First, you have recreational use turned off, right? If it’s on, they’ll take it when they want it AND when it’s scheduled.

If they’re only taking it on schedule, try adding an extra day.

That said, I try to be careful about smokeleaf use because it has a big negative effect on productivity. I try to save it for managing mood crises.

I know the official term is “legacy Umamusume” but everyone I’ve seen talk about them who played the Japanese release calls them “parents.”

Sorry I didn’t mean to imply that, let me rephrase: I am surprised that ChatGPT can hold convincing conversations about some topics, because I didn’t expect it to be able to. That certainly makes me more concerned about it than I was previously.

I am somewhat surprised to hear that people are talking to ChatGPT for hours, days, or weeks on end in order to have this experience. My main exposure to it is through AI Roguelite, a program that essentially uses ChatGPT to imitate a text-based adventure game, with some additional systems to mitigate some issues faced by earlier attempts at the same (such as AI Dungeon).

And… it’s not especially convincing. It doesn’t remember what happened an hour ago. Every NPC talks like one of two or three stock characters. It has no sense of pacing, of when to build tension and when to let events get resolved. Characters regularly forget what you’ve done with them previously, invent new versions of past events that were supposed to be remembered but had to be summarized to fit within the token limits, and respond erratically when you try to remind them what happened. It often repeats the same events in every game: for example, if you’re exploring a cave, you’re going to get attacked by a chitinous horror with too many legs basically every time.

It can be fun for what it is, but as an illusion it wears through fairly quickly. I would have expected the same to be the case for people talking to ChatGPT about other topics.

The filibuster rule doesn’t apply to bills that are part of the budget reconciliation process.

Yes, but I like the pace to be somewhat slower than the usual default. I mod time in Stardew Valley to pass half as fast outdoors, and half that fast indoors or in dungeons. I like the rhythm of the day-night cycle and the changing of the seasons, but I like the pace to be leisurely.

I love learning new rules. It’s honestly almost as much fun to me as actually playing the game.

And Minority Report.

I hope not, I don’t know how I’d break the news to his girlfriend!

Oh cool, I guess I just didn’t see it!

With regard to vehicle combat, I find it very strange that the very first NPC we meet has a man-portable surface-to-air missile launcher, but there don’t seem to be any anti-vehicular weapons that players can use.

Or at least I think there aren’t; I’m not nearly as far as you are, but I looked ahead in the research tab and didn’t see any.

This is very funny to me because I have an actual roommate I’ve been considering getting a storage space with, and we do love musicals…

The videogamey parts are really funny to me. I laughed my ass off when I saw Thufir Hawat standing around in the heat outside the Leto residence in Arrakeen because I guess players have to talk to him at some point, and the interior of the residence doesn’t exist in the game, so he has to stand around under an awning in the parking lot like a valet or something.

I am about 4-ish resource tiers in out of 7-ish or so, and I don’t feel like it is especially grindy by the standards of survival crafting games. There is obviously some grinding for resources, but there is also a good amount of exploring and doing quests, during which you can pick up a lot of the things you need. Getting through the iron tier was a little bit long because you don’t have access to a large vehicle inventory yet at that point, but I also took that time to reveal a bunch of the map, clear out bandit camps, etc. so it didn’t become too monotonous. There are a good variety of secondary resources that will keep you visiting different kinds of locations (wrecked ships, old mining operations, etc.) so that even if you just want to farm resources, you won’t just be spending all your time running between ore nodes.

If your friends would be playing together, they could also do things more efficiently by sharing bases so that they don’t each have to build their own infrastructure, and eventually you get access to a mining buggy that is faster to operate with two players (a solo player has to switch between the driver and mining laser seats).

I can’t believe all the previous controversies mentioned in this bit are the game design kind, and not the “send the Pinkertons to your house to threaten your family” kind.

The kids are alright.

Does OOP always play characters with the same backstory beats? I’m always making up new insecurities/obsessions/neuroses for my characters because I feel like I can’t use the same backstory twice. (They have to have something going on, though, because well-adjusted people don’t make a career out of going into trap-filled holes in the ground and fighting to the death for the inhabitants’ pocket change.)

This is the one where we bully our little brother into going back to the world where he can’t walk, right? :P

I feel SO free right now. :P

Canceled Pride? Well, I canceled my sub!