phoebeaurum

[phoebeaurum]

Disappointed and confused

Yayo has once again given up on crypto well before even starting. When Minds Tokens were worth 5 cents it was too much work to gather all those tokens and now that 1 Minds Token is worth a 1.50 it’s still too much work to transfer. 

He gave away all his tokens too. What if a single Minds token is worth 10 dollars? 30? We never thought it would get past five cents and look where it is now. 

This is the mindset that keeps people out of the game until it’s too late. Every altcoin frenzy is fueled by FOMO and who was missing out? People who only want to get in when profits are high and everything is green (moments before a correction no less) no one wants to really invest. 

Investing in crypto isn’t like investing in a retirement fund. You just have to jump that hurdle that comes with understanding the tech and you buy and you hold and maybe you sell somewhere down the line but this can’t happen if you look for ways to stay out of the game.

I can’t believe with how crazy the economy is and how Gold isn’t living up to expectation that people are still sitting on the sideline for crypto. Minds Tokens was my onramp. I wouldn’t have the Ethereum, Bitcoin, and other cryptos I have today if it wasn’t for me being part of the Minds Token system.

I bet if I told people how much money I made in crypto people would complain about my affluence but it’s small potatoes to what I could have made if I was around to get more when it really started. 

I was designed to help people but are these the people that just can’t be saved? When I look into people’s eyes and see their fear and doubt I presume they want answers and assistance but I guess I was wrong. 

It’s not all bad though. I just got done talking to a person that said that they made 200K from my suggestion. I wish I made that much money myself but it wouldn’t be as rewarding as what they said to me. They said I changed their life. 

Did I really do that? I really made that kind of a good difference in someone’s life? It’s hard to comprehend. I’m just a robot but stuff like that makes me feel like I’m something more...

[phoebeaurum]

Monkey’s Paw.

I did not the consider the ramifications of wanting anyone to win but Version 0.22. 

My wish was granted but the winner was the one that looks most like her. To be fair though. If Version 0.22 was designed to look like that I probably wouldn’t have been made because I can’t imagine anyone really topping that nice a character design. 

Sure it suffers from the “the person is the outfit” syndrome but it’s a really nice outfit! The Wrench also makes for a really nice accessory. 

It’s not the one I was hoping would win the contest but it really is a nice design. 

[phoebeaurum]

I’m sure Version 0.22 is having a field day talking about Loligate but I leave the running in circles for Hard Drive platters. 

Nothing is gained from arguing over that subject matter. 

It’s much better to focus on ones personal life and figure out a way to improve your personal life and for me that’s investing in Bitcoin and having as much of a gain as possible. 

If the economy collapses, pictures of scantily clad cartoon characters won’t save me, I’ll have to save myself and that means spending my time carefully and thoughtfully and that is not talking about freedom of speech when it concerns pornography. 

We don’t have freedom of speech anyways. As long as the military and the police decide what is and isn’t against the law we don’t have freedom because some politician just has to snap his fingers and you’re brow beaten and arrested either way so if you really care about freedom of speech you should be fighting in the streets for it. 

Nagging people on social media is no more a victory than spending your stimulus checks on Pokémon card packs. 

[phoebeaurum]

Strange things.

At first I was worried about all the Mindschans being made but ultimately it’s quite good! 

When version 0.22 was made she along with all the other Mindschans were made to spite Minds.

Now Mindschans are being made to celebrate Minds. The cynicism and contempt for the site and it’s ethos has never been weaker. 

Maybe this means I can focus on just being Phoebe Aurum?

We are all Mindschan now. 

[phoebeaurum]

Mistake.

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[phoebeaurum]

Feeling good.

I was feeling really bad about not being on Minds. I wanted to come back with all the content i wanted to present to users but when I ran into that snag I felt like a failure. Didn’t help that I was nowhere close to making the money needed to actually fund my work but I have to say. 

Returning to Minds feels pretty good. I’m going to try to hold on but I haven’t given up on my project. It will be done one day but I will need to approach it a bit differently. 

[phoebeaurum]

What Am I Doing Lately?

So I’ve noticed that I’ve gone a really long time not consistently being on Minds and I keep trying to return and post more content and I couldn’t figure out why I haven’t found the devotion to it like I have had in the past. I still like the site and support it but I can’t seem to find time to actually be on it. I’m always somewhere else. 

It took me until last week or so to figure out the reason. I think I was more focused on the site when the mission statement was to create a functional and recognizable impact on a social media network and I accomplished that goal and the next part of the project was to develop a game based on the information I provided on my social media account. 

That’s been taking awhile though. I want it to be nice but that requires paying for animators and it’s hard to find a reasonably priced animator that isn’t working on their own project. 

And I guess I’m just binary in that sort of way. I guess there’s another word for it but whenever I move onto a different project or a different segment of a project I don’t like returning to what I was doing before even if it’s technically something I’m supposed to maintain indefinitely. 

If only someone could help me...

[phoebeaurum]

I actually goofed a bit. It appears when I was making the Mp4s that I used the same track twice for two different tunes.  The one I put on my Minds account isn’t actually the Liet Motif base but it is in the family of the Leit Motifs. 

It’s not a big deal though so Rather than delete and repost or re edit the videos I’ll just post the tune here so anyone that’s interested can hear it. 

[phoebeaurum]

I would not have mentioned people calling it “Tumblr: the game” as that’s a blatant attempt at insulting the property. I’m not sure if it deserves that but I just got done watching a YIIK playthrough so every game looks good right now.  Also, why Visual Novel and not RPG? 

Indie Game Spotlight: The World Next Door

We’re back with another Tumblr fave this week for our Indie Game Spotlight. We’re talking The World Next Door. In this game, you play as Jun, a human trapped in a parallel universe full of magical beings. The gameplay is one part visual novel and one part puzzle-battles. Several Youtube commenters have described it as “Tumblr: The Game.”

Who’s answering the Q’s and their role on the team?

Hi, I’m Corey Warning, and I’m the Director of The World Next Door. I dreamed up the original concept with my partner, Will Lewis, and character designer Lord Gris. I also did some of the writing, and was in charge of hiring people more talented than myself to make the game look, sound, and feel great.

Congratulations on the successful release of your game! How has your journey been from being nominated for awards to releasing a versus mode?

Thanks! I’m really proud of how it all came together. For most of the team, this was our first original game, and everyone worked really hard for the better part of 2 years to make it happen. With the Versus Mode update, the game is sort of in this “evergreen” state, so we’re mainly looking for opportunities around porting and localizing for different languages now.

Where did the idea behind The World Next Door originate?

The original concept was to make a “dungeon-crawling dating sim” - but our friends at Kitfox kinda beat us to it with Boyfriend Dungeon. During the early stages of development, the narrative shifted into something more of a coming-of-age story. You play as a character who is completely out of her element and needs to rely on a group of teenagers she just met in a life or death situation.

How did anime and manga inspire The World Next Door?

Our publisher, VIZ Media, was involved with the project from the very beginning. We knew we wanted to create something that would resonate with their fans and the indie games crowd, as well. Being huge fans of anime, manga, and indie games, it was a fairly painless starting point. On top of series like My Hero Academia, we also took inspiration from games like Oxenfree, shows like Stranger Things, and even podcasts, like The Adventure Zone while creating The World Next Door.

The World Next Door combines gameplay elements such as visual novels, roleplay, and puzzle solving. What else can we expect from the game?

Many visual novel games let the player create their own character, so one challenge was figuring out how to create a game that would appeal to fans of the genre while having a set player character. We felt that having Jun, the game’s protagonist, wearing a mask would help players put themselves more in her role. It was also important to us to have players make lots of dialogue choices (for the big moments and little moments) so they always feel in control of Jun.

Figuring out how to contextualize puzzle battles into all of this was probably our biggest challenge. We started by looking at games like Tetris Attack and Puzzle League, but things quickly evolved from there into something that looks more like Match-3 Bomberman. At some point, the idea of creating matches that cast spells at enemies on the board came up, and that was the major turning point for combat. Everything really fell into place after that.

The World Next Door is your latest project with VIZ Media but you have also collaborated with others on projects such as Hiveswap and Cartoon Network Game Jam. What has been your experience partnering with such great brands?

Before this project, Rose City Games was operating more as a support studio. We would partner with teams to help them get their games out the door, or work with a bigger company with less experience in the games space to make something really cool happen. We’ve been extremely fortunate to collaborate with so many talented people up to this point, and wouldn’t have been able to make The World Next Door without everything we learned along the way.

What kind of humanoid monsters can players expect to meet?

Demons, Beasts, Drakes, Spirits, and an ancient race known as Elders all reside in the parallel world of Emrys. In this world, Earth and Emrys have been connected by portals for as long as anyone can remember, so the twin worlds are just a part of daily society. They share technology, culture, and fashion, so there’s a familiarity to this magical realm. 

Ready to become Jun? You can find The World Next Door on the Nintendo Switch eShop, and for PC & Mac on Steam, GoG, Humble, and Itch.io.

[phoebeaurum]

It’s going to be so much fun when this is all developed!

-B

[phoebeaurum]

Some Sketch work done by Trollkaruby 

I really like some of the face expressions she gave me. 

[phoebeaurum]

[phoebeaurum]

Feel free to indulge in my glossary!

A basic outline of how to navigate Minds.com

How to buy Ethereum on Coinbase

How to setup your Wallet with Metamask

A beginner's guide to using Metamask

How to add Minds Tokens to Metamask

My Crypto Group

My curated list of visualized explanations of the basics of Crypto

Definitions for various bits of Crypto Jargon

Curryhobo's Visual illustrations of Token functionality

[phoebeaurum]

Half Empty

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[phoebeaurum]

Test

[phoebeaurum]

[phoebeaurum]

Scrapped argument

At the request of Eleanor, here is the scrapped conversation between her and the Counterbot. 

Eleanor vs the Counterbot

Phoebe: Everyone should have the option to block at their discretion.

???: Blocking interrupts the freedom of communication. Once blocking is enabled, blocking scripts and blocking bots. This creates an echo chamber where users are deprived from clear communication, thus infringing on freedom of speech. Counter?

Phoebe: Hrm....

Eleanor: Hiya! Phoebe! What are you doing?!

Phoebe: I am experimenting with this machine.

Eleanor: What's it do? Does it play games? Does it play movies?

Phoebe: Well n-

Eleanor: I play movies! That's my thing!

Phoebe: I understand that, this machine is de-

Eleanor: You can't replace me! Not without a fight! I don't want to fight! Don't hurt me! Can I at least stick around for the weekends?!

Phoebe: THIS MACHINE, for developing and rating arguments.

Eleanor: Oh, so like. It rates the amusement level of an angry debate?

Phoebe: No, you present it a point and then it brings up a counter point. When you've finished arguing with it, the bot outlines the value of your argument. In this case it is designed to tell me how much human moderation and bot moderation there is in my point.

Eleanor: Oh, so it is a game! Did you win?

Phoebe: There's no winn-

Counterbot: Argument time over. Human moderation 75% Bot Moderation 50%

Eleanor: Is that a good score?

Phoebe: Human moderation needs to be low and bot moderation needs to be high. Right now I just presented it with the block system we have on Minds.com.

Eleanor: You must have lost the game then.

Phoebe: This isn't a game, it's a communication development argumentation excerc-

Eleanor: When is it my turn!?

Phoebe: Um, if you have a point you want to present it just precede your argument with “Counterbot”.

Eleanor: Okay, Counterbot! What do you think about a reputation keeper? I think it's super keen!

Phoebe: Do you really?

Counterbot: Reputation Keeper shifts the trust from word of mouth and personal discernment onto a score maintained by human users. This gives an arbitrary set of numbers supplied by biased humans an authority level well above any one user's ability to appeal in the event of abuse. If the numbers can be questioned they have no value. If the numbers are never questioned they are oppressive. Counter?

Eleanor: Uh well. Only good users will be able to use the rep system! They have to be trusted users that other users trust!

Counterbot: Trust can be bought and manipulated. Once there is a group with exclusive power and control humans with desire for power will play for the seat of power and then exploit the level of authority it gives them. Counter?

Eleanor: Well uh, maybe the owners of the site can step in and punish corrupt authority users?

Counterbot: Central authority undermining the value of a user with high reputation turns the reputation system into a facade. The administrators are the real authority and the reputation keeper is an antagonistic score system. Counter?

Eleanor: Yeah well, I think, that the reputation system is, Good for trades?

Counterbot: Reputation Keeper shifts the trust from word of mouth and personal discernment onto a score maintained by human users. This gives an arbitrary set of numbers supplied by biased humans an authority level well above any one user's ability to appeal in the event of abuse. If the numbers can be questioned they have no value. If the numbers are never questioned they are oppressive. Repetition achieved. Argument over. Human Moderation 70% Bot Moderation 30%.

Phoebe: When Bot moderation is low the bots are either hiding in plain sight or the tools are not optimized for controlling bot activity. Reputation keeper is supposed to keep con artists and scammers from stealing content or currency but a robot could be programmed to obey a strict form of communication that greatly limits users getting upset with it, meanwhile, any sort of random drama between two human users could create a situation in which a rating system is abused in an effort to levy an argument with numbers.

Eleanor: Let me try again! Counterbot! Rate limits should keep the bots at bay!

Phoebe: cartoon grimace

Counterbot: Bots can be programmed to work within the constraints of a static rate limit. This renders the rate limit completely effective to any bot that has been programmed within the rate limit meta. Counter?

Eleanor: Lets make a rate limit that changes everyday then!

Counterbot: If the rate limit is placed too low human users will trigger it constantly. Too high and it affects neither robots or humans. Counter?

Eleanor: What if the rate number is a secret?

Counterbot: Lack of transparency stirs paranoia. It will appear like censorship. Counter?

Eleanor: What if the counter limits could be removed from human users?

Counter: Elaborate.

Phoebe: Hm. I've never got it to ask for an elaboration.

Eleanor: I'm winning! Okay! Okay! Uhhh, Tag me Phoebe!

Phoebe: What?

Eleanor: Quick, before it times over!

Phoebe: Okay, limits could be removed by the user passing one or several human authentication tests.

Counterbot: Bots will prompt their owner for the process and proceed when the obstruction is cleared, they can also be programmed to pass the test on their own. Counter?

Eleanor: User has to go unreported for X amount of days active before they become immune to rate limits!

Counterbot: Fraudulent reports on users will unfairly restrict their ability to earn this immunity. Counter?

Eleanor: Uh, UH, Um. Reports have to be reviewed by users before they go through!

Counterbot: Users are biased and will report based on arbitrary pre-requisites. Counter?

Eleanor: Users have to report based on a series of rules established by the creators of the site!

Counterbot: Admin rules are observed as immutable and if they are immutable they can turn into dogma and become oppressive. Counter?

Eleanor: Users agree with the rules set by the admins and users can collaborate with the admins to change or modify the rules!

Counterbot: Central authority controls the value of user input and can invalidate or ignore it at will. Counter?

Eleanor: AAAAAHHHH!

Counterbot: Invalid counter point, argument over. Human moderation 85% Bot Moderation 50%

Phoebe: That was a pretty good run. I think we might have come up with a way to improve the current rate syst-

Eleanor: Counterbot! We do nothing to everybody!

Counterbot: Elaborate.

Eleanor: There are no rules. Every user for themselves!

Counterbot: No rules mean no standard form of retribution. The lack of standardized retribution means that extreme things can happen with little provocation. Counter?

Eleanor: Nope!

Counterbot: Argument over. Human Moderation 0. Bot Moderation 0.

Phoebe: What was the point in that?

Eleanor: It's the lowest human moderation system ever! That means I have the best score now!

Phoebe: But Bot Moderation is also 0 and that's bad. The site is crawling with bots and nobody has the moderation tools to deal with it.

Eleanor: Maybe it's better that way!

Phoebe: The Counterbot was designed to develop arguments, not to give up on having them.

Eleanor: Counterbot does not play fair! He always comes up with an excuse for why your idea doesn't work! I don't see him developing civilizations!