ShellMonkey

As ready as they'll ever be, which probably isn't all that ready in absolute terms....

And then they cry voter fraud when the people who voted early come forth to re-vote (statistically likely Democrats) to try and place doubt on the election results. Transparent tactics are transparent.

An obnoxious thing is, Amazon has become such an enormous online presence that even not buying from there ends up buying from there sometimes. I ended up getting something off eBay, and the seller apparently had an Amazon presence that actually shipped it, which confused the hell out of me when I got the tracking notice.

What is DLC vs an expansion has become somewhat blurry. There was StarCraft BroodWar that was really an entire separate game to the point of launching them separately at the menu. Now things like Rimworld (which I play far too much of) have these expansion/plugins that add new mechanics and features but don't create a separate game in their own right.

I actually read an article recently about 20 years of Oblivion horse armor or some such. They made an interesting point that a lot of the acceptance of micro buys came from online games letting you show off your new gear to the masses.

Hey look, another person who's bitter with everything around them and feels the need to attempt to shame everyone they see.

As a fellow ancient of the game world, I would say 20ish years is not far off give or take. The Atari 2600 was around in the 70s and the original NES came out in 1985(?). The NES was really the beginning of the end for the arcade scene. True that a lot of the arcade ports where terrible, but the power just wasn't there to do it in a small box yet. $1 rentals from the local video shop would let you play a game all night or longer depending on who it was from.

While the online game services from Xbox and co could be seen as returning to a pay-to-play situation, they where never a must have. You could still play with friends locally without a subscription and the mass push for DLC buys wasn't there yet.

I would really put the return to money snatching along side the rise of mobile games. Buying addons and in game coins to get an advantage really picked up with the ease of always on connections and purchases with a simple swipe of the finger. Once that 'just one more boost will do it' addictive mechanic was made the norm it was all over for the concept of a game that you just bought as a complete thing. Now it's a novel thing to see a game offered that you just buy and play as it is.

There actually was something many years back called the 'too small a bill for Bill' index. The idea was that if it took roughly 4 seconds to pick up money off the ground but he stopped gaining money for that time, what was the smallest amount Bill Gates would stop to grab. The last I saw it was about $4,000 but having a time trying to find it now.

Probably one of the most socially friendly places I recall in recent years was a CrossFit gym. I know people shit in them as being full of cultish twats, and to some extent I won't argue that, but compared to a standard gym there's quite a 'us' rather than 'me' vibe to it. Find those kind of places where people look to support and improve each other rather than show off what they know or can do.

Though I'm about the least socially apt person around one thing that really has stuck out to me, don't go there with a goal other than to do the thing. If you go with the goal of a date you're gonna be disappointed, go with the intent of doing what you like instead.

Maybe, but then the uber tough guy fascist sorts might say he's gone soft. Not that it would turn the to Harris but might stay home.

The children of atom have come to your lands...

So pretty much one of those smart speaker things with a pin on it, for hundreds of $$$ and a subscription to boot? What a great idea...

Some? I was actually under the impression that was the principal use of the state scratch off tickets. Maybe ever bought 1 in my 40+ years, would rather buy a fishing license and tick the box on the tax forms to pay the DNR more directly, but every dime helps.