Breathing Life Back To Paradise

+ this blog post isnt ready yet. if you found it, congrats, i + like you. we can make out. +

+ The screenshot above looks pretty generic. Death Stranding 2 + is a very beautiful game and its vistas are what make it. But + not all of them are particularly breathtaking, and I'll + happily admit the above image is one of them. +

+ To me, though, it's very special. Because the spot in this + image is the very last road I needed to build to complete the + entire Australian highway. It's probably the greatest + achievement I've ever accomplished in a game. And it's + completely unremarked upon. +

+ Completing the road network doesn't earn you a new tool, or a + playstation trophy. Hell, unlike opening all the monorails, it + doesn't even warrant a Social Strand Service post. I didn't + know this, before I set out on the endeavour to complete the + network. But it didn't matter if there was a reward - it was + the right thing to do. +

+ Death Stranding 2 is a game all about + the right thing to do. It applies on the macro level, + of course; pummelling Higgs is + the right thing to do. But every order you take, every + action in the world, every ladder and anchor you place, is + the right thing to do. +

+ Kojima called Death Stranding the first game in a new genre, + the 'strand-type' game and while that might be grandiose, I + don't think he's strictly wrong. No other genre is as focused + on encouraging collaboration both inside and outside the + fourth wall, and it is undeniably successful. The whole game + is a joy of discovering a bit of cargo is positioned awkwardly + on a high ledge, then spotting a ladder from xXCriminalNukeXx + right next to it. Of course you're gonna hit the like button. +

+ And the roads are the zenith of that idea. Restoring a road + between two destinations is a huge, expensive, multi-step + effort. It requires everyone involved to be completely + invested in the game, to be making side-quest deliveries to + get access to more resources, to expand the network. But the + reward it offers is unlike anything else - that challenging, + rough terrain that you've battled over to get to the paver is + instantly nullified by a flat, powered road. +

+ Finishing a road connection is instantly rewarding, yes, but + the game makes concerted efforts to reward it long-term, too. + You'll fairly regularly be asked to retrace your steps, to + make a delivery to a prior bunker. Without roads this is + challenging - albeit less challenging than the first time + through since the network will have other player's structures + populated in - but with a road, it feels like you're being + congratulated. "You have made this world better for everyone + who inhabits it. Take a victory lap." +

+ I attached to the roads in the first game, and was rewarded + for it in a similar fashion - at the climax of DS, the chiral + network goes down, trashing all the structures you and others + have built. It's supposed to be one final test of what you've + learned. But if you built the roads, they remain and the + journey back to the start is trivial, that victory lap. +

+ So I did the same in the second game, and it returned the + favour multiple times. But none of these events are a + traditional reward - it's purely generated from your own + knowledge of how much it would have sucked to backtrack + without it. It encourages you to do the right thing. +

+ So I built out all the roads, continuing after the game ended, + when there was no chance of any backtracking missions. Because + building this infrastructure, for the people you meet, the + porters you have played alongside, and those who will come + after you, is the right thing to do. +

+ You're probably thinking that's a bit pretentious. It's just a + video game, after all, and most of the characters in Death + Stranding are just holograms. But all of that artifice somehow + falls away, because you're making this world better, and + doesn't that feel good? Doesn't + doing the right thing feel good? +

+ Of course it does. That's kind of the basis of most leftist + thinking, after all. The right thing to do may not be + the most optimal choice for you, personally - certainly + building every road was not optimal, the optimal choice would + be building roads just over the most tricky areas - but it + feels good to do it! It feels good to help others out! +

+ There's only two strand-type games in existence, but another + 2025 game actually comes... strangely close. It's a purely + single-player experience and it's called + Promise Mascot Agency, from the developers of + Paradise Killer. +

+ The high-level concept is batshit. You're a disgraced yakuza + who must transform a mismanaged love hotel into a successful + 'mascot agency,' that rent out giant mascots to events. Except + the mascots are sentient, not costumes. And also it's secretly + a game about leaving a run-down, corrupt and forgotten town + much better than you found it. +

+ Home +

+ So Your Country Is Censoring The Internet. What Now? +

24/07/2025

The UK's online safety act sucks. Let's get around it.

+ If you use one of many popular social networking sights and + are a resident of the hellhole commonly referred to as "The + United Kingdom," you have likely recently been asked to submit + your ID for age verification. If you haven't yet, it's coming + soon to whatever sites you use - Bluesky, as of this morning, + are asking every UK user to get an ID check in order to use + DMs or see 'adult' posts. Instagram and Facebook are about to + roll it out too. Twitter probably won't but only because it's + the nazi site. You should not be using twitter unless you're a + nazi. +

+ If you're like me, you probably think this is Quite Bad. And + it is Quite Bad! The cause of this is the 'Online Safety Act,' + a well-intentioned but ultimately disastrous effort by the UK + government to Protect The Children by preventing easy access + to 'adult content.' Unfortunately as ever this means a lot of + not adult stuff, particularly queer media and LGBT people's + accounts, get caught in the dragnet. Considering the UK's + current approach to queerness (they hate it, especially + transgressive genderfucks like me) this may worry you. It + should. +

+ So, maybe you want to avoid uploading your ID to a third party + who can use that data how they then wish. (They all promise to + delete your ID. I do not trust them to do this.) Great news! + Much like all UK internet legislation, it is quite trivial to + avoid this. Admittedly, it is not as easy as avoiding IP + blocks on pirate websites, which was as simple as changing the + DNS settings on your connection. but it's not actually that + far off. +

+ You have probably heard of VPNs by now. Every other youtuber + is advertising them. Unfortunately, they are advertising the + dogshit ones that you simply should not use if you care about + privacy. Surfshark, specifically, will not hesitate to hand + your data over to authorities. It should ONLY be used for + watching other country's netflix catalogues. +

But I digress.

+ As part of my own research to get around this, I had a scan + over the current crop of paid VPN services currently + available. After some evaluation, my recommendation is + ProtonVPN. Proton + is a swiss company that specialises in privacy-focused + internet applications. They started with ProtonMail (which I + also use), but ProtonVPN is their next-most mature offering. +

+ Proton offers exit points in basically every country in the + world, with quite a lot of servers in each. Speeds are solid + (I have basically not noticed a drop) and ping seems + serviceable for those of you who play a lot of twitch + shooters. The free offering lets you connect to 5 random + countries for one device, which isn't a whole lot of good - if + the countries you draw don't include say, Iceland, Switzerland + or the Netherlands, you're not gonna live a truly uncensored + life. The free tier is also what every other prole is using, + so speeds are going to be generally worse than on the paid pro + version. The pro version is Â£8 a month which is IMO + quite reasonable. +

+ Like many other offerrings, Proton provides its own app on all + platforms that allows you to choose the country to connect + via, but it also supports router-level configuration via + OpenVPN and Wireguard, the two most common VPN protocols. +

+ "What are these things?" ok yes I just said scary words. You + probably don't need to worry about it - the pro tier supports + 10 independent devices, so you can install the VPN on every + geneal purpose computing device you have without worrying + about the router level stuff. +

+ But I'm a nerd, and the purpose of this particular post is to + inform people about these things! So let's get into those + scary words. OpenVPN and Wireguard are open-source VPN + protocols, they are used to standardise how you connect to a + VPN on any device. All the apps that VPN services provide are + based on one of these two protocols. Most modern routers + that are not provided by your ISP support one or both + of them! +

+ So yes, if you want router-level protection you will probably + need to buy a new router, and realistically that's gonna be + another Â£50 - Â£100. Which I grant is a significant + outlay! Hence why I don't think any random person is going to + want to do this unless they're a nerd like me. I already + maintain a lot of my own network infrastructure, so yes, I'm + the freak here lol. +

+ But! If you do go down that route, it's worthwhile, because + you can + set up your network to route all traffic via your + VPN, + ensuring every device you use in your home is private. It's + what I'm doing! But like I said I'm a freak so don't + necessarily follow my lead on this one. +

+ ANYWAY. Point is it's actually kinda trivial to get this nerd + shit set up nowadays! The apps services provide are simple and + easy, and they're also pretty cheap! I suggest getting one + now, before the continued censorship of the internet gets + worse! OK thanks I'm out, see ya later for a more interesting + post probably. +