Random Questions Thread

Cooking Mama: Mama Kills Animals

Check out my YouTube channel! I make audiobooks and whatever else I feel like!

Also Pokemon: Black and Blue.

Actually pretty much anything PETA has a hand in, really.

There's a game about killing Hussain, which was then altered by the opposition to make it about Bush, lol.

There's a lot of stuff like this if you jump into the rabbit hole.

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

I can't speak to the accuracy of it, but Wikipedia has a list (because of course it does ;P) of propaganda games:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Propaganda_video_games

(Although I'll note that the above-mentioned PETA games don't seem to be on it. The ones about killing Hussein and Bush, however, are.)

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on May 10th 2024 at 9:24:37 PM

My Games & Writing

Is there a name for the fear of social media?

I'm not talking about visiobibliophobia, which is the fear of posting on social media, I mean a fear/hatred for social media as a whole. I do know there's cyberphobia, which can include social media/specific websites and apps, but it's not specific enough and is more associated with computers/digital devices as a whole.

I don't think there is, and yet I do think that SM is ingraned enough into culture there that cyberphobia would be sufficiant in msot cases.

That said, I would propose cybermediaphobia or polimediaphobia (from polis, as in people)

Isn't there a fear of being seen on social media somewhere?

I mean, why fear or hate social media if you are not even posting on it?

Unless its a fear of computer viruses that can spread on social media due to clicking booby-trapped links.

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

You can just say "social media phobia", and that's better than trying to spindle some bits and pieces of Greek together until they vaguely resemble a word.

come to think of it some more context might be warranted. Like what are you planning to use the term for; A psychological diagnosis or a category of bigotry?

Some form of hatred, yeah. The word I'm looking for describes a hatred for both social media in general and the people who use it.

It's a subcategory of misanthropy, I'd say.

In that case, it might be better or coin a term for the user that "anti-" can be attached to. Define the object of the opposition's target first and you can then define the opposition if that makes sense.

this thread can help with that.

Edited by MorningStar1337 on May 11th 2024 at 11:46:01 AM

Heh, it would be tempting to call it "socials-ism". :P

More seriously, maybe something like "Cybersociophobia"...?

My Games & Writing

Antisocial medium?

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable

okay I am considering a take on anti-narrative cosmic horror in the vein of the anafabula, that may or may not be a Whole-Plot Reference.

One of the ideas I have is to mix it with the idea of the infamous "Endless Eight" arc. A time loop where the basic plot point is unchanged, but the details vastly widely (and to a higher extent in in Endless Eight).

avant-gardeness of the concept aside, I want to ask for your opinions on this idea and also for alternate plots with anti-narrative entities.

@ Morning Star 1337:

So, I'm not an expert in "anti-narrative entities" but I have done an arc in one of my own stories that involves an infinite number of "alternate endings" for various iterations of the same setting, with things usually going horribly and turning into a "bad universe".

I'd make heavy use of For Want Of A Nail in pretty "iconic" situations. For example a character becomes a hero, slowly learns how to control his/her abilities and become an even better defender against evil...only to be tempted to turn to evil and then reject the offer no matter how sweet it may be.

Except in the myriad of alternate endings the hero falls to evil; the reason it can happen can vary as to why. Perhaps a loved one died when they lived in the "good setting" and the tempter offered to bring them back to life. Or perhaps rather than being applauded for their heroism like in the good setting, the hero was met with disrespect and cruelty or perhaps just indifference and entitlement to help by the common citizens. Thus, when they were tempted, the resentment they felt for those people pushed them over the edge. There are an infinite number of ways you could spin alternate universes, limited only by your imagination.

Again, I don't know about "anti-narrative entities" but perhaps you could include the presence of cosmic creatures who facilitate these evil changes and "tweak" reality to their own nefarious ends, perhaps to corrupt universes that would otherwise turn out as standard "good endings".

Edited by Swordofknowledge on May 13th 2024 at 4:51:16 AM

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace

Would it make sense to mistake Tears of Blood for yet one more injury incurred in an altercation?

Late in Part 1 of my story, my main character is trying to help his vampire girlfriend recover from a battle with a group of werewolves. Of the injuries she took in the fight, the worst is having her hand and much of her forearm bitten off.

As he tries to help her reattach the limb, it is obviously very unpleasant for both of them, and he notices that her eyes are bleeding in addition to everything else. Narrative wise, it's intended to show the readers for the first time that the vampires in this story cry blood when they are distressed.

What I'm not sure of is if he should automatically know these are the vampire equivalent of tears or should he just think this is an injury he didn't notice before. It's pretty clear she is crying but seeing streams of blood rather than tears would be jarring enough that I'm wondering.

Fear is a tyrant and a despot, more terrible than the rack, more potent than the snake. — Edgar Walllace

I don't think it would be to hard to assume its tears since an eye injury would most likely have immediate bleeding rather than delayed like that.

---

Regarding one of my own works, I'm thinking of writing a fic with an OC I made a while ago for a DnD campaign and they are Lawful Neutral and their code is pretty much that they mostly act in their own interests without much regard for anything evil or good but are only willing to kill humans/human-like species/races in self defense (but when the need arises they have no qualms with it), wouldn't steal from the poor, and wouldn't betray their (few) friends. Is this enough of a code for them to not seem like a Neutrality Sue? The character does have a reason in their backstory for being mostly self serving but I'm a bit worried it wouldn't come across like that.

Edited by Informer on May 13th 2024 at 11:14:36 AM

"What does freedom really mean when demanded of you by a god?"

How about adding something that is the reason they have that code to begin with?

Some sort of compulsion or nasty personality trait that they desperately need to keep in check or if they don't things gets really nasty, really fast.

And when the code isn't enough to keep this trait in check anymore, we'll see the reason to why they have forced this code upon themselves so badly in the first place.

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."

I mean, I was feeling that most of that was just them having used to be living in a rural town before their father became a rising star before their playing hands were crippled (this was the characters motivation to become a bard since they arrogantly felt their chance at fame through their father was stolen from them) so they sympathize with the poor deep down and they also feel that being too much of a Jerkass or villain would be counterproductive to becoming renowned since they dont think there is No Such Thing as Bad Publicity. Would somehow showing this work as well?

Edited by Informer on May 13th 2024 at 12:03:52 PM

"What does freedom really mean when demanded of you by a god?"

Based on the trope-page for Neutrality Sue (a new one to me!), I don't think that what you describe sounds at all like a "Neutrality Sue"!

I'm not convinced that you have anything much to worry about there.

Now, let me note: Naturally, you don't have control over the perceptions of the audience, so it's entirely possible that someone will look at your character and see them as a "Neutrality Sue". But there's little enough to be done about that, I fear.

[edit]
Specifically, it seems that a "Neutrality Sue" take a stance of near-absolute "neutrality", to such a degree that they can reasonably do anything.

... But your character has limits on what they're willing to do, and quite distinct ones, too.

Thus I don't think that your character resembles a "Neutrality Sue".

Edited by ArsThaumaturgis on May 13th 2024 at 6:07:21 PM

My Games & Writing

Oh alright, thanks . I had honestly figured that they should be fine but I have heard that usually creators of sues aren't very self aware so thanks for reassuring me there

"What does freedom really mean when demanded of you by a god?"

Not a problem! I'm glad if I've helped! ^_^

My Games & Writing

So, one of my stories' themes is that of conviction, namely, the sincerity of someone's claims of what they fight for.

In this case, in an Alien war where the Alien invaders managed to court a handful of Humans to their side, and an ensuing conflict is that the Aliens think far-righters are only chasing clout just to get a hold of power and don't actually want peace, and find them disgusting for being "insincere" in their beliefs.

What do you think could be the best types of characters to show that theme when it tackles prejudice and such?

Every time someone claims to be realistic is a dour cynic in disguise.

What's a good snarky insult name someone could use on a character who is Older Than They Look? (Appears like a freshman, is actually like 100 something)

My current idea is that it would start with "Miss _", but that's not a requirement. I'm using "Miss Granny" as a placeholder, but I'm not that into it.

Edited by WarJay77 on May 14th 2024 at 11:21:04 AM

Currently Working On: Incorruptible Pure Pureness

How about "Miss Dorian" (Reference: "The Picture of Dorian Gray")

Being older than she looks without visibly aging and common enough to get the reference but not sound like a straight up insult that you can get in trouble for.

"If there's problems, there's simple solutions."