averyminya
@averyminya@beehaw.org
- Comment on Most iPhone owners see little to no value in Apple Intelligence so far 3 days ago:
It’s the same for Samsung’s AI stuff, the only really useful one is it’s smart selecting features - cropping photos, taking out specific images for stickers/collaging.
Everything else though is just the creativity I want to do being done for me.
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of December 15th 4 days ago:
I’ve been playing Marvel Rivals since it came out and I’m hooked, lol. It’s such a good blend. I put a lot of time in Paladins but it’s been a long time, so it’s nice having a little group of friends to play with again. Solo queuing also has been pretty good overall, but once in a while there’s a team that is clearly better and it’s just a stomping ground for 5 minutes.
It’s also funny how heavily it’s being compared to overwatch when it’s just hero shooters as a whole, and OW is hardly the closest match lol
- Comment on Amazon starts selling Hyundai cars, more brands next year 1 week ago:
Or even worse yet, Chrysler.
- Comment on Users from Other Instances 1 week ago:
I’m sorry to hear that, you’re one of my favorite instances (that I come across in passing)
- Comment on What do we think will be GoTY and which game do we think should be? 1 week ago:
Marvel Rivals, because it just came out so it’s fresh in people’s minds, it’s a free to play game with a popular IP and it does a good job as the game it wants to be.
Mostly kidding, that just seems to be the state of games these days lol. Whatever games release at the beginning of the year seem to falter to recency bias of games released later in the year.
- Comment on Water + hot oil 1 week ago:
Dev = working on game
Dev = game developer
Dev = whatever fits until further clarification is needed based on context
Game development requires writers, artists, coders, so they’re game devs. Could it be more specific? Sure. Does it always need to be? Certainly not.
- Comment on Germ Blaster 1 week ago:
It just gets a lot of water drops off your hands and the air drying helps
- Comment on Germ Blaster 2 weeks ago:
Can’t watch at the moment; is this the guy who says to shake 7 times before you dry?
- Comment on What happened to gaming? 2 weeks ago:
You may as well have typed this in 2009 or 2015.
It used to be that people argued that it’s worth getting the new game console because “better graphics”. The console wars hasn’t gone anywhere, it’s just expanded.
In any case, in regards to just installing a game and playing it, no, not really. When I was playing games in college in 2012 it was still a time when you would open a game and go to the settings menu to adjust settings.
Sometimes it was just turning off motion blur, but there was always settings to change to try to reach a stable 60FPS.
Nothing changed, it just expanded. Now instead of 60FPS it’s a variable 60-240FPS. Instead of just 720p-1080p resolution, unless it’s portable, it’s 1080p minimum otherwise variable up to 4k. Instead of “maxing out” we now have raytracing which pushes software further than our hardware is capable.
These aren’t bad things, they’re just now 1) slightly marketed, 2) more well known in the social sphere. There isn’t anything stopping you from opening up the game and going right away, and there’s nothing stopping other people from wondering about frame timings and other technical details.
Sure, focusing on the little things like that can take away from the wider experience, but people pursue things for different reasons. When I got Cyberpunk 2077 I knew that there were issues under the hood, but my experience with the game at launch was also pretty much perfect because I was focused on different things. I personally don’t think a dip here and there is worth fretting over, but some people it ruins the game for them. Other people just like knowing that they’re taking full advantage of their hardware, hence figuring out the utilization of their components.
There’s one last aspect not mentioned. Architectures. 10 years ago games would just boot up and run… But what about games from 10 years before then? Most players not on consoles were having to do weird CPU timing shenanigans to be able to boot up a game from (now 20) years ago. We’re in the same boat now with emulation, which while emulation is faring better, X360/PS3 generation games that had PC ports are starting to have issues on modern Windows. Even just 5 or 6 years ago games like Sleeping Dogs wouldn’t play nice on modern PC’s, so there’s a whole extra aspect of tinkering on PC that hasn’t even been touched on.
All this to say, we are in the same boat we’ve always been in. The only difference is that social media now has more knowledge about these aspects of gaming so it’s being focused on more.
The one thing I do agree with though is that this is all part of software development. Making users need better hardware, intentional or not, is pretty crazy. The fact that consoles themselves now have Quality vs Performance modes is also crazy. But, I will never say no to more options. I actually think it’s wrong that the console version of games often are missing settings adjustments, when the PC counterpart has full control. I understand when it’s to keep performance at an acceptable level, but it can be annoying.
- Comment on Free to play monster-hunting game Dauntless now on Steam and works on Steam Deck, desktop Linux needs a quick fix 2 weeks ago:
I’d rather just play Monster Hunter anyway.
- Comment on Ubisoft shut down multiplayer shooter XDefiant and lay off hundreds who worked on it 2 weeks ago:
That sucks but is expected. I played it for a short period of time and it was alright. It was a bit floaty and there wasn’t a lot of impact behind the actions in the game. That said, it felt alright for a point and click shooter.
The two biggest issues I ran into personally were the length of games compared to length of lobby times, and after a few hours, everyone just picked the best character, instead of working on team comp.
- Comment on Riot Games is cracking down on players’ off-platform conduct 2 weeks ago:
Toxic behavior being normalized leads to other people acting similarly.
I mean, “haha screaming so funny, I do same thing cause I want to be funny”
- Comment on Anyone know of a good QR code generation service for high-res images? 3 weeks ago:
This was what I came to suggest for you
- Comment on The world is ending but here's a side quest - will RPGs ever solve their urgency problem? 3 weeks ago:
I agree with the other user who said it’s a writing problem e.g. choosing the immediacy of end of the world plot device. Unless it’s done with very specific circumstances, like Overcooked 1 where the first level is the Spaghetti Monster Apocalypse and then you jump back in time through a portal. I think Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a good example of this exact problem the article raises though. It’s a relatively short game, but there is no end of the world. There are 2 major events, your destiny as the Arisen to fight the dragon that killed you, and the in-world politics of a government and some corrupt individuals working to prevent this event for their own plan.
I mention this game primarily because it uses a mechanic that many completionists tend to dislike - there are “timed” quests. Not all of them, usually ones that make sense to run out of time on (but again, not all of them.) So for example, at one point there is a quest to attend a masquerade ball, which is a permanent main story quest until you choose to attend. This is the exact issue the premise of the article brings up, where time is infinite until you decide to continue.
And yet, at the same time, there are a few quests where you may encounter a random NPC who is asking for help for someone who goes missing, and if too many in game days pass by, well… They die.
Ultimately I had other pacing issues with the story, but I did really enjoy how it goes about “solving” urgency when an in-game world timer exists. I’ve never been the biggest fan of time-managed items, (for example, raw potato, ripened potato, rotten potato over the course of 1-3 days), but Dragon’s Dogma 1 and 2 both did it fairly well since the items that do expire 1) make sense, it’s food, and 2) are in fair abundance. It helps solve the hoarding of your items, gives you a little extra money if you sell it as the right phase, and allows for varied item combinations as well (raw+item = curative, ripe+item = stamina, rotten+rotten = oil for lantern or status effect combinations).
I think really the issue just comes down to what is fun gameplay mechanics? Batman: Rise of Sin Tzu for PS2/Gamecube had timed levels, a mechanic that makes sense for a game centered around saving people before they kill hostages. Star Ocean had an in game timer matched to clocks, so the only way to stop the timer was to turn off the game. After (24?) hours, it’s game over. Quite frankly… timed mechanics are usually seen as gimmicky and are not very popular - they may have moments of appreciation, but I’m not sure if it’s a beloved mechanic.
Which in turn results in, “I have you now Spider-Man! In just 8 hours my bomb will blow New York to high heavens!” And then the player goes to help every child get their balloon back before the main story progresses.
- Comment on Valve must address swastikas and other hate on Steam, writes US senator in a letter to Gabe Newell 4 weeks ago:
Pepe was a neutral meme. He is not anymore.
The sad reality is that he is a politicized figuredhead for fascism. You can try and use him, but you need to be aware of how others use him, and it will end up reflecting more poorly on you than it will help reclaiming him.
I suggest looking the links on my comment linked, but at the very least on your own look up, “Pepe meme Putin”, and “was Pepe at January 6th”. People are using him to storm the capitol and dressing him up in an iron cross to assassinate political figures. That’s not just casual memes :(
I say this as someone who grew up with his era of memes (my first memes were icanhazcheezeburger which was the precursor to RageFu). I remember his good days too man.
But Pepe got Alex Jonesed. He got assaulted by the MAGA cult and they put him on a cross like Jesus and now he’s dying for their sins. I don’t think we can save him.
- Comment on Valve must address swastikas and other hate on Steam, writes US senator in a letter to Gabe Newell 4 weeks ago:
Sadly it’s like that for pretty much any game.
On the bright side, a lot of them are bots just trying to influence real people. Unfortunately, it is people who made these bots who probably do have that hatred. And of course, not all of them are bots…
Remember to check the discussion board posts themselves (each comment), if there is a mouse icon, it means they own/play the game. If there is no mouse icon, they do not.
With this in mind, you’ll notice the bot propaganda posts 90% of the time have not played nor own the game. At least on Steam, they may have pirated the game to play it, then decided to post on discussion boards about how empathy and recognizing of othe- sorry, “wokeness” is killing gaming.
It’s so stupid how hatred stifles discussion. Ironically hating the things just makes them focus on it more.
- Comment on Democrats bet on women showing up in force. They didn’t. 5 weeks ago:
A key part of educating people about progressive causes and initiatives is running progressive campaigns and motivating people to get involved in those campaigns or to support them
Then I suppose our state ballots should be separate from our federal ones. It is wrong to not vote for anything if your one reservation from the rest of your ballot is the choice of president.
- Comment on Democrats bet on women showing up in force. They didn’t. 5 weeks ago:
It seems short sighted to throw away all of your local election voting power just because you don’t like the presidential options you have available.
And, as mentioned, particularly when one of them is specifically meant to be able to pick a better presidential candidate. Seems like the kind of thing one would want to go vote for.
- Comment on Democrats bet on women showing up in force. They didn’t. 5 weeks ago:
I think if that was the case, people would have showed up to vote for ranked choice voting which was on a ton of state ballots this year.
Oddly, they all failed since people didn’t bother to vote for those either. Not voting for the thing that will change the system that put these voters in this situation in the first place…
Suffice to say, it’s a lot more than just one reason.
- Comment on Sockpuppet network impersonating Americans and Canadians amplifies pro-Israel narratives on X 1 month ago:
Makes sense, although sadly the elder you look the more likely they are to be pro-Israel. If I’m lucky, the person I’m interacting with recognizes that Hamas are not the people of Palestine, and even then it’s a dicey conversation.
This has been my experience in Oregon at an elder care facility, at least.
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 3rd 1 month ago:
Well, the Monster Hunter Wilds Beta test ended. I’m devastated honestly, because I didn’t get to play it enough! It started the day I had work and ended 2 hours after I got off today. I misread the timezone and I thought it ended on the 4th and 11:59am in my timezone. It ended at like 8pm or so.
So that’s too bad! Other than that ~8 hour treat that I thoroughly enjoyed, I’ve finally gotten around to Dragon’s Dogma 2 and I’m enjoying it as well (though slighted now after my favorite series was ripped away from me). It feels a little floaty for some of the characters, but it so far has been a good experience. I’ve been in a bit of a gaming slump so it’s been nice to relax some and play some nostalgic games right as winter is hitting.
The gaming slump I was in had me pretty much only playing Phantom Brave and sifting through little games like Sonic Mania, so I’m looking forward to the games I have on my radar cause it’s really the first time in a while!
Oh also, Amanda the Adventurer 2 came out and my partner and I played through it a little bit. It’s pretty good, although it isn’t the most straightforward. We had to use a guide for quite a bit of it and, while we were close to the right track for each puzzle, we just were not on the ball with what the developers wanted from us. I think the first game was a lot like that though if I remember, and so really what matters more with that in mind is how they continue the story and the atmosphere, which they really nailed. The perfect amount of corporate conspiracy supernatural demon cult technological red herring horror.
All in all, I guess being an adult means winter is gaming time cause I’ve been pretty much too busy the rest of the year to really want or have time to game. For me, a big part of gaming is how I’m feeling, sometimes I want point and pop, sometimes I want laid back, sometimes I want something new, and sometimes I want to make numbers go big. And sometimes, I want to do other things that aren’t gaming, which makes actually gaming feel a little guilty.
- Comment on Weekly “What are you playing” Thread || Week of November 3rd 1 month ago:
That’s funny, I feel the opposite about Deadlock! There’s not really a MOBA first person shooter that is out there, particularly one with such an in depth movement system that is fairly ubiquitous for each character. It does have a skill ceiling, but I would say for casual play, especially starting out, it’s mostly about being patient brick wall and playing the denial game to force mistakes that you can punish.
It’s effectively a first person MOBA with characters that you might see in Paladins. It feels really good, but it is intense for sure – my biggest issue is map navigation and learning it as a whole. But I also really like technical gameplay, one of my favorite games is Smash Bros. Melee so this is just an extension of that love.
I would say if you wanted to give it a shot (if you haven’t already) give each character a shot in the training ground. Get a small feel for their abilities and it’ll help you get a sense of not only what feels fun for you, but also what to expect from the opponents! And for items, that’s a bit harder, I personally don’t care much and just go by passives that sound helpful. Just click once though, double clicking will buy and then sell the item.
Which, in a way is a testament to my first paragraph. Patience is key ;)
- Comment on pump up the jamz 1 month ago:
Under the Influence by the Chemical Brothers
- Comment on Kamala Harris' 'Fortnite' map bans guns, has less than 400 people playing 1 month ago:
Is the average fortnite player of voting age?
- Comment on Why play a fascist? Unpacking the hideousness of the Space Marine 1 month ago:
The Boys is a good one, and an interesting one specifically because it plays to the StarWars-Imperialist / DC-Marvel-Authoritarian types. Garth Ennis, who wrote for The Punisher comics and of course, The Boys, is vehemently anti-everything that these types of authoritarians stand for.
Yet despite his hatred of them, he writes them exceptionally well in a way that is lost on the less observant viewers (man I just love that phrase lol). The people who love the Punisher for the wrong reasons are the very same people who love The Boys for the wrong reasons, it’s actually crazy how much crossover there is between the two pieces.
I think The Boys (show) also played up this aspect as a way to vilify power seeking behavior to the Conservative crowd by mocking Homelander outright, and subtly by showing the effects on The Boys (the group themselves and their struggles with power and how they use it). Very similarly to Sunny, there is a shift in the way The Boys is perceived by the conservative crowd around Season 3, as the writers were amping up their highlighting of the issues specifically because idiots were perpetuating Storm-lander’s sexualization of weaponized dehumanization (i.e. getting off on Nazi romance) - in the show so much so that even Homelander was like dude that’s fucked up.
The issue of course is that Homelander is justified to these idiots, so making him look silly and dumb comes to be one of the only ways that a specific demographic will understand that his actions are bad – which of course, they get offended by and do not like, because they’ve wanted to emulate Homelander the whole time. Characters like the right-wing Stepdad and the Podcaster Listener at the convenience store show how an individual can fall into the cycle of hatred perpetuated by the media and the entire point is completely lost on them because Homelander lasering those liberals was exactly what he should have done.
Part of it is scary, because I don’t believe it’s Marvel and cartoons that are breeding this mindset. These people are conservative christians who listen to talk radio and watch the news, and they are not being inspired by characters like Homelander, they were already like this. Characters like Homelander or the Punisher are just placeholders, scapegoats, a way for these hateful individuals to self-insert themselves into media. This does not mean that the answer is culling these characters existence, but rather continuing to highlight their faults and flaws in order to re-engage people to show them what it is like to actually be a good person.
- Comment on Why play a fascist? Unpacking the hideousness of the Space Marine 1 month ago:
I formed a barometer for measuring comedy and it’s perceived ripple effect on society. Look at the comedy piece, the joke, the theme as a whole, whichever element, and then ask - does it highlight the issue, or does it perpetuate it? It may be the case that the intention of the piece to be a commentary denigrating fascism, but if it does a poor job conveying that message it might just look like an over-the-top approval of it.
An example of this that hit me close to was for It’s Always Sunny during 2016, the insane “I can do whatever I want” antics that some Americans were replicating was seemingly getting higher and the crossover between people quoting the show in the wrong ways just made me realize that maybe the show hadn’t done a good enough job presenting itself to less observant viewers. Well they also felt the same way because they really ramped up the highlighting of the issues after season 12, in a way that is presented in a different fashion.
This of course, was disliked by that specific crowd - there’s a few people who aren’t hateful who just don’t like the new presentation and that’s fine (they’re wrong of course! lol). It wasn’t uncommon for a few years to see people rage about how the show went woke, and still happens but less often now because they all got angry and dropped the show (Newsflash asshole, they were talking about you the whole goddamn time!).
Anyway, as mentioned with Starship Troopers, this happens with a lot of popular media in the conservative sphere, as can be seen with Idiocracy. There’s a ton of other examples too, but we’re all aware of how often this occurs.
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
It seems to be what’s popular these days
- Comment on Least-Intrusive Social Media Platforms; Reddit and Snapchat Leads The Way. 1 month ago:
Spotify playlists I guess?
- Comment on Publishers are absolutely terrified "preserved video games would be used for recreational purposes," so the US copyright office has struck down a major effort for game preservation 1 month ago:
What a weird show that was lol
- Comment on [deleted] 1 month ago:
How ephemeral.
I can’t wait for it to be used for important long term information.