So, whether or not you think it is appropriate for a 3 year old to have ANY screen time, ANY game time well... I'm not a perfect parent, but I do try to make it to the park as often as I can for outside time. I definitely have some screentime for myself, and... well, I give my son a little too, if he's good.
What are your opinions on videogames for kids, **and what are some good games for that age range?**
I have to highly recommend the "Lil Gator Game," which is on Steam. You play a lil gator kid with a stick-sword and you go climb around, play with friends (NPCs) and yeah, he loves it. I think it's helped him with hand eye coordination. It's something we'd play together (I do the mouse, he does the keyboard) but it's also something he can manage on his own, for a while.

I don't have the worst ping but it's consistently around 30-50 which is terrible. But even worse is it will sometimes stay around 70-90 and even go as high as 150+
This has caused me to lose several easy gunfights where I simply am not able to react because they can see me 80 milliseconds faster than I can see them at the worst. So other than "get better internet dude" what can I do to help my ping? I close everything on my computer except steam, uplay, and siege. Would it be worth buying the game on ubisoft connect so steam doesn't have to be open, because steam does maintain an open tcp connection even while a game is open.

Dianne Young, casting director, is a guest host.
​

• During season 1, the initial order was for 12 episodes. No one thought they would actually make it to 12 episodes.

​
David Gail interview:
​

• He is joining from France.
• He thinks his bellhop role is in season 2. When corrected that it’s season 1, he says “excuse-moi” (in his French accent).
• Young cast him because he was nice and easy on the set.
• His son is also on the video. His son’s name is Gautier. His son makes a bunch of funny faces and hand signs throughout the interview.
• His agent would tell him you don’t need to meet the casting director, for auditions in general. Gail wanted to meet them anyways, because he wanted to meet as many people as possible.
• The original season 1 pilot was 2 hours. Rosin passed. It was eventually trimmed to 90 minutes, and about 30 minutes of music videos were cut. Aaron Spelling then wanted to meet him, after the pilot was trimmed. Rosin took the meeting.
• Aaron Spelling did not want to have a season in college. There was a lot of anxiety about the format changing after high school.
• The first two to three episodes of Melrose Place got a higher rating than Beverly Hills, 90210. They convinced the president of FOX, Lucie Salhany,
• Gautier has now taken out a puppet. The entire podcast starts laughing, except for Gail, who doesn’t know what’s happening behind him.
• Rosin then promises FOX that they’re going to have Brenda elope, and that will be the number 1 show that week.
• There was a lot of pressure at this time.
• Young kept waiting for more details about the elopement plot line to emerge.
• No one knew that Doherty was going to be leaving at the end of the season.
• Gail was unaware about any issues Doherty might have been having with the management company.
• Gail had no idea how big this plot was going to be.
• Aaron Spelling gave Gail a kiss and hug after his audition.
• Young does not remember other people that auditioned for this role.
• Mollin says Paul Waigner and Jessica Klein also had a big part in casting Gail.
• Rosin says sometimes during auditions, people talk their way out of a role. They get nervous and talk too much.
• Rosin tells a story of how he once met an actor. Rosin told him he liked this movie he was in. The actor then spent 5 minutes telling Rosin why the movie sucked. This was an example of an actor talking his way out of a future role.
• When Gail came in season 1, he read for a recurring role. They didn’t want him because he was too green. They then offered him the bellhop role.
• During season 4, when Gail was offered the role of Stuart, he asked how they could bring him back as a different character.
• Rosin said at the time, he didn’t think people were watching the show that closely. He didn’t know that there would be dedicated fans like there are today.
• Rosin and Young wanted Gail because everyone had liked Gail from before. Young says she had known him from before, and trusted him.
• Young had reminded Rosin of what Gail had done before, in season 1.
• When Gail went into the Spelling office for this season 4 audition, and saw all of the producers lined up, he was intimidated. Gail had to use psychological tricks like telling himself to breathe. Don’t start when they start, but start when you want to start. Wait until you are in that character.
• Gail cannot walk into an audition and just start being in character. He has to be David Gail first. Meaning he has to say hi to everyone as David Gail first. Then he can get in character.
• Rosin says one of Aaron Spelling’s biggest strengths was casting.
• The first time Rosin heard Aaron Spelling say that his strength was casting, Rosin thought that was BS. But, overtime, Rosin agreed that Aaron Spelling was that good.
• Aaron Spelling knew Julia Roberts was going to be a star, when he saw her in Mystic Pizza.
• David Gail’s son somehow appears on screen, upside down, from the top of the camera. Gail has to shoo his son away again.
• During season 2, Doherty had a boyfriend in Chicago named Chris Lupus. He was wealthy. So Rosin created a character that reminded him of that boyfriend, in Stuart.
• Gail says the plot was fun.
• Gail likes how Stuart was spoiled and possibly dealing drugs. He said it’s more fun to play a character like that.
• Both actors that played Stuart’s parents (Peter Mark Richman, Claudette Nevins) have passed away.
• Mollin likes the dynamic of how Stuart’s dad thought Stuart was a loser, and Brenda was making him a winner.
• Gino Conforti, from Three’s Company, was the mechanic in “Strangers In The Night”.
• Both Richman and Conforti were on Three’s Company.

​

• Jessica Klein created Jesse Vasquez. That was the name of her college boyfriend.
• Young went through a lot of resumes with pictures for this character. She had put Mark Damon Espinoza aside. After a few days, she kept going back to his picture. He didn’t have a lot of credits. She wanted to meet him.
• He was so easy to talk to. He was friendly. He was from Texas.
• He had a good theater background.
• Mollin didn’t like the casting at first. He’s grown to love Espinoza. Mollin says the character worked.
• Mollin: A baby is a show killer.
• Young: All of the cast has an opportunity to give input on casting. Carteris didn’t say things about whether a potential picture on a resume was terrific.
• Rosin and Mollin now think Espinoza was pitch perfect in all of his scenes. Even the ones with Ian Ziering in season 5.
• Rosin: He’s a good friend of this podcast.

​

• As soon as Young saw Kathleen Robertson, Young knew she had to pay close attention.
• She was easy to work with. She wasn’t nervous.
• Robertson had a unique hat. Mollin and Rosin noticed it. They used that same hat in her character’s intro scene.
• Lou Patrick negotiated Robertson’s contract. (A woman).
• Aaron Spelling had accidentally sent out a cast renewal to Shannen Doherty. Lou Patrick saw that and alerted Rosin. It had already been decided by this point that Doherty wasn’t coming back. They were able to stop that from getting to Doherty.
• Young had hired Nicholas Pryor before on another show. He was professional.
• Young: Christine Belford (Samantha Sanders), Pryor’s wife, was a good actress.
• Kelly McDonald, Young’s assistant, met with actors for D’Shawn Hardell. She was the one that recommended Cress Williams to Young. He was very new.
• Rosin and Mollin liked him.
• Unlike Tico Wells from season 1 (whom Rosin beat in basketball), Cress Williams could not play basketball.
• Young had known Dina Meyer (Lucinda) from before. She had always liked Meyer.
• There wasn’t an audition. Tony Shepherd just told Rosin that Dina Meyer would play the part.
• Barry Bonds and Dina Meyer are the only actors that Tony Shepherd told Rosin who to pick. There wasn’t an audition.
• Young loved Scott Paulin (Professor Randall). She had known his credits.
• Young doesn’t remember too much from Tracy Middendorf’s (Laura Kingman) audition.
• Young: Noley Thornton (Erica) was wonderful. She had seen her from “The Martin Short Show”.
• They had to make a lot of arrangements to get her from one set to another, because she was on both shows. But child actors have some limitations.
• One time, they were praying Thornton would be able to make it, because The Martin Short Show was running long.
• Kerrie Keane (Suzanne) didn’t know that there was going to be a scam.
• When Jessica Klein pitched the scam story to Aaron Spelling, Spelling thought the audience would know right away. He didn’t think the scam would work. Rosin had to promise that no one would see it coming, by the end.
• Rosin likes how he can talk to actors that come on the podcast now, because he was never able to do it when the show was being made. Jason Carter (Roy Randolph) is one such example.
• Young says there were a lot of British actors, at the time, because there was a lot of work in Los Angeles. And they were paid more here, then in British Television.
• Young had met Paul Johannson (John Sears) before.
• He was one of Jason Priestley’s friends.
• David Sherrill (Jack Canner) was another one of Priestley’s friends.
• Young would tell Priestley why one of his friends would or would not get the role.
• Young loves Brook Theiss (Leslie Sumner). She had met Theiss on Growing Pains, and Just The Ten Of Us. She was such a joh to be around. Young also introduced Theiss’ husband to her.
• Young likes Theiss so much, that she would cast her for something right now if she could.
• Young does not remember Kari Wuhrer (Ariel Hunter).
• Young remembers Matthew Perreta (Dan Rubin) a little.
• Young does not remember the Minnesota girls.
• Young loves Jed Allen (Rush Sanders). His acting was similar to Ian Ziering’s. She saw it right away that he was Steve Sander’s dad.
• Ryan Thomas Brown (Muntz) was easy to work with.
• Young had known Zachary Throne (Howard) from before.

I am an immigrant and I rent my apartment with my boyfriend, my partner. My visa is connected to him.
We have been living in his sister's apartment in Amsterdam since November. Even though she is his sister and is back there, asked for the apartment back from the previous tenant so she could rent it to us, she is hiding her lack of action as landlord and excusing all the current problems and she charges 1400 euros per month for a 50m2 apartment covered in mold.
My boyfriend and I signed the contract as co-tenants, and she asked for a deposit in the amount of one month. We moved in November, but only by the end of the month because the month was used to fix the apartment paying out of my pocket, and doing things like installing the floor and painting walls since no repair or inspection had been done after the last tenant left and before we became tenants. At that time it bothered me a lot, but since she was pregnant and I was sick, I tried to be patient.
One thing is that I have been extremely sick all this time, and ended up hospitalized multiple times. I have been diagnosed with a rare, chronic neurological disease, and the symptoms are so debilitating I have become disabled due to my senses, especially my vision, being compromised. I am on sick leave because I can't see or hear properly, with the risk of becoming permanently blind. More importantly: I live with debilitating pain because of my illness. To the point, it causes harsh consequences for me in every single aspect of my life.
It didn't take me more than 15 minutes in this house to start seeing problems like mold in the whole kitchen - impossible to store anything. I saw mold in the bathroom and the bedroom as well. I have been losing my mind over this, and I paid for repairs myself like I did.
My boyfriend and his sister, who is our landlord, have been communicating about all this between themselves and not by writing. I knew something was going on, and while my boyfriend and I are having huge problems between us because of all this, she has been constantly dismissed as well. I did not have the ability to check for more damage stuck in a bed dissociating with pain and unable to see anything, that’s why I understand I was disrespected by both.
Recently she decided to lower the rent to 1k euros (and I didn't hear a word from her about it) because of his complaints. After I checked that by the point system, she couldn't charge more than 850 euros for a place like this - and this is without mentioning mold, leak, and damage.
She is refusing to reimburse me for any damage or for the rent that was charged full price for an apartment that is rotting in mold.
I want to remember that NO inspection happened. She has charging 1400 euros since November 1st and we only could move on November 19th because of the repair we had to do ourselves and the refusal to reimburse us at the time. I have been spending hundreds of euros because of mold, things destroyed by mold and mold products, and I am very allergic to mold and to it. This also makes my headaches caused by the neurological disease unbearable for me. The thing is that I can't even have money to afford my medical bills or think about going back to my home country because of these costs. I never visited my home country since I left because of financial issues, and seeing to whom and how my money is being poorly handled is adding an amount of stress that freaks me out.
I ended up being immobilized by the police inside my own house this week after I reached a point of complete pain. The day I got my diagnosis was also a day the police were called by neighbors due to my constant screams and crying about paying. That day the doctors couldn't reject a test they had been rejecting for more than a year and I knew it was necessary in my case. The procedure is extremely invasive but involves a 15cm needle through my spine to measure my intracranial hypertension, which was and is extremely high.
I had to write to her this week, making a huge effort, to say that I am not accepting being left off the conversation anymore and that things should be communicated by writing.
Since they (she and her brother) don't respect me or my money while I'm extremely sick, I have to take action myself. I will not accept this woman having money while she not only has a place to live, but it's the owner of a place like this and she chooses to rent for this price. She clearly said that she won't pay for anything back because my boyfriend “didn't communicate clearly enough”.
This desperate me as this person is taking advantage of me, someone who once was healthy and stable, working as a passionate primary teacher, and who became disabled and insane of miscare of Dutch doctors and an abusive landlord who happens to be my sister-in-law. I don't have the money to afford to go back to my home country in an emergency anymore. I once had, but I had paid for thousands of euros to repair this place, besides the rent.
Of course, I am extremely disappointed with the attitude my partner has been taking and the relationship is also coming to an end because of this.
I don't want to keep having conversations to try to address these problems, and they insist on doing that - remember I was not part of ANY conversation, and even when she showed up unexpectedly one day in March, they talked in Dutch and don't let me know what's going on. Nothing had been written or said to me until I wrote to her this week.
So, for myself, what can I do? I will just not accept having this person with her pocket full of my money while I feel like I'm dying every day and I can't see or think straight due to my neurological condition.
I am looking for the best outcome for me, and not for me and my partner anymore. What can I do to protect myself in this situation? What are the possibilities of having all this money spent here and the past rents, charged full price, reimbursed? What is the best course of action I can take?
Sorry for the typos and confusion. I struggle to see and I have severe brain fog because of my condition.
Thanks in advance for your time.

I haven't understood the story from the start, I assumed it was vague for a reason. Maybe I missed something, or maybe I just didn't pay close enough attention, but I still have absolutely no idea what the story is. What are the pawns? Why do they turn into semi-draconic beings? What's the deal with the brine dragons? Who is the ghost that was guiding me the whole time? What exactly was the unmoored world and what is the effect story-wise between the unmoored world and the normal ending? I'm so lost. I enjoyed this game so much, much I haven't understood a single aspect of the story from the very beginning, and now I'm very disappointed at the end since nothing has been made clear to me. Maybe I'm dumb, maybe I missed something, maybe I took too long between main missions and forgot some stuff, I dunno, I just know I have no idea what the story of the game I just played was...

Most open world games have built in stamina function meaning that climbing mountains is near impossible, once your stamina bar drops to zero you just fall down and take fall damage, but in infinity Nikki its different ... you can climb up whole mountains with a bike 💀the devs know what we want
but maybe there's stamina I just haven't seen anyone attempt climbing high stuff WITHOUT a bike lol
https://reddit.com/link/1ct8u14/video/wc3lw2u9ar0d1/player

In this era of internet, games have great importance and people are able to pass their time very easily through games. Although many games are in the headlines at the moment, but today we are going to tell you some special things about Clash Royale MOD APK. Like what you can see in this game and from where you can download this game and how you can use the game very easily. Clash Royale MOD APK is a remarkable strategy game with innovative content and a completely different genre from large-scale strategy games. Instead, it challenges the player’s luck or judgment.
It even creates many complex conditions or rules so that the content or each battle is lively and intense. The best part is that almost every battle takes place in real-time PvP which aims to take the players’ experience to the next level. Clash Royale MOD APK is one of the best strategy battle games on Android. Every old Android device user tries Clash of Clans mobile game. Many players became aware of the Supercell developer after the COC game reached many people. One of the famous developers providing strategy games in Android with high quality graphics. Also, Supercell team has developed this game on Android and iOS platforms.
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Creative and entertaining card battle:-The player’s battle units are special types of monsters. Those summoned via magic cards can only carry a maximum of five units into each battle and must use them effectively based on all range conditions. Monsters will consume a certain amount of mana when summoned and have varying cool-down periods that force the player to constantly optimize and use all cards wisely.

Made an earlier post, but got some of the details wrong, im looking for a fantastic pair of noise cancelling headphones that prioritise sound quality, and im looking to spend as much as possible for the best quality sound, anyone able to help me out?

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In today’s competitive B2B market, generating leads and converting them into potential consumers is a challenge for marketers. Marketers can find new ways to reach their potential customers through account-based marketing strategy.
In the ever-evolving landscape of B2B marketing, Account-Based Marketing (ABM) Strategy stands out as a game-changer. By focusing on high-value accounts and creating personalized marketing experiences, businesses can drive targeted engagement and maximize ROI. Let's dive into the intricacies of ABM and explore how you can master this strategy for your B2B success.

With the rise of smartphones and the app economy, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, an increasing number of people are choosing to conduct their financial transactions online. The change is also making it possible for banks to collect more data, which leads to better, data-driven insights and increased efficiency in credit risk management and customer acquisition. Banking institutions must understand, nevertheless, that digital banking offers more options than only online and mobile banking. Their customer base is larger, and they can accomplish more with the aid of a digital banking platform.
Personalization made possible by the omnichannel features of the Digital Banking Platform, which assist banks in facilitating customized conversations across many channels, including voice, web, and mobile, is one such factor encouraging the adoption of the platform. Building and maintaining connections with customers requires banks to provide the appropriate product at the right time to meet their unique needs. A complex and sophisticated DBP can meet the demands of the bank as well as the consumer by integrating with a range of financial services.
Because of this, a number of banks and other financial organizations are collaborating with financial technology companies to take advantage of blockchain, RPA, and AI/ML capabilities and obtain a competitive edge by reducing operational overheads. Blockchain technology and digital banking platforms supported by AI/ML are empowering businesses to build customer journeys with ease and allowing banks to use identity verification methods. RPA is used by Digital Banking Platform to optimize end-to-end processes, remove labor-intensive tasks, and enhance customer experience.
As a result, banks and financial institutions will be able to provide individualized services, attain the highest STP rates, and promote increased marketing. Banks are continuously investing in technology and working with RegTechs in addition to collaborating with financial technology providers. This is done to maintain regulatory compliance and reporting, identify fraudulent transactions, and fight identity theft.
The impact of digital technology on banks' operations is another factor to take into account as it has the potential to save a significant amount of money. Financial institutions will keep investing in cutting-edge CX technologies and digitizing their business models in light of these shifting priorities. Digital Banking Platforms, however, will always be a crucial component of a company's client interaction plan.
"A platform that digitizes banking operations that includes digital onboarding and lending, deposits, withdrawals, transaction management, wealth management, deposits, and fund management," according to Quadrant Knowledge Solutions, is a digital banking platform that enables banks to offer customers a seamless and cohesive banking experience that is intuitive across all digital touchpoints, including mobile, online, kiosks, wearables, and ATMs. Financial institutions can use the platform as a framework to take complete control of their digital strategy, make changes, and streamline some parts of their banking processes across all platforms and devices. Customers can also simply manage their accounts, make transfers, and keep an eye on their financial situation in real time thanks to the site. In addition, the platform makes use of predictive analytics and AI/ML to promote tailored client interaction across many digital touchpoints.
Banks are using IoT devices to get context-aware results so they can provide customized pricing and suggestions and enhance the client experience. Banks are able to provide personal financial management services and facilitate payment execution through smart wearables by using data obtained from customer-owned IoT devices. The usage of AI-based chatbots to help consumers with banking operations and question resolution is another trend. Customers can use these chatbots to assist with routine banking tasks including paying bills, transferring money, monitoring their financial situation, changing their passwords, and applying for loans. Finally, the integration of AI, ML, and big data analytics will facilitate the development of a highly customized customer experience, enabling banks to provide pertinent financial services while concurrently enhancing customer engagement and loyalty, augmenting revenue, and stimulating cross-selling.
Key questions this study will answer:
What is the current state of competition in the Digital Banking Platform market?
What is the market share held by major vendors in the market?
What are the key competitive dynamics in the global and regional markets for Digital Banking Platform?
Who are the leading vendors in the global and regional markets?
How do different vendors compare in terms of their offerings of cloud-based versus on-premises solutions?
What competitive factors impact the market positioning of different vendors?
What are the relative strengths and challenges of the vendors operating in this market?
How do different vendors position themselves competitively across customer segments, from SMBs to large enterprises?
Vendors covered in this study:
Backbase, Bottomline Technologies, BPC, Coconet, Codebase Technologies, CR2, Data Center Inc, Edgeverve, Finastra, Fisa Group, Fiserv, Intellect Design Arena, Kiya.ai, Mambu, Oracle, Sandstone Technology, Sopra Banking Software, Tagit, TCS, Temenos, Thought Machine, Ultradata, and Veritran.

My very first "town builder" game was on my Sony Ericcson W850, with a game called Townsmen 3. It's a town builder game with some military stuff sprinkled in. After my W850 broke, I have lost the ability to play Townsmen 3, and the search began.
I've played ALOT of Town Builders and RTS (Civ, Foundations, Banished, Settlement Surivval, City Skylines etc), and all of them do not play like Townsmen 3. Some of the games are way to complicated to play (Banished), some focused way more on the military expansion than actual town building (Civ). There was never a game that had the perfect blend of both like in Townsmen 3.
Until this game. So happy after all these years, I've can finally experience a modern spiritual successor to Townsmen 3.
Then I found out this game was developed by ONE single man for the past 7 years, Greg Styczeń. Grey, you're amazing and I will support your endeavors. Can't wait to see what the future holds for this game (hopefully AI difficulty can come soon as I'm still getting my ass pounded on my 5th play) and your future projects.

Been seeing too many posts relating to overwhelming workloads and people’s personal expectations to believe that they have to go above and beyond everyday when they clock in.
What I am going to say relates to people who are in college, or are aware that they are only working at Target for a brief moment in their life.
I am not saying to be a “lazy POS” but if you are not planning to have the goal to promote within the target corporation… please do not feel like you have to exceed expectations.
Target was my first job, and enjoy following the subreddit for the sake of nostalgia (even though it seems like the dynamic of this reddit has changed to current workload complaints instead of funny work story moments like it used to)
Target is a JOB, not a career. (at least for most of us).
Something I’d like for you to take note of… no matter how hard you work, the only benefit you gain is getting paid an extra couple ¢ents more than your fellow coworkers in your department each year and more responsibilities to work even harder than you are already doing
This is a corporation, not a small business where your acts of above and beyond service are truly appreciated and acknowledged. You are simply a pawn in the game of “chess”. If you are willing to die for target… they are more willing to sacrifice you in the ‘game of chess’ because that’s what you displayed to them.
Focus on making your coworkers who have your next shift’s lives’ easier. Other than that… do what YOU CAN DO, not what YOU BELIEVE YOU ARE EXPECTED TO DO.
You should never feel overwhelmed in this type of job. There were moments where there were A LOT of things to do on my shifts… but the only reaction you should have is “f*ck, man… I’ll see what I can do” and NOT, “OMG! I have to complete all of these tasks in under [4-6-8] hours! There’s now way that I can, but I have to!!!”
Again… I’m not saying to lazy… But I am saying that some of you have yourself at such a high standard that it is negatively affecting you own mental health
GOD BLESS YOU for having that mentality of working as hard as you can at 110%, BUT…
PLEASE…. PLEEEEAAASSSSEE… know that what you can’t accomplish in a limited amount of time is not your fault
(We all worked or are working in different departments that have different dynamics… all I’m trying to say is, that the stress you are feeling working at target may be self-inflicted… yes, your ETL or TL may be pushing/enforcing these “expectations” on your psyche… but guess what? You have the ability to know what is posible to do during your shift and accepting that what you can’t do.)
TLDR; DO WHAT YOU CAN & DON’T STRESS ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN’T

I am looking for a pc build for gaming. Some of the games that I'm looking to play are Helldivers 2, CS2 and COD. I want to run them on medium-high settings with 120+fps if possible. Thanks a lot!

Hi I’m currently employed as a hotel security guard, I live with my girlfriend and we’re expecting parents. I barely make enough currently to support the 2 of us and supplement with DoorDash. I’m very excited to be a dad, but also very scared for my family’s future because while there is room for promotion and raises at my current job it’s unlikely due to the seniority of my coworkers, and how little prior experience I have in security. Even if I did get promoted to a supervisor role I’d only be making $40,000 a year and while much better than the $16 per hour I’m currently making I feel like it’s a lot of kissing up just to be able to meet my family’s minimum needs.
For context I currently have an AA in Communication, 3 years of sales experience, less than a year of management experience and I’m in a decent amount of debt. I’ve always had a multitude of interests and unfortunately being a jack of all trades and a master of none doesn’t pay much. Despite how little I make now I really enjoy security, so much so I considered getting my class D license and possibly even my armed guard license. However these careers are typically high risk and take me away from my new family. My dad was a Corrections Officer and he never got to be around much from always working long hours and weekends. I really want to be there for my kid and I don’t know if continuing this career is the best idea.
I’ve always been very tech savvy and have a passion for video games. I’ve always wanted to learn coding, but never believed in myself enough to learn. I’m willing to do whatever it takes to give my baby a better future though. I just don’t know where to even begin. A lot of the coding boot camps are expensive and some are even scams, plus what if I get overwhelmed and can’t complete them? I know of a free coding bootcamp that I plan to learn basics with, but a certificate to prove my skill set would really help in my opinion. I’ve also looked at some Video Game story development programs for writers because I’m an amateur author myself, but isn’t that kinda like a creative writing degree where it basically means nothing to most people? Regardless I would want to learn coding primarily.
And as far as career paths go I don’t know what to pick. Data analytics would work with my communications and marketing background for certain jobs, but my gf pointed out I’d probably be bored after a day of drowning in numbers. I like the idea of cybersecurity and ethical hacking, but I’m a little nervous about the seemingly freelance nature of it. Then there’s video game development, which is probably what I’m the most interested in, but probably requires the most skill because it requires both art and coding. I understand that there are many aspects to gaming industry, and every dude who likes video games wants to make them it seems, but it would genuinely be my dream job.
I currently work nights and as stated before I barely make enough for my gf and I to live let alone shell out money for tuition so I don’t think traditional college will work for me. I could probably get a scholarship, but I don’t know where to start on that either. All I know is I’m willing to make whatever sacrifices I have to in order for my family to be safe and happy and taken care of. If this baby was born today we’d probably have to give them up for adoption and that breaks my heart, but we have about 8 months to get our shit together and nothing’s stopping me so point me in a direction so I can get this done and turn my life around.

I have been trying to buy my little brother a copy of minecraft for over 2 hours now. I am a tech savvy person and its really not like I dont know how this stuff works, but the thing is ive been trying to be completely above board with microsoft, mojang, and xbox this entire time and I just wish I was not for the whole process of this purchase.
​
My brother is 9. Meaning he is at the age that minecraft is rated at, 7+. Considering the fact that he is of the rated age of minecraft, none of the COPIUS amounts of checks for verification should really be there.
First off, I make him a gmail account, then a microsoft account. Now here's the thing, microsoft detects that he is 13 and under because I put his real age in. because of this, he is required to have a parental account linked to him and Im forced to have a family account with him. I find this all to be reasonable enough, and it is done by simply logging into my own account.
I really thought this would be the end of it. I would maybe adjust permissions here and there and it would be fine and dandy. But no.
I go to minecraft.net and log into his account to just buy minecraft and get on with it. But turns out, since he is under 13, he needs a family member to approve the purchase. Ok, fine. but how?
There is a button telling you that a message has been sent to the adult about the request but it does not say whatsoever where this message has been sent, instinctively I thought it would appear in my email as some sort of one time code, 10 mins pass, nothing turns up. Turns out, googling this issue, I have to install a fucking app to even get this notification. ok so I do, I install the app on my phone, logging in and going through 2FA again, and also have to deal with microsoft aggressively trying to take over my phone's autofill, but I did it, and nothing comes through, I wait 20 mins, nothing happens on the stupid app. so I try again, from opening the WINDOWS STORE on my own computer and get the app there. go through 2FA AGAIN to finally see the notifcation on my top right for that request to buy minecraft. Neat. except wait, it is asking for it in dollars, not in my currency, Philippine peso. I thought this would be fine, but later on it asks for my card details in the US, which im not based in. I thought I should be above board with this, and googling tells me I can change this by logging into my own microsoft profile and adding payment details there.
I do this, and yes I could change to PH there, GREAT. Finally, I can give them my money and just buy the game, but WAIT A SECOND, my payment information is still not yet on the family desktop app. its been another 20 mins, and the notification comes through on my phone, where I think maybe itll be updated there, but I never figure out of it does update overthere, because upon clicking the approve button, it opens up a window to what seems to be microsoft store page and 404's. fucking brilliant.
Turns out, on Minecraft.net, I have to switch the region youre trying to buy minecraft from from US, to whatever country, THEN hit F5 to refresh the page, and THEN you can press the button to request the parent for consent, and then finally everything will work to the correct country. Christ almighty, I thought I was done, just buying the game and launching minecraft for my little brother so we can play LAN.
Except, no.
Turns out, now that this computer is tied to someone who is younger than 13, literally every single app that is opened is tracked and flagged by microsoft for being a potentially bad app. and so, now, I have to fucking approve every single app that I open on the mobile app, and I cant even approve them globally, it has to be done case by case and is really slow since it works as some sort of DRM or something. so I cant run the installer, because the installer requires access to the Microsoft store, and I guess it just cant get the correct permissions? So it errors out until I try to get the installer directly from the microsoft store, but since the store is so dogshit, its just constantly stuck on pending and I cant stop it for some reason.
In the end I try to restart his computer in an attempt to force stop the "pending" thing with the minecraft installer and of course, I get a forced windows update.
AAAAAA
...after the restart, the windows store worked, I got the installer, and I ran java edition to try it out, see if it works. I tried buying it for him at 12:30 when I arrived home from school, it is now 2 o clock, and I had a class at 3. so I just wanted to see if things were ok. and of course, I see that MULTIPLAYER IS GREYED OUT.
Like the one thing I wanted to do with him is to do LAN, but he cannot lan with me if multiplayer is greyed out. at this point I was too frustrated to try and I go to school for my class and deal with it when I come back.
When I come back I do some googling to see what I can do, the minecraft sceen tells me to go to my brother's microsoft account settings to get it fixed, but nothing of the sort seems to come up at all in regards to that in the settings dashboard. I do even more googling but the articles keep talking about an Xbos family app? I already have a microsoft family app and minecrafts diagnosics are tracked in the family app so I think the permissions are somewhere there. I keep looking for a solid 30 minutes now, and I come to realize, oh shit XBOX FAMILY APP IS A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT APP.
WHY is it on a different app? why do I need two?? OK, fine, ill download it. But, to my utter shock, the Xbox Family Settings App, is NOT AVAILABLE IN MY COUNTRY. And the kicker? THERE IS NO DESKTOP ALTERNATIVE.
I am completely baffled. If I wanted to keep above board with all of this, I would have not only gone through this tedious process, but in the end I would have only had a java edition or bedrock edition account that is effectively useless as it can only play multiplayer because I cant get the xbox family app in any legal way. This is utterly unacceptable.
Who am I even gonna complain to? there are 3 different entities involved here, mojang, microsoft, and xbox, who would I even speak to to try and get any of this resolved???
I'm stunned.
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TL;DR legally buying a copy of Minecraft for a young person is littered with constant 2FA checks, parental control shenanigans, and app bloatware that is imposed for zero reason whatsoever other than to inaugurate you into the Microsoft ecosystem. If you want to have a smoother experience, it would be easier to just lie about said young person's age.

So, I was thinking about various ideas for JWE3 and had come to this question, would you prefer the game to have a skin system closer to that of JWE1 and Prehistoric Kingdom, where there are less skins, but they are more unique and detailed, or a system closer to JWE2 or The Isle, where the skin combos are much more numerous, but the results may end up being subpar, to say the least?