I use this blog as a outlet to the various ideas percolating in my mind. It allows me to refine them to some degree, which allows me to digest and store them more fully. The wide majority of the posts are gaming related, with theory and armchair designing. Some are based on current events… which let’s be honest, have sucked something fierce for a few years.

Trucker Occupation

We had a national state of emergency declared to clear out the occupiers in the nation’s capital, which was done over the last weekend. First time ever, and borderline sledgehammer for a mosquito. Astounding. Then it was rescinded this week. The end result is a full inquiry within 60 days, which is likely going to air a ridiculous amount of dirty laundry.

Those that participated are experiencing some very interesting consequences. Trucking organizations have had suspensions and seizures at the provincial level. In Canada, the wide majority of pandemic protocols are at the provincial level, not federal. Like wearing a mask is a provincial requirement. Federal mandates deal with international borders (the US requires mandates for truckers, so even if Canada removed it, they wouldn’t be able to cross) and airports (which are changing March 1).

It doesn’t help the cause that the “leadership” of this movement is either uninformed, or misinformed about how this country works. The whole bail review for Tamara Lich is a very sad representation of the matter. Telling a Canadian judge about your first amendment rights isn’t going to work. When you can’t articulate a position, or defend it with structure, it’s really hard to find progress. It turns into “old man yelling at clouds”.

There are going to be some long-term consequences of this event, namely in terms of domestic security, foreign interference, and new legislation. As per above inquiry, if its determined that there were sufficient laws and that they were not applied… that is not going to be a fun conversation. And then the non-stop political mud slinging that doesn’t even try to find common ground. It’s just all bad, and I don’t see anyone trying to actually mend fences.

Tangent – I had an interesting conversation the other day with someone who had very strong opinions on the topic. I tried to find some examples, or research that could help me understand that position. All I got was “it’s obvious”. Hard to find any common ground in that space.

Ukraine

Like what the actual heck is going on?! I am astounded the events have reached this point, like a super high stakes poker game where the people are the chips and the people calling will never be impacted. Either the western world decides to apply meaningful consequences, or this simply emboldens anyone to declare any country “rebel” and then invade.

I am hopeful for some sense of de-escalation and consequence, but more than mindful that this won’t happen in a couple hours. And overly cautious that this doesn’t escalate into a worldwide event that we haven’t seen in nearly 80 years.

I am having a very hard time digesting what’s going on here.

Elden Ring

In the continuing “numb to all reason” space, Elden Ring has had multiple early reviews come out and it appears like it will be the highest rated game since Breath of the Wild – and likely the highest rated multi-platform game of all time (GTA5/ME2 I think are the others).

Odd note, GMG has a 28% discount on Elden Ring. I’m sure plenty of folks will buy directly from Steam, but it’s a fair amount of savings.

In an age where it seems good AAA games are all but dead, it’s been an glorious surprise to see this hit market. Maybe, just maybe, developer leaders will pay attention to what actually works and find a way to restructure their plans. I think that’s asking a bit much, as the number crunchers seems to be running the shops, but one can hope all the same!

Today is a weird day. It feels like the world that I know is coming apart at the seams and whatever happens next is just some random D20 roll. It’s the first time in quite a while where I have not been optimistic about the future. In times like these, I’m reminded of Carl Sagan’s words, and hope that we can find a way forward together.