#unquote

having spent a LOT of time outside the Curve and away from Ricks' cruelty,

having mellowed down from the savage rage that had been tormenting him on the inside, and

feeling heartbroken over the monicker "evil" which had been given to him due to the actions he took on the last leg of his life inside the Curve, ignoring the life he had led before and the unimaginable effort and sacrifices he had made while he still believed in having a family...

...embarked on a titanic "good deeds" kind of quest. He used his now vast resources to do non-stop good outside and inside the Curve.

It was nothig Rick-related in any way. It was all impersonal, general good (rebuilding cities that had been flattened by a natural disaster, inventing and handing out cures for diseases, that kind of thing), while keeping a low profile (he'd do it and leave immediately, never expecting any sort of interaction with the people benefited), and nothing directly aimed towards specific people that could be read as an attempt at manipulating a friendship. Nothing that would get him a companion.

He just wanted... not exactly redemption (it was impossible to undo the pain and deaths he caused), but maybe to feel like himself again... or maybe simply to stop feeling this unimaginable emptiness and sorrow, to distract himself from the weight of all he had done. To feel useful instead of mercyless. To outweight the evil he had done. To be better now that he could afford to do so.

And he completely lost himself in these good deeds, doing one after the other, non-stop, no breaks except to eat and sleep, just scanning the multiverse for the next calamity and resolving it.

And I guess some alien had heard of "Evil Morty" from inside the Curve, knew what he had done in the past and recognised him when Eyepatch Morty was in the field using his technology to rebuild a city. Said alien felt repulsed by what he saw as putting up a show with ulterior motives or maybe surface-level appeasing of a guilty conscience without any actual introspection nor real change, went up to Eyepatch Morty and straight up told him "doing good things to be seen as good does not make you a good person".

And Eyepatch Morty was just... :C

Completely crushed.

Beginning my journey of thinking about games in an analytical way with Overwatch has made me pretty sensitive to how skill is expressed in a video game. Mario Kart World has been something I’ve been watching a lot of recently and so ive thought a lot about how skill is expressed in the game, especially compared to more competitive games like Overwatch or just the whole genre of serious fighting games.

I dont really know where to begin, but there are elements of MK World that cater to a high skill expression and elements that dont. As a gut reaction, RNG and skill expression are clear opposites. RNG or any sort of random outcome in a game takes away from the players agency and the impact of their decisions aka taking away skill expression AND skill expression requires the player to be the locus of change in the game.

The spectrum of skill expression

To elaborate: on one side of the scale is fighting games, in which there are almost no outcomes truly decided by RNG or other people. every move, combo, and outcome is dictated by the players actions or non-actions (and sometimes internet connect but thats a global factor). Thus, extremely high skill expression which leads to an extremely unapproachable higher level of play (or with OW/some fighting games really any level of play.) On the other side is stuff like Mario party, or to give a better example flipping a coin. The amount of random luck or outcomes in those games is extreme, and often the player has to search and make it their goal to express their skill over the noise of RNG.

Skill expression in MK/MK World

Mario Kart has always had a surprising amount of skill expression in the games. In earlier games theres item management, drifting/handling skill, certain techs like shortcuts and smuggling powerful items to higher ranks to widen your lead, character and kart set ups. These being said, the king and queen of skills expression in MK has been the aforementioned shortcuts and my personal favorite blue shell dodging. These are things the are almost untouched by RNG besides from a required item. In MK World theres a new dark horse of straight drifting and grinding that upset this.

The new grinding mechanic for MK world is like a shot pure concentrated skill expression for the game, suddenly shortcuts are expanded as people bounce off walls and grind across rails. Some skip major portions of the map, or complete a course in a minute thirty.

What does this skill expression mean

…..I dont know lol. Theres a chance MK Worlds community may be stuck in a pendulum. The casual audience, aka the kids playing, will be getting stomped on by the higher skilled people really putting time in to learn optimal shortcuts, correct character and kart combos, etc. That’ll be frustrating for the kids playing, no one likes losing a bunch. On the other hand, I’ve already seen people get frustrated or feel helpless at the RNG that is in the game (aka items) and this’ll especially affect the people who want to have agency over they’re win or loss.

But, realistically, instead of being all doom and gloom, It’ll all be fine. The items act as a good neutralizing agent for both sides. Skill expression can be neutralized with 3 red shells or a well timed bullet bill, while a mushroom is needed for a bunch of shortcuts. Luck, like time, takes from everyone.

Conclusion

I feel like I’m in the fucking twighlight zone😭 My url is PHILSmeatylegs. My profile picture is of Dan. My bio mentions dan and phil. My pinned post mentions dan and phil. I constantly post about them, especially when videos released. I hit a post limit a week ago from spamming 300 posts about Dan’s liveshow. Idk how much clearer I could be😭😭 I genuinely am unsure if someone is playing a prank on me😭

And yes! You are blocked. Because you sent me a private message saying you must unfollow me for committing the cardinal sin of not personally delivering a letter with the content of my person tumblr blog with a whopping 1.4k followers called fucking PHILsmeatylegs

I absolutely cannot sum up their whole deal succinctly since they’re part of a 4 year long campaign but SPARKNOTES

-Cleric of Ilmater

-Orphan, raised by nuns

-Older sibling with some serious attachment issues about it (this has lead to friction and a strained relationship with their sister which they are working on mending)

-Very odd relationship with faith and their god (Ilmater) that is entwined with their self worth and ability to connect with others

-Valentine is a healer but they’re also a low empathy person with few social skills. They sometimes use the act of healing as a surrogate- they perform the physical aspects of care and empathy instead the emotional ones.

-Took a long time but they care very deeply for their party (alarm bells blaring that say “ DANGER: WILL CROSS ANY MORAL LINES FOR THEIR LOVED ONES EVEN WHEN THEY SHOULDN’T”)

-They don’t feel strongly about gender and won’t correct people on pronouns, just using whatever fits the situation.

-Currently they have a strong desire for revenge against a nighthag that wronged them and their friends

-going through a crisis of faith since Loviatar is appealing to their desire for revenge and the power to protect their loved ones and destroy their enemies

Basically they’re a bit of a wet cat. Imagine the tallest most beautiful person you’ve ever seen with the Worst Attitude and incomprehensible views on religion and also they have a southern accent and look like griffith from beserk and also has wings made of light sometimes and eyes so bright it burns you