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What I wanted was a Space Proteus, but NMS just seems like someone try to make that, then chickened out at the last moment, adding all that shit.
I’m waiting for mods to turn off the markers/badges/every bothersome nag and give me infinite fuel. And a hefty discount. Until then, it’s a no go.
Also, I have no idea what the bottom half of your playlist is, but I guess I’m gonna find out now…
And it’s funny that last night was the first time was the chance I had to let go. I spent most of my time on one planet, enjoying the unusual fauna – types that I hadn’t seen before. Underwater is also particularly pretty but often dangerous to navigate.
I think goals are particularly toxic for the game and – from what I’ve gleaned, unsatisfying for those who want goals in their gaming coffee.
I have a feeling I’ll wind up liking NMS almost in spite of itself!
The Room is interesting secret box have (literally a Japanese puzzle box) but it’s sequels manage to dilute the formula really. Inside the Void is another game a la CHYRZA where you walk from point to point triggering narrative. Lovely visuals in places but the structure is very tired now – let’s walk a long way because that’s important! I’ve not played much of Buddhist-themed platformer Mandagon yet but it is free on Steam.
Oh someone told there was an infinite resources mod for No Man’s Sky already!
I’m really curious about your Story of Thor article. It’s one hell of a weird game, in many ways, but oddly memorable.
As for NMS, I haven’t played it, but have similar feelings about how the press participated in the marketing. The sheer amount of articles they’ve produced about this one game is staggering, especially when you consider how much else just vanishes.
Uggghhhh it was SO OBVIOUS that it should just have been Space Proteus.
OK game of transitions to thing I want to talk about: Go. Skip to the bottom if you actually want to help me.
So your son is mesmerized by it, which might raise some interesting things about how kids react to games–are they less jaded? more easily pleased? is there a difference? is it that it’s more fun to watch than to play? one thing for sure, the video games they have now are better than the ones we had when I was a kid–but on the topic of ED non-faves loved by kids, my son really likes Spider 2, the exploration is fun (for him and me) but he definitely likes getting those bugs and figuring out their patterns, and the hidden goals in Spider 2 remind me of some things about Closure which I haven’t yet written about the level select mechanisms, but the point is: I got that through a Humble Bundle which was a freaking triumph, so far I have played and enjoyed four games (100000000, You Must Build A Boat, Spider 2, Badland, though when Flappy Bird meets Limbo perhaps I should say not “enjoyed” but “prevailed”).
And now I find myself eyeing the latest Bundle: Lethal League, Beginner’s Guide (which I probably really want), Galak-Z. Stretch: Lovers in a Dangerous SpaceTime (keep in mind that I will be playing single player), Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Super Time Force Ultra. Ten bucks for Nuclear Throne. Do I want this? Do I want Nuclear Throne, given that I’m into proc gen stuff? But should I just keep playing Probability 0? (I got a 38!) Sandy, I searched through the comments and saw you had played Nuclear Throne, is it awesome?
[Yeah, bundles, I know. The move back to full-price games is a good thing. Except, bringing it full circle, I really shouldn’t drop $60 on No Man’s Sky.]
I said a lot on the emails about that Molyneux interview over on RPS. Suffice to say I thought it was horrible; horrible of Walker, horrible for Molyneux and horrible to see so many gamers lapping it up. It unfortunately doesn’t surprise me then to see Hello Games being dragged through the mud (and I’ve not even got my ear to the social media ground!).
The hype train is almost always bound for disappointment, yet gamers the world over just can’t help climbing aboard giddily then crying and throwing tantrums like spoilt children when it inevitably goes south. It’s so fucking stupid and, y’know… ugly. I love gaming, but man, it seems there’s so much uglyiness and anger in so many corners these days.
“I found it distasteful for every gaming website to have wallowed in the hype for two years only to smack that bitch down after the hype game is over.”
This is pretty much the crux of it for me. I too distanced myself from all the hype. I watched a few trailers, maybe glanced at the odd interview with Sean Murray or impressions piece from people who had dabbled with it. Beyond that, I honestly couldn’t have given a shit until it finally came out.
Now No Man’s Skye is out I get the impression that Ketchua’s assessment is about right, which is funny because, if Noctis was an inspiration for Proteus, and NMS was leaning towards ‘Space Proteus’, we’ve kind of come full circle, only, NMS got some ‘game in its non-game’ and seems to be worse off for it.
Anyway, very interesting newsletter and thanks for the links! What I’ve read of Rob Fearon’s posts so far are really interesting too.
Jonas
I will endeavour to write that Thor article soon otherwise I’ll start forgetting the details! I’ve played Story of Thor three times now. Maybe I’ll do it again one day. I find it relaxing.
On NMS, I’m surprised they got the level of coverage normally afforded to bombastic AAA titles like MGS or Fallout 4. Holy cow, I couldn’t believe the number of NMS articles pumped out after its release. Surely Hello Games must do well out of this. However, whether their reputation is intact after the hype backlash settles down (I am shocked at some of the vitriol out there) is unclear.
I picked out one random video where Sean Murray was doing a gameplay demonstration and the first question he was asked was, “What do you do in No Man’s Sky?” and it was obvious Murray couldn’t answer the question. He said that people understand exploring, so we can talk about that. I’m okay with having a game being something different but that cocktail of knowledge vacuum + visual hype made for a terrible hangover.
Matt
My son likes exploring games but he bored of Proteus a long time ago. He really wants something like GTA but the game is really too adult to share for now. I’d let him have a go at NMS but it is way too difficult for him at this point. The problem for me is that he is more addicted to content as opposed to the act of play. He’s not good at *patience*. When I was introduced to games, they were all do this thing and repeat, keep trying, get better, we don’t have space for more graphics or levels!
Crossy Road is instructive. He only really wants to unlock characters: on the holiday flight, he opened it up, realised he had to wait 5 hours for the next free gift and just closed it. I find this trend towards a F2P mindset on games concerning and I’ve been trying to undermine it. He enjoyed Sonic All-Star Racing: Transformed but again, he was focused on XP-based unlocks for the character powerups and the maps. Rocket League lasted and I tried to play down/ignore every little achievement and upgrade it threw at us. Both children will happily fritter away minutes on customising cars between every match if I let them. My son really enjoyed Spider! I liked it but just tired of it. I never got Spider 2 because I didn’t feel I needed more Spider.
I don’t know if I can help you out with your purchases I’m afraid. You’re on your own until Sandy turns up. If Sandy turns up.
Gregg
It’s almost release time, folks, the Hype Train is pulling into our last stop, Disappointment Station!
The vocal segment of the gaming audience is much like a manic depressive, moments of excessive giddy happiness that give way to a pit of existential despair whenever reality makes an entrance. This game, he explains, is why human civilisation is broken. I can understand a bunch of kids falling for hype, but anyone who has more than a few years under their belt should know better. No one else has produced a game featuring “infintely interesting variation” PCG but we were supposed to swallow that this small indie studio might have? I am wondering when I’m going to hit the NMS point where I’ve seen all the significant variations in the alien wildlife.
I’m trying to appreciate it for what it *is*. There are videos out there condemning Sean Murray as a liar. While I think it’s wise for developers to be wary about what they say, it would be nice for the gaming audience at some point to become aware that development is a complex process of give-and-take with features over time. Every time this happens, there’s an outpouring of YOU SAID THIS. But as an industry, it does itself no favours trying to produce trailers that blow people away two years before the game comes out without explaining NONE OF THIS MAY HAPPEN, SOZ.
Okay, Rob has now written seven posts on NMS.
Aye, I’m just on the seventh article now 🙂
Matt, Nuclear Throne is great so far. Think… Shoot First with the satisfying BOOM BANG CLATTER of Luftrausers and the (often suicidal) arsenal of Super Crate Box. It’s very immediate and tough, with quick restarts and some interesting character variations and abilities that can be mutated in different ways as you become more irradiated. It makes me want to give Teleglitch another go but… gah, I know how that’ll end.
Thanks for the recommendation, Gregg! Now I haven’t actually played any of those games (though I have Luftrausers) but I think I get the idea. It’s not too much like Binding of Isaac, is it?
I may have heard some people make comparisons and there are perhaps a few surface similarities, but I’m not a fan of Binding of Isaac, the original or Rebirth, despite sinking plenty of time into both (particularly the latter) to try and understand what all the fuss is about. I dunno, it never gelled with me, and much like Spelunky and Don’t Starve, I just find myself wanting to play other games instead. I may return to them again in the future, but in the meantime I much prefer the bread and butter of Nuclear Throne (the slick skill-based combat) to Isaac’s (bumbling into rooms hoping to find something decent so you don’t suck so much).
Well I didn’t enjoy Binding of Isaac at all (didn’t spend much time with it, either), so that’s what I want to hear.
Still going to think about it, but I am kind of on a high from getting a bundle that turns out to have a lot of games I like in it.
Totally OT, but I was clicking around and following links, and I found this perfect storm of dickishness. Not only was it off-topic and condescending but neither of the claims it makes are actually true. (The sentence isn’t a run-on because it has a conjunction in the right place, and it is a paragraph because there’s no law that a paragraph must have more than one sentence.)
Matt, to this day, every time I see Dominic on Twitter I always think of this comment exchange! I was really pissed off at the time for the casual disregard for my opinion. And the follow up comment from another is like WHY DID I BOTHER WRITING ANYTHING HERE.
I would have been too Joel. I’m surprised at Dominic to be honest. I’m going to guess that it was 20 minutes of awful dialogue to boot?
It was that type of JRPG dialog which I was tired of. YMMV. I found it hard to get back to manga or anime after my years in Japan.
Replaying Soleil right now and the dialog is so dull – but I know it goes to interesting places.
A lot of RPG dialogue bores me senseless these days, J or CRPG. Pillars of Eternity I found so… dry, just like Skyrim, Morrowind and, to a lesser extent, Fallout 3. God, Bethesda. FFVI was the last JRPG I played (on the Nintendo DS) and it was alright from what I remember.
I find I need a splash of personality to wash it all down otherwise it just feels too much like hard work. I’ve been playing Anachronox for the last few months between other games and, despite some clunky mini-games and a dated combat system, it’s held my interest throughout thanks to the really entertaining dialogue, characters and world. It’s really surprised me I’ve got to say.
Grrr… there’s an article on Vox about NMS and literally the first paragraph is that fucking “we’re probably living in a simulation!” argument. They wouldn’t spend their time promoting a scientific argument that 90% of scientists think is horseshit, why do they spend their time promoting an epistemological argument that 90% of epistemologists think is bullshit? I sent them a proposed piece on why that argument is wrong last time they posted it, but maybe I need to Pull Some Strings. If I know where any strings are.
…anyway, so annoyed about that that I haven’t managed to read the article yet.
RPGs! Looking back on my gaming history… I think I may never have managed to play a straightforward cRPG or jRPG? I mean, not like a roguelike (or something related to roguelikes like Legerdemain). I tried Ultima IV recently before the combat and the need to map obsessively got me, and I played To The Moon which is built on an RPG skin but which lacks certain other elements. And, hmmm, a couple hours of Barkley Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden. This is weird, because they might be the sort of thing I like. (If Flash games count I guess I played through all of Sonny and Sonny 2.)
UH OH DUCK PENIS ALERT IN LAST LINK
Matt, there is suggestion in the NMS lore – at least what I’ve seen – that the universe is a simulation. If that is actually true then it I’m not rushing to embrace the “story” of the NMS! But if I have to read another “but maybe it’s not a duck penis” then I’m going to spew.
Assuming you haven’t read the link yet, the “maybe the universe is a simulation” argument comes at the beginning and isn’t about NMS being a simulation in-world or whatever, but providing an example of a simulated universe blah blah… which is fine as far as it goes, but is really annoying as part of the epistemological “But we ourselves, you and I running around in meatspace, might be part of a simulation” argument. Because even if you think that grafix are getting so elite that they are headed toward the possibility of creating a massive hyperrealiztic universe, that just shows that really convincing VR is possible. It doesn’t provide any reason to think that you’n’I could’ve been ducked into really convincing VR without knowing it. Also, extrapolating from current trends the NPCs in those future simulations will still be pretty unconvincing.
(I have deeper objections to the argument than that but I don’t need them to deal with this article.)
The duck penis thing comes in pretty late as part of an observation that there’s not really much of a goal, you just do stuff. Which, you know, we’ve been over this already I think.
Perhaps I should leave this link for the benefit of anyone wondering what the hell we’re talking about.
Ah no I did read it, Matt, but I was just too bored to quote it. For me, the universe is a simulation is just like the argument for needing a God to explain existence: it doesn’t solve the problem, it just kicks it to a different spot. I mean, it’s a nice (overdone) idea for SF stories but The Matrix is behind us now.
I just tweeted out a link to our duck penis discussion again.
Ah, I wasn’t sure if you were saying that you wouldn’t read it because you were afraid it would tip you over into duck penis-related spew or whether you were saying that, now that you’d had that particular helping of duck penis, you had reached your limit.
too much fun to type ha ha
I don’t have anything to say about No Man’s Sky, but I’m pleased to witness the return of derailing duck penis.
Also pleased that you’re finally gobbling up the Room games. I thought of them every time your term “secret box” came up. The first remains my favourite, but the 2nd and 3rd aren’t bad. The sad thing is that you spend more time hunting for the area where the puzzle is than you do scrutinising wonderful, unfolding objects.
Re. Recettear – not really relevant at this point, but I played about six hours of it and found it ultimately dull. Consider yourself vindicated! My favourite thing about it is that it was the first (re)release of a small localisation team working to bring Japanese indie titles to other languages.
@Gregg – Pillars of Eternity, dry? Did you somehow miss Durance? :)))
Durance was the last character I met before I stopped playing actually! That’s no slight on him, but more an indication of how quickly I lost interest in the game. I was so excited to play it too!
Okay so this is going to be a bit meandering.
I played PoE for about 18 hours and it was mostly the party management/combat that killed it for me in the end because it was finicky and felt too much like hard work. If I was finding party management/combat tiresome that early on with only two or three low level dudes then the game was only going to get heavier as I progressed. Even after 18 hours there wasn’t really anything in the story that grabbed me and no particularly memorable exchanges with characters. By ‘dry’, I mean that it was all so monotone but clearly laboured over, without being that interesting.
One of the reasons I’m not wild about Nolan’s Batman films is that there’s no break from all the straight-faced seriousness, not even when the Joker turns up! (Okay, his entrance is pretty shocking and funny.) I’m expected to take Christian Bale dressed as a bat with the most laughably gruff voice seriously? And for 2-3 hours? Give me a break– give me Burton’s Batman any day. Actually, a really good example is the new Doom. If id had played it straight from the get-go it wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining. The game doesn’t quite carry through on the early promise of the Doom Marine’s irreverent attitude, but by that point the rhythm of the exploration and gunplay had got its hooks into me.
This isn’t entirely relevant to PoE, but it’s in that direction of Serious Fantasy Business that I find really tricky to grapple with at times without some degree of self-awareness and relief. I need Hudson’s bullshit out of Aliens.
I just look at the likes of Planescape: Torment, Vampire: Bloodlines, Anachronox, New Vegas, what I played of the original Fallout (before Ian trapped me in a corner), even the first Witcher, and they all seem so much more… I dunno, down to earth or… grounded? Like there’s some honesty and humanity in them that made them much easier to get on board with.
It’s funny too because I remember reading your review of PoE and thinking “Yes, this sounds fantastic.” But in the end I just bounced off it. For some context: I’ve not played that many RPGs compared to a lot of gamers; Torment was my first Infinity Engine game and I first played that in about 2007! My next RPG after Anachronox will probably be the Witcher 2 or Divinity: Original Sin. I wouldn’t mind firing up Driftmoon too. I’m still trying to work out where my tastes fit into all this though to be honest 🙂
I meant to ask Joel: how did you get on with Dark Souls? And what did you make of Regency Solitaire? I got it in the recent Humble Indie Bundle and had no idea you’d played it and had done an interview with the developer for your book.
(If you’re wondering where these questions are coming from, I realised earlier that I’d not read your May newsletter.)
And sorry, coming back to something that was mentioned in May’s discussion: did you guys know that Troy Baker shared that hilarious Baby’s First Petition following Washington Post’s review of Uncharted 4? I think he signed it too. I also read a Metacritic user review for UC4 that gave it 10/10 and said these things:
“I have not played the game yet” and “I am not fanboying either”. Underneath it: “30 of 37 users found this helpful”.
Shaun – yes, The Room is like a classic and the others, as I mentioned somewhere in these comments, dilute the formula. There’s too much weaving around rooms and poking at everything. I want more of a puzzle box rather than a puzzle place, which becomes all too much like puzzle-point-and-clicks (Myst?) and less unique. (And glad I’m not missing out on Recettear!)
Gregg – if you want to know where I am, I have got to the Bell Gargoyles and stopped. I haven’t really tried to take them on yet but the game has been in stasis for a few months now. I fear my muscle memory over the DS controller has been lost! Regency Solitaire is lovely. Mrs. HM has just completed it on Normal mode. She knows the end of the story. I have told her not to spoil it.
Yeah I heard about Troy Baker signing that petition. I can just imagine everyone in the studio afterwards going, “Troy, what the hell did you do that for?” Ridiculousness. I feel like these are the same emotions that drive people to “hate” No Man’s Sky.
Baby emotions?
Maybe. I don’t like the word entitled anymore.
Regency Solitaire! I had forgotten that you talked about it…. I just bought that same bundle (it was added as a bonus game after I posted about it above). I have Level Select Screen and Gameplay Goal thoughts about it. Like, I messed up on the level goals for a chapter, and I was sad, but then I thought “But it doesn’t have any consequences, does it?” Which is an odd thought, because the consequences are that I didn’t fulfill the level goals, which is what I was trying to do. What I meant was that it didn’t prevent me from progressing in the game or change the story (I trust).
So here we have something where the game explicitly sets some goals for you, but the goals don’t gate your progression and don’t even give you a powerup–they’re pure objective. And you would probably try to set up monster combos and things like that even if it weren’t a goal, because On the other hand, the level select screen itself doesn’t give you any incentive to try to 100% the goals if you haven’t–it doesn’t seem to track which levels you completed with all the goals, and it certainly doesn’t mark it on the level select screen in any way. Contrast Crayon Physics Deluxe and World of Goo, where the dots that mark the levels get a little flag whenever you reach the extra goals… and, well, lots of other things. Because the designers perfectly well know that, aside from whether you hit those goals, you want to play your solitaire and read the story.
(My wife has told me not to tell you that the ending involves a murderous dwarf that appears out of nowhere, so I won’t. OK, I haven’t reached the end yet.)
I finished Papo & Yo with my son this afternoon–held him back from lunch because we were clearly getting toward the ending and didn’t want to put it down. Then he was asking me questions like “Why does the monster [spoiler]?” and “Why do you [spoiler] at the end?” My wife said “That sounds like a very sad game.”
In Regency Solitaire, I’d argue some of the goals are necessary to build up the cash to buy the upgrades – but you are right, there’s a wonderful forward momentum that most games shy away from. This comes from Birkett’s strong experience in casual games and, what’s more, he has no interest in making F2P despite having all the ingredients.
I’ve not played Papa & Yo. Sounds like a sad game.
“some of the goals are necessary to build up the cash to buy the upgrades”
Right, but even if you don’t buy the upgrades you can still play all the way through, can’t you? Also I might argue that what’s going on there is that you he to make a certain amount of gold to buy the upgrades, and getting gold is a goal that’s plainly signaled by the interface and everything else (it’s even in the name: goald). Some of the explicit level goals also involve getting a certain amount of gold, but fulfilling that particular goal is neither here nor there as far as buying the upgrade; it’s not that much different if you fall ten short of the goal.
Storywise, if the goals aren’t gating your progress through the story, then the powerups aren’t unlocking gates. But of course the powerups are affecting your gameplay.
The one thing I’m not sure about here is the “uncover an object” goals. Some of those are upgrades in themselves, so that gives you a powerup for later levels. What about the plot-critical items, though–can you actually continue in the game if you don’t uncover the trunk? The opera glasses? Dunno.
My son was describing what you do in Papo & Yo to a friend of ours (who plays a lot of games, but I think more board games) and he said “Sounds like a fun game.” Then I said “And it’s explicitly a metaphor for growing up with an alcoholic abusive father!” (This is a spoiler on the level of “No Man’s Sky has procedural generation in it.”)
Sorry for leaving your comment unrequited for a few days. Yes, it’s that time of the year again, inexplicable illness o’clock.
I was really arguing on the technicalities of your point “the goals don’t gate your progression and don’t even give you a powerup” – which I would argue as false, because fulfilling goals gives you the cash you need for the powerups. They do not, as far as I am aware, interfere with the story though. Then again, as you point out, the “uncover an object” goal is also occasionally an upgrade. I want to know what happens if you fail these goals! Probably nothing? I can’t believe we’re getting into the nitty gritty design of Regency Solitaire.
WTF No Man’s Sky has procedural generation!?!
Matt, I asked Jake Birkett on Twitter about the truth of the matter. On normal mode you don’t have you complete the objectives: the items just turn regardless. On hard mode, you do have to complete the objectives to make progress.
Sorry to hear you”ve been sick! Hope you feel better!
I was really arguing on the technicalities of your point “the goals don’t gate your progression and don’t even give you a powerup” – which I would argue as false, because fulfilling goals gives you the cash you need for the powerups.
Well I’m arguing this technicality too. It’s not fulfilling goals that gives you the cash you need for the powerups. I’m pretty sure that fulfilling a goal doesn’t get you any extra cash, in the sense that if your goal is to get 3000 cash, there’s still no more difference in purchase power between getting 2990 and 3000 and between 3000 and 3010.
Anyway, definitely agree that they made the right choice. Also I see their new game launched! I feel slightly regretful that this time you’re using cards to whack people, because there are lots of games where you’re whacking people in various representations and relatively few (in different media) where you’re… well, whatever it is you are doing when you play Regency Solitaire. There’s a hilarious post I can’t find where the people are saying “Why is someone paying me to play cards?” and “Who is paying me to play cards?” and “Why don’t I just take this huge pile of money I earned playing cards and tell Mr. Bleakley to sod off?” before deciding it wasn’t diegetic. Anyway, that was unnecessarily grumpy, it’s cool that the new game released because it’s likely that there games are cool!
(Oh dear, looking at Birkett’s timeline, someone is going to get a picture of a duck penis tweeted at him. Oh wait, it’s not “What is a game?” it’s “Games and art.” Two duck penises.
I guess I should leave this here in case Jeff V. reads this. Sorry Jeff! No harm intended.)
Oh it was the RPS verdict post. Well that’s unoriginal of me.
Matt
Being sick came while I had been spending time on more “speculative” efforts, like a new video editor, so it’s become an extended period of apparently no Electron Dance work being done. I’m better this week but, Jesus, I have also entered the September Gauntlet of CHILDREN’S BIRTHDAY PARTIES. Nightmare.
Sorry I’d misremembered that achieving the goals gave you a cash bonus but seems that’s not true? So, yeah.
Oh I don’t think their new game Shadowhand is out yet. Using cards to whack people is an attempt to tie the “game” and story more tightly, because it is ever so loose in Regency. I guess, unfortunately, it does take us down the route of least resistance: point a gun at a man and shoot is one way of making clicking a mouse “meaningful”.
I completely bounced off Jeff Vogel’s piece. It’s not getting a link in the newsletter but it’s been shared a billion and one times. I’ve mentioned previously that the experience of putting you in the role turns a rather rubbish story into something that feels vibrant, and that’s about all I would take away from his post. There was a brilliant comment in the RPS Sunday Papers about it, though, from Melody Meows. It’s more nuanced than this, but in a nutshell: everyone thinks their new favourite thing is the better-than-art Art.
Right you are. I saw the top tweet s “We are proud to announce our new game, Shadowhand!” but that means “It’s coming,” not “It’s out.”
Maybe I misremembered the cash bonus for goals? Entirely possible. In which case you’re definitely right, though one still tries to hit the goals after one is swimming in cash.
I bounced off Jeff Vogel’s piece, using a springy duck penis as a pogo stick.
So this guy Matthew Yglesias has a running joke on his Twitters based on his demolition of a deeply silly theory that labor force participation is down because young men are having too much fun living in their parents’ basement and playing video games, rather than that young Americans are living in their parents’ basement and playing videogames (or taking care of their elderly relatives) because it’s still hard to find a game after the Great Recession. (Seriously, a real live academic economist argued that labor force participation has dropped because videogames are so much better than they used to be. Not remotely a straw man.)
In response to a rebound in the labor force participation rate he tweeted this… and I was tempted to sign up for Twitter and tweet a No Man’s Sky joke back at him, only to find that someone had beat me to it.
And now the tweet’s been deleted for some reason so my post makes no sense! (It was something like “Massive decline in videogame quality?”)
Also my post should’ve said “it’s still hard to find a *job* after the Great Recession,” which is another way it failed to make sense. As I continue to abuse the Recent Comments sidebar.
Matt, I guess this is what we call necro.
Holiday over so I am now back on the beat. I did not know that was an actual theory. It’s just one of the many incarnations of “today’s kids don’t want dirty jobs” or millenials love their phones too much and are lazy. Jesus Christ, such arrogance.
Bumping to try to get you to delete the above spam, but also: It’s amazing. It’s like it’s negging you to leave the spam post up. And of course it’s something that a human might legitimately have left on any arbitrary blog post.
Through a brutal process of natural selection, the spam robots have learned that the most effortless way to appear human is to spew undirected abuse.
^ God, that’s both true and depressing. Nothing is less surprising on the internet than an abusive rant.
Ugh, I thought I deleted this a week ago. I usually wipe them out pretty quickly when they get through. Damn phone. *shakes fist*
And responding to you Matt/CA – this is definitely a new one. Usually the spam I see (which always targets posts marked “discussions”) is flattering. Now they’ve suddenly turned into “you’re a piece of crap”.