A Simple Way To Go Faster Than Light That Does Not Work

After choosing to avoid direct exposure to RaceFail2009, I enjoyed this summary, by Mary Ann Mohanraj, of some of the key points that have bubbled up.

Much of this sounds rather familiar to me, and I recognize that this is directly due to some of y'all. I've been quietly reading your writing over the last year or three on, for example, what "white privilege" means, and what it doesn't mean, despite what people tend to infer from the term alone. If I've been tacitly absorbing all this, you can assume that many others are, too. So feel free to feel good about that!

(Oh, and please consider comments-reading on the linked post to be more optional than usual. Because: racefail.)

I must reluctantly announce that The Gameshelf is on hiatus until the pace of Volity work allows for it. Yes, this will take months. Many months, probably. Depending upon how things work out I may continue to plan and produce irregularly scheduled episodes before then, but I can't guarantee it. I still have to finish he episode we filmed in December, and I'll get around to that eventually. Someday I will feel like it.

The thing is, since the Andys moved here at the start of December, I really haven't felt like working on anything other than Volity. And given that it's my startup, this sort of monomania is entirely appropriate. The stress of keeping to even a monthly production schedule was too much, I found; making a single Gameshelf takes effort that's spread over several days, with a lot of coordination and planning. I let myself get away with it during the period between my leaving Harvard and December, when I didn't have any local partners to help keep my work-pace fast and steady. Things are different now.

My warmest thanks to everyone who has helped with the show so far, either as crew or as talent. I look forward to being able to work with you (and others!) in future productions.

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I still don't know quite what to make of Animal Crossing. At first it seemed easy to run out of things to do, but then I realized that the actual strategy involves visiting occasionally to make the rounds (the world is small) and see what's new. It really angles to act as a very limited but easy-entry sort of alternate reality, always available for when you need to take a break from real life, and step into a side-universe where your chief concerns involve running errands for kittens and duckies in hopes that they will give you furniture. And if instead you find yourself saddled with the burning need to catch fish for an entire hour, so be it.

I admit that I am finding it very novel that I can't sell my pretend fish because all the pretend stores have closed until 8am -- both real-time and game-time -- and I will actually have to go to sleep in real life before they reopen.

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Minor hmm: you can play only a white kid. Well, kinda; your avatar is a sort of living Raggedy Ann or Andy doll, complete with red-triangle nose, which does add a certain level of abstraction away from human concepts like ethnicity. Still, you explicitly select your character's sex at the start of the game, and I bet that if the game were developed in the Americas they'd sneak in a way to let you set skin tone as well. I am here theorizing that monocultures such as Japan are less aware of such concerns. Perhaps better stated as: in a multicultural society (or anyway one that does try ever so hard to live up to the label) such as the U.S., there is a lot more self-conscious sensitivity to this sort of thing. I don't think it's good or bad. Just interesting.

(Meta-hmm: I hate talking about racial issues. Whenever I open my mouth about anything racial in real life I'm often rebuffed about what an unfortunate comment I have just made. And yet I have to because the topic fascinates me, much like sexual/gender politics or religious issues do, but race is far touchier than these. Tss, tss, is the sound of me burning my fingers over and over. Fooey.)