dreaming on

Yeah, that's right. Spamming all yo' Tales of communities, Dreamwidth! I'm even going to post my Estelle topping Flynn crossdressing frottage fic that I never posted because sldkfjslkjg I don't post porn!!

...I'm just going to give it some time first. Don't want to really spam.


I'm thinking about resolutions for the new year. A few of them are obvious:

❚ Stay active on DW. Personal journalwise and communitywise.
❚ Write more. Even if it's only fandom drabbles.
❚ Translate daily. Personal goal: New chapter weekly.
❚ Make progress in video games. Personal goal: One per month.
❚ Try not to get consumed by Plurk or RP.
❚ Get a permanent job.
❚ After relocating to new place: Buy an elliptical. Put it in front of the TV. Use it regularly.

That's a pretty ambitious amount already. And all of it personal improvement -- trying not to zone out my days and waste my internet time.

Added to my list of ingenious ideas that no one is making, such as music-playing software that allows me to make playlists via tagging, is:

A fricking LJ killer already.

Seriously, only momentum and the total suck of its competitors is keeping this place going. They have not made a good PR decision in two years or more -- every time I hear about them, my reaction is, What the fuck?

But it keeps on chugging and they never get the message because they keep getting new members. (Well, HAH, now that you can't make basic accounts anymore, that might stop.)

And the reason they keep getting new members -- the reason most people don't really leave, even though the vast majority of its users all hate LJ by now -- is because every alternative to LJ sucks.

( An overview of why every other journal site using LJ's code fails. )
What is so hard about this? Why do none of these sites follow the very basic rules of making websites? I know that it's hard to ramp up the amount of features and bandwidth LJ has, but -- how do you all fail this badly? There are only a few things I demand in my journal website:

--Search function. This is important.
--Not hideous; neat.
--Let me find things; usable.
--No stupid fucking theme. I am a user, not an inmate, and you are a website, not a morgue.
--Give me the ability to pay you to get a fricking ton of userpics.

If you do all of these things, you will have created a simple, professional service that can devour LJ's no-longer-loyal userbase and generate the bucks for you. I pay LJ and I think they're assholes.

The big problem, for me, is that I am extremely reluctant to move because I am in this journal thing for the community, not the exercise in writing. I have an LJ because there are communities for my fandoms and interests where people post routinely and share their thoughts and fanworks and discuss things that are on their mind; from these forums I make friends and create a social network. And so far none of these rival-wannabes have anything like cohesive communities, and so I will never join them.

The key to getting a community is to stop alienating people. Don't isolate your users by not letting them search for other users or communities. Don't be so ugly or unintuitive that no one can look at/bear to use your site. Don't call your users names or insult their intelligence or jeer at them with stupid omnipresent mascots. Let people have a variety of userpics right off the bat and you'll own the RP crowd.

Then people will join your site. And maybe you'll get a community. And maybe I'll join.

I swear, if I had any business sense, I'd make a fortune... A, anyone wanna help?? D:

FFXII: I don't think I'm even near finished with this game and I've already been acquainted with the stupid side of the fandom. Look, stop talking. I don't care if you think it's bestiality. Neither does Square-Enix. Balthier and Fran seem pretty canon. "If I hadn't seen that sky pirate and his Viera partner," gushed an NPC, "I wouldn't have dreamed I could be with a Viera this way." In case anyone's wondering, yes, it's a romantic way.

With that said, Balthier can have whoever he wants.

---

KH: To you, wherever in the world you are--

Like all my sorrow is vanishing, like all our hearts are connected, I'm finally thinking about the far-off, to bring true the wishes that can't be snatched away. Setting off on a new journey might be surprisingly easy. Or maybe it's already begun. I believe that this sky will be the one you're under, when you struggle to your final destination.

...funny how Kairi's letter seems so much less crackful now.

---

Umm, let's pretend this is about the holidays, and not because I am too stupid to have ever kept an address book or anything. If we are friendlylike, then please comment here with your name (a name I can SHIP TO; I'll never forget TJ sending a package to "Kay Willow, GOA Instructor" and my school sorting facility becoming very confused) and full address. Also your email address. Optionally, please also give me whatever phone number you'd like me to contact you with.

As an incentive, everyone to do so will get cards if they choose! And maybe stickers

Screened, of course.

maladaptive and I were discussing a topic relevant to my last post, which has bothered me for a long time: female characters in video games. I'm extremely laid back as female gamers go. I don't complain much about feminism or character abuse. However, the driving reason The Last Dreamer game turned out the way it did (Maris never existed until we decided to make it a video game) is because of this question.

Now, there are many things to address on this topic -- like reasons why the bulk of females in RPGs are spellcasters and not fighters (take Final Fantasy IX or X for good examples of this, each game features three playable females and in each game two of those are set as exclusively casters, compared to one and ZERO male casters respectively.) Like reasons why the bulk of female characters are often one of the following and very little else: sweet saints (Aerith of FFVII), helpless kidnap-bait (Shirley, Tales Legendia), or superior bitches (Tetra, Zelda Windwaker)... or some horrible combination of all those things (Sophia, SO3).

Disclaimer: I like Tetra and Aerith a lot. Shut up.

My question is, how many female main characters are there, really?

Games that don't count:
-ones where you have choices between main characters and one of those is female (Star Ocean 2, Suikoden 3)
-ones with an ensemble cast where the central character is female (FFVI)
-ones where the main character is not the main playable character (FFX)
-ones where the female main character is female not intended to represent a female lead, but female in order to have a pleasing shape for male players (Tomb Raider, Red Ninja)

So far we've been able to come up with:

Valkyrie Profile's Lenneth - truly a hero among female leads, strong and smart and awesome.
Wild ARMs 3's Virginia Maxwell - naive, idealistic, but neither stupid nor helpless.
Super Princess Peach's... Princess Peach - she kicks ass wearing a poofy pink dress with a parasol and rescues her men? Go girl.
Parasite Eve's Aya Brea - okay FINE in the second game TOO.
Fatal Frame's heroines - because everything is scarier when you're a tiny Japanese girl.
Silent Hill 3's Heather Morris - "Mother of GOD." Not just for exasperation anymore.
Metroid's Samus Aran - so hardcore you wouldn't even know she's a chick.
Final Fantasy XII - no, he only looks like a girl
Final Fantasy XIII - ostensibly.
Shadow Hearts: Covenant's Karin - HAH I remembered before you all did!

Xenosaga series's Shion Uzuki - she's a science genius girl.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment's Maya Amano - big sister journalist with... with... with hearts on her... her tie is cool!
Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica's Claire Redfield - a motorcycle enthusiast! she wins.
Pocky & Rocky's Pocky - Shinto priestess with pet raccoon OKAY GO
Final Fantasy X-2's Yuna - making a comeback as the leader of Charlie's Angels.
King's Quest 4 and 7's Rosella - when Dad's a hero, being a pampered princess only lasts as long as his enemies can't find you.
Rhapsody's Cornet - although most English voice actors should not attempt to sing. (YOU, HALEY JOEL OSMENT. PUT DOWN THE MIC. And the beer.)
Koudelka's Koudelka - ...you can never have enough games named after the main character.
Dino Crisis's Regina - for all your weapon-customizing, dinosaur-killing needs.
Clock Tower's heroines - because everything is scarier when you're -- wait, her family WHAT?
Deception & Trapt's heroines - demons are your friends! M- Maybe.
Popful Mail's Mail - CRACK. I mean. Nuts Cracker?
Valis's Yuko Ahso - can't argue with magic destiny. Also, tentacle porn. (Also old!)
Panzer Dragoon Orta's Orta - every girl wants a dragon to love.
MS. PACMAN - ...lawl

Can anyone think of any more main female characters?

Someone help me plz. ;_;

I need new shoes.
Ones that don't suck.
Ones that don't cost $90 for a piece of leather and straps.
Ones that fit human beings with huge honking feet like mine.
(I'm a 14 wide. Payless refuses to carry shoes that fit me. As far as they're concerned, women whose feet are larger than a 13 wide should be shot.)

Where do you guys go for nonsucky nonbankrupty shoes?