History being constantly reinvented by the modern internet

Lately, I've been realising how humanity is constantly reinventing history (at least in terms of what history means for the future and present). I was always aware this happened, to a degree, but had held at the back of my mind the fanciful idea that there was infact one true history and some people where telling it right and others wrong. This, I now realise, is clearly a nonsense; I'm here to explain why I believe this now nonsense:

The majority of recorded history is, infact, the story of a group of people or some idea of a person and their perspectives on events. Lets look at the item which opened my eyes to the truth, the story of the Treaty of Versailles (an unarguably important event in history) when looking at this event, the story teller (internet Historians) seek to attribute world causes to a small number of individuals who are believed to, and seen to, have huge influence. This in itself is misleading, these individuals are indeed renowned in their respective societies and beyond, but what affect they have on people is down to the people themselve who are making these people fit into their own agendas and beliefs. Putting this another way, its not the President which changes the nation but the nation which changes the President (but of course the President's actions are chosen to engadge the nation).

So, the reality is, life is complicated and diverse and there isn't one simple cause or even set of causes (though they can and do exist, they can't be said to be the cause of the larger outcome only a factor and influence). There is no "true" history beyond observing some event happened with some evidences to show that it happened; What history quickly becomes online is an oportunity for people to make bold claims, the most popular of which, that have the least objection become what is commonally regarded as historic fact.

The problem is, that all history before and after the time and event selected is speculative. As a simple example, if I go into the street and make a speech that the world should be more kind and loving and afterwards the world is generally seen to improve, was that really my doing? or was infact I just stating a truth of the age and due to that evidential truth change occured. Also, even if my inflence is massive meaning I have huge followers, its likley the reason I have huge followers is I'm many things to many people. Meaning I'm just embodying a change or set of changes already in progress.

So, what history becomes is poltitics, litterally.

So far, I've stated something but not really made anything useful out of the observation. So lets see...

How can "history" be better?

Well I would say that we can start by stopping attempting to connect massive complex changes to small numbers of influencial individuals. We can start more admitting that there isn't one true history, only human stories which help us to understand whats happened in the past as a opinion of an author. We can look at the past as events and stories told about the events. We shouldn't even hold viewpoints as to the meaning or causes of events, beyond pointing out influences and likely outcomes. Prehaps proper historians do do exactly that and its just the modern internet era which forgets because people like convinence history. A tale told which allows them to feel informed and happy about being informed without the need to think too much or research.

Stupid decisions in Firefox browser (Space IS NOT PAGE DOWN, unless your Mozilla)

I was trying to use Firefox today and had a web-game that needed me to press space. The game worked and space did what it was supposed to in game, but due to moronic decision of the Mozilla Firefox contributers (no idea which one, and I haven't the time to check) space bar automatically causes a page down. WHAT THE FUCK. WE HAVE A KEY ON THE KEYBOARD FOR PAGE DOWN!!!!! ITS A DEDICATED KEY! Space Bar is a dedicated key too! It's a key it insert a SPACE NOT FUCKING CAUSE A PAGE DOWN EVEN.

I cannot begin to explain how much this fucks me off.

There is ZERO justification for overriding normal key behaviours in the browser (at the level of the browser itself, the web page, sure can do as it likes but it shouldn't be having to fight the damn browser to get normal key behaviours).

Bethesda's games becomming pointless

A long time ago, when Bethesda released Oblivion I was awed by the game design. This was a game which is truely epic! The whole engine was amazing, and the number of possible eventuallities huge (and nearly all at player discretion and choice). It was and is a game that can be played over and over for 100's of different experiences even within the same story lines.

Roll forward, and Bethseda do it again with Fallout 3, but there is the beginnings of a distressing trend. There are several missions where the player can have zero effect on eventualities. Whilst I turn a blind eye to certain forced eventualities (the main plotline for example) in the spirit of allowing some degree of story telling (but even there its just lazy, or at best they are unwilling or unable to devote sufficient time to make it the best it can be). For example, in Oblivion it was first impossible to kill the king, then subsequently it was impossible to save his life. These both irked and irritated me. To say to a player, or explain to a player "for the best game experience don't kill the king" or "let the kind die, it leads to a better game experience" is entirely fine, but let the player choose!!!!!

What I was glad about in Oblivion is the fated King was of the more 'rare' sort or scripted eventuality. Most characters lived or died at the players offices and even to the point of it being cool that some game play isn't even available unless you rush off and save the primary character right away.

I did understand some players where frustrated that plot elements where not available due to characters required for them being dead or missing, but to me that all added to the game and meant I can still play the game today and find something new, because by fortune, luck or simply my own efforts within game a character survived that didn't in other games opening up new gameplay.

Now, recently I made the relative mistake of purchasing Bethesda's "Wolfenstien II, The New Colossus" which begins with a sceen in which an evil protaganist is forcing the player to "make a choice" between which of your comrades he executes. That's fine as a plot element. What is bullshit, is that choosing not to making any choice is not a choice! In a well written game, a player is always presented with three choices in a dialog, which should boil down to, "Yes", "No" and "Obstain". When the player is given these three choices, the action can proceed anyway it likes, but the players voice should be always heard, and where possible have effect. So even if the villan of the peiece decides to not listen to the player, the player's got to be the character they wanted to be within the story (hence good gameplay and player experience).

Now sadly, with Bethesda's "New Collosus" game, they made it junk because in the opening sceen the player has ONE choice and its really an obvious NON choice. To look to their left, or look to their right. Now, regardless of how the game needs to proceed next, this is already removing from the player their role in the game. It's ceasing to be a game and becomming a movie, with movable camera and, I argue, no gamer wants a movie with a moveable camera they want, effectively, a roll playing experience where, usually, they are the hero.. but it's their choice and the game should support them choosing to role play the villan too. What it MUST NOT DO, is force the player to be the hero, or force them to be a villian, because it ceases to be a real game and becomes and engine of control.

I have refused to play their game. I've stopped buying their games. Since it feels obvious Bethesda has gone from a group of passionate role players providing an engine for that activity (Morrowind, Oblivion etc) to being a company trying to sell 'good stories' wrapped in popular themes. As much as I do enjoy a good story, I only love it when I'm making it happen (also they have not responded to my correspondence on this matter)

I feel Bethseda, in its past games, managed to walk a good line. In Fallout 3, there where several moments of misstep, but nothing too horrendous.

Some example moments which made Fallout 3 the poorer as a game are:

1. That it is impossible to choose to save the occupants of Tenpenny Towers
2. That all children are invunerable in the game
3. That in the US Paratrooper sceen in "The Guns of Anchorage" it's not possible to attempt to save the Paratrooper (I have no issue with a scripted death sceen where it's difficult to rescue or the rescue leads to a poorer outcome plot wise, just keep it possible)
4. The invunerable Wherner in "Into the Pitt"

For all those complaints, at least Bethseda attempts to honour player choices in the majority of cases, so I'm not hating on them as a company but just the direction they are sliding. Though I presume this is as more greed enteres its operation and as it becomes focused on players as a 'money resource' instead of people passionate about role playing making a greate game.

Sick of $@#(*$ Steam and Valve

Let's talk about Valve and Steam in human terms:

Imagine if you once went into a shop, and you saw a small comic in the shop that caught your eye. Now imagine the shop keeping being very charming and telling you how amazing the comic was and how cheap you could buy it!

Imagine now you pick up the comic and goto pay. Now, the shop keeper says "Please, give me your home address, Date of Birth and Email", your still keen for the comic, so maybe you think "well, I'm sure it will be fine".

So you pay for the comic, and as you pay you receive an email advertising the next comic. You leave the shop, and on the way home you wonder why the shop keepers assistant is shadowing you all day. He's not doing anything, he's just sitting their smiling and if you ever ask him or address him he says "Enjoying your comic?". So you tune him out. You arrive home and now theres a small crowd with the shop keeper, all whispering about your journey home. Their all standing at a good distance and being sure to not bother you, but every so often one of them smiles and a note appears in your mail box about some service offered.

So, again you tune out this growing group of gawkers. You get into your house and close the door, but sitting outside just in the public area is the shop assistant. Always smiling taking notes of everything you do. You decide to take a read of your comic. Outside your house, theres a huge rush of action, people shout to one another "she's on page one!" others run away and talk and just out of earshot they are talking about every other reader of the comic on page 1.

You get used to ignoring the crowd now living permenantly just outside your door, used to the benine smiles and constant commentary and behind your back wispering regarding what you do with their comic.

Then, you find a page and you love that page, you go back to read it several times and outside theirs a quiet commotion and then emails arrive suggesting you try this and that and those representitive simile into your window at you. Meanwhile, the comic has begun to embed itself in all your other daily activities. It's already hooked into your email and now it begins to watch what you do online. The massive crowd of people peering in from outside tell you "not to worry!", "it's all so we can improve the comic!" with a vacuus smile.

So, now, your sick of all these people watching you so you go outside and vocally try to shoo them away. They make consilitory noises but make no move to go and ineed chatter futhur about your behviour. You beginning to get mad so you set your dogs on them (turn on your internet security) and, faced with that level of force they scatter.

Ahah, you think to yourself, now I can relax and enjoy my comic in privacy. So you open it  up.

Page 1: Blank.... Page 2: Blank.... your favourite page "inaccessible":.

You remember then how you made a "copy" of your comic "just incase" you lost it, so you fish that out...

The copy is completely inaccessible. Worse the people outside come into your room and begin to rearrange your furnature.

You move to complain and they say, "The comic requires us to all be sitting outside watching you when your read it". Faced with a choice, you could lose page 1 and 2 you think to yourself... but not my beloved page! You reluctantly let the people come back in and mess with all your furnature and the comic is again readable (and now not only are the people outside, but many have moved into your garage some are in your car and one is riding around on your bike).

Finally, resolved,  you accept this constant crowd of smiling snoopers outside your house, and that none of your equipment is now in your direct control (but they are all very nice and get off right awa y when you need your stuff, so nice of them). Some move in because you find the new pages of your comic you buy aren't accessible without these new house guests.

Now, they start being more forceful. You open the comic one day, and page 1 is totaly different and alot smaller. You can't read it without it changing and not in a way you want.

This is Steam and Valve and it's SICK. We live in a world of greedy vendors unwilling to produce items for sale and ownership then they can have the first without granting the second.

We NEED to change the law. Sales MUST come with ownership.

Devolution of the Internet

I honestly don't know how we let the world deteriorate digitally.

The rise of the internet brought great feedoms to the whole of humanity, but the swansong is sinsiter and pervasive.

When the internet was first formed it was:

1. Educational (lead by achedemia)
2. Inclusive (anyone could become part of its infrastructure)
3. Private (this might sound odd in the modern age, but when the internet was formed privacy was a very very real thing. There where many mechnisms to acheive totally anonimity).
4. Not owned or controlled (outside of the basic will to provide it and the benefits of sharing)

 This lead to a system with rapid adoption and jam packed with factual content, as the primary providers of information where schollars and institutions. The information was often provided free of charge, excepting a small cost to partake in the network.

Contrast this to today's internet:

1. Misinformation and propagnda - Used pervasively for misinformation and political and media propagnda
2. Exclusive (Giant corporations privatising huge chunks and applying control mechanisms to either favour their own traffic [Netflix] or to prevent contrary opionion [China]).
3. Anti-Private - Primarily used to monitor and spy on users behaviours by both legitimate and criminal organisations (worse often with user colusion, in the case of Valve).
4. Privatised - Large corporations and governments attempting to take control on the medium for political, cut-throat business and criminal aims.

 People have no rights in this new world. Attribution is weakly defended, personal information is widely distributed, large companies ring fence and drive out smaller providers.