of he game:

Cuphead - at its best best, educates the player on how to overcome each obstacle. Every boss fight has an ideal strategy discovered through trial and error. To avoid stress, it’s helpful to think of failure as a greater tool than any weapon. When a Medusa-like boss froze me in midair, I eventually found the spot to hide from her icy stare. After a ghastly horseman uppercutted me into oblivion, I knew to keep an eye on the bottom of the screen so I could spot him preparing a strike. With each round against a boss, I found myself progressing further, not because I was becoming some prodigious video game guru, but because I merely spotted and memorized each stone on the walkway to victory.

All of this is possible because of one crucial component: consistency.

Finding the parry-able objects can become a game of recon, sending Cuphead into a fight not to win, but to spot the path to victory for a rematch. Tucked into the game are three mausoleum stages in which Cuphead can only extinguish ghosts with parries, sending the little goober bouncing across the screen, bopping one ghost after the other. It’s a lovely palate-cleanser, and I hope to see more of these missions in future expansions.

The game isn’t designed for true gamersto race through with nothing but raw skill and unearned confidence. If anything, the boss fights punish pride, filling stages with minions, projectiles and traps.

Overall, the game has a 89% metascore, and most reviews point into the same direction as that polygon review, say that the difficulty of the game is hard, but fair. So I really don't think it's worth stressing over the few articles written by people who cannot live with the fact that a game forces them to actually practice a bit. Even if the devs see them, then they MUST also see the many articles that tell them that they're doing things right. It would be very strange for them to change course because of those few articles that are critical of them.

 

[Sommerswerd]

Wow. Just wow.

I have just read probably the most ridiculous thing about video games I've read in a long time. I'm seeing a bunch of posts on social media calling the game Cuphead both racist and ablelist. Here is the ridiculous reasoning for each one:

Racist: Apparently Cuphead is a racist game because it's animation style is similar to that of cartoons from the 1930s and since those cartoons were racist, that makes Cuphead racist too.

Ableist: Because Cuphead is a challenging game. Seriously. That is the only reason being given for how this game is ableist.

Is ableist a reference to not being disabled?

Those arguments are most certainly visible for them, as even their own steam forums had some large threads about difficulty being a barrier to entry. The reaction there was of course that people were told to git gud, and that the difficulty is one of the positive sides of the game. Interesting enough, Polygon out of all places describes how the game actually allows you to "git gud" by paying attention, not by doing acrobatics with your fingers, in their review of he game:

Overall, the game has a 89% metascore, and most reviews point into the same direction as that polygon review, say that the difficulty of the game is hard, but fair. So I really don't think it's worth stressing over the few articles written by people who cannot live with the fact that a game forces them to actually practice a bit. Even if the devs see them, then they MUST also see the many articles that tell them that they're doing things right. It would be very strange for them to change course because of those few articles that are critical of them.

This just reminds me of old school Nintendo games. With the exception of a few games, there was little or no progress saving, and even the games that did allow you to save progress made you do it at very specific locations or through an impossibly long savecode that you would always screw up writing it down...I remember kids who would literally pause the game and turn the TV off (a hangin' offense in my household) and just hope their parents didn't see the console was left on to avoid losing their progress.

The point is with old school Nintendo... "Git Gud" was literally your only choice. You had to become skilled at timing the jumps and slashes etc and have every opponent and every challenge and boss memorized or you were toast. I bet most of you guys who are my age could sit down right now and play Mike Tysons Punch Out and make it all the way at least to the last circuit like it was riding a bike. Some of you could probably do it blindfolded... just going off the music and sounds... that's how hard you had to drill in that game to advance to the next boxer, getting knocked out over, and over and over again, your precious feelings be damned.

I think some players are so far removed from that type of gaming experience... and they feel entitled to see the whole game just cause they bought it.

 

[Synobun]

Is ableist a reference to not being disabled?

It is supposed to mean discrimination against the disabled, like how being racist means you're discriminatory against or for an ethnicity.

I usually dismiss people who really fly the anti-ableist flag, though, since it's often based upon the idea that being disabled doesn't mean you're disabled which is a theory I'm fundamentally opposed to.

 

[Lexicus]

I googled cuphead ableism and the first result was this (I think) well-considered essay:
https://www.pastemagazine.com/artic...al-glass-ceiling-when-the-git-gud-mental.html

I usually dismiss people who really fly the anti-ableist flag, though, since it's often based upon the idea that being disabled doesn't mean you're disabled which is a theory I'm fundamentally opposed to.

"Positive thinking" must be one of your most hated phrases by now.

 

[The_J]

Might be nicely balancd and written, but it doesn't make much sense though through some more important parts of it.
(a few points: I'm sure the computer gaming market, the millions of cash, is not driven by a few nerds; lowering the barrier in a challenge doesn't make sense either [the 42km Marathon is too hard, why not lower this?], and the biggest point: If "ableism" would be used properly [in case that's possible], then it would mean that whatever action is taken would be taken with some sort of malicious intent, which is clearly not the case here)

 

[Lexicus]

If "ableism" would be used properly [in case that's possible], then it would mean that whatever action is taken would be taken with some sort of malicious intent

This of course has the nice effect of relegating ableism to the province of cartoon villains rather than something that pervades how society is organized.