joannes

@playthroughline

"Experimental DM" of I've peaked and I'm kidding myself he/they

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joannes@playthroughline· 27d

Five years ago today (it was actually yesterday but who's counting), the very first episode of Neurocracy saw the light of day! To commemorate this occasion, I'm overjoyed to present the first of three new stories on omnipedia.app, coming from @baroness.bsky.social: omnipedia.app/wiki/2049/10...

A banner image for the game NEUROCRACY, showing the title as white over black on the left of the screen while the right features a blue-tinted X-ray of a human skull, with unnatural tendrils snaking their way into the brain cavity as if to occupy it

Also a birthday hat has been crudely added on top of the skull

joannes@playthroughline· Jul 13

RIP Sam Neill, who channelled my love of dinosaurs with the best awe-struck gaze in cinema 😎😮 Throwback to the time I dressed up as Alan Grant and everyone assumed I was Indiana Jones

An old black-and-white photo of a young boy standing in a garden wearing the costume of Sam Neill's character in Jurassic Park: a shirt with rolled-up sleeves tucked into a pair of rugged trousers and a fedora atop the head

joannes@playthroughline· Jul 1

A previous Neurocracy story features a fictional activist who came to life through conversations with a Venezuelan writer ▶️ omnipedia.app/wiki/2049/10/10/Sofia_Pe%C3%B1a What they told us about the nightmare that Venezuela has had to endure under the corrupt Chavismo regime often defies belief...

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 30

A vicious cycle of four steps surrounding a black cat with a thousand-yard stare and a dapper little tie. The four endlessly cycling steps read:

-going forward we're gonna need more of your data to make sure it's you

-ahaha youre not gonna believe this but we had a bit of a data breach

-your data is probably for sale online now

-that means someone could easily impersonate you

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 28

This mans knows his angles

A worm's-eye view of the cat in the post above, framing him against a blue sky with white clouds as the wind lifts his ample fur

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 28

Here's Pato on his walk why not

A close-up of a long-furred cat (name of Pato) sniffing a flower with a content expression on his little face

A wider shot of the same cat on a wooden walkway, his expression having soured to a scowl with his tongue peeking out in apparent disgust

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 26

Twitter post from @ThorHalvorssen:

Delcy Rodríguez, the "acting" president of Venezuela has declared a state of emergency.

What you are watching from Venezuela is more than a natural disaster story. It is a governance autopsy.

Hundreds are confirmed dead and the real toll is rising because no one is coming to rescue those still trapped in the rubble.

Let's break it down: Twin 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes. Buildings collapsed in Caracas and neighboring cities.

And where are the ambulances?

Where are the fire trucks?

Where is the state?

There are no emergency services. Because there is no state. There is only a criminal enterprise that wears a costume. The state built a machinery to repress. Silence. Torture. Kill. Not to rescue.

To every American businessperson who has traveled to Caracas in the last few months, met with Delcy Rodríguez, signed deals, convinced themselves that "things are changing" and that engagement is pragmatic. This is for you…

For those who believe the American government fiction that "everything is going great" with Delcy…. you are watching your thesis collapse in real time, under rubble, with no one coming to help.

The fiction that Venezuela is "open for business" exists for one reason: Delcy and her brother Jorge need your money, your legitimacy, and your silence. They have no intention of reforming. They respond that they just "don't know" when elections will take place. They have no intention of being held accountable for the billions looted, the political prisoners disappeared, the diaspora of more than eight million people. They need you as props. They need you to keep telling Washington that things are "great!" And that Delcy is exactly what Venezuela needs right now to "stabilize" and "reform."

What this earthquake reveals, as every crisis in Venezuela reveals, is that Maduro and his cronies hollowed out every institution. PDVSA. The hospitals. The fire departments. Civil defense. Emergency services. All of it stripped to the bone and the proceeds wired offshore.

The death toll will be much higher precisely because of what the people now in power did over the last 25 years.

Let's be clear: The people dying tonight and in the next few days under collapsed buildings in Caracas are not dying because of an earthquake. They are dying because of 25 years of systematic looting by the same people now issuing press releases about a "state of emergency." Because they're wholly unprepared. Because they looted everything. Did away with talent. And on top of all of this have zero empathy or motivation to help anyone but themselves. They didn’t care about millions of people fleeing into a jungle and walking hundreds of miles to freedom. Why would they care about survivors of this natural disaster?

The media locally isn't reporting or showing the images of the devastation. They're terrified of upsetting the dictatorship.

And tonight:

Not a firefighter in sight. Not an ambulance in sight. Just cameras, and Delcy, and the performance of governance where none exists.

Those businesspeople were warned. The Venezuelans who fled told you. The human rights organizations told you. The evidence was always there.

Now you have photographs.

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 25

A low-res crop of JC Denton's perennially blank face, his augmented eyes glowing blue behind his shades, with the caption below reading "Do you have a single fact to back that up?"

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 24

You were saying?

Persona rights refers to the legal right to use the likeness of an individual, including voice, appearance, and physical mannerisms. In most countries, citizens hold persona rights to their own likeness from birth on, but can choose to license or sell them to third parties after reaching legal adulthood. Upon death, persona rights transfer to the individual’s next of kin unless otherwise stipulated in the deceased’s will.

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 17

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 16

I can never tell whether he's slow blinking at me or telling me to watch my step

A grey-furred cat (name of Pato) sitting politely on a white window sill, looking at the camera with a neutral expression

The same photo as before, except Pato has narrowed his eyes, giving him a sinister expression

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 2

The first release batch comprises three stories coming from an amazing line-up of writers and designers: ⭐ Bertine van Hövell (@baroness.bsky.social) ⭐ Bruno Dias (@brunodias.bsky.social) ⭐ Julie Muncy (@julie.radiantarray.io) Stay tuned for further updates and do spread the word if you can 🙏

Meme of Mickey Mouse (labeled "the coolest people in games") floating towards a pie on an open window (labeled "working on neurocracy")

Courtesy of @innes.bsky.social

joannes@playthroughline· Jun 2

On July 15, Neurocracy will shift into... 🌐 ANTHOLOGY MODE 🌐 ✅ New individual stories added to omnipedia.app ✅ Each one stretches across a month of updates ✅ You influence what happens 👀 More info: talk.omnipedia.app/t/new-stories-are-coming-to-neurocracy/397 #scifi #epistolary #hypertext #TTARG

joannes@playthroughline· May 27

Aw yeah great minds etc. (from www.the-editing-room.com/deep-impact)

JON FAVREAU

I'm Jon Favreau, medical officer, and I'll be talking about explosive outgassing so much that I'll honestly be disappointed if that isn't what kills me.

joannes@playthroughline· May 22

Going on a STUPID walk for my STUPID mental health

A grey-furred cat with a giant ruff obscuring his form (name of Pato) standing on a branch in a park of tall grass. It's a sunny day and there are some buildings faintly visible in the background

joannes@playthroughline· May 18

Oh we talking fake citations? Here are a few particularly salient ones from Neurocracy why not

Citation

Zamperla-Smith, H. (February 2041). “‘How Could This Happen’, Asks Nation That Looked Away Last Time It Happened.” The Onion.

Citation

Heaven, W. (October 2028). “Disappearance of the author: How human data brokering became a billion dollar black market.” MIT Tech Review.

Citation

Smedley-Winsberg, G. (January 2049). “An ancient massive fungus may be living proof of the extended cognition theory.” New Scientist.

Citation

Alexander, L. (October 2049). “First neurocarceration trial sees inmate ‘escaping’ from brain prison.” The Verge.

joannes@playthroughline· May 13

I balk at this approach because games are products of their limitations; remove those and all the creativity that went into working around them is gone

"One of the things that we really pride ourselves on at Nightdive is being able to go back, talk to the original developers, and understand what their intentions were for the final product. And then, hopefully, make up that ground that they weren't able to achieve with the time or budget that they originally had."

joannes@playthroughline· May 13

joannes@playthroughline· May 12

"It was challenging enough to remember a dream after waking from it, now I had to remember one while I was still in it" REVERIE is a speculative fiction novelette that uses consumer-grade brain implants to ask whether dreams constitute lived experiences Available here: playthroughline.com/reverie