Sounds like something an AI-loving Nazi would say!
Seriously, though, yes. This was exactly my first thought. There are plenty of reasons to be apprehensive about AI, but conflating it with Nazis is just blatant propaganda.
Sounds like something an AI-loving Nazi would say!
Seriously, though, yes. This was exactly my first thought. There are plenty of reasons to be apprehensive about AI, but conflating it with Nazis is just blatant propaganda.
What an absurd, ignorant notion. Of course social media has a negative impact on developing minds, but forcing sites to display warnings would have zero positive impact. Browser extensions would immediately pop up to hide those warnings, and if anything, the presence of such warnings would increase kids’ use of social media, since the danger is something even adults had a hard time understanding and kids love to rebel against oppressive systems. The warnings would turn into memes.
The only answers to this problem are to break up and ban social media companies (not possible) or get parents to actually be parents and teach their kids about the pitfalls of social media.
Would that be so bad, though? The Nazi wastes money on a useless decorative blade and you get to take some money from a Nazi that might otherwise have gone to something worse.
Good! Tchia is a phenomenal, Breath of the Wild-esque, family-friendly game. My only complaint was its performance on the Deck - at medium settings, it gets 30-50FPS with occasional hitches. Performance wasn’t enough to turn me off from it, but I very much welcome an improvement.
That’s a quality dad joke. I’m glad you didn’t sit on it.
Doubtful. I already own Echolyn’s “Mei”. Hard to believe there’s any song I’d like more.
That being said, I’m always on the lookout for new music. I’d love to find a song better than “Mei”, despite how impossible that seems to me.
My old job doing systems design for a predatory mobile game. I quit that job, moved half a state away, and got a job that pays half as much in a company with integrity. Best decision of my life.
The toys-to-life trend ended, as it wasn’t making enough money. The games remain playable, but they have no support and are old enough they they require hardware that I no longer have.
My little one just past toddlerhood has a few games they love to watch me play on my Steam Deck. These aren’t all Verified, but they all run perfectly out of the box. Use ProtonDB for a more accurate idea of a game’s Deck compatibility (Verified status has failed me in the past).
Donut County (already mentioned, but a great one worth mentioning twice)
Everything (one you unlock all the powers, it becomes a sandbox game where you can do things like gather a large group of caterpillars, make them dance, and turn them into streetlights (which can still dance), or turn an entire planet into a planet-sized space caterpillar, or turn a dust mite into a microscopic building, etc. In my save, about 20% of all matter in the universe is caterpillars.)
LEGO Worlds (basically LEGO Minecraft with less survival, more control, and smaller worlds that can be swapped between at any time. Can be very fun for little ones to use the free DLC vehicles to blast holes all over a world, make tunnels, etc.)
Tchia (Zelda BotW mechanics with very little combat (and the only combat is with enchanted scraps of cloth) and the ability to jump into and control any creature (dolphins, birds, cats). It’s got some nice family-friendly options, like infinite special meter, no death, and family mode for cutscenes (though there isn’t anything too bad, regardless))
Webbed (a 2D platformer where you play as a spider with Spider-Man-esque movement. Fun for kids unafraid of spiders to make big, climbable webs, and maybe good to help kids become less afraid of spiders, as it’s pretty cute)
Toys-to-life video games. I went on a Skylanders spending spree less than a year before it officially died. $5-$15 figurines got sold at garage sales for $0.25-$3 each.
I had tons of fun getting into it and I was young enough that I could afford to waste the money, so I regret nothing.
The important distinction, I believe, is that Kai Winn and Dukat were villains, characters designed to be hated. Wesley was supposed to be a precocious scamp, bringing levity and juvenility to an otherwise dry and mature crew, but just ended up being… Wesley.
I don’t consider Star Wars to be sci-fi. It’s a futuristic space fantasy.
Also, Star Trek Enterprise is one of the best Trek series, IMO. Top 5.
This is the right answer. Hatred just breeds more hatred. If you approach with love and understanding (or at least a desire to understand), you’ll have a much better chance of changing hearts and minds. Try to meet in the middle and you might be able to point them in the right direction.
That can’t be right; you’ve gotta be lion!
Are these insanely rich people?
Oh, yes. Emphasis on the insane.
The assumption around the office always was that they were Saudi royals or kids of oil barons.
Very right. As a content/systems designer, it was my job to carefully balance a feeling of progression with a frustrating lack of progression at key points, thereby pushing players to spend.
The first few levels are easy and free, then progression starts to slow, but you’ve already gotten to level 10 easily enough, so you can take a bit of extra time to get to level 15. By level 15, you’ve invested enough time that the sudden valley of progression from 15 to 30 convinces you to make that first purchase; after all, why not spend just $5 to instantly double your level when you’ve already spent a few hours in the game? Progression speeds back up from 30 to 45, letting you feel like you’re in control of your leveling, then another valley hits and you’re now even more invested, and, since you’ve already spent $5 to get from 15 to 30, what’s another $10 to get from 45 to 80?
Rinse and repeat, steadily increasing the cost of each purchase while seemingly improving the in-game value per dollar spent.
Our biggest whales were spending over $10,000 per day on that disgusting “game.”
I had to get out. My next job, one at a prominent console/PC game studio, only paid about half of what I was making at the mobile game company, and I loved it. No more panicked 2 AM meetings because our revenue dipped 10% over the last hour. No more convincing myself that players enjoyed wasting thousands of dollars on an endless treadmill. No more 28-hour shifts.
Rant over.
Bonus: I’ve since become a dad, I’m actually proud of what I’m making now, and I’m excited to share it with my child when they’re old enough.
Oh, console/PC without a doubt. Mobile development, at least in my experience, is a constant struggle for relevance and a nonstop sense of urgency. Creativity is only allowed if it answers the question “how can we better trick players into giving us their money?”
Console/PC development, however, is focused on making a good product that will last. Nobody ever asks “how much money will this feature make us?” At worst, the question is “how much will this feature drive engagement?”
I’ve only worked for major companies, so my experiences don’t reflect what it’s like at indies.
The Steam Deck is the best thing to happen to Linux since… Linux. It’s the first time average tech illiterate folks have gotten a taste of Linux on their own systems, and it’s driven the development of compatibility tools (Proton) to a hitherto-unheard-of degree.
It convinced me to switch to Linux.
I wasn’t upset to begin with. Was it not obvious that I was making a semantics joke? I mean, sure, the post I was replying to could be perceived as racist, since it was itself a reply to someone calling out racism, but it was clearly directed at wealth horders, not white people.
If you really want a fresh experience and don’t wanna spend more time modding than actually playing, I cannot recommend more strongly Wabbajack. It’s a fully automated modlist installer with a huge gallery of available lists.
Some of the available modlists are foundational, giving you just the essentials (Engine tweaks, HD assets, community bug fixes, etc.), and some are total conversions, turning the game into a fully-realized modern third-person action game, with controls, animations, and graphics as good as any modern game.
It does everything for you, from installing Mod Organizer 2 to creating game launch shortcuts, and everything in between. All you have to do is log into Nexus (and whatever other mod sites your modlist of choice might use). It’s worth getting Nexus Premium at least temporarily to speed up the process.
Here is the Skyrim Special Edition modlist gallery.