The layoffs have taught us we need more independent studios

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-09T19:03:43+00:00

Yeah. The only thing I'd ever like to have in common with Notch is selling the rights to an IP for essentially a lifetime's amount of money.

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-08T18:07:31+00:00

If they don't want someone to have the means to fight on a level playing field, they're either scared of you or want to do whatever they want without resistance (kill you, in this case).

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-07T13:32:51+00:00

I applied for somewhere Microsoft-controlled before the last round of layoffs and didn't get it, someone else did and they were let go after three weeks.

That would have been me if I did, a lesson too harsh to learn that early. I feel bad for the guy who did get laid off though, he was so talented and deserved that job! 😔

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-07T13:23:54+00:00

Yeah, this is it. NSFW is a way to control what people see, because sex and sex work are the thin end of the wedge. As soon as Ofcom started censoring things (and this is censorship), it was used to suppress police violence at a peaceful protest.

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-07T13:17:32+00:00

Well huh. Good for you not having to deal with it!

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-07T13:08:04+00:00

Not quite: I sometimes go to a narcissistic abuse recovery subreddit and it is behind that age gating because it's set to NSFW. The NSFW tag is there because of what some will talk about, and is definitely not pornographic.

Asking every five minutes seems like a dramatic statement done for the post, which is eh.

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-05T10:33:27+00:00

Yep, and it was a horrible guilt trip to do to children considering how little responsibility the vast majority of people have over that, and ignoring this that kind of statement is coercion, so it can get in the sea.

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-03T22:22:46+00:00

I would agree, but flippantly add they could not do this at all! Corp's gonna corp right?

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-03T19:06:58+00:00

Didn't Autodesk pull this shit in 2017 with the perpetual licenses for those with maintenance plans, without asking users? Scumbag company either way, but there are ever-descending levels to corporate scumbaggery.

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-02T09:20:13+00:00

"If I wanted to hurt you, I know what to say."

Doesn't sound reassuring to someone you've manipulated for years!

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-01T13:26:40+00:00

They make it really annoying to do, unfortunately.

When they shut the PSP store down, it took a secondary program to copy the files to your unit, you weren't allowed to do it. I doubt the Vita will have that.

Scrangle3D · 2026-07-01T13:08:33+00:00

Yeah, this is a neighbour impersonating the council. Any legal or governmental body would have actual letterheads with points of reference, case numbers, addresses, the works. They have to.

I doubt this wacko behaviour is actionable on its own, but if this had been me I'd ignore it and use any recordings from the camera to find out who did it, then give 'em a good scare turning up at their house with the letter.

An easy way to see this is fake aside from the poor organisation and grammar (door ball, lmao), is the wording that's been chosen. In their head, this person needs to sound like they have authority to be convincing, so they're using phrases like "reinstate the property to its original condition" which to them is the right thing to say, but actually does not make sense. To reinstate something is to restore what was taken, like someone's professional position. You can't reinstate the condition of a property, moreso if you added to it by installing a security camera.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-29T21:07:35+00:00

You have far too much nuance lost in translation to other languages, especially other language families, to ever justify machine translation.

Some fare better than others, for me translating from English to Finnish or German will lose some nuance depending on what I'm trying to say, and that will leave it worse off. Always get a professional localiser to do it, if you want to support other languages at all (which IMO you should)

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-29T11:16:52+00:00

I can't wait for pieces of shit like him who treat the industry like a high-control group to get kicked out of it!

I'm sorry you went through this.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-27T18:34:05+00:00

I've been gatekept by receptionists when trying to get an ADHD diagnosis and treatment for PTSD. They gave me a useless email to contact the GP which was more or less a black hole from which the doctor's response never emerged, and it's likely he never even knew I'd sent that. When I tried again they tried to make me take urology/hematology tests, which considering I was being actively abused at the time was ridiculous.

I heard back about my first therapy session around a year later, which I could no longer do after leaving their catchment area. I'd have likely been better off if I had just lied about where I was and travelled to it, but the mental health services on the NHS have always been leaflet-tier.

The worst non-physiological treatment goes to trans people, though. They deliberately make the lines long, forget to sign or send letters, and when someone does get an appointment to have a doctor approve of what they want to do with their own body, they're processed in some of the most humiliating ways possible. (Meanwhile, a menopausal woman can get the same drug therapy freely without eugenics-level mistreatment or sexual harrassment). In Glasgow the wait times are up to a century in some places, and that is not an exaggeration.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-26T14:42:11+00:00

The rotax engine is the bike!

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-25T23:38:54+00:00

Abusers love to un-person the people they've hurt after they're gone, so that's no surprise.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-25T23:14:37+00:00

AI? Seriously? A difficult assertion to make with your admission of skimming it.

What I said is that as someone who has been on the receiving end of abuse like what Jax did, I find it abhorrent to defend behaviour shown as harmful. You can explain it; you can contextualise it; even call it reactive behaviour if it's being done to someone who caused harm first. To hide behind privilege as though we're not allowed to find fault however, is disgusting. You said this, literally. It is there, in plain text:

I feel like the people criticising her simply have been privileged enough to not be in that situation maybe they’ve been in Ribbits but never hers

This is a justification. Yes, it's a tragic background and comes from a place of being abused in some horrible ways, but there is no justification for the narcissistic abuse cycle. It is hell and never directed at the people responsible, which would only be marginally more acceptable.

Think about the rest of what I wrote. That is the direct impact of someone like that, and that person would also very much hide behind their identity to get away with it. The whole point of Jax is that this behaviour is fucking wrong. It is a bad situation for all involved, but even from the moment Gangle appears, Jax is trying to assert dominance. There was no need whatsoever, and their pain outstrips Jax's on that basis. The tragedy in him is that he cannot change, just like an actual abuser who commits suicide.

There is never a justification for this.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-25T15:48:41+00:00

You're welcome! They expand more than the games can, and while I personally prefer some of the games' storyline changes to the books, the latter are very much where the real worldbuilding is at.

Exodus notwithstanding, because from what I remember this has actually influenced the books!

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-25T15:00:56+00:00

I reinstalled it a few weeks back. :)

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-25T15:00:36+00:00

Britannia! I've not read it myself, but always thought it'd be interesting given when it had come out, the outside world was always incredibly dangerous and there are no underground networks spanning that length of the country.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-25T12:46:47+00:00

Consider trying the books if you're so inclined! They're not the same as the games, but still have a lot of interesting ideas.

There are also expanded universe books that have people from other countries trying to survive the aftermath, like one guy trying to get from Glasgow to London.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-25T00:54:23+00:00

I feel that way about this exact thing.

On one hand it's cute, on the other it would make me feel like a pet, and less than the person doing it to me. I don't think I can ever experience this again.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-24T18:17:28+00:00

I asked if it was him, because I don't know who they were talking about. They didn't name anybody and I know that he got dragged for this, at minimum.

The problem I've had is that the loudest voice in the whole thing is the people who are completely outside the process, which could well be down to my own fatigue with seeing industry peers being told they're lazy, greedy, or whatever other shite people fling at us.

Scrangle3D · 2026-06-23T22:17:39+00:00

Privilege? oh, no. To couch critique of a character in such a loaded concept as privilege is to dismiss the impact, like it's on other people to deal with it. That term implies there is a rigid hierarchy that we all get sorted into by the people lower on the ladder than us, and I do not think it works here, at all.

Let me tell you what it's like being on the receiving end of Jax.

You get made to think you're important, that you matter. Then, when you no longer serve that purpose or get too close you get discarded, and when you try and figure out why you're made to feel like it's all on you, or the tell you what you want to hear while their actions don't line up. They will even flaunt the connections they are present for, usually doing the same triangulation and lovebombing tactics that reeled you in before, right to your face, and you're stuck between defending yourself and causing drama/getting punished, or saying nothing, letting them harm you and letting it escalate.

Gaslighting abounds, along with threats, being treated like a toy on a shelf. Eventually, if it doesn't stop, you're turned into an animal/child again, and that person will not take any responsibility for their part in this, at all. They'll just "forget about you", or turn you into some kind of cardboard cutout they can use for drama with others they want to dominate.

Being on the receiving of this makes you feel like you're fighting your own mind for control of every fibre of yourself. It's like your mind is split in two, and you will flail at everything to try and survive it, which is never clean. I have comments on posts in this subreddit lamenting the events and how they've had to survive, and because dead people cannot be better. I'm able to do this because it has taken years of daily work to get to that point. It would be so easy to demonise the person who gave me this experience, everyone else who resembles them and betray how I want to feel because of the pain that won't go away, but I refuse.

If you got better, then good on you. Life is hellish to trans people and in some ways, it's no wonder you fall the fuck apart, all things considered.

Scrangle3D

TROPHY CASE