It depends where you live. Most places in the US you can’t (safely) walk to anywhere, and many places aren’t open 24/7.

Failures of justice systems like this encourage people taking matters into their own hands

I think sometimes when someone does something a little shitty for only a small payoff, it feels worse than a big shitty for a big payoff. And if it feels like they could’ve just not done the shitty thing, that’s even worse.

EA’s annoyances just feel petty and unnecessary, and aren’t even worth it. At least the horrible bank and oil company are making shit loads of money, and people kind of assume banks and oil companies are scum. But a video game? They could’ve spent just as much effort not being horrible.

The real magic is I can walk to several open bodegas almost any time of day or night.

Guy is a dangerous idiot. You should always use protection.

You’re not going to find a rational, well reasoned, explanation. It’s just emotions. Fear, pride, shame. Most people are too cowardly to do any difficult introspection, and an older person who’s probably never practiced it is a unlikely to start now.

Did tomb of the giants without a light source once. That was stressful.

Something new. Something relatable. Not a one dimensional monster. Something that makes challenges the federation’s ideals.

Like the classic meme, more courtroom battles and less spaceship battles.

I don’t agree a “maybe” is a “MASSIVE” assumption. Maybe they’re telling the truth. But maybe they’re wrong.

I didn’t make assumptions about your relationships. Please read more carefully.

The game is designed around save scumming. There’s no mechanism to follow dying or failure. There are instant death scenarios. It’s not a good game.

I don’t think you’re a credible source in this scenario. Maybe you’re right and everyone is cool, but I would not be surprised at all if someone in your friend group had been hurt by your infequency.

But maybe!

It’s hard not to draw uncharitable conclusions when people you considered friends don’t reach out.

They may be struggling, but that’s an explanation not an excuse. The sadness experienced by the person who never gets called, never gets invited, and feels forgotten, is real.

You think about what they do spend time on. Who they do call. It invites comparison. Why did they invite them but not me? Do they not like me? Was it something I said? It’s impossible to know. They might not know themselves.

I follow a guideline of “follow their behavior, and if you have extra emotional energy then model the behavior you want to see”. If they reach out sometimes, I’ll reach out sometimes. If they don’t, I don’t, until I feel like I have the extra energy to risk them blowing me off or whatever.

How do they feel about it? Are you sure? How do you know?

Apparently it saves when you sleep in a bed, so I guess there are some stakes but they’re still pretty low.

Never played survival mode myself

Nonsense.

First of all, it’s a quick-save game. There’s almost no meaningful stakes. Even if someone turned out to be a synth that betrayed you, at worst you’d just go back to the last auto save.

Second, even if they did the combat is so janky you’d probably get shot a couple times, realize what’s happening, and then win the fight anyway.

Third, that never happens.

The whole game is an incoherent mess. It’s three under baked games in a trench coat.

I don’t think I’ve ever gone much out of my way for achievements for their own sake. Games where they also unlock stuff (eg: binding of isaac), sure, but that’s for the unlock.

I may have done some challenge stuff that I learned about for the achievement, but only because it seemed fun. I wouldn’t go very far into anti-fun just for an digital badge on my profile.

I think I had a small amount of alcohol at weddings and new years celebrations when I was a teenager.

My parents don’t have the healthiest relationship with alcohol. it’s not the worst, but it never seemed cool or fun. It was just dad having a few cheap beers while watching the game. They never told me not to drink, either. No “forbidden fruit” allure.

Fare changes usually are slower to change than gas prices for customers at the gas station. Bus fare in NYC is $3, and they can’t just change that day by day. (Unless our new mayor makes the buses free to ride!)

It might be more expensive as energy costs go up, but services aren’t supposed to be run at a profit. The value in a mass transit system is very high.

But there is probably an impact. Now I’m curious about how they decide the fares

No, but I don’t own a car at all. Transit and walking are nice.

The war and general inaction on climate crisis and energy is depressing.