I'm about to graduate with a certificate in animation and I'm wondering if all of this was for nothing.
I'm feeling frustrated after investing so much time, money, and energy into improving my craft only to have to deal with AI, an oversaturated market, horrible social media algorithms, and a shitty economy where no one can afford the luxury of art. The animation industry is especially bad right now, with constant layoffs and studios closing left and right.
With freelancing, it feels like there's a lot of supply but not enough demand, and so many artists have talked about how bad this year especially had been for them.
I'm angry that I wasn't able to start posting my art earlier when it was much easier to get an audience, I'm angry I wasn't able to go to school earlier and get a job before all of this happened.
I'm disabled, I'm below the poverty line, and I'm pretty much homeless, so I'm not sure what other field I can go into where I can actually be self-sufficient one day and not completely hate what I'm doing.
I was pursuing art because I was having a really hard time getting hired anywhere due to my physical limitations + lack of experience. Art is the one thing I could see myself doing for a living that I would actually love, that would be fulfilling, and now I just feel lost and I'm wondering if any of this was ever worth it.
I've thought about going into film, writing (as in, publishing a novel), or even gaming/streaming, but even then those are pretty oversaturated too. I'm dreading the idea of working a boring office job until retirement, having never fulfilled my dreams. Right now I feel like my only other option is to release all my worldly possessions and become a monk, LOL because I don't know what to do or how I'm going to support myself otherwise. I know that's dramatic but I feel like I'm quickly approaching a dead end.
Does anyone else feel similarly? Or can any of you see the light at the end of the tunnel that I can't?

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/WitchesVsPatriarchy/s/PWpl9RKcWt
I am doing well sisters. I flaired this omens as I have been receiving good ones lately. The divorce agreement is in progress. My STBX is so ashamed he hardly has been at the house, thankfully. Through some gracious family help I am staying afloat financially and have a game plan to keep my home.
I’ve thrown myself into gardening, perhaps I’m more green witch than I knew. That has come with good omens too. I have a stunning Gloriosa Lily that popped up in my garden of its own free will. (A volunteer plant lol) Nearly everything I’ve planted is doing well. Apparently I inherited my momma’s green thumb.
My family, friends, and even some of his family have shown up for me and it means so much. They are checking in and chipping in wherever they can. I knew I had a tribe.. I guess I had forgotten how big my tribe was.
My dreams are omens for me too. Sobbing nightmares that feel like a demon being exorcised. A soaring bald eagle escorting two swans. Two days before I learned of his affair I startled awake having dreamt of him mocking and ignoring me. I need to learn how to hone that. My dreams know things I don’t it seems. My grandmother had premonition dreams as well. I guess it runs in the family.
His crap is all packed and sitting in my front room, I took some petty pot shots with a sharpie here and there… but it’s important to me that I treat people better than they treat me. I feel that speaks to my character. So his sentimental stuff was packed with care. I divided the possessions fairly and as we have agreed. How I treat him now speaks to who I am. Just as how he has treated me speaks to who he is.
Thank you all for you gracious support, kind comments, blessings sent, and DMs of affirmation.

https://xenagoguevicene.wordpress.com/2024/05/18/old-genocide-joe-has-got-to-go-by-philip-giraldi-17-may-2024/
Embracing Netanyahu does not constitute a foreign policy
It is extremely difficult to discern what might be the thinking behind the clueless President Joe Biden and his Blinken-Austin-Mayorkas foreign-policy-plus national security team. Or rather, the problem is that there does not appear to be any thinking about it at all if one measures it by what benefits it brings to the American people. It all actually seems to derive from a desire to construct a narrative that will win the presidential election coming up in November, which will fortunately be run against a deeply flawed GOP candidate named Donald J. Trump. But look at what is on the Biden record: the country’s southern border with Mexico is a porous as a Swiss cheese, allowing literally millions of illegal immigrants into the USA since Biden took office; Washington is both de facto and de jure simultaneously fighting and losing two unnecessary wars involving nuclear powers which has cost a nearly bankrupt Treasury well into the hundreds of billions of dollars; and the White House is needlessly sanctioning non-hostile competitors like China while also making illegal popular social media sites like TikTok which have committed the sin of reporting and disseminating accurate narratives about good old “best friend and closest ally” Israel. Predictably, neither of the assertions about the value of the Jewish state is true, nor is it a democracy, but who cares when you’re having fun shooting people and spending someone else’s money?
Oh, and just try to exercise your first amendment free speech rights by demonstrating against Israel’s slaughter of upwards of 40,000 Palestinian civilians using US provided weapons and you will be hit on the head by a cop, possibly arrested, and even expelled from college! If you want to see where this is all going, check out reports of the recent FBI detention and interrogation of distinguished Israeli historian Ilan Pappe seeking to enter the US through the Detroit International Airport. Pappe is a critic of the Netanyahu government and of US policy so he was held, questioned in detailed about his contacts, and had his phone copied before being allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, a group of top federal judges have signed a letter stating that they will strike back against the demonstrating students by refusing to hire any graduates of Columbia University Law School as law clerks. And there even is a bill currently before Congress that would empower the government to label the foreign protesters “antisemites and terrorism supporters” and deport them, with some going to Gaza with the expectation that they would be killed, possibly by the mighty Israel Defense Forces (IDF)! It would be a startling new development to punish those whose crime consists mostly of trespass even given the rather loose ethical boundaries established by the war on terror and the Antisemitism Awareness Act! Or indeed one might follow the Senatorial route led by a chirping Lindsey Graham who recommends dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza to kill everyone who has survived the Israeli onslaught. The area then might be developed after the radiation dies down for those splendid seaside villas for Jews only suggested by the esteemed Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
To be sure, Joe sometimes mumbles something that might just be viewed positively, like his recent blocking on humanitarian grounds of a consignment of bunker buster bombs on their way to Israel due to Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that, no matter what, he would invade Rafah to completely destroy Hamas and whoever else might happen to get in his way. Joe predictably reversed that decision last Tuesday, approving a $1 billion supply of munitions after he came under pressure from the Israelis and their many friends in the US, to include a host of Israel-loving GOP congressmen who have carried their fight on behalf of the Jewish state to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is being directly threatened with American wrath lest it try to punish Israeli leaders for their genocide in Gaza. As Bill Astore put it “Last week, President Biden appeared to have strapped on a temporary spine in delaying shipments of ‘offensive’ weaponry to Israel for its murderous invasion of Rafah in Gaza. That spine had a short duration as Biden announced [Tuesday] renewed shipments of tank and mortar rounds to Israel.” Congress has also gotten into the game with the GOP controlled House of Representatives having passed a bill that would compel the White House to continue all arms shipments to Israel. Joe might also be thinking of political contributions, as American Jews donate the majority of Democratic Party funding, as well guaranteeing a friendly media in his campaign as they dominate both the news and the entertainment industries. See, Joe can figure some things out all by himself every once in a while!
Here’s the problem with Joe, apart from the roughly $12 million in gift-donations from Jewish/Israeli sources that he has obtained in his political career. His tactical thinking does not extend beyond his personal interests, to include his corrupt children, a trait very much like that which is possessed by his good buddy Netanyahu who is facing corruption charges of his own in Israel. Joe believes he is much cleverer than he actually is and thinks that an occasional mild verbal criticism of the Israeli behavior will convince his target audience of voters that he really is concerned about the continuing death toll in Gaza, where the Israelis have already been taking initial steps in their attack on Rafah by using their tanks to penetrate into the targeted zone to destroy and kill.
And as for the reported completion and initial functioning of the floating pier connected to Gaza constructed by US military engineers, it will not dramatically change reality on the ground even though Biden is claiming that it will enable the entry of much needed food and medical aid. Israel will still “security” control what is allowed to enter into Gaza proper while Netanyahu is seeing the pier as a bridge to nowhere, usable primarily to export excess Palestinians to foreign lands that are either willing or unwilling to accept them. And its existence creates some interesting possibilities. As it presumably will be logistically supported on the pier itself by US-based personnel, Netanyahu might well be tempted to stage a false flag attack blamed on Hamas to kill a few Americans and lock Biden into Israel’s right-wing Gaza policies from now on. Bear in mind that, in reality, Biden could care less if all the Palestinians might be “disappeared” just as he would like to see any and all critics of Israel be subjected to the harshest punishments, including prison and denial of basic rights as well as being stripped of government benefits. He has called the protesters “lawbreakers” and spreaders of “chaos” and congress is currently investigating the alleged “subversive organizers” of the “anti-Israel terrorists.”
Biden and company, as well as Trump, who is advising the Israeli government to “finish the job” with the Palestinians, clearly have no actual red lines that must not be crossed when it comes to Israel. The war of extermination of the Gazans has been accompanied by a more hidden war being conducted by the Jewish settlers on the West Bank, which has been largely under Israeli occupation since 1967. The frequently armed settlers have been attacking unarmed Palestinians, destroying their homes and businesses, ruining their crops and vineyards, and even killing them on occasion. Israeli police and army standing by do nothing to stop the fun and even frequently participate themselves by arresting and beating Palestinians who are guilty only of being Palestinian. Hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested without charges apart from “preventive detention” since the troubles began in October and the jails are overflowing. The clear intention, verbalized without any shame by senior Israeli government officials like Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is to produce a Greater Israel cleansed of Arabs. And Biden, who pretends to favor a two-state solution to the unrest, helps the process along by vetoing UN resolutions that would help create separate sovereignty for Palestine.
Some of the most outrageous recent developments have been the settlers’ interfering with shipments of food and medicines entering into Gaza, a point that a faux-sympathetic Biden stresses repeatedly when pontificating regarding bringing aid to the starving people who are trapped with nowhere to go inside the enclave. The Israel clampdown even includes the Mediterranean Sea being blocked off by the Israeli navy which shoots any desperate Gazans who try to go close to the water so they can fish for food. In the most recent incidents, observed by the standing-by but inert Israeli army and police, truckloads of food were blocked, the drivers and aid workers removed and beaten, and the food was destroyed and burned before the trucks were treated likewise. In another incident settlers dumped huge boulders on one of the access roads to a checkpoint leading into Gaza, rendering it impassible and blocking any aid. Journalists and aid workers are meanwhile being killed by the army to prevent any reporting of what is going on while the US State Department refuses to condemn the activity. Biden called the interference with assistance convoys “outrageous” but has done nothing whatsoever about it, nor has he followed up on pledges to sanction Israelis who attack Palestinians or their property on the West Bank.
The whole problem is that Israel is a monster, an apartheid state that somehow feels it is empowered by God and the United States to kill all its neighbors and rob the American taxpayer to pay for and equip the slaughter. Israel is backed by an all-powerful US domestic lobby that includes unlimited Jewish money and activist Zionist groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) led by the hideous Jonathan Greenblatt and the venerable American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), both of which are now busy raising money to defeat all congress critters who have ever criticized the Jewish state. ADL and AIPAC are also linked to “that old time religion” knucklehead Christian Zionists concentrated in the Republican Party who have their Scofield Bibles firmly embedded between their ears where their brains are supposed be. A partial solution would be to make the Jewish-Zionist groups register as foreign government agents directed by Israel under the the terms of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which is exactly what they are, but that will never happen. President John F. Kennedy tried to register the predecessor group to AIPAC and many believe he paid the ultimate price for that affront as well as for his bid to stop Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
So, my fellow Americans, what should we do? Well, we should do whatever we can, which includes speaking out about how we have been sold out by our leaders and opinion makers, and we should continue to do that even knowing that they will try to silence us by destroying free speech in this country. It is all we have left and we should continue to oppose what is happening. The first step however, is to get rid of politicians like Joe and Donald, who have been completely corrupted by more than fifty years in the “system” and are totally sold out and irresponsible in their behavior. There are honest politicians and journalists out there and we just have to find them, support them and get them elected and in positions where they will be able to bring about change in how things are done in Washington! One might call it the New American Revolution to restore our rights and free us from foreign oppression!

I am a highly motivated and experienced game developedesigner with a passion for crafting engaging and immersive gaming experiences. I possess a diverse skillset spanning various game development disciplines, including:
Programming:
​

• Proficient in Unreal Engine, Unity Engine, and Godot.
• Experienced in gameplay mechanics, scripting, AI, and optimization.

Design:
​

• Narrative design: Compelling story creation, character development, and world-building.
• Level design: Engaging level creation, encounter design, and flow optimization.
• Graphics design: Strong visual design sense for creating captivating environments and assets.
• UI/UX design: User-friendly and intuitive interface creation for seamless player experience.

Genres:
​

• FPS/TPS
• RPG
• MMO/MMORPG
• Free-to-play
• RTS
• Simulation
• Puzzles & Platformers
• Card Games

Availability: Open to both short-term and long-term freelance projects.
Rate: Negotiable based on project scope and complexity.
Contact: PM

https://xenagoguevicene.wordpress.com/2024/05/18/old-genocide-joe-has-got-to-go-by-philip-giraldi-17-may-2024/
Embracing Netanyahu does not constitute a foreign policy
It is extremely difficult to discern what might be the thinking behind the clueless President Joe Biden and his Blinken-Austin-Mayorkas foreign-policy-plus national security team. Or rather, the problem is that there does not appear to be any thinking about it at all if one measures it by what benefits it brings to the American people. It all actually seems to derive from a desire to construct a narrative that will win the presidential election coming up in November, which will fortunately be run against a deeply flawed GOP candidate named Donald J. Trump. But look at what is on the Biden record: the country’s southern border with Mexico is a porous as a Swiss cheese, allowing literally millions of illegal immigrants into the USA since Biden took office; Washington is both de facto and de jure simultaneously fighting and losing two unnecessary wars involving nuclear powers which has cost a nearly bankrupt Treasury well into the hundreds of billions of dollars; and the White House is needlessly sanctioning non-hostile competitors like China while also making illegal popular social media sites like TikTok which have committed the sin of reporting and disseminating accurate narratives about good old “best friend and closest ally” Israel. Predictably, neither of the assertions about the value of the Jewish state is true, nor is it a democracy, but who cares when you’re having fun shooting people and spending someone else’s money?
Oh, and just try to exercise your first amendment free speech rights by demonstrating against Israel’s slaughter of upwards of 40,000 Palestinian civilians using US provided weapons and you will be hit on the head by a cop, possibly arrested, and even expelled from college! If you want to see where this is all going, check out reports of the recent FBI detention and interrogation of distinguished Israeli historian Ilan Pappe seeking to enter the US through the Detroit International Airport. Pappe is a critic of the Netanyahu government and of US policy so he was held, questioned in detailed about his contacts, and had his phone copied before being allowed to proceed. Meanwhile, a group of top federal judges have signed a letter stating that they will strike back against the demonstrating students by refusing to hire any graduates of Columbia University Law School as law clerks. And there even is a bill currently before Congress that would empower the government to label the foreign protesters “antisemites and terrorism supporters” and deport them, with some going to Gaza with the expectation that they would be killed, possibly by the mighty Israel Defense Forces (IDF)! It would be a startling new development to punish those whose crime consists mostly of trespass even given the rather loose ethical boundaries established by the war on terror and the Antisemitism Awareness Act! Or indeed one might follow the Senatorial route led by a chirping Lindsey Graham who recommends dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza to kill everyone who has survived the Israeli onslaught. The area then might be developed after the radiation dies down for those splendid seaside villas for Jews only suggested by the esteemed Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner.
To be sure, Joe sometimes mumbles something that might just be viewed positively, like his recent blocking on humanitarian grounds of a consignment of bunker buster bombs on their way to Israel due to Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that, no matter what, he would invade Rafah to completely destroy Hamas and whoever else might happen to get in his way. Joe predictably reversed that decision last Tuesday, approving a $1 billion supply of munitions after he came under pressure from the Israelis and their many friends in the US, to include a host of Israel-loving GOP congressmen who have carried their fight on behalf of the Jewish state to The Hague, where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is being directly threatened with American wrath lest it try to punish Israeli leaders for their genocide in Gaza. As Bill Astore put it “Last week, President Biden appeared to have strapped on a temporary spine in delaying shipments of ‘offensive’ weaponry to Israel for its murderous invasion of Rafah in Gaza. That spine had a short duration as Biden announced [Tuesday] renewed shipments of tank and mortar rounds to Israel.” Congress has also gotten into the game with the GOP controlled House of Representatives having passed a bill that would compel the White House to continue all arms shipments to Israel. Joe might also be thinking of political contributions, as American Jews donate the majority of Democratic Party funding, as well guaranteeing a friendly media in his campaign as they dominate both the news and the entertainment industries. See, Joe can figure some things out all by himself every once in a while!
Here’s the problem with Joe, apart from the roughly $12 million in gift-donations from Jewish/Israeli sources that he has obtained in his political career. His tactical thinking does not extend beyond his personal interests, to include his corrupt children, a trait very much like that which is possessed by his good buddy Netanyahu who is facing corruption charges of his own in Israel. Joe believes he is much cleverer than he actually is and thinks that an occasional mild verbal criticism of the Israeli behavior will convince his target audience of voters that he really is concerned about the continuing death toll in Gaza, where the Israelis have already been taking initial steps in their attack on Rafah by using their tanks to penetrate into the targeted zone to destroy and kill.
And as for the reported completion and initial functioning of the floating pier connected to Gaza constructed by US military engineers, it will not dramatically change reality on the ground even though Biden is claiming that it will enable the entry of much needed food and medical aid. Israel will still “security” control what is allowed to enter into Gaza proper while Netanyahu is seeing the pier as a bridge to nowhere, usable primarily to export excess Palestinians to foreign lands that are either willing or unwilling to accept them. And its existence creates some interesting possibilities. As it presumably will be logistically supported on the pier itself by US-based personnel, Netanyahu might well be tempted to stage a false flag attack blamed on Hamas to kill a few Americans and lock Biden into Israel’s right-wing Gaza policies from now on. Bear in mind that, in reality, Biden could care less if all the Palestinians might be “disappeared” just as he would like to see any and all critics of Israel be subjected to the harshest punishments, including prison and denial of basic rights as well as being stripped of government benefits. He has called the protesters “lawbreakers” and spreaders of “chaos” and congress is currently investigating the alleged “subversive organizers” of the “anti-Israel terrorists.”
Biden and company, as well as Trump, who is advising the Israeli government to “finish the job” with the Palestinians, clearly have no actual red lines that must not be crossed when it comes to Israel. The war of extermination of the Gazans has been accompanied by a more hidden war being conducted by the Jewish settlers on the West Bank, which has been largely under Israeli occupation since 1967. The frequently armed settlers have been attacking unarmed Palestinians, destroying their homes and businesses, ruining their crops and vineyards, and even killing them on occasion. Israeli police and army standing by do nothing to stop the fun and even frequently participate themselves by arresting and beating Palestinians who are guilty only of being Palestinian. Hundreds of Palestinians have been arrested without charges apart from “preventive detention” since the troubles began in October and the jails are overflowing. The clear intention, verbalized without any shame by senior Israeli government officials like Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, is to produce a Greater Israel cleansed of Arabs. And Biden, who pretends to favor a two-state solution to the unrest, helps the process along by vetoing UN resolutions that would help create separate sovereignty for Palestine.
Some of the most outrageous recent developments have been the settlers’ interfering with shipments of food and medicines entering into Gaza, a point that a faux-sympathetic Biden stresses repeatedly when pontificating regarding bringing aid to the starving people who are trapped with nowhere to go inside the enclave. The Israel clampdown even includes the Mediterranean Sea being blocked off by the Israeli navy which shoots any desperate Gazans who try to go close to the water so they can fish for food. In the most recent incidents, observed by the standing-by but inert Israeli army and police, truckloads of food were blocked, the drivers and aid workers removed and beaten, and the food was destroyed and burned before the trucks were treated likewise. In another incident settlers dumped huge boulders on one of the access roads to a checkpoint leading into Gaza, rendering it impassible and blocking any aid. Journalists and aid workers are meanwhile being killed by the army to prevent any reporting of what is going on while the US State Department refuses to condemn the activity. Biden called the interference with assistance convoys “outrageous” but has done nothing whatsoever about it, nor has he followed up on pledges to sanction Israelis who attack Palestinians or their property on the West Bank.
The whole problem is that Israel is a monster, an apartheid state that somehow feels it is empowered by God and the United States to kill all its neighbors and rob the American taxpayer to pay for and equip the slaughter. Israel is backed by an all-powerful US domestic lobby that includes unlimited Jewish money and activist Zionist groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) led by the hideous Jonathan Greenblatt and the venerable American Israel Political Affairs Committee (AIPAC), both of which are now busy raising money to defeat all congress critters who have ever criticized the Jewish state. ADL and AIPAC are also linked to “that old time religion” knucklehead Christian Zionists concentrated in the Republican Party who have their Scofield Bibles firmly embedded between their ears where their brains are supposed be. A partial solution would be to make the Jewish-Zionist groups register as foreign government agents directed by Israel under the the terms of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which is exactly what they are, but that will never happen. President John F. Kennedy tried to register the predecessor group to AIPAC and many believe he paid the ultimate price for that affront as well as for his bid to stop Israel’s nuclear weapons program.
So, my fellow Americans, what should we do? Well, we should do whatever we can, which includes speaking out about how we have been sold out by our leaders and opinion makers, and we should continue to do that even knowing that they will try to silence us by destroying free speech in this country. It is all we have left and we should continue to oppose what is happening. The first step however, is to get rid of politicians like Joe and Donald, who have been completely corrupted by more than fifty years in the “system” and are totally sold out and irresponsible in their behavior. There are honest politicians and journalists out there and we just have to find them, support them and get them elected and in positions where they will be able to bring about change in how things are done in Washington! One might call it the New American Revolution to restore our rights and free us from foreign oppression!

Pokemon Rejuvenation is about Karma playing a game called Pokemon Rejuvenation.
Here's why.

• Karma was tasked by Variya to judge worlds as based or unbased and decide if they should continue or not continue. In each of these cases, each world can get some number of Interceptors who, effectively, get to compete against Karma, and can foil Karma's goals by choosing to destroy that world that Karma might think is going quite well. Even though the literal purpose of Karma is to get The Best Ending, Variya placed Interceptors in each world that effectively work for her, and might make contracts with her directly, outside of Karma. Why?
• Karma also notes his true enemy is World Shatterer, who is the one who's trying to destroy "all worlds"... but the way he says it makes it sound like that all worlds that get destroyed are because of World Shatterer. This would imply that whatever Madame X or Indriad are going around doing, somehow, this comes back to World Shatterer - that World Shatterer is responsible. How and why?
• In the Dev Q&A, Zumi was asked if there was enough information in the games to at least "make a guess" about who World Shatterer is, who Madame X is, and who Eden's real world counterpart is. And she said yes, for everyone but Eden. So whatever the answer to "who is World Shatterer", it's not some completely out of nowhere solution of "This character that hasn't yet been introduced", it's either "A character we're already aware of", or "Some concept we can easily guess at".

To that end, I think there's only one non-deranged answer - Variya. Let's go with that for a second.

• World Shatterer is, explicitly, a she. It's not Melia, because Karma talks about World Shatterer in front of Melia. How many female characters are there who could conceivably be a multiversal threat that's killing everything everywhere? We basically have Madame X, some non-M2 evil version of Melia (so, Madame X lol), Clear, The Sinnoh Trio, Melanie, Angie, a renegade Interceptor, some evil version of Erin, or some evil version of Alice.
• Clear and the Sinnoh girls can be ruled out pretty much instantly. Clear works for a higher power, so presumably any alternates she/Xara has are the same. The Sinnoh Girls, likewise, take all their cues from Variya. Melanie, even after overlapping with Melia, became basically a god, but never seemed like she'd have the power it takes to be World Shatterer - but maybe more importantly, Karma didn't seem to recognize Melia, even an evil Melia, as being close to World Shatterer at all. If World Shatterer is just some kind of M9001, wouldn't he show a sign of this? Maybe being less shocked that Melia was mean to him? Anything?
• I did say World Shatterer could be some kind of Renegade Interceptor - but then why specify a "she", if it's meant to be a known, named Interceptor? The only definitely canonical female Interceptors are Spacea, Tiempa, Crescent, and... I think V is Genderfluid? But we can rule out all four of those as World Shatterer very very easily. And it's not like there's any others... right?
• There are - Kieran, Clear and Eden are Interceptors. It's not any of them. I'll get back to that.
• But by process of elimination, the only real options are Angie and Variya, and of the two, come on it's not Angie.
• There's more evidence. Adrest is shocked to hear that Variya is still alive. She's not meant to be alive. That's going against the original plan that Variya had told Adrest. In fact, the realization of this appears to be what alerts Karma to Adrest and gets Adrest killed.
• Furthermore, Spacea and Tiempa are unequivocal - they call Variya "Her Majesty". They treat her like God. Effectively, she is. She's pulling a lot of strings. She's engineering things quite deliberately, and we know that because Spacea and Tiempa go out of the way to lay down the path for her Interceptor to follow since Crescent is barely interested in Intercepting.

Variya is the ONLY non-deranged candidate for World Shatterer, out of characters that have already been introduced. You could theorize it's maybe someone like Nymiera or Rune, Nymiera is still beneath Variya in the pecking order, and Rune was trying to save the world, not shatter it. And here's another thing.
Kieran, Clear, and Eden are Interceptors.

• The New Game Plus chessboard has specific pieces that appear to be only for Interceptors. Crescent and Paragon Interceptor each have a specific styled piece, labelled a star of hope. Team Xen has three Interceptor pieces - Kieran, Clear, and the Lumiceptor, which is what I call the Renegade Interceptor because I'm not playing that route myself I be watching the game footage on youtube, and Lumi was the name of the Interceptor I was watching and so that's the Lumiceptor to me now.
• Presumably, if Kieran and Clear are Interceptors, Eden must be one too, right? But KC are keenly aware of their own mortality, which is NOT very Interceptorly. We also KNOW they don't have access to Zeight or Zeight's Interceptor revives. Furtheremore, unlike the other Interceptors, they DON'T have access to the Core. That's kind of their entire goal!
• What's more, Kieran definitely goes on about how much he's NOT an Interceptor, doesn't he? He talks a lot about fate and wanting to be free of fate and how Fate Bad. If you Intercept him when playing as Ren by showing Interceptor knowledge you shouldn't have, he calls out The Interceptor, Singular, which would seem to imply... it's not him. So how can he be an Interceptor and not be an Interceptor?
• Because KC are attempts at creating ARTIFICIAL Interceptors without the need for Variya or Karma. Xara and Jean were the Interceptors in their homeworld - likely Madame X's homeworld - and Kieran and Clear were based on them for that reason. They were built on the moonbase lab and assigned to Madame X and Team Xen to help accomplish the goal of destroying everything everywhere - World Shattering.
• The moonbase lab does not work for Team Xen - it works for Variya, and represents an escaped fraction of the Original Humans who are totally outside of Karma and the system. The visor that Moon Lavender had resembles Kieran and Clear's. The moonbase is, primarily, a World Shatterer lab, working against Karma. To help Team Xen shatter worlds, they built Kieran and Clear, their Artificial Interceptors, but they still haven't quite perfected it - they can't access Zeight so they can't get Interceptor revives, and they can't fully escape Karma's ability to just control the timelines.

Variya is World Shatterer, and Kieran and Clear are Artificial Interceptors built by a moonside lab that supervises Karma from the outside and works for her as well. But Variya built Karma to save and protect everything. Why would she be fighting Karma too?
Because it's a game.
Karma could sit down and just create worlds of happy sunshine joy joy forever and be satisfied with that perfect ending being achieved in every world, and just strategically not make worlds that have certain types of people in it. To prevent Karma from doing that, the worlds need outside elements beyond just the Interceptors. Those outside elements are Team Xen and other threats to the world, all of which are supported by, or come from, the moonbase lab, which operates under the supervision of Variya and understand her true nature. Beyond just letting the system do all the work with the singular failsafe of The Interceptor, Variya has an entire faction of her own that exists to compete with Karma.
And Karma kind of enjoys it.
The way Karma talks about World Shatterer isn't like someone who's deeply concerned with all the people who are going to die. It's a competition. Karma makes "new versions" to really show World Shatterer who's boss. Karma kind of talks in a whiny and childish way, which for the record is awesome for this kind of character, but it again suggests someone who's not in an existential struggle for the soul of everything - it's someone who wants to win. Because playing this game is part of what Karma is supposed to do.
Karma was built to take the Pokemon world that was destroyed, and to... revive it. To make the new world, the best possible world, or the best possible, flourishing worlds, as would be approved by Variya and the Overseers. Karma is playing a game, of restoring the Pokemon world. A game of...
Pokemon Rejuvenation.
Wait, why would it be so meta? Why would Karma's game be called Pokemon Rejuvenation? Because that was the password to the secret files about Karma that Adrest was holding onto. The words "Pokemon Rejuvenation" are already right there for Karma and Adrest.
Karma is supposed to play this game against an adversary, like an Ellimist/Crayak situation from Animorphs. That's why Karma deleted Adrest for realizing Variya was still there, before Adrest could truly do anything to work against Variya - he's meant to play the game against her. The Lumiceptor and Kieran and Clear are working against Karma, which is why Karma tries so hard to stop them by mutating Talon and eventually Aelita. Karma can supposedly control everything and everyone, but can't just stop them. Maybe that's not so shocking - they're all Interceptors of a type, except Madame X and Team Xen are trying to do the same thing that Karma doesn't want to happen. Why can't Karma just stop them and say "And then they didn't do that"?
Because Karma can't truly, completely bind the fate of Team Xen, because they're not Karma's pieces to play. They're World Shatterer's. Variya's. As part of the game - she plays both sides, by introducing Interceptors who can stop Team Xen, and also supporting Team Xen, all to try to engineer stronger, healthier worlds by forcing Karma to put in the extra work, and letting worlds that can't defeat Team Xen perish in a sort of cosmological natural selection. The moonbase lab is semi-independent to her - they do things that they know are sort of in the general direction of her goals, but she's not controlling their every move. Hence why she can both choose her own Interceptor to go out there and Intercept It Up, while the moonbase can try to work on creating their own artificial Interceptors to have as many as they need.
Except.
What if there's something else that Variya is after?
It was either Spacea or Tiempa who said that the boundaries between alternate selves was collapsing. We keep seeing this happen when Mosely and Amber remember Chapter 12. Let's circle back even further. Jan has said the actual purpose of Karma in the game is to prove there can be no True Ending. How can Karma's existence prove there's no True Ending, and why is Tiempa saying that the breakdown of the barriers between alternate selves is by the will of the Interceptor - and implicitly, by extension, Variya?
And what if, this is actually the key to beating Karma - beating Karma meaning not just freeing every world from Karma's control, but even freeing past worlds and past people from Karma's control?
Karma has overseen countless worlds filled with alternate selves, but the boundaries between these alternate selves are breaking down. I think this is Variya's win condition. She made Karma thinking that at some point, Karma would have to be shut down after enough blooming, flourishing worlds were created.
Here's my theory: When the barriers between alternate selves breakdown, if Karma isn't online, they won't overlap. But they won't just coexist either. Instead, they'll start to merge, and in a very fluid, weird way, that allows them to pick and choose which aspects of their history they want to be true.
All of a sudden, all those past histories that were fixed and chosen only by Karma are now in the control of all the characters freed from Karma's control, who now have the ability and power, in this weird fucked up non-overlapping state to pick and choose what they wanted their past to be too, and by extension, their future, and what worlds they'll fit into, and what the new worlds that exist after Karma will even be. Because for this to happen...
The old worlds will have to be Shattered.
You know, by some kind of, World Shatterer.
This would lead to all the characters not just gaining their freedom, but because they'll have so many different pasts and alternate selves to choose from, they'll have in some sense, never lost it in the first place. It will also lead to a fracturing of the timelines as new ones take shape, making it impossible to say any ending of the timelines is "more canonical" than the other. And this is the end that Variya is trying to force now that she believes Karma is no longer needed.
You know what I'm not done being deranged. Either Anathea and the Theolias are the descendants of MISSING.EXE, or Melia was created by MISSING.EXE, and MISSING.EXE is absolutely named Zed and probably looks a lot like Zetta.

• The New Game Plus Chessboard has Zetta labeled as the descendant of Zed. We've never heard this name before.
• Zetta doesn't HAVE human ancestors. So any humans he's descended from, or humanoids, have to come from Melia's side.
• Melia is explicitly Erin, Alice and Allen's sister. Even though she has some other freaky origin shit going on being 75 and everything, and her body rejecting the Archetype, we're told in no uncertain terms that Anathea is her mother. The weird thing is she says that she's Maria, that she knows she's Maria, and keeps feeling Maria's memories, but then later tells us she's not Maria like two minutes after.
• This means one of two things as far as I'm concerned - either Anathea's family is descended from Missing.EXE, who is Zed, or Melia's origin specifically comes from Zed and MISSING.EXE.
• As for why I'm identifying Zed as Missing.EXE - I mean come on. It's in the name.
• Zetta's name is very close to Zed. For that reason, and family resemblance alone and knowing it would make Impact when you see the resemblance in the game, I'm going with the assumption that Zed actually looks a lot like Zetta, which is a good way to have an impactful, shocking reveal, but also for it to be a character we've never met.

You know what I'm still not done. Rune was Madame X once. Fuck it let's go wild. Why does Madame X have such a weird, irrational attachement to former Axis High Students? Who could she be to have those wild attachements while also possessing a weird, mysterious amount of knowledge? Who else fits that bill? Of course it's impossible for current Rune to be Madame X, but then again, Rune was found in the Voidal Chasm where your history and past are eaten and everything goes weird about you, and everyone assumed she came from Miera directly from her past, instead of being in some freaky Timey Wimey situation - or it's a Rune from a past timeline, like I said in my other unhinged theory.
The Madame X armour carries her memories over to whoever becomes the new Madame X. Why not. Let's go apeshit.

• Indriad's goal is to find a way to resurrect the original Arceus and remove the worlds created by Karma.
• Ren kisses boys but he's not very good at it.
• Madame X's Yveltal is missing Indriad's Soul, which got separated from it and placed in Angie.
• Angie is also partly the result of attempting to turn a human into a servant like what Kanon is. Angie is to Anju... as Melia is to Maria.
• Melia is the result of attempting to do this to Maria and it ultimately failing.
• Madelis likes men.
• Erick secretly likes Brawl.
• I've got nothing for Lord Xenadin. He's Huey. Fuck it. Huey is a devolved aged down Lord Xenadin from the Voidal Chasm. What the fuck. Let's go.
• Valarie can't read.
• Aevium has not been accepted into the Poke-European Union.
• Anju is based.

Anyway I still can't compete with the person I remember seeing on rebornevo who said World Shatterer is Ame but I did my best.

The consensus of opinions in the mediaand NFL GM’s (shown through the draft) does miss on many players each year. Defaulting to the opinions of rankings and draft capital about players is bound to miss on great players and gas up players that ultimately fail. Yet year after year, especially after the draft, people seem to fall in line with draft capital and media.
By being unwilling opinions that differ from the consensus and using that consensus as an argument against any differing opinions you guarantee that you fall for every bust and miss every great value pick. It seems like nearly any opinion against consensus will get a lot of pushback in comments here despite the NFL surprising us every year.
How can we cut through the noise?
One of the best ways is through advanced analytics. Here is college career Target rate vs Yards per route run. Notice anything? Please know that no stat can perfectly predict player success but they should make you ask questions and delve into the reasons behind them. Why was Puka drafted in the 5th round despite being generationally efficient? Why was Xavier Legette drafted in round 1 despite having similar efficiency to Jonathan Mingo? Why are Adonai Mitchell and Brian Thomas Jr so inefficient?
It’s important to not jump to quick conclusions. You might think that Worthy and Nabers presences negatively effected Mitchell and Thomas. Why then did Mitchell only have 5 career 100+ yard games and Thomas do mostly nothing until his final season while Nabers produced very well despite having multiple years of Jayden Daniels? If Nabers and Worthy’s presences are an excuse for such bad efficiency, are Nabers and Worthy just that much massively better than Thomas and Mitchell? One explanation of them being drafted so high is that they could be better for a real football team than they are for fantasy. Deep threats are still valued for opening up the offense for other playmakers. Legette, Thomas Jr. and Mitchell all possess great speed but have red flags in their production profiles. This would imply that their being drafted is actually more of a benefit to the entire offense and the other WRs on the team. Following this logic, Diontae Johnson (one of the best separators in the league), Christian Kirk (does extremely well when given enough targets) and Michael Pittman (fantastic possession WR) would get boosts, and we already know that they’re excellent and well established receivers.
The narrative of “first round = probably good player for fantasy” ignores a lot of valuable information. It’s very important to consider any information that can give you an edge, and pushback against that information can actually be to your advantage!

[Based on another plot and inspired by a game from my favourite franchise. All characters are 18+ F4A]
After the tragic passing of your parents you were taken in by one of the high ranking soldiers. He looked after you, alongside another, and you saw him grow his wealth. Wealth was all the man needed to build up a family at home and that was what he did
A few years after taking you in he had a daughter. His precious little daughter with a curse that would haunt her for the rest of her life. From the moment the girl was born she was in danger and targeted by many groups. Some wanted to kill her and some wanted to use her for the key that she possessed in her heart. After realising this: the man had trained you up in the arts of combat to make you the best agent that he had! Though you still failed to be his number one agent. Your 'brother' was always one step ahead of you. He could figure out ways to handicap almost anyone.. hacking their security and taking over everything that they had. Instead of you, he was put up to protect the bosses daughter and you were made to become the bosses mercenary, taking care of any threats that could possibly cause harm or damage to him and his family.
Although soon that would all change.
One night the daughter and her best friend had gone out for a party.. just for a bit of fun. But when the morning came the daughter and her protector was no where to be seen. After reviewing the footage, the boss found that his daughter had been kidnapped by her own protector and now she was far away from home. Finding out this information the boss was cruel and harsh to anyone that could not find the location of his daughter, firing them on the spot. After a few days of searching where she could be, a woman had found a hint of where she could be.. This woman was your navigator, the woman who had helped you on your mercenary missions since day one; since the two of you were tied and bond together as a good pair the big boss sent you to go and save his daughter. You needed to be quick. The boss wanted his daughter back home safely no matter the cost or casualties..
I am semi lit - literature and I roleplay in 3rd person. I do not accept Irl face claims. I am from the UK and might not be able to answer instantly either because I am asleep or busy!
If you have any questions then please dm to ask away!

1. Gaming Addiction:
   
   • Prompt: Immersed in the glow of a screen, explore the life of a protagonist entangled in the grips of gaming addiction, examining the blurred boundaries between virtual and real-life, the thrill of escapism, and the consequences of losing oneself in the digital realm.
2. Shopping Addiction:
   
   • Prompt: In the flickering lights of a shopping mall, delve into the world of compulsive shopping, unraveling the protagonist's inner monologue as they navigate the thrill of purchases, the fleeting highs, and the mounting consequences of accumulating material possessions.
3. Perfectionism:
   
   • Prompt: Amidst the meticulously arranged spaces, explore the life of a perfectionist, delving into the protagonist's constant pursuit of flawlessness, the fear of failure, and the toll exacted by the relentless standards they impose on themselves.
4. Exercise Addiction:
   
   • Prompt: In the rhythmic pounding of footsteps, examine the life of a character ensnared by exercise addiction, navigating the fine line between a healthy lifestyle and the perilous journey into compulsive physical activity, exposing the internal dialogue of control, obsession, and the pursuit of an elusive ideal.
5. Internet Trolling:
   
   • Prompt: Within the anonymity of a virtual world, explore the psyche of an internet troll, unraveling the motivations behind their aggressive online behavior, the desire for reactions, and the blurred boundaries between digital antagonism and the real-world consequences of their actions.
6. Extreme Minimalism:
   
   • Prompt: Amidst the stark simplicity of a minimalist living space, delve into the protagonist's contemplation before empty spaces, exploring the narrative of extreme minimalism, the desire for simplicity, and the silent struggles with emotional attachments and the yearning for a clutter-free existence.
7. Gaming Loot Box Addiction:
   
   • Prompt: As the protagonist clicks through virtual loot boxes, explore the allure of in-game purchases, the thrill of virtual rewards, and the blurred boundaries between gaming for enjoyment and the risks of developing addictive spending habits, exposing the complexities of impulsive digital transactions.
8. News Addiction:
   
   • Prompt: In the constant hum of a news cycle, explore the protagonist's contemplation, revealing the narrative of news addiction, the desire for information, and the blurred boundaries between staying informed and the risks of being consumed by the relentless stream of global events.
9. Anger Addiction:
   
   • Prompt: In the heat of confrontation, delve into the inner monologue of a character grappling with the complexities of anger addiction, exposing the narrative of habitual aggression, the desire for dominance, and the toll it takes on relationships and mental well-being.
10. Religious Zealotry:
    
    • Prompt: Amidst fervent prayers, explore the contemplation of a character immersed in the world of religious zealotry, laying bare the narrative of extreme devotion, the intolerance of differing beliefs, and the internal conflict between faith and the risks of becoming dogmatic.

STYLE Protocol is here to make their vision a reality. This innovative system allows players to seamless integrate their prized possessions from one game to another, eliminating the frustrations of starting over with each new game.
Central to this ecosystem is the STYLE Token, your golden ticket to endless possibilities. These tokens elevate you from player to creator, enabling you to craft unique items and share them with the gaming community. Your creations can enhance the gaming experience for others, adding a personal touch to the virtual universe and making you a key contributor to the gaming world.
STYLE Protocol's capabilities extend beyond items. It brings your 3D characters to life across different games. If you've designed a character you're proud of, STYLE Protocol lets you showcase it in multiple games, allowing your creativity to shine wherever you go. This cross-game character integration ensures that your unique style is always on display.
Fairness and fun are at the heart of STYLE Protocol.Designed as the ultimate gaming party where everyone's invited, the protocol rewards contributions such as community assistance, innovative ideas, and collaborative efforts. This ensures everyone has a chance to join in the excitement and benefits from the shared success.
STYLE Protocol revolutionizes the concept of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by transforming them into dynamic, 3D assets that transcend the boundaries of individual games and virtual environments. Imagine owning a coveted item in one game and seamlessly deploying it in another, or transforming your favorite NFT into a living, breathing character. With STYLE Protocol, such feats are within reach, ushering in an era of true interoperability in gaming.
Through its meticulously designed infrastructure, STYLE Protocol enables NFTs to become multi-world assets, bridging across various blockchains and virtual realms. This opens up a myriad of opportunities for gamers, including the ability to multiply the value of their prized collectibles across different gaming platforms. For example, a rare in-game item could be rented out as an avatar in another virtual world, unlocking new revenue streams for its owner.
its core, the STYLE Protocol enables the seamless integration of avatars and assets across disparate virtual worlds, allowing users to transcend boundaries and experience true asset interoperability like never before.
Web https://www.protocol.style/

[Recruiting] [Code: WS99DBXP]
[Recruiting] Hello! I have a friend recruitment code for anyone that wants one. It's valid for anyone that has bought the full game, but has not yet started paying their subscription. If you're still in the 1 month subscription grace period, you're still good to go!
How To register a friend code:
Create a Square Enix account if you haven't already. Log into your Mog Station (http://sqex.to/Msp) Click on "Manage Service Options" Click on "Enter Recruitment Code" Use the code you will recive
• Friendship Circlet Increases EXP earned by 20% when level 25 and below.
• Aetheryte Ticket x 99 Players in possession of an aetheryte ticket when using Teleport will not incur a gil fee.
• Ballroom Etiquette - Improper Greetings Using this will unlock a new emote. Fist Bump (/fistbump, /brofist)
• 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers Trade to the Calamity Salvager NPC for special items. The Calamity Salvager NPC can be found in Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, or Ul'dah.

Efficiency is the one of the most important components of the fast-moving sector which deals with interior design. Those quality standards that save time are secrets that can be likened to a special kind of flavor that aids designers in simplifying their workflows and producing impressive results in terms of both beauty and functionality. They are essentially a set of different tricks which are traits that successful designers are known to possess which help them to be ahead of their game.
A great way to save time is having a neat arrangement of design tools. These comprise standardized furniture layouts and predetermined color palettes. When you have such data at hand, it allows for shorter periods of indecision among them that can be put towards creating what they imagine.
Yet another notable characteristic of Time Saver Standards is effective project management. Involves creating definite deadlines, delegating duties properly, and using technology to ease communication and collaboration. The designer can minimize unnecessary stoppages by keeping updated and avoiding disorganization of activities.
Another application of technology is that it can increase the speed at which designs are done. The way that design is done has changed thanks to modern technologies that range from tools for virtual reality which help designers to see spaces in 3D more accurately than ever and tools for 3D modeling software which helps in making quick corrections. This not only saves time but also ensures that clients have already seen what the final construction plan will look like.
Time-Saver Standards focus on how important adaptability and flexibility are. But time moves quickly and our understanding might be different tomorrow so we have to be like water. Designers have to keep themselves quick to adopt new trends and changes in end-user needs without being too rigid in their thinking or process because if they don’t, they may lose customers. What helps creatives stay in touch with what’s happening now? This enables them to face competition and meet demands from customers by creating new and interesting designs every time.
To sum up, Time-Saver Standards are capable of revolutionizing interior designers' work by improving productivity without sacrificing excellence. By following these directives and adapting to present-day technology, the experts reduce distraction, are more concerned about managing time, and bring greater outcomes to the people they work for.

Boston College Boston College @ Wake Forest Wake Forest
Game Start Time: 12:00 PM ET
Location: BB&T Field, Winston-Salem, NC
Watch: ABC
Boston College Boston College

Total Passing Yards	Total Rushing Yards	Total Yards	Interceptions Lost	Fumbles Lost	Field Goals	Time of Possession	Timeouts
204 yards	6 yards	210 yards	3	0	0/0	13:01	3

Wake Forest Wake Forest

Total Passing Yards	Total Rushing Yards	Total Yards	Interceptions Lost	Fumbles Lost	Field Goals	Time of Possession	Timeouts
368 yards	-6 yards	362 yards	0	0	1/1	14:34	3

Drive Summary
away for 12 yards in 70 seconds ending in punt
home for 43 yards in 65 seconds ending in turnover
away for 60 yards in 115 seconds ending in touchdown
home for 64 yards in 105 seconds ending in field_goal
away for 37 yards in 189 seconds ending in turnover
home for 7 yards in 65 seconds ending in punt
away for 70 yards in 22 seconds ending in touchdown
home for 27 yards in 87 seconds ending in turnover
away for -9 yards in 42 seconds ending in punt
home for 18 yards in 15 seconds ending in end_half
home for 80 yards in 191 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 20 yards in 115 seconds ending in punt
home for 85 yards in 90 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 12 yards in 80 seconds ending in punt
home for 15 yards in 86 seconds ending in punt
away for 8 yards in 62 seconds ending in turnover
away for 30 yards in 14 seconds ending in touchdown
away for 0 yards in 15 seconds ending in turnover

Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Wake Forest	3	0	14	7	24
Boston College	7	7	0	0	14

Game thread
Plays

Game complete, Wake Forest wins!

WARNING: this rant is completely unhinged and should not affect your opinion on anything. If this rant does affect your opinions on anything than please relocate yourself to the nearest rant-ward for immediate psychological evaluation, treatment and/or termination as required. Read at your own risk!
 
So someone has wished upon the monkeys paw and brought in a new wave of hero shooters suffocating the market in the near future. The recently leaked Deadlocked by everyone's favorite neglectful parent Valve is one of those new Hero shooters. Now I don't think the game is gonna bad per say, but I don't see it being the block-busters CS and TF2. I can sum up why I think this in four words, It's not Pass-time. Now what possessed me to say this? What does a niche, failed game mode from a third part developer have anything to do with a Pre-alpha game cursed with unflattering leaked screenshots? It all comes to the difference in the risk they take and innovation they bring.
 
Just look at Deadlock and tell me it's risky and innovative, go ahead, show me how acrobatic your mind is and perform me some mental gymnastics! Releasing a bog standard third person hero shooter moba is risky, like trying to sell weed to a devout crack addict, and the grand innovation of stealing the grind rails from Scaler (the source of all scallies) and lining them along lanes is something at-least.
Is this all the risk they are willing to take? From a company like Valve that has been consistently trying to push the industry forward for years have this as their next big IP? Why is it so safe? I expect something this bland from Netease but here they are making something that's at the absolute bare minimum has something interesting with team up attacks and character kits. None of the characters in Deadlock look half as interesting as the licensed capeshit from a mobile developer!
Not to get too deep into hypotheticals (Yet) but for fuck sake, Valve are the developers of one of the most successful VR titles ever, they could of made this a one of a kind VR hero-shooter for the Valve Deckard but they didn't. What we currently know is that Deadlock is as bog standard as they come.
 
So lets finally talk about Pass-time. It's one of the weirdest modes you could think of. A high stakes game of rugby where two teams of nine classes have to chuck a ball into the enemy teams goal using nothing but teamwork and some filthy as guns they found on the floor.
Pass time is unique but heavily flawed. It needs team coordination in a game that barely has any and it's only really balanced with only 3 of the 9 classes on a very specific format. Basically it was an undercooked blend of so many different kinds of ideas that never got to shine in tf2, but it is a FUN mode. It took a risk by bringing something completely new to an old ass game and while it doesn't click with the general player base it does leave an impression.
 
If Pass-time was allowed to be innovated upon in a new context, free from the constraints tf2 had than it could be really special. You see where I'm going with this.
Valve was in a unique position to take an experiment from their past and turn into something great. Instead of another generic hero shooter we could of a gotten a cool sportsball shooter where every hero is not just fighting the enemy team but using their abilities to take upon unique roles. You won't find a "Goalie" character in overwatch nor a support that can empower a ball to give the carrier super jumps or make the ball explode with an enemy tries to intercept.
You could do so much with the concept! You could have a guy with portals that give both the ball and team mates new ways to traverse, a gal that turns the ball into a hockey puck that can only be slid across the ground by damage sources and uses ice to influence it's friction. One guy could make ziplines the ball can be thrown onto or a gal who can move it and other objects with a gravity gun. A guy who sends the ball flying, a gal who turns the ball into a deadly game of hot potato, a rat who possesses the ball and rolls around like wrecking ball, a guy who shoots the ball like can arrow, a guy who gives the ball extra bouncy properties, a gal who specializes in intercepting the ball and picking off the ball carriers, a big dumb idiot who can barely handle a ball but is really good at fighting, a girl who may never touch the ball but receives buff by being near the ball carrier, you could have a dragon that sets the ball on fire causing it hop around like it's a corn kernel ready to pop.
 
I can go on and on with ideas and hypotheticals for a dedicated Pass-time and that is my point. There is SO MUCH potential in a game dedicated to Pass-time. Valve could of been making something just as interesting and revolutionary but they aren't and most likely won't ever try to. Deadlock doesn't feel like a game made with valves usual desire for innovation nor any sense of real risk taking. The Valve that are making Deadlock aren't the Valve that allowed (not created mind you) Pass-time to exist in the first place. The Valve that radically changed TF2 into one of the greatest multiplayer games of all time. I'm not even sure the Valve that gave us Half-life Alyx is still there. I can only hope I am wrong about everything and that Deadlock can Exceed my low expectations.
 
Warning: If you are reading this message and therefore perceive this text, it's too late for you. The infection has already spread to your cerebral cortex and will overtake your mind. Control unit 451 is on route to terminate the hollow vessel you'll become in T-minus 5 minutes.