I’d plug in a bunch of psychology books and start getting profiles on every politician in every G4 country. I’d find their dirty laundry and air it on the news. I would make being a politician such a risky job choice that the rich would do everything in their power to avoid it. Then once a crop of people with differing ideas and a willingness for good faith compromise appears I’ll do everything I can to support them.

I think it’s less of a “what I believe” thing for OP. It’s probably something they’ve heard being told to them as to why their hours or job was cut.

1. God is dead, embrace the suck.
2. When people show you who they are, believe them.
3. It’s not who you are, but who you know that gets you ahead in the world.
4. A small handful of loyal friends will last you longer than a 1000 social media followers.
5. It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.
6. The sooner you realize the race you’re running isn’t against the people in the other lanes the better off you’ll be.
7. Love is work. Disgusting, backbreaking, and tiring. But it is some of the most fulfilling and glorious work you will do.
8. If you want to kill any joy you have in a hobby, do it for money.
9. Charge everyone the same rate. Friend, family, or foe. Being seen as fair will gain you more respect than being seen as favorable.
10. No man is an island. The things you do, even if you think will only affect you, will affect those around you.

I’m 38. I was born to a prostitute in the ghetto, went into the foster care system and landed in the suburbs, and have clawed for any ground I’ve gained.

If that doesn’t hit close to home…

Just finished the Front Mission 1 remake and started the Front Mission 2 remake. Found out why it wasn’t as popular. Playing a bit of Space Marine 2, CoD, Warframe when the mood takes me. I also played some more Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, which is like a spiritual sequel to Jet Set Radio Future.

Video Games? No. Social media on the other hand, yes.

We called her Biscuit, and the last time I bothered to look her up she was working for then presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

US, $75 per 3 months, 5GB data and unlimited talk and text. Mint Mobile. The Ryan Reynolds phone company.

For operating under the presumption that this isn’t a monkey’s paw sort of Midas touch, meaning that the person who granted it took it literally that I actually have to put my hand on something to turn it to gold, I’d probably go around picking up small rocks and things like that and handing them out to people who needed money. My wife would probably be upset that she had to feed me for the rest of my life but you know.

Cards Against Humanity.

I’ve always loathed the “A jack of all trades is a master of none, but still better than a master of one”. Specialists exist for a reason. And I feel the same with my tech. I’d love to be able to go back to having an amazing digital camera, a phone that made sure it connected everywhere, and so on. I could do such things with a little elbow grease and research but I know I’m too lazy to do that.

Librarian.

It’s not bad unless you intend to have more than one kid.

It was originally meant to be a hardcore survival PvP game but Amazon pivoted to an MMO. So it’s a MMO now but has survival systems bolted on that go nowhere.

God no. I nuked my socials during 2020. I got so sick and tired of people bitching/praising about Trump’s first term. I had FB so I could talk to family that still lived in MA. and friends from school. I’d get like one vacation photo and then days of nothing but Trump stuff.

No one with sense is saying that they wouldn’t want to increase prices. The debate is whether or not the publishers who are pushing for higher cost of games realize that the higher it goes the less sales they’re actually going to make. Because again it doesn’t matter if the consumer knows why the cost has gone up or not. It’s a matter of whether or not the cost is going to seem justifiable for the customer. And that’s the rub everyone keeps saying that oh games should cost more game should cost more. The problem with that statement is after a certain price point games are no longer going to be a hobby purchase. They’re no longer going to be that impulse buy that they’ve survived on. They’re going to be that thing where you end up waiting for it to go below $25 or for it to be a runaway smash hit that everyone is telling you is a great game. And that isn’t even to say that good games are always going to cost more money look at Balatro, look at schedule 1, look at Repo. These are games that were made on shoestring budgets that players enjoyed. The problem with ballooning costs isn’t that games are getting bank breakingly expensive to make. It’s that risk averse publishers and investors are chasing trends that players have moved on from and they no longer are made up of people who actually play games.

I have to disagree with you on the pricing point. Just because people “understand” that pricing for games has been behind other entertainment doesn’t mean they are willing to stomach that increase. Most people buy video games as an impulse buy from their discretionary funds after bills have been paid. At the price point they are at currently it has stopped being impulse buys. This has led to so.many of the AAA failures of the past two console gens(current and last). When a brand new game costs $60(and gaining) and a weeks worth of groceries cost $100 you don’t think in terms of “will this game be fun” but instead "will this game be worth a weeks worth of groceries. And while this isn’t a problem for indies who are currently eating the lunch of the AAA pubs right in front of their faces, it will crater those legacy studios.

Well, I don’t have a desk job and I’m on console. So while I can sympathize, I’m not really able to offer advice.

I’m bouncing around several games right now. New season of CoD, Space Marine 2, Balatro, Monster Train, and STALKER 2.

I also started Valkyria Chronicles 4 recently and have been enjoying that as well.

A few things in there are interesting.