Unpopular Opinions for Everything Else
- Thread starter SurrealBrain
- Start date
xandermartin98
Wario Fan Supreme
Feel like I also need to mention the (ahem) criminally underrated Megamind right about now:
xandermartin98
Wario Fan Supreme
(cough, you forgot about their extreme mistreatment of fangames and the fact that said fangames happen 2 be the only thing keeping Metroid alive)
Yeah, good point. A wise company would have looked at said fan games, and not just left them alone, but took inspiration for their own work. Or hired the team ala what Sega did with Sonic Mania.
Or better yet, they could have built a service for them. I'm sure people would be thrilled to have a selection of great fan games and ROM hacks included in the Switch Online pricing, and it'd probably fill up a few gaps in the yearly game roster. Could do wonders for stuff like F-Zero, Advance Wars, etc too, since while Nintendo doesn't seem interested in making, there will definitely be loads of fans who'd be interested in giving it a go.
Also, here's a meta unpopular opinion:
Most so called unpopular opinions aren't particularly unpopular at all, and those that would be truly unpopular would either come across as nonsensical or turn the speaker into a social pariah.
Or better yet, they could have built a service for them. I'm sure people would be thrilled to have a selection of great fan games and ROM hacks included in the Switch Online pricing, and it'd probably fill up a few gaps in the yearly game roster. Could do wonders for stuff like F-Zero, Advance Wars, etc too, since while Nintendo doesn't seem interested in making, there will definitely be loads of fans who'd be interested in giving it a go.
Also, here's a meta unpopular opinion:
Most so called unpopular opinions aren't particularly unpopular at all, and those that would be truly unpopular would either come across as nonsensical or turn the speaker into a social pariah.
That's actually one of the worst thing any company can do lol. The reason pretty much every media company in existence has a "We will not solicit or read your ideas if you send them to us" disclaimer on their webpages or w/e is to avoid any potential litigations. I recall at least one story of a book author (I thought it was Terry Pratchett, but apparently not) posting with fans on an Usenet group in the 90's, only to stop when one of the participants got paranoid and accused them of stealing their idea for one of the books.
It's also why "Why couldn't Nintendo just make AM2R official?" was a naive sentiment, even before Samus Returns was revealed. The game extensively used music and sprites from the GBA games, which would've posed problem if one of the composer and graphic artists still working at Nintendo was made aware of that fact and didn't consent to their work being used in that capacity, and the fangame actually operated a suggestion thread on its official forum for a while and some of it actually made it into AM2R, which mean Nintendo would've either needed to track down every single person who posted in that forum thread - or not do that and risk a lawsuit if someone could prove they contributed to the game. That's not a risk any company is going to take.
Would licensing setups on fan sites fix that?
Like, what if Mario Fan Games Galaxy put it in the rules that all submitted projects fall under the GPL or Creative Commons or something? That way, anyone could use submitted games for whatever purpose, and companies wouldn't have to worry about being sued over that. Hmm, maybe I should suggest that for the Wario Land 4 ROM hacks database we're working on too, with a strict requirement that users agree to the license to upload anything.
Seems to work okay for many open source systems right now. WordPress for example requires all themes and plugins to be released under the GPL. It annoys a few commercial theme/plugin creators, but it makes license issues much simpler.
Also makes me wonder if a company could run a special licensed fan work system with this in mind too. Maybe they'd provide approved resources, and license all submissions under say, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. That way, they can sell/distribute/modify/use all submissions, but need to give the author a bit of credit to do so.
I'd also think anyone working at Nintendo would have an agreement saying their work becomes property of the company. That seems to be how it works in most software engineering jobs; anything you do at work becomes company property (or in a depressing number of American companies, anything you do while employed becomes company property).
Regardless, any of my own fan projects are public domain, with all level designs and setups being available for anyone's usage under no license terms whatever. Same with any of those old idea articles; no one has to worry about accidentally using some of the ideas I had for say, another Luigi's Mansion game, since I don't own them.
Like, what if Mario Fan Games Galaxy put it in the rules that all submitted projects fall under the GPL or Creative Commons or something? That way, anyone could use submitted games for whatever purpose, and companies wouldn't have to worry about being sued over that. Hmm, maybe I should suggest that for the Wario Land 4 ROM hacks database we're working on too, with a strict requirement that users agree to the license to upload anything.
Seems to work okay for many open source systems right now. WordPress for example requires all themes and plugins to be released under the GPL. It annoys a few commercial theme/plugin creators, but it makes license issues much simpler.
Also makes me wonder if a company could run a special licensed fan work system with this in mind too. Maybe they'd provide approved resources, and license all submissions under say, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. That way, they can sell/distribute/modify/use all submissions, but need to give the author a bit of credit to do so.
I'd also think anyone working at Nintendo would have an agreement saying their work becomes property of the company. That seems to be how it works in most software engineering jobs; anything you do at work becomes company property (or in a depressing number of American companies, anything you do while employed becomes company property).
Regardless, any of my own fan projects are public domain, with all level designs and setups being available for anyone's usage under no license terms whatever. Same with any of those old idea articles; no one has to worry about accidentally using some of the ideas I had for say, another Luigi's Mansion game, since I don't own them.
While messing around with Word today, I suddenly realised one thing: I hate detest Comic Sans with a passion. I just can't stand it.
It looks ugly, childish, and unprofessional in almost any situation. ('xcept for maybe comic books I guess, but then again, have you ever actually seen it in a comic?) Why do people keep thinking it makes things funny while in reality, it has the almost magical power to turn any text into crap?
Also, I hate it when serif * fonts are used for screen text, especially when the letters are small. Times New Roman is particulary aggravating on a computer screen. Fortunately, more and more webpages have abandoned such fonts. (I don't actually think this is an unpopular opinion, but still.)
Now we're at the topic anyway, I'm of the opinion that no matter what font is used for them, cursive writing systems (meaning that the letters are joined together not only in handwritten text, but also in printed form) like Arabic, Syriac, and Indian scripts are inherently better looking than scripts with solitary letters like Latin for example.
*Fonts with small strokes on the ends of the letters, like the little horizontal strokes on the top and bottom of the capital letter i on such fonts.
It looks ugly, childish, and unprofessional in almost any situation. ('xcept for maybe comic books I guess, but then again, have you ever actually seen it in a comic?) Why do people keep thinking it makes things funny while in reality, it has the almost magical power to turn any text into crap?
Also, I hate it when serif * fonts are used for screen text, especially when the letters are small. Times New Roman is particulary aggravating on a computer screen. Fortunately, more and more webpages have abandoned such fonts. (I don't actually think this is an unpopular opinion, but still.)
Now we're at the topic anyway, I'm of the opinion that no matter what font is used for them, cursive writing systems (meaning that the letters are joined together not only in handwritten text, but also in printed form) like Arabic, Syriac, and Indian scripts are inherently better looking than scripts with solitary letters like Latin for example.
*Fonts with small strokes on the ends of the letters, like the little horizontal strokes on the top and bottom of the capital letter i on such fonts.
While messing around with Word today, I suddenly realised one thing: Ihatedetest Comic Sans with a passion. I just can't stand it.
It looks ugly, childish, and unprofessional in almost any situation. ('xcept for maybe comic books I guess, but then again, have you ever actually seen it in a comic?) Why do people keep thinking it makes things funny while in reality, it has the almost magical power to turn any text into crap?
Also, I hate it when serif * fonts are used for screen text, especially when the letters are small. Times New Roman is particulary aggravating on a computer screen. Fortunately, more and more webpages have abandoned such fonts. (I don't actually think this is an unpopular opinion, but still.)
Now we're at the topic anyway, I'm of the opinion that no matter what font is used for them, cursive writing systems (meaning that the letters are joined together not only in handwritten text, but also in printed form) like Arabic, Syriac, and Indian scripts are inherently better looking than scripts with solitary letters like Latin for example.
*Fonts with small strokes on the ends of the letters, like the little horizontal strokes on the top and bottom of the capital letter i on such fonts.
Is hating comic sans an unpopular opinion? I don't think so, especially not among font/typeface enthusiasts.
Comic Sans - Wikipedia
Either way, may as well say that I hate it when shops and businesses use default fonts in their logos/branding. The amount of times I go past shops run by people with no sense of design is utterly depressing, and they usually have something like Comic Sans displayed proudly on their store front. Or that swirly font that it seems every 'cutesy' shop seems to use, and which looks utterly dreadful in every way.
Aka Curlz:
Curlz - Wikipedia
Indeed. Same for that Curlz font. It has been been overused/misused to such an extent that now it feels annoying to even look at.
Jewels, the semi-official font of the Shantae series would be a much better alternative, but knowing people, it would most certainly end up being abused as well.
Jewels, the semi-official font of the Shantae series would be a much better alternative, but knowing people, it would most certainly end up being abused as well.
I don't think the commercialisation of Christmas is a bad thing.
I can see why it is often cited as a prime example of decadent Western consumer culture and excessive captitalistic materialism, and how Christians criticise modern Christmas for being no longer about Christ, but personally I don't think such commercialisation is bad at all. It has resulted in a giant increase in avaiable Christmas items to decorate your home with in whatever style you want, and as such has resulted in a lot more variation in styles and ways to celebrate it. It has even helped technology: I am pretty sure that without the millions of lighting strings and illuminated figurines being sold each year, LED technology wouldn't be as advanced as it is today. After all, the most important driving force behind technologic innovations is commercialisation of new inventions and developments.
As for the Christian part, I think that Christians shouldn't fear this fading of the original meaning behind the holiday, as for truly devout Christians, the birth of Jesus Christ will always retain its for them important meaning, and will keep it in high regard. The increased commercial value of Christmas is mainly the result of increased secularism, and that's not a bad thing either. It makes the joys of the holidays more enjoyable for irreligious people (me included) and people of other religions who want to take part as well.
From an utilitarian point of view, having a vastly increased amount of items to choose from makes that there's more for everyone to choose from, and (except maybe if you suffer from decicion stress) people have an easier job making things just the way they like, which makes that they feel more happy.
And that's what truly matters, right?
I can see why it is often cited as a prime example of decadent Western consumer culture and excessive captitalistic materialism, and how Christians criticise modern Christmas for being no longer about Christ, but personally I don't think such commercialisation is bad at all. It has resulted in a giant increase in avaiable Christmas items to decorate your home with in whatever style you want, and as such has resulted in a lot more variation in styles and ways to celebrate it. It has even helped technology: I am pretty sure that without the millions of lighting strings and illuminated figurines being sold each year, LED technology wouldn't be as advanced as it is today. After all, the most important driving force behind technologic innovations is commercialisation of new inventions and developments.
As for the Christian part, I think that Christians shouldn't fear this fading of the original meaning behind the holiday, as for truly devout Christians, the birth of Jesus Christ will always retain its for them important meaning, and will keep it in high regard. The increased commercial value of Christmas is mainly the result of increased secularism, and that's not a bad thing either. It makes the joys of the holidays more enjoyable for irreligious people (me included) and people of other religions who want to take part as well.
From an utilitarian point of view, having a vastly increased amount of items to choose from makes that there's more for everyone to choose from, and (except maybe if you suffer from decicion stress) people have an easier job making things just the way they like, which makes that they feel more happy.
And that's what truly matters, right?
People always make fun of William Shatner for his infamous 'unnecessarily long' and 'frequent' pauses, but in the last month or so I started watching clips of the original Star Trek and I had no idea what they were talking about. Then after reading a comment on this one clip talking about the pauses he took in this one shot I was given a moment of pause, as I realized that what was so very obviously a character putting breaks in his sentence as he mulls things over in his head (you know, like a fucking human) was what they were talking about. Thinking about it now, as I type this, the only things people ever quote when talking about this supposed lame habit of his are taken from scenes where the guy's character is struggling to cope with what the fuck is going on.
This isn't to say that Shatner isn't a ham-- his origins as a stage actor are all too apparent, from the exaggerated expressions to IIIII'M CAPTAIN KIIRrRK-- but his pauses during delivery of his lines in my experience have actually been the least notable thing when it comes to his performances being hammy. I really like it when media includes shit like that in its dialogue, it makes it that much more grounded in reality. Of course, you have to have your balance when it comes to the repetition, know the right places in your sentence to put pauses in, know how long to make them, depending on how much processing the character is having to do relative to what they're talking about and how well they can translate that into words (take me for example-- I spent maybe about three to four seconds thinking about how to phrase that, at first thinking about using "expound upon" but then thinking about how that ties a bit more into elaboration and needs at least a basic foundation).
This is the one people tend to think of when they think about "William Shatner's acting", but like, if you remain unconvinced, let me go over why this delivery doesn't suck ass.
This guy's just seen a fucking Gremlin on the plane's wing-- this fuckin' afro-having swamp thing with huge dark irises, sitting deadass on the wing of a plane, unfettered during a goddamn rainstorm not too far below cruising altitude.
This isn't to say that Shatner isn't a ham-- his origins as a stage actor are all too apparent, from the exaggerated expressions to IIIII'M CAPTAIN KIIRrRK-- but his pauses during delivery of his lines in my experience have actually been the least notable thing when it comes to his performances being hammy. I really like it when media includes shit like that in its dialogue, it makes it that much more grounded in reality. Of course, you have to have your balance when it comes to the repetition, know the right places in your sentence to put pauses in, know how long to make them, depending on how much processing the character is having to do relative to what they're talking about and how well they can translate that into words (take me for example-- I spent maybe about three to four seconds thinking about how to phrase that, at first thinking about using "expound upon" but then thinking about how that ties a bit more into elaboration and needs at least a basic foundation).
There's almost an uncanny valley to watch for with this sort of thing. On one hand, you've got exposition dump characters who are basically just talking billboards, then you have Oblivion NPCs, then you have those chicks with the dark ponytails and camouflage army pants that tell your player character about "the plan" in some FPS cutscene. Then you start getting better with characters like Mass Effect's main cast, which are well written but in a few places still feel a bit... stiff. After that you hit a bit of a sweet spot with things like SpongeBob where every character is so well-defined that they basically have to be written a specific way or come off as OoC, and as a side effect of this character basically becoming a real-ass person who just happens to be fictional, you're more likely to get consistently good results.
It's kind of like how, if you have a dream and your sibling/s and/or close friends are in it, they're very likely to act "in-character" despite being figments of your imagination, because how well you've come to know them has so clearly defined them for you in your mind. I'm definitely digressing into talking about well-written characters now. I'll go ahead and stop here, but hopefully this part was just as much of a takeaway as anything else here.
It's kind of like how, if you have a dream and your sibling/s and/or close friends are in it, they're very likely to act "in-character" despite being figments of your imagination, because how well you've come to know them has so clearly defined them for you in your mind. I'm definitely digressing into talking about well-written characters now. I'll go ahead and stop here, but hopefully this part was just as much of a takeaway as anything else here.
I actually do not agree with popular philosophical statement that reality is relative.
Sure, it might be relative in regard to the physical space-time, as Einstein predicted, but certainly not in sociologic context. We all share the exact same reality, which is exactly the same for everyone. What can be different though, is one's perception of reality, which can be distorted by various factors; from severe mental disorders to mere misinformation.
Sure, it might be relative in regard to the physical space-time, as Einstein predicted, but certainly not in sociologic context. We all share the exact same reality, which is exactly the same for everyone. What can be different though, is one's perception of reality, which can be distorted by various factors; from severe mental disorders to mere misinformation.
Salt >> sweet. I may be known as a sweet tooth among people who know me in real life, and while that may be true, (I do enjoy almost any kind of candy, cake, soft drink, etc.) I am actually more of a ‘salt’ guy. The taste of the mineral of sodium chloride is something that has an effect on me that is hard to describe, but it’s definitely something that other flavours don’t have.
It’s not that I use salt for everything (because salt is much more unhealthy than sugar in equal doses, as salt dehydrates the body, which can put a heavy burden on your kidneys, but in less extreme cases, can also induce a pleasant thirst.) But some food items like french fries are just not the same without a fair dose of salt, and when it comes to items of food that can be both sweet and salt, like popcorn and liquorice for example, I will always choose the salt variant over the sweet one.
Another reason I love the taste of salt so much is because it reminds me of the sea. Although I live over 150 km from the nearest coastline, I’ve always had a special connection to the sea, one of the reasons for it being just that: its saltiness of around 35 g of sea salts per litre. As a person with chronical, body-wide eczema, having a sea swim can be a good remedy, and the funny thing is, because of the slightly denser water, swimming is the sea is somewhat easier than in fresh water.
Another funny thing is that Saltwater is also the title of my favourite music piece, though that’s just a coincidence, albeit a nice little one at that.
It’s not that I use salt for everything (because salt is much more unhealthy than sugar in equal doses, as salt dehydrates the body, which can put a heavy burden on your kidneys, but in less extreme cases, can also induce a pleasant thirst.) But some food items like french fries are just not the same without a fair dose of salt, and when it comes to items of food that can be both sweet and salt, like popcorn and liquorice for example, I will always choose the salt variant over the sweet one.
Another reason I love the taste of salt so much is because it reminds me of the sea. Although I live over 150 km from the nearest coastline, I’ve always had a special connection to the sea, one of the reasons for it being just that: its saltiness of around 35 g of sea salts per litre. As a person with chronical, body-wide eczema, having a sea swim can be a good remedy, and the funny thing is, because of the slightly denser water, swimming is the sea is somewhat easier than in fresh water.
Another funny thing is that Saltwater is also the title of my favourite music piece, though that’s just a coincidence, albeit a nice little one at that.
it's probably not an unpopular opinion online, but I can't stand most reality TV shows and other such lowbrow programmes. I see everyone talking about stuff like Love Island and I wonder exactly what they find so entertaining in it all.
Also, social media sites and chat apps like Discord are terrible places to have conversations. They're just so badly organised that trying to have a conversation when others are chatting about other things in the same section/feed/section is nigh on impossible, and it genuinely makes me wonder how kids can prefer this stuff to old school internet forums. At least here if I want to talk about say, Wario Land and someone else wants to talk about WarioWare, we can have the conversations at the same time without confusing everyone.
Also, social media sites and chat apps like Discord are terrible places to have conversations. They're just so badly organised that trying to have a conversation when others are chatting about other things in the same section/feed/section is nigh on impossible, and it genuinely makes me wonder how kids can prefer this stuff to old school internet forums. At least here if I want to talk about say, Wario Land and someone else wants to talk about WarioWare, we can have the conversations at the same time without confusing everyone.
Get with the times, old man!
Then allow me to be serious for a moment.
Unfortunately, smartphones have fundamentally changed the way we use the internet. Thanks to smartphones we are now connected to the internet just about all the time. Forums worked well in an era when people would have to wait until they were out of school or work to go home and log on to their computers. However, now they're slow and clunky compared to the speed that the internet works at now. There are still offshoots of the forum format that attract young people but for the most part pure forums really only work for established communities at this point.
Unfortunately, smartphones have fundamentally changed the way we use the internet. Thanks to smartphones we are now connected to the internet just about all the time. Forums worked well in an era when people would have to wait until they were out of school or work to go home and log on to their computers. However, now they're slow and clunky compared to the speed that the internet works at now. There are still offshoots of the forum format that attract young people but for the most part pure forums really only work for established communities at this point.