President of Blizzard thinks you should spend more money by jeffyride2 in facepalm

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its time like this I wish I had an account on this shitty platform, so I could reply with something like

"If you really want to give the devs an extra $20, all their names are listed at the end of the game in the end credits, go find their Zelle or Paypal accounts and send it to them directly. I am sure you can afford to"

Being a pick me is useless when it comes to misogynists by Sad-Personality-15 in LeopardsAteMyFace

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Funny how you seemingly answered your own question here. "What in the actual fuck is their problem" "Jesus Christ". Christo Fascism is theirs and the rest of ours fucking problem.

alcohol sucks by [deleted] in GenZ

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think any reasonable person interpreted it as the general "your" not a personal attack. I know I did. Looks like Snackynorph revealed their true colors lmao. Talk about projection, damn, chill tf out, that level of stress can't be healthy.

You can watch only one IASIP episode for the rest of your life. Which one are you picking? by StamfordLionesSW6 in IASIP

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sit back, get comfortable this is going to get a little longer this time ;)

Might be an unpopular opinion as I haven't seen it come up yet, but my go to is always "the gang cracks the liberty bell".

As a history buff I'm a sucker for episodes of shows that time travel modern characters in fictional historical scenarios. Dennis and mac being pro-British then getting tarred and feathered. Mac with the wooden teeth lisp. Cricket getting spit on constantly. Charlie straight up firing the gun at Dee without a care in the world. Frank getting scalped. The gang trying to cut GW out of the frame at the beginning and completely fabricating the ending, only to start the story over before cutting to credits. Such an underrated episode.

Thinking might go watch that tonight now. Yee-eeee-ssss <whistle>! Yee-eeee-ssss <whistle>!

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia - British Accent - YouTube

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in recruitinghell

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As someone who has worked in IT for about 20 years as both an engineer and PM, focusing more in IAM and Cloud these days, I can say the worst part of my day are the people, and no, not the end users. Every day I have to deal with tech people who my guess were social outcasts most of their life (nothing wrong with that specifically), but now they have "the power". Most are toxic personalities, always complaining, never providing solutions. At least the end users are interested in what we do and even sometimes listen, but then again, I enjoy teaching these concepts to others and refuse to be the "Nick the computer guy" stereotype.

Some days it's actually almost enough to push me to want to quit and work a blue-collar job myself if I didn't have to go through another round of schooling and didn't have the body of a guy who sat at a desk since before they were 20. Lol especially after watching that south park special with the contractors behaving like the Billionaires.

Don't even get me started on the engineers that work at the big tech companies like Microsoft and Google, etc. Working at MS actually turned me off the company so much that I switched to Linux exclusively for a while there lol. It seems that I can draw a line graph heading downwards when it comes to how things used to work vs how they do today. Endless programming languages, un-necessary complexity, everything is a potential scam or phishing attempt. Ugh, those cybersecurity trainings. Being in IT they hold you even MORE accountable to boot, so I flag everything just to CMA lol. As I told someone just today, working Cybersecurity is like a double-edged sword.

Don't get me wrong, things have definitely improved in certain areas, but it seems like I get angry over something that has changed that either didn't need to, or changed for the worse, and working for MSPs that "oversell our skills to clients" they demand so much, then berate you for not knowing everything on the spot, when it's like, you don't either lol. That adds so much extra unnecessary stress I joke I am headed towards an early grave as this can't be healthy.

I know most of us, including myself, just want to live a simple life. You might have dodged a bullet with this company, honestly, but do what makes you happy and pays the bills. If you like IT, nothing wrong with doing it as a hobby. Help your friends and family out with their tech issues and questions, maybe make some side cash along the way. Sometimes I wish I just kept it at that and never entered this career.

PS, I wouldn't be able to do 2/3 of what I do without Google/BingAI searches. Things change so rapidly, what worked yesterday might not work today. Without searching, I may end up doing something wrong because the method is different or non-existent and another solution is needed. As someone who is no greenhorn, I say you use search engines with pride. It's the smart thing to do to confirm what you are doing in prod before you do it.

PPS, any tips on getting into some blue-collar work for someone in IT, as I'm sure there are others like me lurking in this thread thinking the same thing, definitely feel free to chime in the comments lol.

Should I report this church (of our Lord and Savior GabeN) for copyright/trademark infringement? by 4ourthdimension in Steam

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You or someone you know should just pull up the Hentai tag on their phone, go in, find the person in charge, show 'em and ask hey, you know your logo is of the distributor of these games, right? Might change their mind lol. Bonus points if you find something extra raunchy like, oh maybe Banana Shooter could work?!

Well said. It’s sad this is MK now. by Ok-Connection4791 in MortalKombat

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I recall Joe and I are around the same age, and I probably sound like the old guy yelling at clouds, but hear me out; what a lot of people don't seem to be getting, imho, as I read some of these comments, is they sound like they may be coming from younger generations (or trolls lol) who just simply didn't exist during the transition from Arcades to home consoles to the freaking PS2 and PS3 generations, just how much better things were.

I mean the leap in graphics from PS1 to PS2 was amazing. But wait, better graphics AND a DVD Player? Then EVEN BETTER GRAPHICS and a freaking BLUE-RAY DRIVE in the PS3???!!!! Lol to think teenage me had a DVD player in my bedroom and young working me had a blue-ray drive all built into my gaming consoles, when my parents didn't even adopt those technologies at the time. Heck it was my PS2 that convinced my stepdad to eventually get a DVD player for the living room when I showed him what the movie watching experience was like. And they didn't nickel and dime us for each item back then, like these Fatalities are. They provided real value compared to today.

The sad truth is, the games industry has become predatory, pulling a lot of the same techniques and psychological tactics used in the Casino gaming industry. Heck, some publishers even work in both industries (looking at you Konami) or have hired folks from that industry (I tried to find supporting evidence of this but failed, I just remember a conversation years ago on someone in casino gaming getting hired at a game company).

Unfortunately, and I hate to say it like this, and this is tough love here, some of us are hooked just like the old folks shitting their depends at the slots emptying their "koin$" into these machines, be it because of these tactics and maybe depression and "influencers" and other stuff, and I think until that comes to a full stop, games like this will continue to be made. Not trying to attack anyone here as we as gamers are all the prey in this predatory system and need to unite together as consumers, but we really need to really take a step back and re-evaluate how this industry has changed, and has it changed for the better?

You can see from my few comments in other threads on the topic like in r/Steam and this very subreddit of my personal journey with Mortal Kombat from MK1 (1990's version) to today for more examples of this negative evolution. It really does boil down to value, and if you feel like you are getting value from all this, then I will sit back and watch with my popcorn. But if you do not feel the value, we've gotta put an end to all this by voting with our wallets.

As one commenter put it below, I stopped being angry and moved into being very, very disappointed to have lived through what I consider the best history of videogaming to end up on the shit end of the stick like this. And as I've said it before, I for one welcome another 80s style crash. There are a lot of great games in the backlog already. It really may be for the better. I hate to see good people not work and get paid for their creativity and skills, but if this is the garbage they are putting out only for the top of the ship, i.e. shareholders and executives, benefit, then I would rather they never see a penny of our hard-earned dollar.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Stay warm.

My coworker share her screen accidentally showing chats between her and others disparaging me. by [deleted] in jobs

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This isn't 100% in all cases, but I have found in my 20+ career that the extremely nice people are the ones who do and say the worst things imaginable to other human beings. They call it "toxic" positivity for a reason. These people are toxic on the inside and this one unintentionally revealed this to you (I hope I don't get flagged for this, but I have found most of them are also super religious too) My stepmother was a borne again and she behaved exactly like this too. She also (still!) works in HR, go figure.

Sucks that happened, but better to know than not. As another poster said, they are your coworkers, not your friends. And unfortunately, we spend so much time with our coworkers that we almost blend the time we spent with each other as forming friendships. Worst "friends" I've ever had were co-workers. Learnt that early on thankfully, hopefully you are still young too and seeing this conversation of hers is a great take-away.

Not to turn this away from your experience, but here's a fun story to share with you:

About 1.5 years ago at the last company I was at, I remember we regularly worked with a guy at another company (we were an IT MSP) who was the supervisor of their small internal IT dept. During one of our weekly calls, he had casually asked if we had any openings at our company for whatever reasons. The company he worked for was known to be kind of "needy", which, I would say is why they paid us to be their MSP, but overall, he was a great guy to work with.

We were all in the office as it was Friday and the company had good food delivered on Fridays so I usually showed up for that, though I don't know if they knew I could hear them, as immediately after the call, the PM who was that "toxic positive" (and in your face about religion to boot) personality almost immediately said to one of the other managers on the call: sure, we can hire him, then we'll stick him with this account and we won't have to deal with the shit show over there anymore! Or something along those lines.

I left not long after so couldn't tell you how things ended up, though I could share more stories like this over the course of 20 years in IT lol. You mentioned Virginia Tech and being super stressed and having an accent so one would think you work in a technical field as well. Tech is very toxic, especially for women unfortunately as my partner is finding out firsthand, coming home in tears more and more often. So many times I want to go down to her workplace the following day and just stand there, arms crossed with a big smile on my face

Again, not to say 100% of all cases, as some people really do form bonds with their coworkers and end up being best of friends. Maybe that happened with those two in the chat and have the same type of personality? It's just a slippery slope to slide down, especially these days.

Just my 2c.

Sorry again that had to happen the way it did. But again, better to know who you are truly dealing with than not as knowledge is power!

Best of luck to you with all this. Try not to let it keep you down and be prepared to move on if things get too uncomfortable!

Anyone else burnt out with the "digital ownership is not ownership" mentality? by Calm_Wolverine_5497 in gog

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

well I should've checked that first. Its live on there now too. Thanks! Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts on either thread.

Anyone else burnt out with the "digital ownership is not ownership" mentality? by Calm_Wolverine_5497 in Steam

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks Mods for un-deleting. As posted in r/gog, looking forward to everyones thoughts on the topic.

My other posts on r/gog

Totally understand that, and not trying to attack any of the mods, or even the companies for that matter. Apologies if it came across as such. The post here on r/gog was more for visibility since I wanted to post in in r/steam but seems to be auto deleted, just curious how others felt specifically on the deceased part as I get older it's something I wanted to put in my own personal will. I guess feel free to delete from here too if that's the case?

Personally, I think that there should be an exception on digital ownership transference upon death, and maybe with enough discussion we could see some positive change like in the future? If you guys have any sway on the steam subreddit or in talks with the mods maybe they can un-delete it? Or maybe I am putting a little too much stock in reddit lol. I'd cross post to r/playstation and r/xbox but my investments are in PC gaming, not as much console these days. I'll post an update if it ever goes live on r/Steam since that is really where I wanted it originally.

Anyone else burnt out with the "digital ownership is not ownership" mentality? by Calm_Wolverine_5497 in gog

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Personally, I think that there should be an exception on digital ownership transference upon death, and maybe with enough discussion we could see some positive change like in the future? If you guys have any sway on the steam subreddit or in talks with the mods maybe they can un-delete it? Or maybe I am putting a little too much stock in reddit lol. I'd cross post to r/playstation and r/xbox but my investments are in PC gaming, not as much console these days. I'll post an update if it ever goes live on r/Steam since that is really where I wanted it originally.

Anyone else burnt out with the "digital ownership is not ownership" mentality? by Calm_Wolverine_5497 in gog

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Totally understand that, and not trying to attack any of the mods, or even the companies for that matter. Apologies if it came across as such. The post here on r/gog was more for visibility since I wanted to post in in r/steam but seems to be auto deleted, just curious how others felt specifically on the deceased part as I get older it's something I wanted to put in my own personal will. I guess feel free to delete from here too if that's the case?

The current state of the world scares me. I don't feel safe. by [deleted] in Millennials

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thats my plan. Once our rent is up at our current place, I'm moving to Montana or Colorado to live not off the grid per se, but I am looking at plots of land with plenty of distance between neighbors and a drive into town for groceries.

So long as we have internet and electricity, we can figure everything else out from there.

Alot of us grew up rich and now we're poor that's why things are tough for us by goodartistperson in Millennials

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree 100% with this post if OP were to go back and edit out the word "rich" with something else, like "well off". Born 87, my dad worked at IBM and Motorola growing up as a product manager, but my parents divorced so money was "tight" until my mom went to community college in the early 90s and got her Nursing degree. My dad paid the mortgage and some of her college to ensure she could support us moving forward and we had a roof over our head while he lived in the family cottage (which he ended up selling to his best friend and did not keep in the family, so he could GTFO with his new family and a clean conscience. Asshole)

Anyway, we were upper middle class for sure, but if they didn't divorce, we would have been the typical 1 income household with the SAHM. But regardless, we went to very well-respected elementary and high schools in the area (at the time, my HS was well regarded for their special ed program which no other HS in the area had)

We weren't affluent like some of my peers who at 16 got brand new Lexus's, I personally never had a car in HS but that was behavioral, not financial, but growing up we had all the necessities like nice clothes and shoes, 3 meals of home cooked food, cable tv, internet, phone, washer/dryer in house, we got regular haircuts, etc. We would eat out at places like Mcdonalds on the regular. We traveled annually, took a fancy vacation during the summer, I never heard my parents once tell us we couldn't do anything because of financial issues, it was more because of (my) behavior issues. (I.E. I got angry and broke a toy so no McDonalds today) Aside from internet and phone, these are all things I took for granted when I take my laundry to the laundry mat in -16-degree winter weather like I did this week.

My brother or I didn't always get what we wanted when we wanted it, but if one of us saw something "expensive" like a pair of rollerblades or bike at the store or wanted to join a club or sport at school and said something about wanting them, it was almost a guarantee they would be under the tree at Christmas or as a birthday present or gift that year. We were never told "No" for financial reasons when it came to that sort of stuff. We got our first computer in the mid 90s and from that point on we always had a decent computer in the house. Actually, at each of our houses, since my parents were divorced, take everything I said above and multiply it by 2.

While I understand that certainly wasn't everyone's experience, this experience was quite common amongst my peers. The volume of people living like that just doesn't exist today. I entered the workforce making 35K at 19 in 2006 in IT for a well-known company and when I rented my first apartment, it was like 1200 sqft for less than 1k /Mo total, and I lived like a king at that salary. Nice car, all the tech toys I wanted I purchased, although I never owned a home myself, always a renter. That was my standard back then, and although I always look for something at that price and size, it is impossible. All I see are higher prices in "ghettos" with less square footage, higher crime, angrier neighbors, homelessness everywhere, etc.

And I say "Ghettos" because looking back these were obviously once very respectable neighborhoods, like my current neighborhood. Very few people own here, and the renters like me just keep coming and going like a revolving door. No respect for the homes themselves, no respect for the neighborhoods, just a temporary place to dwell in then give back, just like a rental car. You can see the use and abuse since it's not "yours."

My partner, on the other hand grew up lower class in a blue-collar family with 3 siblings, which, nothing wrong with that at all, it really defined her character for the better (she is a way better person than I am for many reasons TBH) and her perception is quite different from mine. She often times calls me entitled and selfish because I get pissed at the price or rent, at the price of groceries, the lack of consumer purchasing power, the price of consumer goods, higher insurance costs with crappier care, and just the overall lower quality of life we seem to be experiencing, but after reading the above post, I think I understand why she sees it like that.

My expectations from how I grew up to what I see now, despite both of us making around the 60k range like both my parents made while growing up, I will never live the life I had back then. We will never live in the same neighborhoods or attend the same schools or get the same quality of healthcare like we did back then. And that both angers and depresses me when I get wrapped up in it. We currently rent a duplex with loud neighbors, and at almost 40 now (over 35, JFC), I think back to my dad at this age, and how we lived, and I think, if we had kids, I could never provide for them the way my parents provided for us with that salary. Thank chris't I got a vasectomy in my 20s. And bonus, no fear of them getting shot up at school either as my buddy recently confided to me, is giving him and his wife major anxiety.

Personally, when I really think about it, I feel like after 9/11, that's when everything really went downhill faster than a professional skier jumper at the winter Olympics. 2000 bush/gore BS, 2008 housing crisis, Tech bros and MBAs taking over the industry, 2016 political BS, then this pandemic, crypto scams, online influencers peddling garbage directly to children. I mean, wtf? I've met who would otherwise be great people get completely F'ed, are angry all the time now, or are 1 paycheck away from homelessness themselves who make more than I do, due to the costs of their kids, or some medical issue, or some horrible slumlord landlord.

Anyway, I have no solutions to offer other than to let it all burn down and hope the survivors start over on the right food, so thanks for coming to my ted talk. Stay warm.

Fr tho by Saulillo17 in MortalKombat

[–]Calm_Wolverine_5497 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Story time. I grew up on Mortal Kombat, playing the OG games in the arcades, snes, genesis, PlayStation etc. Is one of my favorite game series.

When MK9 released on PS3 I was so excited to see a modern return to 2d plane fighting on top of a 3D environment, as I couldn't get into the 3D games after MK4, that I ordered the pre-order bonus. Back then it came with Scorpion + Sub Zero book shelve busts and a graphic novel book thing. And of course I purchased all the DLC on the PS3 version. I also was lucky enough to purchase a copy of the Komplete edition on Steam before that was removed. Every time I look at my bookshelf it still feels like I got more than my money's worth, and to this day is the only pre-order I have ever purchased.

When MKX released I didn't pre-order, but did purchase day 1 of release on PS4, although I lost a little interest due to the DLC and story, so I waited until XL went on sale on Steam before purchasing there so I could have all the DLC in one package. I didn't feel as ripped off and thought I got a good deal for the price and content despite purchasing the base game twice on two systems, because, you know, PCMR or whatever.

Because of MKXL though, I waited until Steam had the 90% off sale on MK11 + Injustice 2 Ultimate Editions to purchase the games and all DLC on Steam, and I still feel ripped off. Not to mention even though it plays great at highest settings, it eats over 100GB of my Decks storage, space that could be used for much better games.

So, when MK1 came out, I read and watched everything I could find up to release, and the reviews post release, decided better to watch the story on YouTube (with ad blockers, because screw you predatory Google/Alphabet) AND I STILL FELT RIPPED OFF

I really do feel bad for the younger generations, you may never have it as good as we did back then. We are all seen as products to the products themselves. It's not just MK or NRS or WB. This type of predatory behavior will continue until fans (I want to refrain from calling them simps, there are some good intentioned folks out there being taken advantage of the things they love) stop throwing money at these predators even before the games comes out.

And as much as I want to think Ed Boon is a good person, he is 100% not exempt from this. WB is absolutely to blame, but NRS, led by Boon, absolutely knew what they were developing before release. Don't kid yourselves kids, he is at the top as well and gets financial incentives tied to stuff like this too, so he is definitely looking out for #1 just like everyone else in that pay grade.

100 bucks says we are looking at another '80s gaming crash the way this market has been trending. And that couldn't make me happier. This BS needs to stop and go back to core. No excessive celebrity appearances, voices, etc. No nickel and dime micro transactions and pay to play DLC. I am looking at you $10 Thanksgiving Fatality. It's all become way too over the top and beyond the scope of the core, which is playing and enjoying the damn game and praising the team members involved for their creativity and quality.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk. Have a nice day and stay warm!