zontarzon - Tumblr blog

[zontarzon]

You there. Artist.

Did you back up your files recently?

You better back up those files.

[zontarzon]

Sorry I haven't been very active. I had a family emergency recently, and it was pretty much the straw that broke the camel's back. I signed up for therapy, so hopefully that works out.

Two commission pieces are on the way soon, and one is almost done.

I also think I need to be treated for workaholism. I barely sleep, and it really gets in the way of my mental and physical health. I can't relax, and I haven't had a good night's sleep in a very long time. That being said, commissions are closed for the foreseeable future, until I can stabilize.

[zontarzon]

Small artists you need to understand that when you see an artist who you think has 'made it' tells you not to worry about the numbers and to not fret about getting more likes than reblogs they are not telling you it because they think you are stupid for caring or because they dont need to network to survive they are very likely telling you that because they have witnessed first hand the way the numbers game tears people to shreds in terms of mental health and motivation

[zontarzon]

happy tdov my loves. don't let anyone else define your transness for you.

help trans women evacuate gaza

[zontarzon]

The Aether Bunny, who is very real and canon, is back to hide eggs across DragCave. They brought a lot of great eggs this year.

Did I mention the Aether Bunny is real?

[zontarzon]

Birthday request for Arcy on the dragcave forums.

Vroom.

[zontarzon]

HAM!!!!!!!

[zontarzon]

They are already selling data to midjourney, and it's very likely your work is already being used to train their models because you have to OPT OUT of this, not opt in. Very scummy of them to roll this out unannounced.

[zontarzon]

I was initially going to let this play out, but this is an opportunity for a very important UX lesson that I cannot pass up. From a UX perspective: If a user concern is so prominent that a company employee feels obligated to release a public statement on the matter, then in all likelihood, a problem truly does exist.

This is coming from the same company whose reputation on the matter is so bad that people have gone so far as to report them to the Better Business Bureau, multiple times.

As for some people lying and exaggerating: that's not the point.

The banxiety is real, valid, and something the company should take seriously. It's not unusual to see disclaimers in profile descriptions, begging FR staff not to ban them because other people in the household are simply playing the game. Whether items are funneled between them, or if someone is truly breaking the rules? Again, not the point.

If users who are not cheating and are not breaking rules are this terrified of being falsely banned, then it is the responsibility of the company to implement adjustments to their product to prevent these concerns from arising in the first place, whether the company believes the problem to be real or not.

A statement alone will not fix banxiety. Without empathy for user concerns, trust in the company's decisions cannot be fostered. At the end of the day, completely innocent users will remain terrified that they might lose everything.

And this does affect sales. A user won't bother with gem purchases if they feel like they might fall victim to the banhammer at any given moment.

And Aequorin, this is by no means an attack. I have faith that staff can reevaluate and better address this issue, as they have addressed other controversies in the past with tact.

And as always, for anyone reading this: Don't go harassing FR staff. It doesn't do you any good.

Man the more I hear about Flight Rising moderation, the more I'm like legitimately fuck y'all. You get so mad at people for using multiple IP addresses that there's an entire caveat about how you need to tell the moderators if you're changing IP addresses or that multiple people in the same household use Flight Rising because otherwise your account is at risk of being nuked.

Like I get they don't have much server space, but when you kick off dedicated users because 2 people in the same household play and one gave the other a dragon, then you're having problems seeing cheating where it isn't there and your moderation reflects that.

No, someone switching accounts because of your weird hang ups about changing IP addresses and moving their stuff over isn't cheating. No, siblings playing FR together and giving each other dragons and clothes and gems from the same IP address isn't cheating. They've created this atmosphere where people are downright paranoid to have 2 accounts from different people on the same IP address, or even just changing your IP bc you moved or something.

Like. Idk. I think that's fairly detrimental to your playerbase, and the fact they're nuking accounts that aren't even cheating is honestly extremely fucked up. I love playing the game, but when it gets to the point where they're banning players for *checks notes* having multiple people in the same household play, then I think the mods need to back off a bit.

[zontarzon]

Just a little guy. He is here to help you clean up the place.

[zontarzon]

The customs and courtesies of “sharing” are very different between artists and devs, and it should be said more often.

In the software development world, sharing gets you jobs. It’s true. Your contributions to open source software and free-to-use content are a major plus in your career track.

I had several insightful conversations with interviewers on what they look for in a dev; it’s something they will often go out of their way to check when hiring. How many badges do you have on stackoverflow? How many stars does your MIT licensed GitHub repo have? How many downloads? It’s one of the reasons why job applications ask for links to those profiles.

Open source libraries and other resources are the building blocks of modern software development. Almost all commercial software relies on it. Hell, the apps you use every day rely on it. Tumblr relies on it. As a dev, I rely on it.

This is not how it works in art.

Artists are paid far less than devs and must closely monitor their work for theft, as it massively impacts their income when someone tries to circumvent royalties. Control of their art is crucial to financial stability.

When artists distribute free content, it has either no financial benefit or a net loss. A dev can distribute free-to-use code and use it as leverage to get a promotion or a better job.

The impacts of sharing are not the same. And some wonder why artists feel the need to glaze and watermark their work to oblivion.

[zontarzon]

Aegis dragons hunt down and punish evildoers.

[zontarzon]

2023 was a wild ride. I lost my job, had to take emergency commissions, got a better paying job, developed a dragcave fangame, and paid off all my student loan debt.

Here's hoping 2024 goes smoothly!

If you want to use this template, you can find it here. Free to use.

[zontarzon]

Look, I made a 2023 art summary template, just for you! Free to use.

[zontarzon]

Sweater party

[zontarzon]

Me and who 😔😔😔

[zontarzon]

It's Wyrmy Wednesday 🪱