A Fairly Cool Thing

[MeechMunchie]

Have a go, guys, and write down your answers as you go. Then we can all have a dumb sharing session. It's actually quite interesting, so long as you take it with a grain of salt. Don't try and be a smartarse, just let yourself think naturally.

Spend a minute on each task. Think through your answer carefully before moving onto the next.

I want you to imagine an empty desert, stretching out as far as your eyes can see. Picture this desert in perfect clarity before you move on. The sky, the ground.

In this desert is a cube.

Your first task is to describe the cube. What does it look like? How large is it? What is it made of? Where exactly is it?

As you look at the desert and your cube, you notice there is also a ladder. Your second task is to describe the ladder. What is it made of? How big is it? Where is it, in relation to the cube?

Now imagine that in the scene there is a horse. Describe the horse. Where is the horse, and what is it doing? Where, if anywhere, is it going?

In the scene before you are flowers. Describe the flowers. How many are there? What do they look like? Where are they, in relation to the horse, cube, ladder and sand?

Final question. There is a storm. Describe the storm. What type of storm is it? Is it near, or far? What direction is it headed? Does it affect the horse, flowers, cube or ladder?

If you haven't written anything down, do that now. This is supposed to be a subconscious thing, so it's important you don't have any preconceptions about how you "should" answer.

The desert is the world, from your perspective. Life, the universe and everything.

The cube is yourself.

The size is ostensibly your ego: a large cube means you’re pretty sure of yourself, a small cube less so.

The placement of the cube is how grounded you are. Resting on the sand? You’re probably pretty down to earth. Floating in the sky? Your head is in the clouds.

The cube’s material conveys how open you are: transparent cubes belong to transparent people, opaque cubes are more protective of their minds. Glowing? You’re likely a positive person, who aims to raise the spirits of others. Made of granite? You’re likely protective and resilient.

The trick here is that when asked to describe a blank, abstract entity – a cube – your imagination will tend to project its own identity onto it. This trick is as old as time, but it’s about to get more interesting.

The ladder represents your friends.

Are your friends leaning on the cube? Your friends depend on you, and are close. Is the ladder frail, or robust? Tall or short? Does it lead inside the cube? Or is it cast to one side, lying unloved on the sand? By now you should be able to draw your own conclusions.

The horse represents your dream partner.

The type of horse reveals a lot about what you yearn for in a partner. Some people see a steady brown workhorse, others a shining pegasus or unicorn. Make of these people what you will.

Is your horse nuzzling your cube affectionately, or taking a bite out of it? Is it far from your cube, or walking away? This can represent a current partner, or an aspirational one, but the results are often a mix of touching and hilarious.

The flowers represent children.

The number of flowers relates to how many you imagine having. Some people see just a single, withered daisy; others a resplendent garden covering the cube and desert beneath.

The colour and vitality of the flowers can speak to their health and presumed prosperity. The placement – particularly in relation to the cube – can reveal interesting relations; I met one woman whose horse was eating their flowers.

Finally, the storm represents threat.

This speaks to the current state of the person, and how they perceive risk in their life. Some may see a distant storm, on the lip of the horizon, fading from sight. Others may view themselves in the midst of a thunderous apocalypse, hailstones the size of tennis balls pelting their fragile cube and horse. Chances are those people have some immediate trauma in their life.

Now is this all correct? Of course it isn’t. You won’t be reading any peer-reviewed journals on the soothsaying properties of horses and ladders. This is a game, albeit one that has endured in various forms for thousands of years.

But if you play along – and I encourage you to try this on others – you will find it appears to have an uncanny sense of reliability to it. There might be many reasons: people seem to project themselves onto abstract objects (the cube), and their affections onto animals (the horse). Our nurturing of flowers bears some resemblance to that of children, a storm is a signal of environmental danger that taps into our sense of unease, and a ladder is something we find supporting.

Or maybe it’s all just wishful psychobabble.

I've heard that in some versions of this game the flowers are supposed to mean your friends, and the ladder your family. So I guess look at things from that angle too if you can. In some ways, how we try to rationalise our answers is more revealing than the answers themselves.

[MeechMunchie]

(I originally found this on Imgur, and played along as advised.)

____

My desert is a rolling sea of dunes. The heat is stifling. The sky is cloudless, the sun almost blinding.
My cube is sitting on a dune, one corner sunk into the dirt. It's small, just wider than the length of your hand, and made of something resembling fine ebony. It's dark, almost black, and polished. It's not smooth or glossy, you can still feel and see the grain of the wood, but it's not rough either. The corners are sharp, and there is no seam on it of any kind. It could be hollow, or it may just be wood all the way through.
My ladder is of average length, rotting and broken. The wood is grey and the grain is split; some rungs hang loose and useless. The corners have been worn to lumps by the weather. It simply lies across the sandy side of the dune, useless.
My horse is large, white, and once grand, but now decrepit. It's emaciated, dehydrated and starving. Its mane hangs limp, and its skin clings tight to its bones. It is not yet dying, but it will die if left as it is. It tugs at a tuft of tough desert grass at the base of the dune, seeking nourishment.
My flowers are a boquet, left in front of the cube as if it were a grave. They are wrapped in glossy, dark green paper, and from the open end protrude the heads of several large, dark red roses, and a few open, pink lillies. It's an odd combination, but there they are.
My storm is on the far horizon, but slowly drawing closer. If you strain, you can hear the quietest, most distant sound of thunder, or see white specks amongst the dark mass that may be lightning. The clouds stretch wide, and the storm is growing still. When it arrives, it will be a torrent such as this desert has never seen. It will flood the sands; wash away the cube, the ladder, the flowers. The horse may survive. It may not.
_____

Having read through the "answers", I would say that the cube, the ladder and the storm more or less match up to how I feel, but I don't think that I was really thinking of the rest of the scenario in the right terms for it to "tap in" to the desires described. The horse and the flowers were presumably meant as a faithful steed and live flora, but I interpreted them as a wild animal and a freshly cut gift, which represent entirely different themes.

That said, I have zero romantic experience and don't even think about having children - I'm way too young to be thinking about that - so I guess the fact that I interpreted them in such a skewed way could at least reveal that I don't understand these things in the same way others do.

I think the idea is that other people interpret your answers, but I guess I'd say that, based on what I answered:

Desert: I think life is a daily struggle, full of pitfalls and false leads.
Cube: As I am, I think I'm no greater or lesser than anyone else, and I don't quite understand myself. I'm more or less managing to keep a level head. I think I have the potential for greatness, but I don't feel very confident about it. I'm a good person, somewhat refined, and the basics are there, but there's something missing. I worry that I'm not really as deep and thoughtful as I think, and that I'm too hostile.
Ladder: My friendships seem strained and fragile, and make me feel anxious. I can't quite get what I want out of them. I'm somewhat bitter. My friends seem distant, and don't really challenge or change my mind.
Horse: I'm not confident in my appeal as a partner, so this might mean that I feel I can't aspire very high. I did once dream of finding true love, but now that dream seems unachieveable: my fantasy is withering. Alternatively, the horse's withered state might mean that what I really want is someone who needs me to support them and nurture them, giving me a sense of worth; but also someone who'll be classy, thrilling, different to me (it's more interesting) and a joy to behold when they are feeling their best. Or maybe I just interpreted "A horse in a desert" too literally and thought of what a horse would actually look like if you left it in a desert.
Flowers: I have no (current) interest in having children, so this dream is "dead" to me. Or I see having children as the "death" of myself as an independent person. I percieve parenthood as a heavy, solemn responsibility, with a few "softer" perks.
Storm: My fear is distant, and uncertain. I fear that some day, I'm going to go absolutely batshit crazy. Proper "Here's Johnny"-scale, violent mental implosion. It'll destroy my sense of self, my friendships, and my future. I hope that I'll have someone there who's devoted and patient enough to stick it out with me. If I have that, it could be a new beginning, a fresh start. Otherwise, I will almost certainly be left with nothing but the lure of the noose.

If the flowers are supposed to mean your friends, and the ladder your family: I seem to view my friendships as a kind of solemn oath of loyalty, with a few moments of levity and sweetness, and that my anxieties might destroy them. My family, meanwhile, is just a kind of distant, worthless thing that I don't really think about.

[Slog Bait]

My desert was literally just a livlier part of the mojave desert when you drive out of the cities/towns
My cube was a pure black matte cube of unknown material that's got the parimeter of my forearm or something. Pretty lightweight like heavy plastic but it's totes not plastic
The ladder is just a standard but tall aluminum ladder. The fold up kind. It's tall and like two steps away from the cube I saw it and was like wtf where'd this ladder come from
The horse is in the distance grazing with lots of other horses there's probably a ranch nearby
There's a field of a mix of desert wildflowers off in the distance
There's also a haboob in the distance and who knows if it's on it's way here or not I like haboobs theyre warm and pleasant until you start choking on the sand and going blind

I may have ruined the game by interacting with what I was imagining while imagining it instead of just observing and describing but thats probably just another subconscious telling thinger about being detatched or something

If I interpret it according to the OP I'm a polygamist who's gonna have like a million children and that's all that matters

[Manco]

I read the spoiler before even thinking about the questions, thereby ruining myself for marriage from writing an honest answer.

[Bullet Magnet]

The desert is reddish sand and stone. It feels very much like Mars, but it's warm and it seems like something can, or has been, living here. The air is thick and breathable, and I have the feeling that there are elaborate canyons beyond the horizon. The sand is not deep, it's spread thin over stone and earth. There are some interesting outcroppings nearby, and a crevasse. The sky is burned red-orange, perhaps dust particles illuminated by the sun, yet bright blue stars are visible in the sky, and the sweep of the galaxy.

The cube is a complicated machine. Some sort of brown-beige metal that I cannot identify. The edges are marked by complex and arcane symbols I cannot make sense of, the faces are dominated by great rings that bear the same markings. I can see gaps between the facets that comprise each face, there's some machinery inside. All mechanical, cogs and gears so far as I can see, but the whole Cube seems capable of much more than mere mechanics can achieve. It's taller than I am, perhaps four metres by four metres, and it hums with life. I see movement inside.

The ladder is made of the same material as the Cube. It leans against it, providing access to the topmost face, for whatever reason. The ladder seems similarly complex, the same symbols etched wherever feet are not expected to mar them I have no idea why someone would make a ladder like this. Perhaps they just really like ladders. And the Cube.

A horse stands off to one side. Oh my. The horse has too many legs. I'm not sure how many exactly, perhaps seven or eight. They don't all bend the right way, and the hooves are pointed like claws. This thing doesn't scuttles as much as it canters. It is perfectly black in colour. Where it's eyes should be is just black-furred skin, but there are several shiny black eyes in other places. Two small ones are close together on the top of the head, two more pairs spaced down the snout, and one on each cheek. The ears are unusually long, and very long whiskers point out at odd angles from various places. The lips are fused into the teeth like some horny shears. Weird as it looks, the whole thing radiates "horse" and it is beautiful to me.

Something whirrs and clicks in the Cube, before all the rings rotate a notch and a great thump throws up a cloud of dust. In this moment the earth cracks and flowers sprout up, as though radiating from the Cube. The wave of foliage continues into the distance, but strangely the ground near the Cube remains barren. The horse starts, then settles down and begins eating the flowers. They range from orange to red, rather like the formerly barren landscape, but stand out from the green of the leaves. They are three-dimensional, by which I mean each one has multiple directions for an insect to approach, land, and pollinate, the flower itself a strangely ordered mess of twisted petals, extended stamen, and fluffy anthers poking out this way and that. Some of the plants are thorny, their stems and leaves dark purple, their flowers green with red veins. The horse mostly leaves them alone, but eats the flowers. The insects that appear from nowhere seem robust, you couldn't swat them. I suspect their shells are made from the same material as the cube. They are sharp and pointy, but make no motion to threaten me or the horse.

The storm is clearly a dust storm. A great wall of sand in the distance, kilometres high, roiling and churning. Lighting flashes and forks within it, though it is currently too distant for the thunder to be heard. Most of the lightning is blue, but some of it is red. The horse looks up at the flashes and watches it placidly, chewing on one of the thorny green flowers, before returning its attention to the foliage. As the storm approaches, the ground begins to rumble. So does the Cube, though I soon realise that the cube is now rumbling all on its own. The ladder slides off the Cube and hits the ground with a clatter, disturbing the horse again, who watches the Cube with me. The clickety-clack of machinery sounds from inside again, the symbols glow brightly and blue as the rings begin to turn as much as the cogs within do. I can hear the thunder now, the wall of the storm terrifying close, I can see the ground and the flowers being torn up by it. But the wall curls, leaving a couple hundred metres clearance around the Cube. It curls until it meets on the other side, leaving a great vertical cylinder of clear air, an artificial Eye. A couple of stars twinkle in the tiny patch of visible sky, which is they swallowed up as the walls close into a ceiling. It's very windy, the insects go to ground, and the lighting flashes all around. The horse doesn't like it. I touch its neck and gently lead it toward the Cube. I sit down against a non-moving edge, and the horse lays down next to me. A long, prehensile tongue snakes out and caresses my cheek. I accept this new trait, merely glad that there is no fanged maw snapping at the end of it. I don't know how long we'll have to wait here. I don't know how long the storm will last or how long the Cube's protection will hold. I consider examining the crevasse for a fail-safe shelter, but I don't know if it will hold back the wind or channel it even faster.

I stroke the horse. We will wait.

[Slog Bait]

BM, just shut up and write a grandiose novel already

[Shrykull43]

The desert is a vast sea of wave-like dunes with a large expanse of central flat space. The cube is about 25 yards to the north and is about 5 feet off the ground. It is made of some unknown/alien ceramic. it is about 12"x12"x12". The ladder lies about 70 yards to the northeast of the cube. It is about 12 feet long and appears to be providing a path up a tall dune. The ladder is made of antiquated wood it has proven it can stand the test of time and erosion from the sand, it is a dense wood. The horse is a grand brown stallion galloping at full speed east to west between the cube and the ladder. It looks as if its soul purpose was to be there doing exactly that. It is content. The flowers are far off. maybe 200-300 yards beyond the ladder. They are on a grassy savanna that blends seamlessly with the desert, but they are distinctly beyond the desert. The storm is a sandstorm of great force. It is immense and as it passes through makes contact with the ladder and the cube. The cube is unaffected, maybe even untouched by the writhing sands. The horse is long gone by now but will be back, this is it's favorite place to run. The ladder has already proven itself against time and the sand and has seen may storms like this before it takes the whip of the sand like an old friend.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow is this interesting. I find this extremely applicable to myself. If the cube represents me then i have a guarded mind, and my ego is not tiny but not too large either. I am not at all rooted to the earth but i'm not all the way in the sky. This is pretty accurate. The ladder i find even more interesting. My friends have always been there since i could remember and they haven't changed much at all. As most people change friends several times throughout their school life mine have remained almost the same. Currently i feel more distant from my friends than ever. It's almost saddening to me how I've slipped to the edge of the group and they don't seem to mind. Yet they're still there and still my friends nonetheless. I am currently not interested in looking for my significant other but am confident that eventually I will find her/(him?). So the horse and the cube have no interaction but are both right there where they belong in close proximity to each other.I haven't thought about my long term future in the way of children or marriage and the flowers are in another landscape, another segment of my life. I am living in the moment. If the storm represents emotional trauma then that would make sense. I lock down my emotions almost all of the time. The ladder expects nothing new. My friends and I have been through our share of feuds and tough times, but here we are still.


I'd also like to add that i usually immediately condemn these things as pure bullshit but today browsing the oddworld forums of all places I said "hey why not give it a shot"

[MeechMunchie]

I'd say it's a bit like hypnotism in that it's only really revealing if you want it to be.

[Bullet Magnet]

I'd say it's more like astrology or psychics: you find this that seem symbolically applicable to you and ignore potential symbolism that doesn't.

I can't make any sense of mine, only that it is visually striking in my own head, and is likely inspired by a lot of art that I've appreciated in the past. And that my horse seems to be part spider.

[MeechMunchie]

I'd say it's more like astrology or psychics: you find this that seem symbolically applicable to you and ignore potential symbolism that doesn't.

Like I said, you probably stand to learn more about someone from what they pick up on in their answers than the answers themselves. I think the exercise is important too, though, even if it is basically just set dressing.

And you want to marry Spider-man. Obvs.

[STM]

Gay.

[Shrykull43]

Gay.

More like a ham sandwich with cheese!

[Bullet Magnet]

I'm not sure I could even read into my own stuff. I've developed a major mental block when it comes to examining some parts of myself- by which I mean my mind goes perfectly blank and I am overwhelmed with anxiety when I try. So I've got no clue what my Cube means, though I suspect that anyone who figures it out- and by extension me- will be stolen away by Pinhead and his Cenobites.

[EVP_Glukkon]

I saw a vast desert, looked like US midwest for some reason, blue sky.

The box was on the ground, it was small but built strong and white in colour, looked like it was a metal box of some sort.

The ladder was tall and blue, but it was far away, and facing away from the box.

The horse did indeed look like a brown workhorse in my mind, it was distant but facing the box and waiting. There was a small flower bed a few feet away from the box, white flowers all looked nice and healthy.

There was a dark storm approaching from the distance, heading straight towards my POV but it was a few hours away give or take.

It all adds up, my wife is overseas, I try to keep my friend count down to a select few but it's still a lot and they are all distant from me, kids in future maybe, and the personal issues I've got to face soon.

Very thoughtful topic, thank you.

[MeechMunchie]

I'm not sure I could even read into my own stuff. I've developed a major mental block when it comes to examining some parts of myself- by which I mean my mind goes perfectly blank and I am overwhelmed with anxiety when I try. So I've got no clue what my Cube means, though I suspect that anyone who figures it out- and by extension me- will be stolen away by Pinhead and his Cenobites.

See, I actually already knew that. When I read your scene, I immediately thought "Wow, BM really doesn't like revealing stuff about himself. He's deliberately answering with stuff he just thinks looks cool so he doesn't feel vulnerable giving answers that might accidentally express some incurable weakness he'd been avoiding."

The system works!

Also, your cube is clearly either a Dwemer lockbox or a dormant Modron. Or The Undying One.

[MA]

a huge desert sand dune obscures half your view and a light-blue sky fills the rest above it. the sand is golden and rippled and occasional gusts of wind lift particles and sweep them away every so often. the sky is pretty empty with the exception of a wispy little cloud or two.

the cube is a solid red colour and about the size of a man. say 6ft by 6ft, and made from stone. it's planted at the bottom of the sand dune on level ground/sand.

the ladder is made from a light-brown wood, maybe sandal wood, and is leaning against the cube from right to left. the ladder is about three or three and a half times taller than the cube so it overhangs above the cube quite a lot.

the horse is saddled up ready to be ridden and is stood to the left of the cube, quite a way behind it. if this were a picture the horse would be looking at the viewer, side on with it's head on the right side. it's going no where, just looking at the viewer. it's dark-brown in colour.

the flowers are dotted about the ground, growing in small clumps through the sand. there is none actually on the sand dune, but plenty around the cube and horse on level sandy ground. the flowers are blue and white and resemble the flower Birds Eye.

the storm is a sandy tornado seen over the top of the sand dune to the right, and it's coming towards the veiwer although still quite far away, so it doesn't affect anything.

i typed this before reading the spoilers. interesting. i wonder why i pictured the cube a solid red colour. and it's interesting that i pictured the ladder so specifically in length.

also to clarify, my ladder was quite healthy in appearance and useable, if not a little delicate maybe.

kudos MM, this is really interesting stuff.

[Nepsotic]

Generic desert. Sandy dunes etc. Nothing around. Just sand.
The cube is matte black, probably some kind of polycarbonate. It's about 4 inches cubed. It's just there.
Ladder is averga ladder size. It's metal and lay besides the cube. The horse is brown and stood grazing (even though there is only sand) besides the cube and ladder.
There is a row of flowers between me and the scene. The sky is full of dark grey clouds. It's probably insanely early in the morning or late dusk. Lightning is on the horizon.


Edit: That's cool.
E2: Omg me and Slog both have matte black cubes. Spooky.
Mine lacks a lot of detail. I guess this signifies how I'm a lazy shit.

[Slog Bait]

The horse is brown and stood grazing (even though there is only sand)

Lol what a stupid horse

[MeechMunchie]

Nepsotic wants to marry someone who eats sand

[Bullet Magnet]

Kids eat sand. I've seen them do it.

[MeechMunchie]

So Nepsotic is a paedophile?

[Bullet Magnet]

That is heinous libel that cannot be pinned on me.

[Nepsotic]

[STM]

Nepsotic wants to marry someone who eats sand

Arabs?


HEYOOOOH

[Manco]

STM, you can’t say that on the internet!!!

[Slog Bait]

The answer is clearly Neopets.

[STM]

Jesus, Neopets was my 12 yr old life.

[Crashpunk]

I can't believe that still exists.

[Nepsotic]

Don't act like you're not constantly playing it when you're not browsing this forum.

[Splat]

Hello strangers. I was bored so cruising round OWF and I wouldn't have stopped to post anything until this occurred.

My... my horse was lying dead in the hot, dry desert sand, its thin skin clinging to its toaster-rack ribs..
It may be because I haven't been in a relationship for the best part of nine years, but when I do meet the girl of my dreams I'd be pretty disappointed to find she wasn't alive.

To be honest I was building up the scene as logically as I could. It was a hot, endless desert so of course the only animal was dead. The ground was infertile so the only place the flowers could be growing was out of the dead horse (OH MY GOSH TIMMY GET OUT OF THERE!). The storm hadn't featured in the scene until the last so it was away on the horizon.

Most of the statements in the explanation are pretty vague. 'You are likely optimistic'. 'You are probably down to earth'. 'You can draw your own conclusions'. I think it works in much the same way as fortune telling, horoscopes and those souvenir fridge-magnets that describe you based on your name. All of the statements are so vague and nebulous that they can describe pretty much anyone.


Either that or I really do see myself as a vaguely glowing Doctor Who-style cube of indeterminable substance.