When I first moved to Shanghai I didn’t have many friends. But after a short while I started to become part of a small social group. One of these friends was rather unusual. He could knock back pints like the best of them, and he was a compulsive liar.
Bok McDonagh
I am Bok, a British-born expat living in China. I was born in Lancashire but identify as a 'plassie-Scouser'. I spent my youth growing up in Cumbria. Here I developed a great taste for exploration, climbing mountains and camping in the wilderness - a taste for travel that has defined my life.
Felix the Reaper: Dancer of Death
This week I play a challenging romantic comedy about death. A puzzle game where you are a dancing reaper, ensuring that the right people die, and die in the right way. With narration by the great Patrick Stewart, what’s not to like.
Butterfly Eggs Done Right
Early on in the mod’s development I made a couple of missteps. I was less experienced and didn’t fully understand how Minecraft works, so I made some design choices that have proven to be problematic.
Removing the Sexism IS the Misstep
Before the live action Avatar series came out, Kiawentiio (Katara) and Ian Ousley (Sokka) commented in an interview that Sokka’s sexism wouldn’t be present in the series. They said that moments were he made sexist comments were ‘iffy’ and wouldn’t work in the live action reimagining.
Poetry, History, and Banditry
Aegon and his troupe are wandering Peldvale, seeking out the bandits’ base of operations. Among the lakes of the forest they have encountered a small group of poets, and are now taking some time to enjoy their poetry.
China’s White Paper Protests
After a building in Xinjiang was set on fire during the lockdown, DaBai refused to let fire fighters get close to the building. As a result, the building burned down killing everyone inside. By choosing to enforce quarantine measures over safety, the officials let those people die.
Eliza: When (No) Choice Matters
This is probably the most important game I’ve ever played. It’s the most important game you will ever play. It touches on themes that are even more relevant now than 2019, the year it was released, in particular the uses of AI and it’s moral implications.
Keeping Their Numbers Down
Butterflies have been taking over. There have been reports that thousands have been spawning, overwhelming servers and lagging out game worlds. So I have spent a large portion of this week working to reduce the butterfly population and ensure that Minecraft servers remain safe.
Cripple Fight and the Excuse
I’ve been rewatching random episodes of South Park lately, and I’m starting to notice some small problems with it. While a series that likes to make fun of ‘both sides’, there does seem to be a definite bias in the message of the show.
Hunt for the Bandit’s Camp
After learning the conspirators behind the Nashkel Mines are also behind the bandit raids, Aegon and his troupe travel to the wilderness to seek out their main camp. Having only a vague location as a clue, they hope to come across bandits travelling toward or back from the main roads.