Yes and this goes for all forms of arts. It’s not too different from just knowing that music legend for one song when they have a whole library. Poets too. Often have that one or two that “everyone” knows whilst some absolutely wonderful pieces can be lost and forgotten.

It can be more personal, imo, to explore the pieces that aren’t spoken about as much, that already have a predefined narrative. That’s when you get to really organically perceive art - in whatever medium it is.

I’m not American so I won’t claim to know what needs to happen. But from an outside observer, it seems that the majority are complacent and willing to sacrifice those “below” them to keep treading water.

Which isn’t uniquely American - complacency and a lack of compassion is an issue in a lot of places. But America is definitely showing us how dangerous it can be when enough people have the “ehh, I’m still surviving so yeah this isn’t great but oh well, go with the flow” kind of mindset/action.

Ah okay yeah, I barely use steam these days. Can’t remember the last time I bought anything there, I just occasionally play very old games I already have on there haha.

Yeah i love a few Nintendo classic titles but $$$ 😭 kinda a good thing that I don’t like the direction they’re taking pokemon because it removes the temptation to upgrade to the switch 2. Not sure I’ll bother unless I somehow get free money to throw around haha.

Yeah indies usually have pretty decent demos! I actually haven’t even looked at the switch store lately but I don’t remember the bigger titles having demos?

And idk where everyone else is but the big games here (Australia) are still what I consider expensive (USD$45 minimum without a sale). Typical price is around USD$60. Even on sale they don’t get much below that for the big stuff - zelda, pokemon, Mario, animal crossing, etc. Curious how comparable that is to elsewhere.

True. Just depends on device and how committed people are to doing that lol. As a casual gamer (PC barely ever anymore and Nintendo switch, then I have emulators with a bunch of Nintendo classics) I wouldn’t bother. I don’t even know how to do that for a Nintendo switch.

So yeah it’s an option but in terms of the discussion about Gen z people not shelling out for video games, I think part of the decline has been from casual users who aren’t either shelling out $ and aren’t interested in enough to pirate 😅 I’m a millennial.

I assume to pirate and transfer to a Nintendo switch (I don’t have 2, just the original) there’s an initial set up cost?

I tend to stick to the emulator my brother got me with all our 90s(ish) childhood games lol. I don’t know if those exist yet for more modern games - or at least not at the cost of the classics!

Especially video games. Honestly as a casual gamer I get it. Games are expensive and they are a gamble. I’ve bought games in the past and played them for half hour and realized I hate it lol. I rarely buy games now, especially if it’s not a franchise I already know and like, because I can’t afford the gamble. If I do I buy a physical copy so I can sell it on.

At least with streaming services you can check and know there’s a few hours of shows you will definitely watch. It’s still tol expensive and I’m cancelling mine but it is less of a gamble than video games.

Yep. I’m a millennial. I was always pirating as a teenager/early 20s. Then I did join streaming, just Netflix and another local one. I’m about to cancel them both again as I rebuild my own library.

I was reworking my budget the other day and accidentally opened my old one from 5 years ago, so depressing 😅 Everything has gone up so much, seeing it all laid out in a spreadsheet was confronting 😭 both streaming services have doubled in price. 2 streaming services costs $500 a year total - as you say, maybe not a big deal if you’re earning 100k but as a low income earner it’s worth cutting. It’s only going to keep up going up! Subscription models suck for other programs and services too, it adds up so quickly 😭

That’s really cool - I recently went to check out one where I used to go but unfortunately the rest of the page is there but no forum anymore.

Yeah I did too, only one or two I keep in touch with now but yep, made real life friends on forums and it was great!

Yep. Happened with bluesky. It was pretty decent and wasn’t getting any troll crap that was rampant on Twitter. Then there was some controversy on Twitter and Blue sky quickly went up in its new members and…yep, it just got all trolly and agro 🙄

Personally I just miss when we had individual sites for a topic like when I was a teenager. Grew up on forums for a certain artist and another different site for specific sports teams, books. Way less likely to get idiots if you actually have to actively find the specific website for an artist you hate.

Yeah I would assume it’s definitely role-dependent right? Like speciality roles, higher paying roles I understand there’s always going to be a bit of prestige around that stuff but I guess I am more of an average Joe (Jane? Is that a saying, average Jane lol) 😅

See, I reckon we’ve become more degree focused here over the years which I don’t actually think is a good thing. My dad came from England (to Australia) with not even finishing high school and managed to climb up the corporate ladder without ever having to go to university. He was very good at his job, headhunted regularly and retired 5 years ago and still gets offers on contracts because he’s obviously held in high regard.

I think it’s a mistake to automatically require a degree for jobs. Not a dig at you personally, I understand that’s how the system has probably worked there for a long time and as I said it’s come in here too. I just don’t agree with that everyone needs a degree to do certain jobs. Some people do seem to have a natural infinity towards certain things and can excel without the study so I think it’s a flawed model to push everyone to the same requirements.

You Aussie? Haha yeah even as I was typing it I knew it would be a sweeping generalisation because ofc it depends on the field someone is going into and the end goal.

I can’t say I know about how higher corporate positions work these days other than I know we put more emphasis on education now so I take what you’re saying on board. I know my dad started here in the 80s, no education past dropping out in the equivalent of year 10 (in England) and by the 90s was climbing the corporate ladder and ended up quite high (I believe he did a couple of short courses along the way but no diploma or degrees).

He retired a few years ago and yes, definitely spoke about it becoming more focused on what degrees newcomers had. He did also speak to there being the private school boys connections (in his generation too) so yes, all that stuff does exist. Perhaps I have wishful thinking that we’re less focused on that in America.

I’m more lower class than my dad lol, so in my line of work and the people around me - which in fairness tends to be in the caregiving, healthcare industries and much smaller corporations - I’ve not heard people talk about where they went to school or what they’re ENTER/ATAR, etc score was or anything. But yes, vastly different experience than climbing the corporate ladder!

Curious what your experience has been if you’ve seen/heard/experienced how it looks in different industries? Easy to get caught in your own little bubble so I’m always interested in others experiences!

Tbh, women wouldn’t admit to doing this either - there’s absolutely a shame around women having to make friends with an AI (because we’re meant to be innately social I guess). And I don’t think that other women realize that they are contributing to the issues of women feeling shame using AI by implying it’s a male issue and all about sex and toxic masculinity.

Like as a woman who has used AI, how am I supposed to feel about admitting that I’ve done something that only asshole, horny, incels do (according to a lot of people)?

So the stigma goes all ways and none of it helps anyone. People just need to be more curious than judgemental. Someone does something you don’t understand? That’s okay you don’t understand. Ask them why. Listen. Try to see a different perspective instead of just filling in the gaps with incel, men, sex, ugly, etc. etc.

And do people really believe that women don’t talk to AI companions, in various forms, too?

I’m a woman and I spoke to one of the apps for a while because I was bloody lonely (still am 🤷‍♀️). Had zero to do with men or murder. I didn’t have anyone, of either gender, to connect with.

It’s really easy to just reduce this to a male issue, a toxic masculinity, a male violence issue. We need to go deeper than that if we actually want to understand why people, men, women, everyone, use different AI.

But threads like this, with all the judgement, aren’t going to get a lot of people who admit they use/have used/have considered using AI. By just criticising/laughing, etc at people who do it, ironically, we turn more people towards the AIs.

I think you’re making some interesting observations. I definitely agree that it’s the easy answer to just dismiss people who use AI therapists, friends, relationships are just stupid.

You’re right that it says something about the system we live in and I extend that to society in general. We have a society who criticizes people for answering “how are you” honestly, who doesn’t have time for each other, who use terms like “trauma dumping” - so personally, I can see why some people are turning to machines whether it’s therapy or connection. It’s really bloody sad and it’s not a good solution but I can see the WHY behind it - which is what I think you’re also getting at.

We do need to listen to why people turn to these services and figure out what people aren’t finding in human connection that they are, or think they are, in machines. I don’t buy that an individuals intelligence has much to do with why people turn to AI.

Hm interesting. In university the grades are totally different but also not super important? In terms of after university, when you go for a job, you either have done the course/degree or you haven’t lol, people don’t really talk about what grades you got. Maybe if you were a genius getting HDs (high distinctions) in everything you do lol but yeah I’ve never heard people talk about their actual grades post-university.

Do you share your grades/score with your potential employers over there?

Do you have A+ where you live? For us, A was very good but A+ was the ultimate!

Interesting though because you’re right that C is meant to be average but if you were a C kid you were kinda deemed… either “not trying” or just a bit thick. People felt bad about getting a C which, especially in high school, like teenage years (is college after high school? We’d call it university) is kinda rough! C is average, that’s alright! You’re keeping up! You can’t be above average in everything but it feels like a lot of people were of the mindset that you had to get Bs and above in everything or you were “dumb”.

Yeah I think this is an issue in general with any kind of 1-10 scale! People tend to think 7+ is good. I don’t think people recognize 5 as average or they see “average” as less than what it actually means - I’m with you that most media is average and that doesn’t mean it’s not worth checking out.

Anyone who creates a scale needs to be super clear about what each interval means lol because I think they get misconstrued all the time.

I do miss the old IMDb review/chat boards though. Before everything just moved to reddit, it was fun to go on there and just talk to people about certain movies. Was so good for when a movie had a confusing/open ending to share theories and stuff. Didn’t get trolls when forums were all separate!

Why can I hear this in my head, is it a movie reference 😂 I can hear it so clearly lol

Jfc. That’s… something else. Interesting but fucked up.