MOGIFESTO aka my thoughts on the internet of today

So, why exactly make my own website? Especially considering my main focus is the storage and documentation of my own original characters and worlds when I already pretty extensively use Toyhouse, a site made just for that? Truthfully it all really boils down to a few things: Modern day internet, fandom, and social media.

I... never actually got a chance to experience the world wide web in it's "prime"; the old web, the days of geocities and myspace and what have you. Maybe for the better, though, considering that it really was the wild west and my poor little baby self did not need to experience shock sites firsthand, lmao. I didn't really get online until around 2013. That was when I first really started interacting online at the ripe old age of like, 8. That was the year I made my Scratch account (remember that?) and that was probably part of the reason why I ended up down the rabbit hole of art and aspiring game dev and coding a decade later. Over the years, and especially more recently due to... events that happened in 2020 that may have changed the course of history for the absolute worst, I have noticed a serious decline in so many aspects of the web I originally had fallen in love with when I was a grubby little creature showing everyone my super awesome dragon art and my super cool warrior cats ocs and my epic book and game ideas.

Fast forward and now everything is, for lack of better terms, shit. And nothing is worse than social media and fandom culture. I like to describe it as a massive machine, constantly spinning and whirring. Its gears constantly grinding as it just consumes. And its the idea in modern fandom that art in any form is just content to consume. That artists and writers alike are just the method in which you get your content fix before slamming your utensils down and yelling "Waiter! Waiter! More content please!". The cliquey, judgemental nature of social media, how argumentative everyone is if you dare disagree with a headcanon or something. The shipping. Oh god the shipping. My enjoyment in pretty much any fanbase with more than 3 people died the day the shipping and what you are and aren't allowed to write about arguments came in at full tilt and swing. It's exhausting. And all of that on top of the social media algorithm that turns everything into a numbers and engagement game? Bleh.

This shift in online culture is what really began to kick me into gear and look into making my own website to be my own toybox where I can do whatever I want and if anyone wants to complain they must solve my riddles three to do so. Away from the numbers game of social media content and slop creation and away from people online who straight up don't know how to behave anymore online. If I can't see them start another argument about that damn white hag vampire from BG3 or doompost about literally anything in XIV it can't hurt me. I don't think these people actually want to have fun. So now I'm here, working on building my own cool treehouse in the woods away from the sounds and pollution of everywhere else. Sure, Neocities may have its own issues but... there's a lot worse places out there for me to be, ya know? And it's a hell of a lot easier to avoid here too. And at the end of the day we're all lil guys desprately trying to get away from the big guys in the chairs who are behind the reasons why the morden web is so miserable to be on in so many ways.

I want to also give a special little rant about Toyhouse to answer the question of "why make my own site when I already have Toyhouse?". And the answer is simple: it mostly goes back to fandom culture and the pro/anti/whatever the fuck debate. Either that or the fact that Toyhouse is actively falling apart due to there only being one single admin. Lmao. I feel like it should be a no-brainer that the author doesn't always condone the actions of their characters. The idea that you can't write about darker themes and subjects. None of that allowed. Kittens and sunshines and rainbows only. If it makes anyone uncomfortable its problematic and you need to die right now. Hell, even if it's not even dark content people will sometimes just... go on the attack. Because people want drama. They can't just dislike something just because, no, they need a reason why they are morally right and you are wrong. It's an attitude very present on places like Twitter and Tiktok and especially Toyhouse. And a part of me is scared that one day someone will decide to be a hater and I'll get attacked for something completely random because just writing about darker subjects is punishable by death. It's a fear of several of my friends too! And its something that, at least for me, makes me feel embarassed and ashamed of my own characters and writing and scared to ever enjoy it because what if someone else gets upset at me. I just want to be cringe and free and tell the stories of the funny guys in my head who experience the horrors! And the joys too, I suppose.

Toyhouse also gets an extra special mention for the trading culture. The idea that designs and characters are just trading cards to get a new shiny thing and the shopping addictions it fosters and feeds. It's all just content. It's all just consumption. "Oooo look I bought a coolcat420 design aren't I so cool! I'm so connected to this guy I have so much lore!!!!!" and not even 24 hours later it's been foddered off for something even more popular and expensive. Maybe it's silly of me to complain about this side of Toyhouse that barely touches me due to how I have a complex about not liking it when I don't fully own a character because I didn't design it myself. But it still sucks to see as someone who loves to actually make characters instead of just designs. And don't get me started on closed species. I've been in that hellhole. I'm now proud to say that I just offbrand species now. It's more fun that way. Yell at me if you want. I don't care. No one owns deer in socks or fish on land or rabbits in space. Idgaf. (Except I do a little but that's probably because I'm a sensitve, anxious, paranoid mess)

I think I've rambled enough. It's 6am and I'm sure most of this just reads like nonsense, as my unfiltered stream of consciousness thoughts tend to do. But it feels good to get off my chest. I guess if I'm to end this off with a message, it's that you can make whatever you want, actually. In the wise words of a friend of mine, one who is a big reason why I wanted to make my own website thanks to their own super cool site, do what you want always forever. Just do it. Do anything you dream of. Just, don't hurt other people with it, okay? Make what you want and never stop creating. Because at the end of the day, we're all just doing our own thing and there's nothing better than raw human creativity and soul.

Do what you want always and forever. Because really, who actually giva shit.