Personality

Here’s something neat that I thought people might be interested in. It’s a personality quiz that claims not to be based on junk science. I mean, that probably isn’t true, but it’s still neat.

How it works is you answer a few question and it rates you on five qualities: Openness to experience, Extraversion, Negative emotionality, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness. Each of those five qualities also has three sub-qualities, although I’m not going to get into all of them myself. Take the quiz yourself if you want to see them.

The average is that people end up with a kind of pentagram shape showing how much of each trait they embody, although the comparisons they gave show that the national average ends with most people having one much shorter side—the negative emotionality. I, on the other hand, had only a four out of a hundred in extraversion while my negative emotionality was off the charts.

I was not surprised by this.

I doubt something so short can really demonstrate the complexities of a human personality, but I found it amusing nonetheless. And accurate. If any of you guys want to try it, I’d love to hear what you think about it.

Quality Over Quantity

Today I’m talking about a game which… kind of isn’t a game? It’s more of a visual novel that plays like a game in some places. There’s a bit of exploring, but mostly you’re walking around areas and experiencing narrative. So it’s like a book, but also like a game, which of course appeals to me on several levels.

The game I’m referring to specifically is called What Remains of Edith Finch, and involves the titular character’s return to her childhood home and unlocking the histories of her family, of which she is the last. You find different things around the house, letters, notes, even a comic book, that let you experience the last moments of Edith’s seemingly cursed to die young family. It’s an expertly crafted story that leaves you thinking about what you experienced.

In all, it takes under two hours to complete, which kind of makes the $20 price tag on Steam seem a bit hefty in spite of the beautiful visuals. However there are plenty of commentary-free play throughs on YouTube if you want to watch for yourself. Thoroughly recommended.

Time Enough

I’ve talked about XKCD before, and how it’s not only the best stick figure comic of all time (it certainly puts mine to shame) but also one of the best comics period. And almost as if to prove why, creator Randall Munroe occasionally posts unique…well, they’re a lot more than comics. For example, there’s a long history of the temperatures of Earth, a gigantic scrollable comic, and a straight up hoverboard game.

One of the best, though, is Time, a comic that takes place over, well, time. Every thirty seconds, there was a change in the comic displayed, sometimes subtle, sometimes more major. There was something like a hundred in total, a comic book in its own right, gathered together here to click through one at a time, chronicling the story of a nameless man and woman first building a sandcastle, then going on a journey to discover what’s going on with the ocean near their village.

There’s a lot more going on than just that, and it’s honestly one of the more creative stories I’ve come across. It shows Earth during a different time period accurately, to the point where the stars displayed during the gorgeously rendered night scenes are accurate to the time period and the location.

Anyway, check it out if you’d like a little…I guess you’d classify it as some sort of speculative fiction? You’ll see.