#like are we forgetting all the irl school shooters?? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

gothellewoods · 1 year

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Hey bud uh

what (impressed and surprised)

My freshman year at college (I'm a senior now), some guy, let's call him Jay, in the grade above me started recruiting a group of people mostly from my foundations class. Most people found this guy relatively charming, some found him a little creepy. I'm a bit of a recluse irl I guess, so I stuck to my 1 college friend and my boyfriend at the time. That group all seemed very clique-y and I didn't wanna get in the middle of it.

Anyway, one day my friend comes up to me and my bf, and asks if we get any off vibes from that group. She says she checked out Jay's facebook page and there were a bunch of pictures of guns and weird stuff. Real school shooter shit. I'm feeling creeped out, but this is the point where my bf reveals that, at the beginning of the year, 2 of Jay's friends had approached him.

So, my ex was Italian. In a class, he had briefly expressed an interest in ancient roman history. 2 members of Jay's... group... approached him. They tried to recruit him to join them by saying "actually, the Roman empire was a lot like the third reich!" He didn't know what the fuck to say to that so he started avoiding them.

After hearing this, my friend and I are now like, really concerned. She tries reporting it to the school, but without any proof, they won't do shit. This is when we begin investigating

In the meantime, Jay's friends have all started drafting a manifesto in our foundations class. With my ex's help we start spying on them. They're talking about getting matching tattoos. When interacting with his clique they seem to either believe it's a nazi thing or a sex thing depending on who you ask. Some claim both! Some of them literally start calling it a cult. One day, we get lucky. They leave the foundations studio and forget a sheet of their draft on the table. It's handwritten and had a bunch if weird anti e-girl shit in it. We turn this into the school and hope they'll take care of it.

Anyway, as we're pushing for the school to do something, the pandemic hits. We lose track of the situation for a bit. None of us know what happened. A lot of people leave over the pandemic, and when we come back we realize literally none of the people involved in Jay's cult have returned, including Jay himself. My friend tries to ask the school about what happened, but they won't tell her shit, and we were too scared to go up and ask anyone to see if they knew because like. We don't wanna get on their bad side publicly, you know? Who knows what Jay's capable of if he's still around. I go three years without any answers.

Yesterday I finally talked to someone who was in Jay's class and described the cult situation without naming any names. She immediately knew who I was talking about, but she had no idea about the cult. She said she wasn't remotely surprised, considering he was apparently very into racial hierarchy pseudoscience (which is surprising since he's korean?). He was also obsessed with David Bowie's last album, and was trying to get his cult to all get matching black star tattoos. Which yeah, that all tracks.

According to her, he got expelled for sexual harassment (or possibly worse) after a string of reports against him, and he was then institutionalized! I can't say what happened to the people in my foundations class, but I can say it's very suspicious every single person involved in his group hasn't been seen around campus since Jay's expulsion. My guess is that they were all expelled at the same time and the school just doesn't wanna say anything about it because they don't want the whole nazi cult thing going public?

Anyway without him and his cult here, my cohort ended up being very fun and drama free!

#sorry its not the most satisfying ending im just glad theyre all gone #asks #🌙

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vts-ship-and-let-ship · 5 years

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“Fiction = Reality” is Not the equivalent to “fiction affects reality” and it’s not even how the second phrase should be said.

“Fiction reflects reality” is a good hard statement, where cultural, social and pervasive ideas are pushed into major media- major media as what causes the next motion- which then gets slowly internalized and reflected back in reality as the world changes because it reinforces already established ideas. “Fiction affects reality but not on a 1:1 ratio but like a poorly reflected mirror, and on a major scale not a minor one” should be the established ideals.

For my explanation, I’ll use CoD, a major platform. Call of Duty is considered an excellent recruitment tool. Why? Because it glorifies military. Would this tool be as effective if we, as a full society and not individuals, decided the military was bad inherently and it was unnecessary?

Take a few moments.

If your answer isn’t no, then I’ll explain why you’re wrong. CoD would cease to be an effective tool because it’s a reflection with modifiers. There’s no consequences. There’s no social impact from the game’s killing, but firing a gun and murdering people online is carthatic. I’d even say it’s a useful thing. But without a positive societal idea of military, the recruitment tool would fall short because it wouldn’t reinforce perceived notions that the military is great.

In fact, try it. Try to convince someone who hates the military, that the military is great. By ONLY, and ONLY, making them play CoD

I beg of you to tell me how it went. Please I need the entertainment in my life.

Why major media? Because minor media actually has no giant impact socially and needs a different scale of ideals because it’s not on the same length as a major corporation or even major writers, in where curation now is widespread. Fandom is a niche interest and therefore more likely to invite people of varying social backgrounds.

This also is important because I’ve mentioned it before, these things play off of society, and society is fluid. In some areas, being transphobic and homophobic is so normal that talking against it is frowned upon, but in other areas it’s completely the opposite and those who are against regular ol’ people living their lives are judged harshly for it.

Online we forget, we have different societal influences and so the greater impacts on us change. Hence the pervasive idea some forms of media- fictional and not involving real people- are inherently harmful as a one to one ratio ends up being a false narrative. Because if everyone else believes America eats ice cream everyday, and you tried to push that idea onto an American, the American either will a) agree in jest, make jokes about it and such, or b) correct the misinformation.

Banning the fiction depicting the idea Americans eat ice cream everyday doesn’t do anything to prevent people thinking it. That’s not going to change no matter what you do.

Online and irl predators aren’t vanishing from bad fiction, school shooters from what we consider violent media would still exist. Rather if fiction plays a role, it’s a reinforcive role.

It reinforces the ideals that we have and therefore act upon, but is not causality, rather a smaller factor in a larger problem at large.

Which is to say, any fault of media is typically already a fault and we’re not capable of discussing a fictional impact on reality when we can’t even accept the idea fiction does not solely cause the atrocities but rather is non-sequiter and actually has almost a zero sum impact to influence actions.

The only media I’d say could be truly harmful, is Nazis in a positive light, for certain that’s a seriously big issued topic I’d rather leave for someone who is immersed in anti-nazi ideologies and actually could handle the careful mine-field of that topic.

Right now if I tried then I’d fail and likely mess up a serious issue, but I’d like to make the note now of it.

As for, “well Dragon, what the fuck do I do if I think fiction affects reality and helps impact people on a one to one ratio then if I’m wrong”. Easy. Educate.

Teach right from wrong, help break the societal norms. The only reason shows with mixed diversity can exist is because we’re breaking out, otherwise it’s a controversial issue that it happened and generates discussion on why someone’s doing that.

Get up, do some serious activism. These topics don’t disappear in fiction but already existed so if you’re that angry on them.

Fiction isn’t the problem. Societal ideals are. Target and destroy them with all you’ve got to break the cycle. Then we wouldn’t have such a problem with any form of fiction and fictional media existing because reality would be different as not something reinforced.

Smash the mirror. Don’t sit in front of it and say the reflection is the issue, don’t say the reflection is the problem. It’s a reflection. These ideas are pretty mainstream already. It’s time to make that a false idea.

Charicatures wouldn’t make such a societal impact, and these issues wouldn’t be as big if society wasn’t horrible, sure, fighting the charicatures is great, but fight the society that implements them as well because fuck, we n e e d it. That media generates healthy and positive discussions on why we shouldn’t be pieces of shit like that.

And when we don’t need them, when they are just racist/bigoted and unnecessary. It won’t be major media anymore because we’ll have destroyed the idea this idea can be pushed and profited off of.

Fiction is not reality. It’s a mirror. And we can’t even begin a discussion of fiction’s impact because people are too obsessed with fiction being the cause of the world’s problems.

Face it. This is a video games cause violence- research showed otherwise, DND makes people satanic- also Harry Potter and it’s both false, fiction causes LGBT+ people to exist- guys seriously you KNOW it’s wrong.

These ideas didn’t start by well meaning people, and it’s always been, “media causes deviant behaviour and causes people to be bad”, but conservatives were behind the wheel. As we pushed them out, don’t take the wheel.

Keep the blame on reality, they want you fighting fiction because then you’ll never go after the problem. The snake’ll still bite you unless you lop off it’s head, stop stabbing at it’s tail, you’re doing jack shit but getting people bit. The tail doesn’t have the fangs, it’s not biting the people.

- Dragon

P.S. I’m not clowning on this post. Fuck off if you’re going to blame fiction, because I shouldn’t need to explain a topic thirty times over. Stop removing the blame from reality, I’m tired of that apologism.

#fiction does not equal reality #fiction =/= reality #fiction is a mirror #pro shipping #anti anti #honestly this is beyond shipping as a whole and breaks into an actual social issue #i cant believe the discussion needs to be had at this level #think of all the good shit we could accomplish if we didnt need to start here #fiction discourse #anti anti discourse #pro shipping discourse #fiction isnt reality discourse

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goldlink44 · 8 years

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Top 10 Games of 2016

Wow, what a great year for games (and not much else…). Seriously, though, 2016 produced some of the most fun gaming experiences that I’ve ever had. There was emotional wrenching, arcadey shooters, and games that put a smile on my face throughout their duration. I didn’t think that I was going to compile a list of my top ten games, as I wasn’t sure that there were 10 games that I could expound upon. But upon reflection, I found quite a few that I remember very fondly.

That said, there were also a bunch of games that won’t make the list for various reasons. Her Story and Until Dawn came out last year, but are both very very good for what they seek to accomplish.

I don’t own Hyper Light Drifter or Thumper, but they both look amazing and I can’t wait to play them in 2017.

I bought Inside, Oxenfree, Dishonored 2, and Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End, but haven’t put much time into any of them for me to have any strong feelings that I could back up.

Rimworld is still in early access, but shows some of the most promise I’ve seen in an indie game in years.

Orwell narrowly missed the list, but it is amazing in its own right. It’s a lot like one of my other favourite games from recent years, Papers, Please! but uses social media as its interface, and makes it fun to investigate potential law breakers. You can see my full review of it here.

And so, without further adieu, here’s my Top Ten Games of 2016!

10. Battlefield 1

I learned all about the atrocities that occurred from 1914-1918 when I travelled with my family to The Netherlands and Belgium on a cycling trip that literally took us through the Western Front. It was humbling to see how, 100 years later, the land and the people never forget the seemingly pointless orders sending millions of men to their graves. I gained an appreciation, not only for the soldiers and support personnel that occupied that area of Europe during WWI, but also for the beauty of the land that was torn asunder from the battles.

Returning home weeks before BF1’s release, I was anticipating reviews, knowing that DICE can render fantastic environments and realistic war scenery. Most people were positive on the game pre-release, so I picked up a copy, and was not disappointed. The game is gorgeous, nailing the scenery of what I had seen first-hand, and depicting other fronts of the war in stunning detail. The campaign is incredibly well handled, showcasing the human stories behind the war, never glorifying or over exaggerating the heroics of the soldiers, but insisting that there was a great loss of humanity in The Great War. It’s emotionally on-point, and much better than I ever expected.

In any other year, I most likely would have passed over Battlefield 1, but given my trip to Europe, and the care with which DICE handles the story telling, it definitely makes my list of recommended games this year.

9. Overcooked!

While I may not have played hours upon hours of this co-op cooking game, the time I have spent with it has been incredibly entertaining. Anyone who has played Space Team in the past knows the mayhem that happens while trying to coordinate yourself and three other friends into executing on multiple goals at the same time. Throw this framework into a “too many cooks in the kitchen” premise, and it becomes a fun, delicious adventure that never gets stale.

Made by the team behind the Worms games, Overcooked! has a delightful art style and charming sense of humour that reduces the chance of getting bored with it. That, and each level has different mechanics that keep players on their toes, never letting them rest on their laurels and keep learning and moving to progress.

If I had 3 other friends always at the ready, I would definitely play Overcooked! every chance I got. Alas, I have enjoyed my extended bursts with the game, and can’t wait to get back in their and make some delicious soups.

8. Stardew Valley

While some people may spend their down time trying to relax by reading a book or watching a TV show, I found myself diving into Stardew Valley to destress. In its simplest terms, Stardew is a farming simulator that lets players crawl through dungeons and interact with fellow villagers, to almost simulate a second life (not in that creepy way though…). While this may not sound like everyone’s version of fun, Stardew Valley has such a delicate craft to it that everything feels good and rewarding to do. The kicker: it was made entirely by one person.

The premise revolves around you, the player character (customized any way you want, of course), inheriting your grandfather’s farm in Stardew Valley when you’ve grown tired of the hustle and bustle of working in the city. You hop on a bus and learn the basics of farming and slowly get acquainted with everyone in town.

From there, there’s not too much else to say, as there are so many different options available that it’s nearly impossible for two players to have the same experience. It’s surprisingly relaxing to plant and harvest, fight monsters, and woo potential dates. Checking off tasks feels great, and the music provides a soothing tone to everything. While it may not be for everyone, and I haven’t spent the hundreds of hours playing it that others have, I can’t wait to dive back in on chill weekends and vicariously put my digital life in order to help me deal with my IRL problems.

7. Hitman

Another game that I wish I had spent more time playing this year was IO interactive’s episodic Hitman. I watched a LOT of people playing Hitman, most notably Giant Bomb’s various escapdes with it, but only recently purchased it myself. From what I have played, I really, really like it. So far, I’ve only gotten to two of the available six missions, but I’ve replayed them both several times, trying to master each assassination mission.

The set up isn’t very complex: you are an expert hitman, contracted out to assassinate dangerous targets. The gameplay itself though has a ridiculous comedy to it, that allows players to do nearly anything imaginable to accomplish their tasks. Beat them over the head with a golf club? Sure. Two-hand toss a fire extinguisher into their head? You got it. Sneak up behind, choke them out, and toss them off a bridge? Child’s play.

It may sound like incredibly poor taste to casually mention such gruesome methods of killing, but given the vast amount of murder simulators that inhabit the video game space, Hitman holds a special place for its use of comedy. While many games try to evoke a serious tone, or real repercussions for killing, Hitman knows exactly what it is, and accounts for the uncanny valley aspects inherent in video games. It leans into the silly ways of killing, and rewards players for their creativity. Again, it’s hard to get a handle on why this game works just by reading words, or even by watching it. The magic is only truly woven over those who play it themselves, and even as I type, I’m trying to allocate my upcoming Hitman time. If none of this has convinced you, perhaps this might.

6. SUPERHOT

When I first heard about this game several years ago, it pretty much consisted of one mechanic: time moves when you move. I watched the demo, chuckled to myself, and hoped that the developers didn’t take their neat trick too seriously. Cut to this year, when SUPERHOT was finally released. I had almost forgotten about it, but the distinctive glass-like art style brought back memories of the cool mechanic, and again, I hoped that the game was able to improve on this simple-but-brilliant idea.

They did not disappoint.

I only played through all of SUPERHOT near the very end of 2016, but it was well worth the wait. The level design and player controls all lent to the feeling of playing like some sort of god. The narrative wrapper is also perfectly messed-up and suits this god-like feeling quite well. To fully immerse yourself in the game is to intuit where and when to shoot, throw your weapons, and move so that all of your split-second planning pays off. In total, the game took me about 3 hours, with an insanely difficult final level that outs all of your skills to the test, and succeeds on the initial promise in a way that I never imagined possible. It doesn’t overstay its welcome, and rewards those who stay with it all the way. I loved it. It’s the most innovative shooter I’ve played in years.

5. The Witness

How do I sum up my thoughts on The Witness? For starters, I haven’t finished it yet, and feel like if I were to go back to it, I’d have to start all over again. That said, my time with it felt like school, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Playing Jonathan Blow’s previous game, Braid, hurt my head, but had a touching story that kept me going. With The Witness, there’s not much of a “story” but what fuelled my need to play it was the satisfaction of playing the game. Which is ridiculous when the game is basically just made up of hundreds or thousands of line puzzles. The puzzles start out simple enough, asking players to snake their way through mazes, creating lines in certain patterns that can’t cross over each other. Progressively, the game adds more and more elements to the puzzles, slowly training the player to think in different ways. It never prompts or looks down on you, but instead has an attitude of, “You can do it, just keep going.” There is no praise other than progression, but let me tell you, solving some of the more challenging puzzles makes you feel like the smartest motherfucker on the planet.

I should also mention that I played this with my girlfriend, Rosalie, passing the controller back and forth when we conquered a section, or got stumped by a puzzle. This definitely reduced the frustration, as getting a fresh pair of eyes didn’t let us bash our heads against a wall for too long. It’s hard to describe The Witness as “fun”, but it is beautiful and engaging, and never makes it too easy. The puzzles all build off of each other in such intricate ways, that there are too many “Eureka!” moments to count, all of which feel better than the last. There was definitely a lot of frustration with it too, but when I think back on it, all I can remember is the feeling of solving a puzzle, and feeling like I could conquer the whole damn island. It’s a different kind of pleasure than I normally experience in games, and in some ways, more potent than any other I’ve felt. Overall, it’s great.

4. Destiny: Rise of Iron

This is the third year that I’ve been playing Destiny, and I must admit, I think I’m a lifer. After being disappointed with its original release in 2014 (as seen in my Top Ten of 2014 list), The Taken King expansion from 2015 changed a lot of what I didn’t like about the game, and made it incredibly addictive. Combine that with a group of friends that I can consistently play with, and Destiny was the game I would usually fire up in 2016. To date, I’ve played 444 hours of Destiny since its release. It’s a fantastic game, made better with teammates.

2016’s expansion Rise of Iron was conceived as a way to tide fans over while Destiny 2 got delayed, and unfortunately, it shows. Don’t get me wrong, I loved a lot about getting more content for Destiny, but I feel like I went through it fairly quickly, and didn’t feel the need to keep going the way I did with The Taken King.

That all said, I still loved my time with it. The raid, Wrath of the Machine, is excellent, and the new crucible mode, supremacy, is a ton of fun for my main class and weapon load out - Shotgun Titan. The story was a bit of a let down, but I still enjoyed it. While this particular expansion wasn’t my favourite, Destiny solidified itself in my heart as a game that I will always return to. The shooting feels incredible, and the thrill of raiding is unlike any other experience I’ve had in games. I can’t wait for more content, and to see what else I can do with an already solid base. Here’s hoping Destiny 2 is 2017’s GOTY!

3. Overwatch

I was very late to the party on this game, and never played the betas. I’ve never been great at online multiplayer shooters. I even thought that I had my all-time-shooter in Destiny, but when I finally got my hands on Overwatch during a free weekend in October, I pulled the trigger (nice) and have loved every second that I’ve spent with it so far. Like Destiny, Overwatch is better with friends, as you casually shoot the shit while you shoot the shit (read: opposing team). Each character is unique, and I can play a variety of different ways that I never thought I would enjoy.

There’s been a lot said and hyperbolized about Overwatch, but I honestly think it deserves it. Like a lot of Blizzard’s past games, it perfects a formula, and adds a level of polish that makes everything feel accessible. I could go on and on about specific things to love, but it won’t make sense until you get your own hands on it. It’s fun, fast, and rewarding in the best ways - literally. It only shows positive accomplishments at the end of every match. The K/D ratio isn’t displayed, as killing n00bs isn’t the point. It’s about working together and having fun. To prove my point, I usually play as Reinhardt and don’t get many kills in each game, but I always feel valuable.

For changing my perception of competitive shooters, and for providing so many ways to play, Overwatch has earned a spot in my top 3, despite only playing it for 2 months of the year.

2. Firewatch

When I first heard about Firewatch, I knew that some of the guys behind the Idle Thumbs Podcast and The Walking Dead Season 1 were working on it. As I had been working my way through the Giant Bombcast, Idle Thumbs seemed like the obvious next choice for gaming podcasts. I resolved myself to try and listen to as much of it as I could before Firewatch’s release, so that I could better understand its creators (I guess). I was also a big fan of Olly Moss’s art for movie and game posters, and after listening to hours and hours of Idle Thumbs, I was brimming with anticipation for the release of the game.

When it finally came out on February 9th, 2016, I got home from my closing shift at Starbucks around 11pm. I waited for my girlfriend to fall asleep, and dove in around midnight. From there, i played through the whole thing in one sitting, finishing around 4:30am. My drive to do this was fueled by many things: 1) I loved the atmosphere and the music 2) I was on the edge of my seat, eagerly anticipating what would come next and 3) I was afraid that if I waited to finish it, I would miss something, or the tension would be lost.

My experience with Firewatch is very personal and unique, and I understand people’s resistance to its ending, or some of the tension that is built up throughout the game. For me, it is a fantastic story, full of relatable themes and story beats that pulls on my heart strings in so many ways. By the end, I was an emotional wreck, and I couldn’t have asked for more from such a tight, beautiful experience. I’m grateful to have learned about Idle Thumbs in the process, and will always recommend this game to people who enjoy a good story.

I also ended up playing through this with my friend Alex as part of my 24 hour live stream benefitting pancreas cancer research in November. You can watch it here: Part 1 Part 2

1. DOOM

Video games are supposed to be fun, right? If I had to picture myself as a third party, observing Chris Townley playing video games in 2016, I would have to definitively say that he had the most fun playing DOOM this year. Why? Because the majority of my time with it was spent with a big dumb grin on my face, giggling to myself as I bounced around and plowed through monsters. From the opening 5 minutes of DOOM, I knew that it was going to be an experience that I would treasure forever.

Growing up, we always had Apple computers with very few games on them. It was always a treat when my dad would bring home his laptop with a copy of Doom on it that I could mess around with. I might not have spent a large part of my childhood gaming time with Doom, but it is seared into my heart as a treasured memory. For example, my ringtone for the past 3 years has been the theme for 1-1.

Hearing that a new Doom game was coming out, I dove into nostalgia, and eagerly anticipated playing it, even if I thought it would be bad. Prodded by this interest, I picked up a copy of Masters of Doom by Dave Kushner, a book about the early days of id Software. It’s an incredible book, and one that I think most gamers should read. It also pumped me up for a new Doom. Just to swim around in familiar demonic territory would be good enough for me.

When it was announced that no review outlets had gotten a copy of it before release, I was skeptical but still hopeful. I didn’t play the multiplayer beta, because I knew that wasn’t where I was going to spend my time with it. When the reviews finally started flooding in, everyone raved about the single player. Shortly after, I spent the full price of $80 CAD to play it. I don’t regret it one bit, even though the game has had dozens of sale offerings since then.

Why do I like it so much? It’s dumb and it’s fun and it knows what it is. The original premise for Doom was along the lines of, you shoot demons, and you’re badass. DOOM (2016) keeps this theme alive, along with the speed and ridiculous humour that made the first game so fun. This is especially amazing considering only one person from the original team worked on the new one. It looks gorgeous, the music is perfect, and the mechanics urge you forward, punching and shooting through demons in sprays of blood and guts.

I could go on and on about how much there is to love about DOOM, but perhaps I will sum it up this way: after 11 hours of gameplay, and nearing the final mission, my save was corrupted and I lost everything. I’m not even mad, because I know I get to play through it all over again. Maybe this hyperbole will colour your version of DOOM, but for me, it was the best game I played in 2016.

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