Reality vs Adventure

Cyberpunk 2077 has got me hooked. It's the only thing I've played for a week now.

I would never be able to make up my mind on what world I would want to live in or what character to be. It's pretty much immortality you would be stuck in for eternity. And if I died in the game world, the system would have saved my life at some point to start again. And it's hard to pick a game world because it seems every world is at war in some way. But I guess it's like that in real life too. I have a couple issues with this concept such as having my own psyche mixed up with a character's psyche that a developer created. I would have a mental struggle with the character's narrative and my own. What if they hold a lot of pain I'd be stuck with. But let's say it is only my own psyche in there. I'm in a game world so who is to say somebody won't end up actually playing the game and controlling me. I would live for eternity being controlled by somebody else. They would force me to run into a blaze of glory or kill what I don't want to kill. I could die a million deaths and feel the pain every time. Mass Effect does sound cool to travel different planets or even No Man's Sky. Elysium map in AC Odyssey DLC would be an awesome world to live in. But even then the goddess could end up controlling my mind. I would probably go with a character that has magic abilities and have fun with it. Or maybe I'd live in The Witcher 3 world and go to the brothel every day. Or maybe even the Assassin's Creed world and go into the animus and explore any time in history to see how it was like. Lots of options. If I were guaranteed I wouldn't be controlled by someone else in the real world, then I probably would live in the game world.

The quest I went on was AC Valhalla and it’s one of those decisions you have to make that affects the game. I went on the date and it really was awesome because we travelled the map on horseback together, free roam, get off the horse and kill, bathe in blood and continue the date. There was a destination point to go to, but you had all the time in the world to do and go where you want. After drenching in blood, I took her to a field of flowers to show my soft side. Then we killed some more because it made her excited. We rode horses, speared the mesh, and continued on our journey. And as part of the quest, she requested I take her to some ruins and we shared scar stories. Not really, but it’s what I’d do. But an open map like that, what would you do? Cliff dive together? Makes me want to do that quest all over again. More games need it.

Extremists from the far right including white supremacists and terrorists are exploiting the gaming environment and it is only increasing. They are using multiplayer games and even the use of mods in gaming and also creation type games like Roblox to create an environment to act out their terroristic ideologies. They are even using gaming-adjacent platforms forming chat groups and clans. Even game services like Steam and streaming services like Twitch is being used. This isn't about video games causing violence because that has been proven false. This is about how extremists are taking advantage of all these games and platforms with very little moderators or oversight. I don't play online and I don't use any video game services besides Playstation Store and this forum on VGR. So I don't know all the many forums, blogs, platforms, MMO games, or providers that are available or how they work. But there definitely is a lot of research going around these days due to the urgency of stopping the spread of these extremists especially how they target young people. Gamification is also a new term I haven't heard till now, but there seems to point to evidence how it's being used for terrorist violence especially at the terrorist attack at the mosque in New Zealand. Gamification actually is used in such a broad way by businesses and everything you can think of that can motivate people. It uses game based ideas like points, trophies, achievements, bonus, etc. to motivate them and influence their behavior. Gamification-Merriam Webster Dictionary: the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation. Verb: Easy-to-use Web- and mobile-based learning platforms … take the boredom out of long training sessions by gamifying the entire process. A training manual is replaced by an interactive game that allows participants to win awards and be acknowledged. Here is an article discussing The Role of Gamification in Radicalization Processes https://modus-zad.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/modus-working-paper-12021.pdf Extremist Use of Gaming (-Adjacent) Platforms https://gnet-research.org/2021/09/06/lets-talk-about-games-baby-extremist-use-of-gaming-adjacent-platforms/ The Anti Defamation League has also written a must read article. I recommend read this first: https://www.adl.org/resources/report/hate-no-game-hate-and-harassment-online-games-2022 From 2021-2022 Young People’s Exposure to White Supremacy Ages 13-17 has gone up--From 6% to 10% on a forum. From 11% to 14% in person. From 10% to 16% on an online game. From 17% to 26% on social media. The take home message is to be careful who you associate with out there while gaming and socializing on the many sites. There are terroristic predators out there seeking to bring you into their fold. They are very manipulative and promises you a sense of belonging while leading you into trouble. Don't be afraid to report people to the site's moderators and if someone seems a bit persistent on welcoming you while feeding you hate against others, then you should simply ignore them and report them.

The 9 Supreme Court justices had their first arguments about the Moore V Harper case on 12/7/22 and supposedly will make their decision by summer of 2023. This case is about allowing independent state legislatures do whatever they want in elections without any oversight from the constitution or courts. It would end our democracy. So far the only 3 liberal justices are opposed to it obviously and 3 conservative justices, Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, actually implied that they support independent state legislatures. As mentioned earlier, Ginni Thomas, wife of Clarence hates elections and Clarence has no respect for his oath or duty to recuse himself from election cases for having conflicts of interest. That leaves the other 3 conservative justices whose decision will decide our democracy. It takes 5 justices out of the 9 to decide a case. This really is one of the biggest court cases and it should be on the front page of every news about how U.S. democracy and free and fair elections is all going to be determined by 5 supreme court justices. More dirt is coming up with Samuel Alito as mentioned he and Clarence were wined and dined by special interest religious groups. Reverend Rob Schenck just testified under oath to the House Judiciary Committee that is investigating the Operation Higher Court scandal which is the religious groups wining and dining supreme court justices. I actually just found out it was actually being investigated; that's good news. During one of those little outings, Alito leaked the Hobby Lobby V Burwell 2014 decision to Schenck. The significance in that case was to allow the right of businesses to not allow contraceptives to be covered in insurance plans based on religious rights. We all know in 2022 Roe V Wade was overturned and there was another leak about the decision of the case before the supreme court confirmed it. We still don't know who leaked it but for all we know it could be one of the justices blabbering their big mouths while being seduced by a religious group at dinner and wine with a little gift here and there. I'm gonna bring up another case this Supreme Court is hearing which is the 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis which would allow religious groups, or anyone claiming to be religious to refuse service to gays. This case is one of those domino effects that could bring about segregation again. If you can refuse service to gays, what next? Justice Samuel Alito was taking arguments on this case and he made such a bigoted analogy for a justice, just makes you wonder how he is even a justice in the first place. While comparing the refusal of service to gays, Alito said that Santa shouldn't have to take a photo with a kid dressed in a KKK outfit. And then he say "You do see a lot of Black children in Ku Klux Klan outfits, right? All the time." A fucking supreme court justice said that? It's no wonder this supreme court wants to get rid of Affirmative Action which helps bring diversity into the workforce and colleges. This court wants to get rid of affirmative action! But that's another case. Back to refusing service to people; we do have the Public Accommodations Law: TITLE II OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT (PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS) 42 U.S.C. §2000a (a)All persons shall be entitled to the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of any place of public accommodation, as defined in this section, without discrimination on the ground of race, color, religion, or national origin. LGBTQ are not protected from people refusing them service. That's fucked up. Why haven't they been included all this time? This court is showing us all these loop holes where they can oppress people. FYI, another thing that isn't protected by the constitution is education. That means states could completely ban education if they wanted to. Democrats are now waking up to this supreme court and how it lacks any oversight or ethics. Now they are at least trying to propose some kind of bill that would force the supreme court to uphold ethics. I say give them term limits. They are corrupted.

I tuned in just for a bit. That Judas game looks amazing!

Not sure where to post this as there are a ton of Cyberpunk 2077 topics and broken game topics. I’ve been playing Cyberpunk 2077 the past week and I’m getting really immersed and everything is running fine except…dun dun dun. It freezes every time on the start up screen. I have to repeatedly keep pressing the x button on my ps4 hoping that it clicks on the continue game option. I seriously feel like this game will break my console the noises it makes at start up. I’m scared. It’s only 60 go so maybe I have to reinstall it. This is insane though. After all the updates and controversy, statisticslly I have 3% chance the game plays at the main menu when I click on continue. Yikes

I’d hate to be the one who gets a whole uncooked lobster staring at me. 🤢

I wonder, is this only an issue for Xbox and Playstation? Or do other consoles have to deal with messy games too?

They are being more and more dependent on the internet to be able to update fixes. Think about your mentality as a developer/publisher or I should say those in charge of decisions on when to release; their mentality will get lazier and lazier knowing damn well they can just hot fix issues whenever they want. When you do your job, do you half ass it to meet a deadline knowing you can fix it a month later? The reliance on the internet is a fault. The Cyberpunk fiasco should have brought about some kind of policy, but the gaming world doesn't have unionization to oversee these things. Therefore it will continue to happen. Do we have some kind of consumer protections for unfinished products? Imagine if music you hear on the radio were a sloppy unfinished mess! Imagine having to update the songs. That would be horrific! They also get rushed in the music industry, but it is always a completed project. Gaming is obviously more complicated, but it's just embarrassing to release a game that is messy. Do they not have a team to play their games before releasing? I say the gaming industry needs to pass some standardized tests before being released to consumers. If it goes over a percent maximum error allowance, then it goes back to development before it's released to the public. Problem solved. But then you will have those that complain about any regulations and this becomes an us vs them issue. Then those systems get corrupted and people will allow certain games to be released and not allow others due to their politics. So just leave as it is right? Expect unfinished games to continue and get worse then. There is nothing you can do about it. People will buy it, be disappointed, and complain. They will also keep increasing the prices too on top of not completing games. Want to start buying a $100 brand new unfinished game? We have to be pushed to the max before any progress can be made. What is our max? We will find out no doubt. Soon, you will only be able to afford that one $200 game as a Christmas present. And they play it only to find out it's a mess. A few years later, you are buying a $300 brand new game for Christmas that is unfinished. Gaming then becomes something for the rich.

If it's an exclusive then it makes sense to put a price on your pride. The problem is making more and more games exclusive so that you feel justified to raise the prices. Then you have a cold war between Sony and Microsoft making a bunch of high priced exclusives to drive people to their own console. And developers/publishers will get caught in the cold war by being coerced to publish their game on one console as they get offered a contract and the Indie publishers low on cash will be greatly influenced to publish on one console. That's just speculation, but if it's legal, why wouldn't they? It's not like corporations are held in check by integrity.

I started a new game in Cyberpunk 2077 because I stopped playing for a while, but they have had a couple good updates. I'm playing the Nomad story line and as a female. I like it a lot more that way.

I also have mixed feelings on this. On one hand, I think it's cool if that is what you are into if you are religious. It gives representation to those who would appreciate a game like that. But, I don't see how it is much different from a majority of games that uses super powers. This takes it a step further though because you are depicting yourself as Jesus. There could be a ton of controversies in this from religious people especially if it doesn't align with what the bible says. It looks like it is using references of locations in the bible, so there could be a bit of religious people criticizing it. Playing Assassin's Creed which has a lot of cultural and religious reference is similar to this in a way. Even at times in AC you play as a God. You play as Odin in AC Valhalla in one of the maps. To me it is fascinating to put yourself there as a fantasy. The thing is, I don't actually believe or practice the religion so I don't go too far with it. Maybe it can increase a religious person's closeness and try to put themselves in the sandals of an entity who was righteous and wanted to help others. Or they could start banning all other games and keep religious ones. I don't freakin know anymore.

LOL, That's what I like to see in shows, not some idolification. Is that a word?

Seems like most of the world was depending on those two countries to provide the resources necessary for the chip making process. South Africa has the biggest mining production of Palladium with Russia being second and there is really no other competition. Neon is a gas that is extracted from the air and Ukraine had the biggest filtration plants in the world to extract that Neon. China is the biggest consumer of chips and Taiwan is one of the biggest manufacturers of chips. I think there is bound to be conflict between those countries. Why not just take it right? If you think about it, it's not a good idea to have two neighboring countries be the top manufacturers and consumers, or to have two neighboring countries being the top suppliers/miners of any worldwide high demand product.

Problems arises with lies and conspiracies that promote the opposite effect. The complete opposite of least amount of suffering. Therefore, in relation to free speech absolutism, it promotes the most amount of suffering.

Ethics usually relates to what causes the least amount of suffering. Ethics is broken if you allow a maniac promote violence and hatred like in relation to free speech absolutism. I agree to a certain extent that a death can save the lives and suffering of others.

You would get too attached to a monkey. What a monkey has that other animals don’t have are hands. That is a part of the higher intelligence spectrum. To feel, not just walk and scrap with others like claws and paws.

Sony and Microsoft are becoming like two bickering parties that are more concerned about competing between each other and not competing for consumers. There needs to be a third party, another console manufacturer that is compatible with all these same games to keep the giants in check.

If multiplayer Call of Duty and Halo have a realistic approach in team skills, mission related duties, and fast thinking, then it's a worthwhile place to look for candidates. Interacting with others in real time shows a lot about potential skills for the military. Gamers would even make great police officers due to quicker response with better judgement calls. That is what should be required for any that wields a weapon with the license to kill. Even in the military you need to do the best you can to not endanger the lives of civilians. Those that want to, should not be a potential recruit for military or police. They even recruit or sponsor at schools, so I wouldn't think gamers would be exploited any more than them. They even have ROTC in schools. And playing military games or a simulation would be a fun activity for those in the ROTC program, which no doubt as simulations get more widespread then they probably will integrate into those training programs. You know you got a problem though if the military was recruiting civilian killers, mass murderers and those in MMO screaming hate speech. Would not be good.

Free speech absolutism vs censorship vs moderation---------- Free speech absolutism doesn't exist. And it can't exist w/o crossing into inciting violence and terroristic activity. Censorship is using the government to decide what is allowed. Reverse censorship is using the government to force certain speech to be allowed. And moderation is key. Don't we all share in universal ethics? There is no need to spread dangerous conspiracies, incite violence, or threaten so that shouldn't be allowed. Hate speech there really is nothing you can do about it. That lies within the realm of the rights of the company that gives your platform. In a free world, advertisers will decide if they want their brand next to hate speech. In a way, consumers is holding hate speech in check.

A few days ago I got some purified water at the Watermill Express, which is right in front of the handicap parking area at a grocery store. The handicap parking spaces were all empty, but even then I still parked in the regular parking lot which was pretty full. So I had to walk a distance and carry a 5 gallon jug of water. And it only takes a couple minutes to fill the water. Even then, I respected the handicap spaces. So this lady is just every bad word you can think of.

Yeah you would have to fight them again as many times as it takes and every time you lose not only do they level up, but all of the orcs level up. It's possible the lower level ones off each other too fighting for position. So every time you die, it gets harder and harder to defeat them all.

Watch dogs 1 has a cool feature where you can get hacked at any time and you have to search for who is hacking you and eliminate them. It is an online feature, plus you can look for others to hack their data and sort of play hide and seek while they look for you and try to kill you before time runs out. I haven't figured out if these are real players or some kind of computer AI. And it's not really DLC because you can do these things at any time right in the middle of your gameplay. I hate it sometimes because I'll be doing something and next thing I know I'm getting hacked and have to go look for them. But it's fun. I lose every time. These people or AI are freakin experts always ambushing me.

And the USA team has no room to talk since the USA just had a coup attempt 2 years ago. This really is the World Cup for the ages. This really is a sporting event placing the free world against the authoritarian world.