I remember the first time I heard the phrase 'State-mandated homosexuality' I chuckled at the absurdity. How short-sighted I was.

Hmmm, anime figures or a resilient domestic manufacturing base...? Tough choice.

I think people are misunderstanding the purpose of this law and how it will be rolled out in reality. I work for a company which handles hundreds of websites hosted in the UK (some are household names), and I have a lot of connections in the industry. Nobody I speak to is even aware that this law is going into effect. That is intentional.

The purpose of this law is not to make every website that operates in the UK implement age verification, it's to ensure that EVERY website and EVERY company is in violation of this law by default. It's a political gambit which they can invoke at any point in the future to persecute any organisation that the British state takes a disliking to. Classic authoritarianism. As Beria said, "Show me the man and I'll show you the crime."

I am currently in the process of putting together a rather ambitious creative project that involves writing and drawing. I have passable skills at both, but I'm not amazing, and I don't have the time that I used to when I was a kid. I'm outsourcing a lot of the time-intensive stuff, like drawing backgrounds, and turning sketches into lineart, to AI.

With AI it is feasible for me, one man, to put this together as a hobby while working a full time job. Without it, my idea would never manifest. There will be one more piece of creative media in the world that never would have existed without AI.

Yes there's mountains of AI generated slop out there, and I am concerned about real things on the internet being buried under the output of machines, but like any new technology, there's positives and negatives to it. Mostly it comes down to how you use it.

While you are absolutely correct about the pathetic, feminised nature of Europe's ruling class and its frankly abhorrent tyranny when it comes to speech, I have noticed a certain animosity building between average Europeans and Americans which I don't think serves either of us. Perhaps it's even being encouraged by our enemies. I think it's worth remembering how small of a minority whites are on a global level. It's not wise for us to be at each other's throats.

Yep, being earnest and playing things straight is becoming a lost art in the age of post-post-irony and deconstruction. This is part of the reason why Japanese media is soaring in popularity.

Well I have thought about using AI in the production of this thing for various purposes. The unfortunate truth is that I am just one guy and I still work full time, so even with my automation, I don't have the free time that I did when I was a teenager. Back then, writing that novel I metioned took about 5 years, and all I had to worry about was school.

Using AI as a tool would make it a lot more feasible for me to actually complete this thing in a reasonable time frame. I don't want to use it as a crutch, though.

True, Shakespeare is a stark example of how execution is a lot more important than originality at the source.

I think the question then becomes 'What is your threshold for a copy?'. How close does a work have to be to something that came before it in order for you to discard it as a copy?

I think I share your opinion when it comes to novelty. I too rarely watch/read something more than once, but I will enjoy sequels and remasters as long as they are different enough. Sometimes it's interesting just to see how a different creator will tell what is essentially the same story. Writers can't help but project parts of their own personality onto the characters/setting/tropes.

Yeah, it's a tricky thing to apply your own spin on a well established archetype or stock character. As I mentioned in another reply, however, elements of the author's perspective are bound to emerge even if they are using a trope. Perhaps it's one of those things that's best not overthought.

A very wise and well-considered comment. Thank you.

Cultural shorthand is an excellent way to describe tropes. I suppose an author shouldn't feel guilty or shy away from using them if they are part of the supporting architecture of the story. The intimidating part for me is, am I a good enough writer to get across the elements of the story that I actually want to focus on, and have them land with the appropriate gravitas?

While I am a creative person, I still have the mind of an engineer. Character interactions, emotions, and dialogue are hard for me to get right.

I suppose one benefit I have in the current age is that I am trying to tell a story earnestly, and not ironically or deconstructively as so much popular media does today. Because of that I feel like I need to treat my audience's attention with the respect it deserves, as you mentioned.

Yeah, I hear you. One could argue that a lot of progressive stories are 'original' in a perverse kind of way. That doesn't make them good.

I think that 'more than the sum of its parts' applies to a lot of Japanese stories in particular, because they do tend to be quite derivative when looked at from the outside. The good ones, though, have very well rounded characters, and you tend to spend so long with them (especially in a JRPG) that you can't help but grow to like them.

I appreciate the note of encouragement. I don't think my story is breaking any new ground, really, but it will be influenced by my own conservative worldview, which I guess you could say makes it slightly more rare in the modern context. Stories have a way of taking on a life of their own once you start writing them, so I guess we'll see how ambitious it becomes.

As someone who is a fan of the Trails JRPG series, I completely agree with the need for 'comfort food' when it comes to storytelling. That story is as overwrought and tropey as it gets, but sometimes you don't want to be challenged by a story, you just want a nice, comfy setting where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. As you say, anime is great for those kind of self-indulgent, comfortable stories, but it can also sometimes completely blow your expectations out of the water. There's a place for both kinds, I suppose.

I think you're right. True 'originality', whatever that might be, is fundamentally impossible, because we are products of our cultures. You're always going to be building on the shoulders of giants, no matter what you do.

That's definitely been my experience of developing an art style, so I can attest to that at least. To some degree I guess it's impossible to create a work which is completely derivative, as elements of the author's unique perspective will always shine through, even if you're deliberately attempting to copy something.

Yes, there is a lot to be said for playing things straight in this day and age.

Build the game from the outset with an end of life plan in mind, like releasing the server code to the public to let others host it. It's not difficult.

Definitely a radiation leak.

So, buy, then?

I had a similar experience when I finally figured out how to attract women in my 20s. Once you actually sit down and talk to them, you realise that most modern women are achingly vapid and uninteresting. You realise you were chasing after a thin, pretty veneer over an empty, hollow shell about 80% of the time.

Is there any source to that?

This is why you keep hearing the same voice actors over and over again, especially in dubs of anime and Japanese games. It gets to the point where it starts to become jarring and take you out of the experience. I think Matt Mercer has a pretty impressive vocal range, but good grief I've listened to him talk for hundreds of hours now and I could pick out his timbre anywhere, no matter how skilled he is at hiding it.

You are correct. In my experience it is without fail because they had a good father whom they could rely on and respect. If they spent their entire childhood trusting and loving their father, of course it's a lot easier for them to trust and love a man in a marriage.