Brendan Sinclair @BrendanSinclair@mastodon.social

I've got this huge library of music on my computer stretching back to all the CDs I had in high school and the majority of it is hard to listen to now. I'm either sick of it, or it spoke to the reality of a younger me but not a middle-aged me, or the people behind it turned out to be complete bastards and I can't hear it without thinking of that, or it represents perspectives I used to find innocuous or iffy but now understand are poisonous.

Wilco's Being There is still p. good tho.

I would like the discussion over loot boxes to move beyond the need for self-regulation and get to the point where people work out ideas about exactly how to self-regulate. Because saying "Just don't be a scumbag" won't work. You just can't trust this industry to properly identify what does and doesn't constitute scumbaggery. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-05-03-self-regulating-loot-boxes-is-harder-than-it-sounds

A surprising number of responses to the revelation that Quantic Dream copy-pasted Naughty Dog's denial of workplace sexual harassment are suggesting they just have the same PR people and that would somehow make it OK, instead of Garbage Tier PR work. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-04-25-the-red-flag-of-passion

The IGDA is a poor excuse for an advocate, and developers need something better. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-03-28-developers-need-a-better-advocate

The site I work for does a regular column where game developers big and small talk about games they love, also big and small. There's some really good stuff in there if it sounds like your kind of thing: https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/?topics=why-i-love

I think loot box legislation is rapidly becoming an inevitability because game publishers have given us no reason to believe they won't implement the most exploitative version of loot boxes they can come up with.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-02-28-hooked-on-loot-boxes

Turns out it's a rhombus.

ESA statement on US tax reform:

“The legislation passed today includes provisions that will help modernize our current tax system, which has not been updated in over 30 years. ESA supports driving economic growth, innovation, and high tech job creation – which are all paramount to our industry’s ongoing success. It is also important that this reform benefit our industry’s 220,000 employees and millions of customers, and put our nation on a path to long-term economic prosperity.”

Writing about Dwarf Fortress in 2017 strikes a hard balance between re-writing the "OMG this simulation is intense" intro article for the millionth time and wrongly assuming everyone knows about this thing already (which they should but don't).

FWIW, I tried to focus on something other than the game's detailed simulation.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-12-20-how-stable-are-dwarf-fortress-foundations

After a dozen years of faithful service, my Olympus voice recorder has given up the ghost after one too many drops. It will be missed. Godspeed, you reliable interviewing tool.

Played a bit of Enter the Gungeon on Switch yesterday. That's a fun game.

*devoted

Usually when I hear devs talk about how great their communities are, it's in the context of what the communities do for the devs, how excited they are for every part of the games, how dedicated and devouted and loyal they are. It's not about what the communities do for each other, or about how they have really healthy priorities.

It's less "these are good people," and more "This dude branded himself with my IP" or "I could shoot someone on 5th Ave. and not lose a single fan."

Would these non-toxic players who are just frustrated or having a bad day consider that their behavior would be particularly inappropriate for that game and refrain?

Would that declaration actually attract trolls? Are trolls actually going to go out of their way to buy and play a game they wouldn't otherwise just to be toxic and get banned?

Heard a lot of devs say most toxic behavior in games comes from players who aren't usually toxic, just having a bad day or something. My general response to that idea is "I don't care, make an example of them to show toxic behavior won't be tolerated in any form."

BUT, it does make me wonder what might happen if a dev made "Our game has a wonderfully supportive and healthy community; it's kind of our whole deal" a talking point from day one, what would happen?

Pour one out for the uncanny valley as it's now been 10 years since Quantic Dream "officially" announced that it had been crossed.
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-12-1-vivendi-a-third-wheel-in-the-activision-blizzard-union https://mastodon.social/media/hHknD-J2NN-D5JzergU

Does the US invade Iraq after 9/11? Is Islamophobia less powerful when the president's party isn't dog whistling it at every turn? Does Gore win a second term and appoint two liberal Supreme Court justices? Is the Citizens United case decided differently? Does a Republican then win in '08? Does Trump stay out of politics without a birther cause to rally around him?

Guessing this is what the low-rent alt history fiction of 2050 will center on.

Very curious what's happening in the alternate universe where Gore won in 2000.

Been reading the Allred/Slott Silver Surfer series and it's just the most delightful thing. So good.