Open Comms [BBS] This Blog Is Not A Metaphor

[Ash Vargold]

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OOC
This is a comments section for the solo thread This Blog Is Not A Metaphor, in case you want to talk about the posts there or just yell at the writer.

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[PINNED] Admin

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• Remember the Human
• Do not speak the Forbidden Name
• Use in-game/personal names at your own risk

Vargold
Posted: 22:43:21

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And we're back!

Comments section is officially standalone and on some software that should hopefully keep people from fucking things up a second time. Unfortunately means we lost some things like having custom avatars for security's sake. (You can use the builtin ones, though.) Incorporated some word filters on frontend and backend as well.

 

[Lune]

DalDal
Posted: 08:51:45

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Hey Vargold, I just found the blog. I just want to thank you for the knowledge you are sharing there, and also for the Quinn tribute. I knew him personally in real life and it was really rough for me.

Anyway, might see you soon?

 

[Shadow]

K1R105
Posted: 9:01:15

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Hey. New forum. Cool.

Do you know what happened to the player that got snatched up by the boss?

 

[Ash Vargold]

Vargold
Posted: 9:20:29

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DalDal (@Moonsong): Shit, I'm sorry. I only met him once, but he seemed like a good person. And losing anyone to Terrasphere is a tragedy in the end. I hope you can find him in-game soon.

K1R105 (@Kirios): The Vintergardian Magia appear to multiply by assimilating lifeforms. It looks like the same happened to him. Presumably he's UI-locked, but no one's seen him since the fight.

 

[Ash Vargold]

Vargold
Posted: 4:29:48

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If you lost someone, you can honor them here.

God knows the truth won't show up in the obituaries.

 

[Ishtar]

ISHTAR
Posted: 8:00:04

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Found you~

I left a message with your friends, dearie, but you haven't written back. That makes me sad. You know how hard it was to track you down?

 

[Ash Vargold]

Vargold
Posted: 8:15:47

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@ISHTAR
This isn't a hook-up BBS. Take it to Cindr.

 

[Ishtar]

ISHTAR
Posted: 8:45:33

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Don't be like that. The sooner we get to know one another the better. I took quite a bit of an interest in you. "...it might give us a knife to point at the people who are actually responsible" was it?

 

[Ash Vargold]

Unfortunately, the system the blog used for comments was incredibly basic. No private threads, no direct messages. Nothing was logged that could identify a person; not even an IP address. When discussing something like Terrasphere, such anonymity was necessary for everyone's safety.

This was the first time Aisling wished that wasn't the case.

Vargold
Posted: 8:50:0

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I don't know who this is.

If you post any identifying information here, your posts will be deleted. Only warning.

 

[Ishtar]

ISHTAR
Posted: 8:55:22

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Don't worry. You'll find me soon enough I imagine. When you come back. I hope it's soon. For their sake~

 

[Ash Vargold]

No more responses come from Vargold.

In fact, not even half an hour later, the entire back and forth is removed from the comments page, replaced by a single message.

Vargold
Posted: 9:20:29

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Reminder: Any threats of harm targeted towards people in or out of the game will not be tolerated. Same goes for doxxing.

 

[Lady N]

Chiisana Usagi
Posted: 1:02:41

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Why do you play it? Money?

 

[Ash Vargold]

Vargold
Posted: 8:45:04

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At this point? Sunk cost fallacy.

That, and the hope that I never have to make a list of names like that again.

 

[Luthien]

Tinúviel
Posted: 12:59:31

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Honestly, I'm surprised it took this long for smut to start cropping up. You know the internet rule, if it exists...

Count yourself lucky to not witness a bishounen rendition featuring Commander Jormund x King Astor during the Camp Hope IV days. Seems the Landers are thirstier than we imagined.

 

[Ash Vargold]

Vargold
Posted: 18:02:12

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...I don't know why you felt the need to share that with the class, but thanks for making me think about the person who had to build training dataset for fucking libido.

This person's story is a little familiar, in a way that makes Aisling feel uncomfortable. Weird...

 

[Luthien]

Tinúviel
Posted: 00:14:59

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Hey, whoever got saddled with that task won the job lottery imo. Think about it, they got paid to give NPCs enough content for them to have their own fantasies… hopefully the QA team was rigorous on the material allowed though.

She hadn’t expected to come across a blog made by Vargold of all players and, despite the caenis using their username handle, it seemed to be secure enough. It was nice to have a space where details of the game could be discussed with others, and by the looks of it Vargold had done well to avoid the constant web purging that the VRSA was known for.

Tinúviel
Posted: 00:19:11

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Alternative some might argue it’s evidence that supports the isekai theory floating about for a while now… especially with all the light novels and manhwa that exist about alternate universes with game elements and whatnot.

 

[Ash Vargold]

Aisling was just going to head to bed. And then a certain topic was broached, and she couldn't help but respond.

Vargold
Posted: 00:45:35

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Ugh, not that "theory" again.

The "isekai theory" is a troll at best and actively harmful at worst. Yes, the game is abnormal, but that doesn't mean it's supernatural. We've been able to do stuff like it for years - it's just that this particular one is willing to break a lot of rules to be the way it is.

I understand people take comfort in the idea that death isn't the end, and I won't get into a debate about religion. But there are no "ghosts in the machine" here - just very effective simulations.

 

[Luthien]

A glance towards the clock confirmed what she already knew, before a small alert inside a particular blog post caused her to tab back into the site.

She hadn’t expected a reply considering the time, usually by this hour Vargold was grayed out in her friendlist, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t surf the web for a while longer. It didn’t seem like the caenis player was onto her yet. Perhaps her chosen username for this blog had been more thought out than she’d expected, or maybe Vargold was already aware of who she was and simply chose to ignore it…?

Tinúviel
Posted: 00:55:16

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We can agree that the game is quite abnormal, and it's known how powerful the mind can be… honestly, it’d be quite interesting to see the results of a research study involving players and how their brain might be affected by it.

"No ‘ghosts in the machine’, huh..." She still remembers the spectral claws that rose from the caenis as they pondered over Szofrit’s fate that day, how his voice had strained and the familiar look in those golden eyes had been replaced by something more… something else.

Tinúviel
Posted: 01:13:33

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The game’s certainly amazing at simulations, including but not limited to the supernatural variety, but there’s a limit as to how far this should go… everything would’ve needed to be coded in beforehand, and the team would’ve had to account for every variable—every improbability too—throughout multiple events and who knows how many players.

If their entire dev team was composed of a coding army then maybe it could all be attributed to them, but that’s highly unrealistic… and it doesn’t explain the rumors of players who continue to see or feel things out of the game, even those that haven’t logged in for years now.

Granted, the Readdat stories about that had died out… but they’ve started becoming more common lately.

Not hard to figure out why, after all many of the old threads had one thing in common—the players that spoke of these occurrences had all clocked in two deaths within the game—and between the Kuruungar and Szofrit… well, she was certain Vargold would catch up with her train of thought even if the words weren’t implicitly typed in.

 

[Ash Vargold]

Vargold
Posted: 01:23:02

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The comments do not have enough characters for the different level of wrong written here.

Give me a bit.

She should be sleeping. But Aisling can't help but read and reread the words written by this "Tinúviel" and feel a growing sense of frustration, one that inevitably drives her from her bed and to her computer.

Sleep can come later. Someone is being wrong on the internet.

 

[Lune]

DalDal
Posted: 05:32:42

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I think someone left a sword in my character. Message me if you want it back?

I don't think it is worth anything, to be honest, but I just feel bad.