#were still in prestream chat

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

Max0r just murdered my chat privileges because I dared to sing before he even showed up

[chloeverto]

Haha oh hey there didn't realize you were there. Well how long were you there? Oh haha no matter. I got your favorite flavor of popsicle. Blue Raspberry! Removed the wooden stick and everything for you. Oh yep yep, bowl and spoon right here haha. Always one step ahead aren't you. That's cool yeah yeah cool. Oh my? No I had mine earlier haha. Yeah Banana flavored. You wanna watch a dhow or something? Speaking of Netflix didya hear about its stock? Yeah dropping like flies. Oh wow you finished your popsicle already! Do you want another? No? Ok. Yes I remember. Doctor said only one a day. I just thought maybe you wanted another. Hey do you wanna go for a drive? I feel like going 35 down the highway. No yeah my car got out of the shop last Monday. Picked it up right when they opened. Got some potatoes while I was out too. Made some mashed potatoes, turkey gravey, popcorn chicken. Delish!! Well I did have leftovers but I ate it all already. Last Monday remember haha. You silly goose. Anyways, I think Jerma is live right now? Streaming the new Percy Jackson game, apparently it has a lot of bugs. No yeah, the game was adapted from the movie so you know it's gonna be bad. I heard no voice actors would even touch it so they just got game devs to do all the voices. Surprisingly the sound effects are top notch. Ok sick yeah, let me just plug the HDMI into my laptap. Oh sick! We're in the prestream. Think we could do a one guy moment? Haha yeah yeah, I heard they're al scripted. No yeah, Jerma and Ster have a game where Ster will use fake accounts to send messages and Jerma has to guess which messages are Ster's. Yeah I know right, with how fast that chat moves it's hard to read even a single message. I kinda wanna go on a drive right now. But like, not really you know? Sometimes the car just beckons to me. The exhaust? No that's so weird. Hey wanna know what that reminded me of though. When I was a kid I threw a rock at my friend's head and sent him to the hospital. He came back the next day but then I moved houses. Haha yeah I still feel kinda bad about it. Wait what did Jerma just say? Ahha no way! That's gonna be nominated for best one guy moment for sure! What's that? Oh yeah for sure that was Ster haha. I don't actually believe that by the way, just a funny conspiracy theory. Isn't your dad into some weird conspiracy theories? Uh huh, yeah. No yeah how can people fall for that haha. That's crazy, could you even imagine how crazy that would be hahahaha. Hey you know what why don't I get some icecream. I'm thinking Mint Chocolate Chip, you? Yeah ok sounds good. I'll run to the store and be right back.

20 days later

Happy Wednesday Mom! Humpday!! Woooo! Yeah ahaha!

6 Hours later

Hey I'm home, how are you? Oh no! Tell me about it. Ah well fair enough, I had an alright day. Saw my mom earlier. We just chatted, surprisingly pleasant. Well of course not, you know how they are. Different generation and all that junk. Junk inside your trunk. Yeehaw! Those are some horses. Horses run very quickly even though their legs are like a finger, or however that fun fact goes. Did you know that there are different sizes of infinity? Like the whole set of integers, you know n+1 where n is the current number. All the numbers you would reaxh using that expression. Countably Infinite. What is uncountably infinite is all real numbers. So that would include numbers with decimals and stuff. Cause 1.0 is a number and 1.1 is a number and 1.01 is a number and 1.001 is a number and 1.0001 is a number and so forth. You can't even get to 2. It's that big. How crazy is that! While yeah numbers and counting and shit is like, made up by humans it's still cool. Sven if it has no practical real world use. Though maybe that's just me being autistic. If you made it this far tag your friends! No but yeah, I'm just a quirky trans girl just living it up in the big city! Not a care in the world! I sometimes look out the window with my cat when he chirps. Try to see what he sees. He's a little orange fella. Real cute. Mostly birds you know? Sometimes we talk him out for a walk, just around the neighborhood. Put his collar, vest, and leash on.

Ons time in a walk he fisted a hole in a tree and a bird flew out. It was so crazy! I have a final I should be working on, but I like tip typing away at my phone. Like a little movie script. Haha would it be funny if I asked my boyfriend to proofread all of this. Haha that would be so crazy. I want this post to be longer. My goal was to make this like, the length of color of the sky. You know? The type of post that just takes a while to scroll past. I might have to just put it in my drafts and add on later. This is the end of the first time I add to this

Bro it's like 2 years later how crazy is that. Fuck fuck ufkc fuck fuck duck dick fuck fuckd ducm hahhahaba FUCK YOU A grape what even is that. Raisins my ass we kill plants in this ass. Root and all I just go into the woods and start pulling them up. Don't even harvest them I just like this is FALSE I DO NOT go into the nature by myself and I largely leave nature alone. I think I watched The Original Jumanji too young and now plants scare me kinda. Mushrooms too but that's from Ben 10 I think. Fucked up you know. I could be enjoying way more different types of food but I can't. Ok back to the single sided conversation.

Hey man long time no see. Still on the 1 a day popsicle regime? Yeah I hear you man BIG pharma really sucks you in. Not that being on pills forever is bad it just sucks that it's such a strain on the individuals finances. No man I'm not a cuck that was one time. Well sure I like watcjing people kiss but anyone who likes romance movies would be a cuck then. Wait are you a cuck? Yeah ok whatever man. Anyways, wanna watch some Narnia readings on youtube? I know this one guy that just recorded all the words in the books alphabetically and just plays each word as needed. No not really, that'd be way too much work. I... yeah, I know. I'm sorry. I didn't mean for it to be like this. This wasn't what this was supposed to be like. You, you never were supposed to get diagnosed with popsicle-itus. That's on me. I love you. I'll stay with you

FUCKING SIKE bitch ass get FUCKED bro I melted a popsicle and out it in your drink and now you're gonna DIE. That's what you get for fucking my mom man. Little BITCH! Oh yeah, btw I don't even like Mint Chocolate Chip. Suck on those grapes fucker. Of course I'll hold your hand. You'll wake up tomorrow and I'll find you.

Baited lul

[cyberneticlagomorph]

> 🔴 cyberneticlagomorph is live on caster

The stream is late, silent, a little unsettling with the way it just jumps straight into the game without any of Jack's friendly prestream preamble.

The Caster chat is visible in the corner of the screen, people quietly file in and post emojis that do little to break the sense of cloying unease that permeates the entire scene.

Jack's avatar opens his eyes, slowly, painfully.

Blurry.

Why is everything always blurry?

He sits up, and it's unclear if the action is a cutscene or a voluntary action. Ribbon sits, straddling a chair at the foot of Jack's hospital bed. The chair is green and shaped like a frog, looks like the dev team likes animal crossing.

Or memes.

"I told you to run, dumbass." Ribbon growls, she's covered from ear-tip to tail in brightly colored bandaids. Her sword and scabbard are missing and she looks angry, exhausted, like a long suffering mother that just got called into the principal's office yet again. Seconds of silence tick by before Jack finally speaks.

"There are swears in this game??" He takes a moment to look around and finds himself in some sort of tooth-rottingly cute infirmary. Anything made of fabric (that isn't another player or npc) is made out of pastel colored patchwork, even the wallpaper is patchwork. The floor is plush and quilted, and lavender light angles in through the only visible window. For a few moments Jack sits there and wonders if that business with the tunnels and monsters was just a weird bit and the real game is going to be some adorable slice of life type thing like Neopets.

"Finally awake I see." The voice comes from off screen, as soft and warm as the ever present patchwork around them. A patchwork bear in a white lab coat and pink stethoscope waddles in at a leisurely pace, flipping through their sticker encrusted clipboard as they move, "Hello Ribbon, you know that you're cleared to leave right?"

The doctor bear's words are soft, sweet, and tinged with that kind of sugary passive aggression that makes people want to break your teeth.

Ribbon makes a noise in the back of her throat, clearly aware of the tone, "I'm not leaving till I finish rescuing this newbie."

The bear just smiles, wryly, "Of course you aren't, very well then." They turn to Jack, "How are you feeling hun?"

Jack looks down at himself, his hands are... fine? There are two cartoony bandaids wrapped around his wrists where his hands were previously severed, and more slapped over various cuts that he somehow wasn't aware of. But as far as he can tell, he isn't in any pain, "I feel... great?"

The patchwork medic smiles wide and claps her paws together, "Oh, wonderful! If that is the case then you're free to go, but ah-- don't forget to stop by our pharmacy on the way out."

Jack gets to his feet as the doctor takes their leave, and Ribbon gets up to show him the way out, "C'mon I know this place like the back of my eyelids."

"That does not fill me with confidence." Jack murmurs as he is led to the pharmacy. A little name placard rests on the desk, it reads 'pharmacist', but the P has been scribbled out with sharpie markers. Behind the desk is a ratty looking brown bear with safety pins in their ears and nose, there are embroidered patches sewn into their fur in place of tattoos. Despite all of this they're wearing crisp black scrubs and little purple latex gloves.

"What?" Drawls the... Harmacist, not looking up from whatever it's doing. Jack watches as they rummage through a mug full of sewing needles for a hot second, before returning to their earlier hunched over position. Whatever the Harmacist is... harming is unhappy with its situation, as it is currently gurgling and whining and trying to get away.

Ribbon slams her hands on the desk, "Kai sent us, so shape up."

The Harmacist sits up, red eyes dull and bored, their nametag reads 'BB', "That tells me everything thank you!" They spit venomously, "Did Kai send you with a prescription or nah, cuz I can't do anything without one, you know that."

Ribbon makes a face, Jack is currently attempting to edge himself towards the door out of this place. Medical stuff still makes him uncomfortable, no matter how cutely it's been reskinned. Luckily neither NPC seems to notice his moments and he makes it to the door unscathed as an argument breaks out between cat and bear.

As soon as he touches the chipped, plastic doorknob the world seems to warp, and not in a 'loading big assets' kind of way. The game the game the game the game game game game game

Static

Black screen

Blue screen

Loading

Tooltip: the text is unreadable, swimming, crawling, a mess of numbers and broken characters.

Jack is outside the hospital, the sky is black and empty and endless.

The level outside is nothing but indecipherable black silhouettes that stand out against an even darker sky.

He can see the players, all looking up, confused, afraid.

The npcs are nothing now, just colorful shapes in this wretched sea of emptiness.

The ground gives way beneath them all and now he is falling...

Falling...

Falling...

Is the stream still rolling?

He can't tell, he can't see the chat, but it's still there.

Don't worry Jack, they're all screaming for you.

And then, as quickly as it all started.

It stops.

Jack is outside, staring up at a purple sky with green stars like those glow in the dark stickers he always wanted as a kid. The moon hangs there, a jagged crescent with a monstrous bite taken out of it. It glows lavender and seems so resigned to its fate.

Ribbon pops into existence right next to Jack, her animations lag, her lips refuse to sync with her speech.

She has no eyes, only that endless hungry dark that swallowed the sky, "There you are! Here, I finally got ahold of that prescription."

She hands Jack a white paper bag with a cross on it. He takes it, visibly shaking and unsettled. The entire level comes alive with a staticky crackle, followed by a voice without gender, "Hello my dears! I know that Haven is technically outside my jurisdiction but I'm the only one with game-wide intercom access so Keeper can stuff it! Anyway, please excuse that technological hiccup, it seems that our wonderful dev team has more work to do to make this place stable. In any case, all public and private Ursumbra online servers and services will be temporarily closed for maintenance at midnight eastern standard time..." a chorus of groans rings out amongst players, "I know, I know, you'll all be so bored without my dulcet tones spurring you on... see you all tomorrow my lovely listeners, Radio Host out."

And thus ends the broadcast. Jack, thoroughly shaken and confused thought it would be a good time to leave, and logged out without a word, ending the stream immediately after.

[magzoso-tech]

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/could-solving-loneliness-be-streaming-tvs-next-innovation/

Could Solving Loneliness Be Streaming TV's Next Innovation?

Let’s bring the fundamentals of human relationships to the technologies we’re building.

November 12, 2019 6 min read

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Netflix is the subject of envy for many companies today. The popular streaming service posted $16 billion in revenue in 2018 and has upwards of 151 million subscribers globally. It attracts some of the most creative minds in entertainment and is known for some of today’s most buzzworthy shows and movies, including Stranger Things, 13 Reasons Why and Breaking Bad. It’s really no wonder Hulu, Amazon, Disney and Apple all want a piece of the streaming pie.

As an entrepreneur and TV lover, I share everyone’s appreciation for Netflix and the streaming market it pioneered. Like many people, I can’t imagine my life without it. Catching my favorite shows — and occasionally bingeing on them — is certainly something I look forward to at the end of a busy week.

But as a technologist, I have some reservations about Netflix and its impact on society. Don’t get me wrong: the company’s streaming service is a brilliant technological achievement. The clever way it utilizes data to continually improve its technology and deliver a seamless, personalized user experience is impressive. It’s what many other companies may consider the Holy Grail of innovation.

That said, if you look at the societal impact of Netflix, some concerns naturally emerge. Yes, the service has become a pop-culture phenomenon, but the company’s undeniable success is also inadvertently contributing to one of the biggest problems we have today: loneliness.

A 2019 study found that for the most part, streaming shows is a solo activity. In a survey of more than 300 U.S. consumers, 45 percent of streaming users report watching shows on their own; 23 percent report doing so with friends and family. This is in contrast to the prestreaming era, when families gathered around the TV set at a specific time and engaged in watercooler talk the next day.

Additionally, streaming is replacing other activities, including social ones. Thirteen percent of streaming users reported that they spend less time with their family to carve out more time for their favorite shows, and 12 percent report hanging out less with their friends.

Related: Netflix, YouTube, Prime Video and Hulu Dominate Streaming, for Now

If you’re a streaming user, I bet these stats don’t really surprise you. But these trends are very concerning if you consider that the rates of loneliness have doubled in the U.S. since the 1980s. Millennials and those in Gen Z are the biggest victims of the loneliness epidemic.

Of course, it’s not fair to put the blame on Netflix alone. Loneliness is a multifactor problem. Many researchers point to social media and the FOMO culture it has cultivated as another big culprit. A growing body of evidence shows that there’s a correlation between how much time people spend on social media and how lonely they are.  

As an entrepreneur, I hold an abundant and optimistic view of technology. I believe technology can bring enormous value to businesses and the consumers they serve. More important, I believe technologies should improve society. This point of view is why I’m mostly optimistic that soon we’ll see companies create technologies and experiences that will help people connect in more authentic ways and help them enrich their lives.

Related: How to Combat the Growing Epidemic of Loneliness in the Workplace

Really, the technology industry doesn’t have any choice but to help address the loneliness epidemic. The need to find your tribe and to belong is innate in every human. It’s in our DNA — a requirement for survival. More consumers are becoming aware of the impact of tech addiction to their social lives, so we’re bound to see more pressure on tech companies to do something about the loneliness issue.

To some extent, we’re already seeing glimpses of change. Apple’s usage metrics are an attempt to help consumers make educated decisions about how much time they want to spend on their phones. Facebook’s Watch Party feature as an attempt to transform online video watching into a more social experience. Netflix’s experimentation with interactive content is also interesting in that it’s a small step toward getting audiences more actively engaged with the content they’re consuming. 

But there’s still much to be done. To drive real change, innovators should go back to basics and bring the fundamentals of human relationships to the technologies we’re building. We need to look at how people want to connect with each other and build technologies that mirror those interactions and foster relationships. This could be as simple as embedding technology that lets people chat with other viewers in real time within a streaming app — something more seamless and engaging than a subreddit or a Facebook group.

Another potential solution has nothing to do with technology at all. Why not extend the experience offline? What if streaming services introduced physical spaces for people to assemble and geek out on their favorite shows? If there was an opportunity for my wife and me to join a tribe of Stranger Things fans and meet in person, we’d be in!

Related: This Accidental Entrepreneur Is Tackling the Problem of Loneliness

Content creators also have an opportunity to draw people together. What if rather than creating content that turns people into passive viewers, there were opportunities to get them more involved and connected with others? This could be as simple as allowing people to customize their viewing experience (similar to Netflix’s “Bandersnatch” experiment), or it could be something bigger such as letting an exclusive community of superfans chat with each other to shape the story.

The increasing awareness of the loneliness problem means that the next big opportunity in technology is in helping create real, lasting connections. We can — and should — help foster relationships and bring back the human element to the way we do business. This is what I’m trying to do for market research, and I hope it’s what other entrepreneurs are doing in their chosen fields as well.

Brands like Netflix, Facebook and Instagram created huge, disruptive businesses by commanding people’s attention. But consumers want and deserve more. The companies that listen to consumers today and deliver on people’s need for genuine connection are set to lead the next phase of innovation — and build the next businesses that will transform their industries.