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goropancake · 2 years

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February is Black History Month!

This month is all about celebrating black authors. We want to highlight the experiences and hard work done by these authors in creating for the IF community.

Here are our month’s featured authors, please check out their works and join us in supporting them.

Clam, author of Trails Lead Home and Metanoia

Trails Lead Home is a fantasy game with an emphasis on relationships and starting anew. The aim is to hopefully make the player’s choices matter in some way and to affect the characters and world around them. The end goal is to create a story that tells the tale of new found family and learning to be okay with starting one’s life over.

Read more about Trails Lead Home [here] and Metanoia [here]

Trails Lead Home Demo | Discord | Metanoia Old Demo |

Tags: Fantasy

Christabel, author of A Royal Vacation

Being the only child of the president of the united state of America has never been easy but what happens when you cause a disaster intentionally or unintentionally.

Well it’s your mess and you have to fix it.

Elections are just around the corner and you went and caused a big mess. Sadly the fact that americans see you as some sort of perfect demi god doesn’t even help.

Your hate or rather dislike for the british heir caused this..

You’ve always had this dislike for the british heir and this dislike has made you avoid them for a long time.

But what happens when you get dragged to an occasion and end up meeting the heir there..

You lose it well you actually don’t but that’s not how the media and your enemies see it..

Now it’s up to you and the person you hate the most alongside some other people to solve this national disaster but you’re not the only one with problems the heir also has a truckload of them considering the fact that his uncle the regent has refused to vacate the throne even after the heir has now come of age. Now you guys not only have to solve a national disaster but also help the prince ascend the throne and solve some murders in between.

Read more about College Craze [here]

College Craze Demo | Patreon | Discord

Tags: 18+, Adult Dating Sim, Life Simulation, NSFW

Summore, author of A Trial of Horror

Read more about A Trial of Horror [here]

A Trial of Horror Demo TBA | Discord | Beta Testing Application

Tags: 18+, Dark Fantasy, Thriller

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goropancake · 2 years

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Another day, another bullshit anti-trans law being passed in the UK. I just thought I'd use whatever following and platform I've gathered here to ask you to keep the UK in mind as we continuing fighting against transphobia. In these times, please remember to look after and support your trans friends and family, and if you can, help these UK based charities and foundations that help trans people and communities.

Mermaids UK

Cara Friend (NI based)

Stonewall

The Rainbow Project (NI based)

World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)

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goropancake · 2 years

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Mermaids UK

Cara Friend (NI based)

Stonewall

The Rainbow Project (NI based)

World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH)

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goropancake · 2 years

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i really want to pass around this website here for anyone that lives in the US. i know this is a writing blog but as someone who was an athlete for more than a decade this is something that means a lot to me.

there are a lot of anti-trans bills targeting student athletes in multiple states across the US right now.

i urge you to take a look and see if your state is one of them, and to take action if you are able. that website provides a list of emails and links to contact lawmakers, as well as a script that you can use.

chris mosier is the man behind this website and you can find him on twitter here. he’s also on instagram, where he has a post breaking down what you can do and how you can help today (february 9th 2022)

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goropancake · 3 years

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it’s that time of year again… if you’re someone looking to support writers & have some money to spare, here is a list of organizations that actually support writers, offer resources, and work to share diverse stories from diverse people.

we need diverse stories: what it says on the tin. this program works to create various workshops to celebrate diverse writers & artists, to mentor young aspiring writers, to support diverse publishing, and to get diverse books in classrooms worldwide.

some of their programs include:

Black creatives fund

Black creatives mentorship

Native fund

the Native children’s and YA writing intensive

they also have a page full of various resources for readers, writers, educators, publishers, and booksellers.

Asian American writers’ workshop:

dedicated to creating, publishing, developing and disseminating creative writing by Asian Americans, and to providing an alternative literary arts space at the intersection of migration, race, and social justice.

they cover poetry, fiction, essays, and various other literary forms. they also have a page focused on Black and Asian feminist solidarities, which i personally encourage all to take a look at.

Kundiman:

focusing on nurturing and supporting generations of writers and readers of Asian American literature. each year they host 30-40 reader and writer workshops across the united states to connect audiences to Asian American literature. they offer online classes, there is a poetry coalition, and a mentorship lab based out of new york city.

Hispanic Heritage Literature Organization:

an organization that emphasizes the importance of the legacy of stories, especially from a cultural perspective. they support and elevate the work of Hispanic writers, and highlight the cultural importance of storytelling.

they have goodwill ambassadors all across the world, and host multiple fairs & festivals that focus on Hispanic heritage, as well as various other cultural, artistic, and literary programs.

poets.org:

a website produced by the academy of american poets that functions to share poetry online and support poets at every stage of their career. they offer resources for educators to bring poetry into the classroom, as well as hosting a massive online catalogue of poetry with over 3,000 featured poets. i personally receive their poem-a-day newsletter, where they send you a poem to your email every morning.

Cave Canem:

a literary organization specifically for Black poets. they offer workshops & lectures, and host various opportunities for fellow Black poets.

CantoMundo:

a national poetry organization that cultivates a community for Latinx poets both young and old, hosting workshops, symposia, and public readings.

the Hurston/Wright foundation:

another organization that provides a variety of writer workshops specifically for Black writers, both youth and adult, as well as an award program, and hosting public readings of Black literary works.

torch literary arts:

an organization established to help promote and support Black women and girls in writing. they publish contemporary creative writing by both established and emerging writers, provide workshops, and resources for educators.

nanowrimo:

yes, even nanowrimo! they have a young writer’s program that takes national novel writing month and makes it accessible to young writers, educators, and families. they offer resources for writers and educators, as well as host online panels for diverse writers & online workshops focusing on community and connection.

people of color in publishing:

publishing is the biggest hurdle marginalized writers face when it comes to getting their work out there.

this organization focuses on empowering and uplifting people of color in publishing and throughout the entire industry, in hopes to create an inclusive and safe space for all writers. they host mentorship programs and networking lunches, as well as highlight job listings specifically for writers of color.

they also have a survey specifically for collecting data about racism in the workplace faced by publishing employees, used to amplify the dialogue about the industry as a whole and the need for immediate action to become anti-racist.

worldbuilders:

while the focus is not specific with writers, it is a massive force to fund education, opportunity, and sustainable self-sufficiency for families and communities worldwide. “geeks doing good.”

founded by patrick rothfuss, it is backed by a variety of authors and artists from comics, fiction, and gaming. they vet charities and ensure that any money you donate is going to a reputable organization, ones that are usually otherwise overlooked by members of the online community.

even if you are unable to donate, every single one of these programs have newsletters and social media - follow them, promote them, sign up for the newsletters. get informed about the issues faced by marginalized writers in this community and commit to uplifting them and spotlighting their work.

make an effort to expand your library and listen to new voices.

thank you all!!! ❤️

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goropancake · 3 years

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hey guys its indigenous peoples day so it'd be really cool if you guys donated or signed petitions pertaining to native hawaiians and other polynesian indigenous peoples! i feel like we tend to get overlooked on days like this, but we should be lifting each other up! we're allies! so heres a link for hawaiipeoplesfund.org, a list of links for aboriginal lives matter, and the hawaii land trust website where you can donate and read more about how we've lost our land! and if you own an ukulele, try to learn more about it and support some local artists! mahalo!

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goropancake · 3 years

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itch.io is doing another massive bundle, this time for palestinian aid and you can and you can buy 1020 items for just 5 dollars HERE

[quoted from the page]

This is a grassroots bundle by indie devs who want to help Palestinians.

All profit from this bundle will be donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. The UNRWA has provided food assistance for over one million Palestinians, and continues to do so in the territories with heavy destruction. They also provide emergency mental and physical health protection for those in the region. https://www.unrwa.org/gaza-emergency

Indie games are unique in that they can tell stories not seen in AAA or other games. We pour our life experiences into our games and share a piece of ourselves with the world. Palestinian game developers are no different in this aspect, but have the added challenges of limited access to basic services, like clean water, electricity, medical care, and food security. They live under Israeli authority that discriminates and subjugates Palestinians to the point of persecution and apartheid, simply for being Palestinian. Furthermore, they develop games without all the resources that come with being in a western hub for game development.

Palestinian game developer Rasheed Abueideh did exactly that when he made Liyla and the Shadows of War, which tells a story of a little girl who lives in Gaza during the 2014 war, in which 30% of civilian casualties were children. Liyla and the Shadows of War was showcased at IndieCade and A MAZE and earned numerous award nominations, including a win in Excellence in Storytelling at the International Mobile Gaming Awards Middle East/North Africa.

This bundle is pay-what-you-want (above $5 U.S. dollars) for Liyla and the Shadows of War, and you will receive hundreds of additional games, assets, and soundtracks graciously donated by game developers and media creators around the world for free. The bundle will run through Friday, June 11th. Together, we can raise funds for UNRWA for food and medical assistance for Palestinians AND highlight a game developer who is directly affected by the cause we are rallying behind.

here’s the link again: https://itch.io/b/902/indie-bundle-for-palestinian-aid

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goropancake · 3 years

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Pride cats 🏳️‍🌈

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goropancake · 3 years

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A list of resources to help Free Palestine

the israeli government is threatening further annexation of palestinian land. here’s how you can help.

Petition links-

calling on the us state department + department of defense to demand an end to israel’s forced displacement of palestinians from jerusalem

tell your state rep. to support the palestinian children and families act (h.r. 2590)

stop israel’s forced displacement of palestinians from east jerusalem

write canadian parliament to protect palestinian families in east jerusalem

Donation links-

unrwa, donations funded towards injured and displaced palestinian families

palestine children relief fund

further information-

free palestine carrd

stop annexation of palestine carrd

@/thearabkage on tiktok

please reblog/add sources!

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goropancake · 3 years

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hi all, palestine’s going through a mass genocide right now and really needs help, here are a few ways you can do that

palestine children’s relief fund: provide urgent humanitarian care for children in gaza

anera: provide on-the-ground emergency relief

united nations relief and works agency: food assistance and emergency physical+mental help

medical aid for palestinians: emergency relief for women and children, psychosocial support, disability help, other medical needs

doctors without borders: medical teams on the ground treating injured palestinians as needed

feel free to add on in the notes, notify me if any of the fundraisers listed arent necessary/actually helpful to donate to, and let me know if anything needs added on/modified

as always, if you cant donate then please share and spread awareness

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goropancake · 3 years

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Art Commissions

This is a bit of a different post and concerns a friend of mine. She’s opened art commissions in order to raise money for a family member who is in need of medical help, and permitted me to share her post here on Tumblr. Some of you might be familiar with art she’s done for IF games such as Mage Reborn, Bastard of Camelot and The Shadow Society.

If you’re interested, please check out the instagram post here . Reblogging is very much appreciated.

Thank you for your time <3

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goropancake · 3 years

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As of today (May 6th) Israeli settlers are violently displacing Palestinians of Sheikh Jarrah (in Eastern Jerusalem) and ripping them out of their own homes. Settlers are violently physically assaulting Palestinians and are backed by the military. This forced eviction is illegal under international law.

Here is a twitter thread of charities to donate to help Palestinians.

Here is a linktree with resources of how to contact representatives (specifically for USA, Canadian, and UK citizens) and several petitions calling to an end to violence in Palestine, as well as more donation links.

Please keep your eye on Sheikh Jarrah and Palestine and don’t remain silent.

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goropancake · 3 years

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Incredible lolol

Third time of trying to discuss moderation situation on the CoG forums

Hello to anyone reading this,

I would like to preface this with saying I’m not a frequent user of these forums much at all. The last time I’d logged on was in 2019 for a beta tester of a then HG WiP. I have not been in the loop much of any games nor the goings on in the forum until recently. I have always held this place in some esteem as a place for creatives and consumers to stand side by side in their love for CYOA type stories. Whilst I’m not the biggest fan of reading stories, I very much appreciate the effort of authors who work on making their stories for the people to enjoy. My first exposure to CYOA stories was with a Goosebumps book written by R.L.Stine. Hell, I’ve an idea for my own CYOA style story, which given my motivation levels to its commitment, probably won’t ever be finished.

The following suggestions are by no means the perfect solution to problems facing this platform, but rather intended to provide a springboard from which discussions about the betterment can be launched.

A brief Tl;Dr for the topics covered in my post

• Some of Jason’s responses to this subject implies a lack of understanding or acceptance regarding the issue people have mentioned

• Gower’s comment seem to imply that the mods do not have a concrete set of codes that they all should follow

• 1000 year bans go against the idea that Jason mentioned about only long bans affecting change in people

• There are many allegations of abuses of power from the mod team

• I would like to call for the implementation of a block feature, so users are not forced to interact or leave if people they do not agree with are present in a thread

• There are vast discrepancies between some users are treated by mods compared to others, with some handled much more gently.

• The suppression of criticism on the forums is a direct link to the miscommunication between mods and users

• Despite the insistence of Jason, mods are a representation of the forums, maybe not in the eye of law, but undoubtedly so in the court of public opinion

Now that I’ve got the dues out the way, I want to tackle a few things I’ve come to hear about from friends who do frequent this forum and take part in it actively. The stories I’m hearing across the board are those of shocking behaviours. I have read Jason’s many statements of how the mods are unpaid heroes who seek to provide some order to chaos that could reign free if there was no authority, and while the sentiment is nice, the reality is far from that. If I were a founder of a site meant to cultivate the spread of CYOA/IF stories, I would not harp on about the grace of mods who seek to do unpaid work on the forums, but take a look at why the people are complaining in their majority about the mods. When the so called enforcers of order seek to quash criticism of their actions, surely the people who oversee the enforcers should decide if the those that wear the badge of their ideals as mods are deserving of their power. I am indeed calling your stance out here Jason, whilst I don’t expect you solely to rule over the order on the forums, I can not take your response to accusations regarding abuse of power as anything but a deflection of blame.

I will now address the second issue as I see it. Following the events of Thursday 29th April 2021, one comment in particular really stood out to me as remarkably disturbing. In a comment Gower made regarding the code of conduct that the mods use when applying their use of power, they made a point to state that the thread they work with “Moderation and Forum Norms” are to represent their own personal rulings on moderating. A code they use themselves, but not a binding code by which all mods should be held accountable. This is really striking to me as it implies that the mods are going on their own for their actions, rather than convening to discuss when and what action should be taken in cases of infractions to the rules of the forums by users. If the forums are to remain a place of order, I sincerely urge the necessity of two new ratified codes of conduct: one for users, and another for mods. Just as users can be banned for flagranting the rules of the forums, so too should the mods be punished when they do not abide by the rules they subscribed to when taking on the unpaid role of moderating.

Third point I’d like to mention is the ludicrous nature of bans. I saw the comment of Jason speaking from his experience of short bans doing nothing to change the behaviour of people. Whilst I do not personally ascribe to line of reasoning, I do not find that to be the egregious nature of the bans. The part that makes no sense to me is that following that line of reasoning, and the thousand year bans, the only conclusion to be drawn from that is that either people do not change, or that they can only change after somehow living 10+ lives with an assumption of 80-100 years per life. In that situation, would it not be more logical to just do a perma ban if you do not think humans can change their actions. I do agree that if somehow one was to live to 1000+ years old, they likely would change, not just mentally but physically. This act is just one of insanity, that culls any dissent and removes the chance for growth from any member of the forums. I have not heard of any bans between 3 days and 1000 years. If time is what it truly takes to change one’s behaviour, is 3 days the only time frame within one is expected to change? I feel like that use of 1000 year bans is just a copout to dealing with problematic behaviours.

Fourth issue I wish to raise attention to: the silencing of dissent towards mods. I have seen multiple cases of mods deleting comments and flagging accounts for questioning a ruling. This is a stark comparison to behaviours highlighted in the news frequently with regards to police officers in the USA. The seemingly unilateral decisions that are being undertaken by mods are reminiscent of authoritarian regimes. Jason commented on a tweet earlier today to isay “you understand there’s only 6 of us, right?”. Surely you would think that maybe you should either add more mods, or check that the select few mods fit the ideals you sought to instill in the community. The defence of only 6 mods being justification for rash actions is ridiculous and reprehensible. This is basically saying that “we do not have enough people to moderate so we’ll rule with an iron fist”. I could only slightly agree with that defence if the moderators were a paid position. You have no financial disincentive to reform the mods or to add more. Before I’m accused of not providing solutions, I would suggest to not only add more mods for the hundreds of threads, but to make it a sort of governmental body, requiring provable data for the majority of the mods to agree on actions taken. Flagging of comments by mods should take multiple votes by mods to enact. The current system has low work force and too much power for the individual.

That ties me into a related note: questioning of authority. I appreciate the mods are unpaid and are mostly doing this out of the love in their hearts, however that love is becoming increasingly toxic. When mods are spouting lines “any public questioning of this is grounds for suspension as well”, I’m not alone in feeling like the mods are beginning to run CoG forums like the Chinese Communist Party. When mods are also feeling so petty as to comment after a post has been temporarily locked by another mod, just to get the last word in, that doesn’t foster positive relations either. Another suggestion I saw as I scrolled through all the interactions is the lack of a dedicated third party appeal form. I noticed an incident wherein a flagged comment had two mods defending the commenter whose message was flagged. Such incidents lead to user’s distrust in the current system, and it is why I think now is the best time to sincerely think about what could be done for reform. May I suggest that for the sake of transparency, the mods and Jason take part in communications in a thread that’s for public viewing, but to prevent outsiders interfering, have it be closed in such a way so that other users aren’t able to message.

On a more positive note for my next topic. I think there should be more in the way of users being able to tailor their experience for their betterment. A couple of people have mentioned that they’d like to have a block feature. While yes, it does mean that people can suffer a lack of opposing opinions, it would go a very long way to allow people to not personally see messages by users who they might deem toxic or unnecessarily inflammatory. This isn’t even a call to ban or a system to mass report, but to allow people to not have to see those they can not stand. This allows for a variety of views to be discussed, with many viewpoints, but just allows for any person to not have their experience be sullied. Would you want to be forced to have to acknowledge a person you really dislike every time you seek to enjoy yourself in the forums? However, I do want to add a flipside to my above statement. There are some viewpoints that shouldn’t be tolerated. I would count blatant support for paedophillia as one topic that should warrant a major ban like the 1000 year bans. Whilst I am for the freedom of speech of individuals, I do not believe that freedom of speech inherently comes with freedom from consequences.

I would like to bring attention to the activity of poison_mara. Over time, there have been many instances of very questionable content being posted by them. Topics range from sheer toxicity and attacking people, to paedophillia and incest. While freedom of speech protects their ability to say what they like, it doesn’t excuse them from consequences. Whilst a look through their activity logs doesn’t show their abusive behaviour, there are considerable amounts of screenshots floating around that show comments no longer visible for public viewing, which show their flouting of the rules. I have attempted to cross reference many of these with their activity log, but all have been mysteriously taken away. That can only lead to one of two circumstances: mara seeks to play revisionist to their own messages and wipe out anything that will portray themselves in a negative light, or the more dastardly, the moderators help them to clean up their activity. The former is uncool and unfair, while the latter would indicate a blatant case of favouritism as so many bans have been issued for far longer for much more minor comments. My stance on the matter is thus, why is poison_mara afforded the privilege of an unending large rope, when others are silenced for asking questions about a mod’s ruling? This set of double standards is unfair, and goes a long way as to why people are upset with what they feel is the overreach of mod power, when the most sanctions that a serial rule breaker like mara commonly receives is deleted messages. I feel like this should be more of a one size fits all situation. To adapt a phrase by Syndrome from the first Incredibles movie: When everyone is punished harshly, no one is. If it is unclear what I mean, no one would be able to claim they’re being unfairly targeted harshly more than another if everyone felt the same force from the mods.

Now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The issue I think lies at the very core of all the issues that occur in the forums, suppression of critique. Please allow me to take a moment to explain the many facets of this. The suppression of critique bleeds into mods being unable to communicate well with the users. Examples I could draw upon from the events of Thursday are likely unintentional, but there were notable instances of mods either not addressing the main point, or going beyond that n.to make strawman arguments. Both of which lead to replies from mods coming off as either reticent or antagonistic. When a user talks about their concerns of abuse of power from a single mod, as well as feeling as if they are not on equal footing as mods when it comes to being a human with emotions, the response that came only talked about their personal code of conduct, entirely missing the complaints in the first place. While this particular example I am referring can easily be passed off as unintentionally bypassing the complaints. The situation that employed strawman arguments was from the same thread but at the hand of a different mod. Aforementioned mod decided to ignore the bulk of the complaint by another user, who also addressed their feelings around abuse of power from mods, but was faced with a lengthy attack on the user as the mod deemed that a throwaway section of a sentence was an attack on ESL speakers. That type of deviation from the complaint made is rather shady, certainly they are not the actions of someone who didn’t feel attacked by the heart of the complaint, and so resorted to drag more focus into a minor turn of phrase. We get told multiple times that the mods should be treated like humans, but I get the sense that the reverse is not felt often. The community feels like lesser beings with the way mods seem to talk to users on a regular basis. As an aside, I’ve seen a few screenshots with the reasoning of ban being “white knighting”, which upon retrospection, feels oddly similar to what the latter mod did in their reply to a complaint.

For my last comment on the topic, I wish to address the likely inevitable rebuttal of the fact that mods are not a legal representation of CoG. You are correct there, and while mods are unpaid, they ultimately still fall under the purview of CoG staff. Whilst legally, mods are not listed as staff, they are proxies that use the power given to them to, in an ideal scenario, facilitate the growth of the community. This ideal seems to have gotten lost and I sincerely hope that the forums can be a proud place to be once more.

I am fully aware that my post will likely never get to see the light of day, but I had to say what I feel was absolutely necessary in order to push for the betterment of this community. I hope you can look past my abrasiveness to see that whilst there are clouds of anger, it stems from a place of compassion for the people of the forums. I would again like to reiterate that my solutions are far from perfect, and when it comes to accountability, perhaps an audit log would be a better choice. The sentiment still stands this being a call to start conversations to repair relations between the community.

#instead of deleting it #read it and think for more than two seconds

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