Infinitely Disappointing

You know what's funny to me about Bioshock Infinite...

Before I played it, I'd had the ending spoiled to me by /v/, except that I'd misinterpreted the spoilers and concocted an astoundingly better alternative story that never was.

See, I knew that Comstock was Booker but I'd somehow taken that to mean that Booker went through the events of Bioshock Infinite, then there was a big reveal or some climactic event towards the end after which Booker has a drastic change in character and then travels back in time to set things right in his own way in the new persona of Comstock. There were even small things that pointed to this possibility in the game--like how Comstock knew to be on the lookout for someone with AD on their hand.

I was so excited to reach the ending to see what dramatic reveal was going to be what set the plot of the game in motion. It wasn't until Booker killed Comstock that I realized this was the ending I was going to get. Then all the bullshit scenes that make negative sense like in the OP image was the shit cherry on top of the cake.

I literally couldn't believe the game thought it was "deep story" to insult my intelligence by implying the events of the game that just happened--that tells you there are infinite parallel universes--is dumb enough to insist it could erase all of them with something as simple and dumb as drowning one particular instance of Booker.

What a joke.

Battleborn Open Beta Builds

In case anyone searches for builds and can't find anything concise or reliable here's a copy of the notepad I've been keeping on the heroes I've unlocked.

Anything that is ? is situational so what you pick is on a what-you-need-for-that-match basis.

Ambra
PvE
1-E/2-Q/3-E/4-E/5-E/6-Q/7-E/8-Q/9-E/10-E
PvP
1-?/2-Q/3-Q/4-Q/5-Q/6-Q/7-Q/8-Q/9-Q/10-Q

Benedict
PvE
1-E/2-Q/3-Q/4-E/5-E/6-Q/7-Q/8-E/9-E/10-Q
PvP
1-E/2-Q/3-E/4-Q/5-Q/6-Q/7-?/8-Q/9-Q/10-Q

Galilea
PvE
1-Q/2-Q/3-Q/4-E/5-Q/6-Q/7-Q/8-E/9-Q/10-Q
PvP
1-?/2-?/3-Q/4-E/5-Q/6-Q/7-Q/8-Q/9-E/10-Q

ISIC
PvE
1-Q/2-Q/3-E/4-Q/5-E/6-Q/7-E/8-Q/9-E/10-E
PvP
1-Q/2-Q/3-?/4-Q/5-F/6-Q/7-E/8-Q/9-E/10-Q

Kelvin
PvE
1-Q/2-Q/3-Q/4-Q/5-E/6-Q/7-Q/8-Q/9-Q/10-E
PvP
1-Q/2-E/3-Q/4-Q/5-E/6-Q/7-Q/8-E/9-Q/10-E

Marquis
PvE
1-Q/2-Q/3-E/4-Q/5-Q/6-Q/7-Q/8-Q/9-E/10-Q
PvP
1-E/2-E/3-E/4-E/5-Q/6-E/7-E/8-Q/9-E/10-E

Miko
PvE
1-E/2-Q/3-Q/4-Q/5-E/6-E/7-E/8-E/9-Q/10-E
PvP
1-E/2-E/3-F/4-E/5-E/6-Q/7-Q/8-Q/9-Q/10-Q

Montana
PvE
1-E/2-Q/3-E/4-Q/5-E/6-Q/7-E/8-E/9-E/10-E
PvP
1-E/2-Q/3-?/4-Q/5-E/6-Q/7-E/8-Q/9-?/10-Q

Orendi
PvE
1-Q/2-E/3-E/4-Q/5-Q/6-E/7-Q/8-Q/9-Q/10-E
PvP
1-?/2-E/3-Q/4-Q/5-Q/6-E/7-Q/8-Q/9-Q/10-E

Oscar Mike
PvE
1-Q/2-Q/3-E/4-Q/5-E/6-Q/7-E/8-E/9-Q/10-Q
PvP
1-Q/2-Q/3-E/4-E/5-E/6-Q/7-E/8-E/9-E/10-E

Phoebe
PvE
1-Q/2-Q/3-E/4-E/5-E/6-Q/7-E/8-Q/9-E/10-Q
PvP
1-E/2-E/3-?/4-E/5-Q/6-Q/7-E/8-Q/9-E/10-E

Rath
PvE
1-E/2-E/3-E/4-Q/5-E/6-E/7-E/8-E/9-Q/10-E
PvP
1-Q/2-Q/3-Q/4-E/5-E/6-E/7-E/8-E/9-Q/10-Q

Reyna
PvE
1-Q/2-Q/3-Q/4-E/5-E/6-E/7-E/8-Q/9-E/10-E
PvP
1-Q/2-Q/3-E/4-Q/5-Q/6-Q/7-E/8-Q/9-Q/10-E

Shayne & Aurox
PvE
1-Q/2-E/3-Q/4-Q/5-Q/6-Q/7-Q/8-E/9-Q/10-Q
PvP
1-E/2-Q/3-E/4-Q/5-Q/6-Q/7-Q/8-E/9-Q/10-E

Thorn
PvE
1-E/2-Q/3-Q/4-E/5-E/6-E/7-Q/8-Q/9-E/10-E
PvP
1-E/2-E/3-Q/4-E/5-E/6-Q/7-Q/8-Q/9-Q/10-E

Whiskey Foxtrot
PvE
1-E/2-E/3-E/4-Q/5-Q/6-E/7-E/8-Q/9-Q/10-E
PvP
1-E/2-?/3-E/4-E/5-Q/6-E/7-E/8-E/9-Q/10-Q

As for the game, well it's alright but not $60 alright.  I was hoping it'd satisfy my latent SMNC itch but it doesn't really.  I'll probably get either this or Overwatch but I'm going to wait on the Overwatch open beta to give that a try.

A Wall of Text on the Relationship between Feminism and Nerd Culture

One of the hallmark features of "nerd culture" is an unquestioning capitulation to women which explains how social justice meme complexes extensively run rampant in traditional nerd spaces.

A lot of us who might style ourselves "nerds" ended up retreating to whatever our soup du jour hobby is because it's the lens we needed to see the world the way everyone else does normally. This used to be VERY socially unacceptable. So there's a dual reality to the "nerd" experience and both stem from innate ostracization. I've written about some of this here (http://scpantera.blogspot.com/2014/11/my-thoughts-on-gamergate-over-last-few.html).

On one hand we're reclusive, protective, and suspicious that anyone new who comes in has a less-than-pure agenda--and this is virtually always backed up by experience because there ARE people who do this, a lot of them even especially now that nerd culture is mainstream. If we're going to use feminism as our frame of reference, this is every new-girl-who-broke-up-my-WoW-guild story.

On the other hand--also in my experience--people in nerd spaces are often very (even irrationally) accepting of outside interest. If I find someone who I think genuinely shares my interests I don't care who or what they are, we can get along and play vidya together. I don't care if you're black, jewish, disabled, racist, whatever. And that's an absurdly progressive statement that "progressives" HATE on a macro level because when we say this we're saying we don't care about identity politics--their beloved hammer and sickle.

Feminists love to use the latter to subjugate the former. In some ways it's understandable, because there's a fair amount of unwarranted hostility to women (but also to everybody perceived as an outsider) that come into nerd spaces. Feminists abuse men's preferences for women, which tend to be super-juvenile in nerd spaces.

To nerd males, women are like dragons; they're unusual, exotic, powerful, sometimes-ultra-destructive, sometimes-total-bros, and yes there's an element of sex appeal there. So when feminists come in say,

"all you males are all the problem, you're all sexist borderline rapists who hate women and only want them for their vaginas"

instead of our default response being,

"that's fucking ridiculous, you're acting like a dick, get out"

it's,

"maybe we ARE the problem, maybe I AM a borderline rapist and I just don't even know it, I guess I better be super-extra nice to this kind lady who risked life and limb to bring me this torch of wisdom, never question anything she or her buddies say, and do everything they want because I don't want anyone to think I'm a bad guy".

This point is made in significantly more extensive detail here: http://slatestarcodex.com/2015/01/01/untitled/

And so the Cult of Social Justice taps into the gold mine of recruitment that is nerd culture.

So what can we do about it? Nothing really, short of adapting. There's a new generation of nerds who are going to fall for this same bait being born every second, even sparing the point that "nerddom" is now full mainstream--where the Church of the Patriarchy-Is-Real reigns supreme.

I'd say it's important for free speech and artistic freedoms to be protected because the Great Wall against Their march is that there is always going to be a market for ideas and art and nerd pursuits that don't conform to progressive tastes. I believe that this is the comforting inevitability that stands in opposite to their own crushing, apparent inevitability.

I think it's important to keep that in mind if you're someone who find themselves discouraged that everything you love is being stamped out. They literally can't win until they've snuffed out every flame of individuality--and even if you're the last one left they won't have won until you're dead.

Frankly, it's this confidence that makes it pretty easy for me to not be on Twitter shitposting about SJWs 24/7. I can appreciate that there's people out there keeping the fight alive but kind of feel sad for people who have made that their everything. Especially when people let their anger get misdirected at things that really aren't important. Especially when there's so many cool video games to play now.

Thoughts on Knight (Tanking)

Unlocked Knight last week, finished Cryomancer and started putting points into Knight this week.  Tried an HT tanking with Knight a day or two ago with maybe half of the effective tank talents and didn't really care much for it (switched back to Paladin after a not-really-tanking-related wipe on the last boss).  Did an MSM earlier today with a few extra talents and abilities I didn't have before (most notably, Barrier II) and it went much smoother.

Barrier II is the real make-or-break-point.  It was actually just recently nerfed but not to the point where Knight is inviable.  The recent patch reworked Inspiration (previously, the diminished Willpower regeneration from Barrier is removed for 6 seconds after using an ability that consumes Willpower) to Counter-Grip (the bonus effect of Barrier II lasts 1 second longer and Lunge restores 2 extra Willpower).  The important component of Barrier II (that's missing from regular Barrier) is that it doubles the damage reduction (30% to 50-55%--depending on if the bonus takes Rockwall into account) for 4 seconds after using an ability that consumes Willpower.  From what I understand, with the right talents you could maintain a very high uptime on the Barrier II bonus due to enough Willpower regeneration which is now a bit nerfed.

Frankly, between a competent support, judicious management of the Barrier II bonus and Tantrum/Resolute Defense, and Whiplash being an OP-as-fuck underdog ult for backup, you should have plenty of sustain to survive any fight a Paladin can.

Which is better?  Eh, I dunno yet.

It's hard to peg either one into a role yet too.  For example, Knight has much better AOE options but no AOE taunt.  Paladin has a low-cooldown, on-demand emergency shield but Knight has constant damage reduction.  Paladin and Knight can both get 4 and 3 seconds of invulnerability with a 16 and 15 second cooldowns respectively (with varying utility; Paladin can extend that invulnerability to allies, Knight can reflect a huge chunk of damage).  Neither seems to have a particular advantage at tanking single targets.

I feel like Knight is much more safer at tanking, but I also feel like I have more control over what's going on as Paladin.  So we'll have to see how things go as I finish up Knight and play around with it more.

Skyforge Block stat - Is it worth it? & Tanking stat discussion & Recommended Chapels

Sitting here with my first spare okki tablet trying to decide where to drop a second superfluous chapel.  The question on my mind is which tank stat is least valuable and thus most amenable to being replaced by an alternate chapel.  But that decision's not super interesting with regards to this post, here we're gonna look at Block specifically.

It's hard to find information on how all the tank stats work, but Block is especially nebulous.  At face value without doing any calculating, I actually assumed Block would be hella useful for tanking--it usually is in most MMOs and proc'd damage reduction is usually pretty high priority--so I was surprised to find a lot of people claiming that Block is worthless (tl;dr for below: it probably is indeed worthless).

But here's some theoretical math:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ttemNuGG8TlLqYEOLGcxK5PItUFaOroqWnnnNCkiPFQ/edit#gid=0
Edit: Should be fully viewable now and anyone should be able to edit the yellow boxes.  Let me know if you have any trouble with it.

Here's what we know:
-Block "occasionally" reduces damage
-Decreases "incoming damage" by a "certain" percent of Stamina

Here's what we don't know:
-How often "occasionally" is; ie the proc rate
-What specific percent of Stamina is applied

Here's some assumptions I'm making:
-The stat value of Block refers to the % of stamina by which damage is reduced, and that this value is a flat number (ie when blocking occurs with 15% Block you're reducing damage by a 0.15*Stamina flat amount)
-There's no other sources of straight up damage reduction (ie incoming damage is not modified at all)

Here's the variables involved:
-Proc rate; I wrote in samples for varying proc rates from 10% to 100% in 10% intervals
-Incoming damage magnitude; it's obvious right off the bat that fewer, larger hits make Block less worthwhile and conversely it's better suited to more frequent, smaller hits (basically, means there's more chances for Block to proc)

---

Now I set out to write this about Block to get a better idea how much of an impact it might be having but I decided to just go ahead and try to look at Shield Power, Adaptation, and Endurance as well--since knowing how Block works doesn't mean much without comparing it to the others.  Here's some notes based on these very rough calculations

-Shield Power: I'm assuming it modifies all incoming shields and not just personal sources
-Shield Power: Since the determinant of the usefulness of Shield Power is how many times a shield is applied, I modeled it as effective HP gained per minute--ie the shield being used as soon as the cooldown is available for Celestial Shield and Unstable Shield (including the Rain of Fire talent).  Note that with Paladin talents, Celestial Shield cooldown can be reduced if the shield is destroyed, which makes the eHP/min potentially higher in practice.  I don't have Alchemist unlocked to compare those shields unfortunately.  Knight shields are smaller and less consistent so I didn't really take the time to throw those in for now.
-Block vs Shield Power: Block needs a very high proc rate even in high frequency/low damage situations in order for it to be better, point for point, than Shield Power
-Adaptation: "Incoming damage is temporarily reduced if you take consistent hits."  Working assumption: Adaptation% damage reduction for subsequent hits beyond a short time period.
-Adaptation vs Block: At a constant proc rate (ie a situation where all incoming damage qualifies for Adaptation damage reduction), Adaptation seems to be comparable to Block at ~50% proc rate on a percent-by-percent basis
-Endurance: Assuming the % value is the damage reduction percent.
-Endurance vs Adaptation: On paper and in each stat's ideal situation, they appear to be the same value percent-by-percent, however one needs to consider that they are useful in opposite situations.  It's also worth considering that you can get Endurance in larger chunks via chapels than Adaptation.  Personally, I think it's more common to take larger amounts of damage, so I prefer Endurance when it's a choice between them.
-Nothing here takes healing into account, so there's probably some fudging there maybe.

AFAIK none of these stats are available from rings, so the real discussion here is chapel selection.  Based on all of the above, here's what I would recommend:

Province: First choice > Second choice
Dawn Plateau: Endurance > Block
Kesalia: Shield Power
Symerlis: Shield Power > Block
Ithanos Archipelago: Shield Power
Hallaghi Valley: Endurance > Adaptation
Fjord Kangher: Shield Power > Block
Thyrthon Plain: Endurance
Damon Wasteland: Adaptation > Regeneration

*Shield Power reportedly caps (soft or hard?) at 25%, so you may or may not want to pick one Block chapel over a Shield Power when you start upgrading to purple chapels.  I'm not aware of any other stat caps at this time.

Honestly, if you want to be prepared for all situations I'd recommend grabbing both first and second recommendations for each province to have maximum versatility (also, in the future we'll be able to activate multiple chapels in a province) but it's naturally up to you if you want to have DPS or support stats on backup first.

If You're Cappy And You Know It, Cap Your Hands

Had another cap discussion again and found two new responses: 1) farm equipment and 2) but leveling orders IS important!

1) I don't know if my situation or strategy is unique but I'm actually much higher in proficiency than than I should be for my prestige, which means stuff is easier than it's listed difficulty would imply (having too much prestige without enough proficiency creates the opposite problem where everything feels too hard and you become unable to equip new gear you find).  Now, this doesn't guarantee I have gear that matches my proficiency, but at the least a) my stats outpace the content, b) it is indeed noticeably easier than it probably should be, and c) I only ever need to do Normal level content to be assured rewards.

Basically, yes I could farm better gear, but I neither want nor need to when I can slowly accrue better gear organically as I progress.

2) Order levels only have an important impact on temple level caps.  Now, my temple levels are hitting caps, but it's because I'm hamstrung by Greatness, not order level.  In fact, my order level is currently double the requirement for the next level temples.

You get Greatness from the upper atlas, and thus need Sparks of Insight.  So again...

No Cap On Whining

And furthermore, why are new players stuck at the same lower cap?

And why can't I create a new character to play with friends who want to try it out?

And why do you have to do ridiculous shenanigans like this to maximize your prestige gains? http://www.reddit.com/r/Skyforge/comments/3c9wxs/how_to_maximise_your_prestige_gain_within_the/

And

And

And

And

They See Me Cappin', They Leavin'

I really think Skyforge is shooting itself in the foot by giving players a reason to stop playing every week as soon as they hit the weekly caps after a few days.  Cap reset Tuesday night and I was coming up on the Spark of Insight cap by Thursday night without premium.

"Work on orders" is not a proper answer to this.  Orders have two paths of progression: upgrading temples & chapels and raising adepts.  The former has two components: temple/chapel level and quality.  Temple and chapel levels have the most impact on both your prestige level and your character's stats but it is capped by the currency cap because holy texts are tied to currency.

So once you're at cap you're not going anywhere in terms of upgrading temples and chapels.

Temple and chapel quality require both credits (limited by cap, obviously)--and quite a lot of credits--and components received from missions available every other day.  So okay, there's a reason to log in every other day as long as you want to keep playing.  If you're not saving some credits in reserve, any progress on quality ends with the currency caps too.

Then there's raising adepts and ranking up your order, neither of which have an appreciable impact on your prestige or character.  In fact, the only direct relation they have that I'm aware of is that higher ranks allow for higher temple levels, except that just by sending adepts on missions regularly I've extremely outpaced the speed of my temple development.  The only way this would be a hindrance to progression is if someone never bothered with missions until they hit temple level caps.  Elsewise, order rank only seems to affect max level of adepts, level of daily adepts available to recruit, difficulty of missions, and number of adept slots.

You could, very very very easily, never "work on orders" and not lose out on much just by maintaining them for a few minutes every couple days and/or regularly on the few days of the week you're logged in full time.

So let's talk about the reason behind the caps.  Apparently according to devs (or so I'm told), it's meant to slow player progression into the endgame to give them more time to work on content.  It's a novel idea which I was okay with until the second week now where I kind of just wish I could explore the game unhindered.  If I really think about it, I'd rather reach the cap quickly and have nothing to do and then concern myself with minute character development than hitting caps in a few days.  I can FEEL it draining my enthusiasm for this game and that's very disturbing and frustrating that a game seems like it's okay with that.  My interest in it survives pretty conveniently right now that there isn't something else that wants my full-time attention.

I want to see where the story goes, I want to see where the gameplay goes, I want to see what the endgame is like, and I'd rather the thing between me and all of those not be that my numbers refuse to go up after a certain point.

I'd rather hit an empty endgame in a few weeks than hit an empty game 4/7 days of the week for months.

Dungeoneering

DF and HT guides forthcoming.  I've done DF twice and both times I got into groups that were stuck at the area with the trash that you have to sneak by (effectively at the end of the instance) and the one HT I had collapsed mysteriously AFTER the first boss was killed.

Mare Sacro Monastary Dungeon Guide

Mare Sacro Monastary (MSM) is the first "Group" Adventure, ie 5-man dungeon, you'll gain access to as you progress in prestige in Skyforge.

Like most areas you gain access to for the first time, Skyforge seems alright with dumping you right into an Impossible rating version of the dungeon--don't do this if it's your first time and be sure to manually drop it down to a lower-star difficulty to get your feet wet.  Group Adventures in this game are no joke and will wreck unorganized random groups, so you want to take the challenge at a reasonable pace your first couple times.

Entrance

Going in, the first several pulls are primarily groups of swarm mobs.  They're not difficult to handle but CAN do damage quickly so be prepared to pop shields.  Also, beware as you cross each bridge, as 1-2 kelps will jump up along most of them.

1st Gate

This pull can be pretty serious and is where most unprepared groups are going to hit a wall.  The swarm mobs need to go down ASAP but targets after that are a bit of a crapshoot.

Icy Abyss Kelps hit hard and will pursue the tank in melee range.  On occasion, it will pull in all nearby players and then create a bubble around itself which will burst, damaging players nearby after a short delay.  Everyone pulled in needs to get away from it quickly.

Roaring Waves Naiads are simple ranged enemies.  They can be kind of LOS'd behind the planters visible in the above screenshot, but they may path right up onto them.

I would recommend the tank grab all mobs and kite the Icy Abyss Kelp.  I would also recommend killing it first before the Naiads to simplify the encounter but any order is mostly fine.

Labyrinth

The next area has this kind of grid-y layout with groups of enemies at each corner of the yellow triangle, single kelps scattered throughout, and 3 patrolling Icy Abyss Krakens.  2 of the Krakens patroll each of the vertical lanes and one patrols east-west across the middle-top lane.

Make sure, before pulling any groups and while fighting, that you are aware of where the Krakens are so that you don't pull them also.  When and if you can pull them safely, they only take a minute or two to take down.  I usually grab the horizontal one and then one of the vertical ones to have a clear path.

Incidentally, the Krakens actually do eventually respawn if you spend too much time in the area.

I usually pull this west group first and, as you can see, from the west corner (as opposed to a lot of groups that like to pull them towards the gate).  This gives you a LOT more options for LOSing them for the pull and breathing room to kite.

Icy Abyss Naiads are rough and can shut down groups if you're not careful.  Their big ability to watch out for is when they have a bubble forming above them; they will launch projectiles that will deal damage and trap the hit player in a bubble--which can be chained to deadly results (often if multiple players are standing near each other).

If your group is having trouble with the Icy Abyss Naiads I strongly recommend simply targeting it first.

I like to pull the east group from the opposite side.  This group is relatively easy.

For this last group I clear out all the spare kelps on the side of the map that's convenient depending on which vertical Kraken was cleared out.  This pull is the same as the one before the 1st Gate, sans swarm-types.  Like previous pulls there's plenty of room for kiting.

Gauntlet => Cetus

This section has another 3 groups of mobs along with an extra quirk: starting from the second turn (the path leading directly to Cetus), groups of kelps continually spawn from Cetus and march down that hall.  If you pull smart, this is only really an issue for the last pull.  Be aware that any kelps that spawn and reach the end of the hall will just sit there if not pulled and then slowly die, so you can wait for waves to despawn before moving forward.

The first pull is pretty easy, just one Foamy Tides Ong and some kelps.  The thing to watch out for with Foamy Tide Ong is for when they start to spin around; they will start to do huge damage in melee range.

Second pull is an ong with 2 support kelps.  I strongly recommend pulling these back around the corner to where the first group was to avoid having to deal with the spawning kelps.

Third pull is a bit trickier unless you pull them far back around the corner, then it's just mostly dealing with Icy Abyss Naiad shenanigans while you take down the ongs.

Before moving on to Cetus, I recommend waiting for a wave of kelps to pass and then blitz straight for the boss, picking up kelps along the way, instead of stopping to fight them, because if you do you will start to get bogged down by rapidly spawning waves as you approach.

Cetus himself is pretty benign, the real trouble is with the intermittently spawning kelps, which can do real damage if they're not managed.

A lot of my troubles tanking this fight have been solved by simply kiting full time and picking up adds as they spawn.  It makes the fight very safe for everyone.

Leida the Conquerer

I recommend clearing out all the kelps in the courtyard leading up to Leida just to minimize the risk of extra accidental pulls during the boss.

Leida is a pretty simple fight.  The first, most immediate thing to watch for is geysers that will spawn beneath players and then erupt, dealing large damage if they're not avoided.  Second, at 15x and 7x HP, Leida will create a shield and spawn two Naiads.  The shield reduces damage to the boss and deals damage to anyone standing inside it; to break it, both Naiads need to be killed.

The two Naiads spawn at opposite sides to the left and right, which can make them tricky to pick up.  Often, one may wander into Leida's shield, in which case they need to be pulled out (with either abilities or manually--can retreat a bit into the courtyard).  If you can get threat on both quickly, you can cause them to cluster up by moving into the recess on the right/west that you can see in the background of the above screenshot.

Elsewise she's pretty easy to shred down, putting an end to MSM.

Skyforgin' and Tankin'

Been playing a lot of Skyforge the past week.  It's fun enough to fill my current MMO void while I'm still taking jaunts into Heroes of the Storm and Trove (since the Steam release I've had two separate groups of gaming buddies get into it).

Skyforge is a Russian MMO, and like a lot of foreign MMOs there is an awful lot that is either not explained very well period or not explained very well probably due to poor translations.  And like a lot of second- or third-string MMOs the external resources for the game are really poor when they exist at all, so I'd like to do what I did with this blog way way back when I started it circa Guild Wars 2 and try to collect information and strategies until someone else picks up the torch with a bit more organization and competence.

I can begin by talking a little bit about tanking so far, since that what I have modest experience with in MMOs and have been doing mostly in Skyforge.  I've only had access to Paladin so far.  Threat is very easy to get and hold and you have plenty of tools to get it and hold it and get it back if you need to.  As I get into the 4k+ prestige range though I'm starting to notice a lot of enemies--especially normal trash mobs--in normal+ level Adventures are tuned to completely squash you if you're not on the ball.  And this isn't entirely in terms of fight mechanics; a modest size group of Swarm-type mobs can and will wreck your shit if you aren't popping regular shields and your group isn't fast enough with the damage.

It gets worse in Group Adventures where you start having to treat every trash pull like you're approaching a boss.  Which is frustrating because the bosses, by contrast, are pretty well tuned for group play--for the most part.  Not having regular healing can really make things frustrating.  Maybe I'm doing things wrong or maybe I keep getting stuck with incompetent supports (I haven't played support enough to understand how viable or essential their role is, but I really should) but I switch off to DPS every so often to try to see how other tanks are behaving and I see the same kinds of issues.

One thing I've noticed that has helped, and have noticed other tanks catching on to, is that kiting enemies seems to be one of the safest ways to do things.  For example, pretty much all issues I had handling the pre-boss mini-boss of Mare Sacro Monestary were resolved by getting threat on the boss, picking up adds whenever they spawned, and running in a big ring around the outside of the room while the group blasted everything.  The gauntlet portion of the last boss of Daren Facility seems to virtually require a similar strategy.  Threat is not difficult to manage so you don't need to be constantly poking enemies, and enemy pathing is kind of strange; enemies don't seem to want to pass through each other and, when swarming, will gather around you in a circle--which is frustrating on many levels but can be abused to limit the number of enemies attacking you at once.  Also, ranged enemies seem to react very poorly to being LOS'd and may often sit there just staring at you from around the corner instead of attacking anyone.

This game very very desperately needs some way to mark targets; choosing which targets to kill first is a huge problem in this game.  Good and bad parties in this game can be distinguished by something as simple as whether or not everyone has the same sense in picking targets.

Anyways, that's all for now.  I'm going to do a writeup on MSM as soon as I've run it again to get accompanying screenshots.

Never Have I Ever

I've been playing Neverwinter the last 4-5 days ever since I hit some serious gaming withdrawal waiting on building a new desktop and discovered it (barely) runs on my shitty old laptop.  But this morning I had a very strange experience this morning where all the tiny nitpick things formed a perfect storm of FUCK THIS to where I might just stop while I'm ahead.

Neverwinter is a very nice game in terms of it's conventional MMO-ness and game mechanics; it's sort of halfway between the Guild Wars 2 fuck-the-trinity thing and...I guess Tera is the most relevant example of the other half--itself halfway between traditional MMO and aren't-we-cool-we-don't-have-tab-targetting actioney gameplay.  The class structure is fine if extremely extremely stereotypical.

It's also a Cryptic game.  A post-Star Trek Online Cryptic game, which very much harps on the spirit of a lot of the conventions and features of that game but dialed up to 11 on the tedious scale.  The game is constantly CONSTANTLY beating you over the head trying to get you to buy zen.  If you want to do ANYTHING cool you gotta have zen to buy shit.  It kind of seems (at least so far) that you either need to shell out or commit to the ridiculous grind of cobbling together astral diamonds (ie dilithium) to exchange.  I didn't bother with it in STO but it seems like it's even worse in Neverwinter.

Crafting resembles the crew stuff from STO and has a nice little web app for managing it without having to log in, and the companion minigame is really cool but you need to shell out zen (or already have a bunch of gold) to get more companions.

I mentioned it ran on my laptop, but it does so if everything is set to minimum and the "resolution scaling" also turned all the way down, which seems to just aggressively blur everything.  Which is fine; playing it on a tiny screen all blurry is uncomfortable but not unmanageable.  But the performance like this is pretty inconsistent.  In outside zones where there's not a lot around it runs fine, but in town it drops frames pretty hard...most of the time.  Sometimes it just works fine for some reason.  Similar problem with the dungeons: sometimes I can run 'em just fine, sometimes it runs so poor as to be nearly unplayable.

So this morning I was running the second dungeon for the second time (after I did it once I discovered I had a daily to do it, so I went to do it again) and the second dungeon is long and really really boring.

And my performance was shitting itself.

And I realized I was fed up with all the zen shenanigans.

And I realized I was sick of trying to play it as a blurry mess.

And I realized I had to listen to podcasts to make the boring questlines go by the night before.

And I realized I wasn't into it enough to look forward to leveling up another 40 times.

And...

So it's weird; I've "aggressively" stopped playing games before but never one I was, for the most part, otherwise enjoying.  I might have to come back to it sometime later but fuck all this zen bullshit.

My Thoughts on #GamerGate Over the Last Few Days

A few nights ago I was reading a very interesting Twitlonger written by @silverwolfcc (http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sdjrse) and I got about a third through it when I had something of an epiphany.  I had kind of an uncharacteristic moment of emotional pride in the gamer demographic that I’d never had before, over the sheer depth and breadth of the #GamerGate constituency.

It’s hard for me to describe without giving a lot of background, so if you’re in a rush suffice it to say that I’ve always hated the term “gamer” until then, but I’ve never been so proud to share a hobby with you amazing dudes and dudettes as I have been the last few days following GamerGate on Twitter.

I’ve always fancied myself an “old guard” nerd.  I’ve written before how the idea of “nerddom” being an expanding culture is anathema because it is, at its core, a holy haven of escapism.  That is to say, there could be said to be two factions: “orthodox nerds” who gravitated to traditionally nerdy subjects and media because that was the only way we could really understand the world around us; the people who were ostracized and marginalized, who argue about plot minutiae in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation because it’s legitimately important to us that that world be as tangible as possible.

In the past I refused to identify as a “gamer” because I thought the term ought to be reserved for the nerd orthodoxy in gaming, so I sort of viewed the label as derisively misappropriated.  But more on that later.

Then there’s the “pop nerds”; the ones who I would say are in it because it’s cool or trendy.  If I was writing about this in more detail I’d have a lot more disparaging things to say about this latter camp, but this post is about how I arrived at my olive branch so I’ll drop a relevant block quote here instead:

“The Emperor summons before him Bodhidharma and asks: ‘Master, I have been tolerant of innumerable gays, lesbians, bisexuals, asexuals, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, transgender people, and Jews. How many Tolerance Points have I earned for my meritorious deeds?’

“Bodhidharma answers: ‘None at all’.

“The Emperor, somewhat put out, demands to know why not.

“Bodhidharma asks: ‘Well, what do you think of gay people?’

“The Emperor answers: ‘What do you think I am, some kind of homophobic bigot? Of course I have nothing against gay people!’

“And Bodhidharma answers: ‘Thus do you gain no merit by tolerating them!’”

--http://slatestarcodex.com/2014/09/30/i-can-tolerate-anything-except-the-outgroup/
--http://poetrychina.net/Story_of_Zen/zenstory3a.htm

I’ve always been quietly of the opinion that the media favored by the nerd orthodoxy should remain in their control as a sort of petulant impractical exclusivity—or at the very least they ought to be what drives those media with the latter camp being subject only to the tastes of the former (I will comment that, as of writing this, it’s an old opinion and strikes me now as admittedly un-capitalist).  In practice I have never actually lived this philosophy as a real orthodoxy, partly because it’s impractical (pop nerds are absolutely ubiquitous) but mostly because I generally prefer that people like me and demanding people GTFO because they’re not enough of a “true nerd” is a straight shortcut to the opposite.  While I don’t fancy them on a conceptual level, I’ve never bothered to discriminate between people I meet in games that might fall into the latter camp, I might only pass benign silent judgment.  After all, a quiet accusation that an individual is “not a true nerd” is really nothing more than an appeasement of one’s own ego anyways.

But here’s where I’m going with this: my idea of the “nerd orthodoxy” excluded women as a rule.  Now don’t get me wrong, I love women (married to one) and I love female nerds (married to one) and I’ve played with many many many women in games over the years.  When I say “excluded women as a rule” it goes unsaid that I believe there are plenty of exceptions to that rule.

Here’s what I mean.  My wife is rather introverted (she’s warm and personable and not antisocial but she prefers small company if any) and to her life is perfect with a bowl full of Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and a browser overflowing with tabs to FanFiction.net on her laptop.  To me, even before I met her, that’s what the quintessential female nerd looks like.  There’s millions of women out there like this, and I knew that well before GamerGate.

But there’s still more women and girls (and men etc.) who don’t really meet that description who nonetheless enjoy video games, so while I would get along with most people who play games just fine I maintained a sort of smug detachment from many of them.  I really think GamerGate has dispelled a lot of that.

I followed GamerGate from the start as an ancillary supporter.  I’ve virtually never in my life used gaming media for anything, so it’s not really all that important to me (granted my father is a journalist and I value truth, so in that respect I’m very much on board with a movement that seeks enhanced journalistic ethics).  My stake in the race was very much as an antifeminist and inasmuch as the anti-movement has damaged 4chan; while I’m concerned about SJW shit creeping into games I’m not very convinced that there won’t always be games for the core demographics.  I started using Twitter somewhat regularly to follow GamerGate once it moved there very early on.  It wasn’t until the last several days that I used it actively, and I only really started doing so out of boredom (my gaming desktop is borked so I don’t have a lot of gaming options at the moment).  But what I found in doing so was remarkable.

People of all flavors were out in support of #GamerGate against SJW encroachment in droves.  Without #notyourshield I don’t think it would be quite the same.  The racial makeup of GamerGate supporters is no surprise to me; I’ve been to Evo and am well aware that anyone who says gaming is a white hobby is fucking delusional.  What caught me off guard the most is the women, just the sheer unending volume of them.  Most of us know they exist for the most part, and most of us understand that gaming is a hobby heavily inhabited by men and that, while this is true, it’s hardly an exclusive hobby, but I had previously had no real appreciation for the sheer actual number of women who have the same passion for games and don’t want to see them ground into the dirt by the ideologically narrowminded.

Somewhere while reading @silverwolfcc’s Twitlonger it hit me.  GamerGate feels very much like a sort of orthodox nerd’s crusade against invaders, but it’s really not just the orthodox nerds in this battle.  There’s common ground with those who don’t fit my arbitrary labels too; there’s bigger fish to fry.  Using “gamer” as a common identity strikes me as a poetic way to come together.

And it’s more beyond that.  Before I’d listened to the conversation between @Sargon_of_Akkad and @TYFCapitalists on YouTube (A Conversation with The Fine Young Capitalists) I was very universally antifeminist.  I really had not been open to the idea that there were rationalist feminists (muh 1^st/2^nd wave was never really enough to convince me; there were suffragette terrorists back then too) until I heard @TYFCapitalists describe their experiences, methods, and the issues they were working on.  I’m much more convinced now that the insanity that marks 3^rd wave feminism is really a result of its Marxist underpinnings.

Here’s the difference between us and the SJWs: they see a society forever in its infancy and they see themselves as its all-knowing parents with all the petulant authoritarianism that only an insecure parent can muster—an I-know-what’s-best, don’t-question-me attitude.  They think gamers as a culture are children because they’re still stuck in that mindset that we’re either children playing with toys or reclusive nerds perpetually in middle school.  They don’t understand that we’re truly a culture of adults, and adults don’t need to be—and don’t like to be—talked down to.  They don’t understand that adults can disagree on deep, fundamental issues and still get along and have fun together at the end of the day.  They think we’re children who need to be protected from people with “bad opinions”; they don’t understand that even if someone is a legit sexist/racist/whatever, if that person is still a good person otherwise—a good player—we can find some common ground.  We can understand that those transgressions are character flaws that can be subverted and overcome—a rational racist can be taught why an irrational disdain for people of a given race is not useful.  We’re wise enough to give pause to the sort of truly childish thoughts that would cause someone to condemn someone else wholesale only for having a “bad” opinion.  The same sort of zeal that drives SJWs to condemn everyone who doesn’t agree with them is the same irrationality that allows someone to be racist irrationally for no real reason to the extent that they cannot be convinced out of their petty biases.

And that’s why we’re always going to win over cultural Marxism.  The situation is really quite the opposite of how it appears, for it is really them who are the angsty teenagers who break down the instant the world doesn’t conform to their expectations.  They’re up against adults, who enjoy challenging themselves, who are able to build meaningful communities and relationships, who are able to put aside small differences and get work done, who like to win but aren’t afraid to lose.  That’s how I define “gamer”.  Gamers are far from dead.

Parsing the GameJournoPros leak

Just a quick word at the top, I'm writing this to try to sift through the leak of the GameJournoPros e-mail chain posted by Milo Yiannopoulos.  I intend to break it down into a more manageable summary of the e-mail chain, give a clear picture of who is included in this group discussion, and to frame the important key points of what is being discussed.

I'm doing this because frankly I think the articles written about the e-mail group have been very weak because most outside observers are going to see it as a group of buddies protecting one of their friends from having their personal life dragged through the public eye--without seeing it for what it really is, a group of high level video game journalists and editors in open counsel with each other on issues of news.  Part of this is to sort through what is and isn't attempts to censor or agree to suppress the scandal, for while the effect of how game journalists handled the original scandal could be perceived as censorship it is not very clear the extent to which it was organized and deliberate.  There is admittedly a human side to the original scandal regardless of whether it was ethical and frankly part of the ammunition that the anti-GG side have at their disposal is the idea that they were trying to protect someone from harassment, but where they fail and are truly at fault is the means and measure they attempted to use to do so because they felt no regard for journalistic integrity and instead chose to view it as an issue of friendship and quid pro quo.

But let's be clear, implicit or tacit agreements to ignore coverage of an important issue is a huge breach of journalistic ethics. If you don't understand why this is a big issue, simply be aware that these are the people deciding what is and isn't news in the video game world.  It's a cartel on information.  It is destructive to the free flow of information at best and flagrant economic manipulation at worst.  Keep in mind: these are people who have a huge say in which products (video games) you ever hear about.

I'll leave my personal comments on the subject and my background with regards to GamerGate at the end so they can be safely ignored.  Side commentary from within the summary will be in bold.

You can find the full leaked text here: http://yiannopoulos.net/2014/09/19/gamejournopros-zoe-quinn-email-dump/ - note as of this moment in writing the website has been overrun by people checking it out so I'll update the link if it becomes available elsewhere
Previous articles on the leaked e-mails:
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/17/Exposed-the-secret-mailing-list-of-the-gaming-journalism-elite
http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-London/2014/09/18/The-emails-that-prove-video-games-journalism-must-be-reformed
A response by Kyle Orland who created the Google Group: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/09/addressing-allegations-of-collusion-among-gaming-journalists/

August 19
-Some context with regards to the date: on August 16 Eron Gjoni, the ex-boyfriend of Zoe Quinn (the central figure of the scandal that started the whole shebang, Developer of Depression Quest), posted a detailed recounting with their breakup, including the fact that she had cheated on him with five other guys.  While there was some requisite shit-slinging related to that, what was noted to be most important is who she was alleged to have slept with, because one or more of them may have been involved in promoting her game, Depression Quest.  The e-mail chain appears to begin three days later, after accusations of corruption and collusion in the gaming press have become the platform for outrage amongst what would be come supporters of #GamerGate.  A timeline of the early events in the GamerGate debacle can be found here: http://cdn.knightlab.com/libs/timeline/latest/embed/index.html?source=0AluMP_VX-eehdFV1X2JxQXNzZ3gzaE45VG85WDl3R0E 

Kyle Orland (Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica)
-Begins by linking to a pastebin containing text originally written in a blog post (that had since been removed) by Zoe Quinn, which can still be read at: http://pastebin.com/v4DGSQqR
-Kyle calls attention to the first paragraph in which Zoe implores the games press to not "take the bait" because it's "not news"
-He seems to express some conflict over whether or not the subject might be public interest (note: from the standpoint of someone being harassed, not that there may have been ethical breaches involved), expresses a desire to use his "platform" to decry the harassment aimed at Zoe
-Ends with: "So what’s to be done? Maybe we should just stick to Twitter to boost the signal on this one, rather than our “front pages.” (Quinn seemed initially OK with people retweeting her statement
(https://twitter.com/TheQuinnspiracy/status/501644035593748481) but then she took down the  original Tumblr post, so who knows). Maybe we should get a public letter of support going around decrying these kinds of personal attacks, signed by as many sympathetic journalists/developers as we can. Maybe we should just use this as an excuse to give more attention to her work… I know I’ve been meaning to review Depression Quest since its Steam release. Very interested to hear what others think on this."
-So, I actually missed this on my first pass reading through the e-mails, but Kyle actually suggests they use it as an excuse to give Depression Quest MORE (presumably positive) press coverage.

Devin Connors (Writer and Editor at the Escapist)
-Asks what the deal is with Zoe's statement, as he's been "busy with a wedding for the last week"

Matthew Hawkins (Columnist at Gawker Media's Kotaku)
-Posts a link to Zoe's blog

James Fudge (Managing Editor at GamePolitics.com)
-Posts a link to Zoe's Tumblr with the original text reposted

Greg Tito (Editor in Chief at the Escapist)
-Says the he has decided not to write about/ignore the scandal
-Also mentions a thread about it on the Escapist forums, but says that he is "struggling to find justification in shutting down discussion"; says he will "continue to moderate the crap out of the threads" but asks for advice on whether he should just straight up shut it down, ending with: "Looking for opinions from the group because I’m stumped as to the best way to handle this. Damn it, Jim, I’m a writer not a skilled forum moderator!"

Ben Kuchera (Senior Opinion Editor at Polygon)
-"This is the question: People are using your platform to harass a developer. Are you comfortable with that?"

Greg Tito
-Replies that he is shutting down harassment immediately and issued bans and warnings, says that following that logic discussion on the internet would also have to be shut down (but maybe that's not a bad idea)
-Frankly, this suggests to me that Greg Tito doesn't have a desire to actually censor anything at this time--just prevent harassment.

Mike Wehner (Editor at TUAW, former Managing Editor at the Escapist)
-Agrees with Greg that the best move is to only shut down individual comments that "cross the line" and that "telling people they can't discuss the ramifications of the allegations *at all* is a bit much[...]given that the Escapist forums have always been a place for a wide range of discussions."

Ben Kuchera
-Links to a thread where he notes someone signed up for an account just to post that thread, claims it fits his definite of harassment

Greg Tito
-Mentions that that is not an uncommon practice and not automatically harassment in his book
-Mentions that critics in the existing threads are being met with people "working to educate the OP and others about these things" and creating a positive dialogue

Ben Kuchera
-Writes:
"Ask yourself this:

1) Does that thread serve your community?

2) Is it making anyone’s life better?

3) Is it actively hurting someone?

4) Is that what I want the Escapist to be?

The answers, are no, no, yes, and I hope not. If using the forums to post hearsay to harass and abuse people isn’t against your current TOS, change your TOS. Don’t sit by and let your community be used to making gaming worse because of a technicality."

James Fudge
-Says he agrees the topic doesn't sound like harassment at face value, and that shutting it down plays into the "narrative" about censorship
-Says, however, that it violates the "Don't Be a Jerk" rule of the Escapist Code of Conduct (presumably he's implying that would be sound justification to shut down the thread)

Ben Kuchera
-"Yeah, I'm really confused and saddened that this is even a conversation."

Jason Schreier (Reporter at Gawker Media's Kotaku)
-Chimes in to say that claims that Nathan Grayson (Writer at Kotaku, one of the fabled Five Guys) reviewed Depression Quest are not true, and likewise on the existence of a blog post written by Nathan that was allegedly removed

Ben Kuchera
-Continues whinging about the Escapist thread

Greg Tito
-Acknowledges Jason Schreier and mentions that he's been trying to correct posters on that point
-Says that although "the conversation may be distasteful to some of us[...]I don't know if the answer is to delete the thread"
-Goes on to say that "pushing this down would only serve my own tastes and opinions" and is "not what a public forum is designed to be"

Dan Starkey (Freelance Writer and Video Game Critic at Game Spot et al.)
-Comments briefly on the Escapist thread

Kyle Orland
-Replies to Dan Starkey's comment

Dan Starkey
-Replies to Kyle

Kyle Orland
-Replies to Dan

Dan Starkey
-Replies to Kyle (oh no, he saw awful things on "the chan line of sites")

Ben Kuchera
-"Really disappointed in that response, Greg.  But I'm going to end the discussion on it here to maintain civility."

Greg Tito
-Tells Ben to message him in private if he wants to continue discussion

Kyle Orland
-Replies to Dan again

Andy Eddy (Editor in Chief of @Gamer Magazine, Former Senior Editor at GamePro magazine et al., founded Netcom--a mirror of which eventually developed into GameFAQs)
-Says it's "barely a game-industry story, no matter how some people want to frame it"
-States, "I don't think we, as games press, should support furthering the story by commenting, editorializing or even allowing others to ruminate on it."
-It seems this is the first instance of an organized call to ignore the issue.
-Continues by making several appeals to emotion (eg "what if it was your son or daughter or brother or sister?")
-Finally, for good measure, he says Greg should yank the aforementioned Escapist thread
-To be fair, the general tone of his e-mail suggests that he thinks what Zoe did was pretty dumb, but he still more or less urges that the story not be given any air.

 Greg Tito
-Agrees with everything Andy Eddy wrote
-Explains that things are being moderated closely
-Reaffirms his previous statements that, while he doesn't like the discussion, he doesn't think it would be a good idea to cut it off, but is now expressing doubts

Chris Dahlen (Freelance Writer for several sites, see http://savetherobot.com/)
-More or less says the same thing Andy Eddy did
-Hates on Bro Team
-Above aside, mentions Bro Team as an example of the immature goofs "who are circling around Quinn for all their own pathetic reasons" and that they should "work against that, in even the smallest ways, rather than permit it."

Chris Dahlen (again)
-"Also, I’m just reminded of the recent Polygon opinion pieces where they shut the comments off altogether.  Commenting on somebody else’s website or forum is a privilege, not a right.  If you’re going to be a shitbag, you don’t get to contribute."

Kyle Orland
-"Silver lining: Quinn is getting a bunch of new Patreon patrons today, apparently"

Ryan Smith (Freelance Writer at the Chicago Tribune's RedEye et al.)
-Agrees that Zoe's sex life shouldn't be news
-BUT points out that several outlets had run stories on Josh Mattingly (CEO and Founder of Indie Statik) and the Snapchat CEO's "e-mails from college", which were both instances of stories based on private conversations about sex
-Also wonders if anyone who published stories about Zoe Quinn's harassment had actually bothered to ask for evidence or if they just went by what she wrote on Twitter
-Greg Tito came under fire at some point early on after he had made a post insinuating that the had done just that, but I do not recall where it fits in the timeline.  I wonder if Ryan's statement isn't a response to that or if they're at all related.

Sarah LeBoeuf (Writer at the Escapist)
-"Uh pretty big difference between 'a private conversation about sex' and sexual harassment, which is what the Mattingly situation was."

Jason Schreier
-More of the above

Ben Kuchera
-Even more of the above plus the requisite Kuchera-being-a-dickwad

Ryan Smith
-"Hold on to your hats.  I wasn't equating the two at all.  I was just asking where you guys draw the line."

Kyle Orland
-"Between the harassers and the victims of harassment."

Jason Schreier
-Similar

Ben Kuchera
-Again

Ryan Smith
-Clarifies that it was specifically with regards to publishing stories related to messages that were formerly private that have been public because they were posted online
-I'd like to take a moment here to highlight the double standard though.  According to feminists (including, by the way, Zoe, who has stated the following elsewhere), cheating on your partner and then having sex with them again without telling them is considered rape.  Zoe is guilty of rape.  I would consider that to at least be on the same level as sexual harassment.  But watch these SJWs do any mental gymnastics necessary to not hold men and women to the same standards for fuckin' rape. 

Brandon Justice (Editorial Director at @ReadRETRO Magazine, Former Developer at SEGA, 2K, EA, et al.)
-"Personally, I'm just trying to get over the 'silver lining' bit.  Like, really?"
-We all are, Brandon.  We all are.

Dan Starkey
-"The line is whether or not it serves a legitimate public interest."
-lol

Kyle Orland
-Says a few things that don't really make sense in the current context but isn't very relevant either

Dan Starkey
-Corrects a small grammatical error in his previous message

James Fudge
-Brings up the DMCA takedown of MundaneMatt's video, says it's what he was initially interested in but didn't want to have to write about all the other stuff related to the controversy

Britton Peele (Entertainment Editor at Dallas Morning News)
-Notes that anyone could file the DMCA takedown request claiming to be Zoe
-Mentions that he has refrained from commenting because he is friends with Nathan Grayson
-Says, however, that "this should never, ever have been a 'thing'" and is not a "news story", even the "'corruption of a journalist' angle"
-Waffles a bit on the forum discussion issue

Andrew Groen (Writer at WIRED)
-"I had a thought. Maybe a bad one. You tell me: I remember a few years back when Patrick Klepek hit on some tough circumstances we all pitched in to get him a 'feel better' gift. Anybody think something like that could be appropriate to address the circumstances that have been forced upon Zoe? Even if it’s not monetary. Maybe a signed, joint letter of support from the Game Journo Pros. I know she’s not a member of the group like Patrick was, but I do know that this is part of a broader theme of the industry losing talent to the toxic culture. And that’s our business. In my mind, it’s a joint show of solidarity to match the trolls’ joint show of force."
-Patrick Klepek is a Regular Contributor at Giantbomb
-Wow.

Dan Starkey
-Likes Andrew Groen's idea

Mike Futter (News Editor at Game Informer)
-Remarks that the above is a terrible idea (but mostly because they're "a bunch of strangers who don't know you, but in case you were wondering, we're aware of your dirty laundry")

Kyle Orland
-Likes a "signed letter of support" idea and wants to get some developers on board, asks for volunteers for a draft
-Oh boy, as if you're not already under fire for (literally and metaphorically) being in bed with developers.

Dan Starkey
-Appears to volunteer to write said draft

Andrew Groen
-Attempts to justify the idea in response to Mike Futter
-Actually has the balls (and/or lack of brains/restraint) to say they're Zoe's colleagues
-Says he doesn't know if ignoring the problem is "an effective strategy" (but mostly because he wants everyone to be publicly in support of Zoe)
-But says that any letter of support needs to be "entirely under the radar"

Jason Schreier
-As an ironic voice of reason, implies that perhaps the suggested gift or letter would be unwise given that "this incident has raised enough questions about the incestuous relationship between press and developers already"

Mike Futter
-"I would prefer not to be associated with this. It feels wrong to me. I think it feels very off to reach across the fence from journalist to subject in this way. I prefer professional distance, especially given the accusations being levied at us from outside."

Britton Peele
-Echoes Mike's sentiment

Adam Rosenberg (Gaming and Movies Editor at Digital Trends)
-Also agrees with Mike
-Suggests that the best thing to do is just drop it and let things get sorted out on their own

Scott Nichols (Freelance Game Critic at Digital Spy)
-Jumps on the above bandwagon, suggests that it's only appropriate for individuals who are friends with her to express support

Adam Rosenberg
-Writes:
"I just want to add to what I said earlier, since I couldn’t really get into it in a post punched into my iPhone and this is something I feel pretty strongly about. The idea doesn’t sit right with me because this whole situation is so much more complex than someone being unreasonably harassed by the Internet.

Let’s just review the sequence of events really quick:

1- Zoe has a relationship that, whatever the reason may be, ends badly.

2- Zoe’s wounded ex goes on a very public tirade in which he airs piles and piles of alleged dirty laundry.

3- The Internet Harassment Squad goes ballistic and rains a shitstorm down on Zoe.

#3 really, really sucks, objectively speaking. But what about everything that led to it?

That’s where things get sticky. This is some straight-up relationship drama, just spilled out across a larger canvas. Who are any of us to say what’s true and what’s not in the alleged facts that have been laid out? And say some of the ex’s allegations ARE true: Is it right to send a message that indirectly validates the shitty behavior he described? Would Zoe even feel comfort at such a gesture, considering it amounts to a reminder of the public embarrassment she’s had to stare down with this whole affair being dragged into a public setting?

I’m not raising these questions to judge or cast blame; I haven’t even read most of what was written (nor will I). I’m just making a point here. Harassment of the sort Zoe’s had to deal with is NEVER okay, and I feel for her, but there are too many external factors. It’s just plain inappropriate for a group of relative strangers to offer up what amounts to a reassuring pat on the back. This is the very definition of a personal matter, and I’m sure Zoe has a support network that she’s leaning on right now to help her through.

Y’all are gonna do what you’re gonna do, but I think you really need to give some serious consideration to exactly who you’d be serving here by sending a group note."

August 20
Kyle Orland
-Straight up states that he doesn't care if the allegations Adam Rosenberg brought up are true, except inasmuch as they might implicate corruption in game journalism (though it's left unsaid whether or not he cares if the implications might be true ABOUT corruption in game journalism)
-But he concedes that a group public note of support is a bad idea
-Mentions articles related to the issue on Vice and by John Walker (Founder and Contributor at Rock, Paper, Shotgun), notes that John Walker brings up the silence amongst games journalists (but Walker affirms belief that it is a positive strategy)

Mike Futter
-Expresses frustration at being caught between the "victim" who doesn't want it discussed and "a crusader shaming those of us who honor those wishes"
-It occurs to me now that it's frustrating that Zoe's given automatic benefit-of-the-doubt as the "victim" here.

James Fudge
-Points out that the above John Walker piece appeared on his blog and not Rock, Paper, Shotgun, but when/if Walker posts it there he would "be more than happy to consider following his lead"

Susan Arendt (Managing Editor of Joystiq)
-"Count me out of the letter, for a wide variety of reasons."

Kyle Orland
-Links to Patrick Klepek's blog

Matthew Hawkins
-(I think he's agreeing with Susan Arendt, but it's not strictly clear)

Mike Rougeau (Freelance Writer at Kotaku, Game Spot, et al.)
-Also agrees with Susan Arendt

Dan Starkey
-Remarks that the letter idea is dead and that he reached out to Zoe personally

Kyle Orland
-Reaffirms Dan Starkey's statements

Kyle Orland (again)
-Links to an article by Stephen Totilo on Kotaku

William O'Neal (Editor in Chief at TechRadar.com)
-"Who here hasn't slept with a PR person or game developer? #AMIRITE"
-Classy.

Adam Rosenberg
-"Ween - Don't Shit Where You Eat"
-It's a song, I had to look it up to be sure I wasn't missing some reference.  Presumably in reply to William O'Neal.

August 23
-Note the three day gap...?

Andy Eddy
-Recounts being told not to embarrass the company by getting drunk and sleeping with people at events, and, of course, "don't dip your pen in the company ink"
-Classy.

Kyle Orland
-Notes that "this whole thing is reaching the mainstream via Amanda Marcotte and The Daily Beast, who links it to the larger 'misogyny in gaming' angle"
-Links to the mentioned article

August 26
-Another three day gap.

Kyle Orland
-Links to another article on Kotaku by Totilo
-Remarks that, on Twitter, Totilo draws a line between supporting a developer on Patreon (not okay) and backing a game on Kickstarter (okay)
  Britton Peele
-Comments on the Patreon/Kickstarter thing

August 27
Scott Nichols
-Continued discussion of Patreon vs Kickstarter

August 29
Kyle Orland
-Calls the interview with Eron Gjoni (Zoe's ex) on Vice "shockingly sympathetic"
-Doesn't seem to get the whole Vivian James thing

Chris Dahlen
-Says it just "seems to confirm that this kid is a gigantic fucking idiot"

August 30
James Fudge
-"he's got a classic case of buyer's remorse."

Britni Danielle ??? (I think?  Only identified as "Danielle" in the GameJournoPros e-mails.  Elsewise, Britni Danielle is a freelance journalist of unclear affiliation.)
-Whines about how "this jilted moron" put Zoe in daaaaaaaangerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Philip Kollar (Editor at Polygon)
-Agrees with Danielle and "would argue that interviewing the ex-boyfriend is probably a poor choice"
-Why?

September 1
Susan Arendt
-Writes:
"'...it's hard not to sympathize [with Eron]'

Actually, it's not hard at all.  Pretty damn easy, in fact.  Fuck that guy." 

Ben Kuchera
-"I had the same reaction.  That Vice article is bullshit."

Dan Starkey
-More of the above

William O'Neal
-"Dude comes across like a psychopath."

Andy Eddy
-Whinges more about the Vice article, says it's ironic that a "guy who posts numerous personal IM chats with someone [asking] for parts of his conversation to be off-the-record"

James Fudge
-One last cheap shot at Eron Gjoni

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<Reserved for further analysis.>