Patch Notes -- 8/26/14

It is me and we are back again and welcome to patch notes!!!!!

• As of right this moment, I have removed some of the unused content cluttering Codex of Aegis. This includes the Google Translate, "Follow by Email", and Viewcount widgets
• These fixes should help load speed if you're viewing from a slower computer.
• Later today (or tomorrow) there will be an update to Dungeoneer to make it a bit more playable. Like I said, I will be actively updating it until it is fun enough to be considered a real game.
• This will mean it will probably be the main thing updated on Codex of Aegis right now, so check back often!
• The Astukagaming Podcast has the tentative date of Sunday 31st and will be hosted by me and featuring Vaughan Jones and our guest Ash-Bit Gaming. 
• At around the second week of September, there will be a MASSIVE dump of content on Codex of Aegis, which will then unfortunately be followed by another drought. I mentioned in the last post I was working out a reliable schedule for work-school, and I'm still trying to get it together. I apologize to anyone looking forward to new story content.
• So, uh, I kind of forgot last Patch Notes that I said I was going to fix the formatting on the Codex of Aegis stories. I'll try to get at that later today.

First Game up on Codex of Aegis!

http://landofeternallife.blogspot.com/p/games.html

It's not much, but its the first in many that I hope to be put on the site. I'm going to keep working on it until it can at least be slightly considered fun before moving up to my next project. Next update: Magic!

The Quinnspiracy, also known as generic internet drama

I was really hoping I'd not have to make something about this, but seeing that it's the only thing I've been able to see on the internet recently I figured I might as well chime in.

For those of you who are uninformed on what exactly armchair internet sleuths are dubbing "The Quinnspiracy", the story goes as follows:

Recently, a game by the name of Depression Quest was greenlit on Steam, made by a Zoe Quinn. This game was, as it turns out, not a game at all -- rather a shitty visual novel. This is a fact.

Where things tend to get a bit shady is where the conspiracy part of this quinnspiracy lies. Apparently, the creator of the aforementioned game, aforementioned herself, allegedly was having "special relationships" with five men, some of which were married, and even more shockingly some of which worked for the games journalism industry.

Now, AS FAR AS I KNOW, there is no SOLID proof that Zoe Quinn was sleeping with any of the alleged five guys, besides a large blog post made by her ex-boyfriend. If anyone has any information on this part that is TRUE and SOLID, please send it to me at the email or twitter that I'll provide at the end of this post. As for now, I'm not going to bother getting into this part, but rather a section with a considerable amount of proof which seems to trouble me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Equc1QnQ9rw

What I've linked above is a video made by a man with the charming internet mask "Mundane Matt". The content of this video however, is not important. What is important is the story behind it.

Figure A -- MM video claim

A few days ago, when this conspiracy first began (also forgive me for bringing this up on this event's wind down; as you know with me I tend to think late and write later) Mundane Matt released this video, only to have it removed via copyright claim by "Zoe Quinn". I put that in quotes because, as we all know, anyone can take down content with practically any reason. This "no reason" is the fact that the Quinnmystery claimed that the video contained screenshots from the game that were not available "for public use" -- a thing that turned out to be absolute bullshit, as it was later shown that the screenshots were directly from the game's store page on Steam. However, there is one more thing we shouldn't overlook, and its the "anyone". Just because this person is Zoe Quinn, doesn't mean she's actually Zoe Quinn right? Right?

Figure B -- Censorship on Steam Discussion Boards

Figure C -- Extremely probable censorship by /r/gaming moderator (may need to open in separate window to see)

Figure D -- Deletion of correct content on Wikipedia

Figure E -- Censorship by 4chan moderator (though some may say it is irrelevant)

Figure F -- Censorship on the website GamesNosh, likely by Zoe Quinn herself.

Figure G -- Censorship on 4chan -- content posted features information related to video game journalism, a subsidiary of video game discussion.

What I have posted above are 6 images that I believe are the closest to resembling actual censorship by Zoe Quinn and her compatriots. I got all these images from a compilation made by an anonymous /v/ user, and it is available here. Feel free to check all the content in it at your own pace.

Now as a writer I have a soft spot for censorship of any kind, because I believe it is more destructive than it can ever be creative. The censorship revolving Zoe Quinn is an excellent example of that; in the end, it doesn't even MATTER if the rumors surrounding her are true. At the end of the day, what we do have is exemplary evidence of wide censorship.  Surely, you'd say, you shouldn't send death threats to her, and you're right -- but deleting ALL of the negative content associated with a person is without a doubt censorship, and there's no way to retort against that fact besides sugarcoating it yourself. The internet gives us, all of us, one basic right -- to start discussion about whatever topics we want as long as they follow a set of country laws. You can't say video game journalism discussion isn't relevant to 4chan's /v/ board. You can't say discussion of a video game personality's view of an active video game related event isn't relevant to reddit's /r/gaming. And you certainly can't say that an entire website deserves to be taken down for it's non-threatening opinions on another person, no matter if its negative or positive.

If you wish to discuss this article with me directly, or have any content that can help bolster the quality of this article, please contact me at my email  or at my twitter, @JohnMcGroover. And no, I'm not taking it down. Ever.

- Jacob Robinson, writer of the Codex of Aegis

Edit 8/20/14 8:31 PM
An anonymous emailer sent me a link to this Kotaku article. In short, the editor in chief of Kotaku Stephen Totilo states that "he [Nathan Grayson] was in a romantic relationship" with Zoe Quinn, but that during his time at Kotaku had not written anything about Zoe Quinn during there relationship with the exception about an article concerning the Game Jam situation. While this is true, it also explains the fact that Zoe Quinn did indeed cheat with at least one of the five men rumors have explained, and it does leave the additionals up for some more serious consideration. I continue to encourage all of you to send me any solid information you may have on this, as well as critique on any factual errors I may have made in the article.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Patch Notes -- 8/10/14

Welcome to Patch Notes, a new mini-segment in which I discuss updates that are going around on various projects. I figured it would be good for this blog to have at least one segment, so here it is!

• As school is coming up very soon (like, two days soon) there will be no updates on any projects until about a week in when I can properly reassess my time and budget it correctly.
• Although the AstukaGaming dream is dead, I am interested in the returning the podcast to a biweekly schedule. Nothing is confirmed however, as I do need to check for some people who would be interested as well as maybe a few potential guests.
• Unlike the previous podcast which focused completely on AstukaGaming and videogames, this new podcast would be separated into multiple segments, most likely consisting of Games, Movies, and Music discussion. It would likely be sponsored by Codex of Aegis itself, as well as perhaps a few other brands.
• The first game a la shitty command line RPG will likely come to Codex of Aegis after a few balance changes. It will be a free download, as well as be free of viruses and botnets. Mostly.
• Testing for Hitbox.tv will happen sometime soon, though we are delaying it slightly due to known issues with Xsplit.
• Expect formatting fixes similar to the ones found on the new Kerland House story coming soon to all previously posted stories, as well as possibly a few typo fixes.

That's all for now. I'm not going to be limiting this to a schedule but rather just posting one whenever there's new updates coming. For now, just get hyped.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

My reaction to Twitch's new Content ID system and the Google merge

(Posting on the Codex of Aegis meta-blog and the AstukaGaming Steam Community)

I know streaming has become a side-thing for me, but I'd figure I'd take the time to address this anyway.

Today, in preparation for the Google purchase, Twitch added two new “features” – a content ID system and the end of permanent archiving (at least for the foreseeable future). Both of these have obviously caused quite a stir, and although I doubt very many of you are wondering how this is going to effect my stream, I'll tell it anyway.

So far none of my previous highlights or broadcasts have been effected by this update, but its likely that once they do I might make a switch to somewhere else. This is simply because I don't condone either of this updates, and I don't like using services with major features I don't like. It's exactly the same for when I stopped buying EA games and stopped using Youtube as a viewer.

Will Twitch lose its fame once it becomes a more widened livestreaming service? It's highly doubtful. Just like Youtube, when something stays at the top for so long with such a gap between all other competitors, it's likely it will stay that way no matter what the criticism is. So, you may ask, why would I go away from Twitch if Youtube does the same and I still upload things there?

Three things.

One, there are no good substitutes for Youtube. Dailymotion is the Yahoo of streaming services. Vimeo, although it does have good video support and content, has a lack of competent browsing and search features. All the others, well, its safe to say they're far below.

Two, publicity. With Youtube, even if you don't advertise your video in anyway, you're guaranteed to get at least 20-30 views eventually. Even more if it's interesting material. You simply don't get that with Twitch – you HAVE to advertise with Twitch or else you won't get any newcomers. If that's the case, why bother hosting it on the popular website if it's the same for everything?

Three, the streaming brand isn't as important. Simple as that. I don't really have to get into how AstukaGaming is all fun and no gain because I already talked about it in my previous post. It's important for things that do have gain involved to be on the popular site, because people are more happy in clicking. This is a fact, because just recently (names voided) someone I know actually declined to see a video not because of its length or subject matter, but because of the website it was hosted on. That's right, if you're out there reading this, fuck you. I still haven't forgotten.

With these things in mind, you can hopefully see that it wouldn't be near as big of a blow in switching from Twitch to another website than it would be in switching from Youtube to somewhere else. That's the reason for change.

The next thing that comes up is the alternate streaming website in question. It's quite obvious, really. Some might have even thought I mentioned it previously, even though I have not – Hitbox.tv. It's a indie streaming service with the most modest of upbringings, and unlike other streaming services that have ended up being complete disasters (coughown3dcough) it doesn't try to strike a contract and its admin community seems friendly. Though, like twitch, I'm sure that will be eventually subject to change.

I'll be honest, I actually have zero experience with Hitbox.tv. All that I am aware is that many believe it is actually a better streaming website than Twitch, which is entirely possible. So here's the plan: Over the course of time I'll go and try out Hitbox.tv. If it really is more both streamer AND viewer friendly than Twitch, I'll make the switch (heh) otherwise I'll likely just stay on Twitch and endure.

Anyway, that's all for now. Remember to follow my Twitter @JohnMcGroover (the only thing that will be staying the same despite any moving) and check out the main website, Codex of Aegis (The “main website” link up top if you're viewing on the blog; http://landofeternallife.blogspot.com if anywhere else.)

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis 

Happy 1k views!

Congratulations to our main publication, Codex of Aegis, for finally hitting one thousand hits. Though its a long way from our 6k (closing in on 7!) We hope that eventually it will reach much farther.

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Twitter: @CodexofAegis
Facebook: facebook.com/CodexofAegis