Friday, March 29, 2019

Final Bon Mots from the Dying Google Plus

I'm not happy that Google Plus is ending, and that the RPG scene that meets there is going to be scattered across a dozen new diasporic footholds, but I have mostly made my peace with the inevitability of it.

Before the end, before Google decides to detonate the last orbital forest in the solar system in order to repurpose the servers to hold different data, or something, I decided to liberate a final few witticisms from obliviation.


First - Hold My Beer

This one comes to us from Daniel Davis of the Detect Magic blog, with a reply by me, for his game set in the fantasy Southern state of Alabamia.

Daniel Davis - inspiration: hold my beer

I'm thinking next session I'll award inspiration whenever you do something concerning which you might say hold my beer.

You get it when you initiate the action but before it's resolved; so you could spend it on the action itself.

Example: hold my beer while I crawl through this crack in the wall in the dark.

Anne - This is a mechanic that calls out for escalating consequences of failure. Not that the task itself gets any harder to accomplish, but that each person who fails at it gets something worse than the last.

GM: "Horatio, you fail to pick the lock."

Hamlet: "Hold my beer, Horatio!"

GM: "Hamlet, you fail to pick the lock, and your thieve's tools are ruined."

Polonius: "Hold my beer, Hamlet!"

GM: "Polonius, you fail to pick the lock, your hand gets caught in the locking mechanism, and the guards on the other side of the door hear you. They slam the door open (dealing 1d6 damage to you) and everyone else, roll for surprise!"

Polonius: "... that escalated quickly."


Second - The More Death Threats You Send, The More Freedomer It Is

Next, Richard G from Richard's Dystopian Pokeverse started a thread wondering about the meaning of the phrase "freedom of speech" in contemporary internet rhetoric. I don't know Jason Corely, but I liked his explanation of how the term is used today best. It's both accurate and quotable!

Jason Corley - Freedom of speech means sending a death threat to a lady with an opinion about video games, and the more death threats you send, the more freedomer it is.

Jason Corley - If a lady on Twitter says Jordan Peterson said something stupid, that's censorship and free speech has been destroyed. If a young man on Twitter says she should shut up if she doesn't want her face broken, that's freedom of speech and eliminating the dragon of chaos.


Third - RIP My Wallet

Finally, this was my first time assembling a shitty MS Paint meme image for my very own shitpost. I called it "The Truth About ZineQuest"



So there you have it, my final favorite bon mots from the final dying days of Google Plus, just before Google shutters a decade-long program in order to slightly increase its first-quarter share price earnings outlook, or whatever.

14 comments:

  1. Seconded! Except ... I never listen to podcasts but do read all the stuff you post, so ... bombasticus lies!

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  2. I am a magical sitar, I only speak the truth! Maybe transcripts could be released simultaneously for linear content types (of which I am normally one but this cadence is crying out for "papers shuffle . . . page three").

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  3. No podcast. Maybe a newsletter? Mimeographed!

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  4. I've found that I'm using Twitter it much the same ways as I used G+, except more.

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  5. Bombasticus, there are occasions when I'm having a conversation with one of my coworkers when I wish we were making a podcast.

    Also, you're right, there is a slightly This American Life feel to this one. "Act 1, hold my beer. When Daniel started writing his Alabamia setting he knew he needed a trope to help establish the feel of the campaign..."

    I do have to agree with Handy and Trey though, that I wish every podcaster put out a transcript of every episode. (Or maybe that would be harder to read than I think it would?)

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  6. And so the post-Google Plus experiment begins with my friends all scattered to the winds...

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  7. Commenting. I am making a commenting pledge. I want to try to comment a lot. Even if just to give the equivalent of a +1. Just to say "I see and appreciate and wish to thank you for your contribution." I have looked back at a few blog posts from like 2011, 2012, and there were a lot more comments. So, you can all tell me to stop if it annoys, but I am going to try to keep some conversating going on.

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    1. I intend to do pretty much the same thing.

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    2. I appreciate the comments. I think Google Plus, by being so centralized, kind of cannibalized any interest most people felt in commenting directly on blogs. Now that it's gone...

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  8. I really enjoyed this post Anne. I know it is getting redundant but I gave you another shout out this week on the blog/podcast talking about the end of G+. The Zinequest thing is too true...it took tremendous self-discipline for me to cut myself off.

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    1. I don't mind getting another shout-out! I'm glad something I made touched a chord with you.

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