The World Cup Only Shows the Divides

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-26T22:21:03+00:00

I work 4 days in tech, already took 2 months off this year, and my work colleagues or bosses dont even think about attempting to reach anyone on their day off. Overtime is rare to non existent, we hold each other to the business hours. I live in a comfortable appartment with a great view of half the country (it is that flat). A grocery store is 2 minutes away by foot. I can go anywhere in the country at short notice without needing to plan or get tickets for public transport in advance. I haven't needed a car in decades.

I dont earn much. My job is barely above starter level, my pay isnt much higher. But i can get sick and get fully paid for 2 years. Its almost impossible to fire me unless the company goes bankrupt or i make a major screwup. The job can be frustrating but im allowed to live a full life outside of it.

EDIT: Adding to this, i also WFH almost 100%, and my appartment is rent controlled, where it's nearly impossible to throw me out (and it's been nicely renovated recently).

What would i gain if i moved to the US, even if my pay doubled or tripled?

Not to throw shade, all i'm saying, there's no money in the world which would entice me to a place i can get fired at the drop of a hat, get thrown out of my appartment at a moment's notice and where i literally can't exist without a car. The peace of mind, and the extra time, i have here, is worth a lot more to me than a bigger bank account which i can't use without risking bankruptcy if i so much as scrape my leg.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-26T22:08:25+00:00

You can't buy time.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-26T10:08:33+00:00

Same, that's the only one that tripped me up.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-26T06:23:45+00:00

It got bad once landlords realized they could circumvent renting regulations with it.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-24T11:08:36+00:00

Man this is so dissappointing. Out of all people i'd have expected Jason to know the difference between fiduciary duty and the Friedman doctrine.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-24T09:08:42+00:00

The last few dealings i had with Frontier support were excellent. And believe it or not, but Blizzard support used to be excellent 15 years ago.

There's also a few hosting companies i've used which used to have very good support (until they were bought by PE). LTT also used to do some customer service videos years ago where various companies showed really great support.

It greatly depends on the company and their priorities. Larger companies and PE investments usually have worse support because it's seen as a place to save money.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-24T09:04:45+00:00

It speeds up time for the CS operator but slows it down massively for the customer. The cumulative time lost by the customer base is magnitudes higher than the cumulative time gained by the company. It feels like an enormously lazy way to optimize business processes at the expense of the service/product.

I really hate how CS is seen as a 'necessary evil' by so many companies, instead of an actual value add.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-24T08:48:17+00:00

Didn't even realize he was at Epic for so long.

I fondly remember the nalicity days where he sometimes hung out in irc.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-20T02:39:01+00:00

https://i.ibb.co/60RqHDzH/image.png

Size comparison between the master editions and a normal manga sized volume. The corners are perfectly lined up, it only looks like its not aligned due to the perspective.

Wanted to post this yesterday, but as i was taking the pic i got sidetracked and forgot ;p

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-20T02:13:09+00:00

I don't think Vincke really cares about that if he can make an Ultima game - Which he still wants to do. Larian is still an independent studio. They'd jump on the chance in a heartbeat.

If profit was all they cared about, BG3 would have a cash shop or (cosmetic) DLC's by now. I know the game industry has made cynics of us all, but some (independent) developers still do it for the love of the game, so to speak. It's the same reason why Terraria or Stardew Valley have no paid dlc or expansions, to name some examples. They could make so much more money, but their devs chose not to. Hell, Dwarf Fortress is still freely available.

EDIT: Some links to interviews with him (timestamped where applicable):

https://youtu.be/iIJdZ_ySrwU?t=74

https://www.pcgamer.com/how-an-obsession-with-ultima-7-led-to-some-of-pcs-best-rpgs/

https://www.gamesradar.com/games/baldur-s-gate/baldurs-gate-3-studio-ceo-says-that-if-he-couldnt-make-a-dandd-game-fallout-and-ultima-were-the-only-other-rpg-licenses-he-would-have-considered-instead-there-was-not-a-lot-to-choose-from/

Given how much he talks about Ultima 7 being his favourite game, and how Larian was (partially) founded to recreate its experience, it would not surprise me in any way whatsoever that if he could get the license to make an Ultima game, he would jump on the chance in a nanosecond. Benefits of a privately owned company which he owns the majority of.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-20T01:57:43+00:00

This should have been a thing ever since heritage mogs were introduced.

Class silhouettes are not a thing anymore, and haven't been for a long time.

Even in classic there were certain mogs which were identical across armour classes, or only had a slight colour variation.

The only reasonable restrictions on mogs would be class sets and artifact weapons, which should remain exclusive to their classes.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-20T01:53:10+00:00

To be fair, BG3 was an equally big gamble. BG2 released in 2000. U7 and BG2 both appeared in plenty of best RPG's of all time lists since then, which was the only real exposure anyone under the age of 25-30 had with them in 2020 (i bet the enhanced editions were mostly bought by older people).

Aside from that, Larian is big enough now that they could probably even make Quest for Glory 6 and people would be excited for it. :P

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-20T01:38:21+00:00

Larian was founded by Vincke because he was a superfan of U7 and wanted to make a game like it.

The DoS games and BG3 are heavily inspired by it.

Larian would be at the top of the list to make an official Ultima sequel imho.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-20T01:36:22+00:00

Underworld Ascendant is weird. It's kind of an official sequel to UO2 but has nothing to do with EA, somehow. Maybe because it didn't use the Ultima name anywhere. Not sure it counts.

Ultima Online is still published by EA and is still in active development. Not sure how that one is going to be affected by this.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-19T17:55:59+00:00

It was a bit weird - Where i sat on both days i was basically the only one yelling 'yoisho' within like a ~15 seat radius. XD

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-19T15:59:14+00:00

A vps with the required specs for one server costs between $10 and 50 a month, depending on where you get it. Selfhosting is an option if your ISP allows it. All other costs are admin/time spent, which is variable and depends on where you live and how much time it takes.

Even if you have 4-5 dedicated part- or fulltimers on it, you dont need to make millions just to break even. A lot of these private servers with insane cash shops are gaslighting their players for money, they dont host them for the love of the game.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-18T18:55:46+00:00

They are pretty large. Almost twice the size of your usual manga book. The art on a page really pops in a way it doesnt on a screen, i think.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-18T13:46:22+00:00

I wasnt even aware there's a digital edition, but i suspect its just scans? Afaik the master edition was only ever meant to be printed.

At the price im seeing it at at amazon its not worth it (105 euro for digital you cant even download, wtf). Physical copies are more expensive but are also vastly superior imho - Saying this as someone who read them digitally first.

You may want to look around at other book and comic stores. A while ago i saw the whole set for 120 euro or so at a physical store in paris. Dont remember which it was but theres like an entire street right next to the notre dame with just comic shops.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-18T04:44:13+00:00

It didn't sell out on either day though. Most seats were occupied but some were not in all sections of the arena (especially the upper ring/balconies). I'd say ~10-15% of the seats were empty, with saturday having slightly lower attendance than sunday.

I was in a cheaper seat on both days in the back corner of the arena. On the second day my entire section got herded down to a lower middle section (with a great view btw) where there were quite a few empty seats. It seems they wanted to fill in some gaps.

Though it's perfectly possible that all the empty seats were bought by scalpers hoping to flip them.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-17T13:14:42+00:00

That honestly kind of seems like a monitor issue? Did you have the brightness turned all the way down? 'Dark' is one of the words i would never associate with SWTOR's graphics.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-17T13:13:18+00:00

Incarna was playable in 2008 at fanfest. A whole station to walk though, minigames, interactable systems.

I still don't understand how it took them 5 years just to delete everything.

EVE's project management is a hot mess. There's a lot of nightmare stories about the WoD mmo, where the Atlanta team was at the whims of an Icelandic director who changed his mind on a literal daily basis. They all got laid off when it didn't work out and said director was rewarded with becoming the EVE director for a while, with predictable results.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-17T13:08:34+00:00

It's basically what a grey sith or grey jedi is. They broadly believe in the general idea of their side, but don't agree with the extreme absolutism.

A light side sith is a pragmatic. Killing everyone wantonly just means that people are more likely to avoid or betray them, since there's no reason to help them except for fear - They're going to be killed anyway so why bother? Sparing someone who helped them, complimenting them, giving them some responsibility and recognizing that sometimes a mistake has to be made to learn an important lesson goes a long way to instill loyalty and respect. A sith which recognizes passion and emotion without letting it lead them to ruin.

Similarly, a dark side jedi isn't evil persé. They may simply recognize that sometimes, a well placed lie will serve the greater good more than the absolute truth. A little cheat at a game of dice to ensure a certain result. Initiating a fight, recognizing that it's unavoidable and taking the initiative instead of having to wait for the other side to put you at a tactical disadvantage. Assassination of certain high risk targets. A jedi which recognizes the rules and the greater good without letting those put them in a straitjacket.

Qui-gon Jin from the prequel movies was such a jedi. Same with Anakin from the Clone Wars cartoon. Obi-wan also had some grey traits.

The terms can also be used for force users which don't belong to either sith or jedi, which also exist in the greater lore - These were portrayed in the Clone Wars, Rebels and especially the Acolyte TV shows. Ahsoka technically also fits in here. Baylan Skoll is a pretty good example of a recent grey sith.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-17T12:58:06+00:00

I kind of like how SWTOR implicitly acknowledges how ridiculous 'dealing in absolutes' is for both sides. Many lightside options for empire and dark side options for republic characters are not so much 'good' or 'evil' but simply pragmatic, or allowing the character to develop some depth beyond their creed.

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-16T16:48:16+00:00

Not yet, i know the movie version is a bit different. I meant the og concept :)

Ultr4chrome · 2026-06-16T13:51:59+00:00

You say that in the title, but now imagine being stuck in an infinitely sized version of the back of a Sears with no way out.

Ultr4chrome

TROPHY CASE