Friday, May 27, 2016

About gender ambiguous characters…


This is a summary of my thoughts following a discussion on various gender ambiguous characters in anime/manga and videogames. For the sake of this post, I will be using the Capcom character known as Poison as my main example.

I like the way Poison looks no matter what the character's gender is since that's just a social construct. And I’d like to say that this applies to everyday life situations too.

I pursue women and I can’t remember it ever being any other way. As a result, just like anyone else, there are certain features I look for in them which constitute what I and probably ONLY I consider to be a good woman or more precisely a good mate. Those features can relate to a potential mate's physical or behavioral attributes. Whether natural or man-made, some of Poison's physical and behavioral attributes that I'm aware of are attractive to me. At the same time, there are some that are not.

It can be conscious or unconscious but we all do it: we prefer associating with people that we are attracted to, be it sexually or simply friendly.

What is wrong with appreciating someone or something that displays some (or all) features you are attracted to? Some societies would say that you are right as long as it doesn't leave the boundaries of the gender they’ve assigned you since birth. A gender that is almost always based on sex.

To me this all really is about acceptance, labels, and confidence. I feel that I’m able to understand that transgendered individuals seek a better, happier, or healthier life as it is what everyone does. In their attempt at happiness, they certainly shouldn’t require anyone’s approval or acceptance but only people’s understanding and acknowledgement.

Whatever label has been cast upon someone doesn’t define that person as a whole. It only summarizes a minute part in the middle of so many making up an entire complex being.

In the end, I’m lucky to be confident enough to appreciate any attractive facet of a person. I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume that we always chase or even commit to what attracts us since those attractions vary in type and in intensity.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Some FPS concepts adjusted for Destiny PVP play

Camping - creating a fortress by focusing your forces on a specific area of the battlefield to control strategically advantageous resources or territories. On even battlefields with even starting positions, some form of pushing initially is required to achieve efficient camping.

Pushing - attempting to gain map control or eliminate the enemy by invading neutral/enemy territory

Aggressive pushing - conceptually a high risk/high reward strategy to enter enemy territory with more overwhelming approach to eliminate the enemy or limit his options For primary weapons I would suggest using auto riles and hand cannons as they are mostly meant to excel at closer ranges. For the same reason I would also suggest using side arms as well as shotguns in the special weapon slot.

Passive pushing - a low risk/low reward strategy to draw/lure the enemy out of his territory with safer approach to eliminate him or limit his options. It is obvious that in passive play primary pulses and scouts would be a good choice and special fusions and snipers on the side.

For all loadout creations, reaching some sort of balanced combination is very important to cover most if not all engagement ranges. Two very popular combinations in the current metagame would be an auto rifle with a sniper rifle or a scout rifle with a shotgun.

Logically, aggressive play should work better with striker, voidwalker, bladedancer, and nightstalker with their various quick tricky movement and aggressive grenades. stormcaller, sunsinger, gunslinger, sunbreaker and defender would be more suited for passive encounters using their arguably strong suppressing or control abilities.

However the combination of armor choices, perk selections, weapon loadouts can create less obvious options that can be just as effective. As an example, a sunsinger can play a very aggressive game when running a build based on flame shield and firebolt grenades fueled by maxed out strength and discipline.