Whine like a baby, now with 500% more drama!

I think I've mentioned before that I occasionally like to get on Omegle and play the tinwhistle, and hope to entertain random folks. I admit I get a certain perverse satisfaction ruining the boners of those occasional assholes who video themselves jerking off on the non-adult content channel, in hopes of finding some curious kiddies.

I get a lot of heckling, when I do that...and I consider it good training for being able to maintain a tune in the face of pressure. But it's much nicer when I get someone who likes the music and sits and listens to me play for a while.

So, the other day, I took my Krampus mask and just scrolled through Omegle with it on. The whine: I got more interest from people about the mask than the tinwhistling :(
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Robert Heinlein was a deviant, misogynistic old man who had many terrible views, but he was right about TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) and I'm sad that it seems nerds are forgetting that warning.

No, social media sites aren't "free", the games given away by Epic / Humble / GOG aren't "free", F2P games aren't "free", they're all buying consumer engagement/opinion as a product. I'm pretty sure everyone at Halforums knows that and is doing their best to game the system, but holy crap it seems a lot of younger nerdlings have never learned that companies don't give you things out of the goodness of their (non-existent) corporate hearts.
 
I was just thinking about this the other day. When the epic store came out, it had very little in the way of games, and I only ever opened it to play Subnautica at first. I'm sure that the freebies are part of an effort to build enough of a catalog for users that they start using it more like they use Steam. Once I start opening the Epic app on the regular, the chances of me buying games goes up. I know they're trying to bribe my attention with the freebies in the hopes of a monetary payoff later.

But ultimately, I don't care that much. I have a few different gaming platforms I use for different things (Origin, Epic, Gog, Steam, Oculus) and I'm not the target market anyway. I'm not generally interested in the latest and greatest titles, and if I feel something I do want is overpriced, I'll generally abstain from buying them until they go on sale, sometimes years later. But I sure am happy to grab all the freebies they wanna give me. And if, later on down the road, they're selling a game I want at a decent price, maybe I'll buy it.
 
I am happy to pay full price for a game that I know I will get my money’s worth out of such as the upcoming monster Hunter.

I would far rather do that than pay (or be heavily advertised at to pay) three to four times as much in micro transactions.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
But ultimately, I don't care that much.
I only care because China is already flexing it's muscle in deciding what games can be sold. GOG recently dropped a game on the day it was supposed to debut on their store because it, at one time, had an easter egg that was critical of China. I really don't want China to have a dominance over the gaming market, deciding what does and doesn't get sold.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
What I always say, because TANSTAAFL doesn't seem to be menacing enough for people to pay attention, is "if you're not who's paying, you're what's being sold."
 
I only care because China is already flexing it's muscle in deciding what games can be sold. GOG recently dropped a game on the day it was supposed to debut on their store because it, at one time, had an easter egg that was critical of China. I really don't want China to have a dominance over the gaming market, deciding what does and doesn't get sold.
Yeah, only the USA should have that kind of power.
 
Robert Heinlein was a deviant, misogynistic old man who had many terrible views, but he was right about TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) and I'm sad that it seems nerds are forgetting that warning.

No, social media sites aren't "free", the games given away by Epic / Humble / GOG aren't "free", F2P games aren't "free", they're all buying consumer engagement/opinion as a product. I'm pretty sure everyone at Halforums knows that and is doing their best to game the system, but holy crap it seems a lot of younger nerdlings have never learned that companies don't give you things out of the goodness of their (non-existent) corporate hearts.
So the question is, who is @Dave selling our information to???
 
the games given away by Epic / Humble / GOG aren't "free", F2P games aren't "free", they're all buying consumer engagement/opinion as a product. I'm pretty sure everyone at Halforums knows that and is doing their best to game the system, but holy crap it seems a lot of younger nerdlings have never learned that companies don't give you things out of the goodness of their (non-existent) corporate hearts.
This reddit thread has been getting a lot of press lately:
PSA: Disabling Epic Games Launcher lowered my 5800X idle temps from 50C to 37C

--Patrick
 
On my own pc, agreed.
On my work pc, sadly, I can't change the start ups... I think it takes 5 minutes, including a couple error messages from removed programs and such, at every boot. Sigh.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I can understand the sentiment, but if your steam isn't open 24/7, and you have a lot of games, you're gonna be suffering the same update woes as console peasants.
 
I can understand the sentiment, but if your steam isn't open 24/7, and you have a lot of games, you're gonna be suffering the same update woes as console peasants.
Debatable. I always have to manually start my updates most of the time because if Steam thinks I won't be playing a game, it will schedule the updates a week out.
 
Heck, I don't allow my computer to even start downloading any update(s) unless it asks me first.
I will tell you when I am ready. Otherwise? No!

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Debatable. I always have to manually start my updates most of the time because if Steam thinks I won't be playing a game, it will schedule the updates a week out.
Well, that's true, but it's new to post-covid society, because apparently everybody staying home has somehow put a strain on Valve's update servers?
 
I keep maybe 10 games installed at any one time. If I'm not actively playing it, I generally uninstall.
I was like this until I realized "actively playing it" had a pretty nebulous definition for me.

"Okay, I'm going to give Crusader Kings 2 a really honest shot this time, I'm going to learn how everything works and how to play this game, I'm going to actually put in the time to learn it. I'm going to download and install Crusader Kings 2, and then I'm going to play it. Right after I finish a few more days on Stardew Valley, help another settlement in Fallout 4, maybe play another game of Civ 5..."

So now I have a bunch of games installed yet never played.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I just recently uninstalled Vermintide 2 to make room for Back 4 Blood. Having to admit that nobody was gonna play it any more was a bitter pill :(

I still have KF2 installed though, despite nobody playing it since LAST christmas.
 
Having to admit that nobody was gonna play [Vermintide 2] any more was a bitter pill :(
I was just checking yesterday to see how long it's been since the last time you were in Overwatch, but it's apparently been so long that it no longer has a timestamp (which is weird because there are people on my friend list as far back as 7 years).
And then I see your post in that other thread, and I suppose that means it hasn't been long enough.

--Patrick
 
Kind of a whine, kind of a... victory? Due to reasons, I can expect to pick up extra hours and even shifts for the foreseeable future. Meaning who knows when my next night off may be. But to support others who need the time away, it's got to be done. And I'm kinda the last man standing to be able to do it.

As a result, the amount of OT *pay* will skyrocket. At least, I won't be trying to live on $25 during the rent paycheck, at best, I can afford to get caught up on a few things I've let lie over the past year due to the move. Being able to turn hulu live back on was a big boost to my self-confidence. Like I'm no longer hanging on by my fingernails no matter what I did.

tl;dr: kinda sucks, kinda doesn't.
 
Some customers deserve every bug they encounter, every bit of spyware they accidentally install, and every glitch they suffer from. Just finished a call with a customer, and I sincerely hope her monitor goes on the fritz and starts changing refresh rate randomly so she gets a splitting headache every day for a week straight.
Holy crap how utterly selfish, close-minded, downright stupid, arrogant, deluded and self-centered and unwavering in Karen-ness can you get?
ARGH.

That is all.
 
Today is my last day at Bed Bath & Beyond. We’re just sitting around, playing Fact or Crap, bullshitting, and waiting to see if the last people show up to get the fixtures they bought. If they don’t make it here and out by 4pm, they’ll be able to post in this thread.
 

figmentPez

Staff member
Got take-out from PeiWei and they've started packing their family bundle deals in one giant plastic container, including the cinnamon sugar donut holes for dessert. It's got dividers, but it doesn't stop the steam from everything making the flavors mingle. So the donuts tasted slightly of garlic, and everything else tasted noticeably of cinnamon. Not ideal.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
The head of my department tested positive yesterday.

Everybody he routinely went to lunch with is now also quarantined and awaiting test results.

Fortunately I haven't spent any time in his company in weeks, but this is really hampering the projects I'm working on, because he designed some stupid utter shit that only he can explain, and I need him to do so before I can program it in any way, shape, or form.
 
Late posting this rant, but... upgraded from an iPhone 8 to an SE a couple weeks ago.
They're both the same physical dimensions, so I moved the SE into the case I've had the 8 wrapped in for the past 3 years.
Within 2 hours of the swap, the 8 (now caseless) slid off the table onto the floor twice. And twice more the next day, too! It now proudly displays a gouge down one edge where it hit the radiator valve on one of these dives. Ugh.
Must feel like it has some catching up to do, I guess.

--Patrick
 
Late posting this rant, but... upgraded from an iPhone 8 to an SE a couple weeks ago.
They're both the same physical dimensions, so I moved the SE into the case I've had the 8 wrapped in for the past 3 years.
Within 2 hours of the swap, the 8 (now caseless) slid off the table onto the floor twice. And twice more the next day, too! It now proudly displays a gouge down one edge where it hit the radiator valve on one of these dives. Ugh.
Must feel like it has some catching up to do, I guess.

--Patrick
You didn't do a trade?

I upgraded to the 12 with a trade-in, and didn't take the 8 out of it's otterbox until I was back at the store ready to hand it over.
 
You didn't do a trade?
No, I kept the 8 as a spare/iPod/etc.
Work wanted me to install a company profile to give them admin rights on my phone if I wanted to be able to read my email from home, and I said screw that I could use an upgrade. So now they have admin rights over a phone I don't use except to check email, and I have my phone to myself. Win-win.

--Patrick
 
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