What is a good gift? Depends on who you are giving the gift to.

For example, if you, for some reason, were buying a gift to me, that’s a hard hurdle to cross, because in general I have enough money to buy what I want, so in order to buy me a gift, you need to come up with something I was not aware of. In general, this is difficult, but some people are able to do it.

My general advice on buying gifts: Keep your eyes open. When you come across something interesting you know someone would like, get it for the next occasion. Or, like me, don’t worry about special occaions and give gifts when you feel like it. With that in mind, here’s some places to start.

(No sponsorhips involved despite some direct links.)

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Simon Barrett, the writer of You’re Next and The Guest (and some other movies I would rather not mention), appeared in an episode of re:View to talk about The Guest earlier this year. It’s a half an hour discussion on the film years after it’s release, so it’s not an advertisement, just reflection on it, so if this kind of analysis is your thing or you like small budget movies, you should take a look.

But, in the beginning, he mentions the concept of Subculture of One. A little research tells me that he didn’t come up with the phrase, it has come up here and there, but he was the first source for me on the subject, so let’s run with that.

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I watched this video from Extra Credits:

I find this problematic. It misses a key point.

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Recently, there’s been a lot of negative stories about the gamer community. Allegations of sexual misconduct, trolling or even harassment, sexism, theft, counterfeits, whatever. A lot of stuff going on. So, I decided I’d tell a little story of a good guy in our community. Nothing major in the big picture, but the good deeds are rarely as visible or talked about as the bad ones.

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This year was more diverse in terms of gaming than I had grown accustomed to. I got excited about boardgaming after a long hiatus, published the beta version of my AWengine hack Eldritch Sigils, managed to ran a successful rpg campaign and got interested in various Magic the Gathering formats (instead of just playing Commander).

Having played much more in 2017 than in years has had a positive impact on me as a person. I have noticed even though I have struggled with some personal stuff it has not drained me as completely as few previous years. I have made my best effort to surround myself with different playing groups (though all of the players are from our Guild) so that I can have a weekly gaming night even if one group hasn’t been able to get together. Continue reading →