#( is it really pvp if they're fake )

[thatsocialmoth]

Aabria: "I wanted to make sure that there was no chance that this was a party"

Episode 9: "We're among family now"

[paper-mario-wiki]

Shangri-La Frontier mid-season review

This is by far the best fake video game I've ever seen written in fiction.

Most MMO-centric isekai stories have trouble with providing accurate and realistic depictions of the complexities and minutia that give MMOs the allure they have. I've seen so much handwavey bullshit tacked onto fake-games that introduce unrealistically overlooked mechanics for reasons like giving the protag immense power just because they're the protag and the story is about them. A good example of this is another MMO Isekai airing this season, "A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life", wherein the main character becomes extremely rich, powerful, and famous by episode 2 because he stumbled into a stealth archer playstyle, a build which apparently no human in that universe had ever conceived of before, and then making a fortune by selling basic potions to everyone after NPCs stopped selling them (another thing he was uniquely able to do because not a single other player had the forethought to spec into alchemy). These lesser, dime-a-dozen isekai add up to be boring fantasy strories with gaming elements clumsily put in so that the author can demonstrate how powerful the world's inhabitants are by showing their stat allocation screen instead of, say, explaining anything about what they do that's so uniquely powerful and how they figured it out. Ya know, stuff you'd hope to hear about from any competent story.

Shangri-La Frontier is a breath of fresh air for anyone who, like me, is sick of authors ignoring the things that actually make video games compelling in service of creating a stock-standard narratives in fantasy worlds because it allows them to get away with bullshit. I've always found it very convenient that many isekai narratives indulge in things like chattel slavery, because it's societally normal enough for the protag to purchase a beautiful, vulnerable girl to add to his harem (dont worry, she is always inexplicably in love with him no matter what because he's SUCH a kind master). And it never really seems to go anywhere. Because the Video Game Isekai, while an interesting premise in theory, is more often than not used exclusively as a means to simplify the structure of a world's power scaling to abide by an arbitrary set of omnipresent universal rules (e.g. what people who have never cared to look into game development think of video games). This anime, by comparison, is VERY clearly authored by someone who plays a LOT of games.

Every piece of logic used to drive the plot forward, so far, is congruent to a real-world example of video game conventions, and I'm not just talking about levelling up and selling monster parts. Story elements that I've rarely (if ever) seen explored in other isekai are ever-present and genuinely clever and amusingly introduced. My favorite example of this so far has been the way the protagonist has been able to go head to head with so many overlevelled foes in the first 9 episodes. The story of course makes note of how good of a gamer Sanraku (our hero) is, but much like in real life games, being super duper good at dodging attacks doesn't really make up for a 70 level gap in items and learned skills. For that reason, he gets his ass whooped more often than he actually outsmarts others (so far he hasn't beaten a single player in pvp). So how is he getting out of these situations without dying so frequently? Simple: he got access to a later area too early relative to his level (sequence break) and got access to a high level follower NPC that's been carrying him. This is something he acknowledges directly several times, specifically using words like "Emul has been hard-carrying me for a while." This, to me, is extraordinarily meaningful. That's something you can exploit in Skyrim, man. That's REALISTIC CHEESE STRATS. The excitement and wonder I find in this show doesn't come from watching the protag do something unexpected, but by watching him do something that I would think to do.

This knowledge the author has demonstrated regarding modern gaming culture extends further into the actual realistic nature of game design and community. The story exists in a reality where full-dive VRMMOs are the be-all-end-all of gaming, and given the prohibitively expensive nature of developing and designing expansive, immersive worlds, most games are pretty shit. It's been hinted at so far that this is due to a monopolistic megacorp which is one of the only entities rich and powerful enough to make a good game (the game in question being the one that shares the title of the anime), but so far the strife of the characters have been pretty centralized to the happenings of the game world and its politics. By the way, lets talk about the game world's player base politics, which I'm also quite pleased with. It exists in the form of guilds and clans who struggle for power not by participating in seemingly random pvp with other powerful players to see who is the most epic and badass warrior (again, like many contemporary isekai typically opt for), but by gaining actual realistic support from a fictional playerbase with realistic desires and playstyles. Some guilds are interested in lore, some gather for alliance and boss raids, some for things like animal husbandry, and (naturally) at least one is dedicated to trolling and PKing. Each of these factions, through the very little that we've seen of them so far, communicate on forums and only know as much as is reasonable for them to know. The only reason they give a shit about the protagonist at all is because he gained access to a high-level unique scenario quest that they want information on how to access, and the only reason word of that got out in the first place was because someone posted a screenshot of him with a unique NPC onto a forum, asking about it as "where can i find this pet summon, its super cute!" That's real. That's video games, baby.

I like this show a lot so far. I like that it cares about video games, but I also like its writing. I like the main character and how hes less of an ultra badass super cool guy, and more of an earnest challenge-run lets player. Like, a lot of his dialogue straight up sounds strikingly similar to Japanese youtubers. And he's naturally always quick to point out inconsistencies in the game world's logic. I ALSO really like his community of pals from a janky old fighting game, and I ADORE the girl from his school who has a crush on him and also just so happens to be an exceptionally high level player from a top clan, and how she had to spend 9 episodes working up the courage to send him a friend request. I love that so, so much, dude.

I highly recommend this show if you're into a single thing I've mentioned. The animation is great. The world is beautiful. The character design is immaculate. And I'm looking forward to watching it continue.

[sburbian-sage]

I've heard them mentioned a couple of times, but whenever I ask people get really cagey about it and won't tell me anything. Who the hell are the Azurites?

Batshit insane, totally psychopathic, mentally ill, I am ableist about Azurites don't @ me, playerkilling cult. They don't post on the replayernet, they all have "azure" somewhere in their handle, they just enter a session, murder everyone (sometimes adopting a fake handle to go undercover for a bit, most don't), and then take their pendants and solo the game. They think that the game values heroism and drama over life (this is true), and then come to the deranged conclusion that they should purposefully make the game harder because that's "how it's supposed to be" or whatever. PvP is harder than PvE, solo runs are harder than being a team player, and replayer networks let scrubs who by all rights should die get help from veterans and a larger group.

They also have a grudge against all Seers because the Seer Network was doing work infiltrating and documenting Azurites and Azurite groups (one of the few good things the Seer Network did). So when they roll up a Seer they vagabounce into something else, and when they encounter another Seer (or a Native Seer) they gouge the Seer's eyes out before killing them. I'm a native Sage, any Azurites reading this don't @ me or my eyeballs, also choke.

People get cagey when they're brought up because they're basically a sburban legend, except they're real. And they don't like it when people know stuff and share information about them, so I'm basically painting a target on my back by making this post. HOWEVER, I am not afraid of them. Not only because I'm fairly obscure and thus not that big of a voice, and because the Azurites can't control which sessions the end up in, and even if they ended up in my session I'm in the Furthest Ring right now, babey, I also think they're massive pussies. Their leader Psycho Rosemary (that's actually her name) somehow survived a Dead Session and pitched a massive fit about how other people having it easier isn't fair. I've read their Writ, it's like if the Bible was written by a bunch of tryhards with a sophomoric understanding of Darwinism and mythology, and their ultimate point that "maturity is murder" is just vacuous psychobabble. I would say "it gives the same effect you'd get from an antisocial middle-schooler writing a fanfiction (with crayon illustration) of Shadow the Hedgehog shooting up their school", except I've actually read that fanfiction and it speaks to a richer internal world than anything the Azurites put out. I know I made that joke, don't @ me, they're all diaper babies, except they figured out which end of the knife you're supposed to stab people with, and also collectively have a bodycount in the high double digits.

[blackuigryphonvr]

THIS is what Pokemon GO looked like in my area in 2018:

2018 iPhone Pokemon Go looking "rural"

THIS is what Pokemon Go looks like NOW (2024) where I live:

Well, I've been testing this for years, so there's definitively an ample amount of data that proves there's a group of saboteurs that target South Weymouth Massachusetts. There's also that no infamous incident in February 2020 on Reddit where they were bragging about sabotaging my area, and full on fighting with me. They even actively got me banned 3 times in 2020, and I had to change my identity, and pretend I was a dude from 2020-2022, and even changed my name 4 times. #PokemonGo

There's some evidence 🤔 it's connected to an Ingress beef as well. I've had a list of suspects as well. They seemed to have originally been targeting an Admin in my area, perhaps out of envy. They also seemed to have confused me with said admin, or thought I was his underling. That's not how we do things in Weymouth. We're not master & slaves, we're neighbors, n each player has their own unique areas of specialties.

Also, the god level players in Greater Boston live in Weymouth, not just masters of raids, getting Hundo, Shundo, n rare shiny Legendary Pokémon, but whom r naturally blessed w luck, somehow. Or, they're the very best GBL & PVP Players. I know who they r, we all know each other, do raids, share tips, help newbies, n coach people to achieve. We also cultivate tolerance, talking stuff out, n safety. We've had some bad experiences here n there, so we like women players n kids to be safe. We also interact w players in other towns, n car pooling is very popular.

As far as game play goes, we're good.

But, I'm talking about #NianticWayfarer

Because the vultures are REAL!

I've had to figure out, n navigate these punks. They appear to have OCD, n reverse psychology issues, n do stuff out of spite. There's a group of them (including on Reddit) n they take screen shots, probably have extra fake accounts, n they login to Wayfarer , n scour Wayfarer for stuff in Weymouth. Especially in South Weymouth, where we live. This has been going on since late 2019, when Wayfarer 1st went live.

We used to think it was so odd that all the best advice we dug up from Ingress players, as well as resources, for the new Wayfarer rules was not working out.

So, it was a common excuse of "lazy reviewers" or "lazy voters". But, I kept getting accused of being an "Abuser", and a "Racist". FOR PLAYING POKÉMON GO??? FOR SUBMITTING A WAYPOINT TO WAYFARER???

WHO DOES THAT MAKE SENSE TO???

But, I noticed that while posting inside our local Discord server, for Wayfarer, if I told everyone WHICH locations I was submitting, they'd all fail, and quickly.

But, when I submitted stuff, and DID NOT TELL the Discord server thread which ones I was doing, I noticed those usually went through.

This was a very consistent pattern. But, everyone in the server was still very status quo oriented like "it's just lazy voters".

THEN IT HAPPENED!

IN February 2020, they started bragging! IN PUBLIC! ON REDDIT! N THEY CALLED ME "AN ABUSER". THEY ALSO THREATENED TO BAN ME, WHICH THEY ACTUALLY DID.

Here in Weymouth, we coordinate, n we can be very motivated & diligent, including myself. I coached people to get really good at this. I also took much of my strategy skills I learned from playing Ingress, to strategies on Wayfarer. [ Another Ingress thingy of mine. ]

These punks also would sabotage my Google maps account. They'd move my Google points out into the ocean, or the wrong locations. This is how evil they are. They also smeared me using a fake account in Discord. They know all my social media using my BlackUniGryphon names on them. I actually never even did anything to them. I've never seen them face to face. They r just vicious. Someone also hacked my original BlackUniGryphon Reddit account n I can't even recover it because they changed the email address. They also made a Reddit account using my Google email, n got it banned for really bad behavior, n there's nothing I can do to fix it, n it gets notifications for explicit gay sex stuff, that I can't even turn off. I didn't even know they made that account until long after it was banned, because I was busy XP grinding to Level up in Pokémon Go.

This is just SOME of the stunts they pulled.

But, to show u an example of the nonsense they group vote on, n coordinate as saboteurs, the reasons they give r literally the exact SAME, including from OTHER PLAYERS I KNOW that aren't even my account.

These r all submitted around the same time n from different accounts of different players, n all in Weymouth. SOUTH WEYMOUTH actually.

Notice they cited "Rejection Criteria" as "Temporary or Seasonal Display", or "Generic Business". Another bogus one is "Mismatched Location"

Notice how they're all the same?

They pick the same reasons, to intentionally sabotage it. Other times these locations were submitted, they'd use different coordinated rejection reasons that were exactly the same reason, as tho they pre-determined what the rejection reason would be. Like "BAD Photo" or "Orientation of the Photo", or "Blurry Photo", or "Racist", or "Abuse" or "Unsafe".

This time the saboteurs chose "Generic Business" or "Temporary".

Also interesting to note is, we haven't submitted anything in months except for 1 guy I know, and he gave up for a long while in Weymouth. I haven't submitted anything in months, other than Appeals...

Well, we did a batch, n u can see the dates showing January, then placed them on hold. Of those batches we did, we told no one publicly, just ourselves.

And, since the vultures were not on the prowl, they started getting approved. These were locations that were the stubborn ones. The ones that obviously go through in other towns. And, things getting approved started creating new PokéGyms as well. Plural.

So, after a while it's hard to keep it quiet, and we bragged a lil bit.

Well..... the vultures noticed, n went to Wayfarer, n sabotaged the last of the batch in Voting.

I've gone through this process over & over for years. All predictable patterns at this point.

Bur, the stuff that we, or I, couldn't get through in 2019-2022, is pretty much LIVE & in the Niantic games now. We know IITC MOBILE, we know Ingress, we know Wayfarer. We know how to change our writing styles, we know how to adapt. We know long term strategy. I even use decoys as a method to test if the vultures are active. I'll submit something intentionally knowing it's got a lower chance of passing (because I know the rules from the older systems) n when the vultures r out, it'll get rejected quickly. But, there's times when my decoys passed through. Which shows that it's subjective, and not objective.

Like I wouldn't expect a bland generic coffee shop, or plain or pizza takeout, to go through. In my opinion, it should be a special & unique one, or ethnic one. So, objectively that shouldn't really go through. But, ones that actually SHOULD COUNT N QUALIFY SHOULD go through. But, if it was in Weymouth it wouldn't, but in other towns it would, n did.

When it comes to being a hateful person, there's only so long u can keep that up, because it's toxic & draining. So, they often give up, n stop logging in to sabotage the area because we don't submit anything.

It's basically like applying principles from Algebra, or mathematics. Like subtraction is addition in reserve. Or, division is multiplication in reverse. Or, things like factors & variables. If u get more & more data that shows a result, we can plot that data.

We can find: trends, averages, rates, coronation.

And even tho originally there were no jerks in my face telling me they were sabotaging me/us, they eventually DID brag on Reddit. They also expressed their motives, which were often an attachment to this idea of weilding power over others, a drive to feel superior, or righteous. Or psychologically weaponizing rules. If u gotta behave like that to pretend u r the hood guys, n I'm the bad guy, u r seriously sick in the mind.

But, even BEFORE they bragged about it, I could tell something was up just by analyzing the patterns in the results, n treating as experiments using the scientific method.

I could think working backwards & forward, like Algebra using variables and factors.

I could also change the way I wrote my blurbs to see which tested better.

Despite the haters, I (and my Community) have turned a desolate place into a thriving one.

Anyways, I won't be mentioning names. There was at least 1 player from Reddit that we smoothed stuff over with.....

But, I won't be naming them. I still will do raids with naughty players because I find they can overcome prejudice by exercising tolerance. I also believe in talking stuff out. But, let's be clear, some people actually r sick in the head, n WANT TROUBLE. If they talked it out, they wouldn't have strife, drama, n trouble because it's something they feed on.

I've also noticed that, sometimes some people can suddenly change. It does happen. N there's no logical explanation. Sometimes, not everything is logical.

U also need to be flexible, but also not end up inside a trap of some sort, mentally, metaphorically, energetically, egotistical, pridefully, ideologically, or otherwise.

There's no 1 set way of doing anything, n no 1 definitively correct method or WAY of accomplishing it.

No good deed goes unpunished.

U could do everything 100% perfectly flawless, n still get screwed. Because it's not actually about being right. N that's WHY it stings.

But, get stung enough times, n u get thicker skin, or u don't even feel it. It's just a number.

I coached so many players through this same mayhem. Remember, it's NOT REALLY ABOUT YOURSELF, IT'S FOR THE COMMUNITY. YOUR PRIDE MEANS ACTUALLY VERY LITTLE....

But, let's keep it real, the BRAGGING is built into the game... so, u should show ur accomplishments....

I honestly wouldn't have even cared.... but, those vulture made me into this.

HATERS CAN KISS IT!!!!

你不知道我是谁！

Anyways, it turns out YOU DON'T WHO WHO I AM!

[moe-broey]

Feh squad decides to play Uno. Who dies first?

I'VE. Been thinking about this... unfortunately I haven't played Uno in ages and could not tell you how it works, but I think across the board (regardless of if it's card games or board games) -- I'm thinking. Several things. Mostly I'm thinking in terms of each character's greatest strengths/weaknesses, that could factor into their individual play styles!

Alfonse's weakness I think is that he plays defense to his own detriment (seen in that promo vid of the real-time PVP mode where Veronica eventually kicks his ass bc he's Too Defensive -- believe it or not I am ALWAYS thinking about this. Also seen in Flavia's FBs too!). I Am a Bit Split on if Sharena would be a weakness of his as well... because it IS super easy to assume he'd be inclined to go easy on her, but I think maybe there's intricacies here. Esp because they fight side by side on a regular basis, and I think it's safe to assume they Have to have trained together. Espp in the context of sparring, I think. Maybe there are times he wants to challenge her. Give her a good fight. And Maybe the weak point is him underestimating her.

Alfonse's greatest strength is how calculated he is. And I can see him being cutthroat as well. But quietly. Actually I think he'd have a GREAT poker face. He has a completely neutral facial expression and he's either 10 steps ahead of you with a surefire plan to win OR he has the Worst Hand Ever and he's internally screaming.

Sharena's greatest weakness is I think she would be too niceys esp just starting out. She might even fake herself out and fumble a bit bc of nerves LMFAO. BUT. I THINK. She's able to recover quickly and gets bolder and more aggressive actually (THINKING ABOUT. How she DOES take things VERY seriously when she's devoted to The Task At Hand, to the point of getting carried away. I think her turnabout power trip would be INSANE actually LMFAOO).

I FEEL LIKE. Beyond that Sharena's strengths are a bit all over the place... Some ideas I have is Knowing Her Foe, and acting accordingly. Alfonse is gonna underestimate her? She'll play along, and then find the perfect moment to prove him wrong. ALSO. Being able to put up an unassuming front and using that to her advantage. Also you wouldn't be mean to Sharena..... you can't be mean to her....... she's just a little guy, c'mooon, she's just a little guy and also it's her birthday she's a little birthday girlie. You wouldn't do this to her on her birthday would you? You monster.

Anna's greatest strength is ALSO her greatest weakness, and I think it's steadfast aggression and competitiveness. She has the STRONGEST opening. Both Alfonse and Sharena need to build up to it, but Anna comes out swinging. She is also a master at mind games and psychological manipulation. She has a pitch and she's gonna sell you on it. She's ALSO going to make you doubt yourself and question your decisions even if you were REALLY confident about your strat here. She's setting up pitfalls or she's bluffing. You really can't tell which and you're scared.

BUT. I do think the aggressive play style is a double edged sword. She bites off more than she can chew. She gambles and loses. She Is still carefully thinking everything through, but she ABSOLUTELY gets lost in the sauce. Her plans get too elaborate and backfire, or she succumbs to madness. Whichever comes first.

KIRAN.... is very up to interpretation. But adhering to canon. I mean it feels like a cop out LMFAO but they're a wildcard. Never let 'em know your next move. They are a brilliant tactician! They are also really bad at it sometimes!! Sometimes they make the Worst Possible Decision. Is this part of their tactical genius? Is it part of a 20 step plan to Get Your Ass? Or did they just have a head empty moment and is currently trying to figure out how to make a clean recovery here. Or maybe they hit a snag at step 15. I think they have like. High Skill and even higher Luck. And nothing else. Mid maxed.

SO WHO DIES FIRST..............

It's Bruno.

[anarchy-and-piglins]

found a 'Mumbo and Techno are cousins' fic, and now obsessed with this idea. like just. Mumbo and Techno being genuinely related and absolutely NO ONE would get it, because it's /Mumbo/. the man is a mess. a disaster. just a silly little thing

and then you're reminded that he's a Hermit, and they're such a strange fucking bunch, and just the mental image of Mumbo showing up at the dSMP, wanting to say hi to his cousin, and no one takes him serious at all, except then he drops some cryptid fucking Hermit shit, and everyone is like

wait

what?

obsessed. truly living the best life rn

Concept where Techno and Mumbo are both piglin shapeshifters and they’re cousins that grew up in the same sounder. Just little baby piglins chillen in the nether uwu Then when they were in their early teens the sounder got fucked over and Mumbo and Techno both thought they were the sole survivor, traveling to the Overworld by separate means. It wasn’t until literal years later that they met up again and were just like “!!! owo” and while they each have their separate shit going on they still make it a point to message each other and occasionally meet up!

People usually think Mumbo is joking when he says he’s related to ‘The Technoblade’ like... ??? you mean the scary pvp guy who dominates tournaments??? sounds fake. Meanwhile nobody would think that out of all the hermits, Mumbo is the one Techno talks to most. It wouldn’t cross anybodies mind they’re family either since Mumbo almost always uses his human form (thumbs are kind of a necessity when doing redstone or building) while Techno skews towards piglin form for combat and living in cold places. They’re just not very alike.

Except then Mumbo shows up like “hey :3 I got an idea for a new storage system that’ll help with your witherskull collection” and Techno’s like “sick! How’s the whole ‘worshiping the moon that will soon destroy all live on my server’ thing going.” and Mumbo just shakes his head, “Ah, you know, vengeful gods doing their vengeful god stuff. I should have stuck to worshiping the blood god but I really wanted to try the whole love peace and plants outlook. That reminds me, I can show you this really cool trick with a nether star owo”

and everybody else is just