~Busterdrag

Woops, forgot to mention this, I'm 33 now. Actually, since like almost a week now.

So, on Friday the 12th, I turned 30 years old...and it feels a bit weird, I admit.

Like I actually feel older. Dunno, maybe I am overthinking things. But I treated myself this year to a new PC, a dedicated gaming desktop, because I kinda missed actually being able to play new-ish games, and I have a backlog of games I want to play on a rig that ain't a potato.

Aside from that, got some gift art I am going to post on here now, and also was taken out to my favorite café in the city by my mom and her husband and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.

So yeah, guess this was a good birthday and anniversary~

I got this weird PM by some guy named  copycatz , telling me how much he loves my characters and page and if I would maybe want to commission him because he would love to draw them. Like, right out of the fucking blue.

And when I asked him who he was and what he wanted, he was quite insulted apparantly. Sent me a huge ass PM without any punctuation or break, explaining how he loved my tattoos(?) and characters and they got him through his time in hospital or something.

And then he blocked me. :V

And after asking around some of the furs I know on here, I found out he did message some of them too. Some recently, some as far back as 9 months ago. Apparantly someone even commissioned them and got scammed, basically.

So I wonder, did anyone else get PM'd by this dude?

Yep, its my birthday again. Weeeeeee~

Hope everyone will be save and sound in 2016.

I am now 26 years old. :3

Well, E3 is almost over, so I will just say this before I write my take on things later.

CHRIST, what a crazy E3! So many bombshells of announcements, Sony taking the cake with FFVII and Shenmue 3, Nintendo doing their digital event and the whole NWC 2k15 event being second, with some really good games announced, Microsoft...not bad. Microsoft certainly didnt do bad. Squeenix first trip was kinda eh, but hey, some good games on their side too, and it was their first so yeah. Bethesdas conference? Super Solid, Doom and FO4 roping in most of the cheers. EA and Ubisoft...eeeeeh *waves hands*.

Again, more on this later, but man, best E3 so far.

So, 2 days ago I come home, read my journal inbox and find out that Firaxis has dropped a trailer for XCOM2, the sequel to one of the better reboots of a good game series in like...ever. Looks promising, set to release later this year, focuses more on guerilla tactics since you have to boot alien occupiers of the planet, meaning we either lost XCOM canonically, or this is picking up the plot of the original 3D reboot of X-Com, Dreamland: Freedom Ridge, which was never finished and what assets were done where bought up by a russian company to rework it into the UFO: Afterblank series. Also, we get FUCKING SNAKEMEN making a comeback, as well as melee combat it seems, with one of the soldiers in the trailer pulling a big sword (that may be a vibro or heat blade, based on the glow when he sheathes it) from his back and cleaving an alien in two. Also, XCOM now has a helicarrier.



THEN I hear from my friends that Capcom also announced MHX (Monster Hunter Cross), the next main entry into the Monster Hunter series, another one of my most favorite game series. We JUST got MH4U this year, I know MH4 came out back in 2013 in japan and 4U in 2014, but still, seeing that the game gets a release date this year in japan, we can expect it to release stateside and in the EU earliest next year, if we're lucky (though I guess capcom may just wait for the Ultimate version to release here). This game looks...well, different, gameplay wise. It will keep the very acrobatic, vertical gameplay from MH4, with the jumping and climbing, which is good. I like that. I wouldn't mind getting water combat back too, since I miss Lagiacrus, but since so many people (especially western gamers) didn't liked underwater combat...yeah it will probably never come back or only after some serious reworking in a later instance. Aside from that, the big new mechanic they introduce are ultimate attacks and different combat styles. Apprantly each piece of weapon will have different "combat styles" you can switch between, with different combos or approaches to combat. For example in the trailer you can see a light bowgun user doing a jump OVER a monster, shooting downwards at it while he leaps over it. Another thing are ultimate attacks which are...well, super fuck off animeish attacks that seem to often have wider reaches to their swings, massive damage and exagerated motions when your hunter pulls them off, like doing a half moon slow swing with your longsword before the slash, twirling your hammer 3 times before doing a massive explosive hammer swing, and a sword and shield hunter ripping off Links Spinslash, all accompanied by massive amounts of particle effects and so on. I...really don't know how to think about these. Sure, MH was always a but animeish, with the outlandish gun designs and the fact that you swirl and carry around fuckhuge swords and hammers, while taking magmabreaths and electric discharges to the face that would turn a modern battletank into slag. But the combat always had been somewhat...well, orthodox. When you used larger weapons, your chars swung them around like they had weight to them, and the attack animations in general were more "realistic". Yet now we have chars unleashing earth shattering kabooms by swinging their hammer like they're a Final Fantasy Limit break, and firing powered up energy projectiles from their bowguns that result in goddamn nukes. I dunno, call me a purist, I'll probably grow to like it in the end, up till now Capcom managed to always do a rather good job at balancing in these games.



So yeah, June just started with two huge game announcements for me, and I was rather surprised at that, since June is like...well its kinda non-descript, and these kinda announcements are something you'd see at a major gaming convention like E3 or Gamescon or PAX or I guess even SGC. Not something just dropped in the middle of the year without a huge event to back it up (then again, this could be a way to build up to said upcoming conventions, similiar how nintendo often drops stuff like this in their Nintendo Directs right before the big industry meetups). But yeah, thought that was sweet, but a bit too much to take in at once.

And then Bethesda goes ahead and releases a trailer for Fallout 4.



Seriously? Seriously. Okay...whatever. Looks good. Not really anything about the gameplay, and the trailer is more about showing off the world design and general graphics, as well as a bit of lore (new game takes place in Boston, and near Vault 111). But still, 3 big game announcements right the fuck outta nowhere, my brain can't take this.

I swear, if they announce a new main Ace Combat game tommorrow, or a new Souls game, or...I dunno, Secret of Mana, I swear I will fall into a coma.

Oh, also, somewhat older news, but The Banner Saga 2 is coming, as is Shadowrun: Hong Kong. Get hyped.

Not a big journal just...I guess thoughts I had brewing over those last few weeks in my head, related to gaming.

The first one is GamerGate...for the longest time, I kinda...well, I kinda didn't associate with it. Neither do I really now. When the whole thing began, I was definitely ProGG, mostly because the issue was fresh. There were clear accusations and proof of said accusations that there was both an Agenda being driven by Indie Game Devs like Phil FIsh, Internet Personalities like Zoe Quinn and Anite Sarkeesian and more or less Independent gaming sites like Kotaku, AND that there was wholesale Nepotism going on, both to push said agendas, supress any counter effort against said agenda and you know, profit of the people involved. There were clear cut fronts, and the whole thing was more or less two sides opposite each other, and YES, the ProGG side was on a higher moral ground at the time. For one because the AntiGG side didn't do anything to really refute the claims made against them and tried to brush it under the rug, while defacing the ProGG side with (as it turned out) faked attacks performed by hired goons disguised as ProGG members, and SJW's (no, not getting tired of that term) acting like their usual caustic selves, trying to white knight their idols and rallying on their social media hives.

But things changed since then. For one, the ProGG side lost its steam, with a lot of the more prominent members just jumping off or loosing interesting (like InternetAristocrat for example). For another...lets be honest, this thing has been BLOATED out of proportions. The Moral High Ground has been lost, because there are a lot of honest to god assholes and trolls on the ProGG side now, and a lot of actually smart, not immoral people have come out to speak out against Gamergate. And NOBODY can really keep track of anything anymore. Both sides have melted into this grey slude vs grey slude war.

So that is the reason I really side with any of the both sides anymore. But this issue is going to keep being an issue, someone will make another video, or tumblr, or news article about it and keep this horrible thing going for ages.


NOW, onto something more joyful. Hatred. I heard about this game via Gametrailers, its made by a polish developer and its related to GamerGate thus: The Developers of the game wanted to make a game that is NOT joyful, is devoid of color and fun, meant to shock, meant to be violent, rebellious against the trends of art in gaming and political correctness. Its a game about a misanthropic psychopath, played by the player, going on a top down/isometrically displayed "genocide crusade" where your goal is to kill as many people as possible, by gunning them down, cutting them down and straight up executing them, as they run from you in panic and mortal terror, plead for their life, and then die in agony. Meanwhile the police will try to stop you, and you will react in kind and kill them back, your goal being to go out in a blaze of destruction, terror and death.

Yeeeeeeeeah. I...honestly have no idea what to think about it. Everytime I try to say "That concept and game idea is good/bad" I rethink it more and don't come to a conclusion. For one I can totally see why people would want a counter-argument to the whole "Artiste-Avant-Garde" game culture and political correct crusade that perforates every inch of culture nowadays. On the other hand, it comes off kinda "Rebel for rebel sake, we will pander to people sick of games like Fez and use shock and awe as a means of marketing." That kinda diminishes the product, because I think that products meant as answers to certain other products or trends, intentionally and up front, damage the worth of said product (like The Golden Compass being described by its creator as the atheist answer to Narnia). And I dunno, I wanna play it, just for the experience, but this game is probably SO fucking forbidden here in germany, and even IF I can get it...seeing how much the government has been spying on its citizens internet history...yeah. Better not risk it. Still...its tempting.

Okay so I wanted to support someone over on Patreon. But it doesn't list paypal as a payment option anymore for me. And I know about the NSFW thing but...I supported another artist just last month, and paypal was an option for me there.

My friend  inkwell-pony is in need off money, and is taking commissions all the time. 30 Bucks an hour, good style and workpace. He's also streaming right now!

https://www.picarto.tv/live/channel.....kwellsArtworks

So, check out his stuff. Right now.

Back when I was doing my Abitur (basically College here in germany), I read the novel Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, which he wrote in 1953 (or at least it was published that year). Its a very good book, that depicts a very dystopian future, in which books are outlawed and burned and society has become numb and meaningless to what is going on around it.

Its not your typical dystopia, in that people live under an iron grip of a dictator, or are malnourished and worked to death like in the novel Nineteen-Eightyfour by Orwell, quite the contrary. Its shown that standards of "living" are actually very high and personal liberties (aside from owning books) are high, too high perhaps, as there are barely any laws present, which results in certain acts of anarchy and societal endangerment.

"Now Buster, how does that encapsulate our modern society, doesn't sound at all like what we're living in."

Well, let me get to that.

Theres many ways to interprete the book, and you can find a fuckton online. Everything from societal decay to censorship. Bradbury's own interpretation (Word of God) says the book is about how unrestrained technological advance and use thereoff can and will destroy society. He may have been on to something.

Let me just list a few example of future predictions made by this man:
-People watch meaningless and utterly vapid TV shows all day and surround themselves at home in luxury goods in a hedonistic fashion, disregarding concerns like debt. One of these goods are Wallscreens, basically Wallsized TV Screens that allow participants to indulge even more into their pointless TV shows. "But Buster, we don't have Wallsized TV screens." Well, not entirely wallsized, but TV screens keep getting bigger and bigger and flatter and flatter. And ultimately pointless technologies like 3D, that dont really add to the value of the movies and shows its applied to also serve as a point to that.
-When people leave their houses, they do so wearing ear conches, aka tiny plug in headphones. Again, this was in 1953. Headphones then were bulky-ass things that made you look like a martian. These ear conches are connected to tiny, walkman like machines that allow the people to drown out the reality they may be subject themselves too by going outside. Apple products come to mind.
-Personal communication and socializing looses more and more of its value and ceases almost to exist. When not "forced" into communication, like say at work or in school, people communicate almost exclusively via telephone, and mostly talk about nothing really. And when people come over, its pretty much the same, much talk over nothing. Again, this is really creepy when you behold people in places that used to be about social interaction stick their faces to their Smartphones, because its just so damn similiar.
-Education has become a joke. For one thing, the education plan ditches any kind of education that would require thinking and debate, like say politics, history etc. Instead kids are put in mass in front of lifeless big monitor-blackboards at school that teach them how to perform practical things, like disassemble a motorblock or build a toaster, again, eerily similiar to how overcrowded and understaffed schools nowaday have become, and how in many countries, a lot of "risque" subjects are touched upon anymore to not offend someone when it comes to debate.

"Okay, but what about that bookburning. Thats a central thing of this book, isn't it?"

Well, I was about to come to that. Now, the reason why books are burned isn't touched upon until much later in the book. The main characters superior tells him that the reason books are burned is because they not only made people think, but also debate. A book always contains a message or opinion or POV. Something that can make people think deeper about life or spark a debate about whether said opinion is true or not.

"So?"

Well, the superior goes on to say that with society growing and growing, and multiculturalism taking place, people began to get offended over everything. Every person belonged to a minority, and everyone had reason to be upset over something, whether said something was worth said upheaval or not. It turned into a small conflict of minorities which was sure to rip apart society, so an effort was made to counteract that. Thats why people are constantly surrounded by loud music and meaningless TV shows and luxury items, to drown out the reality, to make them numb. People have all these liberties to act as they want, drive fast and dangerous, numb themselves even more. Anything that could spark more debate and thought, like books or "dangerous" classes at school are forbidden and replaced.

And thats probably, to me, the most striking prediction that came true. Don't get me wrong, I am not against multiculturalism. However, after taking a trip and doing a crosssection of tumblr (and the internet at large) today, it has become clear that we entered that point the book predicted. If you look at the net these days, you can see a lot of people identifying themselves with some sort of oppressed minority, whether said minority or perceived oppression is actually a thing, and adopting an "us vs them" mentality. People being offended at anything and anyone over vague and subjectionally-perceived controversies. And its just fucking appalling, especially when actual groups trying to better society get undermined by said easily offended groups, turning it into a twisted perversion of what it was before (theres now an actual civil war/schism between feminists. I shit you not.)

And no one is immune from it. Jontron was one of the most popular guys on the internet. One slip later, and now tumblr and twitter are on their righteous crusade to take him down for being an "ableist, homophobic, whiney mens right activist", and several other e-famous people joined in on that, even people he used to work with and whom he admired.

GamerGate (which is still a thing apparantly) also got sidedragged into the debate. At the beginning it was about nepotism in games media and how it should be fought. And it still kind of is. But the constant crossfire bet Anti-SJW's and SJW's has turned it into a murky swamp of unclear fronts and goals, thats such a clusterfuck I don't dare touching it with a 100 feet pole.

Bottomline: Ray Bradbury saw a lot of bad societal trends happen 60 years in advance. Maybe we should've listened to it.

Ask away.

Dunno, its 7 in the morning, should be going to bed but waiting for something to arrive. So I guess just some random news and oddities:

-Steve Addlesee is dead. Never really knew the guy, only what I heard from peeps that know him, mostly the old guard of the fandom that was here before furry was a thing. Very polarizing person. Still, the death of any of us, especially an old, long running member, no matter how polarizing, is a sad thing because it takes away from us. No man is an island and all that.

-Doomsday clock is now 3 before midnight. Thats one of the closest it ever got, only beaten by the cuban missile crisis with 2 minutes before midnight and on par with 1983 levels of Cold War. I'd really like to see at least the year 2050 pass, so can we not kill each other until then?

-Weather is shitty as usual. Now its colder. German cold weather sucks.

-Payday lies ahead but I already have all my planned spending laid out in my head, and basically 2/3 of my paycheck will be gone before february 1st even hit. I will survive, got another bank account for emergencies but...I'd rather not touch it.

-As it turns out, a dear friend of mine who I will not name for her sake is really really ill, and it worries me. She has her health issues before, hell, nobody I know seems to be all that healthy.

-I have this...really foreboding feeling. Like something bad is going to happen. Couple that with a few odd nightmares I had these days and the fact that my dreaming is not only becoming more active AND negative and I have no good feeling for the near future. By no means a prophet but...mark my word.

-Work is...okay these days, much more relaxed. And that worries me. Sure, anything would seem relaxed compared to christmas season, aka hell for chefs and cooks, but...we hardly have anything to do. This is my second week where I have 3 days off instead of 2, and it worries me. Couple that with me fucking up a lot in december (and minorly last week) and my boss having lots of job interviews this week AND a new apprentice starting in august (probably) and I get the feeling I should look for a new job around this area, just in case. I tend to expect the worst, but then I at least feel good when it doesnt come as bad as I thought.

-Lots of games coming out I am excited for. End of this month the early access of Darkest Dungeons will come online on steam, and as a backer I can't wait for it. Dark Souls 2 will get a major overhaul patch released next month, apparantly part of it is free and part is behind a paywall. Also next gen versions for PS4, Xbox One and PC. Also Monster Hunter 4 for the 3DS. Hnnnngggg.

-Did I mention I have a forboding feeling? Like, really, something fucked up is about to happen.

-I think I MAAAAAY have a very slight depression, but I don't know. Its less of "not feeling anything" and more like "Everythings slightly dampened".

-Oh yeah, Games of the Year 2014 goes to Dark Souls 2, Smash Bros 4 and Shadowrun: Dragonsfall Directors Cut. Kinda late for that but its not like anyone consults me regarding video games anyway.

Theres like a metric fuckton of "Where to find me besides FA" journals in my inbox, like holy shit you guys.

What is it now? Any drama I missed?

Wow, me doing a meme? Shit when was the last time that happened?

Thanks Obama, I mean  blazeignitus

RULES :
1. Pick one of your OCs.
2. Fill in the questions/statements as if you were your OC.
3. Tag four people to do this meme!
4. Tell people that they been tagged with a link from your journal

Chosen OC : Donovan Grou

QUESTIONS:

1. What is your name?
Donovan.

2. Do you know why you were named that?
Because my parents liked the name? How should I know?

3. Single or taken?
None of your business. But taken.

4. Have any abilities or powers?
I'm a groudon with literally hundreds of years combat experience. I reckon I know a trick or two.

5. Stop being a Mary Sue!
...?

6. What's your eye color?
Black and Yellow.

7. How about hair color?
Do you see any hair?

8. Have you any family members?
Parents, but that was some time ago. No family I can recall.

9. Oh? How about pets?
No.

10. That's cool, I guess. Now tell me something you don't like.
People that ask me stupid questions and waste my time.

11. Do you have any activities/hobbies that you like to do?
I'm a workaholic military instructor, I don't have much time or interest in hobbies. Mhhh...I guess I like history.

12. Have you ever hurt anyone in any way before?
I'm a soldier. Hurting people is my job if they do a wrong move.

13. Ever… killed anyone before?
Yes. Plenty.

14. What kind of animal are you
A groudon.

15. Name your worst habits
I guess I'm a workaholic. Lots of people say I am perpetually grumpy, but I think those people just had attitude problems.

16. Do you look up to anyone at all?
Not really.

17. Are you gay, straight, or bisexual?
None of your business.

18. Do you go to school?
Yes, as an instructor in the ROTC sector.

19. Ever want to marry and have kids one day?
Again, none of your business.

20. Do you have fangirls/fanboys?
Not that I know. I guess some people look up to me.

21. What are you most afraid of?
Finding out another one of my students died in the line of duty.

22. What do you usually wear?
Black pants, military garb, barret.

23. What's one food that tempts you?
Eh, no preference. I guess home cooking. And Whiskey.

24. Am I annoying you?
Quite.

25. Well, it's still not over!
I reckoned so.

26. What class are you (low class, middle class, high class)?
Who cares?

27. How many friends do you have?
Not many. Guess I am not that type of person.

28. What are your thoughts on pie?
Its edible.

30. Favorite drink?
Whiskey, a good brand. Should have some fire in its aroma though.

31. What's your favorite place?
My office.

32. Are you interested in anyone~?
Not. Your. Business.

33. That was a stupid question.
At least you are learning.

34. Would you rather swim in a lake or the ocean?
I don't go swimming a lot...not really the body for it. But I guess a lake.

35. What's your type?
Ground.

36. Any fetishes?
*annoyed stare*

37. Seme or uke?
...What in arceus holy name are you blabbering about?

38. Camping or indoors?
When I was younger, we had to often camp outside, especially on longer missions.

39. Who are you gonna tag?
Tag?

(Well...I guess  januspeldragon)

So, I commissioned a Halloween themed, NSFW story from my friend  luircin involving  itsuko103 's Koopa characters on a party getting tipsy and dragging off two guys to have a lil private party.

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14363914/

Heres the kicker, Keir turned this into a lil YCH, you can bid to have your male char in the story with any of these two beauties. Just go and bid and be drop some info and it will be written in 4 hours.

GO GO GO

GERMANY IS WORLD CUP CHAMPION 2014!

After 24 years, we finally got the 4th star.

Yep, 25 years on this planet.

We utterly defeated you guys, but you showed good sportsmanship. I salute you.

But yeah, 7:1. I did not expect that.

Just a heads up, turning 25 on the 12th of july.

Jesus christ not this again. Prepare for a million fakey "I'm leaving journals."

At least we got a Cookie Clicker update.

Okay, so, to clear things up, I deleted the journal because I did some thinking about this and read some more, especially  lapinbeau 's own journal here: http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5544778/

So yes, I probably overreacted. Yes, the whole ToU is still suspicious and poorly worded in some cases, and its weird that they are only changing the german version now. Which is also worded slightly differently, but nevermind that. I apologize for maybe jumping to conclusions.

On the other hand, unlike what some people like to claim, I didn't do this to spread drama or a rebellion against skype. I am not a social justice warrior, not a right winger that always cries about "MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS" or any of that sort. I am just a guy who doesn't likes to be monitored for something that is not illegal and who actually prefers to have some privacy.

*raises eyebrow*

*sips lemonade*

*refresh*

*sips lemonade*

*goes back to bed*

Well, that happened.

No seriously, I don't pay attention to FA for one moment, and suddenly you see people jump ship left and right.

What happened now?