checkpoints (13. 252)

Reminding us of the phenomena we encountered recently of being blessed by the algorithm, we appreciated this essay by Bijan Stephen about happening across a soothing montage of ambient sounds accompanied with a pristine arcade sky—evoking vague memories that one couldn’t quite place. Even more remarkable than the occasional videos posted by an anonymous user—since removed with the ephemerality of much of the internet though archived and re-uploaded—were the comments by the thousands from others who stumbled there by chance. Sincere and confessional, many referred to the collection as a “checkpoint”—a place to save one’s progress in video game parlance, where should one fail the next challenges, one does not have to start over from the very beginning. In early 2020, something in the platform’s recommendation protocols changes and suddenly began previewing these vignettes to more and more users—like the above algorithmancy—found serendipity and community outside their accustomed fare in these years old videos with titled in Japanese titles, inspiring more lore in this second wave: “Legends say, if you find this video in your recommended, you truly are a main character in your world—not an NPC,” albeit not the most uplifting turn of phrase nowadays with term coopted by those who punch down. More from Longreads at the link above.