Topic: The Chit Chat Thread

@Herculean 😂

@Th3solution How are you, my friend? Did you finish Outlaws yet? Playing anything else? I am planning to squeeze in a little Gangs of New York (Scorsese flick) in between reading and finishing Sekiro (hopefully, at the final boss currently). Then hope to move on to Nine Sols and then hopefully do a Sekiro Build in the Elden Ring DLC later.

Doing well! It’s impressive that you’ve made it to the final boss. Well done, sir. I’ll be looking forward to hearing how it all turns out. Also with Nine Sols and the ER DLC.

Be sure to post some impressions of Gangs of New York if you have any thoughts on it. Scorsese is one of those filmmakers who I always hear about and then realize that I’ve never really seen many of his movies. Goodfellas might be the only one. I tried to watch The Irishman but I grew bored of it halfway through and never even finished it. I’m starting to wonder if he’s overrated. 😅

As for Outlaws, I’ve been making steady progress, albeit slow. The game has become better the more I’ve played it. It’s not very good at explaining and tutorializing early mechanics and world set up. So there’s some aimless wandering and getting into trouble with the different factions in the world. If you don’t play it the way they intend, you’ll end up with very few allies and many enemies and that’s no fun. They’ve built a really nice representation of the SW Universe and so the game really shines when you can wander around it and explore some without constantly setting off alarms and getting manhunts sent after you if you wander into an area where you have a bad reputation. So I’ve finally got the intended approach down and am getting into each syndicate’s good graces. I’ve also been mainlining the game a little more, because it’s one of those games where all the side content tends to bog down the flow and detract from the more quality main quests.

@AgentCooper lol… good to know. So on-topic, apparently Sony upped the limit on the PlayStation wishlist recently. Trouble is, now that I’ve gone over whatever it was previously (50 I think 🤔) the new games that I’ve added don’t have a thumbnail or title. I have to actively click into each one to see what it actually is 😡.

@AgentCooper I haven’t actually mate. I’m thinking of actually taking my wishlist back to below 50 just so I can see them all again tbh.

@AgentCooper I’ll check it out 👍

@GirlVersusGame Taking a quick break, to focus on reading (The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, good book so far) and playing jazz guitar, at the final boss for the Shura ending now. Thanks for asking, I've almost got the first phase completely down, last time I played. How about you?

@GirlVersusGame I do mostly read fiction, specifcally in the form of Penguin Classics or Penguin Deluxe Classics, the latter of which you may be unaware of, but have nice covers and hand-cut pages, and can be quite pleasant to own, if you like the physical versions of books in today's primarily digital age.

How about you? What kind of books do you like to read?

@GirlVersusGame That's a shame. I've been pondering jumping back in, I find it to be a very relaxing "timewaster" when I need to clear my mind, but now I'm unsure. Maybe they'll fix with a patch?

@Cup you mean @khaylforrester87… yeah it’s been a minute 😏

@GirlVersusGame Seems like the game pass model can't pay for proper QA testing I have no idea how they've managed to sustain that one for so long, they must be haemorrhaging money. Oh well, they are hardly alone in putting out untested products, but, yeah, broken saves should be caught before release (at least if it's general problem, if there are specific scenarios in a given save that will cause a crash, that will be harder to catch. You can't have saves of every permutation of the game to test with, after all).
I'm in software development myself and I have had colleagues who hardly bothered to try to run the code before handing it over to QA, which makes it that much easier for QA to miss stuff. Personally I never hand off code that I haven't tested for every scenario I can reasonably come up with, which will cover a lot of bases. That leaves QA to use their time looking for more obscure problems and edge cases, typically leading to a more solid product. We never ship by date, though, so we have the luxury of doing QA for as long as it needs to meet our quality standards. Games usually have tight deadlines dictated by marketing and higher-ups and when corners need to be cut, QA is usually the first to go.

@GirlVersusGame Absolutely! Been at it for close 30 years and it's had its ups and downs, but right now I'm in a very good place with it. As with all professions, some parts are engaging and some are boring, some are challenging and some are frustrating, but with my current experience and knowledge of the software and business domain I'm working on, the frustrating bits are at a minimum.
I'm a full stack developer (handling anything from the data store to the user interface) on a single software as a service (SaaS) product, meaning that customers subscribe to our software online and doesn't require local installations.

@GirlVersusGame Yeah, there has been a steady evolution of technology over the years. The most frustrating one is the need for stronger and stronger security measures to counter an ever growing threat matrix. It can be exhausting and diverts a lot of energy from providing features and functionality. It also almost always runs counter to a smooth and user friendly experience. It is wholly necessary, though, and cannot be ignored or taken lightly.

There is an inherent flexibility in the work, but how much you are allowed typically varies a lot from employer to employer. Freedom to work from home (or anywhere) and setting one's own hours is well and fine on paper, but, in my opinion, there needs to be certain boundaries when you're working in teams. Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to proceed because someone you're dependent on is unavailable for long stretches of time due to different work hours (worked on a project where one guy worked from Thailand and the time difference was a headache). My current job has a good balance, I think. A lot of freedom, but larger deviations from standard hours needs to be planned and agreed upon.

I think there is a natural link between working in IT and gaming, in my generation in particular, at least. When I was young, there was no clicking a button or inserting a disc to start playing a game, you needed to have some knowledge of computers in order to be able to play a game. I remember having a book with games. That's right, games came in books. The earliest Commodore home computers we used didn't have storage media readily available, so you would literally program the code for the game into the computer's memory in order to play. Once you turned off the machine, it was wiped, so you needed to do it again the next time you wanted to play. Luckily, soon came cassette players and then floppy disk drives, so things got easier then. Many of us developed a general interest in computers, outside of just gaming, though. I think it was '86 or '87 i attended my first programming course and learned the basics of BASIC. It would be many more years before I started programming for real, but I think it helped having learned the basic concepts at a young age. I think my story is pretty common among the gamers of my generation,

@FuriousMachine Not to interject, but that’s really interesting insight into the evolution of software development. Imagine a world where we didn’t have such a large cybersecurity issue — all those resources could actually be used to develop and improve products! The IT industry would probably be years further down the road of technological advancement. I guess one could say the same for every facet of society if we could be rid of resources spent on fighting crime, but it seems especially true with programming. I’m increasingly frustrated at how many passwords and 2-factor authenticating that I have to do to perform even the most basic computing functions. I can only imagine how much it affects those who work in the computer industry.

@Th3solution I love interjections, so please do
But, yeah, you're absolutely right, it's taking an insane amount of resources and sometimes unnecessarily so. Like you say, 2FA for even the most basic functions that really contains no attack surface at all is highly disruptive. I like to say that there is a wide gulf between "security conscious" and "crippling paranoia" and, unfortunately, too many go straight to the paranoia end of the scale.
And once the first quantum computer becomes available, all passwords in the entire world are useless, as it can brute force even the strongest passwords in minutes. Phishing scams using tools like Magic Cat have evolved to bypass 2FA as well: they get you to the phishing site with a dubious link, trick you into entering your card info, which they monitor in real-time, add your card to a phone wallet they control, which triggers a 2FA notification on your phone, which you then enter in the phishing site and they can then use that to complete adding your card to their wallet. Then they use your card with impunity from there. Moral: Always be 100% sure that the site you're interacting with is legit, even with 2FA (and on some phone browsers it may be difficult to see the actual URL of the site you're interacting with).
And the problem with "everyone" using the most extreme security measures is that it fosters user fatigue and then users stop paying attention. And when users stop paying attention, they become easier targets

@FuriousMachine @GirlVersusGame It’s fascinating stuff. Sometimes I feel like I’m living in an episode of Black Mirror.

@GirlVersusGame Lol, sometimes it good to have a partner who’s not a gamer. Diversifies your life. 😄

I’ve only seen about half the episodes of Black Mirror and none of the latest season, but most I’ve seen are quite good. If you’re not familiar with the concept the best comparison I can think of is the show is akin to a modern day Twilight Zone, if you’re familiar with that old show. Each episode is a mind-bending standalone story that usually revolves around something near-future and lightly science fiction with future uses of technology. Most of the time the settings and subject matter involve fictional depictions of tech and its uses/misuses. Often philosophical, morally grey, or speculative in theme. From Wikipedia: “many episodes depict basic human emotions and desires that intersect with, and get twisted by, a technological system that invariably spins out of control and into catastrophe”

I can’t remember if you’re a fan of the show @FuriousMachine Sometimes it’s difficult to enjoy fiction about an industry you work in. It either hits too close to home and makes you feel anxious, or it’s too far fetched that it’s hard to suspend disbelief and enjoy the story. 😄 It’s the same issue with cops or lawyers watching law shows, doctors watching medical dramas, scientists watching sci-fi, teachers watching shows set in schools, etc, etc.

@Th3solution @GirlVersusGame Black Mirror is one of those series I've been meaning to check out, but never got around to. Will see about rectifying that when I re-sub to Netflix later this year.
I've yet to see a show or movie close enough to my work situation for it to make any impact one way or another, but there are of course many eye rolls at general computer use and "hacking" in movies and shows. Silicon Valley was the closest I've seen to being relevant to my work, though even that was so distant due to the vastly different work culture of the US and Silicon Valley compared to home, so it doesn't really count in that regard. Great show, though, truly loved it!
I do get the dev tiring of MMOs, though. They say "do something you love and you'll never work a day in your life", but that is really not true. I used to love programming and had many hobby projects outside work back in the day, but it does become work and eventually you just want to spend your free time doing something else. I am now, for the first time in over a decade, back to having a hobby project, but it's going slow and is just as much about teaching myself new technology and techniques as it is about coding for fun.

@FuriousMachine @GirlVersusGame I think I heard that the show’s title is a reference to our cellular phones, which when the screen is turned off obviously looks like a black mirror. I guess the same could be said for any computer monitor or flat screen TV. It’s also a clever double meaning referencing how the show highlights the dark or sinister parts of ourselves that technology brings out of us or reflects upon us.

If you end up checking any of the episodes out, drop some impressions on the TV thread as I’d be curious to read what you think. It might be worthwhile to search online for recommendations of the best episodes to watch because some are better than others. That’s what I did, because you can just skip some of the lesser ones since there’s no interrelated narrative or dependency from one episode to the next. It would save yourself some time.

Or is there.... 👀