Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

Welp

The fascies now have the Supreme Court, the Senate, the Oval Office, and possibly even the House (still up in the air).

Complete domination by a party that runs almost nothing but criminals, sex pests, and racists. That has openly adopted white supremacist rhetoric. That embraces criminality. That curries favor with dictators. That seeks to dismantle the EPA and the Department of Education. That has called for mass deportations that'll tear families apart and tank the economy. That openly flirts with the idea of a national abortion ban. That explicitly rejects the separation of church and state and seeks to institute fundamentalist Christianity as the law of the land.

We Gilead now bois <333

@PorkChopExpress I can afford it in the sense that I won’t go hungry if I buy one, but it was lower on the budgetary priority right now since my PS5 is perfectly capable. I’d planned a wait and see approach since there didn’t appear to be any proposed shortages. “Why buy now when I could buy in 3-6 months if the real world experience with the console is positive?” were my thoughts. But now, if the proposed 60% tax on some imports is levied… gosh, I wonder how that could affect the price. I’m no economist, but surely some of that will be passed on to the consumer. I reckon we still have a number of months before anything will be passed (which realistically, I wouldn’t be surprised if the magnitude of tariffs he proposed on the campaign trail never see the light of day) so I still have time. But it’s food for thought for me.

But you’re right in the sense that for the first time (as far as I can recall), console prices haven’t dropped over the course of the generation. So people waiting for a price drop were going to be disappointed regardless of any increase in taxes that are coming.

@Th3solution Hey man, how are you? Hope your DS2 playthrough is coming along well and nearing the final quarter. On an unrelated note, as I know you are someone who has dabbled in many genres of game, have you ever played the Call of Duty games and more specifically the "zombie" modes, if so are there any you can speak highly of, or if not, would you be interested in playing them at some point, or perhaps, you're just not an FPS kinda guy?

@Ralizah thank you for your contribution to Trump’s victory. It is a good day today.

I feel relieved today.

I'm still reeling from the election results, and worrying for my fellow LGBTQIA2S+ friends.

I'm only asexual but I did identify as gay and bisexual in the past, so I can relate.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN DS2 is still going okay, except for running into a major obstacle by the name of Fume Knight. 😅

Indeed, I do try to play all different genres of games. But I’ve not played many COD titles. In fact, I played a little of World at War and Black Ops… 3, I think. None of them had a zombies mode. I just have never really enjoyed military FPS. The FPS games I’ve liked have been more fantasy based, like Borderlands, Star Wars Battlefront, BioShock, Doom, Immortals of Aveum, etc. But a zombie mode could be fun.

@PorkChopExpress Absolutely agree on the scaremongering and sensationalism. It’s getting ridiculous. The political ads were actually humorous enough in how they tried to make people scared or mad, from both parties really (although one side was clearly attempting to instill fear into the populace more than the other, imo). The two party system creates an arms race of sorts, whereby each side has to respond to the ridiculous claims of the other side with an even larger, more sensational assertion. If they don’t do it, they run the risk of becoming drown out by opposing viewpoint who is ranting unopposed.

I think I heard someone said that human psychology is characterized by the “illusory truth effect” where if we hear a lie enough times it eventually is accepted as truth. “A thousand lies becomes the truth”, or something like that. Politicians nowadays bank on this and so we therefore get inundated with sensational claims which sound completely laughable and hysterical at first but somehow eventually is accepted as reality. I’ve seen it unfold like that over and over these past few election cycles.

Anyway, so I’m not scaremongering or anything, just going based on the plan outlined about tariffs and how that will turn out in my estimation. It wasn’t the opposite political side claiming a 60% tariff on goods from certain parts of the world, it was an oft repeated part of the Trump plan. Probably one of his 2 or 3 main talking points. I think he said he would plan to levy 20% on most imports, but 60% from China. Although, I was pleased to see that Sony actually gets the chips from Taiwan mostly, I think, so it might be a non-issue for the gaming sector. But as you say, these plans from the campaign trail are often overblown hot air from both sides. They’ll say whatever will get people to cast their vote.

As for the Pro, I’ll consider it. If it had a disc drive then it would be an easier choice for me, even if the price was $800. As it stands, buying two things feels like a harder pill to swallow than one thing. 😄. And I don’t know how I feel about having to assemble my console like it’s a Lego set. 😂

@Th3solution Haha, good luck with him, from what I've read in the corresponding thread, I get the impression that he can, indeed, be quite the toughie!.

With regard to what you said about Black Ops 3, might I draw your attention to this, on the ps store? 😉

https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/concept/200763

Might be worth watching a YouTube vid, from what I've seen there's all kinds of supernatural/fantasy elements to the Zombies versions of these games, although, as you say, I think only specifically titles have that mode as an available option, such as legendary and non-legendary swords and 'The Darkness' -style supernatural tentacle appendages for your character.

Plus, I believe some come w/ their own zombie-specific storylines!

It's dark that so many people would vote on someone who is willing to chip away at the core of a country's democracy. Apparently they hate the current state of the country so much that they're risking everything the founding fathers built.

The only reason you'd be willing to risk something like that, the only reason you can look at January 6 and consider that less of a problem than a Democrat as president, is if you really believe the elections were stolen back in 2020.

If that's the case, and Trump successfully manipulated so many people in believing a lie and doubting the truth, then it really becomes hard to remain hopeful for the US in any way.

Best thing I can do is probably get back to gaming and find some enjoyment in distraction! 🌞

@Herculean I think it's really much simpler than that - incumbent parties are getting booted out in elections all over the world. People (particularly the working class) are hopping mad about inflation (meaning they are worse off in real terms than they were pre-pandemic) and are blaming their governments - even if that blame is ultimately misplaced or that the alternative economic measures suggested by the opposition parties (as in the case of Trump and the Republicans) will probably end up making matters worse.

A surge in crisis calls to suicide hotlines among LGBTQ+ people says it all really. And yet there’s a whole bunch of users here who perpetuate those attitudes while stopping short of endorsing Trump in an attempt to seem more normal than the fascist pricks they are. This will happen in the UK next election, might as well roll out the red carpet for Farage, the very worst people are emboldened and the ordinary working class haven’t seen improvements to their living conditions under the neolib party, making it very easy to pull the wool over their eyes and promise the world.

It’s all about having a compelling narrative. The conservatives have made it seem like they are the party of the working class, which will restore the economy and create jobs. This is obviously not the case. So many economists have already come out and said if these tariffs are enforced and undocumented immigrants deported, the economy of the US would be plunged into a turmoil unlike anything experienced in recent history. Let’s just hope smarter heads prevail and Trump and the senate aren’t able to get away with implementing tariffs and getting rid of income taxes. Not to mention other humanitarian crises that could be perpetrated by the Trump presidency.

Dems need to put a progressive on the ballots in future elections or risk becoming even more irrelevant and unable to advance any policies that would benefit those who are poor and vulnerable.

Wow, this is a case example on how to lose people, fearmonger like crazy about things that won't happen, act shocked when there are consequences to your own fear mongering and narratives that harm people, then throw around the word fascist at anyone you don't like.

Endorsing Trump has nothing to do with fascism lol. About as much as it does with endorsing Kamala (which might fit if fascist means "I disagree with you", a few people say "she's the real fascist", which however good or bad she is, only works if you ignore all actual meaning of words).

@Jaz007 in fairness quite a few people (some of whom worked in the first Trump administration) who know precisely what Fascism is (beyond "anybody you happen to disagree with") have pointed out Trump's Fascist tendencies. He also comes worryingly close to ticking off every single category in Umberto Eco's famous "Tenets of Fascism".And Trump himself says a lot of overtly Fsscist things ("dictator on day one" etc.), has dinners with actual Fascists like Nick Fuentes and (repeatedly) retweets posts with White Supremacist overtones. Point being that if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

@LN78 Anyone who says that is lying because it’s a popular word to throw around. It flies in the dies that if you tell a lie enough times, people will believe it. Man has nothing to do with White Supremacy and his tweets don’t have such overtones unless you want them to.

Yeah, a clear joke “I’ll be a dictator for one day” as he cleverly mocks everyone who says that about him.

And somehow, no such things ever came out before he ran, some more liberal people wanted him to run even, he was in the public for ages, yet somehow this comes out right as he decided to run. Yes, Trump a secret fascist his entire life fooled everyone and then unleashed his diabolical plan to be dictator of the world.

Anywho, I don’t care to debate Trump all day, in a gaming forum I just don’t care for the blatantly insulting and uncivil and self-righteous disrespect on display for those with a different political view. In this case majority of the US population.

I don’t necessarily buy into the fear mongering, and there is every chance he could be a better choice for the working Joes, at least from a short term perspective. I can see why someone trying to make ends meet would consider voting for Donald.

But it’s the conspiracies and the lies that come with him. How can anyone bring themselves to look past that to vote for him. To be like, look, children - THIS is a leader…!

I guess every day people must just be really struggling out there.

@Jaz007 "anyone who says that is lying."

Come on now, just because you believe it to not be so doesn't therefore mean everyone else is lying by default.

And that is 100% applicable to everything. You can't have rational debates if you already believe the one thing you want to. And that is the problem with politics. Now voters are so partisan they can't think rationally for themselves either way. Everything is a culture war, a social media war, a real war. No one can have their own opinion anymore without being labeled as one camp or another, whether it be about games, politics, sports, whatever.

Humans are bad at this s***

So, you might not be a complete t***, but a lot of people on both sides very much are.

I personally don't give a s*** either way, I just can't bring myself to it any more, but it's clear Trump is a person who lacks empathy, who enjoys riling up his more "colourful/ready for action" followers, who plays into conspiracy theories and the general idiocy of online hate mongers, and says some pretty unhinged stuff that is beggars belief.

Joe Biden was clearly losing his mind, so that probably helped the situation overall, and the fact they had to pivot to someone else, who I know nothing about so I can't really comment on them. The random church sermon videos were cringe, but at least they do represent, I guess, a value America still has?

Don't you just think that overall America deserves better representation on both sides? Running the country like a wrestling promotion just seems supremely weird.

Like, if you take a step back, is it not really weird that America now looks like a parody of itself. It's not normal. And it's creeping into UK politics too.

The world is a mad house

@Ravix the media and the way we now consume it are definitely responsible for blurring the line between politics and celebrity gossip over the past 10-15 years, that’s for sure.