It depends on the game, character etc. I mean I suppose it adds to the escapism slightly?

I play all sorts of different games though, some where you’re not given the choice (Life Is Strange for example) and I don’t feel like it’s that big a deal

I finished Consider Phlebas on my commute - I still don’t rank it quite as highly as the others but it came to life more at the end. My favourite bit was when Horza was trapped on the cannibal cult island. Completely irrelevant to the plot but some excellent wtf storytelling!

I only noticed this comment now, I’ve been reading the Culture series too - I enjoyed the world building in Consider Phlebas a lot but after a while I just wanted it to finish. So I skipped on and read a few others in the series then came back to finish it.

The Player Of Games was brilliant, enjoy!

I’ve been reading The Culture series by Iain M Banks. I gave up on the first book a while back, which I’ve heard is quite common, but I plan to go back and finish it.

I’ve just read The Player Of Games and Excession and both are exceptional.

I had no idea of this - I just googled it and it’s almost exactly like something out of the book.

I really enjoyed Yellowface, it’s a great read and a bit of a black comedy in places!

I’ve only heard of Mary Seacole out of the black Britons from history we’re expected to know of.

I actually googled the musician and he has a relatively interesting story but it’s also not at all surprising people don’t know who he is today - he had one piece which was very popular called the Feast of Hiawatha which according to Google was played regularly until 1939 and then doesn’t seem to have been revived. Seems he was much better regarded as a conductor.

Anyhow, historically this country’s establishment has made it hard for black people to get famous until the 20th century, something that this academic surely knows. She’s either naive or deliberately skewing her results for headlines by asking for names from a time when her top rankings include a Roman Governor!

They’re doing a separate crusade against disposable vapes. If they’re going after smoking I’d imagine they’d be trying to encourage people to vape to quit.

It’s all hypothetical because it’s highly unlikely he’ll still be in power to put this plan in to action come the next general election

I would have thought by now someone would have demolished it…

Typical jocks.

I’m shocked I tell you. Shocked.

Yeah I was expecting a some sort of out of context thing as I didn’t think anyone would out themselves as as a twat so publicly… but he did so there it is.

He would have been better off just saying “I wanted to write about people I’m interested in and am friends with”. Instead of literally questioning the articulacy of figures like Joni Mitchell (of all people) in the media…

Yeah I remember learning it when I was young - kind of like a much better version of noughts and crosses!

I use dark mode late at night, especially using amoled screens under artificial lights or with all the lights off in bed. I don’t like using it when I’m outside, it seems off somehow.

The Precession To Calvery was hilarious from beginning to end.

You beat me to it because this game is genius!

Someone else mentioned Procession to Calvary - an adventure game set in a cut and paste world of renaissance art with a very surreal plot and sense of humour. Pythonesque.

There Is No Game is pretty hilarious, the voice acting always makes me crack up.

Agatha Knife is a funny point and click adventure game where you’re a 7 year old girl who’s a butcher and needs to set up her own religion sacrificing pigs in the basement for… Reasons.

I don’t think the Pixies drastically changed their formula during their Kim Deal years or since they’ve been bringing out new music. The main difference in sound on their records is usually down to production.

I love the Pixies don’t get me wrong!

I like the part where they point out that writers probably have more leverage than they think about having a say - but then maybe many writers don’t consider the ebook side of things when thinking about getting their work published.

It’s obvious that ‘they’ are out to demonise IA as something like Pirate Bay whereas it really, really isn’t. Aside from the massive amount of obscure reference material, I found BBC documentaries on there from the 80s about some history which is otherwise unobtainable. I can understand if there’s some legal points which need to be worked out between both sides in order to keep the site going… but that obviously isn’t what the publishers are going for.

I mean my take on ‘safe spaces’ when it comes to forums/communities/subs whatever largely comes from disability support groups where the ground rules are generally along the lines of:

You can offer support but try to steer clear of unasked for advice. Never offer medical advice.

Don’t be dismissive of other people’s experiences - everyone’s experience is different, and if it doesn’t match yours that doesn’t mean it’s invalid

No personal attacks, derogatory language, racism (etc)…

You could argue that because everyone is joining a Mental Health or Epilepsy group the shared experiences will be similar enough to give it an echo chamber quality (‘me too’! ‘I had that!’) But then that’s part of the point, to make people feel that they’re not on their own. People aren’t going to challenge people on these forums very often unless there’s clear evidence they’re not who they say they are which is once in a blue moon rare.

Anyway we’re not pushing for new societal norms in these communities, we’re seeking refuge from societal norms, where we can talk with people who ‘get it’ because others don’t. I think that’s what the purpose of some of these safe spaces serve

When I were a lad we had Snake and that were good enough for us.