JackGreenEarth

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/52051083

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/52051083

I awoke to find myself lying on a cold, hard floor, disoriented and confused. My head throbbed as I tried to piece together where I was and how I had gotten there. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I noticed a computer in the corner of the room, its screen glowing with the familiar title screen of Geometry Dash, specifically the level "Stereo Madness."

Before I could fully process my surroundings, a synthetic voice boomed from the walls, sending a chill down my spine.

"Welcome," the voice intoned coldly. "Three of your family members have been captured and are being held in this facility. To save their lives, you must complete the level 'Stereo Madness' on your first try. Each coin you collect will save one of them. Fail to complete the level, and they will all die. You have no second chances."

The back wall, previously white and opaque, suddenly turned transparent. Through the glass, I could see my father, mother, and sister, each restrained under a separate guillotine. The sight was horrifying, and my heart raced as I realised the gravity of the situation.

The computer screen flickered, and the game started automatically. My hands trembled as I positioned myself over the button, my fingers hovering above it. I was tense and sweaty, but I knew I had to remain calm to increase my chances of success. I had played this level countless times, and I needed to rely on that experience now.

The music began, and I focused intently on the screen. I dodged the first few obstacles with ease, my movements becoming more fluid as I fell into a rhythm. The first coin appeared, and I collected it almost automatically, my mind and fingers working in perfect sync. The second coin followed, and I managed to grab it as well, my confidence growing.

The third coin loomed ahead, and I felt a surge of fear. This was the coin I usually failed to get. The risk was too high. I made a split-second decision to avoid it, focusing instead on completing the level. My heart pounded as I navigated the final obstacles, and with a final, precise jump, I crossed the finish line.

The game ended, and the screen displayed "Level Complete." I turned around, my breath hitching in my throat. I heard a sickening 'thunk' as the guillotine over my father's head activated. His lifeless body fell to the ground, and I felt a wave of grief and guilt wash over me. But then, the guillotines over my mother and sister remained inactive, and they were freed.

A door on the orthogonal wall opened, revealing a busy street. The noise of the city was a stark contrast to the silent, oppressive room. Overwhelmed with emotions, I slumped down to the floor and started sobbing uncontrollably. My mother and sister, in shock, rushed to my side. They helped me to my feet, and together, we walked unsteadily out the open door, stepping into the bright, chaotic world outside.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/46352654

I love the game civ6, that's why the problems with it make me troubled and I want to suggest improvements. I've played through multiple playthroughs and here are some issues that stand out to me.

TLDR: Civ6's gameplay forces you to play in a very imperialist, chauvinistic, racist, and religious way to win.

Problsms

'Barbarians' (indigenous or native people, obviously stereotyped as always warlike), the tech tree that forces you to discover things in the way the Europeans discovered them, not just making you unlock actually necessary technologies before you unlock new ones, even more so with the civic tree as any policy or government can be developed in isolation, it doesn't need the preceding civ6 ones, also you can't have a democracy from the beginning if you want what's best for your people. You have to conquer other continents displacing or killing the natives, and the way it frames certain governments such as communism is disingenuous when they're really describing authoritarianism, and making that misunderstanding more widespread.

My suggested solutions/improvements

Abolish the civic tree. Let you establish any government or any policy ( you can still have policy slots but it's the same across all governments) at any time without culture cost. Governments could affect things like the happiness and productivity of your people, but not more than that. Rename 'barbarians' to natives or indigenous people and create more peaceful options for interacting with them, don't make them aggressive by default. Encourage cooperation with civilisations on other continents (such as lasting trade agreements that you don't have to renew every 30 turns) rather than encouraging settling everywhere on the map. Allow individual cities to get upgrades that allows producing multiple things at once rather than the only way to do so being creating multiple cities. Allow agnosticism or atheism as a 'religion' option and rename religion to 'philosophy' or 'ideology' or something like that. Having real historical cultures and leaders on a generated world doesn't really make sense so there should be fictional or generated civilisations and leaders as options too.

I don't mind if they keep the victory conditions they've got, scientific, religious (although ideological is a better term), military, although not cultural. If people want to play as murderous colonial maniacs they should be allowed to, they just shouldn't be forced into it and should have more peaceful options to play. The scientific victory should be collaborative, with multiple civilisations working together to advance scientific knowledge and improve human conditions (although the current goal of space travel is overly simplistic). Convincing the world of your ideology isn't a bad measure for success either, and conquering the world military is a kind of success, if not a very moral one. Culture victory is just a thinly veiled way of saying that only European culture is good and the way of proving your culture is best is attracting tourists, which is again overly simplistic.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/46352654

I love the game civ6, that's why the problems with it make me troubled and I want to suggest improvements. I've played through multiple playthroughs and here are some issues that stand out to me.

TLDR: Civ6's gameplay forces you to play in a very imperialist, chauvinistic, racist, and religious way to win.

Problsms

'Barbarians' (indigenous or native people, obviously stereotyped as always warlike), the tech tree that forces you to discover things in the way the Europeans discovered them, not just making you unlock actually necessary technologies before you unlock new ones, even more so with the civic tree as any policy or government can be developed in isolation, it doesn't need the preceding civ6 ones, also you can't have a democracy from the beginning if you want what's best for your people. You have to conquer other continents displacing or killing the natives, and the way it frames certain governments such as communism is disingenuous when they're really describing authoritarianism, and making that misunderstanding more widespread.

My suggested solutions/improvements

Abolish the civic tree. Let you establish any government or any policy ( you can still have policy slots but it's the same across all governments) at any time without culture cost. Governments could affect things like the happiness and productivity of your people, but not more than that. Rename 'barbarians' to natives or indigenous people and create more peaceful options for interacting with them, don't make them aggressive by default. Encourage cooperation with civilisations on other continents (such as lasting trade agreements that you don't have to renew every 30 turns) rather than encouraging settling everywhere on the map. Allow individual cities to get upgrades that allows producing multiple things at once rather than the only way to do so being creating multiple cities. Allow agnosticism or atheism as a 'religion' option and rename religion to 'philosophy' or 'ideology' or something like that. Having real historical cultures and leaders on a generated world doesn't really make sense so there should be fictional or generated civilisations and leaders as options too.

I don't mind if they keep the victory conditions they've got, scientific, religious (although ideological is a better term), military, although not cultural. If people want to play as murderous colonial maniacs they should be allowed to, they just shouldn't be forced into it and should have more peaceful options to play. The scientific victory should be collaborative, with multiple civilisations working together to advance scientific knowledge and improve human conditions (although the current goal of space travel is overly simplistic). Convincing the world of your ideology isn't a bad measure for success either, and conquering the world military is a kind of success, if not a very moral one. Culture victory is just a thinly veiled way of saying that only European culture is good and the way of proving your culture is best is attracting tourists, which is again overly simplistic.

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/46352654

I love the game civ6, that's why the problems with it make me troubled and I want to suggest improvements. I've played through multiple playthroughs and here are some issues that stand out to me.

TLDR: Civ6's gameplay forces you to play in a very imperialist, chauvinistic, racist, and religious way to win.

Problsms

'Barbarians' (indigenous or native people, obviously stereotyped as always warlike), the tech tree that forces you to discover things in the way the Europeans discovered them, not just making you unlock actually necessary technologies before you unlock new ones, even more so with the civic tree as any policy or government can be developed in isolation, it doesn't need the preceding civ6 ones, also you can't have a democracy from the beginning if you want what's best for your people. You have to conquer other continents displacing or killing the natives, and the way it frames certain governments such as communism is disingenuous when they're really describing authoritarianism, and making that misunderstanding more widespread.

My suggested solutions/improvements

Abolish the civic tree. Let you establish any government or any policy ( you can still have policy slots but it's the same across all governments) at any time without culture cost. Governments could affect things like the happiness and productivity of your people, but not more than that. Rename 'barbarians' to natives or indigenous people and create more peaceful options for interacting with them, don't make them aggressive by default. Encourage cooperation with civilisations on other continents (such as lasting trade agreements that you don't have to renew every 30 turns) rather than encouraging settling everywhere on the map. Allow individual cities to get upgrades that allows producing multiple things at once rather than the only way to do so being creating multiple cities. Allow agnosticism or atheism as a 'religion' option and rename religion to 'philosophy' or 'ideology' or something like that. Having real historical cultures and leaders on a generated world doesn't really make sense so there should be fictional or generated civilisations and leaders as options too.

I don't mind if they keep the victory conditions they've got, scientific, religious (although ideological is a better term), military, although not cultural. If people want to play as murderous colonial maniacs they should be allowed to, they just shouldn't be forced into it and should have more peaceful options to play. The scientific victory should be collaborative, with multiple civilisations working together to advance scientific knowledge and improve human conditions (although the current goal of space travel is overly simplistic). Convincing the world of your ideology isn't a bad measure for success either, and conquering the world military is a kind of success, if not a very moral one. Culture victory is just a thinly veiled way of saying that only European culture is good and the way of proving your culture is best is attracting tourists, which is again overly simplistic.