That's right, in honor of WrestleMania weekend I will be playing Fire Promoter at noon (CST) today (April 6, 2019).

So, in about two hours I'll jump onto https://twitch.tv/theotternerd to play one of the best pro wrestling management games out there.

RULES:
American "Showman" Promotion
Normal Mode
8 Other Promotions (No Custom Promotions)

I've decided that Roxy needs a small update, but nothing that would require new art. In order to make her more of a cougar, her age will be bumped up to about 36-37.

In the past few weeks, I've been getting back into WoW and had a lot more fun than I thought I would. Vici and I are leveling a few characters together while I'm also leveling a side character or two. Sadly, we don't really have anyone to play with, so we can't do any dungeons or raids unless we PUG (and those usually don't end up going well from my experience).

I'd love to get a small crew together on WoW, but we'll have to look at our schedules before we try to commit to anything. If interested, just give me a holler here.

Earlier today, I finished the single player campaign for Doom (2016). It was one of the best first-person shooters I've played in ages.

I've already gushed about it on Twitter and written up a review that's up on my Tumblr, but I just wanted to say that it's really good.

Recently, I've been trying out a bunch of free-to-play games or trial versions of games. Oddly enough, most of them have been Blizzard games. So, here's my thought on those games.

1. World of Warcraft Starter Edition
Free-to-Play (up to level 20)
This game, seriously, is not very good and has not aged very well. I got to level 12 and couldn't stand the game anymore. The abilities are too few and far between (I had maybe 6 abilities at that point) and all the missions were boring fetch quests or "kill X many of Y enemy" quests. Not very fun. And I quickly remembered how much I don't care about the "story" in WoW as there is no character immersion. It makes me remember how good SWTOR is.

2. Diablo 3 Starter Edition
Free-to-Play (up to level 13 and end of Act 1)
I haven't played this much, but it barely feels like a Diablo game. I loved Diablo 1 and 2 so much, and after playing a little bit of Diablo 3 I just want to play Torchlight instead.

3. Heroes of the Storm
Free-to-Play
Holy shit, do I love this game. I've played League of Legends and Dota 2, and Heroes of the Storm is way more fun to play. HotS removes all the bullshit that I hated about MOBAs: last hits, individual leveling, jungling, the same map over and over again, gold and gear. HotS makes the barrier to entry low, but still keeps the gameplay deep with traits and unique elements to each map. I've been playing a bunch of Leoric and Zagara, but I need to make enough gold to make Leoric a permanent part of my rotation (I'm ~5000 gold away).

If you want to play Heroes of the Storm with me, I usually have Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays available.

After catsitting my mom's cat over the holidays, Vici and I felt more confident in our ability to take care of a cat. So, the other day we went to the shelter and found a pretty lady named Olympia. She's part Siamese and probably part domestic short hair.

We've brought her home and right now we're just waiting for her to warm up to us and her new environment. So far, she's hanging out in the bathroom.

As Roxy is probably the most popular character I have, go ahead and ask her stuff. Whatever you want, nothing is taboo.

Also, I have a question for all of you: is there a particular kink/fetish that you would like to see Roxy involved with in a commission?

While at Midwest Furfest, a small amount of drama occurred over a particular fursuit. The fursuit in question prominently displayed the Confederate flag on it. I actually saw it a couple times during the convention, the most visible time being when I was marching in the fursuit parade and the other fursuiter was leaving the building from a side door. Additional drama came about when people were tweeting and posting that if they saw that fursuiter that they would then actively destroy or do damage to the fursuit.

So, here's what I have to say on the whole matter:

1. I don't like the Confederate flag. It symbolizes oppression and racism. Even a professor at West Point, Col. Seidule, confirms that slavery was in fact the primary motivator for the Civil War, and therefore the Confederate flag is a symbol of that.

2. Pride in one's heritage is important to some, but to use a symbol of oppression and racism for that is wrong.

3. A threat to destroy someone else's property, no matter the noble intention behind it, is wrong.

4. Civility is key. Having a debate or discussion on the issue is fine, but you cross a line when you threaten violence or destruction of another's property. When you do that, you become as bad as that symbol.

You may comment on this, but only in a civil manner. I will begin removing comments that deviate from rational discussion and if it becomes to hard to moderate, I will disable comments completely.

(Stolen from Strype with some edits here and there.)

Where are you staying?
The Doubletree.

Mode of transportation:
My car!

Transportation buddies:


Arrival and Departure:
Thursday to Sunday/Monday (can't remember how long the room is for). Also, I will be gone from Friday night until Saturday afternoon, I have a final Saturday morning.

Who will you be rooming with?


What level are you Registering as?
Basic. So far, I have yet to see any real benefit to getting a badge at a higher level.

What's your preferred name?
underclocked works, but if you know me more personally then you can use my given name.

How tall are you?
5' 10"

What is your gender?
Male

How old are you?
31, but I don't look it.

Personality Type?
I'm usually quiet around new people I meet because I'm trying to figure them out. Around friends, I'm much more outgoing.

Are you nice?
Bitch, I might be. Generally, yes.

Are you taken?
Yup.

Are you cliquey?
I guess? I mean, I try to meet new people, but I mostly hang out with my friends.

Who will you hang out with during the convention?
Obviously Vici and our roommates, but I might be trying to meet up with other friends.

What suits will you have?
Buck.

Can I take a picture of you?
Why? Is this for blackmail? I said get that camera out of my face!
Just ask first, really.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
If your name is not Vici then NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Do you have an artist table?

Do you do trades?

Do you do free art?

Do you do commissions?

Will you be selling anything?

Will you be buying any art?
Maybe. I'll have to see.

Do you like parties?
Not if they are loud.

Can I buy you drinks?
I'd prefer not to get drinks from strangers, but if you're buying and I get it directly from the bartender, then maybe.

Can I dance with you?
I don't dance.

Where will you be?
That's a very existential question.

How can I find you?
I'll be on my phone occasionally checking Twitter. While I'm suiting, well, that's a different situation. I can't phone with hooves.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Approach me from the front slowly and purposefully. Don't make sudden movements or flail about or scream.

Can I talk to you?
I guess. It's a free country.

If you're pissed off, should I approach you?
Best to not do it.

Can I hang out with you?
If you ask nicely and I think you seem cool, then yeah.

Rules of engagement (physical contact):
Have you seen Arrested Development? If not, here's the gist--NO TOUCHING!

Can I visit your room?
Only if invited.

What/where will you be eating?
Thursday I'll be getting some Edzo's in Evanston (best burger in Chicago), then probably Saturday night we'll be ordering some Giordano's (best pizza in Chicago).

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
If you can find a ride or cough up cash for food, then yeah. No free rides here!

Are you doing anything outside of the con?
I might go see the RiffTrax Live event Thursday night. I have to talk it over with Vici.

Will you be at any panels?
Yeah, a couple. I'm still looking over the programming to see what I want to go to.

Will you be performing?

What’s your goal(s) for the con this year?
We're supposed to have goals when we go to cons now? Shit. Um, maybe meet thequeenofmars and not feel like death on Sunday?

I just wanted to post everything in the backlog so I wouldn't have to worry about what was or wasn't posted.

You may return to more important things now.

Seriously, this was really unimportant and kind of stupid.

So, first off, hooray that we have folders! It's almost like the site is only five years behind the times. While the novelty of folders is still lingering in the air, I just want to say what I think about the implementation.

- Good on them for not limiting submissions to a single folder. It's one of my gripes on the other furry art sites. However, I do have issue with the fact that you can't tell the site to not show submissions that are in folders. Most art sites default to hiding submissions that are in folders from your main gallery. I'd wish there was an option for that.

- I don't really get why we would need folders and sub-folders unless you run a comic and you want to separate by issue/year. It's almost silly, but I'll say it might be handy to someone.

- The folder management tools are clunky. As FATransparency on Twitter said, "I feel they rushed this just for [FA: United]" (full tweet here). Personally, I feel the system is clunky because they are still running ancient code as the backbone.
Using the submission manager to add stuff to folders is taxing unless you're simply adding everything on that page. You're better off going to each individual submission and choosing what folder they go in after clicking the "Change Info" link.

Final Thoughts: The folder system is nice, but it needs a ton of work. Besides the initial bug of your scraps disappearing, it's still a rocky release. They probably should have waited for next year's FA:U to debut folders after making sure they work properly first.

Also, in many respects this seems like it's "too little too late," especially with a lot of the site drama going on. It does seem like 'Neer & Co. might be trying to silence dissenters by finally offering something that people have wanted and divert attention from the the fact that the forums separating from the main site and lots of dirty laundry is being aired.

He's got some YCH slots open for a flat price. Go get you some amazing art.

https://www.furaffinity.net/view/17637149/ <-- Go there.

You can ask me stuff or direct a question towards any of my characters.

Hey everybody, just giving a brief overview of my time at IFC this weekend.

Thankfully, due to some convenient scheduling, Vici was able to have the weekend off from work, which allowed us to travel to Indy for Saturday and Sunday. The trip was rather uneventful, Vici driving instead of me (as I usually drive), and we were lucky enough to check in early to our hotel room (by about five hours). Registration was easy to navigate as well, but that's probably due to the fact that IFC is ultimately a small convention (less than 1000 attendees). It was great to see Lyenuv there, who was also the Guest of Honor, and pick up some art that she did for us. We went to a few panels, including Uncle Kage's "Science, Psuedoscience and Crap" panel and his story hour, and also got to play some Lupus in Tabula. We also hung out a little bit with Crimsonred77 as he works at the same place as Vici (and we need to make more friends). Ultimately, it wasn't a bad time.

But, it wasn't the best. Here's some stuff that I want to point out.

The dealer's den was...tiny. I've been to a convention held at the same hotel before and the space for the dealer's den is what was normally used for larger panels. Now, I can understand not having a HUGE dealer's den for a convention of about 500 people, but it felt incredibly cramped. In fact, IFC wasn't even using the space that the other convention used as the dealer room, a room that could have easily been for main events and hold every attendee. Another reason why I state this is because the space used for main events was adjacent to other panel rooms and the music from the dance was incredibly loud, making those panels nearly impossible to run.

Also, artist's alley was a ghost town. We saw, at most, seven artists in there. Not only that, but artist's alley was kind of off in a corner and you wouldn't really be able to figure that out unless you saw the one sign pointing you that way.

So, my suggestion to fix that is two-fold:
- Put main events in the larger space (Liberty Hall).
- Put the dealer's den and artist alley into Grand Ballroom 4 & 5.

Now, I do want to say that as I looked at the schedule in print versus what I saw online a couple months ago, there were things missing in the print copies of the program. This included the fact that Lupus in Tabula was online and even printed on the door for the tabletop gaming room, but not in the printed programming guide. Also, putting Lupus in Tabula, a big game that requires a lot of room and that can sometimes be loud or distracting to others around, to be put in the tabletop gaming room was kind of a mistake on programming's part.

The last thing I will bring up is the general failure of programming and tech to have panel rooms ready for certain panels, notably Lyenuv's "Adventures in Fetlife" panel. Upon arrival, there was no projector and the room was located next to main events. While the dance was going on. A shock, I know. After about 15 minutes, it was decided that the panel would be moved to secondary main events (which is not adjacent to main events) and would happen after the Match Game. I went into the Match game when there was supposed to be 15 minutes left and it went on for about 20-25 minutes, meaning that Lyenuv's panel was delayed again. Then tech (or whoever it was from con staff) tried to get the projector working and everything ready for the panel. By the time midnight was rolling around (half an hour from when Match Game was scheduled to end) Lyenuv's panel had not started and I was starting to feel a sharp pain from where I had recently had surgery. I couldn't sit there any longer and had to leave.

So, what was that rant about? Programming and the rest of staff need to be more aware of time management when it comes to panels. I don't care if someone from staff has to got to whoever is running a panel when there is 10-15 minutes before it's supposed to end and say, "wrap it up," but they have to do something. In order for people to be engaged in the programming, it has to be handled with professionalism and timeliness.

Now, I could say something about who is in charge of programming, but I won't be jumping in on that drama llama (#DramaLlama).

NOTE: I will be forwarding some of my concerns and suggestions to whatever email address IFC has for such comments.

After a long and arduous journey that took nearly two years, my National Pokedex is complete. Thanks to the help of Vici, the Wonder Trade, and a few dedicated people on Reddit, I was able to get all of this done. I've already updated my footer to show all of this and I'm totally willing to help you out with completing your own Pokedex if you need it.

Anthrocon was a blast, even though a lot of the programming didn't draw me in. I met a bunch of cool people while playing Lupus in Tabula and even learned how to play Furoticon. I also got to see a show that I've wanted to see in a long time: the Uncle Kage and 2 charity show. Vici and I were planning to go to that at MWFF last year but felt too tired and left, which ultimately may have been a good idea. However, it was a lot of fun and having the live drawings was equally fun. I also got my fursuit (which if you follow my Twitter, you already know that) and it was fun taking it out for a test drive. It'll be even more fun in the winter as it'll keep me nice and warm (except inside as I'll become an oven).

Now onto the second part of the title: DRAMA.

Before AC there were people posting about 2's booking agent saying some really nasty stuff. Now, the statements are really bad, but the fact that people are decrying 2 as well...that doesn't make sense. 2 didn't say those things. Now, it would be smart for 2 to maybe talk about it and just say that his booking agent's statements are not his own (which we should be assuming from the get-go) or simply address it. He hasn't done that from what I know, but has simply done what he always does.

On the flip-side, there's apparently a group of people who also want 2 banned from AC because he's transphobic and racist. First, he's friends with Kage so it won't happen. Second, I've never heard him say anything racist or transphobic. Maybe it was at his stand-up show. I don't know, I didn't go. But I've also listened to 2's old rants and he seems like a shock comedian or he puts on a sort of Howard Stern-like persona. From what I saw of him on-stage this year, he probably doesn't actually hate or fear transgenders or hate or fear certain races, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt until someone provides proof of a statement he made that shows he is transphobic or racist (it's called burden of proof).

Another odd call for a ban from AC is Furoticon. Now, the argument is it's a porn game at a family friendly convention. And I get that, but there's plenty of artists in the dealer's den that sell nude/pornographic artwork (censored in the displays) and there are adult panels and an adult section in the art show. I'm fine with making a statement like "create an adult-only section of the dealer's den" like what Midwest Furfest did, but you can't decry a business for still following the rules of the dealer's den even if it is overtly adult in nature.

...Aaaaaaand, commence the hate comments.

Taken and rewritten from Vehliayn's journal.

Where are you staying?
The Omni.

What day are you getting there?
Thursday, July 9th.

How are you traveling?
Automobile.

Who will you be rooming with?


How is the best way to find you?
I'll be on Twitter a bit, but you'll probably be better to get in touch with Vici or Vehliayn.

Are there any panels you might be attending?
I'm going to try and attend a few, I just don't know what's there yet.

What do you look like?
Average build, average height, glasses, brown hair, blue eyes, red beard, Blackhawks jersey (it's really called a sweater).

Will you be suiting?
Maybe. I'm debating it. I have a 3/4 suit that I'll be picking up at the con, but I don't know if I want to debut it there.

Do you do free art?
No, I do not art let alone free art.

Do you do trades?
See above.

Do you do badges?
Have you caught on yet?

What is your gender?
Male

How tall are you?
5'10"

Can I talk to you?
Whatever, I don't care.

Can I touch you?
No, unless you bathe yourself in Purell.

Can I visit your room?
Only if one of the people invited you.

Can I buy you drinks?
Nah, I'll be buying my own.

Can I give you stuff?
Only if it's something that I can't bring through airport security, like explosives, firearms, drugs, or knives.

Can I hug or snuggle with you?
If you're Vici then yeah. Otherwise, no.

Are you nice?
Generally, yes. I'm just being an ass here.

How long are you going?
Thursday to Monday.

Do you have an artist table?
I do not art!

Will you be going to parties?
I'm an old man, so probably not.

Will you be performing?
No. No no no no no. No.

If I see you, how should I get your attention?
Walk to my front and announce yourself. None of this sneaking up on me shit.

Where will you be most of the time during the day?
I don't know.

What/where will you be eating?
Fernando's and Ben & Jerry's.

Can I come with you for food/fun/etc?
If you ask kindly, maybe.

Can I take your picture?
Why? I'm nobody.

What's your goal(s) for the con this year?
Not feel like shit on Sunday.

I've acquired a bit of a backlog, so over the next few hours I'll be uploading all of that. Please don't hate me for spamming your inboxes.

Well, I happen to have four of them from one of the latest Humble Bundles and shockingly I already own them. That means that I have four games that I am willing to give out for free so long as you have a Steam account. The games include:

Dawn of War Game of the Year Edition
Dawn of War II
Dawn of War II: Retribution
Space Marine

All four are great games, though I have some reservations with Space Marine (I don't like the controls all that much as it practically forces you to use a game pad). If you are interested in getting any of them, just let me know and I'll note you the link to get the key.

Tomorrow Vici and I are getting our new apartment and then we have the lengthy process of moving all our stuff from our old apartment to the new apartment. Thankfully it's just across town and we've got movers for all the big stuff. So don't expect a ton of stuff until maybe the beginning of June.

I posted on Tumblr a critique of the new UI, but I'll post it in full here:

Fur Affinity has finally rolled out an updated UI and there’s lots to talk about. First off, let me say that this is a step in the right direction. This is the first tangible olive branch from Fur Affinity for years of promises of progress.

The General Feel
Honestly, the site looks cluttered, especially the front page. Having taken courses in web design, I was taught that you never want to have your site extend all the way to the edge of the window. Typically, you set the CSS to have a buffer on the sides of about 5-10% on each side (usually with a minimum of about 50-100px for smaller monitors). It makes the page flow more easily and draws the eye down.

Another issue is thumbnails no longer have the rounded edges and went to sharp edges. While this is an aesthetic other sites are using, I like the beveled edges.

An odd note is that the entire banner at the top is now a link back to the front page, except for the area above, between, and to the right of the top ads. Honestly, keep the logo as the link back to the front page, not the entire banner and this can easily be done is CSS using the banner as a background for a <div>.

But I can’t just complain, there are some nice things to talk about. The new top bar is nice, very well spaced out and fits well into the general feel of the site. One thing that I wish they would change is have an accordion effect with the top bar as you scroll down the page and have it stay at the top of the page, similar to Twitter user pages. There is nothing more frustrating than having to scroll up a long journal thread to click on my messages.

The Quick Search bar is also nice, but if you have that please remove the “Search” link right above it. One or the other, guys.

The Front Page
The lack of “New Stories” and “New Music” makes the new front page look bare. It’s kind of a disappointment. A fix could be made by having tabs you switch between with “New Art”, “New Stories”, and “New Music” at the top and having it switch between the categories.

The area that the “UI Early Beta Information“ section takes up could easily be where site news sits. Maybe have the last journal post from Fender there or links to the last three with small excerpts from each, possibly the first paragraph or so with a “Read More” link at the bottom. Also, the information in the “UI Early Beta Information“ could have been in the news post instead of constantly sitting on the front page.

Finally, an odd bug I may have found with the front page: it shows 22 submissions in four rows. Yeah this one is a bit odd. For clarification, I run a 1080p monitor and the front page displays four rows of submissions, the first three having six each and then the last has four. Why 22 and not 24? Is it a bug?

The User Page
A few artists have complained that the user profile is no longer at the top of the page, and I kind of agree that it still needs to be at the top. Many artists have their commission info, what cons they are going to, and several other important pieces of information. Keep it at the top, but you can still have “Recent Submissions” and “Recent Favorites” at the top next to it.

Contact information and artist information, the latter having been rolled into the user profile, need to be paired together right above the user stats.

What happened to the featured submission on the user page? A lot of artists use that as a way to promote their commission prices since the commission page is utilized by almost no one. I use it to promote a height chart for my characters.

Journals don’t show the header and footer on the user page. What’s up with that? Also, if you’re going to have a “Read More” button on the most recent journal on the user page you need to cut off the journal after about five lines of text, not have the whole thing there.

Honestly, I’d love to see the same customization of a user page as Deviant Art, but I know that’d be asking too much of the FA staff.

Journals
My only piece of criticism has to relate to the header and footer and the dashed divider separating them: put some space between the text and the divider. It looks too cramped. Just put like 10px spacing in there or a <br />. Seriously, there’s no need to make everything look compressed. Also, that break or spacing should be on BOTH sides of the divider.

Also, please bring back some distinguishing mark for links. Bold was fine, but do something. Underline, bold, italics, anything.

Submission Notifications
As I’m sure FA is well aware, the spacing between the title of a submission and the user who submitted it is nonexistent. Three spaces or 10px, please.

Notes
Notes look really good. The new reply system is way better than the previous one, so no complaints or criticism here.

Final Thoughts
Honestly, you guys have a long way to go to getting the site looking good, but like I said before: you’re on the right track. It still looks kinda “meh” but there’s some effort put into it. Maybe hire a graphic designer or learn about color palettes as well.

Recently and artist wrote a tirade journal talking about how they believe that others posting art before they do is "rude" and needs to be a condition in the TOS for commissions. This particular artist is someone I stopped watching not to long ago, but a fellow anthro-lover on Twitter posted a link to the journal and it is a shit show of bad PR (along with the follow-up journal). I'm going to briefly touch on the subject of posting before the artist right now.

I have a general rule: if the artist has not posted the art within about 1-2 weeks I post it here (other sites where I know the artist has little or no presence I just post it). If another artist has already posted it, I typically wait 24 hours until I post it. If artist feel like that's not appropriate, make it known and I'll follow your rules, but don't go on a hissy fit because I post it first after giving you ample time to post it.

Another issue that came up in the journal is the artist was complaining about high resolution being posted. Well, FA automatically resizes posts above 1280x1280 (but if you change the file after the initial upload it will keep the true size; FA, get on that bug or just let us post higher res pictures in the first place), but on other sites that isn't the case.

Obviously, everybody is freaking out over the acquisition of FA by IMVU (still confused as to why), so in case you need to find me in other places, here you go:

SOFURRY - https://underclocked.sofurry.com/
WEASYL - https://www.weasyl.com/~underclocked (WARNING: I don't curate this very much)
TWITTER - https://twitter.com/TheOtterNerd


Just to let people know, bot Roxy and Oswald will be getting some new art soon, so be on the lookout for that.
Jun and George and the rest might get some stuff in the near future. I'll have to see what's up with YCHs and such.

TinyCurlyQ is a great artist and she's having some problems at the moment. She's opened up commissions again to help pay for her car repairs and some other necessary things for the car. Every little bit helps and she's even doing 50% off art with her character Flit.

More details here -> http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/6567011/