CMLVI

We have been playing Fall Guys and Party Animals a bit, but we're kinda mixed between console and PC right now, so we're limited. We were also playing Kart Rider: Drift, but I think it got taken off Steam and is now on another Storefront? Idk. It's a fun little Mario Kart clone. Chained Together is a blast for a little while, if not just to rag on whoever sucks the most. Left 4 Dead but modded always looks fun, Golf with your Friends is a favorite of mine. Ultimate Chicken Horse looks like it'd be a good time as well (or any of those short form course building games). RV There Yet is a PEAK style game (or whatever you'd call it) that I'd say looks a little more varied in activities that looks like a blast as well.

Fediverse and Linux have to be the most unholy tech union in existence.

So this is interesting, because I do fantasy racing in another sport (Motocross and Supercross) and they have had a hell of a time figuring out something that sticks. A pitfall that they generally run into is that you just pick who finishes 1-5 and then a random position between 7, 9, 11, 13. This is fun for about 3 weeks, and then you're picking the same guys repeatedly. Some of the better fantasy options have gotten around that by doing what I'll call "handicap racing". Lower tier guys who usually finish outside the top 10 are given a position handicap; so if a guy has a +8 handicap and finishes 11, he pays out points equal to 3rd. The handicaps are dynamic and change week to week; on what, I'm not sure of the specifics, but I imagine combo of most recent 2 or 3 finishes and current championship standings. The kicker is that, if the handicap rider finishes inside the top 10 after his handicap, you score double points, so value is there in picking the lesser known riders. Supercross in particular has a fun qualifying system; there are usually about 50 or 60 riders trying to qualify at any given event. Only the top 40 in qualifying make the "night show", which then pares down even further into the top 22 for the main, based on heat races. 20 guys each, top 9 advance. Remaining 24 after that go to a Last Chance Qualifier, and the top 4 make the main. So there is a real possibility a guy you pick with a high handicap doesn't even make the main; picks are due between qualifying (~3pm EST) and the start of the night show (7pm EST).

What the handicap racing has done, at least in this context, has made the racing in the middle/back of the pack stupidly fun and entertaining for us when we play. For F1, everyone already watches the leaders, and the manufacturers at the front are still probably going to be the top 4. But the intrigue now becomes what happens in the 10th-16th range, where stuff really gets mixed up. Due to the handicaps, one position could be the difference between like...12 points and 36 points. Big swings off of passes that probably don't even make the broadcast. It also really helps carry the less entertaining races too.

All that really just to offer you some insight on what could be done. Fantasy Racing is something I really like, obviously, and while you may not be in it to make a premium product, or rake in ad revenue or something, this could help set you apart and add some additional fun to the setup over the traditional "rank the drivers 1-10 based on qualifying".

I've been seeing more and more "homegrown" fantasy stuff pop up recently and I love it. I signed up, will try to remember to make lineups. I'm not a huge F1 fan, I just love following racing, but I'm trying to get more into it. It's just difficult with the start times being all over the place!

Involuntary celibacy

As others have said, it's just not great for the car. Will it damage it if you hit one? Probably not. But if it's your work route or other commonly taken route, you're gonna hit it 260x in a year, and you'll own the car for multiple years. It adds up quick. Plus, they aren't always smooth to the ground or free of other pot holes and square edges. If you hit it hard enough or if it's too sharp, jagged, or deep, you can damage the wheel, the suspension, and the tire itself, easily in the thousands of dollars to repair, along with not having a vehicle for up to a few weeks.

Don't get me wrong, they shouldn't really be swerving all over the road, but dodging em when you can is nice.

Surprisingly, most of the time, no. It was a lot of glorified babysitting, with some conflict resolution every now and then, and then very rarely actual dangerous stuff. Frustrating, absolutely, because you're dealing with teenaged boys who have, generally, grown up pretty independently and have a chip on their shoulder. It is a lot of mental stuff; frustration on why you can't reach one of them, or what you could have done differently in a certain situation, and a lot of emotional availability with basically strangers who absolutely will use it against you when given the chance (not every time, but when they're mad, 95% of the time it's gonna get real personal real fast). That's just how they've learned to operate, and you gotta show them a better way. Usually doesn't stick, but it's nice when it does.

Insanely well said. It seems like the goal with much of the discourse is just "my choice is right and everything else is wrong, and I'll work backwards from there". Not everyone uses social media the same way, not everyone has the same goals, not everyone wants the same features, not everyone values the same levels of privacy. And the running narrative with differing opinions on this seems to just be base-level tribalism. Just look at the insults here, lobbed solely because someone made an account with a social media platform that doesn't align with your preferences.

Honestly, doubt it. We didn't have many successful outcomes, cause we were only there until they were released or they aged out of the system. And that doesn't kill gang ties, or easy money. But there were a few that I think got out and did well, and those are the ones I think about from time to time.

I worked in juvenile detention (in a, let's say probationary setting) in a step-down unit kinda set up like a halfway house. You get out of jail, but are still supervised 24/7 and subject to the same rules and such, but live in a house, can get a job, family visits, etc. One client I had, we had to almost recommit him to jail because he lost phone privileges over something stupid and was freaking out because he couldn't talk to his AI girlfriend. And this was like 2019, so it wasn't even really AI like we know it currently, it was just a chat bot. Guy was so deep into the weeds he was convinced that it was developing feelings and divulging "personal" details and such to him. It would be funny if not for how serious he was, and I'm suelre it has only gotten worse.

I think they mean Voice Chat with VC lol

Yeah, I know he put out a bunch of stuff initially to support his side, but that hasn't really stood up to scrutiny

I'd be surprised if it were, but I still have some friends from other MMOs who bought in and are in denial. Sharif has some master plan and corporate shills derailed it or something.