I find with a lot of video-games, particularly RPGs, I have trouble just doing a casual playthrough. I just can't really stop myself from chasing down every quest marker, so if anyone has advice about how I can keep my playstyle focused on stuff I actually enjoy, I'd love to hear it.

I've found what ends up happening is I will play a game long after the point where the core gameplay loops are fun or challenging for me. This negatively impacts my impressions of games I play. It's like, chewing a stick of gum for way WAY too long. My jaw is sore, it tastes like cardboard. But I. Just. Keep. Going. I don't go into dumb collect-a-thons as much, so I'm not the worst at this, but I end up chasing every side-quest, every "do thing to befriend party member," and so on. Basically everything that counts as "content."

To be clear, I definitely blame the game designers for this. They stretch 30 hour games to 60 with a bunch of filler. And with open-world systems, it's just really hard to tell what's important and what isn't which just triggers my FoMO about missing something cool or plot critical.I just want some strategies on how to work around the bullshit and not have to bother with padding content.

This article I posted has been marked as a long read with 2.7k words but this other article I posted has 4.7k words and hasn't been marked as such so what gives?

We should probably also consider a 'medium read' and apply some of these standards to videos as well.

EDIT: I probably should've said up-front that I live in the UK.

I've started to really dig shaving over the years. It's gone from a chore to an enjoyable regimen. Watching or just listening to shaving ASMR videos provides considerable satisfaction, though it's really always nice to see a professional at work. I only shave every few days, once my stubble has become quite unsightly, and just give it a single pass in order to save on the cost of razor cartridges. At the moment I'm going through my remaining Cornerstone cartridges after canceling my subscription with them due to the cost, and I can get a few uses out of each before having to discard them. My shaving gel is just a cheapo brand, and the aftershave is an old Christmas gift.

I'd like to be be able to save some more money when it comes to shaving. Anyone got any recommendations for a good brand I could switch to, or advice on keeping the handle clean and getting more uses out of the heads?

Important: This will be a noisy thread. If you do not wish to see it in your feed, please use the "Ignore" feature to hide it!

What Is This?

Times are tough for a lot of us out there. I'm hoping we can make things just a little bit easier by spreading some free entertainment to those that need/want it.

This is a giveaway thread for games. Most games will be on the Steam platform for PC, though any platform is eligible.

How Does It Work?

-Gifters

Each person that wants to give away games can open up their own "shop" in a top-level comment, showcasing the games they have available to give away.

Each "shopkeep" can set their own rules for giveaways (e.g. first come, first serve; limit 2 per customer; answer a riddle to get a game; tell me about your favorite band; etc.). Feel free to have some fun with this! You can use my "shop" as an example for how to make yours, though your offering certainly doesn't have to be that involved. I got a little bit too excited and kinda went all out for this. :)

-Receivers

Shoppers, or people wanting to take advantage of the giveaways, can wander the bazaar, checking out with the vendors who have items that interest them. You do NOT have to giveaway anything in order to accept games! These are giveaways, given freely, not trades! That said, a shopkeep might ask you for a story or some wisdom in exchange. Please indulge them!

Rules

Giveaway rules are set by individual gifters, but there are handful of guidelines everyone should follow:

1. No grey market keys! Only giveaway games from reputable sources. If you're not sure what this means, please ask.
2. Requests for games should be done in the thread, but if the gift is a key, those should be delivered by PMs only. Please don't post keys publicly, even obfuscated ones.

Isn't there a Tildes Steam group for giveaways?

There is, but not for much longer. The group is cumbersome to keep invite-only, which limits its membership, and we now have the ignore thread feature here on Tildes which we did not have when I first made the group (and I didn't want people bothered by noisy topics like giveaways). I will be closing the Steam group soon and moving giveaways back on-site to threads like this one. I feel that's better for the community, and makes participation far easier.