Creativity

Procedural Content – An Invisible Service

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A friend of mine recently found Jukedeck – a service that will randomly generate music for you.  Depending on your membership you get to download randomly made music and have assorted rights to it.

It’s fairly obvious from my work at Seventh Sanctum that I love randomized stuff.  Also as I’m a big proponent of Roguelike games and procedural content in things like Borderlands, I’m really biased.

But looking at Jukedeck I began thinking that they (and me to an extent) have explored procedural content as a service.  I mean yes assorted generator-makers like myself have done that before.  But I don’t think people have thought about it as deeply as could be.

Procedural generation, at its best, involves researching data, parameters, and patterns.  It involves finding ways to make them into code that delivers something recognizable.  It is work, it is art, and it is critical to certain artistic forms.

(Hell, it’s pretty much core to No Man’s Sky).

However, procedural generation rarely gets appreciated.  We’re used to it, having seen it make dungeons and weapons in our games from decades, or simply create stuff for pen and paper RPGs with dice rolls.  We take it for granted because it doesn’t stand out, it’s integrated into some media – or we are used to seeing it treated in a funny way, from randomizing errors to brain-shaking numbers of game possibilities being touted.

Jukedeck, by making procedural content a service, made me “see” procedural generation a bit clearer.  It is a service in some cases (I know, I provide it).  It is core to some media.  We’re just so used to it we don’t see it – or see what goes into it.

Step back for a bit and ask just what role it’s played in your life . . .

  • Steven Savage

Review: Jodorowsky’s Dune

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I’m taking a break here by moving to a review of a most unusual film about an unusual film that never was. Perhaps the archetypical Nevermade movie, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s attempt to make Dune in the 70’s.  This is “Jodorowsky’s Dune.”

SHORT REVIEW: Must-watch film for media historians, writers, and filmmakers. Be warned of some odd and offensive language, however.

PROS:

  • A fascinating exploration of the unmade 1976 Dune.
  • Provides insights on how the unmade movie seeded other ideas and brought people together.

CONS:

  • Some parts may be offensive, including a creative/rape metaphor that I found pretty horrible.
  • It’s one-sided, focusing mostly on Jodorowsky.

Read more

180 Shades Of Profit: An Analysis Of An Amazon Erotica Author

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I was going to write about networking, but I caught an article on Kindle micro-erotica fiction and wanted to analyze it.

Over at Cracked Magazine (unofficial motto “The most unexpectedly informative site on the internet.”), author Robert Evans interviewed author Peter Hayward. You probably don’t know Peter as he writes under the Nom De Porn “Pandora Box” at Amazon, and has written over 180 books. Actually you probably don’t know Pandora either, since she/he writes very specialized Amazon Kindle Erotica, and her/his story something worth analyzing.

Now I advise reading the article in its entirety – though fair warning it’s NSFW and some of it is a bit squicky. But it’s a rare, human, and fascinating insight on the fact people are churning out some pretty specialized short erotica in ebook form and making a decent amount of money. We may joke about Dinosaur porn but this is a real thing, its impacting us, and we might as well think about it seriously.

Why seriously? Because eBooks have changed literature. Because people can self-publish. Because people are making money at this. Because it is a fundamental shift in writing and marketing and getting paid.

So before we discuss my take, here’s a quick summary of the article:

  • You can make a lot of money – if you write a lot.
  • You need a niche
  • It’s insightful on people’s fetishes
  • Some erotica terms are code for OTHER things.
  • Amazon has some pretty arbitrary rules.

Now after reading the article there’s a few insights to share with you, my fellow authors. Gay time-traveling cowboy romance aside.*

This Is What People Used Fanfic For

I know fanfic. I’m an Elder Geek. I’ve seen it, wrote it, edited, read it over the decades. I’ve also seen many times where fanfic took a pretty quick turn straight into fetishville- and having been in MST3K fandom, probably moreso. MST3K fandom was often the equivalent of people that want you to smell the milk to see how rotten it is.

A lot of this Amazon erotica sounds like fanfic, targeting specific needs.

I wonder (and I have no evidence either way), if this is where some people are going for needs that fanfic would have filled, or to writing it instead of fanfic as its monetizable. I’d love to see someone do research on it, and that’s a hint to my academic friends.

In fact . . .

This Trends Needs To Be Studied

I’m not saying you need to do a PhD thesis in Werewolf Mind Control Romance** but someone should be studying this trend of fast, specialized, electronic micro-erotica.

Think about what we can learn. Right now people can practically make a living speed-writing a specialized forms of literary pornography and distributing it electronically. Joke about the content, joke about the readers, joke about the book titles***, but this is a historical event. This is something we should be doing academic research on because it is a massive, historical change.

It’s easy to joke about it (it’s not like I’m not doing so), but this is a confluence of so many issues about economics, communication, technology, and human nature someone needs to figure out what’s going on. Narrative examination, research, polls, someone needs to get to this.

If you’re looking for that PhD thesis, I got your subject, but your reading list might not be what you wanted . . .

This Is Insight Into What People Won’t Admit

Research is useful for finding what we don’t know, understanding what we do know, and asking new questions. This area provides some fertile insights into the human conditions.

Once you read this article, and any related articles about trends like Shapeshifting Wizard Incest****, you may joke about the people that read this stuff. Of course when it sells good enough that people can make a living at it, maybe you ought to pay attention. This is providing us insight into things people won’t admit.

  • People won’t admit to these fetishes in public – but will enjoy it in the safety of a kindle window.
  • People will write this stuff for money – I’m sure not everyone will arm it it.
  • Amazon is glad to make money off of this despite some confusing rules – what hell must it in their legal department.

This trend shows insight into human tastes and conditions and culture we’ve not had before. There’s a lot not admitted. Why? How?

As the person behind Pandora says “The more messed up the story is, the more it’ll sell.”

Kinda makes you wonder what your mom is reading on her Kindle, doesn’t it?

It Must Be Tempting

How many of us know or are authors? How many of us have wanted to write fiction? How many of us want to make money at it? OK, I know that’s a larger number, now tell me this . . .

At any time you read this article, were you tempted, just a bitto see if you could make Genderbending Leprechaun Romance*****? Yes, you were. Admit it, you were, even if for a half-second of thought and several minutes of guilt.

It must be incredibly tempting for people who look at this world of strange, specialized, micro-erotica that make money and want a slice of that. It sounds like money in the bank if you have the time, the commitment, and probably an iron stomach. If you’re unemployed or underemployed, it has to be even more tempting.

Maybe it’s not even the money. Maybe you want to challenge yourself. You have to think “any idiot can do this, and I’m any idiot” and wonder if you can do this. Maybe your ego is hurt that someone is writing these books and you aren’t and you want to soothe the wound. But whatever the reason you probably were tempted.

You Can Make Money – But What Are The Implications?

Now, yes this looks profitable. I’m sure many people could make money at this, which is a weird way of saying that I have faith that you, my audience, could right some really well-selling disturbing erotica if you wanted. But there’s a flip side – namely, what are the repercussions for your career?

If this is a side thing, I can see it not being a problem. But if you spend two years writing this stuff do you put it on your resume? Do you mention it in interviews? If you spend a lot of time with this as your only income source how could it look to an interviewer or a client?

I’m not one deep into the world of freelance/professional writing, so I assume writers have a lot of ways to dodge around the dodgy. But if someone gives into the temptation to try this (or the temptation to actually make enough money to live) then one has to evaluate the career tradeoffs. “Fast porn writer” isn’t exactly going to let one branch out.

Closing The Chapter For Now

So, those are my analyses as opposed to my intended rational column on Networking. That’ll probably be done later.

I’d love to hear other people’s insights – seriously. This bears discussing.

Respectfully,

– Steven Savage
http://www.musehack.com/
http://www.informotron.com/
http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

* Start writing.
** Start writing.
*** It’s not hard.
**** Start writing. Also, good Black Metal Band Name.
***** Start writing.