On the contrary, negative comments show you care enough to contribute, and so I'm honored to have elicited such a response.battleskill108 said:
The defining factor is context. You need to remember I didn't do this for the benefit of others outside the escapist users who knew me and my personality/habits. I have spent much of my time here under the persona of 'The Ultra Joe', a caps slinging faux-alpha-male and constant self-parody. I have spent a year, in fact, making light of myself as what might be described as the unholy union of Jack Black and Vin Diesel, with all of the arrogance and pretension that accompanies it, the entire point was to be an audacious clown.battleskill108 said:
The reason this event holds a special place in my heart is because it was not done with a simple declaration of gender, but through sending a person to act as myself at Escapism, one of our more cherished escapist unofficial events. First and foremost, this was a gag between friends, between myself and the escapists who knew me and understood the facade that I am. Fooling some friends and having a good time was the intent. That's why we all enjoy and like to discuss this, in the context of my relationship with the forums it holds a certain amount of amusement to those involved, and those are the ones that this was designed for.
This is first and foremost a joke and a laugh for the people involved.
battleskill108 said:
Oops, You Got Me.
My Evil twin aside, this joke was never aimed at an entire community, it was aimed at the people who I knew and conversed with, and who would and have understood the purpose was not to harm, and who have mostly greeted it with warmth and good humor. I stand by this sentiment, those who have taken offense I believe to be grossly overreacting, and I believe Fire Daemon in particular was only offended because he confused this as a collaborative effort including others than Labyrinth and Myself.
The 'experiment' part came later, as we enjoyed watching the reactions of a wider community, I had always intended to try and experience the apparently 'commonly known' aspects of the female experience, and they are commonly known. But knowing of them and living them are two different things. Our joke became my enjoyment of the discoveries I was making and the genuinely amusing anecdotes I was accumulating. I'm not, I would like to think, a stupid person, and most of things occur to me as being fairly easy to observe without deception, but there's a factor to this that adds a level of deeper meaning; These were people who knew me.
Had I signed up to this forum, said I was female and then jumped out with a thread like this it would have meant nothing. It became diabolically intriguing when I observed people who I had spoken to for years shift in attitude and behavior. Remember, these are people I know and have an understanding of, even if I tend to hold my own personal details close to my steel chest. They don't mind interacting with the persona that it me, because he's not exactly unlikeable. But here they were, having glimpsed under the mask, changing dramatically. that's what makes this interesting. I know gender-deception happens every day and is nothing special, but this was special and important to me, because it dealt with people I already knew.
As a clown with a degree of common sense, I am fully aware of this fact. What I tried to stress in this post was the personal aspect that I observed, and make comment with them on the wider social implications as seen by me, rather than try to highlight those implications directly, because they're fairly obvious to anyone with eyes.battleskill108 said:
Perhaps I used the word experiment in poor context, and I have been known to make ungodly levels of mistakes, mind you. Perhaps that misleads you to the goals of this project. The goal was my large, possibly sociopathic, grin, the word experiment sort of cropped up in later editions and indeed ended up being used as the cover-page to the drama, as I'm not so much of an ass as to storm out and start laughing like a madman at my very minor scheme. But i'd like to point out once again that it's the context that ruins this for you. To the people involved, who did react differently, the past few days have been long MSN conversations and IRC sessions (Come on down, i'd love to talk with you about this some more) on the issue and we've all had a blast sifting over our memories.
In summation, in TL;DR, and for those who like succinct answers: If you don't get it, don't like it, or don't understand, then you probably weren't meant to. This thread was created to try and make it relevant to you, and prompt some discussion while avoiding implicating specific others who might be unwilling to share their own direct experiences with you. It's this accuracy dissonance that causes the problems with this thread, but I was getting over being female and this seemed like a good way to shed the ovaries and get some feedback on the issue at the same time.
Yes, Accuracy Dissonance is lying.
Don't Act Surprised.
And now for some Sardonicism:
I you read all of that, twice, when you had concluded that there was nothing of value in it, and found it 'in such a way that simple people wouldnt[sic] understand', and then wrote all of that, then I am not responsible for wasting your time. In the words of Obi-Wan; You have done that yourself.battleskill108 said:
Not my regular escapists, Altorin, the 'generation' I joined the escapist with were all certainly aware, and to me those are the ones that matter, and for whom I created this little sideshow. Next time i'll be sure to write for everyone, as I usually do. Have you seen my funnel-web thread? That was for everyone.Altorin said:
