I'd like to start a discussion around collecting-based games, with the following prompt question:

What non-card-based alternatives to TCG/CCGs exist which satisfy the same criteria?

This "criteria" is my understanding of what makes TCGs/CCGs appealing, and includes but is not limited to:

• collectible/tradable (not necessarily monetized),
• portable/relatively self-contained (this could include apps, handheld consoles),
• the constant drive to expand the collection (whether it's through the randomness of distribution not ensuring particular collectibles, or an appealing reward system like in the Pokemon games).

I wish to divorce these criteria from the card format. Of course, the list of criteria not extensive and I am actively seeking a deeper understanding of what makes these card-based games so appealing. Discussions on the nature of gambling-addiction and the impact of secondary market values also very welcome.

The best example I can think of is the Pokemon games for handheld consoles. These games pre-dated the Pokemon card game and are a great example of the appeal of card games existing and thriving in a non-card format (which ironically led to the card game adaptation).

Another is Warhammer and the tabletop wargaming family. This is interesting to me but really seems to be in a completely different ballpark because it lacks agility and thus is far less appealing to many players.

Note: my reference point to what makes games like these appealing" is very biased by card games, specifically the current "big three" of TCG/CCGs: Magic: the Gathering, Pokemon, and YuGiOh. I'd appreciate suggestions of other relatively successful or simply well-designed games which employ collectibility as a core mechanic. They don't even have to be portable, as long as you're clear about that.

tl;dr: let's talk about alternatives to card games which depend on collecting as a core mechanic

Edit: formatting.

This feature already exists to a large extent thanks to Deimos's implementation of discovery by clicking a topic's tag. However, it might also be useful to list all of the topic tags aside from specific topics as a user may not find a topic with their favorite tags very easily. As I understand it, Deimos wants to keep the group list from growing too quickly, and this would allow another way to discover one's micro-interests.

Mockup of the 1 button added in the sidebar.

On click of that button the user would go to a page similar to https://tildes.net/groups - but it would list topic tags. In place of subscribers count, there could be a total count of topics with that tag. In place of subscribe/un-subscribe buttons could be Filter/Un-filter buttons. I think that the list should be sorted by count of related topics, descending.
¹ This new tildes.tld/tags page would likely require pagination, and maybe a text input for a super-simple filter/search that would just change the SQL query where clause.

Once the user clicks the name of the topic tag the user would go to the existing page tildes.tld/?tag=tag-name. example: https://tildes.net/?tag=linux

What do you all think of this? Any other ideas on implementation? Any issues I did not consider?

As in my last post in this group, please vote on the comment which best reflects your views on the feature. Then add any comments as to why you feel that way, or qualifications on your vote in a reply. If you have questions or ideas prior to voting, please make another top-level comment.

^{If you want me to add an Ambivalent vote, let me know, but I thought that it was not that useful of a metric last time.}

edit: added ¹

edit2: Took a while to bring it back home, but:

The impetus for making this feature proposal was this new user's topic. This user was looking for specific content which did exist on Tildes, but it was not obvious to them. It was only organized by tag, and they were looking for it by group. How were they to find it in the current top-level org? Specifically, here is my comment that relates to this feature.

I've been going through some old videos I used to watch and stumbled back on this video essay by J.T Sexkik on the idea of Waifus and how it has taken on several ironic but also non-ironic dimensions.

I've always kind of enjoyed the more jokey aspect of the whole Waifu thing. In large part because I'm fairly insecure and protect myself by being obnoxious about my like of anime as a way of pre-empting judgemental remarks or inquiries. After all, I figured and still sometimes do, if you present the worst possible version of yourself then the only way to go from there is up, right? I'm starting to kind of come around on that, but I still occasionally joke about it.

Was wondering what other anime fans on Tildes views on it were

Recently, I remembered reading a thread on Tildes about CCleaner that convinced me to stop using it. I wanted to find the thread to see what the suggested alternatives were. I can't see any search functionality on the site and it seems laborious to browse by tags. I tried doing a site search on Duck Duck Go "ccleaner site: https://tildes.net" with no results.

I don't know if this has been brought up before, I can't find any information. I looked in the Docs to see if its mentioned anywhere but didn't come up with anything. Is there a plan to include search functionality on tildes?

From the old-school Beatmania and Dance Dance Revolution, to the widely popular Guitar Hero and Rock Band, to more recent additions like Crypt of the NecroDancer, and Thumper, I've been a fan of rhythm games for years. Hopefully a lot of you out there feel the same way, and we can share and discuss our favorite games in this post.

I think it might be a good idea to keep top level posts about single games (or game series / similar games, i.e. Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up, and In The Groove can all be one topic, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band can be one topic, etc.), so they can be discussed in that thread specifically to try and keep the discussion organized. This post should work until there's enough of us to make a ~games.rhythm sub-tilde.

I'll make a couple topic posts below to get things started, but feel free to add your own for any games you want to discuss as well. If you do make a top level post, please provide a brief description of the game for those unfamiliar with it.

Edit: I updated my post to read ~games.rhythm above, as I originally posted in ~hobbies. Deimos has now moved it to where it should have been. Cheers!

Tweetstorm related: https://twitter.com/bioxcession/status/1028322450910732289

Upfront: the basic premise of the book is that Theranos was an exploitative, evil company headed by two exploitative, evil people. It makes an effort to not apologize for Elizabeth, or blame her actions on anyone else. She was sucked into the vortex of literally being a bloodsucker. In fact, the book - at one point - goes so far as to suggest she may be a sociopath.

Now, the book was a good read, and I think the point makes sense - bad company is bad. But it's stirring up a ton of music in my head - especially since it compared Theranos to "vaporware companies" - practices that the Valley has engaged in since forever (promising endlessly and not delivering).

Vaporware: software or hardware that has been advertised but is not yet available to buy, either because it is only a concept or because it is still being written or designed.

Theranos was no different, except it tried selling vaporware in the form of a healthcare device. Insisting that this device worked (it didn't), and insisting that most of their received blood tests were running on it (they weren't).

It's my opinion that Theranos would have been hailed as an enormous success if they had delayed for long enough to make this technology work. I believe that my point is furthered by the fact that Walgreens waited through two years of delays, of and tolerated outright lies. If the tech ever came out, all would have been forgiven.

My argument boils down to this: Elizabeth wasn't a shitty person, she operated correctly in a shitty system.

She took risks, yes - but they were necessary to maintain the illusion that she had a product that amounted to anything. Eventually, she hoped, her team would crack the nut and she'd come out unscathed.

The problem amounts to our system encouraging this type of behavior - she was visited by the vice president, Kissinger, Mattis, had dinners with the Clintons, and was a fellow at Harvard medical school. Nobody thought twice because the tech was so exciting.

Tildes, what can we do to prevent this type of behavior, and am I overlooking something?