Erratica Reduex

Well, looks like the Sad Puppies have their very own congresscritter. So you see, THIS is what happens when you let children read Heinlein at a formative age. Make 'm read Ursula K. LeGuin, N.K. Jemisin, and Anne Leckie instead.

Will the first hint we have that Russia's making a move on Ukraine be Livejournal going down?

Warning: this post contains a lot of triggering concepts, such as rape.

RPG writer James Desborough has caused a controversy that brings up issues of sexism, gaming culture, and censorship. Desborough, author of works such as The Slayers Guide to Female Gamers (review here), Nymphology (review here), and The-Quintessential-Temptress, posted a blog entry titled "In Defense of Rape" (NSFW edited blog here) where he contended that rape was an excellent plot device. In response, Malyn Cooper first asked game companies such as Mongoose and Steve Jackson games to stop publishing Desborough's work, then started a petition drive on Change.com (altered petition here).


( Cut due to length and content )


That's the controversy in a nutshell. As to what I think?

James Desborough to me obviously covers a high degree of misogyny under a cover of satire, and he has an unhealthy fascination with rape. But is that a reason to censor him?

Well, no. And what's happening is not censorship. Even as writers like James Desborough have a right to write whatever they want, customers have a right to complain, and a right to pressure companies through words and collective purchasing power. Those who support Desborough on the basis of defending against censorship are misguided.

More importantly both Desborough's work and the ongoing rape threats against Malyn Cooper points out that the problem with sexism in rpgs is even worse than it commonly is thought to be. For a long time depictions of women in artwork has been problematic, and there['s been an attitude that rape and sexual assault in rpgs is either juvenile fun or a plot device. This attitude in my view is strongly inimical toward women being comfortable around gamers, not to mention the role playing hobby as a whole. Worse, it trivializes rape as a concept, making it easier for rapists and sexual harassers to operate.

If anything good can come out of this, at least this dialogue is being held, and there are people willing at least to take a stand. It's discouraging to see how many people are supporting Desborough, especially those who minimize the misogynistic elements of his work. But the fact that people are at least willing to complain is a sign of miniscule progress. Changing the culture is an excruciatingly slow task, one where there will be a lot of resistance. But if we really want to get to the point where gaming culture and the culture at large find rape and sexual harassment unacceptable, then things such as the Desborough controversy are necessary.

Reposted from metaquotes: the LJ member ardath_rekha sums up the controversy over the LJ changes by adapting an old Sting song.

In Europe and America
There's a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to comment on all the posts
And the sarcastic tweets and updates of our hosts
Mr. Igrick said "we'll reformat you"
I don't subscribe to this shade of blue
It would be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their journals too.

How can I save my lovely blog
From ArtLebedev's layout dog
There is no monopoly on design skill
On either side of the blogging hill
Facebook shares the same aesthetic
Regardless of how pathetic
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their journals too.

There's too much historical precedence
To believe your protests of innocence
Is there no such thing as LJ anymore?
It's a site we've never seen before

Mr. Zuckerberg says "We'll assimilate you
And all the rest of the Internet too!"
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their journals too.

We all share the same basic algorithms
Regardless of these design schisms
What might save us, me and you
Is if the Russians love their journals too...

I think they nailed it in one.

Orson Scott Card, (who based on his writing is "So far in the closet he can see Narnia"), has published a novella called "Hamlet's Father", that purports to improve the language, and tell us "what's really going on".

To spoil a book that really needs to be spoiled, what's going on, is that Hamlet has no angst, but is morally certain (none of that angst or questioning what happened after death). He also has no problems with Claudius, who is an excellent king, and completely innocent of murder. And best of all, Hamlet's father is an evil, hellbound gay homosexual pedophile, who molested prettyu much everyone in the court except for Hamlet. Yeah. I kid you not.

Oddly enough, reactions haven't been that positive. Amazon.com reviews haven't been positive,  Twitter launched a buyabiggaynovelforscottcardday hashtag. Writer Scott Lynch did a "so much less gay" treatment of Henry V in the vein of Card's revision. It's spawned a long discussion on metafilter, and even the Guardian has picked up the story.

Personally, I am not surprised. Orson Scott Card has not only been hateful and disturbing in his anti-gay obsession, but I also noted that even his earlier books such as Ender's Game really are propaganda for his two other beliefs: that child abuse is OK, and that as long as the intent is rightous, any action is aceptable. the main difference I see between Ender's Game and Hamlet's Father, is that back in the day, Card was more adept at hiding his message. Either the rumors that Card had assistance on Enders game is rue, or the Brain Eater has completely destroyed his ability to write.

The Television Tropes wiki has introduced a new service, called Useful Notes, which is a collection of more-or-less factual articles designed to inform and educate readers, and "debunk common media stereotypes". In other words, it's to do much the same thing that TV Tropes was originally created to do.  It's interesting that TV Tropes has become so huge and unwieldy it needs a fact page, but not that surprising. I personally think that some time ago TV Tropes passed the point of usability and is now just about how many video game and anime series references one can fit to a given trope.

I've also been hearing from some writers that TV Tropes has become an active detriment to their writing anything. Some have told me that they develop a writer's block after reading TV Tropes, and others have mentioned that they get too depressed to write. In both case, they state thhe problem as being "WEll, all the tropes have been done before, so I can't do anything original.

I can't help but think this is a product of Television Topes own success. TV Tropes used to be useful both in describing some of the "Cheats" that writers used, and in pointing out the cliched, racist and sexist elements in TV shows. However I'm starting to see it used as a substitute for actually describing what's going on in a given piece of fiction. Believe it or not there IS a difference between Madmen and Supernatural, even if they share some tropes- which I know they do, because ALL shows share tropes. That's where I suspect the sense of depression really comes in, from knowing that one's work won't actually be judged for what it has to say or the quality of our writing, but merely cataloged on what tropes people can glom onto. It's description as a substitute for criticism.

Not only has the situation become like that joke where prisoners simply say the numbers of jokes, TV Tropes is rapidly becoming prescriptive, not descriptive. I've actually heard writers say "Well, I'm doing a story about subject X, so according to TV Tropes, I need to have Tropes A, B, and G-R in it. Hell, I can practically do my writing by numbers now." It's like an author listening too much to what fans want to see- the end result is Piers Anthony.

I suppose the answer could be as simple as a writer not reading TV Tropes, but TV Tropes has had a valuable role to play in pointing out bad writing and cliches, especially those that are racist, sexist, or other-ist. And of course it leaves the problem of other people putting too much emphasis into TV Tropes. Maybe it's just time to start over, or do some vigorous editing of the site?

What do you all think?

In the Virginia Senate race, when the going got tough, Governor Manchin got weird. Whatever one's politics may be, I think we can agree that these are the utterly geekiest campaign ads ever aired.

First: use the Force, Joe!




Second: Orbital Lasers!




All they need now are the sharks. With lasers.



Obviously I haven't been doing enough drugs to work in a political campaign.

A perfect example of predictive SF.

How to Access the Internet (A Guide from 2025)

It's not that I think it's at all likely that this future will come about, but like all predictive SF, it's really about the present. To whit, the various threats to the neutrally and openness of the internet.

When I arrived at 7PM, the young man at the polling place had been their since 7AM, and he still had a couple hours left to go. This explains why he was having so much trouble pointing out where I was supposed to sign, and he confessed to feeling a little light headed. In addition, the burrito and rice dish he had acquired from the break room, was of an inferior quality, though he said he couldn't complain, since it was free.

I could sympathize, since years ago, I had both worked as a poll worker, and though it was an interesting experiment it seeing the mechanics of the voting process, I found it exhausting. So this is basically a shout out to the dedication of the people who do the polling place work. The system wouldn't work nearly as well without them. And for that, an unpalatable burrito is worth it, right?

This is important information that all Americans should be aware of:

New Age terrorists develop homeopathic bomb

And personally, I'm not at all surprised: I've never trusted that time my sister's boyfriend threatened to brain me with his crystal.