If you put it that way

The value proposition is just heavily skewed towards video games. Some games cost less than a single visit to the cinema and provide heaps more entertainment. Sure, it’s different entertainment and the social aspect of going to the cinema is a factor too, but I’m not much into cinemas myself, so I know where my money goes.

It’s actually a separate company - a joint venture I think - not related to DRK. It’s octopharma + TMD (Gesellschaft für transfusionsmedizinische Dienste mbH), apparently, so probably a private company. The other place I can donate at in my city is the local Uniklinikum (it’s like a hospital that’s closely linked our university where med students can work). Both provide a monetary compensation for the donation.

Yea, the US is kinda fucked, ngl

That’s the worst thing. At this point, they shouldn’t even be allowed to even ask that

Holy shit, 120$ per week? Now I definitely feel like I’m being ripped off 🐧 I thought we were having it good with 25€ per donation plus the odd additional promotions.

It used to be like that for me too - extra money to spend on leisure time. Mostly video games, in my case. Nowadays, I can’t go that regularly, sadly, because my new apprenticeship is full-time and doesn’t leave too much time to go donate plasma. But 120 sounds amazing

I’ve been there myself too. I didn’t necessarily have to donate plasma twice a week for a couple months since I could have asked my parents for money, but I’m very reluctant when it comes to asking for money and want to do things independently, on my own as far as possible. So yea, while between jobs, I was reliant on this steady source of income to be able to afford rent. It sucks but that’s reality. And yea, I quite agree that this is an underlying systematic failure of the government and not necessarily a fault of the blood bank

raise your dongers

Load times that don’t take ages with the internal SSD of the PS5 is a huge boon too

Are all of these “laws” in place because incendiary weapons are especially cruel compared to a simple shot to the dome?

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Average Izzet otters

Missing glottal stops in front of the syllable-initial vowels 🤓

How sharp is it?

I mean, the market for live-service games is absolutely oversatured as is. Live-service hero shooters are also dime a dozen (Overwatch, Paladins, Apex Legends etc) and have their dedicated niches. When an entirely new IP tries to enter when other established IPs may be struggling already, what did Sony expect?

I find it silly that every game nowadays needs to have some form live-service component. Just release a game and let it be. Why change and patch it a hundred times if you can just release a solid package one time and reap your benefits?

Like, compare Diablo 2 Resurrected (display name and profile pic definitely not related) to Diablo 4. They put out patches semi-regularly for D2 and it’s brilliant. The game is 20+ years old and blows D4 out of the water by a huge margin (might be a little biased). D4 had a biblical start and is easily Blizzard’s fastest-selling game at release, but look at it now. They’ve made efforts to make the game better with adjustments and patches, and the new add-on might even be ok, but I don’t think they’ll be getting back their momentum any time soon

Right

For sure, yes. I’m not arguing that AI has its uses. The main thing I was discussing with my friend was that the way AI is used commercially right now is damaging to a lot of industries, that it’s a trend being used by companies to make their products looks better than they are, and that they profit off other peoples’ work. AI is a tool, yes, but what I was so adamant about was that there should be regulations and policies that make clear what is and where it’s ok to use and what isn’t

Both ideally. But I get your point

I think the main difference is intent, inspiration, and feelings portrayed through art. AI may be able to replicate a certain style or use a motif, but the three aspects I mentioned are absent with an AI. It is, indeed, difficult to put into words what you mean - I’ll give you that.

When he’s not being a contrarian, he’s a very good friend whom I’ve known since I was 10. It’s just when it comes to these subjects, he’s not talked to

I might give this a shot.

Yea, I think it’s equally important to know when to move on from things. No point in trying to win him over. It’s just frustrating to realise that there’s no convincing your conversation partner