Sargon of Akkad Talks #Brexit and the EU Army Proposal

There isn't much to add here. The title Sargon gives to this video archive of this livestream sums it up, and the rest is had by watching this video. Yes, it's long; do it smaller parts if you can't or won't block out the time to give it your full attention in one go.

On a Day of Remembrance, The Doom of Men Hits

This has it just right: pic.twitter.com/0pTJ5IiNAu

— Brit Hume (@brithume) May 30, 2016

If you think this can't happen again, you are NOT paying attention. All of the requirements for a Third World War are here, and they are mixing together into the catalyst that can set it off at any time. We're in the middle of the Centennial for World War 1 (which, if you've forgotten, was from 1914-1918), and the whole cascade that's now immortalized via The Guns of August that began that war is ready to go now.

Only we aren't going to have trenches. Or defined lines. It's going to be the Global Civil War of Macross fame, and that means a global partisan war where local disputes get settled in a spasm of neighbor-on-neighbor slaughter the likes of which Americans haven't seen since the 19th century.

People in other countries have such slaughters in living memory, but that doesn't mean they won't do it again. Tensions remain, well after the fact, and can flare up again with sufficient provocation. Why? They forget. They don't pass on the memories to their successors, who in turn fail to comprehend why their world is what it is- fair and foul alike. With experience forgotten, so goes the lessons, and the culture reverts to what it would be without that knowledge. As the culture goes, so goes the politics. Therefore the pattern repeats inevitably.

And that is why historians are so prone to drinking themselves to death.

Narrative Warfare: Trump is the Good Cop, Folks

Tomorrow is Memorial Day. I'm the son of a war veteran, and the grandson of a war veteran. Men who put on a uniform and offered up their lives in service to the United States. I'll gladly talk about the reality of that, and have previously elsewhere, but one thing is NOT negotiable: they do NOT appreciate fools and fuckwits squandering what their blood and bones bought.

The Truth About SJW Propaganda (from the classic movie "They Live") #GamerGate pic.twitter.com/I4xpTLovrF

— Vivian James (@vivianjamesplay) May 29, 2016

"Social Justice" does just that. This is what my forefathers, and many of my peers since then, have signed up to oppose. Under the color of "justice", they undermine American civility. Under the color of "justice", they corrupt American politics. Under the color of "justice", they pervert the law and degrade the legitimacy of American government. They undermine the Rule of Law in favor of the Rule of Man, and with that they show themselves barbarians within the gates seeking the collapse of Civilization.

If the "refugees" are the Orcs at the Gates, "Social Justice" is the cult of traitors acting as 5th Columnists in concert with them- a thing I say as that is exactly how it operates in Europe (where this death cult has power), with governments actively committing treason against their own kind in favor of hostile foreign outsiders.

So, how does this make Trump the Good Cop?

Remember that Rule of Law thing? Trump's staying within it, even with all of the policies he's proposing and moves he's making. He's not calling for genocide. He's not calling for war. He's not even calling for any more than the minimal amount of force required to gain compliance; if no one acts the fool and keeps cool, that's fine by him. Trump's taking a Nationalist approach, wanting to preserve Rule of Law as much for your benefit as for his own- right out of Moore's A Man For All Seasons.

Trump's playing the role of Quintus Fabius Maximus here, wearing down the cult with indirect attrition via massive Rhetorical moves as he buys time for a telling blow to finish the job. It takes time--something Rome learned the hard way--but it works, and we're seeing it start to pay off now. Letting the enemy show itself for what it is, and then calling attention to it, is making Trump the winner he says he is; this is fighting within the Rule of Law, like it or not. It's a classic Good Cop approach to handling conflict, allowing him to hold the Moral Level of War he needs to hold to attain and retain popular legitimacy- something Bad Cops don't care about.

So, if he's the Good Cop, then who's the Bad Cop? Well, not "who" but rather "what", and "what" is a massive ultra-nationalist movement that gives no fucks about the Rule of Law. Why? Because it's not a death pact; the Rule of Law is an ongoing compact, a compromise entered into so long as the benefits surpass the costs. The benefits are speedy non-violent conflict resolutions, clear rules of conduct to avoid them, and competent state protection of properties and contracts; the costs are forbearance of private enforcement of personal interests and contribution to upkeep and upgrades.

Defeating Trump will result in the costs surpassing the benefits, resulting in just that breakdown and the rise of ultra-nationalists seizing power by force. All that shit slung at Trump about genocide, death camps, yadda yadda yadda? That's what will happen, in the name of returning order and quiet to the American nation- and that nation will, once more, be crystal fucking clear as to who and what that is (because everyone else will either die or flee). Bad Cops just want to get the problem permanently solved, and corpses in real life are proof of just that, so killing the fuck out of the problem is the go-to option. It works, reliably, as the record shows; just ask Boadicea- oh, wait, the Romans ended her by the sword.

Trump holds all of that back, for now, but if he goes down then he gets tagged out and then the shit hits the fan. You don't want that. I don't want that. That's why I'm voting Trump in November: to avoid disaster. So should you, because Hillary will give you ultras and worse.

Sargon of Akkad on Milo's #DePaul Debacle

Why did the faculty side with the protesters against the students and guest speaker?

I said a few days ago that if something stupid happened, I'd say something about it. Here we are.

Sargon's got it right here: this is institutional abuse of a vulnerable population, personalized for effect. There's a lot more like Edward in places and situations like this, and it really does show you just how much the SocJus is a nasty, dirty, mind-controlling death cult with this position in Academia and the Media. That guy is a virtual human sacrifice for the demon lord of this death cult, no different than Thulsa Doom beckoning a girl to leap to her death at his whim.

Yes, Ed needs to be held accountable for his part in this mess, but it shouldn't stop there. Get the mind-fuckers and shot-callers, as you would with any other cult-cum-criminal organization. If the City of Chicago won't do it, then first the State of Illinois and then the Federal Government should intervene and put them under inquiry. This is serious, folks, and the consequences of letting it go on is clear and present to reasonable minds.

The Fabulous Milo Wins The Week

Milo Yiannopoulos had two speaking engagements this week for his Dangerous Faggot tour. One was in Chicago, Illinois at DePaul University. The other was at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Both events were streamed. Both events are now up on video, and I'm embedding both.

Notice the difference a couple of days makes. At DePaul SocJus cultists and BLM thugs storm the stage, disrupt the event, assault Milo, and get it shut down with Administration approval. Milo and others keep the Moral Level to themselves, and use audio and video recordings to get the word out on what went down. This played forward into the Santa Barbara event, which went off without a hitch and Milo had a massive turnout in support of him (and, by extension, Trump).

That's winning in political and cultural conflict, folks. That's hitting at the level of Rhetoric, which is where such fights are won or lost.

Podcast Recommendation: Bacon Bits

Bacon Bits is small podcast and site by and about geek stuff and the Social Justice Cult that wants to shit all over it. I got into it because Daddy Warpig became a regular on the panel discussion that makes up the core of the podcast. Much like Geek Gab, it's a panel discussion of whatever they want to talk about that week. If you like one, you'll like the other, so if you haven't given this show a go then do so. They stream live on Wednesdays at 7pm Central Time.

Legion Hype: Time To Get Up To Speed

(If you enjoy the last few days' postings, don't worry. Some bonehead will say or do something to merit my commentary soon enough.)

World of Warcraft: Legion makes major changes to the game's mechanics, changes that any player currently playing or returning from a break ought to know and know in-depth. Being properly informed means that you can make the decisions you need to make to maximize your enjoyment of the upcoming expansion. (Yes, including not playing at all.)

This is where the community comes in, specifically the people who take the time to dig deep into the mechanics and see how they work in actual play. I'm embedding one video by Finalboss as an example of this sort of information being made available. Preach Gaming, Belluar Gaming, Fatboss, and others like them are also contributing guides and reviews of what content and mechanics is new.

It's your entertainment time, so I would hope that you respect yourself enough to want to take the time to investigate what is available and discern what--if anything--you want to do with it. Furthermore, I would hope that you respect yourself and your fellow players enough to know what you want to Git Gud at playing. World of Warcraft, especially at endgame, is very much group-focused and team-focused, so being able to play competently will only lead to superior entertainment value for both you and them.

I am grateful to community people like Finalboss and others like him, not all of whom stream or maintain a site or 'blog, for taking the time to dig through all this data and process it into something comprehensible for the rest of us. You guys are the real MVPs.

No, It's Not For Everyone

It sounds nice, doesn't it? "Gaming is for everyone!"

And that first time shooting up heroin is fantastic too, as all the addict testimonies proclaim, but there are consequences that can't be avoided. Changing your medium--gaming, comics, etc.--to attract and retain an audience greater than what it historically acquired requires that you make changes that drive away that audience, which means that you either stop your self-destructive behaviors or you turn hostile to the audience you rely upon to stay afloat.

We see what happens when you turn your coat and commit treason upon that audience: you go down like the Hindenberg. Nonetheless, the band plays on despite the ground coming fast and the fire coming faster, so it's only a question of how they die: consumed by flames or crushed by impact.

This cry for "representation" deliberately ignores something that even we who are part of the scene sometimes forget: it's not for everyone. Gaming demands that you Git Gud. Science Fiction demands that you entertain big ideas as you explore their implications (Yes, even for the adventure stories.). The STEM fields demand that you step up and prove that you can master the knowledge and principles that drive their work. In every case, you must conform to it, and not it to you.

These are Challenges of Initiation, and not everyone passes them. Some try and fail; they are not able. Some try, fail, and succeed later; they were not ready the first time. Some never try; they are unwilling. Failure to pass the initiation is not a bad thing.

What is bad is demanding that they let you in anyway, and then demand that they change things to suit you. Lying about it under the guise of "equality" and "representation" is no justification; it's just another layer of theft by doubling-down on the swindle you're pulling. Now that we who've passed the test, put in the work, and mastered the thing are on to your game we'll see this put down- and you criminals with it.

Narrative Warfare: The Goal of a Code of Conduct Coup

We are wise to resist the imposition of Codes of Conduct in our affairs by apparent concerned parties. The reality is that such parties wield such codes as weapons to purge those opposed to such parties in a deniable manner under the color of policy (or even color of law), and then lock down control of whatever they seized before wholesale conversion to the real purpose of the new regime for the thing so seized.

This is what, at its core, #NotAtMyTable is about.

It sounds stupid, and that's because it is, but stay with me here. The failure to get this adopted right now means only that those pushing it will fall back a little further to a position where they can make this stick: Organized Play.

That means targeting store events and conventions, and with regard to the conventions the cult already has many of them partially or wholly converged. Many tabletop publishers are also partially or wholly converged. Using these positions as leverage, they will push to force both adoption and conformity to this Code of Conduct.

As politics is downstream of culture in the main, so it is in the niche. The aim is to use Organized Play to engineer tabletop gaming's culture to conform to SJW dogma, thus converging it utterly over time; driving out opposition such as Yours Truly, through the exploitation of intentionally vague and misleading (no, let's be honest here; they're lying, so it's a lie) definitions of "harassment" and other buzzwords to cull unwanted people outlined in this Survival Guide to a SJW Attack.

Once they are able to control the language, they can control the culture. Once they control the culture, they control the politics. (This is where their harping about "representation" comes from: it's weaponizing language, using lies to warp perception of reality, and thus get you to think as they do while forgetting that their defined term is completely fucking irrelevant.) After a few loads of cultural brainwashing, tabletop gaming looks like a bag of Trigglypuffs at a Milo & Based Mom event- and then they use it (again) to Spread The Love as one becomes a Pod Person.

(They do seems out of sorts like that, don't they?)

That's the goal: to turn our hobby into a staging ground for their Black Crusade. *ahem* #NotAtMyTable

#NotAtMyTable You SocJus Death Cultists

The death cult known as "Social Justice" are having issues trying to converge videogames. That resistance is reinvigorating resistance in Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror fandom as well as that of comics. While Academia remains a stronghold, it's also coming under attack now. That means that the cult's cultural warfare has to fall back to where it's based itself: tabletop gaming (especially RPGs).

Tabletop gaming is the farm league for entertainment talent in many other media. Film, television, comics, genre fiction, and videogames all draw talent from this hothouse- a hothouse that now includes intellectual property. The cult converged this niche years ago, and use it as a vector to enter those other fields, as we're now seeing when we take the time to connect the dots between individual cultists and how they factor into the bigger picture. The means? The convention scene, where these field intersect.

So, with this in mind, the cult fell back to tabletop RPGs (and gaming in general) to regroup and come again. Only, being incompetent, they put forth their hand too soon and started a new push via a hashtag: #NotAtMyTable. TD/DL: it's a push to do this:

A CODE OF CONDUCT for when friends get together to roll some dice.

You need better friends, hun.#NotAtMyTable pic.twitter.com/pKbvKwaX8u

— Daddy Warpig (@Daddy_Warpig) May 22, 2016

Yep, it's that pants-on-head retarded.

The resistance, lead by those of us tabletop gamers who've been involved with Gamergate, immediately wrecked this Twitter campaign. It's also exposing the SJWs in the scene, as they are reacting just like their fellow travellers do when their shit got pushed in. Exactly the same way, down to the buzzwords. It's as if we're got the manual on these freaks now. So predictable.

Which brings me back to the goal: to impose a Code of Conduct upon an entire hobby. As noted in this Vox Populi post these Codes are actually socio-political weapons to be used against Wrong-Thinkers to seize and maintain control. Quoting the specific bit:

Notice the First Law of SJW at work: the initial suggestion is that the Code of Conduct is simply about being nice, and that there is nothing controversial about it. But then, the moment that anyone objects, the fact that there is controversy only proves the need for this uncontroversial policy to be implemented. And then notice how, although the Code is said to be about nothing but feelings, it needs "teeth" and private enforcement in order to be "tenable".

And don't forget the Second Law of SJW: SJWs always double down. No sooner did Ferrara withdraw his attempt to impose the Code of Conduct on the project than someone else proposed it again.

So, what is this code? Well, see for yourself:

#notatmytable #irishgaming pic.twitter.com/qPSRJGHUWQ

— Jan Ní Shuilleabhían (@Sharrow_ie) May 20, 2016

This is exactly the script Vox Day talked about in the post I linked to above. Following a bullshit Threat Narrative as its premise, we see the same Harassment Against Women And Minorities excuse to police thought and behavior- and shit-can everyone that doesn't comply wholly in mind and body upon demand. (Also, if you're checking the tag on Twitter, watch for the SJW Tells: unnatural hair, cult affiliations, hatred of Natural Law and tradition, hatred for the West, etc.)

Well done, Death Cultists. Turnabout is fair game, and you have most certainly made yourselves Fair Game. I will not tolerate you frauds, fakes, or traitors (and that's ALL of you SJWs in ALL of the culture niches) in my presence any longer. Get out. #NotAtMyTable

THIS JUST IN!

In case ur not versed in how #NotAtMyTable formed: https://t.co/cA6iZ7lx7W pic.twitter.com/FAD3cXNY89

— Allen Harris (@crash_matrix) May 22, 2016

There's your proof that is shit is staged. It's the same pattern as many an attack against vidya, comics, etc. down to a retreat to bullshit HARASSMENT! claims when it goes wrong. Liars, thieves, traitors, and frauds- criminals all, and go you shall. #NotAtMyTable

In Case You Missed It: Geek Gab w/ HUGO-NOMINEE Razorfist

If you missed this when it was live yesterday evening (my time), then here is your archived audio fresh from YouTube to enjoy. This was a load of fun, and went well over the use 30 minutes that the Gab aims for. I do hope that Razorfist returns down the road for a discussion focused more on one particular topic, as he's quite knowledgeable about a lot of things the Gab is about and the show would benefit from his presence.

As for the Gab, this guest appearance is a Big Deal for the Little Podcast That Could. Hopefully more folks of a compatible demeanor take notice and decide to come on the show in the future for some fun banter- and more folks show up when it's live to keep the chat room filled with questions and stuff.

Geek Gab. Follow along and be there. As Razorfist says, God-Fucking-Speed!

My Life as a Shooter: Scout Rifle Projects

When most gun owners talk about projects, they mean firearms that require some degree of customization to achieve the desired result. Some are ground-up builds from parts (very common with the AR-15 platform), and some are modified from a base model. For a Scout Rifle, we're talking the latter. I have two in mind, and neither exactly conform to Col. Cooper's specifications.

One of these uses this Chuck Hawks article as its guide, with the one change being that I'll use a Marlin 336 as the base model as that rifle is far more common where I live. All of the points made in the linked Hawks article apply here: "non-military" appearance, easy ammo availability, light and handy handling, proven effectiveness within its range, and easily repaired or replaced due to ubiquitous presence. Aside from the forward-mounted scope, nothing would put this rifle apart from hundreds of others just like it.

One of them uses a CZ 527 Carbine as the base model, meant to see how well the 7.62x39mm cartridge (which is on par with the .30-30 Winchester that the Hawks article bases its argument for a Scout Rifle around) in this role. The Cooper spec demands .308 Winchester, but the AK rifle family is far more ubiquitous and therefore so is its cartridge. As light and handy as the lever-action competition, in an equivalent chambering, but at the cost of a higher price.

I want to build and try these rifles to see how they do first-hand. No, I don't have the means to go all-in now, but I don't have to. Part of doing a build project is the freedom to source your parts before you buy them, and acquire them as you go. For me, the worst expense will be the rifles themselves, followed by the scopes. After that, it's chump-change by comparison. Besides, I want something besides writing and gaming to do with my time- something using my hands for more than pressing buttons on a keyboard.

"Git Gud" is Good for Gaming

This video by Harmful Opinions nails it. If your job is to review games, then YOU ARE NOT ALLOW TO SUCK AT THEM! Incompetence damages your credibility and that of your employer as a reliable media outlet that the audience can trust.

As I noted the other day, shit like this is part of why you morons are getting your access eroded. Your incompetence damages their brand also, and they're sick of your shit. But no, you can't be bothered to fulfill the requirements of your job.

Why? Because you're not one of us--you're not a gamer--but instead a foreigner playing at being of our tribe. We embrace "Git Gud" because games are meant to be challenging, and we recognize that we're not all the same (and therefore equality of outcome is not a thing with us), but likewise we recognize that anyone who wants to put in the work (equality of opportunity) gets to make the best of what they've got (All People Are Not Equal).

In short, we're realists and meritocrats, which is why we're not buying this bullshit and want you liars, fakes, and frauds out of our turf. The sooner you and yours get the fuck out, the better all of us will be. Your Narrative Warfare is not wanted.

Penny Arcade Nails It: Why No DOOM Review Copies for SocJus Cultists

>

#Gamergate pic.twitter.com/gUH3ViMKDt

— Jak Atak (@atak_jak) May 18, 2016

SocJus, this is the future you chose. Now that you've revealed yourselves to be Fake Gamers and Fake Geeks, wholly incompetent to handle the matter properly, of course game-makers are cutting you off from that sweet swag gravy train- including review copies.

This is a welcome development. Also welcome is that prominent people in the community found their balls and begin calling the cultists out on on their bullshit. If Penny Arcade doesn't cave, and instead does something like the Dickwolves strip again, then others will follow that lead and PAX--the premiere gaming con--will start to suck less (i.e. the Code of Conduct getting shit-canned, and more), which will mean other cons will do likewise in due course.

The worm turns, and this is no simple worm, but Shai-Halud come to swallow whole those who wish to be Harkonnen but lack the ability.

My Life as a Gamer: Niche Gamer's DOOM Review

Niche Gamer is one of the few independent sites focused on gaming that I follow because they're properly focused on gaming, and not bullshit. In addition to their site, they have a YouTube channel and produce video content. This review I include for those wondering if the new DOOM is worth picking up. For my part, I'll get it when I can, and I think I might want to get this for the PS4 vs. PC.

>

Legion Hype: Asmongold's Leveling Experience in the Beta

My Internet connection this past weekend was so shit that I could not play in either the Live or Beta World of Warcraft servers. So, instead of my personal recounting of my Beta leveling experience, I'll embed Asmongold's video instead. Whatever you have to say, click through and tell it to him direct. When I've got more time put in, I'll revisit the topic and post my own take on it.

What's The Sense of Accomplishment In Running Down a Checklist?

Time to talk about what goes on in my brain meats.

I don't get this "sense of accomplishment" thing. I read the accounts of people who do. I hear their stories. I've known them in person. I've been there when they did a thing, beat a challenge. I know what it looks like, what it sounds like, and I grok why it matters. That's not why I say I don't get it.

I mean it literally: I do not experience, and never have experienced, that thing.

I was a Boy Scout once. Skill awards and merit badges were a thing. Never got any sense of accomplishment from any of them; I had a checklist to work from, so all I did was run down the checklist and get things signed off. Meet requirements; get the thing. It's no different from questing in World of Warcraft.

I have a Bachelor's and a Master's degree. Same thing. Get the checklist, run down the checklist, get shit signed off, collect degree. There was not a damn thing to it that anyone else who wasn't a retarded Rhesus monkey could NOT do. (That there are people who have, somehow, failed to do it astounds me. How do you fuck this up?)

Jobs? Checklists. Always fucking checklists. Run down the list, check off the things, don't fuck it up, get paid. So fucking what.

There is nothing special to a goddamn thing I've done. Just draw up a checklist, and check items off as they're done, only to say "About damned time." when it's finished. Satisfaction is so rare that I can remember every instance when it has occurred, and where some go "I did that!" as if it means something I look at it and go "And? What's special about this?" Because there isn't. Not one god-damned thing.

I could not put my finger on my dissatisfaction, until I recently hit upon it while thinking through a related frustration of mine: seeing people waste time and resources needlessly repeating the solving of a solved problem. (e.g. Coming up with a strategy to beat a raid boss, when the World Best raiders already figured that out months ago and put forth detailed video strategy guides on what to do and how to do it.)

Life is a solved problem.

We already know what to do, and how to do it, about every last fucking problem Mankind and Civilization has. It's all been done before, and it's all been solved already, so all that you need to do is (say it with me now) RUN THE FUCK DOWN THE CHECKLIST AND DO THAT SHIT PROPERLY!

There is NO sense of accomplishment in executing the solution to a solved problem. Not one fucking iota, and the biggest problem I see is that we have a population--of all races, both sexes, and every creed--that somehow fails to recognize this fact. Meet the requirements to get the results, and you get the results you expected.

It was this realization that finished off what lingering adherence I had to the Whig View of History. There is nothing new, and therefore nothing to accomplish, until the cancer is burned away.

Legion Hype: I'm In The Beta

I am in the Beta for World of Warcraft: Legion. I downloaded the Beta client and installed it. Then I got down to business and made some characters so I could get on with testing. Immediately I hit a big change.

Your character's abilities are going to be significantly, if not radically, different.

No matter what your character's class or specialization is, you will find that it is entirely different from what it is on Live. I recommend that you spent some time on a target dummy to get familiar with your character's new suite of abilities. You will have to relearn how to play your character. Count on it.

So far, I've gotten familiar with how the new Fury Warrior plays (as that is my main character's Class and Primary Specialization) and I've played part of the Demon Hunter starting zone. Due to known phasing issues in the Broken Isles World Server, I've avoided actually going to the Broken Isles. Once that's resolved, I'll go ahead and do that; until then, I'll just finish the Demon Hunter play experience and get familiar with other classes and specializations.

When I do get into playing (and testing) Legion content, I'll start on my Fury Warrior and do Stormheim first. I intend to take different leveling paths on different characters, and I intend to test the initial max-level world content.

Ahoy Presents: "RetroAhoy: Quake"

Ahoy is back, and this one-hour (and change) video documenting the history of Quake shows not only the result of Ahoy's research as well as the development of his writing and presentation skills. Assuming that he puts out a few more videos like this before the end of this year, I can see recommending him for a Best Related Work Hugo next year.

Much like Razorfist, Ahoy's video commentaries on his subjects bring relevant data to the viewer's attention, enlightening the viewer as to why games were as they were and thus enhancing his appreciation of the games as they were at the time and showing their influence going forward- for good and ill. Enjoy, folks, and let Ahoy know what you'd like to see next.

Razorfist Presents: "Razör vs. Comics: Enter THE SHADOW"

Razorfist's Hugo nomination was not a fucking joke. He earned his nomination, and this video is one of the reasons why. It's typical of his output, be it about comics, novels, or videogames. If you can catch his livestreams (which he does at YouTube), do it. Totally worthwhile.

And as a bonus, here's the video archive of his livestream of the unreleased tie-in game for the 1994 movie. Dedication, right there.

RPG Net is a Cult Compound. Come Out of It.

Totally happened. For people who preach inclusivity, they sure can be exclusive. #Gamergate pic.twitter.com/76uz8CdXsj

— Jak Atak (@atak_jak) May 10, 2016

Once upon a time, RPG Net was a decent play to talk about tabletop RPGs and how to go about playing them. Then, much like how the Social Justice cult of Cthulhu-like crazies (and about the same time) took over the Hugos and its WorldCon, they came into tabletop RPGs and began poisoning their way to positions of influence. As RPG Net was the online discussion forum for many years, it got targeted and converged.

I witnessed this, as I witnessed the consequence--the purging of WrongThink--first hand when I got perma-banned in the wake of their takeover a few years ago. I could take the lies and subsequent fraud no longer, and the same code words used to slander resisters elsewhere were in full use then. That's how I recognized the similarity when Gamergate hit, and thus signed on to the Ride What Never Ends.

As the pinned Tweet shows, the cult compound has only gotten worse. This, motherfuckers, is what a Safe Space really means: Mean Girls, for-fucking-ever, final destination (with a side of Heathers so they can justify driving you to kill yourself). No one with any sanity or decency wants this.

Fortunately there are good alternatives now to RPG Net. Besides The RPG Site, where I'm often found, we have the RPG and Gaming subreddits at Reddit (and counterparts like Voat), the /tg/ boards at the various Chans, and plenty of blogs now (such as mine) also write about tabletop RPGs. You need not ever bother with that concentrated crazy cult compound to get your itch scratched.

Instead, you just have to deal with the fact that a lot of the writers, designers, and developers current big in the scene (or related ones; a lot of SJW cultists in vidya came from TRPGs where RPG Net's convergence infected them). That's a tedious task, but not a joyless one; you folks already know how to deal with them, so meme-bomb them out of position and it'll be good thereafter.

RPG Net, as bad as it is, is already fading in relevance. More on this, and how to use it, tomorrow.

Castalia House Weighs In on Tabletop RPGs

Jeffro Johnson does plenty of posts about tabletop RPGs over at the Castalia House blog, and Jeffro's made a post about what makes a TRPG what it is as a follow-up to this post about how damned difficult it is to usefully talk about the damned thing

That they did this sort of thing at all is a good thing, but this is (ultimately) will end up going over to Playing at the World and its associated blog. Referring to the primary sources and first examples will make clear what tabletop RPGs are, and how they differ from RPGs as they exist in other media.

Which is good, because once that's sorted we can move on to talking about how RPGs in various media must be significantly different, and what those differences do to the form in that medium because they do produce different gameplay experiences.

My Life as a Gamer: The Benefits of the Medium

Tabletop role-playing games have a way of cutting through a lot of trope-based narrative bullshit. This is not surprising, as they are wargame derivatives, so things that have no basis in strategic or tactical concerns gets discarded as irrelevant bullshit.

We began to see this decades ago, when ruthless pragmatism that arose in Dungeons & Dragons campaigns migrated to science fiction (Traveller, initially) and then other genres. Naturally, when gamers arrived at superheroes many tropes got chewed up and spat out to fuel the campaign. Until Champions came along, sweet fuck-all was normal practice but the same pragmatism that rules D&D campaigns.

Villains died. Minions died. Henchmen died. Authority didn't matter because "We're walking nukes. You can't do jack to us and we know it, so sit down and shut up."

You won't see that in a videogame, not even in the most PVP-friendly MMOs, because that sort of experience requires liminal space and flexible fast-thinking that only a human Game Master provides. Natural language and emergent gameplay without fixed boundaries is still something only the tabletop RPG medium offers, and will be so for years to come yet.

Game designers had to come up with bribes (in the form of power boosts for desired behavior) to begin approximating the source tropes, and the stupidity they spawn. Eventually this mutated into Storygaming because too many frustrated novelists didn't get the memo that RPGs are not a fucking narrative-experience medium, and therefore did not fuck off to write fiction like they should have done.

(Yes, you can reliably judge a TRPG by how much frustrated novelist bullshit is in it.)

Tabletop RPGs are a medium of virtual life-experience. The tropes of storytelling do not apply. Real life's "tropes" apply, even when you would not think so. You literally have to warp the rules of the game to make trope-based decisions happen because they are not viable course of action in the real world, and by default the environment of the game--no matter what genre it claims to be--is the real world with only those exceptions that the game explicitly postulates.

This is why we gamers get the results that we do, and learn the things that we learn. Those of us with the courage to do so take the chance to experience virtually things that are otherwise impossible to acquire, and because we use our avatars to do so we put ourselves into it far more than anything short of the real thing. In retrospect, it is clear that gamers would be the ones that break SocJus; we've fought these monsters for generations now, so once one of us made the connection it spread fast and all of us soon picked up the practice.

"Captain America: Civil War" and It's Big Question

Team Stark was all about keeping superhumans (and normies with supertech) accountable by yoking them to some government body. Team Cap was about how that was a bad idea.

What neither side addresses is that the question is fucking pointless. Proper superhumans are demigods, and demigods are a law unto themselves. Normies can't do jack shit about them, and the demigods know it. You want to know what would happen if we got superhumans? Doctor Doom, Black Adam, The Authority, The Justice Lords, and the god pantheons of mythology are what you will get.

Normies forget that what they think is real power isn't. It's an illusion. It requires that other normies go along with what you want, and once folks remember that their "power" goes POOF! and reality sets in: you're just some guy in a world with just some guys, and you can only do so much on your own.

Superhumans have real power. Power that can't be ripped from them by normies, that doesn't require another's support of them, and therefore can only be dealt with as one does a dangerous animal: killing them or avoiding them. Since normies are unlikely to be able to kill a demigod, avoiding becomes the way to go, and that makes a mockery of normie perceptions regarding their place in the universe.

And this is not idle conjecture. Governments have been after so-called "super-soldiers" since Captain America first hit the stands, at the very least, in the stupid hope of creating a leashable demigod to yoke to government service. While creating supertech isn't quite so dumb, as tools can be alienated from "rogue" users, it's amounts to the same thing in practice.

So, if you want to know what "transhumanism" will produce if it succeeds, you know where to start: mythology. The gods of the pagan world are utter pricks for a reason, and that's because they know only their own can check them. So it will be if we fuck up and make demigods ourselves.

Sargon of Akkad: The Degeneration of the Daily Show

This video addresses The Daily Show's handling of the US Women's Soccer Team's claim of sexism in payment vs. the Men's Team, and why said show is full of shit in addition to being incompetent about it. Take a coffee break and enjoy.

Sargon's nailed it: Women's soccer lacks the demand of the men's team. Far fewer people want to watch women play soccer. Far more people want to watch men play soccer. The men's game is superior in all respects: athleticism, acumen, execution, and quality of competition. This results in far more reliable high-quality entertainment than the women can provide, so the resulting higher demand merits the higher pay. Simple, honest (and that's a big deal considering how corrupt FIFA and its sub-orgs are), and easily remedied by having the women meet the same degree of performance that the men do.

But they can't. So they have to lie to get their way. If anyone should be punished, it's the US Women's Team, The Daily Show, and the individuals pushing this narrative bullshit. They're pushing a fraud.

My Life as a Gamer: Overwatch Open Beta

This picture of Tracer is by Taiwanese artist MonoriRogue

Overwatch, Blizzard Entertainment's new game, is now in Open Beta and will be until it goes live at the end of the month. The company was wise to accept Tracer as the game's mascot, and the fake controversy over a now-removed pose that prominently presented Tracer's fantastic ass trolled the SJWs good and hard when the replacement turned out to be a flat-out tracing (HAH!) of a classic pin-up pose.

I'm not playing yet--this six-year old laptop ain't taking it well--but I'm enjoying the game as a spectator for now, and that spells good fortune down the road if the pro scene picks up for this game as we see high-profile professional play. I'll catch up when I have a rig that can do it justice.

So, enjoy the hell out of this game, and throw MonoriRogue a few silver pieces if you can. (Put that thing on a shirt, and watch that money roll in.)

My Life as a Shooter: I Love the CMP

Gun of the Night
Rock Ridge Machine Works M1903-A4 sniper .30-06 (refurb)
A newish 1903, on a C&R eligible receiver pic.twitter.com/602KIW8Lk9

— Mr. ✘ (@GlomarResponder) May 6, 2016

That rifle above is possible due to the work of the Civilian Marksmanship Program, one of the few government programs I have few complaints about, due to its eucivic purpose: to increase the overall quality of American citizenry via improving the overall quality of civilian marksmanship, so we Americans can actually protect ourselves and our communities in times of need as our Founders intended.

(And yes, I am a bit jealous. That rifle is about $1500 all told, which is a steal for a WW2-era rifle like this, even after refurbishing.)

While best known for getting M1 Garands into the hands of everyday Americans, they do handle M1903s and other military surplus firearms when they can. (Hoping that the 1911s they get are good shooters as all of the rifles are.) They do yeoman work and I appreciate the hell out of them for it. If you can meet their requirements, do it and make use of it.

I'm Down With Kukuruyo

This is my middle finger to all those haters i got lately because of ms.marvel https://t.co/q9BNAe6rhO #gamergate pic.twitter.com/UULYrHpwEt

— Kukuruyo (@kukuruyo) May 3, 2016

Phil "I Love Pedos (and May Be One)" Sandifer tried to smear Spanish artist and Hugo Award nominee Kukuruyo as a pedophile due to a commission he did for a Ms. Marvel fan that depicted her in a lewd manner (w/o underwear). Private commission, for private consumption, of a fiction character. This led to said artist having to hash things out over his ad revenue due to SJW cultists attacking him via attempting to compel dissociation.

In short, they tried to attack his income and--via impoverishment--control him (i.e. silence him). This is worse than no-platforming; this is flat-out economic warfare via fraudulent communications. Lying to people as a means towards destroying someone's income is a criminal act. Relevant authorities should be contacted and supplied with all relevant information immediately, and the individuals involved should be added to The Complete SJW List immediately also.

Trump Wins Indiana and Its Fallout

First, an aside: Tuesdays are reset days in the North American servers for World of Warcraft, so I went raiding tonight. While overall the experience was as crap as it was last night, I did finally get the Heroic Tier gloves that I'd been after. Now all I need comes from the final boss: Archimonde. Fuck this shit, I'm out to do Friendship Moose.

Okay, on with it.

As I write this, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders won Indiana. Sanders gets to stick it out a while longer. Trump has his end sewn up. While it's still likely for Trump to face Hillary in the Fall, at this point it doesn't matter who he faces.

All of the pundits who gainsaid Trump's chances have been proven wrong. Back then, I said that Trump will win because the same phenomenon that put Ronald Reagan into the Presidency in 1980 have manifested again and are behind Trump. So far, I have seen that my perception is correct, and I am confident that Trump (short of being assassinated) will win in November.

The big change is Social Media. The mainstream Establishment media are increasingly shown to be corrupt, in cahoots with one party in particular (and their covert allies in the other, the "Cuckservatives"), and fully engaged in Narrative Warfare. Social media has bypassed this so effectively that the momentum has permanently shifted away from the extant Establishment towards said social media- and the Establishment knows it.

This is why the world economy matters. These elites are tied to it, and the foundation of this economy is the global system of independent central banks. Now that Trump--who knows this system and how to fuck with it, and has the motivation to fuck with it--is the nominee, and backed by a very angry electorate, watch this banker foundation turn on him. Globalism dies if he gets the Presidency.

And the international central banking system IS Globalism.

My Life as a Gamer: No Time For Losers

I'm about done with this raid team I've run with. They started out good. They cared. They respected each others' time. They showed up on time and properly prepared. They focused, did the job, and soon we had Archimonde down and ready to put him on farm. I was a happy raider.

Now? None of that shit. Nine hours spent this week, and only six bosses (of 13) killed. At the gear our raiding characters have, and the skill we possess, we should've cleared the entire raid from front to back in six hours AND farmed the final boss on the next lower difficulty for easy Legendary Ring upgrades.

Fuck that.

So, I've taken myself off the Monday invites entirely. Once I have the Tier gloves, I'm taking my main out of the team entirely and focusing all of my main's efforts towards helping Friendship Moose runs carry people to victory (and their Grove Warden mounts). I may bring my Death Knight alt, but aside from Tier gear and higher overall power (if I do Heroic or better, again), but I don't care if I don't. All I want is to finish the main's gearing.

So, once that's a thing, I can turn my attention to leveling more alts to 100 and doing what I need to get full epic gem-cutting access.

My time is valuable. I won't waste it on folks that don't appreciate it by reciprocating the work I put in to Git Gud and Stay Gud. Folks who run Friendship Moose respect that, which is why they are winners and I want to run with winners.

I have no time for losers.

If This Goes On: Human Obsolescence

The economy is changing. Automation is accelerating in its assimilation of work currently done by human hands, and software similarly moves swiftly to take work from human minds. Political activity intended to react productively to these changes are already producing unintended bad effects, such as contributing to the acceleration.

What this means is that, unlike previous episodes where technological changes had only temporary displacement effects on the population. Past episodes created as much human work as it destroyed, and often work of a sort that overall improved the quality of the population. This is not the case now. The displacements will be permanent, and those with eyes to see know what is coming.

There are two reasons. The first is simple to comprehend: the assimilation of work out of human hands and minds happens faster than new work for the displaced workers can manifest, such that it too will be swiftly subsumed. The second is equally simple: the quality of human workers is not equal across the board, nor it is that changeable.

The result is easy to predict. The underclass will swell as the working class and middle class gets culls in the name of business efficiency, and when the public institutions follow suit the majority of the "benign" parasite class will also be cast out. Human beings, in terms of work, are disposable, expendable, and fungible. If they can be replaced with more reliable and loyal automatons, they will.

I've said for years now that this trend, if not arrested and put into check, will bifurcate Mankind into two unequal groups:

For Them

For Us

I am not saying that an Artificial Intelligence (Skynet) will arise to attempt to kill we in the majority to be discarded. I'm saying that, rather than do the Soylent Green route, those who find this desirable will resort to increasingly open genocidal warfare while they retreat as fast as they can (orbit or underground, or both) to prepared positions of safety to ride it out.

This small would-be global master class will rely heavily on automation to do this job, in addition to using existing fracture lines to get us slaughtering each other first. It is this existing weakness, born of human nature as a nationalist--even tribalist--species, that would allow this to happen.

Why? Because economic weakness produces times of scarcity, and once formerly-plentiful resources begin to dry up those who notice it first tend to react by resorting to warfare to secure what remains as best they can. The scenario I see play out, if this goes on, inter-ethnic warfare that accelerates as the economy weakens. Governments use the military and security services to control it, but the men taking the hits begin to refuse orders; this accelerates automation of state violence, and soon Hunter-Killers are the norm.

Once that happens, and a few potent attacks on the Internet or the power grid bring major cities to chaos for a few weeks, the conditions for the rest of the elements to take their place on the stage will arise and the transition to a world where the issue of most people being irrelevant due to have no economic justification for their existence being solved by extermination will occur.