PluS MF CLOUDS: a silly plural spectrum meme thingy

[lb_lee]

Sneak: You might've noticed I totally gave up on the remaking of the Plural Code a while back. So many people had done it, I wasn't sure I really had anything better to offer. (House of Chimeras list four different ones, and that's not including the SB Code or the 2015 Plurality Resource Forum version.)

Then, much more recently, I learned about the 2018 Plural Spectrum Tool from the Plural Association!

We attempted to fill it out, but we had a really hard time. We have trouble plotting things on scales of ten, unless we have the scale written down for what exactly each number stands for. There were a couple criteria I just couldn't fill out, like pride. And I also wasn't sure exactly what some of the criteria meant. (Do they mean memory sharing for the vessel only? Or in-head or otherworld stuff too? Is stability a measure of distress or impairment? Does internal communication mean on-purpose, by accident, both? What's the difference between elaboration, co-consciousness, and memory sharing?)

Nevertheless, I got out my spiral, did my best to plot all the scales, and here's our result!



We did it wrong. :(

And I thought, what if we revamped it a little bit so my brain could do it easier? And also made it convertible into a screen-readable text string?

So I decided, just for fun, to make my own spectrum. I narrowed it to eight categories, because that was very easy to draw with compass and straight-edge/graph paper, and I simplified it down to a scale of 0-4, standing for Never, Sometimes, 50/50, Usually, Always. That got much easier for me to keep in my head, and it also gave easy midlines between the individual categories, in case they weren't quite right.

Here is my silly graph paper spectrum!



Here is how we filled out ours.



How can I convert this image into a text-only string? Each variable gets a letter:

• M (memory): how often do you share/retain vessel memories?
  • 0: never. I don't even remember things I was here for!
  • 1: rarely. I only remember things I was here for.
  • 2: 50/50. It's chance whether we'll share a memory or not.
  • 3: usually. Most of the time, we'll remember what the vessel did.
  • 4: always. We have a vessel memory like an elephant! We never forget!
• C (cooperation/camaraderie): how often do you work together as a team?
  • 0: never. We are individuals, not a team.
  • 1: rarely. We work together if we have to.
  • 2: 50/50. We might, we might not.
  • 3: usually. We are a team.
  • 4: always. We do everything together as a group.
• F (flux): how often does your system (roster, worlds, etc.) change?
  • 0: never. We were born this set-up, we will die this set-up.
  • 1: rarely. Changes are a huge shocker when they happen.
  • 2: 50/50. Both periods of change and periods of stasis are normal.
  • 3: usually. We go through periods of change regularly, and periods of stasis are surprising.
  • 4: always. Just assume we aren't the same when you speak to us.
• L (leakage): how often do others read your thoughts/sensations/feelings? (or, alternately, how often can you not get privacy?)
  • 0: never. I have total privacy.
  • 1: rarely. Communicating to others internally takes work or luck.
  • 2: 50/50. We're equally likely to leak on each other or not.
  • 3: usually. Privacy is a luxury, or require effort.
  • 4: always. Every thought I have may be commentated on.
• D (differentiation): how often are you differentiated, versus blending or blurring?
  • 0: never. We are a blurry hivemind.
  • 1: rarely. We have a strong resemblance.
  • 2: 50/50. We have differences, we have similarities.
  • 3: usually. We only blend or get blurry rarely.
  • 4: always. We are distinct individual snowflakes.
• S (switchiness): how often do you switch out?
  • 0: never. I don't come out. (Or, alternately, we never switch, period.)
  • 1: rarely. I only come out under very special circumstances. (Or, alternately, we only switch under special circumstances.)
  • 2: 50/50. Maybe I'll come out (or we'll switch), maybe not.
  • 3: usually. I come out regularly. (Or, we switch regularly.)
  • 4: always. We're a revolving door.
• O (obvious/open): how obviously plural are you? Or, conversely, how often is it a challenge to hide your plurality?
  • 0: never. Nobody would ever suspect we're plural!
  • 1: rarely. It takes effort to "act plural enough."
  • 2: 50/50. We can swing either way, depending on circumstance.
  • 3: usually. We can pass for singlet, but it takes work.
  • 4: always. Nobody is surprised, people have figured it out despite my best efforts, it's hopeless.
• U (user-friendliness): how often is your brain/worlds/system pleasant and helpful (versus trying to murder and eat you)?
  • 0: never. Welcome to the murderdrome.
  • 1: rarely. You have to be careful, and nobody should wander around alone.
  • 2: 50/50. There are dangerous parts, there are safe parts.
  • 3: usually. Sure, bad things happen sometimes, but they're unusual.
  • 4: always. Our system couldn't hurt us if it tried.

Or, with the letters rearranged: MF CLOUDS. (M.D. wants the MF to stand for a swear. I am telling her no. -_-)

I also decided to use three modifiers from my old attempts to redo the Plural Code:

• !: prefer not to answer, or none of your business! (represented graphically by Xing out the relevant slice)
• ?: unknown, inapplicable, uncertain (represented graphically by marking the relevant slice with a ?)
• ~: in flux, ever-changing (represented graphically with wild squigglies!)

So in text, our spectrum graphic breaks down to:

PluS m(0-3) f(~1?) c(0-4) l(0-4) o(4) u(1-3) d(1-4) s(0-4)

What do you think?

Comments

[stealthsystem]

Can we steal the M effing clouds?

[lb_lee]

Sneak: Sure! And feel free to monkeywrench or tweak it to your convenience! :D

[tomato_greens]

hello! long time no visit-your-blog! nice to see you guys around; two things:

1) this is quite interesting - I especially appreciate your text-translation because I find this kind of graphing difficult to read and parse. you don't mind if other people try out the MF CLOUDS? I'm curious to see what it feels like to answer these questions!

2) a while ago, we talked briefly about Akwaeke Emezi and, I belieeeeve, my distaste for Dear Senthuran; I remember I wanted to talk to you about that book, but my brain got away from me(/us). would you still be interested in talking about Akwaeke Emezi with me, an internet rando? I've read The Death of Vivek Oji since, and I continue to be kind of obsessed with Akwaeke Emezi, but not always for unpetty reasons...anyway!

hope you're doing okay (all things considered).

[lb_lee]

Sneak: sure! Play around with MF CLOUDS as much as you like!

Mori: yeah, kick them tires! Test drive it, change what suits you, see what doesn't work. And we still want to hear your thoughts on Emezi and Dear Senthuran; we've read Vivek Oji but not Senthuran or Bitter yet.