galateus

[copy/paste from ffrr] At the fanfic/RP peer criticism community in general. Based on true events.

2009-11-02T02:19:44Z

Wank writeup here.

At the fanfic/RP peer criticism community in general. Based on true events.
I know fiction/roleplay does not equal real life as much as the next ranter who'll point that out; But it does tend to grate to see it come up day in day out, especially for me as a writer who's always aware of their own personal limits. So I know fiction can be a lot different from my life for example, but as if I have to pretend my writing exists in a vacuum and I don't put my own thoughts and feelings into it.

Other people may find it easy to write angst, even happy to do it. I can't because I find it hard to deal with emotions. Sounds fair, right? But I still feel vulnerable to say it on the internet.

A saying like "I feel what my characters feel" would be accepted for a published author, a few years ago at least. The internet makes people suspicious of people in fandom, creating the image of the crazy fan lurking around and willing to unleash their innermost perverted fantasies. But while you as a fan might say "I'm not like that", you forget that we ARE all the same archetype to those who are prejudiced against fanfiction. Other writers won't admit self-insert (which can come in many different ways IMO), because they deliberately create or use characters to avoid "Mary Sue". In that case, good on you that you've worked hard to make your character solid, if you know you didn't write a self insert, you know you didn't. I don't know why it's sacred to make out that you aren't your character.

You know what? I've cried to people I've RPed with, I've told secrets to people I've RPed with, I've referred to them by their avatar, I've shared thoughts about parts I haven't written that were still imprinted in my mind, often not canonical or out of their current settings. I'm "One of those people", if you ever need to attach a nickname to the image, and people mostly still respect me. Because I'm like every other writer, in all other respects.

Now, off to screencap the comments before they're all baleeted too.

War Games and Death Toys [the pbsBlog.com saga revival]

2009-08-24T03:58:09Z

This version of the page is still up. Pre-emptively pasted for posterity. (See clairvoyantwank.)

http://www.pbsblog.com/projects/spacemarines/deathtoys.html

[Insert random picture of a Lagann figure from 'YesAsia.com' here]

Welcome Warhammer Folks-

I see some of you thought you had run me off and were feeling all triumphant and mighty about it.

According to some of your death gamers' forum posts some of you actually think your attacks and sheer will-power intimidated me and ran me off and that you'd never hear from me again. You're very proud of yourselves at the thought of being excellent obnoxious bullies who triumphantly squished some lady (yes a lady since so many of you weren't able to figure that out). You're actually smug on the concept that being bullies makes you cool and you were able to shut me down.

Y'all are funny.

Btw-

A) People who are proud of being bullies are "assholes". If you are an asshole then don't bother reading on. What follows is not for you. Rude people will not get whatever they're seeking here. If you're incapable of communicating like an adult then take off now and trust me when I tell you, you won't be getting anything from me.

B) There's nothing about you folks that intimidates me. You're guys and gals. There's lots of guys and gals in the world, nothing new there.

Now then, if you're still reading this and are NOT an asshole, this page will now become interactive.

I'll finally have some time coming up shortly to get this page finalized but I want something from you. What I get from you will determine 100% of what I decide to ultimately put up here. I'll be out front with you, I am tiring of dealing with children and little bully boys. That's over. If those are the only kind of replies I get to this then what's going back up here is exactly what was up here before.

So if it honestly matters to you what's going to be said here, then I need to hear from you.

This is your opportunity to put your two cents in.

Answer one or all of these questions and email your answers to the address at the bottom of this page.

Q: 1: What do you want to see here?

In other words, what would have to be here, or not be here, in order to make you feel okay with it?

Q: 2. If you experienced anger or any other unpleasant reaction to the deathtoys page please explain why you had that reaction.

Q: 3. What three things did you specifically not like about the previous page? Do not just say "it sucked". That is not information. That is your opinion which is irrelevant for the purposes of this interaction. Quote exactly what it was that bothered you so much. BE SPECIFIC or you won't accomplish anything. Quote it exactly and explain what your issue is. Otherwise I won't know because I'm not the amazing Creskin.

If there was something on that page that you believe was factually incorrect AND you can provide the corrected data then

send it along and I will look it over. But YOU go get the information, I will not do your homework for you .

ONE MORE THING: If I get even ONE nasty email from anyone at the new dedicated address set up specifically to hear from YOU, this whole thing will be OFF instantly AND the old page goes right back up AS IS. That will end all further communication forever. Also I will publish any such email so your gaming community will know who to thank and you can tell them why you're such a twit and don't think anyone else matters except yourself.

Before you start typing: Think about what you're going to say. Have a point to make and make it. Be brief, specific and to the point. Do a spell check, it won't kill ya. If your complaint is strictly with my opinion, in other words if you can't handle my completely different perspective from the one you have, then you have nothing to say. That has already been covered in minute detail and hopefully you've noticed it accomplished precisely zip. That's because (refer to "A" above), being an asshole is counterproductive and it makes you impossible to warm up to. If it's just my perspective or my opinion that bothers you then realize it's not up to you what I think or what anyone thinks. If you don't like it, too bad, deal with it.

If you're still with me, I'll be impressed. If there is NO factual error from the previous page to correct, and if you do not feel the need to sabotage this entire exercise for everyone in your community, and if you feel you still have a thoughtful, pertinent, adult point you want to make that I have not already addressed with my exhaustive blog post and countless emails and rather irritated messages at this website, (which is close to impossible as I've covered everything I have to say in those communications), and IF and only IF you can communicate in a calm and rational manner, then you can go ahead and write it down and email it. If you can do that then I would be interested in hearing your thoughts. Send your email to warhammer@pbsblog.com. You may or may not get a response, I will try to respond where it seems a response is desired but cannot promise anything. One last thing, I buried the email addy down here at the bottom in order to force reading of this whole thing in order to weed out anyone who can't be bothered to hear anything I'm saying and only want to send me nastygrams and who will totally ignore the questions and will refuse to even attempt to be civil. The email address listed beneath this paragraph is bogus and is only there to divert folks who only want to try to do damage. Is that totally silly? Yes it is. But you only live once so what the heck. Having said that I look forward to hearing your input and am counting on you to be fair in your own mind in what you have to say or in what you feel compelled to ask. If you were not personally involved in this but were an unbiased third party who could step back and see both sides and be fair, and can come to the issue through that process then it will be interesting and productive to hear what you have to say.

Send emails to: gamer_input@pbsblog.com

Updated 08/21/09

Update: 08/21/09

<-----That guy is cool.

Pretty isn't she?

Input Period 7 Days Starting Friday 8/21.

Email instructions/addy below.

[Insert two random pictures of a Saber figure from 'YesAsia.com', again, here]

Untitled [the retraction]

2009-07-22T13:52:11Z

The following attempt at recovering dignity occurs between June 23rd and August 21st.

http://www.pbsblog.com/projects/spacemarines/deathtoys.html

A new page is currently under construction to address this topic. Warhammer will not be the total focus of the new page, but it will be included in a prominent way.

We expect it to be ten times more fun when we are bombarded with hate mail from all new offended hobbyists, but then, that might not happen. We'll let you know if other hobbyists are rude and cranky or if it's Warhammer hobbyists in particular.

The subject addressed here may not seem to you to be valid or accurate, but there's nothing wrong with broaching it. War games are not sacred things that must never be questioned. If they were sacred they wouldn't be "just hobbies". Anything with violence in it, even a hobby, should be looked at. If there's nothing there to see, then that should be self evident. If there is something there to look at, then it should be looked at. Adults aren't very likely to be affected one way or the other in terms of violent imagery and themes in gaming, but kids definitely are. That is and still will be the point of the page.

The new page will come at this subject with gamers in mind. But this subject will be addressed. It's too important.

The new page is only just started and will take a while to complete, at least a month. When it's finished we hope it will not seem as offensive to gamers as the first page, but understand, the subject will still be violence, not every aspect of hobbies or gaming, so there won't be a list of the top ten great things about the game. That is not the subject or purpose of the page. That's not unfair, that is the subject. Gaming information is readily available on the internet and is not in short supply. It will not be included on this page.

It was never our intention to upset anyone, we don't want it to happen again, but no doubt some will still not be happy. Some don't want this subject looked at, at all. That is something we can't fix. We're looking at it.

If you're interested, check back in a month.

06/23/09

Please withhold emails regarding the previous page. We cannot accept emails at this time. All responses to emails will be auto-responses, emails are not read or received. Serious and thoughtful comments about the new page content will be accepted when the page goes up.

Space Marines - Death Toys [flounce edition]

2009-07-22T13:39:25Z

This is Google's cache of http://www.pbsblog.com/projects/spacemarines/deathtoys.html. It is a snapshot of the page as it appeared on 21 Jun 2009 23:57:09 GMT. The current page could have changed in the meantime. Learn more

Text-only version

Warhammer players do not believe that parents have the right to decide what their children should play with. And anyone who suggests there is any violence in a war game is a total moron. There is no violence here and six to ten year olds should never be given guidance about violence. There is no such thing as violence in WARHAMMER WAR games.

They are disgusted that I would make such a suggestion. Unfortunately because I am weary of listening to their hundreds of personal attacks, this page is no longer here.

Sorry PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN, you are required to ask Warhammer players what you are allowed to think, and what you may and may not tell your own children. Only their opinions matter, not yours. THEY own the subject. I'm sure they'll be happy to help you in the most objective possible way. They're lovely, caring, people.

No, I am not allowed to address PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN directly. Doing so directly interferes with the ability of adult game players to freely enjoy their chosen hobby. I am too stupid for words for thinking I could speak with you about your SMALL CHILDREN on my personal web page without their prior permission and consent. When I talked about your SMALL CHILDREN, they just knew I was actually saying terrible things about adults who like Warhammer and they are right to gang up on me and swear at me and judge me and attack me, over and over and over and over again. I was wrong to not know I don't get to tell you things that are pertinent to PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN. That's their job.

And they are positive there is nothing to think about. Buy your kids all the violent toys they want. It's perfectly okay. To give it any thought is to be a blithering idiot. I know this because they have told me so over and over and over and over again, which obviously makes them right and proves me wrong.

What on earth was I thinking. Warhammer players should control everyone's opinions because they are fully qualified for the job. Their way is the ONLY way. You must love Warhammer because they insist that you do. If you fail to love Warhammer you are a moron and a lesbian and you are also a cannibal. You deserve nothing but profanity and hatred because you don't deserve to exist.

See I didn't know that before they helpfully clued me in. I thought I could have a conversation with PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN on my own web site about violence in games they did not know was there. But I know better now. I have no right to speak to PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN on my own web site because that is the same as saying adults who like playing this game are violent, dreadful, insane people who are a danger to society and playing the game makes you a raving murderer. It is the same as saying there is no value whatsoever to playing this game. It is specifically a statement that this game is worse than valueless, and should be made illegal. A heads up to PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN is clearly an inexcusable nasty unfair attack on adults, and will not be tolerated.

I thought that "adults who play games" were not a part of my conversation with PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN, but I was wrong. When I speak to PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN, I am actually directly insulting and attacking adult gamers, and I am in no way suggesting that adult gamers are a whole nother subject. I must have permission and approval from people I'm not talking to or about before I can address PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN, on my own web site so that adult Warhammer players can make sure I am not saying horrific dishonest vile hateful stupid things about them. Warhammer players are far more important than I am and they are more important than all PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN. They may even be more important than everyone in the whole world.

Oh well, who knew? Live and learn. But ignorance is no excuse. I know the Warhammer players will not believe that I have been punished enough with hundreds of their abusive, nasty emails and sarcastic insults and vicious personal attacks. They will insist that I should be deprived of all peace and even my life because of my inexcusable STUPID direct attack on adults who like Warhammer that I clearly waged when I spoke to PARENTS OF SMALL CHILDREN. Of course, I deserve every profanity they want to hurl at me, because I harmed them so seriously and personally by naming every last one of them specifically and calling them horrible names and accusing them of dreadful acts of violence and blood thirsty behavior. I did not actually say those things but I obviously meant them anyway. I specifically set out to hurt and abuse adult players of this game permanently and seriously with my web page directed at PARENTS WITH SMALL CHILDREN. I should probably be put in prison for the rest of my worthless days. I am completely out of my mind. They have told me so over and over and over and over again. They have told me how stupid I am even more times. That must make it true.

Now go buy all the Warhammer stuff and give it to your six year old and don't interfere with them at all. Let them do whatever they like. You may not guide them or tell them anything about violence. That is WRONG. You have no right and no excuse to see this from A PARENT'S PERSPECTIVE. You have no right to a perspective. You may only see all of it from the perspective of adult gaming fanatics, because they alone have the only correct perspective. To deviate from an adult gamer's perspective is proof of your absolute stupidity.

So don't mention violence, ever, to your SMALL CHILDREN. Violence in games cannot possibly affect your SMALL CHILDREN in any way. The Warhammer players have told me so over and over and over again, so obviously they are right and I am wrong. There is nothing here for you to think about. Just give your SMALL CHILDREN all of the Warhammer toys you can afford and shut your stupid mouth. It's the best thing you can do for them. They'll grow up into fine adults who gang up and bully perfect strangers with all the arrogant malice they like. They'll be very good at it too. The best. That's what all parents want for their SMALL CHILDREN.

So good luck and remember to love every single thing about Warhammer and never ask any questions that you might consider pertinent. There is no possible reason for you to do that. It's not your job as a PARENT WITH SMALL CHILDREN. If you don't agree YOU SUCK and don't deserve to exist. No other perspectives can be tolerated because no other perspectives could possibly be valid, it's ludicrous to suggest such a thing. It's simply impossible. And that's fair and rational and obviously perfect and adult gamers are perfect people who know everything about perfect strangers so just go with it. It's better for everyone when you just shut your mouth and let adult Warhammer gamers do your PARENTING for you.