noobdoomguy8658

Fair enough. I live here and always surprised my family whenever I refuse dried fish with beer - I'm more of a smoked cheese braid or chips kinda person.

Not fish necessarily, but any beer snack, yeah.

It's not even about what we want, but what the stakeholders and decision-makers push for in order to rack in more profits.

The gaming industry was at its highest in terms of fun and variability and innovation when the industry was still figuring out best ways to make mad money, no matter how ethical or morally bankrupt - now they know they can use fear of missing out and predatory tactics to lure people into essentially gambling in a free-to-play online game, or pad out a singleplayer one with mechanics that contribute nothing to the gameplay, but manage to fool game journalists (the ones that weren't already paid) into praising the game for its deep and branching loops, attracting more investor money or something.

A lot of people accuse us gamers of being a whiny crowd that cares too much and doesn't like to have fun, but I guess yeah, we do care a little too much and that's why so many of us try to actively influence the industry to go into a better direction when we vote with our wallets or write reviews or discuss games and practices in ways that can be hopefully seen by the industry's decision-makers.

Not to say there isn't just as many (if not more) gamers that don't care enough and still pour money into games and practices that are ultimately making the industry worse, only to make the stakeholders and CEOs wealthier.

It's a team-building exercise that the management came up with. They might let some people go if it goes well, too!

I've had a minor tinnitus since I was a kid, which I tend to be able to ignore most of the time because I'm preoccupied with other stuff, but the talks about tinnitus in the Escape From Tarkov community reminded me of the phenomenon, and I've been aware of my own tinnitus ever since.

Same as you now - won't hear it unless I remember about it and can't turn my mind to something else.

Did he mention that a lot of the real estate that people own in most post-Soviet countries is inherited when (grand)parents die, this being first if not the only step towards the market for most people?

None of the people I know from Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Belarus bought their first apartments on their own through hard work or anything: it's mostly apartments where your grandma died, apartments that you're either massively helped with or outright gifted by parents when yuu have a significant other to move in with (so both families join funds, most coming from selling some dead relative's apartment) or on a wedding day (a rarer occasion), or some mix of that.

Without any help or gifts, you're lucky to be able to get a mortgage that you can pay off before you're 60 (at least).

The real estate prices outside the US and the EU may seem nicer, but salaries and expenses sure don't.

Everybody is screwed, everywhere.

Valve time; the phenomenon is often observed in software development, with some calling it the software development time.

Jokes aside, reading this thread makes me appreciate the old junk for the washing machine I have around here much more - at least it's accurate with time!

Email is still functional and necessary so have to stick with that.

I what way? Are you talking about email lists or something like that? Please share some wisdom so I can think of email as of something more than just annoying spambox that corportations and governments use to spy on me.

Spoken like a true oil and gas stakeholder. Or any other stakeholder, for that matter.

These meals don't cost the money to be microwaved again, it's just not that good. Better off ordering groceries in that case.

Car dependency and pedestrian facilities vary greatly between countries, have you thought about that?

Many Americans simply don't have sidewalks or any other safe routes to navigate to many restaurants and other places, nor do they have sufficiently developed public transport in those same areas (if at all).

Even in Russia, in cities built and/or amended by the Soviets to be walkable or at least accessible via public transport, there's a lot of day-to-day places you're not going to be able to reach without a car unless you have literal hours in your day outside work and other chores; not to mention some people not having the luxury of being able to walk as easily or at all.

Thanks for the numbers! Seems pretty comfy, especially compared to a less developed country with greater disparity.

How's your political climate these days? I know Germany is seeing AfD getting higher ratings for various reasons, but somehow never thought about its German-speaking neighbors.