Goldkin @Goldkin@awoo.space

It's wild that, due to a combination of modern hardware and software, I can play Star Wars Galaxies (Jump to Lightspeed) on an Android gaming tablet.

@chr My oddly specific anxiety for future history students is their needing to learn proper MLA format for tweets.

@chr Pretty sure this is also the premise behind the Tick and, to a lesser extent, Freakazoid -- by virtue of both being highly distractible cartoon deconstructions of modern superheroes of their time.

Apparently in the Tick's case, he also explicitly has "drama power" -- his power level increases as dramatic tension of the plot increases.

I've been rereading scp-wiki lately, and ran across two positive ones that I didn't expect to end on a hopeful tone. Both are good antidotes to dreading the state of the world right now.

* Short one: http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-5270
* Long one: http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4043

@Kat@snouts.online Tech ads, in a fusion of old Amiga and Linux ads: it is the year of dragon(s) on the desktop.

@IceWolf @troodon @trysdyn As for taking the MOBA toxicity out of MOBAs: a close experiment to success was the game Vainglory, which leaned heavily on individual laning, had very little group synergy, had short rounds, and had no voice chat.

Though doing all that kind of gives up the point that the formula behind MOBAs leads to the toxic conditioning loop described above. I can't see the Pokemon one ending well.

@IceWolf @troodon @trysdyn From playing a lot of DOTA2, FFXIV, MHW, Splatoon, and similar matchmade titles: the problem comes up when you throw randos into a highly structured experience where one or two players being inexperienced crashes it for everyone.

That situation sets up a negative feedback loop that conditions players to be abusive. Games where one or two players can carry on anyway generally lack it.

I beat the game's sumo and programmer captain survival mode, primarily, by creating spinbots that traced paths like a spirograph. Sometimes, with lots and lots of copies of themselves to swarm the objective.

Other players building autonomous drones: I must think of every possible scenario this bot can run into and meticulously program for it.

Me: haha spinny robot go zooooooom

@chr Yessssssss

@masklayer Which, to be clear: you'll still need to have _something_ mapped as the head position for VRChat to work at all with motion controls (https://www.reddit.com/r/VRchat/comments/ag33wm/help_desktop_mode_with_motion_controls/). My test was turning the headset off and using both controllers; it still mapped the head position to my Index.

If you map something to "head" in SteamVR, that should still work, and a Vive Tracker (or equivalent) can serve this purpose. But even assuming all that, the experience wasn't great.

@masklayer Answer: yes, but you have to use the SteamVR version and the experience wasn't too great since you have no point of reference for your camera rotation.

Might be better if you have a puck to track your head position and rotation, or do some other magic in OVR.

@masklayer I think so? You might need to convince Steam VR that one of the controllers is the head, which is at least possible with Vive Trackers.

Hm. One sec.

Several weeks ago, a baby orb weaver set up a tiny web behind my bathroom hot and cold tap, tethered under the mirror. I initially considered moving them, but let them stay and munch on local ants that also tried to move in over the summer.

They're now an adult, and have decided I'm not a threat beyond being mildly irritating when I use the tap. It's given me a chance to see their entire routine, including spinning ants, shedding, and rebuilding their web while I watch.

Useful thing I did not know: if you transfer from Pokemon Sword/Shield to Pokemon Home after June 2nd, you'll get all three Galar starters with their hidden abilities.

Since Cinderace's is incredibly overpowered, and wasn't obtainable elsewhere prior to this change, it's worth picking up.

@porsupah Over here, places are reopening despite the virus being uncontained and peaking again. Our federal political class has chosen to give up or actively sabotage efforts, and it's been up to state and local governments to contain the thing.

It's... bad.

I've missed going places too, but I recognize that the goal of many of our politicians here is to let denial set in and let people die. And it's completely preventable, they just... want this.