My old person trait is that I think ‘ghosting’ is completely unacceptable and you owe the other person a face-to-face conversation.
I think that a basic lifestyle should be affordable for a basic person
i’m gonna go one further:
i think everybody should be allowed to live a decent enough life, whether they can work or not.
I’ll go even further and say that meeting the needs of a population is the only point of having a society at all.
that almost sounds like… anticapitalist propaganda! Can’t have that! Back to your cubicle, worker #33458!
I don’t think that is an old person trait. You are just secretly Nordic.
or not so secretly, seeing as i literally live a stone’s throw from a scandinavian border
Found the left-wing extremist! /s
Crazy how that is an unpopular opinion these days
I refuse to use subscription software. If I can’t buy it outright, I either use an alternative or take to seas.
my old person trait is remembering that it didn’t use to be this hot in the summer where I live.
Oof.
My old person trait is that none of the things mentioned in the linked image happened on accident.
They happened because capitalism doesn’t give a fuck about anything except bleeding as much money as conceivably possible out of each and every human.
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Apps allow companies to suck more data out of your device than a website, allowing them to sell more of your data and… make more money.
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Video games needing access to the internet is simply Digital Rights Management and a way to prevent piracy and… make more money. Remember, most companies view something pirated as a “lost sale,” not that you would have never purchased it to begin with. As Gabe Newell once said:
“We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable."
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This one speaks for itself. Being able to be in control of the products you buy is freedom. Having products controlled remotely by a corporation is giving them carte blanche to make more money off of you.
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Removing accessible customer service means more people will just give up on trying to get their problem solved, effectively allowing the company to steal from people and… shocker… make more money.
I agree, in theory, in respect to ghosting, but we live in a society that teaches us to be isolated, and doesn’t teach interpersonal skills unless the interpersonal skill is “Fuck you, got mine.” (which is, not surprisingly, a thing about making more money.)
In other words, these aren’t old people opinions. These are “I’m not gonna let capitalism absolutely fuck me endlessly” opinions.
At least in Europe I suspect those of us who grew up before neoliberalism took over in the 80s have a different take on the normality of the whole “being treated as a mark to scam money of 24/7” thing…
It’s specifically capitalism driven by GDP. Capitalism is bad but adding GDP is like removing any ethic and moral compass.
Where do I sign up to buy the awards around here?
Kidding…great post, tho
That’s what the emojis are for. Unlike the shitshow most of us just came from, here it doesn’t cost real money to add a tiny picture of 🏅 to a comment.
In terms of piracy, I wonder how much could be prevented by having demos, like Factorio does
Funny how Steam has been making sales and events around demos for a while (called Next Fests) and some games absolutely blow up out of nowhere thanks to them.
Also some people think FF16 having a demo was some weird, oddball marketing move by Square Enix, except they have been making “try now, continue later” demos for games since Bravely Default.
Demos used to be everywhere back in the day! I think they have a huge impact, because it’s a way to try to play a game without dumping all the money on it without knowing what the gameplay is like and if its actually fun.
When I was a kid, DOOM having the first episode of the game available as shareware was huge and I used to walk to my friends place after school and watch him play until he would get bored and let me play for a while.
From an old interview in 1999 with John Carmack about this very subject (emphasis mine):
Carmack: DOOM 2 was explicitly a commercial release. We sort of half heartedly did some shareware distribution with Quake, but I think the industry has almost unanimously decided that the three or so level demo is the best test vehicle.
A lot of people consider themselves to have “finished DOOM” when they just finished the shareware episode.
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I think that buying something should be more convenient than pirating in.
That’s more of a “young person” trait though. For most of the history of media that could be pirated, buying meant going to a brick and mortar store and paying ridiculous sums like $10 per song on a music record. Pirating was nearly always more convenient.
I have a few. And I’m not even that old (mid thirties)
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People who talk on phone calls using airpods or similar look ridiculous in public, like they’re utter lunatics talking to themselves or their imaginary friend.
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people who view life through their mobile phones are unfortunate and sad. Like…why pay money to go see a gig if you’re going to view it through your phone screen? I went to a wedding last week and I was one of the very few who was actually watching the procession with my own eyes rather through a camera app.
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Not being on social media should be an accepted norm, not a fucking exception. This is an issue when dating, unbelievably.
I have an old person trait. WHERE IS MY PHYSICAL PC GAMES
I went to a wedding last week and I was one of the very few who was actually watching the procession with my own eyes rather through a camera app.
Exactly why that during our wedding we made a PSA to not take pictures or videos, and we have a dedicated professional taking care of that and we’ll give access to those photos after.
The not being on social media one sucks when dating for sure.
“How do I know you aren’t a weirdo, creep, stalker etc?”
“You don’t and me having social media wouldn’t change that either.”
Sure I could play ball and make myself a presence but honestly I’m happy enough being single that I’ll gladly dodge any lady who isn’t on board with my lack of social media.
Just a shame that in a numbers game that a relatively high proportion choose such a non issue to be a sticking point.
I think the numbers may work in your favor the other way. The coolest / funnest / most interesting people I know have minimal or no social media presence. There are fewer of them, sure, but a much higher percentage of them are cool people vs the mindless drones who see everything in life as a photo op which they can post on their curated online persona’s webpages.
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My old person trait is I shouldn’t have to scan a QR code for the menu at a sit-down where I’m dropping $100 on entrées. Give me a dang physical copy of the menu!
And then the QR code does not link to a menu but an app instead. So you need to install an app and allow weird permissions not related to the ordering of food for said app just to see that it only displays a static website in a Chrome custom tab.
My old person trait is that instructions do not need to be videos.
I might end up wanting a video, but there is so much low-quality content in search results. I can click into and out of six bad sets of written instructions in the time it takes me to watch one video far enough through to realize it doesn’t answer my question. Please, search engines, place more written instructions higher up.
i’m a little iffy on this one… if it’s something complicated/with lots of parts like how to repair your phone screen or something i prefer the video format, but for things like how to install certain softwares i totally agree with you
if I’m reading documentation for a software library, i want that written.
cuz i can read useful paragraphs faster than how ppl talk
but if it’s something highly visual, maybe a video is better
Can I marry you?
My old person traits are most of all posted here because I am an old person.
But I’ll add that my old person traits is that I think a living wage should support… er… living, including a place to live, food to eat, paying for services, buying clothes, getting decent public health and education, and even have spare money for your free time (hobbies, eat out, theatre, concerts, etc.).
I think cars should not be dependent on a touch screen for ANY of it’s functions (or really have one at all). They are more difficult to use than tactile buttons, distracting, and do not receive long term support from the OEM.
What do you do with a 10 year old car that runs but the touch screen nuked due to age, firmware bugs or mechanical damage? Ford isn’t going to be selling replacement units 10 years later and I have yet to see an ‘infotainment’ system that has aftermarket replacement considerations.
Totally agree with this one.
I drive an old 06 and I much prefer using the the physical buttons to adjust things like music, volume, air settings. Even prefer using it to back up and having to use my mirrors and look back.
My '18 vehicle is all touch screen, cameras,etc. While the a/c functions better and I don’t feel like my fillings are going to fall out from all the rattles and bumps, I find there is a real disconnect. I am even asked by others why I lean over and look at the back window when reversing.
I work in tech and I don’t trust tech.
“If you think technology will solve your problems, you don’t understand technology—and you don’t understand your problems.” - Bruce Schneier
Yeah, I have the same experience: if you’ve worked long enough in Tech you know its limitations and all the ways it can go wrong hence being a bit skeptical about “high”-tech solutions for things which work fine already with “low”-tech.
Also, you’re well aware that deep down it’s still people having made all the decisions about how it works, only it’s people one level away from end-users (people doing stuff directly for people see how actual recipients of the services react and respond, people doing stuff which then does stuff for people, do not) so the design is often worse when there is Tech in the middle. This explains the fashion-following fad of using of touch screens in cars for functions that are interacted with when a person is driving and supposed to be looking at the road.
Yep. 100% agree. My new-ish Toyota RAV4 strikes an acceptable balance with touch screen vs real buttons/knobs. I don’t think anything critical is on the touch screen except maybe the equalizer. The touch screen isn’t massive either, but big enough to have a useful backup camera display.
My old person triat is that this revolt against the major social media platforms is not unprecedented. I have seen it at least 4 times before in my adult life. Fuck I’m old. 😞
Owning physical media > “owning” digital media.
game companies constantly pushing towards digital only stuff pisses me off.
“Always Online” form of DRM is the most stupid thing anyone could ever do to a single-player.
Ubisoft and EA Games come to mind.
I’m such a weirdo with this, because I don’t mind owning digital games, but I really don’t enjoy reading books digitally. I have a massive library that my partner is constantly exasperated by ahah
What do you mean by “owning”? Steam/EpicGames game and Amazon movie like owning? That would not be owning, but since they are commonly refered as such “owning” makes sense. It is important to differentiate this with GOG Game like owning, because GOG games are, once downloaded, completely independent of GOG and the Internet. Similar to that would be pirated Movies, and most pirated Software with the difference that you don’t legally own it. Like a stolen DVD lol.
You don’t own digital media. It can be taken away from you at any time for any reason or no reason at all:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ps4-players-getting-locked-games-123900616.html
Not the first time, either…
All the examples you gave are examples of not owning.
GOG games are DRM-free, so you will only lose ownership, if GOG ceases to exist and you don’t have a local digital copy of your purchase. This would be similar to losing or breaking a DVD, only that you can get as many replacements as you want as long as GOG exists.
I don’t know any example of legally aquiring DRM-free digital copies of movies or shows, but I think Bandcamp would be the music-equivalent for that.
“so you will only lose ownership, if GOG ceases to exist and you don’t have a local digital copy of your purchase”
Then you don’t own it.
If the publisher ceases to exist and you lost the CD/DVD you don’t own that media as well. Since you lost it. So the point you are trying to make in regards to GOG and Bandcamp is invalid. Those explicitly state that whatever you buy there is yours to own and keep.
GOG only has the convenience that you COULD get it back, if you lost it.
Anyway back to topic: This is the reason why I buy the media from digital distributors, download the media, crack the encryption, which I am allowed to do, because European Laws and this is my own bought copy of this media. I self-host it on a physical server I have access to and give no public access to it. I bought this thing to own, not to own the right of consumption.
Out of print physical media is still available, it’s just out of print. This is why record/book/comic shops exist. Challenging to find? Sometimes, sure. But once something physical is put into the world, you don’t have some copyright holder clawing it back.
The same can be said about GOG and Bandcamp items. Most of them are easier to find than physical media, too. Thanks to the Internet Archive!
Digital Media is just another form of Media. It’s a lot easier to copy, too. That’s why the publisher’s thought it necessary to implement DRM, just in the worst way possible. In fact they tried to copy-protect books! Here is a stack question and great answer about this.
my old person trait is thinking that all of the above are extremely reasonable expectations and it’s a sad world we live in where most of those aren’t the case anymore
When I buy an aplliance or something simple like a speaker I don’t want to have to connect it to the web to work properly. I want to just plug it in and use the function I bought it for.
I’ll got a step further and say that I don’t want anything to connect to the internet except my computer. And even then I’d prefer if programs didn’t try to sync settings or check for updates or anything else without me saying they can use the network.
(I’m in a shrinking minority that doesn’t use the internet on their phone. I feel that somehow makes me even more of an old person than my parents…)
My water heater has wifi. Isn’t that the most ridiculous thing you ever heard?? Lol!!
Friend of mine had his house switched to smart lighting without buttons. All controlled via WiFi. Then his WiFi broke. 😂
Lol! At least my heater still functions if the wifi is out. It just allows you to alter the temp remotely.
I hate all websites that move things around as they load. If I see a button, that button should stay where it is when I try to click it.
