After Ross announced the campaign is dead a bunch of YouTubers (and media, I think?) picked up the topic and started spreading the word far and wide. This is the result.
Essence_of_Meh
joined 2 years ago
He actively misrepresented the campaign and spread misinformation about its goals. I don't know if he genuinely didn't understand or if he was too embarrassed to admit to a mistake but he did a lot of damage to the momentum and perception of the whole thing.
It sucks these big creators only now pick up the mantle but it's better than nothing. There's still some time left.
Seems like most people prefer cases based on what I see around me. Personally I don't like the additional bulk plus I'm careful enough with handheld objects to not drop them. Haven't destroyed any phone so far.
I still think the act itself is pretty gross but yeah, the harm is the important part for me - and I don't mean that just in case of sexual images. It's also a problem in terms of content created to affect people's reputation in other ways or influence the sociopolitical situation (something that's already happening around the world).
The harmful potential of generative AI is on a completely different scale than photoshopped images already mentioned in this thread by others. That doesn't mean genAI can't be used in fun and interesting ways but stuff like what's described in the linked article is a big no no for me.
In my opinion absolutely. Whatever happens in your head stays in your head and doesn't affect the other person unless you take active steps for that to happen. Images or videos on the other hand can not only be distributed far easier, even accidentally, but also have a way higher chance of affecting people's lives (how can you disprove you didn't take nude photos of yourself for example? let alone make people believe it). They can lead to loss of reputation, harassment, bullying and serious mental issues for the victims (trust issues, anxiety, depression, self-harm) - imagination can't really do that on its own.
Perhaps distribution is the real problem but easy access to tools that can create convincing results quickly and without effort makes said distribution way more probable.
Nice! Just binged through the manga a few days ago and would love to see this animated. What a perfect coincidence.
Photoshop requires at least some skill and doesn't allow for mass production of fakes the way generative AI does. Same problem, different scale.
That's a fair point but, as you already mentioned, deepfakes are a pretty universal problem unfortunately. The type of misogyny in Japan compared to say US or Europe doesn't seem to affect that much (if at all). Either way, it's a terrible practice without sufficient ways to combat it at the moment which makes me pretty worried about how things will evolve in the future - in terms of "content", affecting lives of victims and laws that will come out of this (some probably made in the worst possible knee-jerk reactionary ways).
There's still a difference between a piece of clothing that may or may not have been worn by anonymous women and creations using real people without their knowledge or consent. Not trying to defend those vending machines but these aren't the same in terms of results and potential effects on the victims.
You can try reporting the video but that probably won't do much (doesn't mean it's not worth a try). The best you can do is treat it as free advertisement and hope it'll encourage people to buy the game if they like it.
Remember that pirated copy does not equal lost sale, especially for an indie title most people won't even hear about.
Edit: well, the double check by the other user makes this thing pretty sus. Either way, my comment still stands in case this really happens for someone.
Yeah, I've seen it after writing this. Thankfully, half of these are for PC native games so I didn't miss completely at least.
Date: 2025-07-05
Location: The United Theater on Broadway, Los Angeles, CA
Official site: virtualvacationlive.com
Talents involved:
- Nimi Nightmare
- Dooby3D
- Ashton Marten
- Hyuni
TL;DR
It was a surprising experience - in both positive and negative ways. Worth a shot if you like virtual photography and janky indie games.
This game is something I've been eyeing for a few years now but never really committed to actually playing it. I finally managed to snatch the game on sale a few days ago and decided to give it a go.
Umurangi Generation is a short indie title about photography in a "shitty future" as the devs put it. They really aren't lying about that.
Gameplay is pretty fun though FAR from polished. There's a lot of movement and physics jankiness, like getting stuck on or walking through geometry, launching in the air when climbing certain parts of levels etc.
Photo grading (one of the core features of the game) is pretty wonky, with colorful shots often being graded as not having enough color, dull photos being scored as colorful and game treating certain objects as if they were in the frame even if they are completely out of view. The last one is particularly important as the game lowers your score for taking pictures of specific items for example.
Oh yeah, you also can't adjust mouse sensitivity properly for whatever reason. All that's available are a few presets instead of full control with a slider like in any other game.
Story is shown, not told (there are no dialogs at all in fact) - first through background details (like newspaper clippings and whatnot) and then directly by what's going on during the levels. I was going to write it off as "not that important to the game but still an interesting puzzle for those who want to hunt for the details" but after finishing the game I can safely say I was wrong. Heck, I was surprised how emotional the latter half (and especially the final level) felt to me.
It obviously won't be the case for everyone but I ended up liking it way more than expected.
Visuals are rather simple and minimalistic but not in a bad way - they have a cohesive style that works well with game's atmosphere. Soundtrack is also filled with some fun bops and the only negative I can say about it is the fact that some tracks feel way too energetic compared to what's going on on screen.
Levels are small, simple and offer a decent variety. They could use some polish and, maybe, a bit more details in places but overall they aren't bad.
Despite being far from perfect and even feeling like someone's first game project, I can't help but appreciate this title. It's simple, engaging and has a pretty strong direction. It's definitely worth a look (especially for the price I paid for it). It's also short, sitting at around 2-3 hours, so you won't have to worry about having to sink a lot of time for it.
Sorry for the stream of consciousness. I'm still fresh after finishing the game and haven't fully organized my thoughts but I thought this could interest someone in the game (it's on sale on Steam for another day or so).
Edit: Brainfart correction.
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That's actually one of the most annoying parts about the whole thing. SKG campaign has been running for what, a year now? Barely anyone with an audience cared enough to even look into it, let alone spread the news. Now that things came close to failing suddenly everyone thinks it's an important topic and scrambled to make videos/posts/whatever. I'd like to give them the benefit of the doubt but I just don't have that in me any more...
We could've been in so much better place with awareness, petitions and general sentiment if people in the industry actually cared about these things from the start.
Better late than never, I guess. I just hope there's enough time to push through the EU petition as well.