• Announcements

    • Robin

      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!
Sign in to follow this  
Stature

Story Friday January 13, 2017

Recommended Posts

6 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Well, so much for my speculation that Monday was Martin Luther King day in Moperville--not a school day.

Maybe he didn't die in the EGS universe? Maybe he lived to see his dream become reality?

In all seriousness, this probably falls under that category of potentially creating controversy that Dan doesn't want to deal with, gender equality and identity is one thing, but how can you portray the idea that racism exists in a comic without offending someone?

This is one of those societal double standard issues I think as well, because Dan's included asian stereotypes, and has had a character react to them, and readers seemed to have no problem with it, but I don't think having Greg, Charlotte, Rhoda or Grace (yeah we know she gets her dark skin from squirrel, but the general public in the comic would probably assume she has African-American heritage) react to African-American stereotyping might have a completely different response from some readers.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
30 minutes ago, Scotty said:

yeah we know she gets her dark skin from squirrel, but the general public in the comic would probably assume she has African-American heritage

Her human gene mother was African American, so yeah, that's a good assumption to make.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, mlooney said:

Her human gene mother was African American, so yeah, that's a good assumption to make.

Oh, carp, yeah Dr Scuiridae is African-American....I had just woken up when I made that post and all I was thinking of in terms of Grace was her being part squirrel....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
4 hours ago, mlooney said:

Her human gene mother was African American, so yeah, that's a good assumption to make.

I assumed given Grace's father's surname she has some swarthy Italian in her background...

Protected from the sun by fur, I'd expect a squirrel's actual skiln would be lilly white.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Not Italian.  Greek.
Sciuridae is from the Latin spelling of Greek words that mean "Shade, Tail, Family".

As for Squirrel skin color?  The skin of the common North American Gray Squirrel is usually in shades of brown or gray under the fur.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Not Italian.  Greek.
Sciuridae is from the Latin spelling of Greek words that mean "Shade, Tail, Family".

As for Squirrel skin color?  The skin of the common North American Gray Squirrel is usually in shades of brown or gray under the fur.

Learned something new.  Cool...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 1/13/2017 at 5:26 AM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Thus begins Sarah's descent into simulation addiction.

She will neglect school, work, friends, family, food, sleep, and hi gene to live in a reality of her own creation.

As for the Part Eight title, does this mean the story is set in a leap year?

What title, out of interest. Last I checked it didn't have one.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On ‎01‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 0:26 AM, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

As for the Part Eight title, does this mean the story is set in a leap year?

 

1 hour ago, Wixelt said:

What title, out of interest. Last I checked it didn't have one.

Quote

On 01/13/2017, Dan Shive said:

Anyway, maybe I should just call it Leap? Yes.... Yes... That would be BRILLIANT! And by brilliant, I mean terrible. I'll think of something.

At the time I posted the comment in question, the Author had not yet thought of something better.  So I worked with what was available.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
17 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Well, so much for my speculation that Monday was Martin Luther King day in Moperville--not a school day.

I wonder how long it will take Sarah to try stripping people in simulation. Remember her fantasy in MV5?

10. 9. 8. ...

10 hours ago, Scotty said:
17 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Well, so much for my speculation that Monday was Martin Luther King day in Moperville--not a school day.

Maybe he didn't die in the EGS universe? Maybe he lived to see his dream become reality?

Are you suggesting Martin Luther King became aberration? (Yes, I know, he wouldn't be that old yet ... but I also don't think his dream got true yet.)

9 hours ago, Scotty said:
9 hours ago, mlooney said:

Her human gene mother was African American, so yeah, that's a good assumption to make.

Oh, carp, yeah Dr Scuiridae is African-American....I had just woken up when I made that post and all I was thinking of in terms of Grace was her being part squirrel....

I though even Dr. Scuiridae is "mixed". I mean, the reason for her question likely was that Grace's hair didn't matched what she would expect. Alternatively, Dr. Sciuridae is African American but not his wife.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Are you suggesting Martin Luther King became aberration? (Yes, I know, he wouldn't be that old yet ... but I also don't think his dream got true yet.)

While you are likely joking there, I meant more that he didn't get killed and was able to continue his work and seen a lot of progress and was at least satisfied with the direction it was going before he passed naturally.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
8 minutes ago, Scotty said:
3 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Are you suggesting Martin Luther King became aberration? (Yes, I know, he wouldn't be that old yet ... but I also don't think his dream got true yet.)

While you are likely joking there, I meant more that he didn't get killed and was able to continue his work and seen a lot of progress and was at least satisfied with the direction it was going before he passed naturally.

It's true that he would be satisfied with the progress, but no matter what Florence Ambrose thinks, I don't believe it would get that much better if he lived.

(Yes, the part about him becoming aberration was joke ; I don't think it would be in-character for him.)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

It's true that he would be satisfied with the progress, but no matter what Florence Ambrose thinks, I don't believe it would get that much better if he lived.

The people who murdered him clearly disagreed with that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
16 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
19 hours ago, hkmaly said:

It's true that he would be satisfied with the progress, but no matter what Florence Ambrose thinks, I don't believe it would get that much better if he lived.

The people who murdered him clearly disagreed with that.

Not necessary - they might consider even "little better" enough to warrant murder. Also, I'm not sure if they are the ones most qualified to evaluate that. And finally, the assassination might not be about his dream, but about the war in Vietnam ... which ended bad for US anyway.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
2 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Not necessary - they might consider even "little better" enough to warrant murder. Also, I'm not sure if they are the ones most qualified to evaluate that. And finally, the assassination might not be about his dream, but about the war in Vietnam ... which ended bad for US anyway.

This really should be in the politics thread.  I don't think we have any hard core racist as members, but if we do, a reply from them will start a flame war.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, mlooney said:

This really should be in the politics thread.  I don't think we have any hard core racist as members, but if we do, a reply from them will start a flame war.

The Moderator: mlooney is correct. If this must be discussed, it should be discussed there.

~tOH.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On ‎1‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 5:20 AM, The Old Hack said:

If you have a floor covered with tatami mats, you are almost sleeping in a dojo. You can still get hurt falling on it but you REALLY need to work at it.

Welcome to the global village, a place where falling out of your raised bed and landing on tatami mats passes as an unremarkable thing that could happen.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 1/16/2017 at 6:48 AM, Scotty said:

Maybe he didn't die in the EGS universe? Maybe he lived to see his dream become reality?

In all seriousness, this probably falls under that category of potentially creating controversy that Dan doesn't want to deal with, gender equality and identity is one thing, but how can you portray the idea that racism exists in a comic without offending someone?

This is one of those societal double standard issues I think as well, because Dan's included asian stereotypes, and has had a character react to them, and readers seemed to have no problem with it, but I don't think having Greg, Charlotte, Rhoda or Grace (yeah we know she gets her dark skin from squirrel, but the general public in the comic would probably assume she has African-American heritage) react to African-American stereotyping might have a completely different response from some readers.

Actually all I was thinking was "Monday is a school day after all." The folks at Shivepedia have done a lot of work on chronology and The Shive has acknowledged it as canon, so far. However, The Shive hasn't given a day-and-date of any event since Family Ties, and some of us have spent entirely too much time trying to fix the dates in Identity, Squirrel Prophet, So a Date at the Mall, and now Sister III.

However, you have an intriguing point.  What if Martin Luther King Jr. hadn't been assassinated in 1968? There's a worldbook for GURPS called International Super Teams or IST which developed a whole future history where he wasn't and where he eventually became President. I'm sure there must be other fictions and speculations out there in the same vein. Those alternate worlds could be quite different from the one we've got.

However, The Shive runs EGS in the classic superhero meme of "just like our world, but with superheroes." The problem with this meme is that it has to be repeatedly retconned because a world full of superheroes, or mages, or powerful psis (IST has them all) would quite quickly change so much it wouldn't be much like the world the readers inhabit, which tends to drive off the casual reader who isn't willing to invest the time to study the rules by which this different world operates. The Shive has solved this problem so far by stretching out time; fifteen years have passed in our world, but less than a year in the Moperverse. Think Archie with more magic. (Remember, Sabrina the Teenage Witch is part of the Archie universe, or at least started out there.)

I don't know what Dan's attitude toward racism is, but given the cast, I suspect it isn't very close to President Trump's. If you'd like to try a webcomic that tackles lots of hot topic issues, I suggest looking up With Fetus. It's on hiatus now, maybe forever, but I liked it well enough to save the entire run, and toyed with an an idea of a crossover fanfic. The prime setting would be located close to Greg's dojo.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Actually all I was thinking was "Monday is a school day after all." The folks at Shivepedia have done a lot of work on chronology and The Shive has acknowledged it as canon, so far. However, The Shive hasn't given a day-and-date of any event since Family Ties, and some of us have spent entirely too much time trying to fix the dates in Identity, Squirrel Prophet, So a Date at the Mall, and now Sister III.

However, you have an intriguing point.  What if Martin Luther King Jr. hadn't been assassinated in 1968? There's a worldbook for GURPS called International Super Teams or IST which developed a whole future history where he wasn't and where he eventually became President. I'm sure there must be other fictions and speculations out there in the same vein. Those alternate worlds could be quite different from the one we've got.

However, The Shive runs EGS in the classic superhero meme of "just like our world, but with superheroes." The problem with this meme is that it has to be repeatedly retconned because a world full of superheroes, or mages, or powerful psis (IST has them all) would quite quickly change so much it wouldn't be much like the world the readers inhabit, which tends to drive off the casual reader who isn't willing to invest the time to study the rules by which this different world operates. The Shive has solved this problem so far by stretching out time; fifteen years have passed in our world, but less than a year in the Moperverse. Think Archie with more magic. (Remember, Sabrina the Teenage Witch is part of the Archie universe, or at least started out there.)

I don't know what Dan's attitude toward racism is, but given the cast, I suspect it isn't very close to President Trump's. If you'd like to try a webcomic that tackles lots of hot topic issues, I suggest looking up With Fetus. It's on hiatus now, maybe forever, but I liked it well enough to save the entire run, and toyed with an an idea of a crossover fanfic. The prime setting would be located close to Greg's dojo.

We know that the EGS universe isn't "just like our world, but with magic and aliens". It's close though, but the fact that Naperville becomes Moperville. Dragonheart becomes Dragonliver, and Legend of Zelda becomes Legend of Celida, although I'm pretty sure Zelda was acknowledged to exist in the comic as well so maybe Celida is a parody game and Nintendo doesn't throw around copyright claims as agressively.

The point is, Dan's acknowledge the fact that multiple realities exist in ESG, we've seen glimpses of 3 others, one where Elliot is Ellen and in a relationship with a square glasses wearing Tedd. One where Tedd has apparently taken over the world or something. And one where Ellen grows up in a world where Uryuoms helped the Americans fight the revolutionary war and apparently WWII didn't happen the same way either. But anyway, any of the realities could has very major, or very minor differences. Anyone who's watched the TV Series "Sliders" would remember the episode where Quinn thinks he's finally made it back to his home reality, but ironically something had changed during his absence so when something he expected to happen, didn't, he assumed it was just another alternate reality.

The Real Life comic also played with alternate realities (because I'm pretty sure Greg Dean was also a Sliders fan) where the characters went to an alternate reality where Ultima Online 2 was never cancelled, was able to buy a copy and even figure out a way to maintain an internet link between realities so that they could play the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 minutes ago, Scotty said:

The Real Life comic also played with alternate realities (because I'm pretty sure Greg Dean was also a Sliders fan) where the characters went to an alternate reality where Ultima Online 2 was never cancelled, was able to buy a copy and even figure out a way to maintain an internet link between realities so that they could play the game.

Now if we could only find a reality where Electronic Arts got cancelled...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
12 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Now if we could only find a reality where Electronic Arts got cancelled...

That's a bit harsh isn't it?

At the very least find one where EA focused on making sure consumers had good experiences rather than focusing on making a profit. ;)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
1 hour ago, Scotty said:

That's a bit harsh isn't it?

At the very least find one where EA focused on making sure consumers had good experiences rather than focusing on making a profit. ;)

EA started more as a publishing co-op among indie game developers (because there were no other kind in the 1970s and early 80s).

They just happened to be in the right place at the right time to become one of the few large games publishers.  It's a sad truth that if we weren't griping about EA, we'd be griping about some other company, looking back at EA and wishing it had made it to the big time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
7 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

EA started more as a publishing co-op among indie game developers (because there were no other kind in the 1970s and early 80s).

They just happened to be in the right place at the right time to become one of the few large games publishers.  It's a sad truth that if we weren't griping about EA, we'd be griping about some other company, looking back at EA and wishing it had made it to the big time.

It's not just EA though, Activision-Blizzard, Zenimax-Bethesda, Ubisoft, etc all get accused of rushing products out the door to cash in on hype regardless of whether that product is ready or not, and in some cases, aren't transparent about aspects of development.  No Man's Sky probably wouldn't have had such a backlash on release if the devs had said ahead of time that some of the features they promised wouldn't be ready by the release date.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
23 minutes ago, Scotty said:

It's not just EA though, Activision-Blizzard, Zenimax-Bethesda, Ubisoft, etc all get accused of rushing products out the door to cash in on hype regardless of whether that product is ready or not, and in some cases, aren't transparent about aspects of development.  No Man's Sky probably wouldn't have had such a backlash on release if the devs had said ahead of time that some of the features they promised wouldn't be ready by the release date.

I've worked in the game industry.  It sucks from every angle.  You have Marketing lining up its resources months in advance aiming at an agreed-upon launch date.  Miss that date and their resources get wasted.  Also marketing sometimes tries to control the design process.  Design can try to backdoor in features marketing didn't like and that's before we talk about the whole Technology-engine-coding-game-coding-qa feedback loop.  Games are all experimental code.

Blizzard picked up a lot of street-cred with me when it delayed Diablo 1 out of the chirstmas season to "get it right".  They've long since spent that cred and gone into deficit but they had it at one time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
9 hours ago, Scotty said:

and Legend of Zelda becomes Legend of Celida, although I'm pretty sure Zelda was acknowledged to exist in the comic as well so maybe Celida is a parody game and Nintendo doesn't throw around copyright claims as agressively.

I think that Zelda was only referenced out of canon.

9 hours ago, Scotty said:

Anyone who's watched the TV Series "Sliders" would remember the episode where Quinn thinks he's finally made it back to his home reality, but ironically something had changed during his absence so when something he expected to happen, didn't, he assumed it was just another alternate reality.

Maybe he didn't. One point of parallel universes which "Sliders" referred in earlier episode (or was it earlier point in same episode?) was that there is no limit on how little could the realities differ (Azure Gate). Realistically, he has ZERO chance hitting his home reality by random. But it was good joke with the oiled door ...

2 hours ago, Vorlonagent said:
2 hours ago, Scotty said:

It's not just EA though, Activision-Blizzard, Zenimax-Bethesda, Ubisoft, etc all get accused of rushing products out the door to cash in on hype regardless of whether that product is ready or not, and in some cases, aren't transparent about aspects of development.  No Man's Sky probably wouldn't have had such a backlash on release if the devs had said ahead of time that some of the features they promised wouldn't be ready by the release date.

I've worked in the game industry.  It sucks from every angle.  You have Marketing lining up its resources months in advance aiming at an agreed-upon launch date.  Miss that date and their resources get wasted.  Also marketing sometimes tries to control the design process.  Design can try to backdoor in features marketing didn't like and that's before we talk about the whole Technology-engine-coding-game-coding-qa feedback loop.  Games are all experimental code.

Based on code quality, I suspect all proprietary software development is close to this ... game companies look like extremes just because they have most experience, with the amount of completely new products they make ; most other software companies have just several programs and are making new versions.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this