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I’m agender too! 🖤🩶🤍💚🤍🩶🖤

Reblog is this is a safe space for the identities theses flags represent pls follow too

Hehehe I’m a demiboy <3

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Introducing: the Datagotchi

So many of us carry a little digital version of ourselves around that we might not even be aware of.

Spread between platforms, pixelated from the data points of our clicks, hovers, comments, uploads, searches… they become an extension of our subconscious and form this cyber essence; a digital twin or what I call a datagotchi.

We feed it with our thoughts and desires made manifest, distilling these models over time so that we can become influenced back. They can inform our feeds, finish our sentences, subtly influence our decisions. 

Scattered across the digital cosmos, they are rounded up and captured by companies to create the quantised versions of us. These crystallised constellations lead them to where the money is. The Ludopticon is their playground.

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Mean it or Meme It: Value in the Ludopticon

Value is such an important concept. It enables us to focus and prioritise from a menagerie of mental activity that arose from a need for survival, mapped to a world that is continuously created and recreated to fit them. It’s a feedback loop in many ways.

Sociologist Max Weber coined the dichotomy between intrinsic and instrumental value. Intrinsic value was understood to be what was desirable in itself; abstract concepts such as happiness and pleasure, whereas instrumental/extrinsic value was deemed to things that could beget other, often more tangible, results. For example, a hammer is contextually instrumental insomuch as it can be used in conjunction with other objects such as nails to build furniture. On the other hand, play can be pleasurable in of itself.

In the Ludopticon, the lines between these are blurred. Things must be instrumentally valued; measured in metrics such as likes, follows, reposts etc. The algorithm cannot “enjoy” pleasure as an intrinsic value, so why would it be deemed as important?

For me personally, it feels like intrinsic values now must be classified as instrumental in order to survive in this system. We don’t “just” play games any more; we perform them to audiences, take on sponsorships and post them to our socials. This in turn whittles down the games that are “lucrative” or deemed worthy to be seen. This, however, doesn’t even extend to just contemporary games. Our nostalgia is also made instrumental (especially among my millennial age group), as well as once forgotten gems. This can sometimes yield positive results; games that were once forgotten can be part of a revival and gain a cult-like following.

However, the locked-in focus on instrumental value can be dangerous as a whole if left unchecked. This can diminish intrinsic values that can’t be converted as effectively; for example, the use of basic etiquette and politeness online.

When it comes to algorithmic brilliance, nothing works quite so powerfully as negativity and hate. Once a target is established, there will be an influx of activity either vehemently agreeing or defending. Once the adrenaline kicks in, either by needing to defend or the giddy feeling that you may be justified in hating something, engagement skyrockets. Compare this to a positive statement; there is no urge to defend or emphasise it. It is either simply liked, ignored, or turned into a point of contention or hatred.

Of course, the algorithm doesn’t “acknowledge” this either way. It simply reflects what does “well.”

Pair this with the algorithmic gaze; the way in which we are conditioned to perform in a way that feeds and sustains this system and… well, you see where we are now.

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Ooops, I got uploaded to the Ludopticon again! I couldn’t help it; I had to share the sunset and make it digital! 🌅

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We get so many prompts in our everyday lives: some from our past, others from our social media platforms…

Sadly this isn’t available on Tumblr - you can use this on TikTok though!

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Linear Time is transcended in the Ludopticon.

The digital world is interconnected without a sense of past, present or future; marked out by human and (increasingly) AI interactions. Posts persist indefinitely; open to being remixed, reacted to and quoted/retweeted. These actions recontextualise the past, creating a new present. Our digital selves therefore exist in the past, present and future simultaneously.

Algorithms thrive on consistent uploads, encouraging users to excavate posts from the past to create a constant flow of content. In this way, temporal fluidity is achieved.

Like energy, nothing is truly destroyed; simply transformed.

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It feels like at this point the Ludopticon is unavoidable, even if you don’t have an account on the major platforms. People even make social media accounts for their children before they’re born.

It’s very much a generational thing, but we’ve all been “born” into the Ludopticon: just at different ages.

As a millennial, I’ve experienced an offline and online life, although I don’t remember much of the former 😅

How about you?

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The third space was coined by Ray Oldenburg in the 1989 book The Great Good Place as an escape from Home (first) and Work (second). These included areas such as parks, community centres and libraries: ways in which to build networks with different expectations from the first two. People could connect or simply vibe without pressure to perform or monetise.

As spaces became privatised or incentivised to make money, they began to fade out or get replaced. The early internet with forums and creative websites, most of which encouraged self expression and pseudonymity, became the new third space.

However, it feels like this third space has since merged with home and work as profiles become more public and integrated. Our digital personas are now extensions of our public lives in the Ludopticon. We can monetise our online lives at the cost of our private spaces.

Maybe we need a third space beyond the third space?

I thought of calling it the PlushNet — a third space of the third space that offers a comfortable, stressless environment of simply being.

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I’m trying to find a balance between my internal and external world — an excess of either causes me to lose myself. It’s almost like comfort vs friction; becoming swaddled in softness or feeling raw and bothered. Ideally I want a bit of both?

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TranceNet v1.0.5 Main Menu options

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Examples of Reality Variations

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Back when times were more pleasant...

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Since I was a kid, I loved to simply vibe in menu screens. They were the liminal spaces of the digital world; the not-yet actualised space in the mind of the user/player. The sound design and background music often reflected this, especially in the days of Frutiger Aero. Often designed solely as a conduit, they maybe unknowingly created a unique experience of their own.

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I have this strong memory of me in secondary school (UK) where I was too shy to talk to others yet lived on message forums as I didn’t feel the need to mask there. I remember one time randomly at my PC thinking if only I could record myself going about my day; showing the world the real me in a relaxed yet controlled environment. Over 20 years later, here I am. Here we are. Touching grass is now the accustomed method to feeling free.

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