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In anticipation of the Nintendo Direct later today, I skimmed their YouTube channel and clicked on their latest Fire Emblem Engage promotional video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZCLNlqV78Q
You can tell in the first 15 seconds what the focus of the game is as the narrator mentions “role-playing and relationship building” before “tactical combat”. To be precise, the phrase is “some tactical combat”, i.e. the tactical combat is a bit of an after-thought and more of a means to an end as it serves as filler between all the romancing and same-sex frolicking of the characters. Fire Emblem Awakening was a genuine turning point of the series, so much so that it completely changed the nature of these games.
If Nintendo fucks up Zelda I’m done with them for good.
You’re not gonna be happy to hear that Nintendo have confirmed that Link comes out as transgender in the next game then, Pickernanny. 🙁
(I’m joking. 😉 )
You jest, but Link cross dresses in Breath of the Wild 1. It’s part of the main quest. Most fans didn’t mind as far as I could tell. Some thought it was funny, others thought it was hot… Link has always been kind of asexual and androgynous in his demeanor. Like Tintin. He is certainly no Dante (from Devil May Cry), Travis Touchdown or Solid Snake.
Haha. Guess I’ll save $60 then. I thought the crossdressing scene to get into the female only village was rather innocent at the time I played it 5 years ago. Based off of the new trailer that just dropped, it looks like a regular ol’ Zelda adventure. As in no politics. I would say that Nintendo would never abandon this formula, but in the Mario movie Luigi is the damsel in distress having been abducted by Bowser, Princess Peach is a super capable and sassy lady (a bitch), and Mario is like your typical sitcom-tier dip shit that never gets anything right and hardly knows what to do unless a woman tells him or gives him reassurance.
It seems that the Zelda: TotK will cost $70. The trailer reminded me of the Dark World in Zelda 3. The tone is certainly a lot more mature than in BotW.
Good point. It’s almost like the Dark World version of BotW. That contorted Ganondorf corpse with those beady red eyes is way more dark than anything seen in TotK’s predecessor. Btw, I believe Twilight Princess was the only mainline Zelda game to get a T rating, but even so I felt that Majora’s Mask was way darker. So, if the game comes out with an E rating then that doesn’t necessarily mean the main storyline won’t be twisted.
Aaron,
Have you ever thought about converting your articles into PDF format so your followers can download the articles either with your old blog or both blogs (old and new)?
I am not sure there is an easy way to do this. Also, the resulting files would be quite enormous, considering that there are tens of thousands of comments, too.
Highlights from today’s news:
1) Of course Joel Roth allowed child porn all over Twitter while banning conservatives:
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-live-house-oversight-hearing-twitter-suppression-hunter-biden-laptop-story
2) Jill Brandon kissed Kamala Harris’s husband on the lips during the state of the union address:
https://dailystormer.in/doctor-jill-cucks-brandon-in-front-of-live-audience-at-state-of-the-union/
Joe Brandon is not even in control of his wife, so how can anyone assume that he is in control of the country? I don’t think that anybody who is not a shill would make this claim, though.
Just watch this less than 4 minute video covering the 2023 Grammy awards. You have to see it to believe it: https://youtu.be/1Ga6L_VJrBY
Hey everyone,
New reader here. First of all thank you for the amazing content you are providing us with.
The first thing that catched my eye is the title:
“You must eat ze bugz and cut ze dick off to zave ze plannett!”
Who is telling people to cut the dick off and where it is happening?
Is our planet in danger?
This is a reference to the WEF’s Klaus Schwab. The WEF is promoting insects as part of your diet. You may have heard of some recent EU regulations allowing manufacturers to add “insect flour” to food. The other part of the statement refers to the tranny agenda. Of course, a “successful” transition entails genital mutilation. Lastly, the planet is not in danger, but climate grifters pretend that it is. Meanwhile, they jet-set around the world and live in beachfront properties.
Also, “sleazyFan”, I hope that you are trolling. If not, then I pity you for being a moron.
https://torontolife.com/city/jordan-petersons-weird-family-empire/
Is Peterson a con-artist?
This chick I used to bang a year back started messaging me recently begging for dick. I’m not even able to service her currently even if I wanted to, but I was skeptical because the reason we stopped seeing each other is because she found some idiot to take her seriously. I don’t have an official facebook account, though I do have a “burner” account I use to peer more into chicks I’m talking to to get more of an idea of them. So, I looked her up and on her timeline she is gushing over her current dude. This leads me to believe that you should be highly suspicious of overt public praise from your woman, because she’s probably trying to lower your guard before cheating on you or manipulate you in some other way. Of course, the type of women who overly publicize their lives automatically raise red flags anyway.
Aaron,
Just imagine if you wanted to get an engineering job at a mainstream US company. They don’t seem to care much if you can code or solve complex algebra but they sure do seem to care about your race and sexual orientation!
https://boards.greenhouse.io/cargurus/jobs/4834941/#_app
I cannot even make this stuff up!
Though I do appreciate they have an option for third gender so a sexy lady boi can work for them!
I was once in an interview in which I was asked, with a straight face, what I have done in the past to promote racial equality, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. I wanted to ask them in response how serious they are about wanting to improve their bottom line.
Aaron,
Hear’s how I would answer that whilst keeping an absolutely straight face–
“I was at my former place of work’s cafeteria. There was a very nice, slow but hardworking brown skin man from a foreign war torn land. I admired the fact that he was willing to start from the bottom in our privileged country without complaint. I always complimented his work ethic and fancy dread locks. He rewarded this kindest by placing the finest cuts of red meat onto my plate. I never asked for this but low key knew that us men need to stick together.
One day, two Karen’s from Human Resources demanded he give them extra cake. Trust me, by the look of them they have hade enough cake, and pizza, and soda, and donuts. They began berating him and telling him he was only an diversity higher and he should know who was in charge. I could see this proud man’s eyes tear up. But he stood his ground. I interrupted as I cannot stand injustice nor a friend being mistreated. They finally left in a huff.
I was called into the HR office the next day and lectured. I informed them that my friend, a darker skinned and hard working man was only following the rules as well as helping these “ladies” maintain a healthy weight. They said they put a marker in my permanent file. I was released from this terse meeting. I looked for my friend but now there was a tattles hipster in his place. I asked what happened and the tattooed hipster shrugged his shoulders. When it was time to renew my contract, I knew I did not want to be in a horrific place that did not support DIE! In fact this is why I am now interviewing with you and if you don’t think my actions were 100% we should end this now!”
We know what physical exercise is and how to properly go about it,but I’m wondering what’s the equivalent of exercise for the mind/brain. Is it simply engaging in any activity/hobby that’s mentally stimulating? I imagine most sports probably fit the bill in that case. (especially if its one with a lifelong learning component like many Martial Arts. takes years to get to black belt levels of skill) I’ve seen folks suggest making sure you at least have 1 hobby so you don’t go senile in old age. Unfortunately,my grandpa definitely shows me what idleness will do to you in old age.
Funny enough,it would seem Video Games are actually a good tool for this purpose. I’m convinced my grandpa would be less senile if he got into video games instead of almost doing nothing.
I think it depends on the type of activity and type of video games. I get the sense that most if not all video games are bad for your reward/dopamine system. I kind of doubt they would have prevented that much deterioration if any. Apparently certain mushrooms are really good for that sort of thing, though. On the topic of exercise, however, I remember reading some claims about how resistance training also has the effect of making you “smarter”. Probably you get somewhat of a similar effect from other forms of exercise. When Spring hits I’m going to start hiking twice a week, and hopefully carry that habit into the Winter even.
I know this may not be exactly what you were asking, but
There is supposedly 2 varieties of intelligence,
1) one relies more on intuitive, on-the-spot, trial and error (i think its called innate, or maybe plastic intl, but I wont google it up right now)
2) the second one relies more on knowledge you have stored in your memory and that you can retrieve for more efficient processing.
You use both types simultaneously, but as you age your intuitive ability begins to decline. However, this should be more than compensated by the crystallized knowledge you are accumulating over a lifetime, which your brain can easily access.
So to me at least, it looks like the key is to never stop learning. Choose a wide variety of subjects to learn at least the basics of, and go deeper into some that look more interesting to you.
Additionally: reading is better than audiovisual for most deep learning. Go for books and longform articles, but especially books.
The written word forces both the writer and you to think and structure your ideas better. For starters, get yourself a copy of Neil Postmans book “Amusing Ourselves to Death” and read the first half to see this explained in more detail.
I think that some video games are very good at working out your grey matter. There are even logic-based games like Space Chem, Infinifactory, or Factorio (I have not played this one yet) that require serous thinking. However, even navigating Mario effectively in a 3D environment is non-trivial. Probably execution-focused games keep you sharper than modern games that basically play themselves.
Also, I think that non-gamers often underestimate how difficult video games are. Back in the days, when I had a Nintendo DS, there was the occasional girl around who had heard of it or was curious about it, so I put this device into their hand. Watching those broads struggle with New Super Mario Bros., a relatively simple platformer, was enough to convince me that I was dealing with borderline retards. This was just partially true, though, because those games obviously take some time getting used to.
>Also, I think that non-gamers often underestimate how difficult video games are.
Absolutely! Quite sometime ago,I decided to try participating in a niched fighting game community. Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code for the PC. (This was kinda influenced by the new remake Melty Blood Type Lumina) I could handle the CPU at the highest difficulty level and figured this has probably given me a decent level of preparation for multiplayer. I got my ass whooped rather quickly. Unfortunately,because this was such a niched fanbase,I couldn’t really get another newbie to play with. nearly everyone there was an experienced player.
People can argue whether or not there is IRL transference/value to being skilled at video games (or certain kinds of video games). but it IS undoubtedly a skill.
Although you were probably thinking on a much more fundamental level with the Mario example. There was a youtube video out there showcasing the difference between how a lifelong gamer (played video games consistently as a kid) vs someone who got into it much later in life navigated the game environment differently. Experienced gamers were rather quick to adapt,and can navigate the weapons inventory quickly during the heat of battle while the latter group took quite a bit more time to do so.
The difference is kinda similar to someone who was into athletics as a child and someone who started sedentary. There was an obvious difference in regards to stuff like coordination and sense of balance,which helps them learn new physical/athletic skills quicker than someone who is not accustomed to general physical activity.
Alek and I have had a conversation regarding the free weights subject around here before. Guys who have had an athletic background who are getting into lifting for the first time learn the fundamental barbell movements quicker and easier than a lifelong couch potato (which probably is a good percentage of guys who go into the gym),for whom lifting might be their first actual voluntary participation in physical activity.
Its been awhile since I last played a fighting game so I’m definitely rusty,but I still often run circles around folks who are new to fighting games. (even more so if they’re new/unaccustomed to video games in general) And it only takes me a little bit of practice before being able to climb back to my previous levels of skill. Its kinda like Muscle Memory honestly. Skills you spent a good amount of time building up in your youth definitely stay with you.
@Yarara
That’s the first I’ve heard of that distinction between intelligence. Definitely makes a lot of sense,and lends credence to what folks have said about how old age doesn’t automatically make you wise (old people who fancy themselves as wise just because of their age have the worst dunning kruger in my experience),it just gives you TIME to become wise. some people do manage just that,many others don’t.
I’ll look into that book you recommended at a later time.
One of the reasons for cognitive deterioration with age is poor blood flow which eventually causes brain cells to die off. It is backed by research that cardio is the most effective anti-aging exercise.
I would speculate that the second aspect of brain health would be the ability to maintain attention and goal-focus over a period of time. Technically any intellectual activity fits this bill, but sport has the advantage of requiring real-time response while also maintaining focus in face of pressure and fatigue. Furthermore you get instant feedback if you are slacking and unfocused. Unfortunately, older people are at higher risk of injury so video gaming might indeed be a better alternative for them than taking up competitive sport.
“People can argue whether or not there is IRL transference/value to being skilled at video games (or certain kinds of video games). but it IS undoubtedly a skill.”
Yes, absolutely. However, I sort of doubt makes me a better musician, for example, when I could just cut out gaming altogether and spend that time playing guitar and accrue exponentially superior results. I view gaming personally as a cope. I’m not saying every gamer is coping with something but I’m unashamed to admit that I’m using it to cope with certain things—such as alienation. It’s a great stress reliever for me.
I am not sure that gaming is a “coping strategy”. I find gaming soothing, at least if we are talking about games of a more escapist nature. This is something I noticed myself. After I moved to the countryside, I do not play video games all that much anymore. I still play quite regularly, binging seems to be a thing of the past. In contrast, during my big-city days there were times where I was so disgusted by the environment I was in that I sometimes played for four our five hours straight. After I had come home from work (or the gym, if it was a gym day), I would quickly eat something, followed by firing up a game and playing until I fell asleep. Sometimes, several days in a row went by like this. Needless to say, I am really glad that my exposure to degeneracy is very limited nowadays.
Correct me if I’m wrong, Aaron, but it seems you contradicted yourself. You admit to gaming for four-five hours straight back when you lived in a multicultural shit hole presumably as a “soothing” distraction, yet before that you claim that gaming isn’t a coping strategy? Personally, if it meant living in a more productive non-inclusive society where there was the promise of prosperity for you and your offspring, I’d say go ahead and ban gaming altogether along with porn and anime. However, as it stands there is no promise for me, rather there is the threat of impoverishment or death, so my attitude is “fuck this”. I’ll just play some games. That town in Ohio was about as rural and as far away from degeneracy as you can probably get in the US, and suddenly here comes Ozzy on his crazy train to screw all that up. There are no solid strategies for escape, I sense.
Anyway, I’m currently playing Metroid Prime Remastered. I played the original game about a year after if first came out and several years later picked up the sequel. I remember them quite fondly, but it’s certainly been long enough to where the remaster will feel pretty fresh. Check out Digital Foundry’s coverage of it, as it’s actually extremely well done and very impressive.
Regarding gaming as a soothing vs. coping strategy, I had a different image in my head. I used “soothing” as in this perspective, gaming provides an alternate reality in the evening that helps you forget about all the horrors you have seen since waking up. Thus, gaming is a means for downregulating yourself. With “coping”, I had an image in mind that is closer to someone snorting a line of coke so that he can feel better about himself, e.g. you spend some hours gaming so that you can better deal with the bullshit life throws at you. In contrast, gaming is soothing when you want to get away from society. I think there is a subtle difference between those two perspectives, but basically we are talking about something very similar.
I played Metroid Prime on the Gamecube was well, also shortly after it had come out. I recall that I was very impressed by that big creature you encounter early on but for some reason I did not stick with it. This was also a time where I was quite busy with other things in life, so gaming took a bit of a backseat. During that time, I bought a few games, played them for a bit, and dropped them, e.g. Paper Mario and some Wario game on the GameCube. Only RE4 made a huge impact on me during those post-Dreamcast years.
I also recently realized there is a demo for Sea of Stars for Switch only, so I installed it and played through it rather quickly. I have to say I think it’s going to be a very nice RPG. With The Messenger, I did not sense any agenda being pushed at all. I’d love for this trend to continue with this developer. Maybe one day if they have massive success in the future and Blackrock Inc. takes notice of them then things will change, but for now I would have to say they are becoming one of my favorite indie devs.
As for the game itself, I think there a certainly some improvements over Chrono Trigger. Unlike more traditional JRPGs, you’ll have more access to abilities to manipulate the environments and solve puzzles, many of which are optional yet yield worthwhile rewards. The battle system, though heavily inspired by its spiritual predecessor, is also quite unique in certain ways. One example is that you can interrupt an enemy’s turn by completing a series of attacks that appeal to a seemingly randomized set of weaknesses, adding a bit of intention and strategy to your plan of attack. Even if you can’t complete the series of attacks necessary to disrupt the enemy, they will drop “power ups” which in turn allows you to hold a button to absorb and inflict additional damage. Then there is a combo system that has three tiers which slowly fills up as you take damage. Also worth mentioning about the game is that this developer has a knack for inserting quirky humor into their games which I find pretty endearing, however, it appears much more dialed down here than compared to The Messenger.
This sounds quite promising. Have you played Grandia II by any chance? I am not sure how well it holds up but when it came out for the Dreamcast, I thought it was spectacular. It also has a battle system where you can cancel an enemy’s turn via making good tactical decisions. I thought it was the most entertaining battle system I had come across up to that point, not that I was particularly well versed in PRGs back then. It felt like a huge step up from Squares “active time battle”.
I am currently playing Mother 3 on the GBA, which is a really lovely game. The story is a bit dark, and there is also some underlying antisemitism, which I found outrageous. A key element is — minor spoiler ahead — that foreigners introduce money, which corrupts an absolutely idyllic society, and this comes after those foreigners caused an environmental disaster leading to death and despair. The battle system at first appears to be as simplistic as in Dragon Quest or the old Square games, but each battle is a mini game: after landing a hit, you have the chance to land additional hits (up to 16 in total) if you manage to press the attack button to the beat of the battle music, which dynamically changes, so that you cannot just memorize it. This is quite optional, though, as the amount of extra damage is more of a bonus, meaning that if you do not want to bother with it, you will be able to progress just as well. This is safer anyway as the rhythm mini game has pretty tight timings.
Oh,I forgot to mention. Fish Oil/Omega-3’s are also great. best you get em from food,but a supplement will also do nicely. I’ve had some of the weirdest,most vivid dreams taking Omega-3.
@Aaron
“There have been cases where psychologists were accused of “implanting” memories of childhood abuse or rape in patients, but what if those were only memories of dreams?”
Occam’s Razor says the latter is definitely much more likely,yes. A lot of those in the criminal world however have really strange sexual tastes and fetishes. I think it comes down to accessibility and convenience more than anything else though. They might want to rape hotter girl but she’s got more social protection and back up (or they may not have any idea where they live) and fat ass Suzy who hardly anyone pays attention to who lives next door and doesn’t lock her door may be the more convenient target.
Dumpster diving is not unheard of so I imagine that its not that different for rape.
That being said,its definitely possible that they’re just lying about their experiences altogether. I have an overweight and mentally ill aunt overseas. I’ve been told by my folks that in the past,she would play a sex scene on loud volume because she wants her neighborhood to think she’s having sex with her husband. (She’s not. and like in so many cases,we have to question what was going through the man’s mind to not only screw,but COMMIT to such a woman. His life would literally be so much better single…)
So many chicks are just so hungry for validation,especially sexual validation. I feel quite sorry for her son. Given who his parents are,his prospects look rather dim..
whoops. I think I replied to the wrong thread here,lol. My bad.
It was a continuation of my response to @Karl.
I remember watching an Angry Video Game Nerd review for Mother 3 years back and it looked absolutely nuts (in a good way). I’d love to hear your final thoughts on it if you either beat it or decide instead to drop it at some point. I’m kind of sure the original version is available for the Switch SNES emulator.
A few years ago I tried getting into the prequel, which was released as “Earthbound” on SNES. I found the high rate of random battles irritating after a few hours, also because those battles were not very engaging. Mother 3, in contrast, is a huge step up.
Oh, okay. I made a mistake. It was actually Earthbound that AVGN reviewed for SNES that I watched. I was under the impression that was Mother 3 for some reason. M3 apparently came out in 2006 for GBA. I’m pretty curious to check out some gameplay footage of it here soon. Do you think it’s caught your attention enough to do a full play through?
I have put a little over eight hours into Mother 3, and intend to keep at it. It is a really charming game, but you need a high tolerance for random battles. Currently, I am going through some b.s. at work, so I find it quite soothing to spend half an hour at night just randomly beating up those ridiculous enemies to level up my party. You will need to spend some time leveling. If you are not in the mood for this, then I can probably not recommend the game. There is also a story, but you will spend a lot of your time in battles. This reminds me of when I attempted to play through one of those GBA Pokemon games several years ago, my first and so far only experience with this series. I made it quite far but I eventually got tired of the monotony of the fights. I could probably stomach this much more easily at the moment.
It’s great that you’ve found a reliable outlet for work nonsense. I remember back before the MGSV servers on PS3 went down I used to get off work and defend the randoms that showed up on that day’s algorithm. I’d drop in with a grenade launcher equipped with stun grenades and drop the invader before pulling out a rifle and taking them out with a head shot. Sometimes things would get way more intense than that, though. Rarely would it happen that someone was so awesome that they’d completely own me (being the offender is a huge disadvantage, so they were certainly very impressive players) but it was still fun either way. One guy got so irritated because I kept interrupting his invasions that he private messaged me and afterwards we even agreed to a truce and became friends on the network. Fun times.
I don’t know if this is real, but some chick asks Chad for his snapchat at the gym and he scoffs at her before telling her she look’s “busted”:
https://youtube.com/shorts/FIIyjJ1vehA?feature=share
This looks pretty real to me. I had to laugh out loud when he said, “f… no” when she approached him. Also, the look on her face when she walks away would make for extremely good acting. This does even seem staged as a lot of unattractive women have such inflated egos that they think they deserve Chad. She was so sure that she even asked a friend to take a video of her approach.
Good observations. My only skepticism left is the audio quality, which is quite clear in reference to the camera distance.
Real or not, interrupting a man mid set is a big no-no. Lucky he was only doing dips and not squats or deadlifts – being distracted at the wrong moment can make you do real damage.
I’ve had an unattractive chick (the only good thing I can actually say about her is that she isn’t obese) do an ACTUAL PUA-style approach on me in the past back when I was in college. The reason I know now is because of having read the PUA stuff on the net (the whole negging and DHV shit..)but at the time,I had no inkling of any of that.
Here’s the thing though…We were in line and I was stressed out of my mind at the time. I’ve already ranted about the state of our education system here in my country so I’ll spare ya’ll that. But looking back on this,it definitely shows an example of the social ineptness of those who get into the PUA thing. It should have been really obvious that I was absolutely NOT in the mood to be talking to anybody (that I didn’t have to talk to) on that day. Of course,maybe if she were really attractive,that would have changed my mood instantly,but seeing somebody in a hurry or stressed out is not the best time to start blabbering at them. Women who were rushing with their shopping bags I’m sure felt this way when PUA’s approached them.
I think she was gunning for a “number close” but halfway in the middle of her long speech,I interrupted her and asked for her facebook details just to get her to go away. I think she interpreted this as being “Friendzoned” (I had no idea I was even being hit on here. I think I already mentioned elsewhere that I had very strong Anti-Game back in the day) and actually tried to point me in the wrong direction after our conversation as some petty retaliation for it.
I have a number of stories of signals from women that I missed,but this was the one and only time this kind of thing has ever happened. I wonder if she missed the literature that PUA only works for men (that is,”according to their literature”) because male attraction is all about looks while female attraction is supposedly much more complex.
I just remembered about how it’s a huge trend nowadays for gym thots to go around filming dude’s while narrating about how creepy they are. Yet, here’s a chick filming some random guy working out at various points into his workout, and then even going as far as to interrupt his set. Double standards, I tell ya.
@Pickernanny
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STI5-mempQY
I think we know who the REAL creep in this situation is. Fortunately,the tiktoker who posted this apparently deleted her tiktok after she got called out by this youtube video. Justice served I’d say.
Also,I think its been talked about here,but I wish chicks would stop misusing the “creep” label. Just call the guy fucking ugly,at least then he’ll know what the actual problem is. I think I’ve read a mention of a chick saying creep each time she was swiping left on Tinder. Like,um…hello? They’re using the app the way its meant to be used and they’re fucking “creeps” for it? Its not like she even had public attention doing this,so its not as if she even had a reason to be virtue-signalling.
On the topic of Video Games…I do agree that its one of those hobbies that have very little carryover to anything else (personally,I credit that and TV for my language development over my schooling experience however. I’ll talk a little bit about it below..),and that’s a big part of why people consider it a vice and potential waste of time. That’s why previously I mentioned in regards to raising kids that you don’t want to introduce that stuff to them too early and potentially waste their prime learning years because they got addicted to it and don’t want to spend their time doing anything else.
I think the one genre of video games you can somewhat make an exception for this would be Educational Video Games however. My introduction to Video Games was through Edutainment games. Ever heard of the Jumpstart Series? I think that’s what I started with,and I’d say this is one of the few things my parents did right. I do believe that ideally,you want children’s first experience of video gaming be through Educational games.
I actually had just seen this video a few hours right before you replied to me! The chick is obviously a borderline or full blown narcissist. How she doesn’t get the irony that this supposed creep was staring at all the chicks, yet doesn’t even so much as glance in her direction while she is very blatantly recording him is insane. The guy might be in the beginning stages of dementia for all anyone knows, and this stupid bitch thinks this 70-80 year old man even cares at all about pussy anymore. She got the backlash she deserved at least. This is such a ridiculous trend that it basically compels any man below a 7.5-8 in looks to just perpetually wander around with their gaze fixated on their shoes.
I agree with your points in regards to child rearing and video games, however, I think kids current day are much worse off than simple video game addiction because parents just get their children hooked on ipads and smart phones instead these days. Obviously kids need to become aquatinted with these technologies at some point, but I think maybe a more constructive way to do it would be more purposefully with time of the day allotted to using these devices. For example, teaching kids about the device, its components, the software, eventually getting into coding (raspberry pi is potentially a great way for parents and children to learn about this kind of stuff together) etc., so that they actually understand what it is they’re using and not just taking it for granted and developing a sort of solipsistic view on technology while playing shitty mobile games all day.
What kind of education games do you recommend?
> I think kids current day are much worse off than simple video game addiction because parents just get their children hooked on ipads and smart phones instead these days.
Yeah,the addictiveness of Social Media and Smartphones are definitely much worse than traditional single-player video games. My observation is that when you add a social component to an activity,that seems to drastically increase its addictive potential. I’m sure you’re aware of the classic stereotype of Multiplayer gamers (WoW is the typical example) being unhygienic basement dwellers with no life. Honestly,even as a kid who was heavily into classic single player games,I cannot recall any instance where I skimped on my sleep nor did I skip meals to play them,but that’s not uncommon thing with multiplayer gamers.
Speaking of sleep though,I’m a big fan of the idea of teaching kids how to lucid dream early on. The reason I personally was attracted to video games as a child was the fantasy element. The idea of being able to do shit that isn’t possible in real life,such as flying or running at super speed. Its probably fair to say that even kids of today share that kind of sentiment. Video games let you live that kind of experience even if only precariously through a screen.
But in that aspect,lucid dreaming pretty much dwarfs video gaming. Its currently the closest thing we can experience to a full-fledged virtual reality experience. I’ve ran /flown at Super speed in a dream and felt the breezing fresh wind blow past my face. I’ve swam in oceans and felt the cool water on my skin as if I were really swimming IRL. It sounds like fantasy,but its for real. You can look it up yourself,science has long proven this is a real skill.
I talk about this because I’ve met 2 individuals who got really good at this. One learned of it just shortly after playing his first video game as a child,and he seriously never developed an interest in video games because it just pales in comparison to the experience of a lucid dream. The other got really good at it later on after being a longtime gamer and he’s pretty much relegated video games and TV as an source of inspiration for ideas rather than a primary source of entertainment.
Of course,the one catch to all this is that this is a skill and like any legit skill,takes time and effort to learn. And even at a high level,it will never be quite as easy/instant gratifying as simply picking up a remote control/joystick. But if you do invest the time to learn it (which does not take much investment really. Believe it or not,this is fortunately one of the easier skills to learn in comparison to something like coding or playing a musical instrument),you have a much richer experience open to you.
I feel like introducing them to this will make video games and smartphones so much less impressive that when they do get introduced to these,they are unlikely to develop an addiction to them.
I’m not gonna go too much further detail as this post will get even longer than it already is,but 2 more benefits of note is that Lucid Dreaming will help the development of other kinds of skill (people have practiced musical instruments and produced entirely original songs from it. Of course,this does not replace IRL training,but its a great supplement) and that it will encouraging children to nap more. Which is much better than them staying up all night to play video games.
As for my recommendation on Educational Games,I cannot make a modern recommendation because I have not played the new ones,but old school Jumpstart games and Reader Rabbit was a great experience for me.
Someone mentioned to me a multiplayer educational game that is actually played in school,but I cannot remember what it is. It had a racing section and a 3rd person gameplay. A multiplayer educational game honestly sounds like a good idea to make for a fun experience.
Maou, if you have any tips on lucid dreaming that you’d like to share I’m all ears. I became interested in it at one point and even kept a dream journal. There have been a few times I can remember where I was certainly aware I was dreaming and was able to become sort of conscious while in the dream. I find it difficult to stabilize the dream for long enough to do anything really cool, though.
>I find it difficult to stabilize the dream for long enough to do anything really cool, though.
I can give tips on this right away. A classic recommendation is rubbing your hands together,but in general,intensifying your interaction with the dream environment is key.
As an example,I became lucid in a dream where I found myself skating atop water at a beach. The dream environment was not stable however and I felt I was at risk of waking at any moment,and so what I did was I focused on skating as hard and fast as I can,proceeded to give myself super speed in the process…And it worked. Once I found that the dream is stable,I proceeded to have my adventure.
You want to interact with the dream environment using all of your senses (touch is obvious example,but if you find yourself getting lucid at a dinner table,perhaps proceeding to gorge yourself will do the trick. haha. and yes,I’ve tasted some unusual meat in the dream environment,some of which have had a unique kind of flavor yet still delicious.),get as much of your focus into the dream as much as possible that way.
Addressing this topic as a whole…I’ve linked this playlist here before,as an entire instructional for lucid dreaming.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhFEDSVUxgE&list=PL-I34Fe94caOZTi368IVidzz2O6yVtH3z&index=1
Unfortunately,video 4 onwards is behind a pay wall,but you can still use the first 3 videos to get you some fundamental understanding and actionable advice. (He actually gives you homework/drills,which I definitely suggest you do if you wanna get into this) Unfortunately,there is plenty of misinformation in the LD community. (Not that this should be a surprise to any of us by this point. Mainstream information sources in general is riddled with misinfo. Dating/PUA,Fitness,Martial Arts,etc. This is no different.) Daniel Love is definitely one of the good guys I can say. He cleans up a lot of the BS and unnecessary acronyms (That’s sadly what the LD community has in common with PUA. plenty of friggin acronyms to go around,haha.) in this playlist series.
I personally paid to get access to the rest of the videos,but see if you can get some personal success for yourself first before deciding if you want to pay for access to the rest. He does have a 10 minute beginner instructional video featured on his channel which is free and predated the playlist,but I can’t really vouch for it as I haven’t watched it. but it might be worth your viewing if you don’t mind the acronyms.
I’ll give one more piece of free advice that should help you though. You’re probably already familiar with the term “Reality Checks/Tests” (In cartoons,pinching yourself is often what characters do to test if they’re in a dream. Its not effective in actuality though!). I highly recommend the Nose Pinch reality test. In real life,you won’t be able to breathe through a pinched nose,but you can in a dream. (alongside a…weird sensation that comes with breathing through a pinched nose)
Hope this helps man!
Awesome, thanks for the info. I will certainly at least check out the first few videos you linked to and see if I can get any results. Btw, I’ve talked to people before who claim they never dream. That to me seems pretty crazy. I can still remember dreams I had when I was a 5 year old.
The few times dreams were the topic of conversation,my sis has told me she never dreams. But really,everybody dreams. Its all a matter of developing your dream recall. Before I officially began trying to get into this hobby,I had to wait patiently for a few days to jot down my very first dream entry because I was getting complete blanks of dream recall. But after I developed my recall,I started remember multiple detail dreams per night. I’ve even remembered a lucid dream in the middle of the day after encountering a deja vu. (This normally won’t happen as a beginner because the experience is so novel,you are unlikely to not remember it first thing. But as you get consderably more experienced,you will definitely sometimes experience even lucid dreams falling into the cracks of forgetfulness if you’re not making active efforts to maintain your recall.)
I think there’s a certain disease out there that DOES prevent someone from dreaming,but I forget what it is. I do know however it is very rare,and I think QoL problems will actually occur as a result. (REM I think actually plays an important role for getting truly restful sleep)
And yeah,there’s actually a dream I still remember getting as a very young teen that I think actually resulted in me falling out of my bed. For a long time back then,I thought that what I experienced was actually real because of how vivid it felt. it was sleep walking through the city in the middle of the night and I somehow got home safely after.
Of course,once I started reading up on lucid dreaming and the nature of dreams in general,it all made sense to me. Lots of people claim to have been kidnapped by aliens and swear it was real. It was likely just this phenomenon in action. Certain dreams can be very vivid.
You bring up an excellent point: Dreams may be perceived as real, and this can have very serious real-world consequences. There have been cases where psychologists were accused of “implanting” memories of childhood abuse or rape in patients, but what if those were only memories of dreams? Similarly, you can imagine women, with their vivid sexual imagination, dreaming about getting gang-raped and believing that it really happened. Surely, there are #metoo examples where you just cannot imagine that the woman making those accusations could have had experiences of the sort she claims. I mean, if there are serial rapists out there, they surely would prefer women who are attractive over fat feminists.
Maou:
How do you develop your dream recall?
I remember that when I was young I’d remember at least part of my dreams almost every night, but now it’s rare occasion that I remember anything.
@Karl
Daniel talks about that in detail in Lesson 2 of the playlist,which is free.
The next time you hit the hay,set the intention to remember your dream and jot it down first thing in the morning. Write any detail that you can remember,no matter how seemingly insignificant it may be. It should build up from there. Dream Journaling is key to this. If you can,avoid using an alarm clock as it jolts you awake which can erase dream memory as compared to waking up naturally.
If you’re not in any particular hurry to start lucid dreaming,you can just go about your day and wait for the day you do remember a dream and officially begin your journey from there after you jot down your first entry. That’s what I did when I started during 2015 when I was struggling to get any recall at all.
Finally,try to get more Vitamin B6 and Choline in your diet if you can. Good Nutrition really benefits every aspect in your life,and this includes lucid dreaming. If you’re having particular trouble trying to recall anything at all despite following the advice above,you might want to check to see if you’re eating well.
Maou, since we began our discussion on dreams I’ve had two odd experiences. The first involved a dream where I had somehow backed myself up against a nest of snakes and woke up in the middle of the night feeling paralyzed until I realized after a few seconds that I was safe. The next night I dreamt that I was hiking in the woods near my grandparent’s place at night using a flash light to illuminate a branching path, when suddenly I spotted a cougar. It attacked me and I fought around with it briefly before attempting to land a kick on it, but then I woke myself up by kicking the wall in my sleep hard enough to sting my big toe (it’s fine). Occurrences like this have sort of happened before, but rarely back to back like that.
@Pickernanny
Yeah,that’s par for the course. Just by going to bed with the intention to remember your dream will often already have an effect. Back when I used an alarm clock to execute certain LD techniques,I would actually wake up just a few minutes BEFORE the alarm would ring,which allowed me to avoid the negative effect of being jolted awake. Its a skill that’s probably worth developing even outside LD’ing. If you have an early appointment and have to wake up early as a result,its definitely better to naturally awake on time (and the alarm just being a back-up) and start with a clear mind instead of suddenly being jolted awake and trying to recover from the grogginess/sleepiness.
That said,definitely try to avoid relying on an alarm clock. or just use it as a training wheels tool if you need to. Its always better/healthier to take extra naps (unless you really don’t have the time) instead of screwing with your sleep. I wish I realized this when I was going to college and first discovered this activity. Fortunately,this didn’t cause me sleep deprivation,it usually had the side effect of actually making me sleep LONGER overall throughout the day. haha. But others don’t get that luxury.
Some people get their first LD when they first hear that it is an actual thing. Beginner’s luck and all. While they are no replacement to IRL training/actually doing the activity,Visualization,reading and even just thinking about the specific subject a lot does have an effect on your development on whatever it is you’re doing. It didn’t take me long to learn to hit hard in Boxing or lifting the free weights with proper form because I tend to get obssessed with whatever hobby it is I get into.
What do y’all think about the recent vinyl chloride and nitric acid disasters in the US? I read that vinyl chloride has a pretty significant half-life, something like 12 years when present in ground water. Something tells me that it’s no biggie, and that I should instead be more concerned about my own carbon footprint and spooky balloons floating around.
Ohio is far whiter than the average in the United States, so you need to understand that this is just not newsworthy. Probably some people had a festive dinner to celebrate that thousands of whites are likely to die of cancer within the next ten to fifteen years, but this is just part and parcel of living in a multicultural country. In all seriousness, though, this accident, which is of a rare magnitude in the West, and undoubtedly ranks among the greatest environmental disasters of all time, is an utter embarrassment for the US, and so is how the government has been dealing with it. Such an accident is a real problem, and it seems that the West has lost the ability to deal with those. Our elites feel much more comfortable dealing with fake problems like climate change and supposed pandemics.
Man, in relation to your recent article on trust, my personal leanings on this one are that it is no accident. That’s my automatic response especially when something so catastrophic happens in a majority white area. There are most certainly Amish communities within range of the derailment also. Couldn’t get ‘em with the vaxx after all.
This is not at all an outlandish thought. Just look up what the government did at Waco to get rid of a trivially small amount of people who did not bend to the will of the government. This was 30 years ago. Today, they openly tell you that they hate you and no longer need a pretense to kill you.
Yes, I am aware of the WACO incident. Also, I just remembered Devon Stack, the Blackpill guy, talking about the incident Las Vegas country music concert shooting. Btw, who is most likely to attend such an event? The guy who got hit with charge (I’m going off a very hazy memory of the discussion here) was supposedly actually an undercover Fed agent, and was attempting to sell arms to some Jihadist group (or something) during a sting. When the deal went bad it appears that they shot the supposed gunman, Stephen Paddock, and proceeded to fire into the crowd killing about 50 people before fleeing, presumably because they thought the jig was up anyway. I’ll see if I can dig up better information of the conspiracy later.
I’m an Industrial Chemist. Vinyl Chloride is a nasty acute chemical. It’s so incredibly reactive that is not going to persist but it’s going to burn anything in its short path. Ohio and Pennsylvania Appalachia are the areas that are going to be burned and devastated by this.