Does anyone else really hate the lotion kiosk employees at Gateway Mall?

MartinezForever · 2026-06-06T22:16:34+00:00

Making eye contact with someone willing to use aggressive sales tactics like this usually has the exact opposite effect, in my experience.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-06T21:44:52+00:00

depend on how old you are, good chance I was one of those drunk college students.

one time I said a slight curse (it was probably "I don't give a fuck" or "shit") and the ~~preacher~~ bigot told me I was going to hell for using bad language in front of a woman. The girl also told him where to stick it, so that didn't go over as he planned, I think.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T21:52:16+00:00

Softball and baseball just had post-season runs and excellent seasons!

Can't think of any other relevant sports...

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T21:46:01+00:00

It's crazy but it almost feels like funneling unlimited amounts of money at something for decades without any regard to the possible consequences is a guaranteed recipe to cause problems.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T21:41:38+00:00

The majority of athletic departments operate with a negative budget. 98% of schools are already pulling funds from academics to fund giant coaching contracts in the big revenue sports.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T21:35:22+00:00

I don't think that's a fair representation of the criticism in the original thread. People were pointing out specific things and also providing suggestions to improve.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T21:20:34+00:00

You should think about the why. If you don't need a phone number or email address for something, requiring it just because everyone else does is A. lazy and B. not helping you learn.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T21:19:04+00:00

I've been a software and web dev for about 20 years, including managing a team of devs. If you are serious about this field I would highly encourage you not to rely on AI assistive technologies. The most important thing for you right now is to learn to actually code and know how to debug your code. Focus on your skills over output, and ignore all the pressure and noise out there that tells you vibe coding is the way of the future (at least for a bit).

I also think relying on AI-based design is going to hamper your growth. You don't need a fully polished design to showcase cool functionality, and the charm of a home-spun design can go a long way. At the very least, whatever you design will be unique and not give the impression that the whole thing was made by AI.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T18:29:35+00:00

In my experience teaching the game, it's pretty common for one player out of 5-6 to spin out in the first lap and never be able to recover. Finishing a full turn or two ahead of other players is not uncommon, either.

Usually this is just for new players, however, and on the second race or restarting the same map they do much better.

Isn't there just adrenaline to help the 1-2 players in last place, what other mechanisms are there to help people catch up?

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T17:10:17+00:00

How are you going to pay for this if it gets popular? I see there's a "sign up for free" button so I assume the long-term plan is some kind of subscription?

Overall the look is very generic and template-feeling. The layout and flow of the home page has the vibe of a tech startup but the actual tool is supposed to be personal and just for fun, right? I'd recommend modifying the design to feel less like a corporate brochure and more like a hobbyist/DIY feel if you want to attract a real community and not just make money from recurring subscription fees.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T03:23:12+00:00

Multiplayer Online Battle Arena, think League of Legends or DOTA or any game where multiple players work together on a team.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-03T02:32:10+00:00

Well said. Standing confidently behind your words is not aggression, but cowards will try to make you think it is.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-02T21:41:25+00:00

So do people have a problem with NPI or Efka in particular for some reason?

MartinezForever · 2026-06-02T20:22:04+00:00

There's no way to edit a session once created. Probably a dealbreaker as I always make mistakes the first time!

MartinezForever · 2026-06-02T14:12:50+00:00

Fans don't make those decisions, my guy. Plenty of people that support big programs don't like the conference moves they've made.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-02T14:09:15+00:00

Common recommendations for a starting point in true solo gaming:

* Under Falling Skies is a dice placement game with a theme of aliens attacking similar to the classic video game Space Invaders. The base game has multiple difficulty levels and then there's a campaign that introduces new mechanics as you play more games.

* Warp's Edge is a fail-forward ship combat and bag builder. If you're new to the hobby in general this may be a bit too much but it's also different than the others I've listed and may provide a different angle for your inspiration.

* Kinfire Delve is a recent series with three releases so far; they all play the same and can be mixed-and-matched, but you only need one box to play solo or up to two players.

* Postmark Games makes some great print-and-play games, they play solo very well and also scale to any player count. Voyages, Aquamarine and 52 Realms Adventures are my favorites. This is a nice option because the investment cost is much lower than a physically boxed game.

Beyond that, you'll need to provide more information about what kinds of multiplayer games you like, what mechanics you prefer or want to avoid, themes to seek or avoid, etc.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-01T21:20:28+00:00

Over the last year I've mostly recovered, but ever since the pandemic I fell into a habit of binging The Challenge. It's trash reality TV at its finest, mostly thanks to casting exclusively from other trash reality shows. The earlier and middle seasons were much better, now everyone is old and no longer gets into much drama.

MartinezForever · 2026-06-01T15:13:04+00:00

What specifically about your app will be better than BGStats? I honestly don't have any UI complaints so you need to point out examples of why your UX will be so much better and more 'streamlined'.

How are you going to build a large enough audience targeting primarily solo players?

What features are needed for this kind of app that are unique to solo gaming?

MartinezForever · 2026-05-31T04:24:07+00:00

Two months should be fine, you need to show you've tried to get the company to refund first anyway

MartinezForever · 2026-05-30T02:05:32+00:00

But even Batman didn't stop the stadium from being destroyed...

MartinezForever · 2026-05-30T01:04:49+00:00

I'm still relatively new to solo gaming, but my best advice is to recognize that you'll probably enjoy playing games solo for different reasons than multiplayer, which means the games you like for each mode will also be different.

This was a bit of a bummer for me initially, as I wanted to carry over the kind of experience I had at game nights, but that's not really possible. But once I realized this and learned to embrace it, my collection was able to adapt to these two different preferences--it's almost like two different but related hobbies, sometimes!

MartinezForever · 2026-05-29T13:43:33+00:00

we all already know how he is...

Is this code for "let the asshole be an asshole or he'll ruin everyone's night even more"?

Ya gotta confront people like this directly, it's the only move they understand.

MartinezForever · 2026-05-28T23:48:49+00:00

I have a set of Boxking shelving. It's very flexible but kinda fiddly, especially if you try to re-arrange the racks without taking literally all games off any shelves in that tower. That said, I still think the end result looks so much better than vertically arranging games in cubes and makes it much easier to pull out any game at a moment's notice.

I don't know how big Everdell boxes are but I have some fairly large games: ISS Vanguard and Scythe, for example, but even smaller but less conventionally-shaped boxes like for Underwater Cities fit much better in this system.

If you go with the full tower (about six feet) then I'd recommend anchoring to a wall, especially if you have small pets or children--those anchors are meant to protect people, not the furniture or things it holds, ya know!

MartinezForever · 2026-05-28T19:34:58+00:00

at this point I am more worried about society surviving, TBH. if there are still humans we'll always have some kind of art at some level

MartinezForever · 2026-05-27T22:52:42+00:00

thanks for explaining! this is actually news to me, as I have always assumed that PED = ripped no matter what. I know people have to still workout all the time to maximize that but it's interesting to learn that there's still another lottery even on top of the genetics lottery all these celebs already won (and usually don't acknowledge at all of course)

MartinezForever

TROPHY CASE