phonyphanty @ phonyphanty @pawb.social

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Joined

2 yr. ago

Generally when Indigenous communities go dry, it's to protect members of the community from abusing alcohol. There's a greater risk of alcohol abuse in these communities because of a whole history of disenfranchisement, insecure housing, generational trauma, stuff like that. So personally I wouldn't say an economic argument is right here. There may be demand for alcohol, but if that demand leads to alcohol abuse and all the terrible shit that brings, and many members of the community don't want alcohol around for those reasons, then it's better not to build a Dan Murphy.

Most popular survival games (Minecraft, Valheim, Raft, Ark) are dull, unimaginative experiences that disrespect your time. I truly don't get the appeal, other than if you're a terminally online kid with nothing else going on. They promise this world of near-eternal fun and imagination, and then forget to develop fun mechanics, write a compelling story to give context to what you're doing, give you goals, teach you how to play...

Raft is probably the worst example I can think of. What a crock of shit that game was. Zero tutorial, a terrible grind. Just lazy. You can softlock yourself in the first 30 minutes if you jump onto an island and let your raft drift away, because you can't build a new raft, and all the game's resources spawn around it for no good reason. The game has a Very Positive rating on Steam with over 200,000 reviews...

There are some obvious exceptions. Terraria is still so charming, and does away with the hunger/thirst/durability trappings of other survivals. I didn't get too far into Subnautica, but it's clearly a fresh idea and has an ambitious story. And y'know... I can't be too hard on Minecraft, it's iconic.

But the rest is just hollow and soul-crushing and in most cases unfinished. They're punishing time-sinks disguised as a "world where you can do anything," and the fact that so many go to bat for them really makes me grieve for people's taste in games.

Hot take over... Woof, I need to lie down...

Great hot take. I sort of agree for something like Pokemon. But I'm surprised you think this way for all Nintendo games. In the world of 3D platformers for example, I'd say it's pretty hard to find something better than Mario Galaxy, or 3D World. Same goes for Mario Kart. It's got crisp controls, and the last game in particular had great track design. I wouldn't say Wipeout is a very apt comparison given it's not a kart racer.