So someone over at intfiction.org was getting all in a lather about pictures of male genitalia in FoT and I want to know, did they mean the duck hard-on? Because I don't want to waste time looking for another one if it's not to be found.
Also, what did they expect when they clicked that link? And what did the joke Richard made about the echo mean?
The controversy is around Eric's entry Saturday Night which includes a couple of "adult images". This was something we discussed a lot while he was creating his Twine--and yes, we enjoyed the crude humor and shock value of it, I won't lie, but in all seriousness, Eric's piece is one that I find to be very poignant and sad. The overall effect is, for me, of someone looking for a romantic connection and, essentially, being assaulted by pictures of cocks--the implication that, okay, here's your Saturday night--and, by extension, here's an entire world of shitty guys who are unable to connect with each other. So the cocks stayed.
We did talk about the presentation of this, because I did feel there needed to be some sort of warning, and we felt that the "not safe for work" disclaimer was enough. We have had a few friends--and Joel, right?--who have said, "yeah, I was at work and I ignored the warning," and I, frankly, think it's hilarious, because, I mean...we told you not to play this at work. It's like telling a kid not to touch the stove because it's hot and he touches the fucking stove.
Speaking of kids, this whole, "what if a kid were to play this"--look, I'm on record as a person who dislikes children and doesn't understand them at all, but that doesn't seem at all like my problem. I am in no way pitching this event towards children, and in fact I think I did tweet at a teacher who'd been sharing the exhibition link with a few friends and said, hey, just so you know there's some adult content here so screen it carefully--although now that I'm thinking about it, I might not have actually done that.
I guess, for me, there's a degree to which I think it's stupid to put "caution: hot" on the lid of a coffee cup because you know it's hot. This is an avant-garde art exhibition put together in a fairly niche corner of the internet. By the time you even get to Eric's piece, if you've been playing things in order, you've got a shooty action sequence, a vulgar and hilarious murder simulator, an examination of kink, a fairy tale which admittedly the whole family can enjoy, a violent horror story, and a convoluted political simulator from a Marxist perspective.
If you've gone that far and you think that this is for children, then I would think you're the sort of person who probably would understand that any child old enough to navigate to fear of twine and fine the cock pics is probably old enough to understand the basics of humanity; no matter what sex or gender the child is, they're going to see an image of an erect human penis at some point. The images in question and in context are not hardcore pornographic images; they were purposely chosen for being almost anti-erotic, they're literally closeup cock shots--and you know what? Twine is, uh, known for its share of pornographic and erotic games, and while they ain't my bag to play and I'm fond of making fun of them, you know, I may not agree with what you twine but I will defend to the death your right to twine it.
So I guess my joke was related to the fact that I felt like everyone was talking nonsense and I wanted to talk nonsense too.
I'm deliberately staying pretty quiet about my twine, but I'll just say that I find it deeply satisfying that people are getting all panicky about this. It was half of the point.
I don't understand what the fuss is about, but I'm not surprised. I think Saturday Night is excellent, because it actually works on a surprising number of levels (satirical, sad, funny, shocking people with something completely mundane).
Ha ha, no I hadn't played Saturday Night. I just went down the Fear of Twine roster playing games that didn't have sound, and boom, a picture of male duck genitals.
I approve massively. The only problem is that in the still-unfinished exhibition guide, I have a bit talking about how that thread went from attempting to talk about the works to talking about WHAT IS GAME, and there's a bit to the effect of, "Last time I checked, they were talking about Dear Esther. Dear motherfucking Esther, for chrissakes." Which isn't true anymore, and the duck penis stuff isn't as impactful :)
The IF community is a very strange beast. I find curious the people who are bashing Debt for being a poor "cyoa IF game", which...it's not a game. It's not a cyoa and I don't even think it's IF. What it is...I guess it's a duck penis.