Um. I was born in 1984 and I just turned 40 this year, thank you.

Whenever I get this, I open the settings for uBlock Origin (click the gear icon in the Firefox extension) and manually update everything in the filter lists. Just click the clock symbol at the end of each item and it’ll spin for a minute, then turn green.

After that, I completely refresh my YouTube page (Ctrl+F5 on PC; close tab and open a new tab on mobile) and it will load videos again.

Google and uBlock Origin are in an arms race, trying to one-up one another. Once you get a notice from YouTube, usually uBlock Origin has a fix for it within the day.

Tech notes for those interested: When you browse to a webpage, it stores a copy of the site on your PC, so if you go back to the site later or hit refresh on the page, it will load the local files instead of downloading the whole page from scratch again.

But if you want to force a website to load completely from scratch instead of grabbing recently cached files, hit Ctrl+F5. You need to do this to fully reload the YouTube page, it else you’ll just get the notice page again.

According to that first link, it costs $6.1 billion to $11.7 billion annually to run YouTube. Even if you segment that into niche video communities, it’ll still cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually to host it, if you get a decent amount of traffic.

This is why YouTube is a monopoly. Because they have the ridiculous amount of money to throw at a “free” video hosting site. Any other video host would crumble under the weight of YouTube’s level of traffic. That’s also why some others, like Nebula, require a subscription model to function. Or any movie/TV show streaming service. They can’t afford to host that stuff for free.

This is also why Google is so obsessed with cracking down on anti-ad software. That’s how they make the money that pays for YouTube.

That’s a shame. “Narrative-driven, story-rich games” are mostly all I play. Just because people spend more time in strategy or MOBA games doesn’t mean they’re more popular, just that they take more time and don’t have a designated end point, so people come back to play more often. But we still enjoy story-rich games and they’ll still sell.

This is why Call of Duty has turned to garbage. Because they realized they could get more gameplay out of the multiplayer mode, so they stopped making good campaign modes and focused all their energy on multiplayer and pushing microtransactions. It’s literally prioritizing money over quality gaming.

And I know, they’re a business and the goal is to make money, but who can remember a fun multiplayer level? What even is the point in getting invested long-term in multiplayer when they’re releasing a new game every 1-2 years? Counter-Strike has been mostly the same for decades and was extremely popular because it was so well-known and hardly changed. It only recently released a sequel, which was basically just a huge patch to the original game. Meanwhile, my memory of Call of Duty multiplayer games is fuzzy because I’ve played so many over the years and none really stand out to me.

I used to be big on Deep Rock’s Galactic, but I’ve hardly played it at all this year. The other dwarf game I played was The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria.

Is it just me or does this not exist on Steam anymore? This SteamDB page just redirects me to the Steam homepage when I click on the game’s store page.

Yes, I was curious enough to click for more information. 😒

You guys don’t share your Steam Relay publicly and put it in a showcase on your profile?

/s… but I totally do that. I’m not ashamed of my gameplay.

EDIT: I just read the article and saw the mention of the “Dwarf” category. It’s maxed out on my spider graph, and I’ve only played 2 games with dwarves this year, out of 180 individual games I’ve played.

I love that the photo is grainy, as if there’s so much radiation in the air that he can’t get a clear picture of it.

Seems pretty straightforward to me. They want someone to run their Digital Development department. Overseeing the department in a managerial role, but they also want someone with technical skills so you actually know what’s going on and can effectively manage the personnel/job requirements, and communicate what it is your department does and plans to do to shareholders.

As far as the “technical skills” you need? Well… without knowing what this business is, I can’t further define that. Considering it’s a Digital Development department and they talk about “continuous improvement and embracing change and new technologies to drive our business forward,” it sounds like they’d be leaning on you to introduce new and innovative technologies to improve the way they do business.

That’s about all I can get out of that job ad without knowing the business or their technical requirements.

Considering Ubisoft is struggling to stay relevant after saying players should feel comfortable with not owning games anymore, poor sales with Star Wars: Outlaws, and the controversy over their upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows game, I’m sure they’re doing everything they can to draw people back to their games right now. Achievements bring some replayability to their old titles.

My mother used to work a state govt job. I don’t think she ever had a “take your kid to work” day, but there were a few times when she brought me into the office for the day. She was the manager of an entire wing of her building, so she could just bring me in anytime and no one said anything about it.

Her coworkers were always so nice and had apparently heard all about me because they all seemed to know me intimately. I sometimes wondered if her coworkers were only nice to me because I was the boss’s kid. But my mom was a genuinely nice person who was always looking out for others, so I wouldn’t be surprised if her coworkers actually liked her.

Sometimes I’d get tours of various offices, sometimes my mom would just set me up with something to do to entertain myself. I drew a lot in my childhood, and my mother would always put up my artwork in her office to show off to her coworkers.

My dad ran his own business and as long as I could remember, it was just him and his secretary renting out a large office space in the cities. He had a partner originally, but his partner died really young, so my dad was left with the whole company to run himself. Fortunately, my mom’s govt job paid the bills, so my dad didn’t need to make a ton of money with his small business.

Every time I went to my dad’s office, he would set me up at a computer near his secretary and I would spend the day either playing Wolfenstein 3D or Pac-Man. This was back in the early '90s, so you had to boot these games from a command line. The computers themselves were Windows 3.11 or so.

EDIT: I never had kids of my own, and I retired young, so I won’t ever get to experience taking my kids to work.

I was raised on skim milk, thanks to my mother who was constantly dieting throughout my childhood. 2% milk tastes like liquid ice cream to me. Skim is much more refreshing.

Also, it was fun to freak out my friends by hydrating with milk after exercising. Skim milk is mostly water anyway.

Ahh… at the time, I could only find it on PS2. I had never seen a copy for any other console.

Still, my statement stands. I need a PC port!

I’m atheist (and used to be extremely Christian once upon a time) and I’ve always celebrated Christmas. I’ve never seen it as a religious holiday, even though Christians try to claim it as their own. It was originally Saturnalia, and has more lore behind it that doesn’t line up with Christian beliefs. Like, who is Santa Claus in Christianity? They literally just took an already established holiday and claimed it for their religion to pull in more followers to their faith. Nah, I’m gonna keep celebrating Christmas without the Christ part. It’s a fun holiday that doesn’t need religion poisoning it.

Is anybody else just Not planning on gift-giving this year?

I’ve always been awkward about mandatory gift-giving situations, like birthdays and Christmas. I prefer to give gifts in the moment, from the heart, that people really need. Not gifts because the situation demands it from me.

As such, I tend to avoid gift-giving for specific holidays and events and tell everyone to avoid giving me gifts in return. I usually buy everything I want for myself anyway, and I hate receiving gifts I never asked for. What am I going to do with a trinket, or daily calendar, or a light-up desk toy? Maybe it’s the ADHD in me, but I like to plan and organize my home and other spaces, and receiving gifts I didn’t ask for messes up my structure. I don’t want to be a jerk, but if you give me a non-functional gift, it’s likely going in the trash the first opportunity I get.

My wife and I are already talking about getting a divorce (due to other long-standing issues) and things have been tense in the household for some time now.

Sounds like you have more on your plate than worrying about gift-giving this year. My recommendation is to give your kids and niblings (nieces and nephews) some simple gifts at a minimum. Don’t ruin their Christmas because the rest of your family are treating you like crap. They aren’t to blame, and they shouldn’t be roped into the drama. If anything, avoiding giving them gifts is just more ammo your family can use to turn them against you.

Keep the peace with the innocent bystanders, but I would totally forego gifts for the rest of your family. Save that money and buy yourself something nice instead. (Or save for a divorce lawyer if you need one)

By the way, I took these three screenshots in order during my gameplay. While reviewing them later, I thought they were hilarious out of context. Enjoy!

Here’s a Wikipedia article that explains what a “Tankie” is.

TL;DR - It’s a slur to refer to authoritarian communists, originally used to speak out against people who supported using tanks to suppress dissidents.

Generally, anyone who supports aggression or violence to silence or oppress people are referred to as Tankies.

?:)

For single player games, I don’t see why players shouldn’t be able to play on their own pace.

Agreed, I always hate when games force me to rush an event or situation. I’m here to have fun! Let me enjoy it at my own pace!

Although I think the days in this game are plenty long enough. Just when I’m getting tired from running around, I realize it’s evening time in-game. It’s mostly morning that comes too soon. Once I’m prepped for the next day, I don’t have much time to run around and explore before it’s time to reopen the tavern.

I could just close earlier, but the more stuff I sell each day, the more money I have to work with for the next day. Upgrades cost money to unlock, so I’ve been saving up to expand the tavern. I haven’t bought any decorations and I only bought more tables so I can sell to more customers at a time. Although I don’t get enough customers to fill all the seats right now.

• Epic wants to be Steam’s direct rival, so their storefront has many of the same features, but it’s not as popular within the community. I honestly have no opinion about them.

I have an opinion on them. They’re a terrible company with anti-gamer friendly policies.

I have no problem with competition. It keeps businesses legit and cheap/reasonable for consumers. Heck, GOG does a great job as a companion storefront with Steam.

Epic Games could have tried to be competitive too and provide a similar or better platform for games. But instead, they wanted to corner the market and steal gamers from Steam, so they started pushing exclusivity contracts with publishers. New games would come to only their storefront for the first year, then release to other PC storefronts after that.

Then they started publishing games themselves, which kept them isolated to their storefront indefinitely. Even game series that were released to other consoles and PC platforms suddenly had a sequel that was stuck on Epic Games. I’m looking at you, Alan Wake II.

Or worse, buying up IPs and removing them from other storefronts, like Fall Guys and Rocket League.

They also tried to pull people in by releasing a new game for free every week (even AAA titles!), which was actually the coolest thing they ever did. But it doesn’t excuse all their other anti-gaming practices. If anything, it made me feel dirty using their platform.

I have never given Epic Games a penny of my money and until they decide to be competitive with Steam instead of just stealing the market from them, I will continue to boycott them.

I’m not alone in this mindset. Ubisoft was releasing games exclusively on Epic Games for a while and they’ve just decided that their newest Assassin’s Creed game will release on Steam, due to poor sales on Epic. Also, Alan Wake II had dismal sales because it’s locked behind Epic’s storefront. So a lot of other gamers aren’t willing to put up with Epic Games’ BS and their model is crumbling.

Epic is what happens when a corporation pops up expecting to make money off gamers. Steam is what happens when someone who is a gamer themselves and appreciates the gaming experience creates a store for gamers. I have given thousands of dollars to Steam over the years and have a massive library of their games. I only have a few free games on Epic and I won’t even install their launcher anymore. As a consumer, I vote with my wallet, and Epic needs to get with the program or go away.

I would highly recommend not starting with phone games. 90% of them are designed to be addicting, borderline gambling games, which you can collect or accomplish more things if you just pay them an easy $2 or more… which quickly turns into $20, which then becomes $50+. Before you know it, you’re throwing hundreds of dollars at what is essentially a repetitive unending game, just for the dopamine hit.

I know; my wife is addicted to these games and I see $20 charges to our bank account every few days. Nothing ever changes in her games. She never progresses anywhere and there’s no end to the game, but it gives her a boost on scores or collectibles or rare limited items, so she drops the money. It’s been especially hard to break her of the habit.

I got her to sign up for Steam on her desktop PC and I gifted her a few co-op games, and so we play games online together to give her something fun to do that doesn’t require spending money to progress. She used to be awful at FPS games, but playing with me gave her more confidence and practice, and now she’s pretty decent.

She really loves Deep Rock Galactic, because a lot of the game is just mining and resource-collecting, with only a little alien bug shooting. She plays as the engineer, so she can set up a turret and not have to worry too much about aiming herself. Plus, playing solo means she gets Bosco, the flying droid, to help her with combat and resource-collecting too. If I’m not around to play with her, she has all the assistance she needs to relax and enjoy the game. It was a very good intro to video games for her.