i think re: neocities i've also been thinking about the idea of digital community (some of which has been brought on by a gamedev server i joined recently that has been phenomenal and that i've really enjoyed being a part of)... traditional mainstream social media despite CERTAINLY allowing for connections between people (hell my weekly d&d group is half people i met on twitter) feels somehow vaguely isolationist in many ways, maybe because the algorithm feels like it strips community in favor of advertisement. my cohost feed feels more like a community to me in that sense because i'm engaging repeatedly with the same group of people, which is cool and personally what i want out of the site even if other people wish there was more "findability" so to speak. maybe modern society in general discourages forming communities in that sense, or at least it's something i've felt fairly disconnected from
this is so rambly and not cohesive at all probably but i want like an internet zine group or like an internet indie dev group (which is, admittedly, very much what my cohost feed is like lol--REALLY fun getting to chat with other smaller game devs and also something i've appreciated a lot) i guess ?? want the internet experience of hanging out with people and making art/games together unimpeded, which school doesn't necessarily feel like because it's motivated by academia and not by the desire to make something for the sake of making. making a game vs gamemaking as an artistic practice type beat. i want to make little art games the same way people make handmade zines but in the context of being one of a group