There's an EU initiative going on right now that essentially boils down to wanting to force videogame publishers with paid games and/or games with paid elements such as DLC, expansions and microtransactions to leave said games in a playable state after they end support, or in simpler terms, make them stop killing games.
A "playable state" would be something like an offline mode for previously always online titles, or the ability for people to host their own servers where reasonably possible just to name some examples.
I don't think I need to tell anyone that having something you paid for being taken from you is bad, which is a thing that routinely happens with live service and other always online games with a notable recent example being The Crew which is now permanently unplayable.
Any EU citizen is eligible to sign the initiative, but only once and if you mess up that's it. You can find it here. (https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2024/000007_en)
Even if you're not European or you signed it already, you can share this initiative with anyone who is, even if they don't care about videogames specifically because this needs a million signatures and there is different thresholds that need to be met for each EU country for their votes to even count and could also be a precedent for other similar practices like when Sony removed a bunch of Discovery TV content people paid for.
government is trying to ban tiktok meanwhile millions of poor and disabled americans are about to completely lose their internet access at the end of april because congress wont renew funding for the affordable connectivity program
hell fucking world
could you draw all the ISAT AUs that you know? maybe?
respectfully this is an insane ask of me do you know how many aus there are out there. i did draw 4 of them though ☝🏽 the loopers featured are me from my own fic, ghostlight by @ghostlightfic, an old you, a new you by @minhmynchi & sunder by @princemonarchempress!!! i like these fics a lot and am not bias in my love for them at alllllll i prommyyyyy
The way ISAT starts at the end of the story is so effective for the themes of loneliness and isolation. At the point in the story the party is at, they're as close to each other as they've ever been. It's the last two days they're going to spend as a team. But they're also all so closed off to each other. Mirabelle is quietly hating herself for not wanting to change as much as she thinks she's supposed to. Odile still hasn't found what she's looking for, and she's probably beginning to think she never will. Bonnie refuses to look at Siffrin's face long enough to think about what happened to his eye. Isabeau can't work up the courage to open up to Siffrin about how he feels. And Siffrin doesn't even know anything about his own past! They deflect with jokes even in their own thoughts!
Yes, they're already a family by the start of ISAT. But the only one who actually expresses all of their emotions is a child who's still trying to navigate what exactly they're feeling. The only one who constantly pays attention to how his friends are feeling is secretly too shy to express how much he cares to the one person who needs it the most. The real hero of the story doesn't think she's grown as a person at all. The smartest person there is also really bad at recognizing when something she's said offends one of the people she's come to care for. And then there's Siffrin, who doesn't actually believe that any of his friends will remember him, and maybe he's afraid he won't remember them either. They think Isabeau is just nice. Baseline behavior for anyone he talks to. They understand Odile better than anyone in the party, but they misunderstand her style of banter just feels like she's being brutally honest. He cares deeply about Mirabelle and can't express it as anything but teasingly making sure she's alright. And he thinks Bonnie hates him because losing an eye to save a kid was something he sees as completely worth it, and he doesn't see how much that terrifies them.
If there wasn't a time loop, they'd all go their separate ways at the end and they'd all feel like shit about it. Bonnie would never forgive themself for being the reason Siffrin lost an eye. Isabeau probably wouldn't go home to Jouvante because none of his fellow defenders were willing to risk their lives to defend Vaugarde. Mirabelle would go on a pilgrimage and fail to recognize how much she's changed once again. Odile would return to Ka Bue, still feeling like she doesn't fit in there. And Siffrin would be alone again, until one day, they wouldn't even remember the faces of the people they'd come to love.
I am just like any motivated and loving life woman, who loves her family, and job and has a passion of serving people.
As a result of my outstanding grades in my study and the excellent performance in my job, I have been a holder of different scholarship. I am also active participant in many research visits and scientific missions in many countries like Canada, Malaysia and Egypt. The last scholarship I have awarded was at McGill University in Canada. I returned back to Gaza a month ago before the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. 💔
Again, I am one of the 22 women from the developing world who have been awarded OWSD- PhD fellowship to pursue my PhD study abroad. it felt as though I was holding a golden ticket to a better life than anyone who is currently living in Gaza. But fate seemed to have another plan
Despite the dire circumstances, the kindness and support from friends and people around the world have given me a ray of hope during the darkest hour. When you donate or share my story, I could stand up again to celebrate my success with you🍉🙏
Note: vetted by @90-ghost check here
people are really fucking clueless about generative ai huh? you should absolutely not be using it for any sort of fact checking no matter how convenient. it does not operate in a way that guarantees factual information. its goal is not to deliver you the truth but deliver something coherent based on a given data set which may or may not include factual information. both the idolization of ai and fearmongering of it seem lost on what it is actually capable of doing
Happy Minecraft 15th Anniversary!
[“Change is destruction,” huh?…….You suppose you’d better get used to it]
I needed this drag. Let’s change guys and not look back