DWin

They're Large Language Models. They're defined as generative pre-trained text transformers, that's their entire purpose.

Saying the calculator spits out random numbers would be wrong, but saying a calculator spits out numbers, that would be correct. Reductionist would probably be a better word than regressive or asinine.

But it's accurate? Doesn't mean that human looking text can't be helpful to some, but it'll also help keep us grounded to the reality of the tech.

Naw shucks haha, kind of you to say. I'm glad my ramble/vent was worth it!

Since ya played Edith Finch, in Until Then you form a much stronger connection with the characters, but the content and topics it faces are less extreme What is there will hit harder because of that connection I think.

I hope you enjoy any of the games I suggested! Also really, just get yourself Donut County. It's a stupid cozy romp. Do racoon crimes.

Sorry to hear that, there's been times where I've avoided certain bits of media for similar reasons, and that feeling of "should I invest myself in this?" while trying to keep yourself safe. I hope things improve for you.

I don't want to say anything about Until Then really as I think the experience would be hampered knowing anything about it, but it'll still be there for you in the future. There are heavier moments throughout the story however, I cried at both the beauty and the sadness at multiple points in the game.

Some comparable games that have some similar themes or vibes

• Night in the Woods - Has themes around mental health issues especially focusing on dissociation
• What Remains of Edith Finch - Covers topics around death of loved ones including issues you're likely concerned about
• Life is Strange - Mental health and death along with suicidal discussion and events
• Firewatch

I think a lot of these kinda stories revolve around the sadder parts of life to elicit emotion that drives us towards connecting with characters in the same way that seeing hardship and struggle makes you care about your fellow human. To me it feels that through these experiences we're able to see our humanity in a rawer form, perhaps its because there's a cost to ourselves due to our emotional investment. There's no need to take on that cost unless you have the emotional space to do so though, but that cost is often what's made it so great. I didn't play any games for just over 2 weeks after I finished Until Then, I just started playing the piano, went on walks/bike rides/runs, and decided to get more involved at a local board game cafe. But really, no need to force yourself into that, focus on yourself, do the things you need to do to improve your situation internally or externally, it'll be there for you then.

If you want some story-esque games that feel much less soul-consuming, here's a few of my favourites:

• Stray - it made me have wobbly emotions, but it doesn't have quite the same "sting" as the games above
• Cloudpunk
• Metro Exodus - Bit of an oddball here, probably a few eyebrows raised, but I think it's one of the only games I've seen actual intimacy (and not sexual intimacy), however that's few and far between, the pew pew is great

And a couple of cozy games that are a bit adjacent to these

• Frog Detective - Quite how these haven't won GOTY every year I don't know... I loved them
• A Short Hike
• Donut County
• Maybe Sludge Life but that's certainly on the more abstract end of things

Edit: Also sorry for the monologue haha, didn't mean for that to get so long, just started rambling

I absolutely loved Oni. I didn't own a copy for a while but I'd play it round a friends house once a week.. Those fighting mechanics just felt so tight (for the time) and the gun play was weighty and responsive.

Shame to hear about the fate of Oni 2 from here, I had no idea

Until Then

More of a visual novel, but I had an amazing time with it. I cried. It was beautiful. I've been learning the piano since I finished it.

Go in completely blind if you do decide to play it!

Oh! This is just the year in review thing, not your steam gameplay recordings. I don't want my family members to hear me demolishing a burger while I watch my factory grow

It probably depends where the cost increase is coming from. I know that the mini-wage spiral we had earlier this year has meant that labour is now more expensive than ever. If that human cost is the driving factor for these price increase, then private or public, that would likely still happen. Imagine if housing was socialized, or at least heavily regulated? Imagine if food was provided not for financial value, but to feed? No more dumping of perfectly fine crops just to prevent the devaluation of prices in the supermarkets to keep the profits flowing.

It always feels like a kick in the teeth while maintaining a life is so absurdly expensive, how can 1 worker produce that much value in order to sustain themselves in the modern world? Corpo-services like thames water are just a symptom. So yeah, like you, I'm crossing my fingers, but they've been crossed for so long already as things only slip further down

I don't fully disagree, but let's look at Thames Water as a casr study.

Their dividend payout accounted for 6% of total revenue. 5% was loan repayment, and 30% was operational expenditure. 59% was infrastructure investments.

Let's look at the total dividend payout vs the tax they paid. They paid 133 million in business rates but they don't pay corporation tax mostly because of both infrastructure reinvestment and the paying off of loans.

Dividend payouts were 195.8 million. Of that, 27.1 million was payouts to their internal pension contributions, and 37.5m was to Kemble Water Finance Ltd debt services. This means the non-pension and non-debt dividend payout was 131.2m. That results in an effective dividend payout of 3.35% of total revenue.

That's still less than their business rates, which typically go to the local councils where the infrastructure is located, which given the measures of austerity, is quite a nice bump for locals.

I do think that the bypassing of corporate tax by paying off loans to be pretty shady,and I believe in the nationalisation of all services, but at 3.35% effective dividend rate, it's not the most egregious in my opinion.

Even without the dividends, the cost to households would be dramatically rising due to external factors.

Now who owns the land and builsings that Thames water rents for some of their infrastructure, there's a much spicier question...

I don't know the details but this feels like such a specific attack vector. Most malware targets the easiest and most common payload delivery mechanism as possible. Having someone connected via hotspot and piggybacking ontop of a specific workflow such as Shizuku just seems super unlikely. Could absolutely be wrong about this though, just my gut feel

Yeah, after his body issues and annorexia, seeing him vibe with the hair and stash and overall body shape has been absolutely beautiful to see. Fuck anyone who tries to control someone else's self expression.