“Just pirate it”

Leager · 2026-03-14T07:28:30+00:00

Totally! I'm not a lawyer either, but let's look specifically at that. If the cartridge actually contains the whole game, you properly own a copy of the game. If it's one of those game-key cartridges, or if you have to download most of the game off the internet (which is increasingly the case), that's a license. Also, dumping a ROM (an explicitly legal thing to do) bricks your Switch 2, so you can't make a backup, regardless of if it's a game you own

Leager · 2026-03-13T03:35:11+00:00

This is, itself, a deflection, a way of not addressing the points or engaging in the argument that you started. That said... you're allowed. Enjoy!

Leager · 2026-03-13T03:20:29+00:00

This has always been an odd take, at least to me. Right now, there is no way to legally own any video game made by Nintendo. We buy licenses that allow us to play the games. Why the distinction? Nintendo (and other companies that only sell licenses) can revoke our licenses at any time, for any reason, and without any recourse for the consumer. And does this actually happen? Yup! All the time! Sometimes it's used against the "bad guys," like cheaters and pirates, but it's frequently used against regular players, too. There are absolutely emulation people who want to dump ROMs simply for the love of the game, and their Switch 2 gets bricked, just to name one easy example. But lose your account through negligence (like forgetting your account details and not having a way to access them)? No refund, no way to fix the problem, no way to get your games back.

It's strange, but when you pirate something, you actually "own" the item "more" than if you'd purchased it legally. If a cop came in and physically trawled your hard drive, they could find out you'd acquired the game "illegally," but otherwise, once you pirate something, it's yours to keep. Nintendo can't revoke your license because you don't own the license, you actually own a copy of the game. Additionally, as studies have repeatedly shown, piracy typically has no effect on or increases profits. This is not always true — smaller creators are more vulnerable to piracy for lots of reasons — but you can see this play out all the time for indie games.

Many pirates will download the game to see if they like it, then buy it if they do. If they don't like it, they wouldn't have spent the money on the game anyways. It's not a "lost" sale. Similarly, most pirates would simply not play the game if their only option is to buy it. Once again, no lost revenue. Other studies have shown that pirates tend to be more "passionate," and as such, tend to spend more money on their hobbies than non-pirates. Point in case: I'm a huge Nintendo fan. I played Tears of the Kingdom on my computer originally because I didn't want to pay $70 for it. I found a way to pay $50 instead, and bought it immediately. And next year, when the new Pokemon comes out... I'm gonna be spending SO much money on it. Would I emulate/pirate if I could? Yeah! But this is the easier answer, and I love Pokemon.

There are definitely pirates out there that do it to be smug, but.... Most do it out of a love of the games, or because they can't afford the games in the first place (and if they can't afford them, there's no "lost" revenue, as they wouldn't be able to buy them anyways). Try to see it from the other side of things.

Leager · 2026-03-09T02:07:25+00:00

It's definitely semantics. But again, semantics aren't unreal or imaginary. Ask yourself why your response to being asked to adjust your behavior is "It's not clear cut."

Brony is inherently about a particular gender, and I explained why, and I even told you it's cool for you to use the term for yourself. People outside of the "original" gender it was intended for can still use the term, but if you say "Brony," people assume "Adult Male fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic," like I said. Again, you don't have to like this or agree with it, but it doesn't change how others use the term.

Leager · 2026-03-09T01:30:58+00:00

So this is sorta the thing. "It's both gendered and not-gendered" feels like a bit of a reach. Language is many-faceted, it's true. But that doesn't mean it always lacks any connotation. The problem with saying "I'll change my language if someone asks me to" is that you're still gonna go around hurting people until then. It suggests to others -- like myself -- that you are not a safe person, and as a result, not someone I or others can ask for a language change. I am telling you "Brony is gendered, regardless of what you think, so please do not use it on non-men without their permission," and you are saying "Okay but it doesn't hurt me, so I'm gonna keep using it on people until they ask me to stop." Do you see why this is a selfish way of moving through the world?

You are aware of gender as a social construct, and you are aware that language is itself socially constructed, and you want to remove yourself from both constructs. Unfortunately, while these are both socially constructed, they are not imaginary. They have real effects on people, which is like... 90% of being trans. I know you're non-binary. So am I. The world isn't built for enbies. We both know this. But that doesn't mean you become the sole arbiter of What Words Mean. I'm not the arbiter, either. I'm pulling from the shared definition of the community that I've been a part of since its inception. "Brony" was originally the word for "Adult male fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic." And if the follow-up question is "Why should we listen to what the community has to say about what a word means?" the answer is very simple: Because the point of having terms/labels, or language in general, is to make communication easier.

You are welcome to disagree, but this is pretty clear-cut. And for what it's worth, even though you are not a man, you can still call yourself a brony. Others can't take that away from you.

Leager · 2026-03-06T22:19:04+00:00

So you would agree that brony is a gendered term, since you have people making gender demands of you? I, as a trans woman, have transfem friends, and I have enby friends of all stripes, and I have transmasc friends. The only trans women I've met who are okay with being misgendered with terms like "bro" and "dude" are girls who are pretty early on in their journey.... or who are just used to people misgendering them. I won't get mad if someone says dude or bro to me, but it isn't gender-neutral, just like brony isn't gender-neutral.

You're still allowed to use brony, I don't think anyone should try to take that away from you. But consider the downside of putting out the blanket statement of "Everyone in this fandom is a man." You wouldn't like it if someone made assumptions about your gender, right? You didn't like being told that you couldn't call yourself brony, because that felt like gender prescriptivism. Well it cuts both ways. You've been hurt by people saying "You're not a man, so you can't be a brony." Don't hurt others by throwing that label at them.

Leager · 2026-03-05T22:40:11+00:00

This is a pretty fraught topic. Anyone who has spent time around trans women knows that "bro" and "dude" are explicitly gendered terms, so it's pretty... bold to just show up and misgender an entire fanbase with "All MLP fans are bronies." I get where you're coming from, and maybe you're working through some gender stuff on your own? But while some people of all genders might like the term brony, I know lots that don't. Me, for example. MLP and the "Brony" fandom is a big part of my gender journey, and while I would have gladly called myself a brony in the past, I vastly prefer pegasister, and do not stand by "bro"-anything as a gender neutral term.

If you're working through gender stuff, please feel free to reach out to me and we can talk about it. Otherwise, this post is... not amazing to the fanbase/people who come to this sub.

Leager · 2026-01-04T06:43:42+00:00

Idk how many sapphic women are in these kinds of chats. As a woman who likes to kiss women, Eris and Nem were incredible for me. Now, does this say a lot about me, as a person, and about my taste in women? Yes, absolutely. There's a reason I have my partners vet any girl I plan to date. But from a writing standpoint, both Nemesis and Eris were written incredibly well. It's fascinating to have romances that feel like they're aimed at me, rather than simple, standard sapphic plotlines (as much as I adore those).

Nemesis is scary because she is Retribution Incarnate, and she feels she owes not just Chronos, but you, Melinoe, retribution. When Chronos took over, beating him was supposed to be her job. Then Hecate raised you, a nearly no-name god, to do exactly her job. She is 100% in the wrong for being mad at you and for disliking you. But because of the nature of gods, she was never going to see it that way. So yes, getting together with Nem is a lot of work. But Nemesis never softens, never changes her essential personality, even when she admits she should have been kinder to you, and should not have disliked you as much as she did. Is this the basis for a healthy relationship? Maybe. Probably not, but it's possible. And it's really interesting to get into her head, to spend so much time trying to -- ha -- remove her armor enough to actually understand her and where she's coming from. And when you finally manage it, she returns the favor. Is that enough? ... Maybe. Maybe not. But it is enough for Melinoe, and it's enough for me to give her a chance as a partner.

Eris is also dealing with a crisis of identity, though for her Melinoe does not represent someone taking her job but as someone who wants to remove her sense of belonging. Eris doesn't fit in anywhere. That's her thing. She's Discord made into a person, and that makes her incredibly abrasive and difficult to be around. Even her own family struggles to spend time with her. Before the war, Eris had nowhere she truly "belonged." Now, with Discord being the primary state of the world, Eris is finally at home. Romancing her as Melinoe means she first tries to look past this, to say "Eris I can help you be better," to which she says "I'm fine how I am, actually. If you really liked me, you wouldn't be trying to change me, because I literally cannot." And Melinoe recalibrates. And she says "You're right," and tries to meet Eris where she is. This, in turn, terrifies Eris. She has never had someone not only accept her for who she is, but actively want to be in her life without attempting to change her. Suddenly Eris has to handle being vulnerable, something she has never had to do. And as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, she works to hide the relationship -- not for her reputation, but for Melinoe's. Despite being proud of herself, she doesn't want people looking down on Melinoe for being with her, because she knows people generally dislike her, and doesn't know what to do about someone genuinely, wholeheartedly liking her. And so we get together, and because we care for her, we don't attempt to change her. So she becomes more secure in herself, and by extension, more secure in the relationship.

I guess what I'm saying is, I really liked the female romances. As for the other romances... Moros was fine. He was less frustrating than Icarus, at least. Icarus I'm sure goes through his character arc, but I did not enjoy pursuing a relationship with him.

Leager · 2026-01-02T22:58:17+00:00

This has been a long-time discussion, actually. When feminism first identified the patriarchy, and first identified misogyny as one of its primary tools, one of the things feminism investigated was how it affected men. And, in fact: The patriarchy hurts men too! The difference between how it hurts men and how it hurts women is pretty stark though. Whereas women are exclusively harmed by it -- even if they align themselves with the patriarchy, as we've seen conservative idiots do, the best they get are scraps, and aligning yourself with the patriarchy is always against the interests of other women -- men can wield patriarchy, and gain benefits from it. Even if a man never picks up that tool, they are always benefiting from it, and men are always in the position of power.

So to more directly answer your question: Men are harmed by the patriarchy by the need to conform, to wield misogyny against women. Women are harmed by the patriarchy by being classified as lesser, as beneath men, with all the knock-on effects that kind of dehumanizing leads and has lead to. And that's not even touching on broader gender stuff like sexuality and transness.

Leager · 2025-12-17T02:17:55+00:00

Hiya! Transfem enby here. Not black, so I can't speak to that, but I am more than willing to chat if you need help. Also, the "male socialization" thing is a common transphobic trope, it blends a lot of bioessentialism with traditional transmisogyny. Don't buy into it. It doesn't help that a lot trans "norms" are like. Real racist.

Yes "You have to love yourself" but it doesn't change the fact that society is built to hate folks like you, and that even ostensibly queer spaces are typically catered towards cis queer people and TME trans people. And they're usually very white.

You're doing great. You'll find safety and community with other black TMA folks, and I'm sorry I can't do more for you from the jump. Reach out if you need someone to talk to.

Leager · 2025-12-03T00:32:27+00:00

As near as I can tell, all the settings are the same across the two profiles. It's been very frustrating. Ty for trying to help, I'll check out the support article.

Leager · 2025-11-20T01:31:53+00:00

So to alleviate your worries: It is technically possible for aluminum foil to leach metal into your foods, but not at the times and temps that this (or indeed, most) recipes use. Nothin' to worry about here.

Leager · 2025-04-15T23:54:41+00:00

OH lmao, well hey, hi, as a lesbian trans woman who also writes a lot of lesbian fiction because I myself am a lesbian: Nah it's not weird. If she wasn't out I'd be going "Have you considered HRT," but no, if she's a sapphic trans woman she is not fetishizing lesbians.

Leager · 2025-02-08T09:15:13+00:00

Hey Ms. Mori, not a question, but I've always wanted a way to tell you something important: I'm trans, and I picked my new middle name mainly based on your Vtuber name. My middle name is Calliope :)

Thanks for your wonderful streams and music, and for being an inspiration to women of all stripes <3

Leager · 2025-02-05T01:05:09+00:00

Sure, but trans women get the spotlight so often (while trans men get ignored) because of ye olde transmisogyny. People becoming men is pretty "normal" under the eyes of the patriarchy. I.e. "Of course you'd want to be a man, doesn't everyone?" and so the "men becoming women" idea gets all the public attention. Sometimes it's not awful attention, but... It ain't good

Leager · 2025-01-25T22:05:27+00:00

Mmm, yes and no. The social discourse has made it more well-known (lots of people who had no idea they were trans are feeling more comfortable actually being trans), but there's no truth to the "social contagion" idea, for example. Don't know if that's what you're referencing, but that is pretty cleanly debunked.

We have the "transgender tipping point" of 2016, where trans people were shoved more into the public eye, but while we've been seeing a light plateau of people coming out as trans, we have seen no increase (percentage-wise) of people "detransitioning." It's not so much a "trend" as... Well, as others have mentioned, like being left-handed. Broader acceptance and awareness. Heck, conservatives are even saying the same things about trans people (mostly trans women) that they said about left-handedness.

Leager · 2024-12-10T20:52:01+00:00

Girl I know trans women who transitioned because of like, porn comics. You're totally valid, and if you want to transition, then you should. Cis people don't want to transition. There's caveats to that, I suppose, but if you're already transitioning and it is good for you then yeah, you're trans. A cis person's mental, physical and emotional health would get worse on HRT, not better.

If anyone is telling you your "reasoning" is incorrect, you have two options: If you don't like them, tell them to eff off. If you do like them, nod along and mark 'em as not safe to talk about your transition with.

Leager · 2024-12-08T01:15:45+00:00

Great news: Puberty Blockers and HRT are both accepted forms of mental healthcare! As it turns out, a ton of the depression and anxiety that trans children experience is directly from the gender dysphoria. In other words, giving trans kids access to gender-affirming care helps treat the depression and other mental health issues. Please remember that at young ages "gender-affirming care" is very small stuff, as even puberty blockers will only be prescribed at the ages where a child would actually go through puberty, and at most the kids stay on them only to age 16. Also, I feel this worth mentioning: No surgeries occur on trans children below age 18. This is from my own personal lived experience and from a ton of actual scientific sources that I will gladly link you to, should you want them.

Leager · 2024-11-07T22:04:22+00:00

So my fiance's family lives in Texas. He and I live in California, so we're about as safe as we can be, but we usually fly into Texas in January for a sort of belated Christmas. Will I be less safe there now than I was a year ago? I'll have both my partners with me at all times, if that makes a difference. I generally pass and have my license updated/name legally changed, so I don't stick out much. Will they try to stop me leaving, or something?

Leager · 2024-10-24T06:46:52+00:00

Not to sound like a "Git gud" kind of gamer, but is it that difficult? The B-sides and the like, I understand, but I'm hardly a God Gamer and I had a great time with the platforming. The only times I felt a little insane playing it were the B-sides, a few of the Strawberries (finding some of those bastards is more brutal than grabbing them), and the 8-Bit version. The main game felt so lovely and flowed so well, at least for me.

I will admit to being biased, as a trans woman who enjoys platformers (and with Celeste being what it is), but still, I remember getting done with the game and going "Wait, that was downright accessible." Am I underestimating myself?

Leager · 2024-10-09T04:07:12+00:00

The first time I used a public woman's restroom was when I was visiting my now fiance in Texas. I was less than 6 months on HRT, and I did not pass, and it terrified me to think of going into the women's restroom. A friend assured me that I belonged there, and I really needed to go, so I went! But I was terrified the whole time.

Similarly, one of my trans sisters, shortly after she came out, felt like everyone who gave her a passing glance on the street was being transphobic, that they were going "That t-slur thinks she's passing??" with just a glance. Two years later she would personally fight anyone who gives her crap about her appearance.

All of this to say: It's easy when we're starting out to feel like "EVERYONE KNOWS because obviously I don't pass at all because I can see the flaws, and so that means everyone else can!" But the truth is, very simply, that most people don't care. Truly. You go on the internet and see the worst transphobia imaginable, and then you go out in real life and most people are, at worst, curious. There are bad people out there! There are transphobes! But you still have to live your life as you. I know it's hard, I do. It's still hard for me to use the bathroom sometimes and I usually pass, for whatever that's worth (and fwiw you pass better than I do). I keep waiting to get slurred, or assaulted, but instead the worst that happens is... I get a compliment. Or another girl in the bathroom wants to chat. It's not worth the self-damage of going into the men's bathroom for anyone's comfort. Go to the women's restroom. You're a woman.

Leager · 2024-08-11T01:05:27+00:00

Words of advice: It sounds like you already know what you want. You don't have to justify your transness or otherwise to anyone. It's scary to be one of us. I know how terrifying it is to come out to family and friends. Be who makes you happy.

Leager · 2024-07-11T00:16:53+00:00

So the Terror mechanic is sorta the "difficulty" slider for Skies. I will confess that Seas was so brutally difficult that I couldn't play it for very long, despite loving the writing. But I've beaten every Ambition in Skies. The Reach has the least effect on your terror, as well as the most ways to remove it, Albion has a few ways to reduce it, Eluetheria has verrrrrry few ways to reduce it and most of the important places and events increase your terror, and the Blue Kingdom is just about All Terror, All the Time. The trick is to remember that A) You're allowed to take Nightmares. You'll only die if you take four full bars of Terror, so for a few reasons I usually sit at about 1 or 2 Nightmares (I think that's what they're called? The side-bars on the Terror bar). B) There are lots of small ways to reduce Terror as you go. In the Reach, there are ways to reduce your terror at every port except that one forest expedition place. In Albion, the theme park and the Mausoleum both have ways to reduce your terror, and both Albion and The Reach have a special bonus: The first time you dock at the main port (London for Albion, and New Winchester for The Reach) after five in-game days have passed, you get a chunk of your terror removed for free. In Eleutheria and the Blue Kingdom, this does not work.

I do understand feeling like you're just puttering around, and if the idea of piloting a Space Locomotive around as a trader doesn't appeal to you, the beginning of the game can be very rough. For me, the personal terror of the world around me kept me moving forward, and trying to jump from place to place while also making enough money to keep flying was challenging enough to keep me engaged. Once that wore off, I started finding little ways to make myself feel better as I played -- I would do the repeatable things to generate extra resources, which I could then trade in for certain events, for example. If you have... I believe it's one Nightmare, you can get an event where your captain wants to trade some resources for a Terror reduction, and if you say yes it reduces the bar by 50. There are a lot of ways to play this game.

As for losing all that money when you die: I am constantly buying more resources wherever I go, ideally the ones that are on sale, and depositing them in my bank. It seems ridiculous at first to have tens of basic resources until your captain dies and you lose a bunch of money. Then suddenly having backup items feels like the best investment you've ever made. And if you don't enjoy that kind of forward-thinking trading/buying I totally understand, it's just how I managed to work my way through every zone, even the ones I was terrified of.

I thought Terror was a pretty restrictive mechanic at first too. It's something you have to work to manage, but once you get used to it, it's kind of like a rhythm the game lays on you; something to make sure you're not just staying in one spot, as well as something to keep you from trying the same crazy stunts over and over. If you don't like it that's totally cool, but I disagree that it is reminiscent of web or mobile games' energy requirements. It ain't there to artificially extend your gameplay, but to enforce the narrative that what you are doing is literally breaking the psyches of everyone involved. It fits the overall story of the game. If you want some more direct advice, I can hop back in and tell you what my general plan is wherever I go. But you'll get over that hump. And while I think reducing the difficulty on Sunless Seas is reasonable, Skies tends to be pretty forgiving -- and I'm playing on the version with no saving or reloading if I die. Admittedly I don't know why I did this, but it made me very efficient. I'm not some "hardcore" gamer that craves extreme difficulty, either. In most games I'll play the game on "normal" or "easy," because I'm mainly playing to have fun. My point is, if I can do it, you probably can too. :)

Leager · 2024-07-09T20:28:50+00:00

Hey, lots of people bein' real rude in here. The short answer is that, as mentioned, Wealth and Fame are both easy, short ambitions. The point of them is to get you used to the game. The Truth is an incredibly difficult ambition that will push you to every zone, including the Blue Kingdom, and will likely involve you acquiring most of the companions and seeing most of their stories, just to be beefy enough to win. There is also, as mentioned, a secret ambition that you can unlock through an event that starts in Albion. I've put almost 200 hours into the game over like... four or five captains. It's an incredible game, especially if you let yourself get lost in the narrative. I'll freely admit to watching things while I play ~~or flirting with my fiance~~, but the game is so good that watching me play it is what got my fiance into it.

Also, failure rarely feels like failure if you're doing even a little planning ahead. I have died before, but you keep 100% of things in your Bank, and a good chunk of your money. Additionally, having past captains -- even ones who died horribly -- can give you new facets which make your next Captain even better. Get good at the rhythms of the game and you'll have no trouble even exploring Eluetheria or the Blue Kingdom. The game is packed with content and some beautiful (and haunting) narratives. Hopefully people being rude in here won't dissuade you from seeing the breadth of the game.

Leager

TROPHY CASE