kinda wild how frequently I see people conclude "well this problem isn't going away without systemic change, therefore I'm giving myself the pass to engage with it, but I will be shaking my head sternly the entire time to show I actually disapprove"
David Stark - Zarkonnen
@zarkonnen.bsky.social
I make games about bad things happening to tiny simulated people and help run the Zurich gamedev community. He/him. Website: https://zarkonnen.com/ Games: https://zarkonnen.itch.io/ Game Hub: https://www.swissgamehub.com/
I'll be honest, there is nothing more demoralizing to me than devs saying "I know AI is built on theft, and anti-labour, and harms the environment, but I'm going to use it anyway bc I don't believe individual choices matter". This is how a movement fails. www.molleindustria.org/blog/future-...
But: Why DO we have to recognize that? We _can't_ we push back against it being "standard use"? Because it makes people uncomfortable? This tech is only like 3-4 years old and most ppl's usage of it, far less than that. People still know how to work without it.
dude it's miserable how quickly the Next Fest went from a thing that was fun and exciting to explore to feeling like trudging through sewage for a single shiny penny.
Re last repost: Considering making my games unavailable in Israel, which is actually something I've considered before. But I'm not sure if it's anything useful in isolation beyond making me feel good? I'm fully on board with BDS but I'm not sure if this extra thing matters?
Goddammit it's a miserable process going through the 8000-ish demos in Next Fest (starts later today) and seeing the overwhelming use of AI in so many games. I recommend this browser plugin for making it easier to spot - github.com/seeeeew/aiwa... - but Valve REALLY needs to make it a required tag.
GitHub - seeeeew/aiwarningforsteam: Browser extension to increase the visibility of AI Generated Content Disclosures in the Steam store.
Browser extension to increase the visibility of AI Generated Content Disclosures in the Steam store. - seeeeew/aiwarningforsteam
github.com
Last I'll post about this, but Elon Musk disagrees with me. This means I am onto something, and I feel more valid in my opinion than ever.
The fact that we have to be afraid to market our games because of AI theft is a condemnation of every executive who has pushed for this cancer in our industry and art form. www.pcgamer.com/gaming-indus...
Developer cancels public demo of its upcoming horror drinking game, fearing it will be instantly cloned by AI vibe coders: 'We sincerely apologise for the short notice'
Alliance Arts will instead host "closed sessions" for Drunken Goddess Reflux.
pcgamer.com
the stupid thing was: the consumer games press DID have unethical marketing mouthpiece relationships with the industry. the e3 / spike tv / actiblizz / doritogate conglomerate and the payola-dominated masculine corporate culture had a stranglehold on what got made and how it could be discussed --
AI bros taking up smoking because AI will cure cancer:
You know, the thing is, I had drafted this piece a month ago, and then never published it, because I thought maybe it was too mean.
Katsuhiro Otomo's "Cannon Fodder" short film was a big inspiration for Cannon Keep!
One of the small things I love about Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri is that the manual has a list of the SF novels they read for inspiration at the back. More games should come with background reading lists! So, #gamedev people: what's the background reading/watching for your game? I'm curious.
Starting to integrate the Quantitative Slime Dynamics into Biomechanoid Repair Shop. #gamedev -> zarkonnen.com/biomech
I have decided to become a full on AI accelerationist because the apocalypse where we choose to turn over our thinking to overgrown statistical models of our past utterances controlled by actual supervillains promises to be at least more entertaining than the already scheduled climate one.
Got bit by a mosquito. Awkwardly try to kill it while holding my phone. Slap it against the screen of my phone. Try to see if I got it, see a mosquito on the phone screen. But it's a picture of one, accompanying a news article about mosquitoes in Switzerland. I... digitized a mosquito?
I like that order of operations: prove the tone and narrative identity first, then start asking which mechanics actually reinforce it. It’s a lot easier to judge a system when you already know what experience the system is supposed to create.
The problem with taking the newest round of #AI threat warnings seriously is that it's less "the boy who cried wolf" and more "the boy who cried wolf and also owns a wolf factory".
If you showed up at Defcon and gave talk about how your autonomous malware did something unexpected and damaged someone else's computers, the first question from the audience would be "Why are you so shit at making secure sandboxes?" It wouldn't be "How are you so awesome at making hacking tools?"
Silvery-cheeked Hornbill, who was honking every eight seconds 🪶🐡
Just played through this demo, which pleasantly reminded me of doing digital electronics at university 20 years ago.
Metaroot @metaroot.bsky.social · last mo.🚦 The If Red Then Stop demo is now live on Steam! After our playtest, 2,400+ people filled out the feedback form, which honestly blew us away. The Kerzoven team used it to improve the game and add two new levels for the demo. Try it now: https://bit.ly/4gYws2m
Woke up in the middle of the night from a dream of "what if gamescom was an action adventure where you fight smugglers on riverboats instead of a series of meetings and mixers." Pretty cool, actually. Bring spare socks.
For Reasons, my dinner tonight consisted of a manhattan and some ritz crackers. Am I a character in a noir novel?
Why stop at fuzzy pink handcuffs when it comes to fuzzy pink trappings of state power? Where are the fuzzy pink gavels and guillotines?
It's museum night in #Zurich today and so I went to the moulage (medical wax replica) museum for Biomechanoid Repair Shop research purposes. Very interesting historically but now I feel very itchy.
The truly worrying thing about "jail for mother for one thousand years" is that it's jail, not prison. Mother never gets her day in court.