Potatomache

Potatomache, 9 months ago

I don't think it would hold my indefinite attention to be honest. The reason why I use escapist media: video games, tv shows, books, fanfiction, etc. is because there's a reason to them. There's an ultimate goal, or plot. There's a certainty that I can't get in real life and it's bounded by stipulations that I find acceptable (limited map size, max level, resource management, storyline, hours to complete, etc)

If the simulation was just like real life. I think I'd be too lost. Would I try it for the novelty? Probably. But after a while, I think I'd be too concerned about the "trueness" of my experiences.

If it was reliant on my will/my desires, I think I would be addicted but it would eventual feel meaningless/not enough. I think it would also feel too wrong to interact with simulations of the people I know in real life. Even if the interactions were benign, there's just an ick-factor for me. With the other option, having to interact indefinitely with AI would just introduce a weird dysphoria with the world, like if I fell in love with a character in the simulation and I have to deal with the reality that they don't actually exist. That would break my brain and suck tremendously.

It would be like when you render your likeness in the Sims and you play it for too long, but then you start looking at your character and all they've accomplished, and you begin to think you could've spent the hours playing to actually work on your real life. 😅

As for playing with other people in public worlds, I think it would have the same issues I already have with playing with random people online: wherein some people are rude, some carry this looming sense of betrayal as to who they actually are, and some I would come to miss in real life, but exponentially made worse by how well it's all rendered.

And this doesn't even include the various ways this technology would logistically work. Will I have to deal with ads? How expensive would it be? How much of my privacy do I have to give up? Are there physical dangers to using the machine? Etc.

So, I don't really know but I'm leaning away from using it. 😅

Potatomache, 9 months ago

I'm having the same issues too. I've even had the scenario of writing a long comment on a thread and getting error-ed away once I hit "Add comment". I don't know why it happened, but it certainly made me stop using kbin for the rest of the day. 😅

It hasn't fully discouraged me though. I remind myself that it's early days so it's going to have a bunch of hiccups along the way.

Potatomache, 9 months ago

Honestly, same. I don’t even know all the options yet, wanted to keep the suspense.

Potatomache, 9 months ago

Prince of Persia trilogy could work. It's more linear than assassin's creed so it could offer a change of pace.

Potatomache, 9 months ago

I think it makes sense. It's like acting, you embody the character as you write them and they become a familiar yet separate identity from your own.

Potatomache, 10 months ago

I mean, AI can be used to design a lot of robust yet efficient structures. In engineering and architecture, with enough data, AI can generate designs for buildings, and parts that are not only sturdy but can be built with less resources along with other design considerations. There's a really cool nasa video where competitors are trying to 3D print structures for habitation in space.

AI is also used in medicine to come up with new protein structures to create new medicine. It's also used in environmental sciences, to help predict earthquakes or monitor land use, etc.

There's a lot of practical uses for AI.

Potatomache, 10 months ago

If I remember correctly, "have got to" is more informal than "have to". So yeah, it's cleaner/more grammatical.

I think most people use the "got" as a extra word to emphasize urgency in day to day conversation. So in that way, it's useful?

Potatomache, 10 months ago

Ohh, so does that mean you're not into Alternate Universes for Persona and Marvel fanfiction, but would consider it for HP and Naruto? Or do you still prefer the exploration of the world to be in canon for the latter two?

Potatomache, 10 months ago

Don't worry, it makes sense. :D

Seems like there's an exploratory element to your tastes, that's pretty neat! Like a... "If this _____, then...?"

Potatomache, 10 months ago

No shame in that. XD I myself, tend to have obsessive periods towards one or two characters 😅

Any theories as to why TV & film get your brain fired up for fanfiction?

Potatomache, 10 months ago

Wait, Yu-Gi-Oh's characters change depending on the language? Is it a big difference in characterization or more subtler shifts due to differences in language?

Potatomache, 10 months ago

I think you hit the nail on the head for me. 🤔 My brain doesn't come up with fanfiction for books/manga because they feel "complete" and/or "free" in a way that imagination and - as you said - daydreaming, come naturally. So my urge to expand/explore the world and characters are satisfied.

I think fan-editing is a lot more like solving a puzzle 😅 maybe that's also how they approach it?

Potatomache, 9 months ago

Well, that's a shame. I assume the English version was the dubbed version and not the subtitled one? Usually, subtitles allow the original meaning to come across better because the translation isn't constrained by synchronization to the mouth flaps.

If it's both, then that's pretty dang lame.

I am kinda curious about those four paragraphs of yours XD but admittedly, I have a very shallow familiarity with Yu-Gi-Oh. 😅

Potatomache, 9 months ago

Writing based on thirst ahahaha that's great! XD I think my first ever fanfiction was because I had such a crush on both Jaffar and Matthew from Fire Emblem 7 :D

Potatomache, 9 months ago

Is there a medium you don't really touch even if you're on a binge? Like for me, it would be books. Or are you an equal-opportunity fanfiction consumer?

Potatomache, 9 months ago

I would actually be interested in those paragraphs if you still have them :D It always fascinates me how much different certain stories are once translated and how sometimes you can't get a full sense of the story because of cultural nuances.

I only watch foreign movies or anime with subtitles now, but growing up, I actually started with dubbed over anime in my native language, Filipino. I am absolutely certain a lot of nuance was lost in the effort of translation, but at the same time, I can't watch the anime I grew up with, subtitled XD

Potatomache, 9 months ago

Painful originals are such great sources for better fanworks though :D

I remember when Mass Effect 3's ending came out and all the fan content it inspired due to spite and disappointment: a collective fandom developing their own band-aid solutions to a sub-par ending. It was great! XD

Potatomache, 9 months ago

I admit, I had to google some of the characters to refresh my memory of them (I think I've only seen 1 or 2 episodes of YGO 😅 I bought some of the cards as a kid but that was because they were so shiny and pretty :D). It's a shame they felt they had to add more romantic subplot to make it more "interesting" --I always find it shallow when adaptations do that and it usually comes at the cost of character relationships.

I suppose that's part of the struggle of anime adaptations. The business seems so finicky. It's tough for developers to figure out which arcs to include when they don't have the guarantee of another season. So they end up cutting filler content, but then some plot points don't make sense without it, and so they include filler--but now there's less episodes for plot. Then the characters suffer, because some arcs take a while to develop, but they still have to justify an animator drawing them in, so they get shoddy characterization instead. I imagine it's far easier to have characters return to status quo, like a sitcom. So they end up learning the same lessons all over again.

Thanks for the write-up! It was interesting to read. Good luck on your project! :D

Potatomache, 9 months ago

Agree heavily on the romance thing. Two of my current fandoms just got on the romance train and it was pretty disappointing. 😅

It's even more frustrating when the producers are obviously using the existing IP for their fanbase and reputation.

Potatomache, 10 months ago

For music I tend to use Spotify's similar artists feature or have the Youtube rabbit hole take me somewhere new. Sometimes I'll even find new music from other media; like if I'm reading a fanfic and the author posts the song they were listening to when they wrote it, sometimes I check those out.

For books, it's usually word of mouth, and for a games, a mix of that as well as reviews from people and a perusal through Steam Sales. I'm not too big on movies though, I just let my loved ones drag me into what they want to watch and they tend to have good taste. For TV shows, I let spontaneous mood choose for me.

Potatomache, 10 months ago

I think it's a matter of content type. We have a lot of links to interesting articles or pictures of memes with no additional input from the poster. Those make me less inclined to comment. I just tend to upvote/boost and move on.

I think for more discussion/opinions, people need a spring board to jump off of.

Potatomache, 10 months ago

Base building games sound like they could work for you, Terraria, Frostpunk, Don't Starve. If you want something even chiller, you could go for games like Stardew Valley or My Time at Portia.

Potatomache, 10 months ago

I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

-Dune, Frank Herbert

I didn't really like the book, but that quote stuck out to me.

Potatomache, 10 months ago

There's a sweet spot for summaries to be vague enough to entice, but also clear enough that the reader can get a gist of the story. The only ones I tend to skip are those that don't bother at all.

With my own summaries, I've recently started adding excerpts from the story, then an overall quick view. My format tends to go:

Summary blurb
"Excerpt"

Overview