Lurker > ParanoidObsessive

UT1999 posted...

Do you think that Biden knew what "Brandon" meant?

I'm not even sure he knows who "Biden" is.



shadowsword87 posted...

You're right, the president of the united states doesn't know what 30% of the population are saying when it's directly about him.

You're saying that sarcastically, but I honestly don't think any given sitting President knows what 80% of the population are saying about anything.

When you've got multiple levels of advisors, assistants, and interns working to filter information, your ability to understand what the majority of the population is saying, doing, or thinking is limited at best. Especially when most sitting Presidents aren't spending all their time on Twitter or to keep their finger on the pulse of mainstream thought. What you know is what others choose to tell you - and others will often censor the information they present to you for a myriad of reasons (ranging from politeness or respect all the way up to deliberate manipulation).

There's actually a name for this phenomenon (though I can't remember exactly what it is at the moment). But to quote a 20-year old book on conspiracy theories:

"We thus arrive at a situation that in the Army is called Optimum Snafu. Those at the top are never told what might cause them to punish the informant, and those at the bottom keep their mouths shut about more and more of what they actually see, hear, smell, taste, or otherwise sense of the environment. In the long run, the top people in the pyramid are attempting to regulate things they know nothing about, based on reports that have been invented by liars and flatterers to prevent them from using their awful powers too destructively. But if most people always lie a little in dealing with superiors, those superiors must have a very weird and inaccurate picture of who the people below them are and what they really think and want."


It also doesn't help that most politicians in higher levels of power are literally career politicians who've spent most of their adult lives in politics, and don't necessarily have an awareness of what the world is like outside of that sphere. You essentially get a bit of an echo box scenario where most politicians tend to wind up living fairly affluent lives and interacting with other politicians, not slumming with the average blue-collar worker or "average" citizen. Politicians (especially older ones) tend to be out of touch because they've literally never been "in touch". And most attempts to seem like "just an ordinary person" are deliberate PR maneuvers created by a team of marketing advisors.

11110111011 posted...

I think Metallica fans just don't like Black because it was the turning point and actually landed on some charts.

Yeah, it was the stereotypical "My underground niche band has sold out!" reaction. That pretty much every band that tours for a while and then becomes mainstream popular tends to go through.

Metalsonic66 posted...

Only four Metallica albums

Ehh. No matter how much hardcore old school Metallica fans might have disliked the Black album, I still consider it one of the best ones they ever did.

I'll agree when it comes to Load and everything afterwards, though. Cue "Altallica" or NuMetallica" jokes.

Zeus posted...

Well, only Alien and Alien 3 really capture the same feeling.

To be fair, the same is true for the Terminator films - the first one is more horror, the second one is more sci-fi/action. And in both cases people tended to enjoy the second one as much as/more than the first.

And in both cases, the quality drops off dramatically after the second movie in each franchise.

wolfy42 posted...

WTF i thought you were older than me? Everyone always acts like your ancient and crap.

That's because...

Zeus posted...

PO is naturally curmudgeonly.

This.

Like I've said in another topic recently, I've basically been an old man since I was 12.

Also, when you start posting on a forum where pretty much everyone is either a teenager or in their early 20s at most, everyone's going to treat the people in their late 20s/early 30s like they're ancient. And it doesn't help that as a child of the 80s surrounded by children of the 90s (and occasionally 00s), I tended to play it up a bit. And pointing out stuff like how I'm old enough to be Shadow's dad doesn't help either.

But yeah, I'm 44 (45 in a couple months).



wolfy42 posted...

Seriously am I the only post 50 year old on here?

Now? Probably.

I think we used to have a couple older people here (at least one or two really old), and I know Whiskey was pretty close to my age, but I'm pretty sure nearly all of them are gone now. I think now it's almost entirely mid-to-late 20somethings and early 30somethings here now, apart from the rare exception like you or I.

If you were that excited about seeing it, it's been on DVD for like 6 months now.

Playing Saints Row 2 again.

Unbridled9 posted...

and there's no hope of a government re-establishing itself within at least a year or two.

If a government doesn't reestablish itself within a year or two, it probably isn't going to reestablish itself ever.

Something may eventually come rising out of the ashes on the other side, but it isn't likely to be the same thing that fell apart. It's also likely to be much more draconian and authoritarian, at least at first, because civil rights kind of stop being a concern for most people when you're fighting over scraps. And clawing order back out of chaos takes a lot of harsh decisions.



Unbridled9 posted...

What do you do? Do you think you'll survive?

When I was in my 20s, I would have tried to make a go of things.

Now that I'm in my 40s, I'd pretty much just lay down and die.

I don't celebrate Christmas. I'll probably just have mac & cheese or a sandwich or something.

Notschmendrake posted...

As if apple users have or will ever give a shit lol.

This.

No one's going to give a shit. The sort of people who actually care about that sort of thing almost certainly already know and avoid Apple products as is. The majority of people aren't going to give a fuck about the employees' working conditions. Most people don't even care if the phones are being made in literal sweat shops in China by people who are essentially slaves, they definitely aren't going to give a shit about these people.

Justin2Krelian posted...

I'm pretty sure Reese himself said the future wasn't set or something similar.

Yeah, but Kyle was also deliberately rescued, recruited, and specifically cultivated to complete his mission (which was never what he thought it was), so his understanding of time travel is limited at best. He might have believed that (especially since it was the excuse they used to send him back), but him believing it doesn't necessarily make it true.

Or to put it another way, if he'd been told that history cannot be changed, he might have asked why they were bothering to send him back to save her in the first place, since that would mean that it was impossible for Skynet to actually change the past. So they had to lie to him and imply the past can be changed, to justify why he'd need to go back to protect it.

It's made pretty clear that John Connor at least knew exactly why he was really sending Kyle back. It wasn't just an amazing coincidence - he was working to make sure Kyle would have a crush on his mother even before he sent him back.

But you can't really tell someone "I'm sending you back in time to bone my mom".

Zareth posted...

Yeah. The sequels completely shat all over the "no fate but what we make" by saying that Skynet always destroys the world.

To be fair, that concept itself only exists because the second movie shat all over the theme of the first movie - which is that you can't change the past, only create closed loops that lead to the same future.

Skynet's attempt to kill John Connor before he was born is the only reason he was born in the first place. Kyle was always destined to be sent back in time to save him, thus creating him, because the past is fixed and the future is inevitable.

The second movie even starts with the same idea (Skynet is only created because it sent a Terminator back to kill Sarah Connor, thus allowing a scientist to study the wreckage and create Skynet based on its designs) before completely derailing it.

Which is a shame, because having both Skynet and its greatest nemesis created by a closed loop in time is kind of an interesting concept. Especially since it calls into question whether or not Skynet was actually sending the first Terminator back in time to kill Sarah Connor at all, or was simply doing it to ensure its own creation (in the same way that John had to ensure his own birth). Both sides of the conflict become self-created entities in that scenario, forever destined to be opposed because time itself can never be changed. Their creation becomes a loop without beginning or end.

The only reason more people didn't complain about the second movie changing that idea is because the second movie was kind of awesome in its own right. So people overlooked the change. Plus, it allowed for a happier ending, and American movie audiences love their happy endings.

VioletMassacre posted...

Yeah, sounds like the boyfriend is the issue, the question is why this specific one is so special/got such a hold on her.

He's got a huge dong.

teddy241 posted...

What do you want out of this life?

https://youtu.be/a6D3gcDbeUE?t=31

https://youtu.be/NrZMdqi2D1Y?t=250

Revelation34 posted...

Yeah a 20 minute video of some moron yelling.

1) There are plenty of videos where the person doing the video isn't screaming.

2) There are a bunch of videos where the person doesn't speak at all.

3) Even if the only video you can find for what you need involves a shouting moron, you can usually just mute them anyway.

4) It's usually pretty easy to skim through a video and figure out the exact part you need based on the preview window, and is rarely any more time-consuming than having to skim through a FAQ to find the part you're looking for.

5) Regardless of all the above, it's almost always infinitely better to be able to see how to do something in a game visually than it is to skim through multiple pages of a FAQs to find the specific section you're looking for, only to find the single paragraph about the part you're on doesn't adequately explain what you're trying to figure out anyway. I can't even count the number of times where I've been pissed at a FAQ for using vague language or poor descriptions to try and explain what I'm looking for, to the point where it was pretty much useless in the end.


And that's before we even get into the fact that, based on which YouTubers and Twitch streamers are the most successful, it seems like most people under the age of 30 prefer the screaming morons anyway. Which is why those morons scream so much in the first place - it's how they attract an audience.

I choose to be reborn into the Garden of Infinite Delights.

Failing that...



wolfy42 posted...

You will not remember this life once you are born, so these decisions are important.

The problem is, without any of my memories, then whoever is reborn essentially isn't me. And if it isn't me, then fuck that guy (or girl).

In which case the only acceptable option is to embrace the Nirvana option and leap right the fuck off the Wheel.

TaKun782 posted...

I really dont know what the hell they were trying to do with this one.

Based on stuff the Wachowskis have said in interviews, it mainly feels like this movie exists solely because Lana Wachowski needed therapy after their parents died, so this was essentially her working through her problems.

I mean, when you say things like "I can't have my parents back but I can have Neo and Trinity back", it kind of spells out your motivations. Especially after you've spent 20 years deliberately refusing to make a new Matrix sequel and saying you're never going to because the story is over and there's nothing left to tell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDg3KvJMJXE

If memory serves, that was kind of terrible and no one actually watched it, which is why they never did anything like it again.

But I might be confusing it with the Merlin miniseries.

Reloaded isn't actually bad in and of itself. It has some interesting ideas, does some cool things, and generally sets up narrative points that could have been awesome if they'd been paid off on.

It's mostly the fact that Revolutions completely shits the bed in pretty much every way that makes Reloaded worse by proxy. Because it means that none of the things Reloaded sets up pay off in any meaningful or interesting ways, so now they feel worse when you go back and watch them knowing how things end.

Though I also have a bit of a soft spot for Reloaded because at the time I thought it was really cool how Enter the Matrix interwove with the plot of the movies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MO9jICdiGw

wolfy42 posted...

Lol, that is definately a game I never played.

The first two Fear Effect games were actually pretty cool. It's just harder for people who've never played them to appreciate them now, because they're PS1-era games.

But at the time, they were a bit notorious. For... reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaEsY3DYsOY

11110111011 posted...

Three Star Wars movies, Three Indiana Jones movies and one Matrix movie. Those are the facts.

But how could you ignore the greatest Star Wars film of all time?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HenB3gt6SAY



I agree with you, though.

In the 80s, this was the go-to suggestion because of the movie:

https://youtu.be/zl-CriM6vx0?t=67


In the early 90s, I remember all the teenagers who weren't actually having sex suggesting Enigma as a good one to go with. Specifically, this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCElGHuHDwY


In the late 90s, I remember my roommate in college always used to listen to Candlebox. But he was kind of a weird dude.



dioxxys posted...

I need a playlist for tonight

Why a playlist? Just find a 30 second sound clip and you should be fine.

KodyKeir posted...

If we were going by modern naming conventions, it would be Turkistan.

The problem there is that there's already a Turkistan. And the historical region of Turkistan always included more than just modern Turkey anyway.

If anything, they should just go back to calling it Anatolia.

YouTube recommended me that video as well.

And then I ignored it.

Oh fuck no, America Chavez.

I knew she was coming eventually, but I was hoping it would be longer before they finally crammed her in.

Far-Queue posted...

Same reason You're A Mean One, Mr Grinch is a Christmas song

Except the Grinch is literally about Christmas. It's intrinsic to his entire existence.

Linus and Lucy, no.

Christmas Time is Here, yes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PzetPqepXA

Linus and Lucy basically is the Peanuts theme, because they use it in other shows. Which have nothing to do with Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRGkEDADmRU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMH6O5CugTg

Saying Linus and Lucy is a Christmas song because it was in the Peanuts Christmas special is like saying the South Park theme is a Christmas song because they've done multiple Christmas specials.

Gaawa_chan posted...

For those interested:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Turkey

And more specifically, the bird was actually named after the country.

So if anything, the fault isn't that people confuse the country with the bird, it's that they confuse the bird with the country.

https://www.gonintendo.com/system/stories/promo_images/000/302/905/original/DWu_7bwX0AAJwJ7_(1).jpg

https://youtu.be/KtbAKxENsUg?t=300

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kj6DLpJF6B4

Molitheus posted...

They didn't go anywhere.

They absolutely did. This site has hemorrhaged users over the last 10 years (give or take).

Check analytics sites - you can see the downward trend of site traffic and active users on the forums. Every year the site loses more and more users, and the only new accounts being made at this point are mostly trolls and gimmick posters who've gotten their old accounts banned and just keep making new ones. Losing older users and failing to attract new users is the death-knell of any site.

GameFAQs actually used to be in the top 300 English-language sties on the Internet (almost in the top 100), now it's little more than an afterthought (it barely cracks the top 10000). It may be a long, slow, agonizing descent into oblivion, but the site's been declining for years and will likely continue to do so until it eventually becomes so unprofitable that it gets shut down. It won't be the first major popular Internet site to die that way. Or to eventually have to transition into something nearly unrecognizable to survive.

SBAllen generally uses the "people don't vote in the poll" argument to imply the site isn't losing users (or at least he used to), but that's because that's the sort of lie he has to tell to keep his job. Tell your employers that 90% of your customer base has stopped using your product since you've been in charge and see what happens to you.

The poll numbers are just one obvious indicator of the decline, though (and arguably the one most visible and easy to quantify). Activity on nearly every social board has dropped significantly from what it used to be, site traffic is down, unique users logged per month is down... and so on.



maniaxe613 posted...

What happened to everyone? Where did they go?

Other sites.

The only real value this site ever had to people was the FAQs (even people who stayed for the social interaction originally came for some FAQ or another, trying to figure out how to get past some difficult part or how to find some rare item in a game). But FAQs are pretty much obsolete in a world where you can go to YouTube and watch a video showing you the exact part you're stuck on, or go to a game-specific wiki where they go into far more detail about a given game than nearly any FAQ ever has. Not to mention sites like IGN or writing full walkthrough articles (with pictures) for a lot of games. There are much better resources out there now than anything GameFAQs has to offer. So the site no longer really attracts new gamers at all, because they always have better options.

As for the more social side of gaming, GameFAQs does a poor job at that as well. Younger gamers who want to talk about games will generally gravitate to other social media sites to do so - Reddit and Twitter scratch a lot of the itch that GameFAQs used to cover (not to mention stuff like Twitch chats or Discord servers). If they ever know GameFAQs exists at all, they're not likely to see the primitive message board tech of 20 years ago and be impressed enough to want to stay.

Most of the users here now are just older users who can't be bothered to leave. We're pretty much the retirement home for a certain generation of older gamers who will probably never really get into the new-fangled stuff "the kids today" are into, but there's fewer of us every day, as people lose interest, drop off, migrate away, or otherwise leave forever without being replaced.

wolfy42 posted...

Lol, mind you t his is the pc version not the console version heh.

Yeah, but it's not as if all of the glitches, bugs, lag, and severe issues (including ones that can literally damage your hardware or software) were confined to the consoles. And from my understanding, a lot of the major stuff has never been patched, even after tons of time spent fixing things.

And no amount of patching is ever going to be able to fix the plot.

Bort

I voted G Other, because I think it should literally be called "G Other".

wolfy42 posted...

and they all have great reviews on youtube.

wolfy42 posted...

Cyberpunk 2077

Something has clearly gone seriously wrong somewhere.

wolfy42 posted...

Without christmas there would be no black friday. So, I'd figure out what needs to be done, and prevent anyone from doing it.

Might want to do your research first, considering how often people suggest that most of the US economy is built around it, and tons of businesses would go bankrupt without it.

GameFAQs has been in a downward spiral for like 10 years now. We're basically like an old man with dementia, where you assume he's going to die at any time, but he might hang around for another decade or so, even if he doesn't know who he is and needs someone to wipe his ass for him.

Wildermyth is supposedly coming to Switch (eventually), so that's close to mobile.



Krow_Incarnate posted...

I appreciate the recommendations @supergamer19

As an aside, Warlock on Firetop Mountain is a gamified version of a Fighting Fantasy book from the 1980s (ie, something like a Choose Your Own Adventure).

If you are into that sort of thing, you might also be interested in this:

https://www.projectaon.org/en/Main/Home

Not exactly D&D, and it's not on mobile (yet), but you might want to check out Wildermyth.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgt_0ALl0Rk

I feel like that's the sort of experience you're looking for, more or less.

Also kind of pointless, because it's only a one-time test. It doesn't really do much, other than give the illusion of proactivity.

$10 per person, usually, more if you actually buy snacks.

But I also tended to deliberately go to matinees to save money, which would usually be closer to $5-6 or so.

It also tended to be a bit higher when I'd see stuff in NYC, because pretty much everything is more expensive there.

Judgmenl posted...

Omicron is now most common coronavirus variant in U.S.

It's almost as if a vaccination-resistant strain is going to have a natural evolutionary advantage spreading over variants that are mostly resisted by said vaccination.

hypnox posted...

What do you think would happen if you could turn lead to gold? And started just giving it out in a large magnitude.

Economically, it would devalue gold.

Though philosophically, in order for that to happen I'd have to be in an alternate universe where I grew up under radically different conditions and developed a radically different personality, because the me who is me now would never, ever do that.

If anything, I'd be more inclined to keep my power secret, and only convert small amounts which can then be introduced into the marketplace without obvious disruption, giving me a minor financial boost without destabilizing the global economy. I sure as fuck wouldn't be handing it out to just anyone and everyone, though.

I'd also probably immediately try to figure out if whatever chemical/alchemical/magical process I'd found to transmute worked for other things, because there are far more valuable/useful elements than gold and far more accessible base materials to start from than lead.

And then, me being me, if I succeeded, I'd probably just convert all of the nitrogen in the atmosphere into oxygen... then light a match.