Mailvox: Sigma’s Bane

GJ calls for more of that of which there is not very much to give:

I’m a regular reader of your blog. As I’m not living in the West I’m not participating in Gamergate or conflicts with SJWs so I make the following observations from a distant perspective.

Just as you used not to understand Gammas well, it seems to me that you’re overestimating the initiative of the average person who is willing to fight on your side. You’ve made more than one posts encouraging readers that they too can be leaders in Gamergate. But your sociosexual theory indicates that because most people are followers (ie not Alphas, Betas, or Sigmas but Deltas) they are hardly going to do anything of their own initiative, rather follow an example set by someone they consider as a leader. As an illustration, a Sigma like yourself would hardly care about getting a Minion badge (except maybe for the purpose of demonstration of mass numbers), but many of your readers do, which implies that they still seek a hierarchy within which to operate.

This means that even in the decentralised 4GW nature of the fight firm leadership is still needed. The Hugo nominations were a great way to demonstrate numbers on your side and intimidate the opponent. But if you want the numbers of your supportive readers to be exerted on the Twitter arena, for example, it would appear that regular reminders, along with a more explicit and emphatic instructions (ie. more so than what you’ve already posted).

And here Rabid Puppies is about as much “leadership” as I can handle without feeling the need to enter a Tibetan monastery and spend the next seven years in mystic contemplation.

That was my favorite thing about the 4GW concept, the way in which it obviated the need for leadership. But GJ is probably right, there is a distinction between a lack of centralization and a lack of leadership. Fortunately, I have reason to know that more of you are taking the initiative in various ways; the Minion badges themselves are an example of this as they weren’t my idea or my creation.

Malwyn is still in a foul temper, but she did get another 100 of them out and the outflow is finally exceeding the incoming number of requests. So 130 down, another 180 or so to go.

All that being said, I am very proud of the Dread Ilk and Rabid Puppies. It may be a small-scale action on a tertiary front, but nevertheless, this has been one of the most effective actions against the SJWs in Western culture in decades.

SJWs always lie

“Being a “social justice warrior” means I get to read (and incidentally,
vote for on award ballots) what I want, rather than waiting to be told
by someone else what I should like and what I shouldn’t.”
 – John Scalzi, 1 May 2015

Actually, that’s almost exactly the opposite of what it means to be an SJW. That sounds considerably more like a #GamerGate position, which McRapey vehemently opposes.

Translation: Johnny Con knows he’s on the losing side and he’s trying to run his “make nice” routine. Yep.

“You’ll note I’m addressing Mr. Ringo’s argument here and not Mr.
Ringo himself. He and I get on tolerably well as humans. Do likewise,
please. Likewise, avoid gratuitous slamming of Baen,
please. This all is less about the publisher itself than it is about the
publisher being used as a stand-in for a particular worldview, which it
(or its individual employees or authors) may or may not endorse.”
  – John Scalzi, 1 May 2015

“I think both Toni Weisskopf and Jim Minz are eminently worthy of Hugo
Award editor nominations; I regret the presence of the slates makes the
argument of their consideration more complicated for so many people.”
   – John Scalzi, 1 May 2015

Contrast with this:

When Ms. Weisskopf addresses the Baen true faithful like this (as she
does both in the Baen’s Bar and on the site of Ms. Hoyt, a Baen author),
aside from anything else she’s doing, she’s engaging in the laudable
tactic of binding — or rebinding — her company’s host to her company’s
product: Baen fans are the real science fiction fans, and real science fiction fans want real science fiction, which comes from Baen. It’s a nice bit of commercial epistemic closure. So good job, Ms. Weisskopf.

Ms. Weisskopf’s unilateral attempt to establish fans of her publishing house as the One True Church, with Heinlein as its graven image, is flat out wrong. Not only are they not the One True Church, they don’t even get Robert Heinlein to themselves. They have to timeshare him with me and with many other fans who love his work, see him as an influence, and at the same time are happy to welcome anyone who wants to be part of the science fiction and fantasy community into the fold, no matter how they got there. Try to take Robert Heinlein from me, guys. See where that gets you. He’s not yours alone. You can’t gatekeep him from me.

Likewise, Ms. Weisskopf’s handwringing about what should be done about the interlopers and heretics incorrectly arrogates to her little group the ability to make any sort of decision on the matter. They can’t. Baen is not, in fact, the core of science fiction and fantasy; people who identify as Baen fans are not the only “real” science fiction and fantasy fans. 
– John Scalzi, 11 March, 2014

 Yeah, I tend to doubt she’s likely to buy it, Johnny Con. And “tolerably well as humans” should be translated as “John Ringo regards me with contempt, but I’m not done trying to suck up to him yet.”

And then there is, as usual, this: “Pretty sure that’s not the reason as far as regards Beale. I think his problem is straight-up envy.”

Mm-hmmm. Keep telling yourself that, Johnny. Perhaps one day you’ll even start to believe it.

Police accountability

It appears there has been at least one positive consequence of the Baltimore riots:

Six city police officers were charged Friday in the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who suffered fatal spinal injuries last month while in custody, a swift development in a case that has heightened the national focus on policing in black communities.

The announcement by State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, the city’s chief prosecutor, surprised many in a city where officials had cautioned for days that the investigation might not come to a quick resolution. Spontaneous celebrations broke out in some neighborhoods that were roiled by looting and violence after Mr. Gray’s funeral on Monday, while police union officials said they were disappointed in what they called a rush to judgment.

The most serious charges were brought against Officer Caesar Goodson, who was driving a police transport van that brought Mr. Gray to a police station after his April 12 arrest. Mr. Goodson, 45 years old, was charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and other charges.

Officers William Porter, 25, Lt. Brian Rice, 41, and Sgt. Alicia White, 30, were each charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree assault and misconduct in office. Officers Edward Nero, 29, and Garrett Miller,
26, were charged with second-degree assault and misconduct in office.
Lt. Rice and Messrs. Nero and Miller were also charged with false
imprisonment for making what Ms. Mosby termed an illegal arrest of Mr.
Gray.

The officers surrendered to police and bail was set in
amounts ranging from $250,000 to $350,000, according to court records
and state officials. By Friday night, all six officers had posted bail
and been released, according to public records. Like Mr. Gray, three of
the officers, including Mr. Goodson, are African-American.

I have no doubt that the six officers will get off without a penalty, but at least the case will draw further attention to the problem of US police believing they are able to freely murder US citizens without being held accountable. Even though they will probably be “exonerated” by the legal system, the arrest and trial itself serves as a moderate deterrent for future officers tempted to impose rough justice on the public.

Mailvox: the Dungeon Crawl interview

DG has a few thoughts:

It struck me that – like “diversity” in some quarters – game reviewers / etc. DO treat “story” as an unalloyed good, without ever asking “what it is at the expense of”? Not only is time spent on retail/etc. time taken away from working on making the best possible game, but time spent on “story” qua story that doesn’t directly drive the game play – pointlessly long cutscenes, etc – is time spent on things other than immersing you in the GAMEPLAY.

Also – I’m going to borrow a gripe from Aurini – but his argument why HD sucks has some relevance. Sure, “quality” of 3d graphics and worlds is great, but every increase in detail, whether modeling or textures, requires a lot more work to get it looking right. 8-bit, or deliberately cartoony/stylized games can still have an environment that immerses you in the game – depending on the mechanics – but doesn’t require anywhere near as much time on artwork.

It comes down to opportunity cost. Time spent on graphics, 3D or otherwise, that makes the game play better and keeps you in the game, is time well spent. Time past that is time that could have gone into scenarios/etc.

After all – is the new Homeworld HD reskin a better GAME? No – just prettier. Possibly more immersive. but at some point you cross the threshold of “good enough” and ship, or keep focused on the game.

This is not a call to spend less time on graphic/game design. Some of the better recent hobbyist boardgames not only have beautiful graphics, but use them to make understanding the game mechanics and tracking game status and play easier. Again – does the time spent on the artwork make the game PLAY better, or does it just get in the way?

Incidentally – loved Doom and Doom2, but liked Marathon 2 even better. Just a little bit of flavor and story through the computer terminals to give you a purpose to what you’re doing, allowing even otherwise repetitive missions to have a different feel, without wasting a lot of your time on it. Some excellent humor in there too. “Introduce them to the ‘magic’ of orbital bombardment” being a favorite line, still.

David Pakman: Interview shenanigans I

Last week, I was invited to be interviewed about GamerGate and game development by a YouTube show with which I was unfamiliar, the David Pakman Show. The invitation was as follows:

On Wed, Apr 22, 2015 at 4:30 PM
From: VD
Subject: show appearance

Message Body:
You tweeted at me and asked me if I would appear on the show. That’s fine, you can contact me via this email.

Regards,
Vox

Terrific, would love to set something up. We do our interviews via skype
video. If that works in principle it would be great to set something up
for sooner than later. Would you be available this Friday at 11am
eastern time? I’d love to discuss your views on gamergate and just more
broadly how you general views inform your views on gamergate and the
gaming industry. It will be a casual discussion, likely 25 or so
minutes, just between you and I.


best,


David Pakman
Host / The David Pakman Show / www.davidpakman.com

David has been insisting that the subsequent interview, which lightly touched on GamerGate and barely addressed the game industry at all, much less 23 years of experience in it or my current game development work, was not an ambush, even though he spent about 40 of the 49 minutes (24 more than requested), asking me to justify past blog posts, past WND columns, and in one case, the headline that the editors wrote for the column.


When called on this by Mike Cernovich and others on Twitter today, David claimed that I eagerly encouraged asking about his “controversial” statements.

Mike Cernovich@PlayDangerously
So @dpakman claims my assertion is laughable…yet he keeps dodging this question: Why not ask Kluwe about underage girls and rape jokes?

David Pakman ‏@dpakman
Interview with Chris came up quickly to specifically discuss why he was angry with our show, that was focus. Who are you?

Mr. Bones ‏@wellplayd_ggate
“to specifically discuss” “that was focus” You couldn’t focus on #GamerGate with Vox for 5 minutes, despite title

Bill Wilson ‏@piefke4
not only “despite title” but also despite the email he has sent to vox.

David Pakman ‏@dpakman
.@piefke4 @PlayDangerously thing is that before interview started @voxday eagerly encouraged asking about his “controversial” statements

Vox Day ‏@voxday
You asked me to talk about #GG and game dev. I’m lead on 6 games in development and you asked about ZERO!

David Pakman ‏@dpakman
right before we started you eagerly said you like focusing on the controversial stuff and to ask you q’s

Vox Day ‏@voxday
I will publish the transcript. The fact I don’t run from controversy doesn’t excuse gotcha journalism.

David Pakman ‏@dpakman
no idea what you’re talking about. that conversation took place before interview. there’s no transcript.

Vox Day ‏@voxday
There most certainly is. Like I said, you’re an amateur, David. I’ll publish it later today.

K Gallagher ‏@miles670
Well holy shit, INTERESTING.

David Pakman ‏@dpakman
How could there be transcript of something that happened before interview? Did @voxday secretly write it down by hand?

From the pre-interview transcript:

David Pakman: So what I’m thinking is that I’ve just been reading a ton of your stuff and doing research and all that. The kind of, like, entry door to our conversation will be #GamerGate, since that’s kind of like where your name surfaced to us. But then I plan on talking to you more generally about your work and other stuff you’ve done too.

Vox Day: That’s fine, and if you want to broach any controversial topic, I’m not afraid to address it.

David Pakman: Okay, sounds good.

Now, not being afraid to address a controversial subject, such as the one that has been almost constantly in the news for the last month, and about which I was contacted by the Wall Street Journal, and which has been covered in a fair amount of detail (if not much accuracy) everywhere from the UK Guardian to the New Zealand Herald, is not reasonably described as being eager to discuss the headlines of old columns I didn’t write or a single blog post cherry-picked from the 15,080+ posts available here.

When he said he wanted to talk more generally about my work, since I provided him with a description that said I am Lead Designer of Alpenwolf and Lead Editor of Castalia House, I assumed it would be about either the games I am developing or the books I am publishing.

On 4/22/2015 11:03 PM, David Pakman wrote:

Perfect. What I need from you to lock this
in:



-a one line introduction for introducing you on the
show

One line intro: Vox Day is the Lead Editor of Castalia House, a
professional game designer who supports GamerGate, and a 2015 Hugo
Award finalist in the Best Editor category.

I certainly did not expect that “my work” encompassed a syndicated op/ed column that has been defunct for several years just as I didn’t expect to
be asked about my job shingling rooftops in an American Air
Force base in Japan either. It is deceitful, and demonstrates a complete lack of journalistic integrity, for a would-be journalist to ambush his interview subjects this way. It’s not hard to see, from the sly way David expands the possible range of the interview in the pre-interview from what he wrote in the email, that the ambush was not only intended, but premeditated.

And David’s attempt to falsely characterize my “eagerness” to discuss controversial subjects in an ex post facto defense of his ambush underlines his fundamental unreliability and lack of integrity in this regard.

I wouldn’t have had any problem with David Pakman bringing up any of the controversial subjects that have repeatedly appeared in places like the Weekly Standard or Entertainment Weekly. They were at least tangentially relevant given the Hugo coverage. But to bring up non-controversies that literally no major media source anywhere has discussed anywhere in relation to me cannot possibly be justified. This was a shameless attempt to make a story, not discuss or analyze an existing one.

A legacy of excuses

What is the point of permitting blacks to govern themselves if whites are going to be held responsible for them anyhow?

IN the wake of the Michael Brown shooting and subsequent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., commentators noted the absence of black representatives among Ferguson’s elected officials and its police leadership. A Department of Justice report highlighted how Ferguson’s mostly white City Council and its courts spurred on explicitly racist policing, in part to harvest fines from black residents.

Then came Baltimore. The death of Freddie Gray, like those of Eric Garner, John Crawford III, Rekia Boyd and so many other unarmed African-Americans, at first seemed to fit the all-too-familiar template — white cops, black suspect, black corpse.

But unlike New York, Chicago and other cities with white leaders, Baltimore has a black mayor, a black police commissioner and a majority-black City Council. Yet the city still has one of the most stained records of police brutality in recent years…. The problem is not black culture. It is policy and politics, the very things that bind together the history of Ferguson and Baltimore and, for that matter, the rest of America.

Specifically, the problem rests on the continued profitability of racism. Freddie Gray’s exposure to lead paint as a child, his suspected participation in the drug trade, and the relative confinement of black unrest to black communities during this week’s riot are all features of a city and a country that still segregate people along racial lines, to the financial enrichment of landlords, corner store merchants and other vendors selling second-rate goods. The problem originates in a political culture that has long bound black bodies to questions of property. Yes, I’m referring to slavery.

So exposure to lead paint is why Baltimore’s residents burned down their own neighborhoods? That’s dancing dangerously near reality for the New York Times. But there is a kernel of truth to the claim that black culture is not to blame, in that black culture is a consequence, not a cause. Baltimore is merely the most recent result of decades of US policy flying in the face of reality. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that a population that is disproportionately aggressive and possesses shorter time preferences on average will tend to behave in a manner that is different than, for example, a predominantly Chinese population.

The more stubbornly Western public policy refuses to accept the historically observed and scientifically established fact that not all human population sub-groups are entirely equal in every way, the more those policies are guaranteed to catastrophically fail. And the longer people insist on pretending that red herrings like “the legacy of racism” or “the daily violence of poverty” are to blame, the longer those problems will persist and the more serious they will become.

The game of let’s pretend doesn’t help anyone, least of all those whose tender feelings it is designed to spare. Look at the sheer absurdity of the columnist’s recommendations:

By avoiding the language of individual failings and degenerate culture, political leaders, black and otherwise, can help us all see the daily violence of poverty. More, they can better use the power they have to do something about it. By calling a nationwide “state of emergency” on the problem of residential segregation, by devising a fairer tax structure, by investing in public space, community policing, tenants’ rights and a government jobs program, our leaders can find a way forward.

More racial Kabuki and government spending is not going to solve anything. After 50 years of “civil rights” and “war on poverty”, that should be abundantly clear by now.

Puppy Precedent

WorldCon historian Mike Glyer digs out some longtime precedent for not only campaigning, but bloc votes. And it’s actually from the Philcon II committee itself!

There is still time to (a) do a little campaigning to line up a solid bloc of votes for your favorites, (b) get some members—every membership is a potential vote for your favorites, and (c) get your own votes in before our August 25th postmark deadline. In the categories of outstanding FAN MAGAZINE, COVER PAINTING, INTERIOR ILLUSTRATION and SHORT STORY OR NOVELETTE the field is wide open, with no front-runners yet. So far, Bestor’s Demolished Man is leading in the NOVEL class, with Bob Tucker’s Long Loud Silence in second place. Most votes for favorite FAN are divided between old-timer Forrest J. Ackerman and new-timer Harlon Ellison. Galaxy is just edging Astounding as favorite PRO MAGAZINE.

He’s got the scan of the page from the August 1953 Progress Report at File 770. No doubt Larry, Brad, and I can all expect fulsome apologies from our various accusers for all of the false charges of violating the spirit of the law and gamesmanship that have been levied at us.

The decline and fall of Richard Carrier

From New Atheist-in-waiting to cautionary tale in a few short years. I remember when people used to tell me that perhaps Dawkins and Harris and Hitchens were pushovers, but this Carrier guy… or not so much.

Nothing says “Alpha Male” like begging for polyamorous-friendly dates over the Internet:

So, this is experimental. I’d like to go on a date in May. And for the first time, I’m going to try a bat signal: putting a call out on my blog. I don’t know anyone else who has tried doing that, so I have no precedent to work from as to etiquette or even arguments for or against doing it. So I’m just going to do it and see what happens and document and assess. If you know anyone who might have an interest in dating me, let them know. If you might have an interest, read on.

I’ll start by making sure anyone considering this is up to speed. I am polyamorous. I currently have many girlfriends. All I consider my friends. Some are just occasional lovers. Some I am more involved with. They are also polyamorous, or near enough (not all of them identify that way, but all of them enjoy open relationships). And I will always have relationships with them, as long as they’ll have me in their life.

Read the rest of Richard Carrier’s exciting experiment in post-marital dating at Alpha Game.