A really, really common story honestly. I’m glad that you stuck with it, sometimes getting out is the first step to getting up.

Just be careful, slrpnk.net can also have a lot of doomerism. I like the instance though

“it was not sexual in nature”

Censors

I also came to say biting my nails! Quit through sheer willpower, every time I noticed I recognized it, let myself finish, then set my hand on the desk or my lap. Stopped not long after.

That’s basically blending it…

That said, we do know that water bottles sitting in the sun (i.e. heat + UV) causes leeching so I wonder about things like soda cans (not just the bottles). I would imagine that with tea bags with plastic present, boiling it and steeping for a few minutes would likely result in some contamination.

Which really makes one wonder… just why would you include plastic in something that will be ingested.

They used to have these for star wars and similar games. May not have come with a screen though

K.

Leftists in the U.S. can actually make change in the U.S. at a local scale, so we talk against the CCPR because what else can we do.

Poor people are adversely affected by green washing because the prices of meat and dairy free alternatives force their families out of the price range. The of introducing plant based alternatives to grocery stores with gentrification in poor areas has been a significant issue that is downplayed because tech-WASPs want to buy out the neighborhoods anyway.

Silicon valley is radiating out of the city and families that have been living in Oakland and Richmond have been getting priced out of the area. It’s not that veganism is the problem, it’s that veganism is expensive and isn’t subsidized while also making traditional food harder to acquire. Since the price has risen for luxury products and the stores are higher scale, prices for basic products also rise. It’s happening in Portland and Eugene too, and I’m sure wherever tech is booming.

Again, it’s not specifically veganism. It’s a bit of a byproduct of the type of people. The traditional families that are being priced out are also vegans and non-dietary restricted families. It’s the green washing to force poor families out of areas rich people choose to live, literally weaponizing veganism. Also yt veganism, as if minority families haven’t been living vegan for decades already.

Finally, I also don’t entirely agree with the other user but a point I think they may have been trying to make is the difference between factory farmed and locally sourced. For some it is about harm to the animals full stop, to which point not all local farms that sell dairy harm their livestock. The goal should be harm reduction so anyone moving away from factory farms to local farms should be encouraged, but it’s common to get responses that reject even that, which in turn only bolsters factory farmings position as local farms get further eroded from lack of local support.

All in all, don’t let yt veganism replace actual vegan philosophy and please respect indigenous traditional practices. We should be aiming to move back to these practices in the industry to scale it down, not replacing them with soy/almond/oat milk that’s 4x more expensive and pricing families out of neighborhoods

You say that with confidence but he could have had a manifesto that was lost with his body and the money.

Unless… D.B.?

The thing about Mastodon is that you have to really heavily curate.

On Forum Blogs, like here, if you go to All, you will see articles, questions, images, and communities.

On Micro Blogs, like Mastodon, if you go to all you will see articles, but the rest will mostly be international thoughts of the day, some of which may be questions, non-sequitors, and images.

Not so much the communities, by default.

That doesn’t mean that Mastodon/the like can’t, you just have to curate it a bit more. I followed #Bloomscrolling and it brings tons of nature in my feed, it’s lovely. But if you follow like, @GamingFeed it’s just reposted content that looks for keywords – my Helldivers 2 posts were being promoted but also random articles and posts from others. Somewhat useful for finding articles, but hollow because it’s just a bot I’m certain.

I also find that while there are communities on mastodon, they’re pretty niche so you end up limited to roughly the same things here, tech either hardware or software, gaming or relatives like figures, nature, or politics (though I’ve found Mastodon is fairly less political on a default account. Wasn’t using it much though so I may have missed it entirely).

Meanwhile on Lemmy and the like, you pretty much just get shown communities. We all know ich_el or whatever that German meme one is, we all have passed by 196, that sort of thing doesn’t appear on Mastodon so much.

That said, I do see mastodon accounts commenting on posts on Lemmy, so it’s also possible to mix them. I will say, generally the mastodon comments do not go into as much thoughtful detail in response on these articles, but that could very well be an instance limitation (some have 40k characters, some have 500-2000).

So there are some fairly large differences and while they can technically accomplish the same thing, there can a bit of a cultural difference between the two formats. And as you probably know, default instances also can change this experience on both – Solarpunk.moe is awesome and well moderated and is focused on solarpunk, mastodon.social is pretty large and chaotic. Lemmy is the same way, of course, slrpnk.net is fairly small compared to the major instances and the home feed reflects that

It definitely could be, it just seems like there’s a pattern of fallen leaves surrounding EA. Also, EA is great to work for, that’s why they are so bad. I know that sounds silly, but I mean that in the sense of they offer the developers so much and all the dev needs to do is add a little MTX here and there.

Then all they need to do is do it again, but maybe follow something that’s trending. Then see if maybe the full game could be cut into pieces, to sell as DLC. Then see if you can implement more MTX, maybe this time add some smoke effects that you can pay to change the color of.

That said to your point, NFS Heat has MTX that were so bad and hated that EA again like with SWBF2 got the message and didn’t include MTX in Unbound. I wouldn’t really actually mind them too much in a way but it’s also somewhat more of a core aspect to the game that having it is just so… Odd.

But that’s the thing about EA. Why did it happen again. Why didn’t they keep the message they got the first time from SWBF2. Or Andromeda with $100 payment options for a lootbox system to get you to spend more.

These were all before Heat released, and EA still was fine with doing it again.

And don’t even get me started on The Sims. They have broken and killed so many copies of sims games for people that there are cracks specifically to circumvent patches. They don’t want people playing older games so they delist them, release a patch to break it (I’m not even joking, The Sims Medieval), and the user has to move on or never the game they paid for again. It’s cruel.

So maybe a tree is just a tree. Or maybe it’s a pattern that’s ebbs and flows and EA toes the line of what they can get away with nickel and dimeing players before they throw a fit, all while leaving studios to rot while the IP they bring to EA is marionetted every 8 years, 3 if it sells well.

Not only does this behavior always return, but it encourages other companies to follow suit – and moreso when you learn that all these executives just swap between companies and EA owned 20% of Ubisoft for a edit:decade wasn’t deleted before I posted 6 years ('04-'10).

So those are some examples of what EA does, and I’m critical because they are good to work for, and their force in the gaming industry should not be the monolith of MTX but the big stick that delivers AAA games instead of junk that destroys a developers vision and standing with the gaming community while we beg for EA to get it through their thick skulls that games are better when you put passion into them. Anthem having flying be the best part of the game suggested by EA is like the bare minimum of what a leading studio should be accomplishing.

One last point that should indicate EA’s behavior is how they treated Star Wars games. When the mouse was breathing down their neck, they came out with Star Wars Squadrons without a single hint of microtransactions. The mouse was so peeved from the SWBF2 that EA wouldn’t dare add MTX.

And yet they don’t give that respect to their small studios. Bioware doesn’t get that pass. Dice doesn’t get that pass. Respawn doesn’t get that pass.

Anyway, hey: https://gamejobs.co/MTX-Software-Engineer-Intern-Apex-Legends-at-Electronic-Arts

EA has been hiring for Interns looking for Software Microtransaction Engineers. Still leading the charge in battle passes!

Sorry if this comes off as rambling. I’m trying not to.

Skibidi is like the least worst YouTube brainrot. It actually has themes and an overarching story.

Just because it’s shortform, chaotic, and ugly doesn’t automatically make it bad. It’s better than the stuff on YouTube that I grew up watching, it’s honestly got deeper themes than Red Vs. Blue.

Rizz is just this decades swag.

Of all of the gen A things you picked the least offensive ones. We should be picking things like glizzy, the replacement for hotdog.

This is what happened the first time around in 2016.

Bioware cancelled Shadow Realms because Mass Effect and Star Wars MMO was more profitable.

"Today I’m sharing some important news about Shadow Realms and our BioWare Austin studio. We’ve made the decision to not move forward with development of Shadow Realms. We fully recognize that this news is disappointing to some of our fans, so I want to explain more behind this decision.

"While the team did amazing work on the game concept and we got lots of great feedback from our fans at events and through other game testing, right now there are other projects for the team to work on within the BioWare studios for the coming year and beyond. We’ve got an incredibly talented team here at the Austin studio, and they are excited and already deep on new projects within the BioWare family, ones that will make some great BioWare games even better.

"These include additional ongoing enhancements to the award-winning Dragon Age: Inquisition, as well as the next game in the Mass Effect series and other new IP. But the biggest focus for our team in BioWare Austin will be on Star Wars™: The Old Republic™. As every Star Wars™ fan knows, this is a massive year in the Star Wars universe. We have some great plans for expanding this epic game this year, and look forward to sharing the news about those plans with our players in the coming weeks.

Read between the lines. EA canned it so the studio would give us Andromeda and more Old Republic. Oh but sure, “it wasn’t EA’s decision”.

Big stick.

Are you familiar with the US foreign policy proposed by Theodore Roosevelt? “speak softly and carry a big stick”

EA may speak softly, but they carry a big stick. Bioware has clearly catered to EA, intentional or not, and their games have suffered from it.

Mirrors Edge was not a success either, btw.

DICE marketing director Martin Frain initially projected Mirror’s Edge to sell a total of three million units be sold across all platforms.[56] According to Electronic Arts, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions had combined sold over one million units by February 2009.[57] In October 2010, a court document pertaining to the legal conflict between Electronic Arts and Edge Games revealed that Mirror’s Edge had sold over two million units, with over 750,000 of those units having been sold in North America.[58] EA revealed the game had sold around 2.5 million units by June 2013.[59]

It took them 5 years to reach their initial projected sales, and that’s after combining every available edition. That’s a commercial failure.

They did still chase it with followup games, btw.

This was followed by Mirror’s Edge 2D, a browser game adaptation by The Fancy Pants Adventures developer Brad Borne.[41] A prequel to the game, also titled Mirror’s Edge, was released for mobile devices in 2010.[42]

Catalyst was going to be included, as it was shown at E3 in 2013 and 2014. And delay, delay, delay, all the way into 2016. Catalyst was quite literally EA chasing the money, because Mirrors Edge has only really gotten recognition long after its release – in terms of sales, and it’s availability on Steam really helped solidify it’s presence as a cult classic. The game of course was received well, it just didn’t sell (not much marketing and it’s not a game of the era, so to say, it is not an action heavy shooter game). So now after 8 years of letting this IP rot in development hell they said oh we can add some MTX and make another one, hm, let’s make it open world that’s what gamers like these days. It was actually decided in 2015 that it would be open world, since that wasn’t seen in any of the 2014 promotional. So 1 short year, since June 2016 is the games release.

Nah, I enjoyed parts of Catalyst but it’s a shell of its original. Dying Light and Ghostrunner are almost closer spiritual successors in regards to expanding on mechanics. The gameplay was the same but without any actual dynamics (gunplay wasn’t great in ME but it breaks up and gives variety), the writing was predictable and just really not that great, and that leaves new additions… Which you just avoid because it’s an open world and you only have running tools at your disposal. The mechanics of the game are horrible as well, inputs get dropped all the time it’s a huge problem. There’s just so little about the game that’s designed well, which is insane, because the game still accomplishes scratching the itch of Mirrors Edge, just very poorly.

No, what made Mirrors Edge great was the passion. It was a tight knitted and mechanically rewarding. These levels so carefully designed. Catalyst’s paths do not have the same care, they are just rushed together and it shows during the gameplay and how one path flows and the others are just ways you can go. There’s no depth and attention.

The developers freedom to pursue that passion was the very same thing that allowed Bioware to create the games they wanted to make (and like Bad Company 2’s story with DICE before dropping it entirely for multiplayer only).

BF3 may be a fine game, and 4, but you surely understand that they are copy pasted formulas that explicitly are not impassioned. What made Bad Company beloved was its improvements over the previous iteration along with its differentiation from MW2, on top of having a fair single player story. What made Mirrors Edge beloved was its direction and its gameplay. For both of these, these IP’s to EA became no more than how many zeroes they can generate. It’s a pattern with EA, from Mass Effect to Need for Speed to sports games to Battlefield. Once you have a formula you wait for it to be profitable to sell it again.

Mirrors Edge was received well but sold poorly. They tried to profit on some spinoffs, failed, 4 years later sort of began development and turned Catalyst into another open world microtransaction game without any of the heart that made Mirrors Edge work. Battlefield was mediocrely received until it did something better than CoD, then they focused on repeating that over and over, leading to BF3 and 4 and 2042, with the only “unique” Battlefield even available now being Battlefield One. Before Battlefield, it was Medal of Honor.

EA is a plight. I don’t know how you can say it’s not that bad and shift blame to the developers, that their games are their decisions. It’s just unequivocally untrue. Of course Bioware doesn’t have execs breathing down their necks, the execs are selling the game Bioware pitches to them - Mass Effect now with MTX. In that interview they literally even say, “EA wants to buy a company to do something well, if they ruin Bioware then they won’t get money. We make the games we want to make. They give input absolutely but we make our game.” Oh, and he mentions games, Shadow Realms, which never even came out because it was cancelled in 2015. And this is a video from 2013, so it may not have even been 2 years before this video with the timestamp you like is literally proving the point of the person asking the question (Q: Will Bioware be affected by EA’s acquisition; A: No, Bioware makes the games we want to make, EA wants money, EA gives input, Bioware makes the games we want to make) 2 years later, EA: Yeah, you can’t make that.

All that aside, I’m not really sure what the point of the video is supposed to prove… These people don’t even work there anymore if I remember right (head Bioware all jumped ship, no? I may be misremembering)? EA has the big stick. If you devs don’t follow them, you won’t be a dev at EA anymore. The devs at EA are inherently trapped because you cannot expect your game to be made unless it is within the expectations of the publisher, and thus you see the problem. When you pitch to EA, your creative work is already compromised. You think Bioware made the game they wanted to make with Andromeda? Anthem? Psh, Shadow Realms?

EA bought Bioware in 2007/8. EA killed Bioware in under 10 years and is now playing with its corpse. Literally 5 years after the acquisition is this video, the game of which he’s referencing 2 years later is cancelled and 2 more after that Andromeda releases. I really, really think you have mischaracterized EA and their relationship with their studios. EA is very hands off, yes. But they speak softly to you. And they carry a big stick.

You, too, would compromise your passion when working for this studio. It is actually impossible not to, by design.

I lived near EA’s SF studio for many years, that’s really honestly the main reason I even bothered to reply with something this lengthy. I know many former devs part of studios both made with and acquired by EA. It’s insane, they would be a great company to work for in so many ways. But their business practices ruin all of that. The last 20 years of EA being awful are true, just because you can point to BF2BC and say how could they be bad, you can also point to Madden Fifa and SWBF2. EA perfected this practice of seeping out the creatives from the studios long, long before Bioware was bought out.

Green Day actually has quite a few, it would really be worth listening to their entire discography. They started out with a lot of teenage love songs (angst and longing) and over the years it faded but love is still a very common topic for Green Day!

Most recently, Father to a Son, from the album Saviors.

Sounds like you could start a lawsuit!

I think it depends on the energy consumption and our ability for sustainability.

Right now, we have a problem. Continuing down this path, the problem will only grow.

In hypothetical, an AI that does not exacerbate current energy usage would be very good. Again, many, many facets to consider though, this just being one of them.