this post was submitted on 07 Oct 2025
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.

Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:

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  2. The entire showerthought must be in the title
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    • If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
    • A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
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Back when optical disks were more common mediums for video games

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[–] spittingimage@lemmy.world 7 points 13 hours ago

I don't need that kind of disrespect from software.

[–] CaptSatelliteJack@lemy.lol 11 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

My dream game to develop is real actual "war shooter." You get the classic CoD-like intro of proving your worth in a training range or whatever, a nice little tutorial. Then you get briefed on your mission, and deployed to action. All missions are PvP. You set your loadout, the mission starts, and you get hit. This is where the game begins. Depending on what you get shot with, and where, you get extracted from the mission, and medically discharged. You get sent home, have to live your life with permanent disabilities, find a job, go to your appointments, the whole thing. If you don't die. If you die outright, the game just uninstalls, and permabans you. Anyone playing gets one life, one shot at the game.

[–] cmbabul@slrpnk.net 4 points 13 hours ago

Sounds more like performance art/prank in the form of a video game, like something Andy Kauffman and Banksy would create together, but I’m still here for it

[–] Flax_vert@feddit.uk 25 points 23 hours ago

freecupholder.exe

[–] Ep1cFac3pa1m@lemmy.world 58 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Wasn’t there a GameCube game that did shit like that? Like if your sanity meter got too low the game would mess with you?

Edit: Found it

[–] Cevilia@lemmy.blahaj.zone 15 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

See also Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid.

I fucking love games that break the fourth wall.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

The whole Fission Mailed sequence near the end of MGS2 leaps to mind, also.

That game was great! Scared the shit out of me and always wanted to play more.

That's cool af

[–] neatchee@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Tbh it would be absolutely fantastic if a game pulled this off today.

"Did....did this game just burn itself to a DVD-R before wiping itself from my drive? Where did it even get a DVD-R from??? Wait a sec, my PC didn't even have a DVD drive before today! Why is there a charge to PCRepairGuy on my credit card?! WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?"

[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 day ago (2 children)

This is a mobile game, how did a CD even fit into my phone?!??!

[–] lost_faith@lemmy.ca 1 points 15 hours ago

I have cds that would fit in that small a space, they were a thing to give out like business cards and were the same foot print, just cd thick

[–] WhyAUsername_1@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

It has always been right beside the printer. Have you never noticed it so far?

Weird, I print PDFs from CD on my phone daily.

[–] WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Well, what if you play an unlosable game, like sandbox simulator?

[–] Natanael@infosec.pub 2 points 18 hours ago

You can still softlock preventing progress in many, unless you're in a fully free mode

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 32 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Just imagine the Psycho Mantis fight if he could actually launch the disc out of the PS1 at you. 😳

"I see you have played a lot of Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction. So... You've decided to play a good game for once?" spits disc at you

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 23 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This actually happened to me once when I was a kid playing SimCity (I don’t remember if it was 2000 or 3000); The machine, a new but possessed Windows 98 machine, blue screened and ejected the 52x drive without spinning down the CD. So when the tray came out the disc flew across the room like a Lilliputian UFO.

[–] Epzillon@lemmy.world 16 points 1 day ago

Old school bugs were just objectively better. Software turning mundane everyday items to death threats is the type of action i need in my life.

[–] INeedMana@piefed.zip 6 points 23 hours ago

Now available with reckless driving https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/42872110

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 19 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Smh video games these days a too easy. Fast travel, aim assist selectable difficulties. All these things take away from the player. And now gamers can't even rage quit on their own. Damn vibeo game does it from them >:(

[–] teft@piefed.social 9 points 1 day ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

One of the things i like most about Hardcore mode in KCD2 is that fast travel, your compass, and your location on the map are all disabled. You have to really learn the map since a lot of places are in the middle of a wooded area. It really ups the immersion.

Edit: Forgot some words when posting half asleep.

[–] Empricorn@feddit.nl 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Does fast travel make the game easier? I would argue no, it just saves (real world) time. In fact, choosing to not use fast travel could be considered easier, as you're forced to fight low-level annoyances and level up.

[–] Fleur_@aussie.zone 1 points 18 hours ago

This mfer never played fallout 4 on survival.

[–] Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

too easy. Fast travel

I feel you. When I repurchased Fallout 3 on PC I was pleased to find a mod that replaces fast travel with a motorbike and the need to scavenge fuel

[–] owenfromcanada@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 day ago (5 children)

Imagine if the antagonist in your game messed with the game menu and save files...

[–] fubbernuckin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

I, too, am a fan of undertale

[–] lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The Guardians of the Galaxy game did that, at least a little bit. The game seemingly ends, credits are rolling and then they slowly start to glitch out and some of the names are replaced with the name of the antagonist.

Then the credits crash out and a second bossfight starts. You can kinda see it coming, but it was still pretty cool for them to do that.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 16 points 1 day ago

Sounds a bit like one of the scarecrow sequences in Batman Arkham Asylum where the game 'crashes'

[–] BurgerBaron@piefed.social 12 points 1 day ago

Reminds me of goldsrc / Half Life 1 allowing server hosts to send console commands to eject the disc drives on clients to scare them.

[–] bstix@feddit.dk 2 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Perhaps the piezo speaker can still be used to mess with people.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] TheOakTree@lemmy.zip 2 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) (1 children)

It's not as common now, but lots of desktop computers used to have little piezoelectric speakers that would beep to indicate error codes or catastrophic failure.

They're called speakers but they're only good for buzzing at different frequencies instead of accurately replicating source audio. Interestingly, the more advanced ones can be used quite effectively to make ultrasound signals.

[–] ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org 1 points 3 hours ago

Well I knew about that, but how does it mess with people any better than the default audio sink?

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sounds like Kojima missed his opportunity. Maybe he couldn't find the command that do this?

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 2 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Given that the PS1 didn't have a powered drive tray and the lid release was fully mechanical, he'd have to develop telekinesis first.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Huh? Metal Gear main franchise has been on every PS ever, and only PS1 is fully mechanical.

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 1 points 13 hours ago

And the PS2 slim.

Based on my limited understanding, Sony didn't make the drive ejection controls available to game developers. Maybe clever hackers could do it nowadays since the PS2 in particular has had its system architecture analyzed down to the molecular level. It's probably not a good idea to tie the progress if your program execution to it, though, because of the above. Hardware revisions could change at any time.

[–] rhythmisaprancer@piefed.social 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sometimes the game would just quit. But I remember that being more of a thing when floppies were around and playing a game in DOS using a CD was stressing the system. Or that cheap 5 in 1 floppy game package that had some bad code.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Shit. My Xbox still does that.

Dang. I haven't had a console since NES and am bummed to hear that is a thing with a closed system at this point in time. NES only did that as it aged and we didn't blow the right way 😅