I don’t imagine quitting the internet, but I can picture the internet fracturing into smaller sites with resistance to AI through obscurity - sort of similar to how we DO get occasional spam bots on Lemmy, but it largely isn’t worth bad actors’ time to target this platform.

Either that, or larger platforms with some sort of verification process, but that seems like a losing battle in the long run.

It’s way more fun to make up your own build as you go, based on how you want to play anyway. Just be warned that the upgrade materials are really stingy after a certain point, so be a little selective with how many weapons you commit to.

…and you’ll know you’re in this swamp when you find it. Good luck!

I love reading people’s first time experience with these games.

Demon’s Souls was the last of the Souls games I played, and I thought it was hard still. The bosses aren’t as frenetic and complex as later titles, but the levels and the navigation is brutal. I still remember running back in that swamp over and over and over.

I also remember grinding out weapon upgrade materials in a cave for literal hours, because I didn’t see any other way to get enough.

Yes, please!

We need a wider range of vehicle prices on the market. I bet a lot of people would go for barebones models for cheap if they had the option.

A lot of young men are lacking role models and community these days.

More kids are growing up without fathers around now (single parenthood is up from 9% in the 1960s to about 25% today).

Most people’s source of community used to be church, but since the advent of the internet, people are rapidly moving away from organized religion. I think this has disproportionately impacted men, who tend to be less social on average.

And I think in general, a lot of young men feel like nobody cares about their personal struggles.

So, even some toxic dude like Andrew Tate can show up and say “Hey, you’re great. Here are the reasons why things are bad for you and what you should do, and here’s a community of like-minded people to interact with.” and these guys are going to dive in head first.

Is this another terrible consequence downwind of Citizens United?

I think that’s what they did during his first term, right? I remember him skipping the event altogether.