protium's recent activity
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Comment on Half way through the 2020's. What's your favorite games so far? in ~games
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Comment on Half way through the 2020's. What's your favorite games so far? in ~games
protium Link ParentApparently the original ksp devs have a pre-alpha for it's spiritual successor kitten space agency. I'm in the same boat with some romance achievements left. me2 and 3 are fine since they are...Kerbal Space Program
Apparently the original ksp devs have a pre-alpha for it's spiritual successor kitten space agency.
Mass Effect (Legendary Edition). I still have 2 missed achievements
I'm in the same boat with some romance achievements left. me2 and 3 are fine since they are largely on rails, but I've always found starting up 1 to be a slog.
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Comment on Half way through the 2020's. What's your favorite games so far? in ~games
protium (edited )LinkBalatro - Always great for burning an hour every now and then. All my friends who have touched it ended up with hundreds of hours in it. The first time you play the game is a surreal experience...Balatro - Always great for burning an hour every now and then. All my friends who have touched it ended up with hundreds of hours in it. The first time you play the game is a surreal experience that hits like crack. I feel like this game has defined it's own genre by now, though most of its imitations have too much randomness to feel good to play. The only balatro-like game I've found to have the chance to surpass it was the Insider Trading demo.
Deadlock - While the game is still in alpha, there is so much potential. Valve's commitment to actively designing the game around it's community is really refreshing in an industry who's sole goal is to make your wallet as flat as possible. This honeymoon period will end eventually, but the game has already done a great job of combining the hero shooter fantasy of Overwatch with the more challenging macro of mobas. I doubt I'll ever actually be good at the game, but the journey playing it has been great so far.
Dispatch - Could just be recency bias, but I feel it's one of the best visual novels I've played since Stein's Gate. The actual gameplay is surprisingly good, satisfying my optimization itch without being tedious.
Hades / Hades II - Both are great games. I have a slight preference to the second one for the gameplay, but both do an amazing job combining a deep story with rougelike mechanics.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
protium Link ParentI used a loose definition of, "whatever Wikipedia says is a social media platform". Maybe a few years ago I wouldn't have pegged tildes as social media, but as the site has grown we've gotten a...I used a loose definition of, "whatever Wikipedia says is a social media platform". Maybe a few years ago I wouldn't have pegged tildes as social media, but as the site has grown we've gotten a lot more threads that consist of people sharing details of their lives and supporting one another.
It seems that a lot of younger generations are waking up to the idea that these apps don't really provide much tangible value to their lives and are starting to shift back towards face to face interactions. I'm not religious, but I really think that the rise of social media apps was due to the decline in religious participation in young people.
Golf is a great medium to hang out with friends. My dad has been guaranteed to be out of the house every Saturday for the past few decades, and from what I've seem he has a wealth of friends that all share that passion. With the handicap system, and tons of downtime it really seems like the perfect sport for socialization.
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
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Comment on Are you still using social media? in ~tech
protium LinkMy journey of reducing my social media usage started with an essay I heard about in an Adam Curtis documentary. Reading the essay inspired me to attempt to outright quit social media. I found...My journey of reducing my social media usage started with an essay I heard about in an Adam Curtis documentary. Reading the essay inspired me to attempt to outright quit social media. I found myself thinking if this is something if that someone felt about internet spaces three decades ago, then maybe there is something fundamentally flawed about the medium, and that the only way to win was not to play. This attempt lasted maybe a day or two, but how I felt those few days made me realize social media is our generation's form of smoking.
I wanted to go over every social media platform I've used, ranked by how bad I think they are.
1. Instagram Reels
In general I think short form video is the most insidious form of content there is. I would find myself wasting over an hour every few days searching for the next dopamine hit through the algorithmic lottery, and at the end of the session all I got out was one or two memes to share, maybe an interesting fact or two and a vague sense that I'm wasting my life.
2. X
Using X wasn't all that bad at the start, it made me feel "in the know", having access to people thoughts on a plethora of subjects. Eventually the flaws of the platform did become apparent to me, character limits promote the sharing of lazy and nuance-less ideas, the same twitter "influencers" with a blue check mark popping up on every post, and a clear sense that the algorithm was trying to promote political bias in every subject matter for the sake of engagement. Quitting X was harder on me than Instagram. For the first few weeks, I felt a lot of anxiety about all the things I wouldn't know about, but eventually I accepted that the majority of that information would either reach me through slower means or wasn't that important to begin with.
3. Reddit
I started using it a bit after when subreddits were introduced, back when r/funny was actually funny. Like many people here know, the culture of reddit was miles apart from what it is now. It was a platform perfectly catered to my techy interests, and while it did have its fair share of power users, they were no where near as problematic as on twitter (I miss unidan). Nowadays the front page is outright awful, and I only use it keep in touch with some hobby communities I'm interested it. I'm still trying to use it less, but like X, the feeling of being out of the loop is so discomforting I've yet to fully kick the habit.
4. YouTube
YouTube is the only "social media" platform I can never see myself avoiding. Between video essays, podcasts, education resources, and low-commitment entertainment I've found YouTube to provide a ton of value as a service, while having little pressure to use the "social" part of the social media platform. As a side note I've found YouTube shorts are an even worse platform for short form video, I genuinely contemplate my existence every time I've accidentally fell down that rabbit hole.
5. Discord
My only gripe with discord is the platform replacing forums, and the abhorrent privacy violation. Unfortunately though most of my gaming pals communicate though discord so I keep an account. The lack of algorithmically driven content is a big plus. It feels a lot like gaming has become the virtual "third space" for a lot of my generation, so I do think the value the platform provides positive value, despite the spying.
6. Tildes
The only platform that makes me think good social media is possible. I read on here more than I post, largely in part because I know if I say I'm not well versed in, someone smarter than me on the subject will (thankfully) point out the flaws. The obscurity of the site also seems to act as a filter for low-effort content. -
Are you still using social media?
What platforms do you use? What do you think you get out of using them? For context, this video is what sparked me to ask this question here.
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Comment on Overwatch 2 now: how does it look to you? in ~games
protium (edited )Link ParentI'm in a similar boat to you. I had over 1k hours in OW1, most which was during the 2020-22 graveyard era, 1k more in OW2, and scrimmed for a few hundered hours after season 9. I think I was...I'm in a similar boat to you. I had over 1k hours in OW1, most which was during the 2020-22 graveyard era, 1k more in OW2, and scrimmed for a few hundered hours after season 9.
I think I was fortune to have a coach that wanted to focus on fundamentals instead of practicing the meta. Our teamwork was initially quite poor so we would just force Symm comp (before pros picked up on how strong she was). Learning to IGL on that hero was incredibly rewarding. I always loved the teamplay aspect of this game, even with randoms. I do agree the default setup of most OW2 comps is pretty monotonous, the only thing that really changes is the tank and the job of the role is not as varied as it used to be.
I don't know if it's because I'm better at the game or just older/burnt out/whatever, but OW2 definitely doesn't hit the same way as the first game. I remember playing game after game night after night, always wanting to play one more and figure out how to improve. I could play into double shield all day and I still would want to go again, it was figuratively like crack. The same feeling just never came with OW2, even when the metas are "good". I think in its attempt to make the game more appealing to a wider audience it lost a lot of complexity and adversity that made it so addicting for me.
This is more specific to when the game was abandoned, but during that era it really felt like there was a sense of community in the player base that was lost in OW2. There was no reason to play the game other than your enjoyment of it so you'd run into the same people every game and just passively learn to synergize with them. After going f2p, introducing the battle pass system and other live service incentives, the social aspect doesn't feel as alive. The gameplay of OW2 is inherently more selfish, and the most common advice given to new players is to just turn off all comms to avoid experiencing toxicity. After they reintroduced 6v6, I feel like some of that community came back, at higher ranks it's a small community with the same kind of "be happy with what you got" vibe.
Stadium is really fun with friends as a non-serious "competitive" experience, until it becomes grating. I think the mode may eventually have the potential to justify the 2 in Overwatch 2, but as of right now it feels like it's in a live beta test. It really exemplifies what the Overwatch team has always been great at; there are tons of fun abilities and the UI and FX are extremely polished. Unfortunately it shares a lot of the same issues with the OW2 in terms of balance and lack of macro gameplay consideration.
Ultimately it's one of the best feeling and performing fps game engines out there. The movement still feels incredible with some of the most satisfying weapons and abilities in a shooter, and you can hit your frame cap very easily. I imagine it's extremely fun for new players if they can get past the chaos. Even though I despise the meta at the moment and will probably be taking a break for a while, there's no game that scratches the same itch as Overwatch. If anything watching the finals will motivate me to play for a while until the reality of OW2 pub games sets in.
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Comment on Is 67 just brain rot? in ~humanities.languages
protium Linknoise: I put 2 seconds of thought into this 6-7 embodies the precession of simulacra as the reality of language becomes hyperreal under late stage capitalism. There is only sign value, as any...noise: I put 2 seconds of thought into this
6-7 embodies the precession of simulacra as the reality of language becomes hyperreal under late stage capitalism. There is only sign value, as any meaning assigned to its use is lost as it enters the cultural zeitgeist. -
Comment on Taskmaster Season 19, Episode 1 - 'Sometimes spit.' | Full episode in ~tv
protium Link ParentPersonally I find the asymmetric format for team tasks odd, but that's taking the game too seriously tbf.Personally I find the asymmetric format for team tasks odd, but that's taking the game too seriously tbf.
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Comment on Do dumbphones actually… work? (realistic week in the life) in ~tech
protium Link ParentI have an iPhone 15 which lets you rebind the mute button to toggle the grayscale on and off. It's nice for when you need to quickly look at something that requires color context like maps.I have an iPhone 15 which lets you rebind the mute button to toggle the grayscale on and off. It's nice for when you need to quickly look at something that requires color context like maps.
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Comment on What’s a recent “shower argument” you’ve had? in ~talk
protium Link ParentI'm definitely overselling it. There are probably more situations where the standard approach is still way faster than using an LLM to do research. I tend to just look at the references it...I'm definitely overselling it. There are probably more situations where the standard approach is still way faster than using an LLM to do research. I tend to just look at the references it provides instead of having to probe it for being more specific. That is a pain in itself. I also use local models as a glorified cntl+F for personal documents, but I doubt local models are the future tech bros envision for their product.
In university, I had a professor introduce me to the "five orders of ignorance" and I find that LLMs are great for addressing the second order of ignorance: not knowing that you don't know something. Your first example is probably how I mostly use online LLMs the most. They’re great as a starting point for research.
I'm hopeful the "next year's model" does eventually address these kinds of problems. The biggest reason I started using LLMs was because of all the issues I've had to deal with Google's declining search quality in recent years. Their ability for censorship and "thought control" are definitely the most terrifying parts of these tools becoming integrated into people's lives.
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Comment on What’s a recent “shower argument” you’ve had? in ~talk
protium LinkI've been thinking a lot about AI. How to use it ethically (if that's even possible), how it's been transformed into a commercial buzzword, but mainly its impact on education. I think AI has...I've been thinking a lot about AI. How to use it ethically (if that's even possible), how it's been transformed into a commercial buzzword, but mainly its impact on education. I think AI has proven itself to be a powerful tool, but with great power comes great responsibility, and I do not think that the average student has the capacity to use it responsibly.
If you're an inquisitive type of person, LLMs are amazing. You can research obscure concepts and process tons of information with significantly less effort than was possible without them. They allow you to skip the uninteresting, hard part of information gathering, sourcing quality documentation, and get into the parts you actually want to be using brainpower on. (I do have some concern about losing the ability to research things the old-school way. Without practicing mental skills, I've found it's easy for them to degrade, but I’m hopeful it’s more of a car/horse situation.)
I was fortunate enough to go to a wealthy enough school district and have parents that instilled the value of education in me, but I can’t really say my experience is the norm. The thing that worries me is that when I reflect on my experience in US public school, I believe that most of my peers, including myself at the time, viewed education as a tool; a mere pathway to a career to make money. Valuing knowledge came to me after years of effort put into meeting a goal of a “good life.” With LLMs offering people a shortcut, I don’t really know how we can expect people to take a more difficult approach without any immediate payout.
Most of my internal debate has been that my position on this is very cynical and elitist, I'm super biased because of my childhood, but most of the people around me have similar upbringings so it's been hard to find good counterpoints.
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DnD 5e - Do’s and don’ts as a player
I’m starting a new 5e campaign with some friends, and I think I have some performance anxiety. I’m not the most creative person, and the last thing I want to do is kill the fun. The only other...
I’m starting a new 5e campaign with some friends, and I think I have some performance anxiety. I’m not the most creative person, and the last thing I want to do is kill the fun. The only other time I've played a ttrpg was years ago in high school.
I’m curious what you all have found detracts from a session as well as any advice that enhances the experience for everyone.
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Comment on No escape, no control: there's a Severance keyboard group buy coming soon in ~tv
protium LinkIf anyone is just interested in the keycaps, these already exist. I’ve seen posts with it on the blue vortex model m clone and it has a nice retro aesthetic.If anyone is just interested in the keycaps, these already exist. I’ve seen posts with it on the blue vortex model m clone and it has a nice retro aesthetic.
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Comment on Leaker claims that a PlayStation 6 Portable is in the pipeline in ~games
protium LinkThe death of exclusives really killed the idea of owning a console for me. I have a PS5 and it just sits there. If I were using TVs instead of monitors I could maybe justify having it as a media...The death of exclusives really killed the idea of owning a console for me. I have a PS5 and it just sits there. If I were using TVs instead of monitors I could maybe justify having it as a media station, but for my use case there's really not much reason to have one when I can wait a few months to play a game on PC with an input method I prefer. The only game where I thought the console/controller added unique value was the last Spider-Man, but haptic feedback hardly justifies the price pint.
As far as handhelds go, I see the same issue if they are trying to compete with the switch. If i'm going to invest in a device it's probably best to get the one that gives me the most access to games I can't currently play.
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Comment on What's your favorite music album to get high to? in ~music
protium Link ParentThe beautiful of listing to Floyd with good headphones is finding all the instruments that you never noticed before. The fun really starts when you start to wonder what if the gibberish isn’t just...The beautiful of listing to Floyd with good headphones is finding all the instruments that you never noticed before.
The fun really starts when you start to wonder what if the gibberish isn’t just gibberish.
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Comment on What do Audible narrators sound like? in ~books
protium (edited )LinkSomewhat related, but what are people's thoughts on author-narrated audiobooks? I see a lot of value in literally having the authors voice come out through the text, but at the same time someone...Somewhat related, but what are people's thoughts on author-narrated audiobooks? I see a lot of value in literally having the authors voice come out through the text, but at the same time someone more experienced in narrating is probably better at sounding pleasing to the listener and making the content accessible.
I find that I prefer non-fiction to be author narrated, while I think there's more of an art to narration in fiction that only a good performer can bring out.
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Comment on UK creating ‘murder prediction’ tool to identify people most likely to kill in ~tech
protium Link ParentThe anime Psycho-Pass was my initial thought when reading this article. I think I've fully transition to the 'AI is a tool' train of thought, but I genuinely don't know if it's possible for it to...The anime Psycho-Pass was my initial thought when reading this article.
I think I've fully transition to the 'AI is a tool' train of thought, but I genuinely don't know if it's possible for it to be as powerful as it is without being used to enact authoritarian control. If this gets any positive results it will be sold as some kind of panacea, and I fear the public at large does not have the technical knowledge to refute, or even care about it.
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Comment on In praise of Arcane season 2 in ~tv
protium LinkThe ending to the show has lead me to jokingly develop a theory that Act 3 spoilers all great sci-fi anime end with the human instrumentality project. Obviously this is an exaggeration, but for...The ending to the show has lead me to jokingly develop a theory that
Act 3 spoilers
all great sci-fi anime end with the human instrumentality project. Obviously this is an exaggeration, but for some reason I really connect with the idea of a villain trying to save humanity from itself. Up until the final ActI legitimately found myself routing for Vikor to save the world through space magic.By the end of the show I felt like there every character had some level of morally grayness, which is probably a big reasons I feel quite attached to the characters.
Currently the game is in “closed alpha” but it’s super easy to get it. You just need an invite from a friend on steam, feel free to dm me if you’d like one.
Also yeah, I’ve gotten pretty burnt out on Overwatch as of recently, the engine it’s built on is great but their direction with the game recently leaves a lot to be desired.
Deadlock itself is pretty fun, it’s really macro intensive which is refreshing from the simplified macro of 5v5 Overwatch. There’s a lot of extra downtime where you’re basically trying to solve a puzzle of what is the most optimal thing to do, a lot of which is just pve objectives. Most decisions in Deadlock are on the scale of a minute instead of a few seconds like in Overwatch. I’ve never played dota but it’s supposedly very similar in the sense that there are no predefined roles, and a lot of being “good” at the game is knowing how to itemize and picking which fights to take.