Never Writes About:
April Fools' Day
(No he doesn't but he tries his best)
Happy April Fools’ Day to those who celebrate. To be honest with you I don’t really understand it. I suppose there isn’t much there to understand. I guess I am befuddled by its persistence as a tradition. I’m not shitting on it,(oh?) I just… wait am I shitting on it? I don’t hate April Fools’ Day. I barely register it as a thing. I think, as a child I maybe perhaps was more interested in it. But it’s hard for me to recall the happier moments of my youth. I guess my issue with it is the same issue I have with many other things.
It is just so commercial! I’m imagining someone shaking their fist, decrying the over commercialization of April Fools’ Day, longing for the old days when the day was about the “art” of the prank. Now it’s just about selling us crap!
My feelings are not so dramatic, but it is weird to see. But that is the nature of capitalism, and a corporate culture that demands all revenue avenues be driven. Driven into the ground if need be. I also “get the ick” when I see news media get on board.
Actually, the image is taken from this story. We stay away from Twitter.
With the amount of “fake news” currently plaguing the media landscape, it is troubling to me to see news media post it willingly, even if it is in jest. And I know many of us sit on our high horse and say only actual Fools fall for some of the stories, but the issue is the actual news has become almost indistinguishable from the false ones. And generally, (in your op-) IN MY OPINION, a lot of news is being reported that is misleading and mostly intentionally designed to keep you angry or afraid, because it is better for engagement. So an entity that already skews information, or leaves out important information, presenting a joke as news, no matter how obvious they think it is, to me, is irresponsible.
Update: The original source of the video was IGN but that was removed. This is Rob Charko‘s re-upload of the “Playmo” video.
The “Project Playmo” is a great example of what I’m talking about. No one should believe this because it is completely unbelievable. But on BlueSky where I originally saw it and on YouTube there are a significant amount of people that bought in. They bought into the absurd notion that PlayStation would develop a product that plays entire games for you. And it is my assertion that they did so because the initial reporting regarding Sony’s patent was sensationalized in the same way the April Fools’ joke was. If you don’t know, the patent details a method for AI to provide a gameplay ghost for players that are stuck in a certain section in game, and if need be complete the section. The patent claims that the AI would be trained “using gameplay footage associated with the game.
I don’t know if you’ve played games before but this is nothing new. The gen AI aspect is new, but I wonder how much it qualifies as gen AI if it is trained in a closed ecosystem of a single game. Certainly(You Are Not knowledgeable enough to be certain) there wouldn’t be, fine, hopefully there would not be any theft involved like other gen AI trained on other peoples work and art. I woildn’t use it, but I can envision valid uses for it. Many games already have ghost avatars for tutorial puposes or puzzle mechanics. Many games let you skip difficult sections. This patent seems to me(A person that knows nothing) just an evolution of accessibility options. That…I know. I know I know nothing.
But the patent wasn’t really reported as such. I understand that much of what I just said is opinion. I know that. But the reporting about the patent was also mostly opinion. The type of opinion that exploits the very real concerns people may have about gen AI, and exaggerates or sensationalizes the facts, thus distorting them to fit a narrative. An easily digestible narrative that centers the reader’s anger, validates it, and then weaponizes it only for engagement and monetary gain.
News media, IN MY OPINION, is meant to inform the audience. With truth, and rationality. It is meant to cut through the noise of knee jerk reactions, not amplify them. It only serves in the short term, leading to an audience that is angry, looking for witches to burn instead of taking real collective action to push for legislation that would protect(You Don’t Even Go Outside You Fucking Loser! SHUT UP!) ssorry. I’m sorry. I’ll stop.