Can’t have anything nice apparently :/
Who the hell is buying The game of Life nowadays? Boardgamers don’t touch games with roll and move mechanics and small children are too screen addicted to play a board game. The only target market are probably clueless grandmas but even they are too savy to buy a boxed waste of time like this one.
I literally bought it because I thought it would be fun.
It was fun. Once. Now I’m too bored to play it again tbh.
TIL I’m a clueless grandma…
Grandmas don’t have time to play life
Remember in that Dethklok show that I can’t spell when people went to the live performance of a band that had a less than 10% survival rate for their audience, on a frozen mountain top, to hear a fucking coffee jingle?
We’re not far removed from that, people will be lining up to buy fucking tickets for a high budget McRib ad come this Novmeber.
Metalocalypse?
Yes, that’s the one, unfortunately it kept being flagged as misspelled. In retrospect, portmanteaus are probably not considered real words by spellcheckers.
Good on them for having Dethklok in there, though!
I already dislike ads in general, but ads on things I pay for, be it physical goods or digital services, is crossing a line I find unacceptable.
Let me tell you clothes and shoes lol
FWIW I’m with you. My latest pet peeve has been wondering why car dealerships get to plaster their shit on our cars.
I just want to point out… They took a quote from what appears to be a review… Then credit tripadvisor for it rather than the person who made the comment/review on the tripadvisor platform.
Bad citation.
Any words you use on TripAdvisor are the property of TripAdvisor.
-Lemmy, apparently.
Any words you use on TripAdvisor are the property of TripAdvisor.
-Lemmy, apparently.-TripAdvisor ToSActually I don’t think it is. They’d have a license to use it in perpetuity but if they claimed legal ownership then they’d be responsible for what you post.
They get the benefits of ownership without any of the responsibility.
Yeah I was trying to shoehorn a joke that because I wrote it on Lemmy, it is now property of the Lemmy, but as I tend to do with most things in life, I half-assed it. Whole ass next time.
I didn’t get it at first, but good joke, close enough to whole ass.
And it’s the most generic boring non-specific review imaginable. Any Markov chain would generate better results.
And that’s why you should always use an adblocker (black permanent marker)
It’s Hasbro. This is part of their Blueprint 2.0 strategy to monetize everything.
Maybe it’s just years of labor organizing, but I’m deeply unsettled by this for some reason. Surrounding the consumers on all sides with crosshairs centered on them gives me a bad vibe.
Also, how easy it has to be to convince an average American that this is a good thing. That they want you to be at the center, because they care about you, or some other horseshit.
Welcome to late stage capitalism where air should be monetized at this point. You could make a lot of money paying people to breath and taking away all of the supply. Obviously we failed at something if the air is still free.
where air should be monetized
Was expecting Spaceballs.
Was expecting Lorax
The Lorax? You mean that character who sells SUVs?
The best way to keep the air clean and safe is to privatize it. Air owners will have a financial interest in keeping their air clean and can sue polluters. Meanwhile, government would just ignore (or at most monitor) pollution.
– Libertarians
Also, if you subscribe to an air company, and die of carbon monoxide poisoning (along with hundreds of thousands of others) due to the company’s non-existent self-regulation, then that’s your fault for not doing your research.
and even if its the companys fault - in principle never, but just to be sure - you have to go through forced arbitration
Hasbro is uniquely shitty, and has/had multiple important individuals that are former pinkertons.
I’m still pissed at what they’ve done to my boy, D&D
We do have Pathfinder and 13th Age, both of which are better than 5e. They don’t have the marketing budget though
Pathfinder 2 is sooo much better than DnD, especially if you want to GM any official campaigns/modules/one-shots. Paizo’s writing on their adventure paths make it so easy to just jump in and run a game or pilfer encounters and piecemeal a homebrew campaign
Plus, the character creation, ancestries, and classes are so flexible that you can play almost anything you can imagine without having to homebrew anything. You want play as the Rat King from The Nutcracker? Sure. A goblin sapper from Warcraft 2? Easy-peasy. You want to play as C-3PO? No problem. Christ, you can play as the fucking Velveteen Rabbit if you want.
Flexible sure but not exactly easy. There’s a lot of choices to make at every level and many of the feats have prerequisite, earlier feats so you functionally have to plan your entire expected progression up front.
That’s fair. I’d say it’s easier on the GM, but asks more of the other players
edit: Plus, there are free digital tools for doing that planning that that are super robust and easy to use. I find myself using Pathbuilder to plan out characters I know I’ll never have a chance to play.
There’s also homebrew :P
And soooo many other games and genres as well
I thought that was a joke. Not a joke.
Corporate doesn’t just want a lot of money, they want all of the money.
Crosshairs on people? Fine. crosshairs are on CEOs? panic.
Hasbro.
This is disgusting.
They have been performing horribly quarter to quarter lately, and so pretty much all of their product lines have had shit like this happen. Nerf has no springs and shoddy plastic, Wizards of the Coast are dropping a ton of middling-popular products from production, even their Marvel line has really taken a hit to quality with bad fabrics, cheap printing, etc. Everything is being cut to the barest minimum to try and claw back their profitability.
… It’s stunning they can’t seem to connect the dots, really.
They tried everything but making a better product.
Yeah, MTG is a flaming dumpster heap of new mechanics every other month; I got sick of it and stopped playing Arena. Then, they had their whole OGL fiasco prompt a whole lot of content makers (who, let’s be real, did a lot of work for Hasbro basically for no cost to the company) to move off of 5E.
It feels like MTG has a crossover/cash grab every other month. It’s just too much.
And they did this since 2017 (I think)
The original 1965 broadcast version of A Charlie Brown Christmas special, a 20 minute rant against consumerism, had scenes like Snoopy crashing into a Coca-Cola Sign. Because advertisers paid to have their ads built into the show itself.
Capital has the ability to subsume all critiques into itself. Even those who would critique capital end up reinforcing it instead.
I work at a used book store. Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto is a great seller, one of the best selling titles we ever get in, in fact. As a result, we keep raising the resale price on the thing each time a new one comes in, and it keeps selling. I’ve never had to mark down a Communist Manifesto for sitting on the shelf for too long. It’s a textbook example of supply and demand in action… and I think that Karl would kind of hate that.
Okay but what about the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith? I doubt its comparable but id assume ya guys move some copies entirely because of EU4.
Adam Smith does pretty well. I’d say it’s Marxism, mushroom guides, and beekeeping that remain consistently at the top of the rankings. Then you’ve got whatever fiction is currently hot. For a while there it was Where the Crawdads Sing or Demon Copperhead. Sarah J. Maas is currently enjoying an extended streak of very strong sales. The Twilight series went through a bit of a low ebb for a while there but for some reason it’s been selling quite well again lately. Harry Potter used to be a rock solid seller, but one can see that J. K.'s attempts to alienate her fan base have been at least partially successful. It’s interesting to see the trends develop over time.
For the Twilight one there was a bit of a piss take renaissance on YouTube for a bit. Probably folks reading it to see how bad it is.
I was just thinking about this last weekend when I heard a Run The Jewels beat on a TurboTax ad during an NFL game.
Isn’t Killer Mike one of those “black capitalism can save us” type guys anyway? Because that kind of tracks with him.
Love his music, not so much a big fan of him personally or his politics.
Honestly at this point that’s how I feel about most artists in general.
Isn’t Killer Mike one of those “black capitalism can save us” type guys anyway? Because that kind of tracks with him.
Maybe? I don’t know much about his personality or politics, but I would have said a lot of RTJ songs are fairly strongly anti-capitalist (“Ju$t,” “Report to Shareholders,” etc.). But maybe that’s just me projecting my own anti-capitalist beliefs on their lyrics.
Honestly at this point that’s how I feel about most artists in general.
Yeah, as my politics get more progressive/radical, it’s gotten to the point where I either have to listen to stuff that’s almost explicitly apolitical (mostly stoner/doom metal songs about death in battle, wizards, and weed work pretty well) or else I actively avoid reading about the artists so I can pretend they’re more progressive than they are.
I just accept that all humans are flawed and don’t allow myself to worship artists in any capacity. They’re no better or worse than the rest of us, and most of them are educated in music, not politics, theory, economics, etc.
If you go in expecting them to suck, it’s a lot less shitty to find out they suck.
Fair. I try to take that approach, too, but I still don’t like the cognitive dissonance of knowing someone I respect as an artist is a piece of shit. I can ignore it a bit if they evolved into an asshole over time (like I can still listen to early Kanye, barely), but I still don’t like it and it colors my appreciation of their work.
Oh yeah, there’s some stuff that’s just too far and too awful to be able to ignore. I’ve never really been able to enjoy any Louis CK or Dave Chappelle comedy for a long time now, for example. CK being a sex pest and Chappelle being an outright asshole to the trans community is just too much to swallow to even bother with em.
Thanks! What site do you use to clean the tracker off of links?
You shouldn’t need a site. If you look closely at the original link you posted, it’s usually demarked by either a & symbol or a ? symbol, both the symbols and all text that comes after them are extraneous data of some type (not always tracking, but tracking is most common).
For example, a youtube link where you put a timestamp so it always starts at a specific time would be https://youtu.be/aeyLZHaGj3s&t=30s
In this example, I appended “&t=30s” to the end of the link, which starts me at that time stamp (30 seconds). Removing it again provides a “clean link.”
So what you need to look out for are special characters, anything after those tend to be tracking data. (Not always, but mostly)
So find a special character (as I said, usually & or ?), and remove that character and everything that comes after it and you’ll have a clean link.
Another example (not tracking related) might be a zoom link. They’ll have a “?pwd=” followed by a hash of the password so you can log in without typing the password. “www.zoom.us/j/555555555?pwd=slfdujghagrfdlgkjh” Something like that for example (not a real zoom link).
I think if you get the video from Duck Duck Go, you can copy the link without the tracker. Plus, I think Firefox gives you option to “copy link without site tracking” from most search results
I’ve seen publishers advertise their other titles within the box, which honestly, not an issue for me. These, however, are crossing a line.
If any of the components have advertising on them I’m removing that game from my library and never touching another game from that publisher, ever. One of my reasons for getting into board gaming was to avoid this shit.
Yeah - it seemed pretty normal for a Parker Bros game from the 70s to come with a couple of inserts that advertised their other games. I want to say the same thing about NES cartridges.
It’s branded right there on the front. It should really be free since it has ads, though!
imo if you pay for something, ads should be illegal lest it’s like the company logo
What about products subsidized by advertisement to reduce the price?
Unless that company is operating at a loss, ads in things you pay for are there to further make excess profits.
It’s unethical at best.
I hate being advertised to so fucking much.
It’s visual and often auditory assault. More people should deface public advertising.
Then you’ll love this new product that’s guaranteed* to reduce the amount of advertising you’re exposed to!
*Warning: may cause blindness, loss of hearing, and inability to leave your room.
But in all seriousness… I hate it, too. It’s fucking everywhere.
I just don’t anymore.
I don’t buy a wire- or mechanical- puzzle I make one. If I want a tile-based game (think scrabble, qwirkle, rummy) I make them with upcycled junk and paint markers.
I don’t buy bread or pizza crusts or tortillas, I make them. I can make a month of bready products in an optimized hour of work for 1/30th the price.
I play indie games by inexperienced developers who charge $4.99 because I’d rather try new mechanics even if they fall flat.
I’m currently precipitating copper into an aqueous solution on my stovetop and later I’ll try electroplating the copper onto some random thing. Because this is free and fun AS FUCK. Forget going to the arcade or to a pre-packaged event show or movie.
I am just drifting away from everything that’s not hand made. Fuck it already.
No shade here but do you also work a full time job? If so shit where do you find the time.
In full forensic accounting, you make/save money by getting off the “convenience” train.
Once you realize that a checkerboard costs $5 but a piece of paper and 24 pennies costs… well nothing… it starts to make more sense. Because most stuff in life, you use once then throw away or stuff into the closet and never think about again.
Breadmaking is just one great example. If I save $300 by making some bread I have to earn $300 less at work. I work less now.
I don’t want 25 cents worth of checkerboard, I want a decent wooden object that doesn’t make me feel like I live in a dumpster. And most people want a sturdy piece of decorated, folding cardboard that will last a century if nobody spills juice on it.
Your position sounds a lot like “why do you kids need Super Soakers anyway, we have a perfectly good hose.”
(different person here)
The contradiction is that if you buy a new object every time you do end up with lots of objects sitting in your cellar or attic looking like a dumpster. And nobody’s keeping a checkerboard for a century – your heirs will just throw it in a landfill.
If you make something yourself, at least you spent some time constructing it during which you learn something and keep your mind active. Ideally you use things you have laying around the house and when you’re done the thing can be re-used for a future project or recycled. And every once in a while you make something that’s a little different and you have something new.
But if it makes you feel any better, your side is winning. People are indeed buying Super Soakers instead of just using a hose. And to convince them, there are ads everywhere.
People are indeed buying Super Soakers instead of just using a hose.
The point of this comparison is that they aren’t at all the same thing. People don’t want things that barely work and few have the time to learn new skills to craft what they want in an acceptable quality. Could any able-bodied adult pick up a knife and whittle themself a spoon? Probably. Most of those spoons are going to suck though and you can get one at Target for a couple bucks. It’s a position that feels out of touch.
I’m all for taking care of what you have and repairing rather than replacing when possible, and I’d love to collectively move away from plastic crap, but saying “just learn to make bread with all the free time and functional kitchen you for sure have” helps nobody except the speaker patting themself on the back.
Well, I agree that we should collectively move away from plastic crap, so let’s hope that happens.
I need to see a picture of your phone. Could you send me a chalk rubbing?
(Sorry, had to joke) More to the point, how does it take you an hour to make pizza dough, bread and tortillas? Pizza dough on it’s own takes 15-20 minutes active time, and then it’s a long wait
Dough is a great discussion topic to explore.
Once I learned to make dough, I realized it’s actually a total of 30 minutes work distributed over 4 hours. Reorganize and re-prioritizing my time made it work. Simple planning.
If I make dough, I make 2Kg so I cut it up, freeze the chunks I wont be immediately using and I have dough for as long as I need. Why make new dough every time? Batches.
It’s way simpler than you guys think. Scoffing is fun, but getting off the “convenience train” was the best thing I ever did. Requires a bit of upfront adjustment and learning, but change isn’t free.
edit: Another guy above was mean/joking about not having a job. Think, guys. If I save $300 on bread that’s $300 I don’t have to earn at work and pay taxes on. I win big for just learning to stop the bs already and take control.
I wasn’t mean/joking about you not having a job.
I literally said “no shade” meaning I’m not calling you out over it.
Then I was questioning how much time it takes to do these things I was curious and somewhat impressed. You then replied with a comment I wasn’t really understanding. Did you say you worked in forensic accounting or was that part of your story about check boards and whatnot.
What stage do you freeze it at? I need to do this, but I’ve tried a few things and it didn’t work well.
I’ve started making my own bread and pizza dough. It’s also practice. The more you do it, the faster it takes. You think of ways to make it easier next time.
Costco was having a sale on those heavy duty KitchenAid mixers so I bought it and it makes dough. I’ve recently doubled the recipe and freeze half and make the other half.
Admittedly, a lot of my lessons are learned by reading which assumes you have the time already to read.
https://instructions.hasbro.com/en-ca/instruction/the-game-of-life-tripadvisor-edition
This is like saying a LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean set is an ad for Disney.
It’s literally just the “tripadvisor edition.” It’s a legal agreement between both parties to brand the game with tripadvisor stuff. The traditional Game of Life is still out there, without this. There’s also a litany of other versions of these special editions of the game. The tripadvisor one does seem a little weird, but it’s not any weirder than Game of Life Yokai Watch edition. I didn’t know life involved death and ghosts.
Like you bought the advertisement knowing it was an advertisement because it says “tripadvisor edition” right there on the fucking box.This is exactly what was ordered, there’s absolutely nothing to indicate this is a “TripAdvisor edition”.
I don’t consider licensed themes like a “LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean” set to be ads, or at least if it is its more like some sort of “mutually beneficial” ad. Those are actually cool or neat or themed in something of interest that has a fan base like a show or movie. Some random logo of a website/service slapped all over is not that.
Interesting, apparently been spammy for years
On the backside of the box, there is microscopic branding for TripAdvisor on one of the cards. There is also a closeup photo of the cars that shows the TripAdvisor logo a couple of times across the board design. These could easily be missed by someone who wasn’t looking for them. The branding should have been more clear and the producer likely did mean to deceive. Always check the reviews before buying and take note of the manufacturer’s specific ID number or code for the product.
I’ve almost entirely stopped purchasing online unless I am familiar with the specific product or I have watched a thorough review of it. If you had the box in your hands, you’d be more likely to spot the branding on the back, and the side faces might have branding too.
There are fringe instances where the outward distinctions between manufactured products are so trivial that you’d really have to be in the know to differentiate between them. The only occurrence that I can think of which I’ve experienced is buying CDs that have the swear words censored vs. uncensored.
I agree that the other commenter’s analogy doesn’t make sense with the packaging/marketing context.
Damn, that’s a bad look. I just assumed it was the tripadvisor edition because one existed. It sounds like this is a stealth “Amazon edition” that’s different than other retail copies. I wonder what the agreements were that lead to this edition?
That huge presumptuous rant though.
The fact that 8 relatively short sentences are considered a “huge rant” speaks ill to your level of literacy. But you do you.
Thank you for clearing it out. Important detail indeed. You get what you pay for I guess?
I didn’t know life involved death
You learned about mortality from Game of Life Yokai Watch edition?
Nothing. Is. Sacred. If we had any form of functional government they wouldn’t be stuck 75 years behind on progress and dumb issues like this could be taken care of. The only chance of this happening now is some random gov official doing it as a PR stunt.
