I hate the term Backtracking.

I can't stop people for using it. I can't even blame them for using it. It's an insidious term, coined by my generation, in the early days of gaming. Because of its age, it's almost inescapable. With its age, it also carries a lot of baggage... Assumptions from an older time. These assumptions weren't ever correct, but they've grown increasingly more misguided as time has passed.

Backtracking is a term that's almost always said with contempt. Even when peop...

This is a question I've been asking a lot. Anyone who knows my writing knows I kinda hate most remasters, and am pretty hard on remakes. I don't expect everyone to have my values here. Nor should you. We all have different reasons to play games. We all enjoy different parts of them. I like history almost as much as the games themselves.

In discussion though, I'll see some reoccurring reasonings pop up, and I feel compelled to walking through some of them, especially after seeing some people...

Re-evaluating some decisions after the fall of cohost, and after seeing everyone's neocities pages, I decided to re-evaluate my front page. Instead of just assuming everyone who comes here knows who I am and having a kind of cold, but clean drop into a blog roll I decided it was better to have something more personal. This is a minor change, but I feel like it's a much larger vibes change, making it feel less than just a feed. It also lets me put everyone's cute 66x31 icons on my front p...

RIP to a real Website.

While not my actual real last post, emotionally my "final cohost post" was written days earlier. It's mirrored over here, which brings me to the fact that there is a mirror. While the cohost page may stay up, redirecting to the Internet Archives's Wayback Machine, I have my favorite posts archived over here.

I'm not going to dwell here on what a tragedy(It's a HUGE tragedy) and loss it is that cohost couldn't survive. Instead I'm going to highlight some things I did there that I enjoy. Allow me to recommend a few posts.

Pleasant and Useful

• Using CSS to make Discord Better, is probably one of the more useful things I put on that site. Just don't blame me if you get yourself banned!
• Getting Feedback is Hard and it's not because your Friends Hate You, a write-up talking about fighting RSD style impulses and understanding why your friends might not be giving you as much feedback as you'd expect.
• Engage with Media but don't Overthink it!!, a super bare bones guide to being a more active participate in the media you enjoy.
• Swiss Format is Sick, about how Swiss is great for running online tournaments and any online TO should at least try it once.

Some fun ones also include.

• 10 Games to get to Know Me, which is exactly what it says on the tin.
• So you wanna display a Fuchsia pixel in the middle of a Screen?, which is a casual deep dive into the absurdity of display technologies.
• You can also check out the Wrestling tag, if you're that kind of freak.

Me, Being a Hater

• Hate, a post about how much I despise Steam Trading Cards that borders on free verse poetry.
• Achievements are one of the Worst Things in Gaming that Didn't Have to Be, a post about why I think Achievements were one of the big Unforced Errors of modern gaming.
• Stop Implementing Coyote Time, a half(... More like quarter. Maybe an EIGHTH joking) joking post about why I hate how we force every game to have generous "Coyote Time" and how it leads to a weird airjumping arms race that is worse than the problem it was trying to solve.

I've also added a Links and Friends section. If I know you and your work and you have a 88x31 icon, feel free to hit me up in all the normal places. Speaking of places to find me, besides the usual stuff linked on my sidebar (which I will eventually have to update), here are a few new places you can find me.

• Bluesky
• Pillowfort
• Dreamwidth
• Mastodon

We'll see which ones of these actually ends up working for me. Anyways, until next time...

Toy is a term I've been using among friends(It's Mirai, it's always Mirai) lately. A term I can use, talking from anything old video game remakes, to character designs, negatively or positively. Of course this doesn't help me when I want to use the term publicly. Saying something is a toy invokes a lot of different often contrasting ideas. So for the sake of clarity, I want to share my definition.

Also to be clear, I'm going to be talking a lot about remakes and remasters, but this isn't about them. Anyone who has read my writing already knows how I stand on these topics. This is about the term.

What is a Toy

What is a toy in this context? In modern times what we call a toy could be a complete, sophisticated building system, or something that is a hobby all into itself. When I'm saying toy here, I mean something older.

Toys, as they were, for thousands years(Kinda glossing over the Cup and Ball tbf). Concept, reduced down into a caricature representing their most important traits. A policeman distilled down to a hat, a firefighter distilled down to the color red. Vague shapes without limbs. A wooden toy knight, cherished by a medieval child.

A toy isn't trying to be the thing it's representing. It's a symbol. A toy is an streamlined proxy. An idealized Memory. A fantasy.