Right? I see people saying "oh but the violence! the slavery!" as if it wasn't a collective act of childhood goodwill that prevented such associations being made to Pokémon. They talk a lot about friendship, but it's a friendship built on beating up creatures in the wild, which then obey and fight for you unquestioningly. Even some which are human-like and stated to be as intelligent as humans.

I consider myself a Pokémon fan and I defended them often, but it's a concept that gets a little iffy if you think about it for more than a minute.

Etymology aside, the Barbarian D&D class fits Heracles perfectly well

The emphasis is on "Me"

Lets not forget all the exploitation that happened in that period also. People, even children, working for endless hours for nearly no pay, losing limbs to machinery and simply getting discarded for it. Just as there is a history of technology, there is a history of it being used inequitably and even sociopathically, through greed that has no consideration for human well-being. It took a lot of fighting, often literally, to get to the point we have some dignity, and even that is being eroded.

I get your point, it's not the tech, it's the system, and while I lost all excitement for AI I don't think that genie can't be put back in the bottle. But if the whole system isn't changing, we should at least regulate the tech.

But AI will eliminate so many jobs that it will affect a lot of people, and strain the whole system even more. There isn't a "just become a programmer" solution to AI, because even intellectually-oriented jobs are now on the line for elimination. This won't create more jobs than it takes away.

Which shows why people are so fearful of this tech. Freeing people from manual labor to go to intellectual work was overall good, though in retrospect even then it came at a cost of passionate artisans. But now people might be "freed" from being artists to having to become sweatshop workers, who can't outperform machines so their only option is to undercut them. Who is being helped by this?

"Regulators can't keep up" is like the history of the tech industry in a nutshell.

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies 🎵

I prefer the Gamers movie solution and just say "he's over there" in case they absolutely need to pull him to use a spell only he has for a sec.

Indies really are the way to go for both customers and developers if they want a better, more ethical and respectful environment. It is a risky career path, but given how many major publishers treat the developers under them, it's not like sticking with mainstream would lead to a comfortable stable livelihood either.

Baldur's Gate 3 really put me in a dilemma, but I think I'll ultimately buy it because I want to support Larian Studios more than I want to avoid Wizards of the Coast. I wouldn't trust Wizards enough to get One D&D and the likely tabletop lootbox hell they are scheming, but BG 3 is delivering a good product that deserves support. Though buying the Divinity games is an alternative if you don't want WotC to get any money.

With determination!

One of the greatest flaws of D&D is insisting that martial classes ought to be completely mundane human beings. Pick your flavor, mythical heroes or anime characters, you'll find plenty of ways someone can deal with untouchable enemies and overwhelming forces using sheer brawn or precise finesse.

All that said, the most boring way to go about it is to just hit it because your sword has a number.

Parents badly need to understand how bad these things are, because even games explicitly for children these days are full of it, and it has been going on for over a decade already.

I unironically love that game. It was equal parts bold and stupid. Where else you can find a game about a cartoon mascot character who can side with a alien-demon invasion to try to kill the president and the hero protagonist? SEGA can be judged for many things but they weren't afraid to dare.

I also really like how they did multiple endings. I know ultimately there is a single canon one but it's still interesting to see all the others.

Compared to Sonic Heroes which was released during the same generation, I like this game much more.

It is ridiculous for any company to claim they are entitled to the knowhow of professionals they fired.