Enttropy

Nope. This website has a very specific demographic and a ton of more “casual”, non-tech/internet topics see zero activity in here, for the simple reason that there’s virtually no interest or demand for them amongst the Fediverse users.

Deleting my Reddit account made me look for already stablished forums on certain topics tho.

In this context, Americans... A LOT.

Also, what some people here don't understand (@OpenStars did), is that the Fediverse is not this huge global revolution that they assume it is. At this point, the Fediverse caters to a VERY specific demographic, and trying to make a "Mezcal" or "Trip Hop" community on the Fediverse is just like trying to create a Board Game Design community on Subaru's Post-sales forum.

Case and point: soloRPG on the Fediverse has existed for over a year, and amongst all the Fediverse instances, the interest and demand for this community is so small, that 99% of its contents have been posted by a single dude.

And regarding shitposting and cringe circlejerking, I don't know about other instances, but since the latest update, the default landing page of Kbin is whatever you set as "homepage" in your profile's settings. Also, blocking magazines and users is pretty easy and does wonders to stay away from shit you don't want to see.

Thanks! Yeah, I've already blocked a bunch of topics and users, and I'm still playing whack-a-mole with loose ends on my start page.

And you're completely right. The Fediverse is still very much a niche thing and, by nature, not the best place to expect living communities for certain topics when it's already hard to find them in much more popular, casual, and easy to find websites.

Yeah, that's exemplary and very inspirational, but we're on completely different pages. I never complained, nor I'm expecting any change or have content being fed to me.

The reality is that the demographic of this site (a tiny niche of Reddit, which on itself is already a niche) + the terrible time search engines are having, and will have to index the Fediverse, just makes communities for non tech-savvy / internet culture people, virtually impossible to grow.

Like, good luck forming a Fediverse community about Paella, Bubble Tea, Mezcal, or your neighbourhood, in which John and Jane Doe who barely ever use the internet, join. Communities of a ton of topics are already incredibly small in first-place search result sites such as Twitter or Reddit, and are going to be impossible to have on the Fediverse, until the day you can ask the corner shop grandma about the Fediverse magazines she's subscribed to, and you get an answer other than "What the hell are you talking about?"

Oh, so you haven’t played the game…

Thanks for the downvotes and have a wonderful day too!

Right. It’s a Reddit-esque reaction, when literally the very own comment section of that incredible piece of journalism is filled with people calling the author disingenuous. But what kind of nuanced discussion you expected to happen when you only typed a single sentence? Have you played the game? What’s your opinion about it?

Anyway, let’s have a nuanced discussion about the article:

The author spends one third of the article praising Jill as a character because she’s fiery, emotional, has killed people and is the powerful vessel of inhuman powers that she gets to control. And then goes to compare her with Hello Kitty, a mute character, despite Jill having more lines and screen time than any other character, besides the main one. Why? Because she’s a composed character and doesn’t crack to pressure.

And this is what really makes me roll my eyes: The author claims Jill is like Hello Kitty for not saying much, but then cites Clive brushing off a ton of pain and and anguish saying "It was nothing." So now both the main male character and the secondary female one are Hello Kitties for keeping things for themselves? But the problem for the author is that we see the main character, Clive, later exploding from all the pain and pressure, but Jill doesn’t get that scene for herself, and when Clive explodes she’s an spectator.

Then her normal relationship with Clive is seen as a problem by the author because patriarchy. Her being pretty? A problem because "there are studies that show that pretty people are often seen as smart and kind". Her being "cisgender" and white? A problem.

In my opinion, the author is literally looking for any reason to complain about the game. "Jill should be more than pretty" reads off as "Jill’s and Clive’s roles should’ve been swapped, Jill should’ve been queer, ugly, and anything but white." in all Kotaku’s fashion.

And regarding you blaming me for being part of a problem you felt in your gut, well, I’d just tell you to grow some thicker skin because an expected opposing opinion shouldn’t be a deterrent to voice yours. You wanted to have a nuanced discussion but I’ve yet to read your opinion on Jill as a character and the article.

Ah, Kotaku again with the shitposting.

So the author is mad that Jill isn’t the main character and she loves the actual main character, who happens to be a dude.

Oh, but look at those petty downvotes you fished.

A similar thing was happening with Americans and Spaniards/Germans extracting oil from Mexico, just so the Mexicans bought it back from them, despite Mexico having the technology and infrastructure to do it all themselves.

After all the military grade weapons that the Obama administration sponsored to the Narcos back in 2012, and Trump’s racism campaign, the current Mexican president took back the oil extraction and refinery industries and and nationalized them, which got a lot of people mad, especially the American press, like The NY Times which constantly publishes articles depicting Mexico as a dictatorship paradise on its way to become the next USSR.

And now look how the Mexican "super" peso is doing…

I don’t think that’s going to be the case.

The fediverse instances are just lacking a few things here and there to be Twitter/Reddit clones.

Most open source software sans few exceptions like Blender are like 15 years behind the curve in terms of features, workflows, and design.

I think that the right balance doesn’t depend on the game but the player. Survival games are about surviving. Some people like other surrounding aspects of survival games, but if you genuinely enjoy the core loop of survival games, the game ends when you secured your survival in the game.

It’s the exact same issue with tabletop RPGs and complexity… You can write an essay on why combat isn’t engaging and how it only slows down the "good parts", and before you know it, there will be someone scratching their head trying to wrap their head around someone finding combat boring. Same thing with narrative systems vs luck systems vs crunchy systems. Some people treat RPGs as improv/acting sessions, while others expect the G from "RPG" to be a meaty G. One thing is certain: You can’t please everyone and the concept of "balance" varies wildly from person to person.

Using the Minecraft example, you indeed reach a point in which you stop engaging with the survival aspects, but is that a bad thing? Does surviving in Minecraft needs to be more complex or "interesting"? I think it’s part of the flavor of the game just as it is right now. Surviving is an obstacle that drives you to play the game, and overcoming that obstacle is a landmark event of the experience. Some people like it, and others would much rather play creative mode.

Personally, I love survival games and when I’m itching for one, I’m actually itching to get that "from rags to riches" experience. Skyrim has a huge scene for survival mode to please people looking for a "tedious", realistic survival experience. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. with the ANOMALY turns the game into a hardcore survival experience. Case and point, one of the most downloaded addons for ANOMALY is a mod that adds lengthy animations when the player eats food, drinks water, opens their backpack, smokes a cigarette, etc. I love those, but there are times I just want the simplicity of Minecraft’s survival experience.