⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...
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@Gąska said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Benjamin-Hall said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
I hate when games lie about their world. Leaves me wondering what else is a lie.
I see. Unfortunately, Witcher is all about "everybody lies". I guess it's just too Polish for your tastes.
Yeah. I can't do concentrated doses of Slavic cynicism. Sure, they do it better than just about anyone else. But at my core, I like to pretend there's hope in the world. So most of my fictional consumption has pretty clear opportunities to actually do honest good, and the moral dilemmas I prefer are more "which of these two good things do you want more", not "well, you can have this crap sandwitch or that crap sandwitch. Choose! Except you don't have enough information, so instead every choice you make just makes things worse."
My favorite "moral dilemma" I've set in my D&D experience was when the party had to choose whether to sacrifice one of them (or a trusted ally) or let an antagonist sacrifice himself. All options would have led to "good" outcomes. The question was whether they trusted the NPCs and agreed with their preferred outcomes or wanted to forge their own path, and at what cost.
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@Benjamin-Hall And the other problem I had with the Witcher was just the graphic nature of it. I've never been one for graphic, gratuitous violence or sex in my media. And there was plenty of that in the first half of the Witcher (#1). It's why I stopped reading GoT after the first chapter--it was already past my comfort level.
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@Benjamin-Hall I get what you're saying about "Slavic cynicism". Although it's not really about wrong vs. wrong (except for the 1st game, which I didn't like either), as much as about good by any means necessary vs. another good by any means necessary. Idealism turned fanaticism, or maybe not even that, depending how you look at it. For the most part, if you help some group, that group achieves their goals and their people really are better off. It's just you don't always like what they do to others, or what they've done to you on their way to victory.
If you ever find a good promo, you might want to play Blood and Wine expansion for Witcher 3. It's not a stand-alone, but they let you play the expansion alone with a pre-made character without playing the main game. Blood and Wine is... still Slavic-cynical and everybody lies, but there's an authentic good ending where everyone lives happily ever after (and a bunch of alternative endings if you screw up). And the story itself is very good. And there's a ton of fun side quests.
Edit: the other expansion, Hearts of Stone, is also an extremely good story, but due to its source material being a particular Polish legend, the Slavic cynicism and everybody lying is turned up to 11.
Very minor spoiler
Rule lawyering is a major plot point in HoS.
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@Benjamin-Hall said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
"well, you can have this crap sandwitch or that crap sandwitch. Choose! Except you don't have enough information, so instead every choice you make just makes things worse."
That's reality. I read fiction/fantasy to escape that shit!
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@dcon said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Benjamin-Hall said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
"well, you can have this crap sandwitch or that crap sandwitch. Choose! Except you don't have enough information, so instead every choice you make just makes things worse."
That's reality. I read fiction/fantasy to escape that shit!
Exactly. And I'm the same way.
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@Benjamin-Hall I read fiction to escape the reality where I don't get to choose anything at all.
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@Gąska said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
I read fiction to escape the reality where I don't get to choose anything at all.
Exactly. Choices in computer games might not matter¹, but at least you get to make them.
¹ Sometimes you get to doom the universe, though, so...
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YKYBSTMTOTDWTFW you see a file named "othermems" and your brain reads "other memes."
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You reading the headline of...
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@Applied-Mediocrity Crusader Kings also allows you to "choose a lifestyle". It's also famous for letting you force your children to fuck each other.
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@Gąska said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Applied-Mediocrity Crusader Kings also allows you "choose a lifestyle"
Lifestyle means...
It's also famous for letting you force your children to fuck each other.
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@Gąska said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Applied-Mediocrity Crusader Kings also allows you to "choose a lifestyle". It's also famous for letting you force your children to fuck each other.
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@Gąska said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Benjamin-Hall I read fiction to escape the reality where I don't get to choose anything at all.
So, if I understood correctly, the Witcher is to slavic people what normal high fantasy is to western people; an uplifting tale of heroism and better outcomes? And it feels so dark and cynical to the western audience just because they don't see worse things every day in real life?
...And propably western high fantasy doesn't sell well in slavic countries, because the story is too far removed from reality, so suspension of disbelief breaks. Like, it looks to the slavics like most children's books look to an adult audience; too fluffy to be believable.
Did I get that right?
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@acrow said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Gąska said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Benjamin-Hall I read fiction to escape the reality where I don't get to choose anything at all.
So, if I understood correctly, the Witcher is to slavic people what normal high fantasy is to western people; an uplifting tale of heroism and better outcomes?
Nope. We're pretty much in agreement that the Witcher lives in a crapsack world.
And it feels so dark and cynical to the western audience just because they don't see worse things every day in real life?
None are so blind as those who will not see.
...And propably western high fantasy doesn't sell well in slavic countries, because the story is too far removed from reality, so suspension of disbelief breaks. Like, it looks to the slavics like most children's books look to an adult audience; too fluffy to be believable.
Did I get that right?
Nah, Western high fantasy sells just as well as any other sort; which is to say not that well, because people don't read very much and prefer to spend money on things other than books.
The Witcher came about as a combination of several things: there was a desire to take the piss out of a bunch of standard fantasy tropes (much like Pratchett was doing from a different angle at much the same time: Colour of Magic was published in '83, the first Witcher story in '86), there was the issue of using "plain language" as opposed to "high fantasese" (again, something Pratchett wanted to do), many of the early stories were postmodern send ups of classic fairy tales (something that Pratchett was also wont to do... notice a trend here?), lastly there was a desire to use some of our local folklore as opposed to the celtic/germanic stuff everyone else was doing.
It helped that Sapkowski, for all his faults, really could write. Plus, it was funny (the early stories at least), had a decent amount of spicy content and was overall a good read (until he decided to make an actual epic out of it and it fell apart).
All in all, there was something about the Eighties that made them Fantasy Deconstruction Time. Apart from the aforementioned, stuff like Howl's Moving Castle (published '86) comes to mind.
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@acrow what @GOG said. Also, I think Slavic people feel a bigger connection to the crapsack world of Witcher than "westerners", not just because of Slavic folklore, but also because Eastern Europe has been considerably more crapsack than the West, especially in the 80s and 90s.
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@Gąska said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
crapsack
I'm reminded of my childhood, going out to the back lawn with a shovel, and shoveling the dog's crap into a paper bag from the grocery store.
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@boomzilla said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
shoveling the dog's crap into a paper bag from the grocery store.
then dumping it on the neighbors porch and setting it on fire?
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@Luhmann said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
then dumping it on the neighbors porch and setting it on fire?
I know we're all boomzilla alts, but I think that would be more the style of
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@TimeBandit said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Luhmann said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
then dumping it on the neighbors porch and setting it on fire?
I know we're all boomzilla alts, but I think that would be more the style of
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@boomzilla said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
I'm reminded of my childhood, going out to the back lawn with a shovel, and shoveling the dog's crap into a paper bag from the grocery store.
That's fine. You're allowed to step on a lawn as a child as long as it's your lawn.
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… multiple times in the past few days, someone’s having difficulties with mobile app functionality and you’re thinking the same few words each time.
And I don’t even need to say what they are.
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@Zecc said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
You're allowed to step on a child on a lawn as long as it's your lawn.
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@Gribnit said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Zecc said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
You're allowed to step on a child on a lawn as long as it's your lawn.
The child's parents would like a word.
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@Karla said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Gribnit said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Zecc said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
You're allowed to step on a child on a lawn as long as it's your lawn.
The child's parents would like a word.
They can have four:
Get Off My Lawn
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Status: Thanks, Epic, for running year long paid open beta! Timmy!
I have 99+ unread topics to "read" and so many upboats to bother you folks with. But they're mostly in the Garage. I think I will be in another garage for a while, though.
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@Applied-Mediocrity That warthog does not appear to be kneeling.
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@HardwareGeek It violently kneels sideways upon encountering the slightest bump in level geometry. I suppose it doesn't count, does it?
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YKYBSTMTOWTDWTFW you’re thankful someone else bumped YKYBSTMTOTDWTFW for a change…
You also KYBSTMTOWTDWTFW somebody shares a link to TDWTF, an article from February no less, and you so desperately wish to interject “we have a front page??”
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@kazitor said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
for a change…
Seems mostly distributed. You just keep reminding yourself about spending too much time on TDWTF.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
Seems mostly distributed.
That’s because I’ve actively avoided posting things here after it felt like I’d had enough consecutive bumps.
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@kazitor said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
Seems mostly distributed.
That’s because I’ve actively avoided posting things here after it felt like I’d had enough consecutive bumps.
One can never have too many bumps!
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@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@kazitor said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
Seems mostly distributed.
That’s because I’ve actively avoided posting things here after it felt like I’d had enough consecutive bumps.
One can never have too many bumps!
Seems that way but then you nod for good, man.
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Browsing StackOverflow, the "network questions" in the sidebar contained a post asking "Two PhDs simultaneously possible?"
Without caring about the contents of the actual question, my first horrified thought was "BDSM thread is ".
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A streamer I watch sometimes tells lame jokes from a joke book. Today:
: How many apples grow on a tree?without hesitation: All of them!
Also, I was tangentially reminded of this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMaiKjsAhIM
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Status: listening to an internal training where the presenter is repeatedly saying "elongate" (which is the appropriate word, in context). Can't stop thinking about "Elon-gate" and corresponding thread.
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@remi said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
the presenter is repeatedly saying "elongate"
I'd have guessed less and more
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@Gąska Could have been, but the presenter has a strong ESL accent (as if I didn't have one myself... but I'm not presenting today!) and it really sounds like "Elon-gate."
Now he's talking about "lowering and raising your equipment" and saying that "depending on your load you can have single, dual or triple action pumps."
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The presenter showed us a Youtube video. There was an ad at the end (which he stopped before switching back to his presentation), which was about a hair-loss product.
The presenter is bald.
I'm not suggesting anything, you know, correlation isn't causation.
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@remi said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
correlation isn't causation.
Why does HE get correctly-targeted ads?!? 😭
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@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@remi said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
correlation isn't causation.
Why does HE get correctly-targeted ads?!? 😭
Not blocking cookies at every opportunity?
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@PleegWat said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@remi said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
correlation isn't causation.
Why does HE get correctly-targeted ads?!? 😭
Not blocking cookies at every opportunity?
I consume all the cookies! Except the ones that cost money.
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@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
I consume all the cookies! Except the ones that cost money.
Funny, with me it's the other way around...
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My first reaction was to look for a horse in the picture..
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...you're providing a pedantic clarification (that everyone probably already knows) on a year-and-a-half old post...
@GOG said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
And it feels so dark and cynical to the western audience just because they don't see worse things every day in real life?
None are so blind as those who will not see.
That is "Will not see," as in, "they refuse to see," contrasting with "cannot see" or simply "do not see," which are different levels altogether.
will not (refuse to) << cannot (unable to) << do not (lack of exposure to or protected from)
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@GOG said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
@Tsaukpaetra said in ⏱ You know you've been spending too much time on TDWTF when...:
I consume all the cookies! Except the ones that cost money.
Funny, with me it's the other way around...
Same here, until the doctors made me stop. My cookie accountant was really confused when I had to let him go - we both knew he'd been doing a good job.
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...
Phew, it's just that game.