@Tjuz In an effort to keep other ongoing discussions tidy, I'm gonna spin off some of our Sonic chat into its own dedicated topic. Apologies in advance if doing so breaks your flow!
Now I'm getting real curious to know what "DDU" stands for. I'm not gonna go look it up. Instead, I'm gonna come up with a dozen guesses while I wait for you to reply and tell me, each one more outlandish than the last. One of 'em will be right, I'm sure! That's still some serious dedication, working on your parts list for a whole week! Whenever I have to do similar, my frustration and anxiety reaches its breaking point pretty quick, and I invariably end up pulling the trigger on whatever's in front of me in the moment and hoping for the best. Or I lean on my partner, who's much smarter and a lot more technologically capable than I am. I suppose that makes him my equivalent of your PC-building friend, then!
Hey, don't forget, I recently had my citizenship revoked for my betrayal of my country's preferred date format, so you're in good company, traitor! And yes, of all the things to be while in Germany...!! Out of sheer curiosity, when did you swap nations? I'm guessing you must've been pretty young, on the basis of you mentioning that you've never dated a fellow countryman. Either that, or you really are anti-Dutch! Feel free to skip any questions that might get too personal, by the way. It's awesome chatting an' all, but I'm still a relative stranger on the internet. Heck, for all you know, I could be secretly Dutch!!
Don't worry, my defence mechanism has done far worse than sing in public. Apropos of nothing, a living statue of Charlie Chaplin once told me he loved me. Another story for the backlog!
No, I have never been in the military. I do come from a military family, though. I suppose my previous career could be described as "military adjacent" at times. It had an emergency response element, and that's what I meant by deployments. My apologies, I thought you already knew! Same as I'm sure you thought I'd already know what games Panda and Chicken are, but I never heard of 'em before! Google isn't being helpful either as, despite my advanced search skills, any combination of those animals and "mobile game" just floods my screen with a bunch of ads for current cutesy shovelware. What were they like?
"If I let not knowing anything stop me from doing something, I'd never do everything!"
@Werehog Oh, you shouldn't have asked about "DDU". It's way too boring, but since you forced this fate on yourself... it stands for "Display Driver Uninstaller". Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the sexy "Display Driver Uninstaller" himself! It essentially just lets you do a clean wipe of whatever graphics drivers are currently installed so you can start over fresh. Apparently AMD and Nvidia's own versions of those programs have their kinks and don't do it all too well, so naturally, it's up to the tech nerds to solve these issues for us. Thank God for them! Now I'm going to have to hear what these guesses of yours were.
You know, it's funny, because when you describe yourself as getting too easily frustrated and anxious to hand-pick parts for a PC... I see myself all the same! When I said it took me a week to do so, it took me a week exactly because anxiety would take over and I would just frustratedly look at my tablet thinking: "How the hell am I ever going to figure this out?!" I'd say that patience was the answer, but it was stubbornness more than anything. If I had technological wizard equivalent like you, I would've had them do it for me as well! Sadly, while this friend was kind enough with putting it together, I was not able to secure his help to do a bunch of boring, nerdy research. I guess friends have to put up boundaries or something. At least with your partner, he presumably lives with you and has no choice! Ah, joy.
Ah, right! I had totally forgotten your citizenship was equally in question. We'll simply have to found a new civilisation for outcasts on an island somewhere. I think we should call it Australia! I swapped nations not too long ago actually. I moved here back in 2023, so I was 22 at the time. Plenty of time to have dated a fellow countryman before that... and as much as I would love to say it had to do with my pure disgust for the Dutch, it was more so thanks to the gay aspect of it all combined with a bout of social isolation for entirely different reasons! And no, don't worry, you didn't touch on a sore topic and have absolutely zero need to apologise. If I see a single sorry in your reply to this comment, I'm going to throw a fit! I'm totally fine sharing with you, or else I would've ignored the question entirely. So, in the interest of making up for lost time, I probably did a bit too much "dating" when I first moved here, but I'm happy to inform you that the Berlin streets are currently safe from my harrassment. No romance going on here right at this second! Least of all with... don't make me say it... a Dutch guy!
I can think of worse people to tell you they love you than a living statue of Charlie Chaplin. I'll definitely keep that story in my back-pocket. Maybe we can prepare a song to serenade for the next time a living statue confesses their feelings for you. Somehow, I have the feeling this could be a more regular occurrence for you in the future. But ah, the emergency response makes a lot of sense. Too eager of myself to instantly jump to the thought of military at the sight of the word deployment! I'll just imagine you as a firefighter saving living statues from arsonists now. That would make all of it come together perfectly understandable. As for Panda and Chicken, which we cutely still insist on italicising, I sadly haven't been able to find any pictures of what they looked like. Panda was just a little panda going from left to right from bamboo to bamboo dodging things falling from above, while Chicken was a chicken jumping up from platform to platform to avoid falling off the screen. You know, the usual simplistic game design! And whatever you're imagining they looked like in your head now, imagine a thousand times worse. It had to run on a flip phone after all.
Since I was little. I assume my first console was the PS1, but my memory isn't entirely accurate on that. What I do know however, is that I've followed the videogame industry very closely and have a knack for recalling esoteric and obscure games from decades ago nobody seems to remember. Chaos Legion on PS2 anybody? What about Haven: Call of the King? Or maybe the Maximo games or i-Ninja? The reason I remember so many of them is I used to collect a bunch of games magazines from Official PlayStation Magazine to PSW to PSM2/PSM3 to GamesMaster, EDGE, GAMEStm, PLAY (both the Imagine and Future Publishing versions) and others.
As for consoles and portables, I've owned almost all of them since the PS1. I miss the PSP and PS Vita loads, and still think Lumines: Electronic Symphony is the best Vita game and nobody can argue with me about that.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the sexy "Display Driver Uninstaller" himself! It essentially just lets you do a clean wipe of whatever graphics drivers are currently installed so you can start over fresh.
Hey, you jest, but there's nothing hotter than a man who's prepared to do a little housework.
Now I'm going to have to hear what these guesses of yours were.
Disc Drive Utility, Digital Display Utility, and a bunch more serious utility-based variations until I got bored and came up with Directly Downloadable Underpants. At which point I leaned back in my chair, realised my work here was done, and went to get a snack.
You know, it's funny, because when you describe yourself as getting too easily frustrated and anxious to hand-pick parts for a PC... I see myself all the same! [...] I'd say that patience was the answer, but it was stubbornness more than anything.
It took me way too long in life to realise that the distance between patience and stubbornness is measured only by the amount of things you break while you wait. Whatever you wanna call it, you ultimately achieved the result you wanted, so I'd say it's a positive attribute!
If I had technological wizard equivalent like you, I would've had them do it for me as well! Sadly, while this friend was kind enough with putting it together, I was not able to secure his help to do a bunch of boring, nerdy research. I guess friends have to put up boundaries or something. At least with your partner, he presumably lives with you and has no choice! Ah, joy.
Oh, good grief, no, my partner doesn't live with me. If he did, he wouldn't be my partner for very long! We all have our boundaries but nevertheless, I'm sorry your friend wasn't able to help with the whole project, from conception through to realisation. I'd imagine some nerds (said with love) would jump at the chance to design what they'd ultimately build. Did you find that forcing yourself to do all that research actually taught you stuff, or has it all been quickly forgotten?
I swapped nations not too long ago actually. I moved here back in 2023, so I was 22 at the time. Plenty of time to have dated a fellow countryman before that... and as much as I would love to say it had to do with my pure disgust for the Dutch, it was more so thanks to the gay aspect of it all combined with a bout of social isolation for entirely different reasons! And no, don't worry, you didn't touch on a sore topic and have absolutely zero need to apologise. If I see a single sorry in your reply to this comment, I'm going to throw a fit!
Okay, I won't use the s-word, or the a-word, either. On a completely unrelated topic, I regret whether my line of inquiry resulted in... oh, the heck with it, you get the idea!
With absolutely no presumption about or demand to know your specific context, all I will say is that I have also struggled with, and continue to struggle with, issues relating to social isolation, so for what it's worth, you have my sincere empathy. I'm also glad that your move to Berlin seems to have been a positive in that regard and that, based on other discussions, you seem to be a lot more outgoing nowadays! Was it the move itself which sparked your change, or was it your change that sparked the move?
As for Panda and Chicken, which we cutely still insist on italicising, I sadly haven't been able to find any pictures of what they looked like. Panda was just a little panda going from left to right from bamboo to bamboo dodging things falling from above, while Chicken was a chicken jumping up from platform to platform to avoid falling off the screen. You know, the usual simplistic game design! And whatever you're imagining they looked like in your head now, imagine a thousand times worse. It had to run on a flip phone after all.
First of all, who wouldn't italicise Panda and Chicken as proper titles? We're not animals (unlike the protagonists of which we currently speak)! Second of all, the way you describe the gameplay of both games made me recall the flap over that Flappy Bird mobile game. I think that was a little later, beyond the flip phone era, but it sounds like the same kinda deal, simple and addictive animal-based time-wasters. Chicken also might be an early example of an "endless jumper" game, a'la Sonic Jump, which I most definitely had at some point. Third of all, I can't think of a third thing.
"If I let not knowing anything stop me from doing something, I'd never do everything!"
@Werehog I'd hardly count PC maintenance as housework, but I'll take it. What a flirt! Directly Downloadable Underpants sound like a less useful tool in terms of saving my PC from utter failure, but it sure would be helpful. Can we make a spin-off called Directly Downloadable Food? Oh, the time it'd save!
Ah, well, even if your partner doesn't live with you, surely you could invite him over for a date night only to ambush him with a bunch of homework about graphics cards? Or would that be grounds for an immediate break-up? How much boring tech talk can this man take before he says ''enough''? I'd say all that research taught me stuff that I'm sure would come back to me a bit if ever I have to do it again, but it's not really anything I can put into use in any regular way. Maybe I'm even overestimating that, because I'm sure there'd be a lot of repetitive Googling nonetheless. I might at least remember some of the stuff I have to look out for when picking the parts... maybe.
Damn it, Rog! You can't always try to work an apology into your post! And no, don't you dare apologising for your attempt at an apology to this point now. I'm warning you! It was definitely the move that sparked the change. Hard not to change to some degree when you're moving countries and end up living with a relative stranger compared to the family you'd been living with for decades! There's been ups and downs, but I'd say it has averaged out to a baseline improvement. Lord knows that nothing in my life changed prior to that move, though! Let's just say my therapist was flabbergasted at my (rather impulsive) decision. Clearly, what did he know?! What about you? Without getting uncomfortably deep, have you ever taken drastic action to try and better your life on the social isolation front or anything similar?
Oh yeah, those games were certainly in the Flappy Bird vein, even if still far less advanced. I think that flip phone maybe had five pixels to work with, but it made it work, damn it! I didn't know there was a genre called ''endless jumper'', but that sounds like an accurate description of what that was. Are we saying that Sonic Jump basically ripped off Chicken? I have a feeling this titular chicken has a chance at a good settlement. Maybe it'll finally help him and his family escape the farm and live in the wilderness. Maybe the chicken and the echidnas can become friends!
@Tjuz Replying out of sequence, but also out of awkward embarrassment, because my last post's opening line was directed at the DDU which you had called "sexy" and humanised, and related to its function in cleaning up your computer's graphics drivers. I sincerely apologise for the confusion! Especially since now it might seem like I'm backtracking on paying you a compliment, which I would never do! See, and this is precisely why I don't flirt. [runs off to go hide in a quiet corner someplace]
As for Directly Downloadable Food, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before somebody finds a way to 3D print using some kind of edible polymer. Star Trek replicators, here we come! Because that's gotta be the dream, right? I hate food preparation, and I pride myself on hating very little.
My problem would be that he'd take any kind of vague hint towards the possibility of perhaps considering some small exploration of a concept and not only start running with it, but run with it so fast and so focused that I'd blink and suddenly have three different options sitting on my doorstep. And that's too much for me! Especially when, like you, I prefer to do my research and take things one step at a time. Measure twice, cut once! Half the battle is knowing what to Google, and then what search results to trust, so I'm sure your experience has given you that baseline, even if you don't have it on instant recall. I asked because I'm often surprised how much "useless technobabble" I manage to retain (despite my best efforts). It's like when I went to France while swearing blind I didn't speak a word of French, only to spend the entire time walking around with at least a vague idea of what was being said around me. It sinks in!
It's alright, I managed to include a legit apology in this reply already, so my need to apologise is satiated for the time being. But it'll be back!
That makes sense. I just hope the change wasn't too jarring for you, and that your hand wasn't forced. Even when the end point is a good one, that's never a fun line to have to draw. Although I'm glad to see you say that everything's averaged out to an improvement. It sucks, but sometimes you can't be told these things, you just gotta touch the hot stove to learn how hot it is. Would you say you're that kinda person, somebody who needs to learn their own lessons? Is that what precipitated your impulse to move?
Not on the social front, no. But sure, I have just snapped in other ways, quite frequently with regards minor things but occasionally major, too. One of which does indeed get uncomfortably deep but again, as much it led to better self-awareness and a personal reassurance I can lean on when things get rough, I wouldn't wish the experience on my worst enemy. I'm also prone to stepping in and taking drastic action on behalf of others. That's gotten me into trouble a couple times, but on average, it's worked out for the best more often than not. Of course, that realisation doesn't stop that kinda "shoot first and ask questions later" mentality creating a feedback loop in my social anxiety. I don't trust easy, but I don't trust myself, either.
Let's end with some healthy tonal whiplash, and the image of a chicken standing in court beside Sonic the Hedgehog and tearfully glancing back at his poor chicken family as the judge (who I'm casting as an orca, because reasons) bangs her gavel in objection to somebody making a "clucking hell" joke.
...aaaaand we're back.
"If I let not knowing anything stop me from doing something, I'd never do everything!"
@Werehog Hahaha, there is absolutely no need to apologise for blatantly flirting with me. Even if that specific flirt was made up entirely within my mind with the intent of teasing you! The magic of interpretation. Or misunderstanding, which I'm prone to doing as well. Don't be embarrassed, because if so, my tease worked a bit too well and I'd feel bad. We're squarely within "besties" territory after all, and that where I intend to stay!
Oh yes, please do invent me the Star Trek food production right about now. I'm so over all this adulting including making food. Even better, give me a little pill that gives me everything I need and keep my stomach satiated over the day, so I won't even have to think about it! That's the dream. I could honestly really care less about the taste or the joys of eating. If I ever badly do crave it, I can always just go to a restaurant!
Ah, it seems like I might be akin to your partner in terms of dropping hints resulting in instant action for the other person. I'm definitely the type where, if someone I love is (accidentally) hinting at something, they can expect it within the next few days. Only if it comes from an unexpecting place though, because the surprise is half the fun! That's exactly what happened with my roommate and the 3DS I bought him. He mentioned maybe twice that he'd love to go back and play some old DS games on a 3DS, and within the next few days I was teasing him about going to pick up a surprise for him at a shop. Well, it was supposed to be a birthday present, but I'm horribly impatient and couldn't keep my surprise in for that long. When it came to guessing what I was going to get him though, he had no clue. How satisfying! Though, I have to imagine, your nightmare scenario by the sounds of it.
My hand wasn't forced if what you're implying is that it could've been a move due to outside interference. It came completely from my own desire, though I may have underestimated just how much of a culture/lifestyle shock it'd become. Like I said, at least it turned out fine! I'm definitely the person who needs to learn their own lessons. The amount of times I've experienced something other had previously warned me of is sky-high. I suppose there's a little bug in my brain that will always think that whatever that would refer to would be different in my case! The impulse to move had less to do with that however, and more so just an opportunity presenting itself. I'd long been in therapy in the Netherlands, and my main line of thinking was always around how my life needs to get a total shock to the system. When the opportunity arose to move countries with my now-roommate, it was only a matter of months before the deal was sealed and I got my wish. Whether that was a healthy line of thinking... probably not, but again, I'd say it has resolved itself more positively than negatively! It wasn't all that long ago that I went back to read my Life is Strange 2 report at the time where I'd written something incredibly personal, and yeah, I'm definitely in a better, very different place in my life now.
I'm sorry to hear that whatever experience led to the outcome of your improved self-awareness and personal reassurance was a horrific one to live through. I won't pry, but I can say I've felt similarly with some of the stuff I've been through since living in Berlin. Not everything was roses and sunshine as expected! I just hope your experience was nothing like mine in that particular case, even if it was sadly not any better. I do think that taking drastic action on behalf of others is definitely an asset more than it is a fault of yours. I'm glad to hear you've experienced it that way as well and that its led to betterment as opposed to bad situations more often than not. The hard part must be where the social anxiety factors in more than anything. For what it's worth, there's a few people I know similarly affected by bad social anxiety, and they'd never dare to do what you do by sharing so much of yourself on a public forum. I know that doesn't make your social anxiety go away, and you probably still feel it to a degree even just on here, but it's definitely something you can be proud of when struggling with that in particular.
The judge is an orca? This doesn't surprise me. Those are some corrupt, evil animals, so they're perfect for the job. I'm going to have to side with the chicken on this one just for being allocated such a bad judge! Pony up, Sega. There's emotional damages involved now too!
My first gaming system was the Atari 2600. I look at the graphics from that system on YouTube and I was amazed how far video gaming graphics have come, although it has been almost 50 years, since it was released. I must of had 50-60 games for that system. It was so incredible to be able to play games at home vs. the arcade. After that, it was the NES, SNES, Sega Genesis, N64, PS1, PS2, and then PS3 (although I no longer play any PS3 or N64) games. I enjoy playing all my games on the emulators, these days, as it's more convenient than consoles. A few of my favorites: Mike Tyson's Punch Out and Pro Wrestling (NES), Super Punch Out and Super Mario Kart (SNES), FIFA '98 (PS1), NCAA Football 2007 and SVR 2009 (PS2).
Oh yes, please do invent me the Star Trek food production right about now. I'm so over all this adulting including making food. Even better, give me a little pill that gives me everything I need and keep my stomach satiated over the day, so I won't even have to think about it! That's the dream. I could honestly really care less about the taste or the joys of eating. If I ever badly do crave it, I can always just go to a restaurant!
Get. Out. Of. My. Head. I'm quoting that in full because it's literally my default response to the question of, "Do you cook?" Seriously, it's like, word-for-word, beat-for-beat.
And I'm glad it's not just me!
That's an incredibly sweet response to hints, deliberate or otherwise (and yes, very much like my partner). My problem is that I'm uncomfortable with being surprised, so he walks a bit of a tightrope at times, and I feel awful about dragging down his positive action with a negative reaction. What's worse is that I'm also a massive hypocrite who'll turn right around and surprise him whenever possible! How anybody puts up with me is a mystery for the ages. Sounds like your 3DS surprise was a hit with your roommate, though! That's a fantastic story! Question is, did you then have to pull double duty and come up with an equal (or better) birthday gift later on? Or did your impatient generosity cover it well enough?
I didn't even study French at school, I did Spanish! Again, I couldn't construct a sentence myself, it was more that I could just recognise enough when prompted externally. I'm sure you're doing yourself a disservice, and that you'd recall more than you think you would. Case in point, you gave me three examples of French words which stuck, yet I'm sitting here drawing a total blank on any Spanish!
Well, hindsight is twenty-twenty, but I'm real pleased to see you say that despite your underestimation, your impulse to move turned out for the best. If you felt, deep down, that you needed a shock to your system, chances are you most certainly did, and that staying in the Netherlands would have gotten you stuck in a repetitive cycle (and hey, we already established how you hate to replay the same things over and over). While the speed of your decision was most likely terrifying in the moment (and immediately afterwards, the whole "What have I done?!" panic phase) I wouldn't call it unhealthy. If you are indeed the type of person who needs to learn their own lessons, then hypotheticals and attempts to predict a scenario's outcome are gonna be useless to you anyway. You'll always be wondering about all the different possibilities... and believe me, that's a real easy way to get yourself trapped. While I might not know the specific context, methinks your way was the smart way.
I vividly recall our discussion around Life is Strange 2 and deeply regret that my side of it was lost when I deleted my previous account. I know I'm not supposed to apologise, but... well, yeah.
I'm sorry to hear that whatever experience led to the outcome of your improved self-awareness and personal reassurance was a horrific one to live through. I won't pry, but I can say I've felt similarly with some of the stuff I've been through since living in Berlin. Not everything was roses and sunshine as expected! I just hope your experience was nothing like mine in that particular case, even if it was sadly not any better.
Add another to the growing "let's sit down and share all of our crazy stories someday" list.
Oh, and thank you, by the way. Not just for that, but also for your response to the part about social anxiety and your praise of my participation in this community. I don't wanna sound overdramatic but it really has become a fight, every second of every minute of every hour of every day. And while I'm never one to back down from a good fight (and have the literal scars to prove as much) it's legit exhausting. Which is why I'm not here as much as I used to be, and why I occasionally need to be selective in my replies. You and certain other forum members make it a lot easier than it otherwise would be, and for that, I'll be eternally grateful.
But wait, if you side with the chicken, then that's a ruling against Sonic! No! What have I done?!
"If I let not knowing anything stop me from doing something, I'd never do everything!"
Forums
Topic: How long have you been playing games..
Posts 61 to 69 of 69
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic