toubeans

In my AP Art class, there was a girl who was just starting to experiment with mixed media. At this point she was still playing around, trying to decide what direction she wanted to go with her portfolio. So one critique day, she brought in an abstract canvas with some rhinestone highlights and painted and real peacock feathers. She loved sparkles and peacock feathers so she thought she’d try introducing them a *little*. And after everyone had given some input, the teacher gave her his advice, VERY roughly paraphrased here:

“So here’s the thing… I do not like this style. These are just elements that do not speak to me personally, but I see that you like them, and you’re doing interesting things with them.

“My biggest critique is, I only merely *dislike* this piece. I want you to make me HATE it. Go crazy with the things that you like. Don’t hold back trying to make it palatable to people like me. Because I am NEVER going to like it. And if the audience does not like it, it should drive them crazy seeing how much YOU love it.”

Her portfolio was chock full of neon colors and glitter and rhinestones and splashes of peacock feathers and it was a delight. Our teacher despised every piece lol, but she got great marks and I think even won some awards. And more importantly, she was happy and proud of the results. Because she didn’t limit herself by trying to appeal to people who were never going to enjoy what she enjoyed.

there is RAMPANT art and photography reposting on this stupid website, and it occurs to me that folks might not know how to recognize it. here are the mental gymnastics i go through every time i see a sus post

1. is there a caption? most creators tend to leave one. maybe it's so their url is prominent, or to express their thoughts about the piece, link their shops/websites, etc. most reposters leave the captions blank

2. look for credit in the picture. is there a name, handle, or watermark? does it match the url?

3. check the original post. often you'll find that the original poster actually linked the artist. go forth and reblog that version!! for some godforsaken reason people keep REMOVING CREDIT on this website and i will MANIFEST INSIDE YOUR HOUSE IF YOU DO SO

4. check the tags of the original post. beyond the main fandom/character/subject tags, creators tend to have a #my-art tag or something similar. photographers often use #photographers-on-tumblr/lensblr. sometimes they'll also have thoughts about their work there. this doesn't always work, but personally i never see reposters adding tags like this

5. look at op's other posts and bio. is there anything about being an artist or photographer in the description? does the art they post look the same? usually this is where you'll Know if it's a serial reposter, because their blog will be FULL of reposted shit with no captions that all have different styles. also half the time their blog description straight up admits it

6. check the notes to see if someone added the proper credit. at this point, if you know it's a repost but still wanna reblog it, at least give credit where it's due. see if someone else already did the work for you

7. reblog and add a link with creator credit. if you know it's a repost, and you can't find credit, consider doing your part to help creators get their well-deserved recognition. usually you can just google the watermark in the picture. otherwise reverse image search on google or tineye is your friend

8. if the original creator is on tumblr, reblog their version of the post. if you've gotten this far it's not hard to search their blog for it

9. consider letting the artist know their art has been stolen and send them the link. this way they can take action and file whatever claims they need to get it taken down

10. finally, support original content creators! look at the #artists-on-tumblr and #photographers-on-tumblr tags, follow your favourite creators and reblog their work. seriously it can make a huge difference

mireu is just that bad at milking sheep

Or, if you’re an American in the ‘90s, Final Fantasy III.

I started this project in February 2019, inspired by Clyde Mandelin’s (Legends of Localization) analysis of the various translations of the game itself. My goal was to re-translate the manual by hand in order to practice translation, as it’s something I’ve been considering doing for a career path. I believed that, as I was already familiar with the game since I’ve played both the SNES and GBA official translations, and official English versions of the manual were available, it would be easier to keep going if I got stuck. Along the way I encountered some problems due to being overly familiar with the game. In this post I’ll talk about the things that went right, the things that went wrong, how I plan to improve future projects with this knowledge.

First, the Things that Went Right

I’m very glad I chose a game I’m familiar with for a first project. This helped me to understand some words and grammar structures that I wasn’t familiar with, but believe I’ll see again a lot throughout various manuals. For example, the Esper named “Phantom” teaches a magic spell called “Vanish”, which in Japanese is written バニシュ (banishu). Had I not been familiar with the game, I may have mistranslated this term as Banish, since they have the same name in Japanese* and the manual itself doesn’t provide any extra context.

* (Japanese doesn’t have a true “v” sound, so they use a “b” sound instead. It comes out as a close approximation, and doesn’t usually cause problems like this.)

One benefit that I didn’t account for was in regards to the game’s mechanics. When I first played this game on the Super Nintendo, I didn’t have access to the manual, so I never got to read it. When I got it on the GameBoy Advance, I felt that I already knew the game well enough, so I didn’t read the manual. From translating, I have learned a lot about the game’s menu system that I otherwise never would have known. An example of this is being able to edit the order of each character’s battle commands for the “Short” command window. I had numerous “Mind Blown!” moments while going through this manual, and I think that’s pretty awesome.

Second, the Things that Went Wrong

I’m a little upset that I chose a game I’m familiar with for a first project. I had a lot of times when I was SO familiar with the game that I could tell what the text was trying to say even if I’m struggling with the Japanese text. I had times when I’d automatically try to write down how to use a feature based on my knowledge rather than reading the text and translating it.

I also had a minor issue with my Glossary. Since I’m keeping it on a card, it gets packed really fast, which makes it kind of hard to find things even with searching features.

Third, How I’m Fixing the Things that Went Wrong

The only real difference is that griefers and cheaters break different rules. That’s about it. Remember, griefers are net negative when it comes to value to us - through their actions, they actually destroy more revenue (usually by chasing away other players) than they bring in. It’s in our best interests to stop them. And we do - usually, there is some sort of punishment. But there’s a lot you don’t see that’s actually going on behind the scenes that might make you feel like there’s a lot more toxicity than there actually is. There’s also cognitive issues that can crop up. But the main thing isn’t that we’re not willing to permanently ban people because we want their money, but that reforming toxic players is a lot better result than any other possibility.

So first, let’s talk about percentages in aggregate. Imagine that you’re playing a team multiplayer game like Overwatch, Dota, Counter-Strike or something along those lines - you join a game of 9 other random people. Let’s also say that you’ve had a lousy day and are on edge - maybe somebody cut you off while driving home, somebody took the last cupcake from the kitchen, you got an exam back with a lower score than you expected, or the girl you like turned you down for a date. Whatever the reason, you’re feeling angry and then you see Rando #7 do something stupid and losing the game for your team. Normally you would be fine, but your day is already so table-flipping awful that you just snap, cursing that player out. Congratulations, you were a jerk and ruined 9 other peoples’ game. But that’s ok. Most of the time you aren’t a jerk. Let’s say that 95% of the time you are not a jerk. But every so often you have a bad day, and it just happens. You’re only human, after all. We all get mad.

Well, assuming the other 9 people in the game are also as human as you (with a 95% chance of having a decent day), what’s the percentage that at least one person among all ten has a table-flippingly bad day? It’s actually about 40%. Two toxic games out of every five you play does can certainly give the impression that the community is awful… and that’s just via probability. It’s very common that toxic games cascade - by spreading the hate to the other 9 players, they turn on the frown beams in their next games too, triggering others who trigger others…  This can make the community seem like it’s a lot worse than it actually is - remember, all of the players in the original game are well-behaved 95% of the time. 

There’s also more to it than that. Game studios are at fault too, though not for the reason you think. A lot of gaming companies have a rather bad policy of never giving details about punishments to players. Most of the time, any sort of punishment we give (be it a warning, a temp ban, or a permaban) is often very vague. Punishment without a clear reason often leads to even worse behavior. Most of the time, it’s because they feel that they were unjustly punished… so they lash out. Riot’s done research into this with their Player Behavior team - 50% of players who were told why they were punished did not do it again. 70% of players who were shown evidence of their misdeeds did not relapse. But too many publishers and studios will hand down a vaguely-worded email or message without a clear reason. That’s frustrating, and it causes bad behavior.

Yes, there are some people who really are unrepentant jerks out there, and we do go after them when we see them. But there’s also a lot of people who are just having a bad day, or who didn’t get a clear reason why they were punished and act out on it. It isn’t really about the fact that they’re paying customers - it’s because they aren’t all jerks. Channeling player behavior in a positive direction isn’t easy, but it is something that publishers and devs are exploring.

Got a burning question you want answered?

Short questions: Ask a Game Dev on Twitter

Long questions: Ask a Game Dev on Tumblr

Something that’s easy for you, will not be easy for someone else. Something you can handle mentally without issue will not be easy for someone who gets easily anxious under stress. And pulling that line out is a first class ticket to making the person feel even worse because here comes the anxious feeling that you’re doing nothing but bothering everyone around you with your problems that don’t matter apparently.

Point is: ya’ll who dont understand or experience this stuff when you play MMOs need to be a little more open minded to those of us who do. I say especially with healers and secondly Tanks because the stress of being the pillar of your party is great. People with anxiety like playing these classes. People with anxiety/depression/autism/etc shouldn’t be told to quit these highly stressful classes just because of that personal issue. Playing these classes might be all we’re good at or even act as therapy. Instead, ya’ll need to stop taking them for granted and focus more on your short comings. Or, even better, offer advice if the person is legitimately struggling (and I don’t mean not dpsing because you don’t have to do that if it ain’t your role).

Just don’t be a dick.