Let’s just do one about grasping for negativity, in fact.

I think some people feed off the attention they get from negative energy and finding things to be mad/self-righteous about. It makes them feel good to be right, to point out stuff that’s ‘wrong’, and they get into this mindset of trying to search for problems - sometimes where they aren’t any. And sometimes where these problems are trivial.

I think this boils down to my belief that it’s very uncommon to see people point out the good things in their lives, because they’re constant and easy to take for granted. Stopping to smell the roses really can be nice. Conversely, when we’re upset about something, we get that energy out of our system by talking about it.

So what’s the problem?

We externalize our pain and internalize our happiness.

That’s the problem. We pull all the light we get into ourselves and don’t speak about it, almost as if there’s some fear that if we show anyone, it’ll disappear. Genuine warmth, appreciation, and support for others could be a lot more common than it is. This is a big reason why I try my best to talk in the tags of an RP post, for instance - it gives me an opportunity to compliment someone in a very relevant and personal way.

I don’t like being negative and I know that I am a negative person. Until I get stuff out of my system, I’m often holding onto it and staying frustrated. But boy howdy do I know people who seek this kind of negative energy.

They almost seem to thrive on talking about how bad things are. ‘Sona is in a terrible state’, ‘ohohoho another Sona nerf’, whatever. It’s as if they have nothing meaningful to contribute other than being upset, because you sure don’t see those people talking about how much they appreciate Sona or whatever. Just, “it’s been ruined for me and I’m upset about it”. It’s the same thing every 2 weeks on patch day, the patch comes out and…

“Rak.an’s hand is drawn wrong in the SG splash.” “Wow a Sej buff LOLOLOL”. etc etc. Fucking trivial and petty. And if you’re in a few of those discords, it’s so constant that I just don’t open them on patch day because no thanks to that. Especially since at least one person is doing it in each server. I get it. Things are different. That sucks. I get it and I sympathize, but it’s impossible to have a conversation when it gets railroaded like this. 

My mom does this, as a real world example. My dad likes to trade stocks and he’s into it and he does pretty decent. It’s something that’s enjoyable for him and engaging. But any time he brings up any of a few stocks that have grown dramatically, my mom starts making noises and complaining and going “we can’t talk about it! why didn’t you buy these stocks earlier” which completely shuts down any conversation.

She’s talking about something that happened maybe even a decade ago. I love my mom but this passive aggressive attitude is not a trait that is limited to her. It’s something I see in many members of this community and in the world. I’ll use Jan.na as an example. If I talk about Jan.na and you immediately begin to complain about her lore change every time we talk, then I can’t ever talk to you about Ja.nna, right? It’s impossible. And it makes talking about something that should be enjoyable much harder.

Except that it’s also done in public spaces like larger servers. Not really cool. It dries up creativity, any positive attitude, and a bunch of other things.

======= Two! =====

Riot is a company.

Riot needs money to grow and make things that are less profitable.

Riot has an operating margin and a certain amount of money they need to make, or else they’ll take a loss.

The development of Legends of Runeterra, the contract that they give to companies like SixMoreVodka or the one that did the 2020 cinematic, these things cost money.

We live in a society.

So yes, we’re going to get a lot more content about ‘favorite champions’. There are 140+ champions in the roster. Riot will not always give you exactly what you want, I say, staring at my no sona lore for 5 years. And Sona is a popular champion. Doesn’t matter.

Basically, I can do without the negative attitude. Yes, call Riot Games out for its sexist policies. Call it out for unfair practices. Call it out for doing things that are unethical.

But don’t call it out for trying to make money… It’s a company. It needs money to do things. There are plenty of games that rely on so-called whales to stay popular, so many mobile games have a microtransaction model among other things. 

Riot is a company that actually just gives you free things. Free skins, free content, free stuff you can just get by playing. And yes there’s some luck around it, but isn’t this model fundamentally better than “you have to pay for everything” (aka the season 1 model?). I’ve seen people complain about the free rewards they got for the ten year anniversary.

“Why do I need to play games to get a free legendary skin!?” You’re kidding me. So, so, so much negativity over every little aspect of this company, forgetting that the teams are different, not everything can be handled all at once, and they’re just people what the fuck.

Like honest to god, I will complain about lore inconsistencies and some of the practices of the narrative team, but they’re literally just people. And this overall culture we have with social media of blasting everyone for everything? It’s not good. It’s really, really not good.

I would never want to be an artist or a narrative writer for League or any popular game, because of the overwhelming amount of negativity.

I mean really, someone complained that the Rak.an/Xa.yah SG splash had one hand drawn kind of badly, completely ignoring the absolutely fucking amazing video from a technical standpoint and narrative standpoint. But nah, just consume media and criticize it.

I come from a background where, if you don’t like what you see, you go make it yourself. But so many of these people don’t have the courage to even try. And it’s not like you need to be a game dev to criticize a game, I understand that, but if you’re bitter about something, do something about it.

Don’t just sit there and be bitter. Get better.

ii.

“Didn’t know you and Jinx used to be friends,” Talon says, memories sleeting around them of Jay, laughing and grabbing Janna’s hand, Jay hanging from Janna’s ankles as she flies, Janna using her powers to steal clothes off washing lines.

“It’s Jay – and we’re still friends.” Janna isn’t tempted to chase after the memories. She’s worn them threadbare already, holding them to her heart like security blankets every time that Jinx makes the news.

“Ever thought of drifting with her?”

Janna’s startled into a laugh, her fingers flexing against the controls automatically. She stops them swiftly and shakes her head instead.

“The program would never accept her as a Jaeger pilot.” Jay would love it though. She’d delight in having such big guns and being inside such a massive mech. Janna can practically hear Jay’s laughter (and then it turns sharp and unbalanced, the mad laughter of a mad girl armed with a machine she should have never been allowed near).

“Never said she should be a Jaeger pilot – the practice simulators can be run by just two people. You wouldn’t need any of the scientists helping if you could sneak her into one of them.” Talon’s words are cool, devoid of emotion as always, and when Janna looks at him sharply, his expression is neutral as he keeps talking. “Maybe seeing herself through your memories would make her remember what it felt like to be Jay.”

“…Why are you helping?” She’s seen enough of Talon’s memories to know the man is far from altruistic. He’s not even a patriot, killing for his own gain rather than his country’s.

Talon doesn’t answer with words. Instead, a memory comes from his side.

{-- a man with long white hair, spinning in a slow circle, surrounded by men who drop to their knees. Blood streams from their mouths and when their heads crack backwards, they do not fall like the corpses they now are but rise to their feet and bow to her--}

“He likes to kill people too,” Talon says, tone still so horribly dispassionate. “But he’s sane. Or at least saner than your Ji—Jay.”

They’re drift compatible because they both had terrible childhoods that were no childhoods at all, or so Janna had thought. She realizes now that it goes deeper than that. Both of them love murderers who love bloodshed best of all.

iii.“What are you doing here, windy lady?” Jinx asks, Fishbones pointing at Janna with an open mouth and a maniac grin. Her gun resembles Jinx, whom Janna can tell is coming down from one of her Moods.

“I came to bring you a present, Jay,” Janna says and waits for the now-familiar rebuke.

“It’s Jinx, windy lady.” Jinx huffs exaggeratedly, blowing a blue strand of hair away from her face by puffing out the corner of her mouth. “Do I have to tell you that every time?”

Every time. Jinx remembers correcting her before.

As painful as the encounter is, Janna smiles at this proof of continuity. She holds both her hands now, feet not quite touching the floor. “Maybe. Do I have to tell you every time that my name is Janna?”

“What makes you think your name is worth remembering?” Jinx scoffs, tossing her blue braids behind her. Curiosity sparks bright in her eyes and she lowers Fishbones just slightly. “Where’s this present anyway?”

“It’s a surprise.” It hurts to do so, but Janna smiles again, turning to drift through the air towards the warehouse where she and Talon stashed the borrowed neural simulator. “Come on.”

Whether it’s because of her curiosity or some remnant of friendship, Jinx follows. When she sees the two chairs and the helmets, she balks, setting her feet firmly in the floor. “Oh no. You’re not getting me in those! There’s nothing wrong with my head that your electricity’s gonna fix!”

“…It’s not like that. It’ll let you see into my mind,” Janna says, pushing away questions about who tried electro-shock therapy on Jinx. She’ll see the answers in Jinx’s mind anyway, if this works. She floats over to the chairs and settles down in one, pulling the helmet down, “See? Nothing.”

“Then I’ll take that chair and you take the other,” Jinx says promptly. Janna vacates the chair and settles into the other, watching as Jinx sits down with Fishbones on her lap. She keeps the mouth of the gun pointed at Janna, her finger on the trigger, and Janna hopes desperately that nothing in the drift makes Jinx convulse and start seizing. If they go out of alignment and Jinx reflexively tightens her grip…

“Initiating neural handshake,” the machine says calmly and Jinx looks around wildly.

“What was that?” Jinx demands but it’s too late.