As someone who has kids and would be affected, I *still* think we should be on Atlantic, or permanent DST.
Because *reconfiguring our entire society's concept of time twice per year* does NOT strike me as a more reasonable solution than "starting school an hour later in winter".
(*) = About which I still don't have a strongly-held opinion, but the bounds and nature of my uncertainty are much more clearly defined.
Yeah, I think your policy of "sell + use the proceeds to get other games to review" is different on some level - at least to my eyes - than selling for pocket money(*)?
It does well by review-watchers, cash-strapped publishers, you, and whomever bought from you.
Lastly, apologies for thinking out loud in your feed - I realized 2/3 of the through I probably should have put it in my own. It's an issue that's abstract to many folks but *extremely* non-abstract and consequential to you.
Thanks for not shutting me down.
7/7
But that ties into "how people in the industry see themselves and the industry", which is a *third* hot-button topic to add to "people's views on ethics" and "how people manage to pay their bills".
Little wonder this online discussion has blown up.
6/7
And I have to admit that there *are* definitely fields where the bright-line view on ethics around gifts makes immense sense to me. (I sure wish it applied to our Supreme Court justices.)
I'm not sure I'm convinced board games is one of them?
5/?
I don't think I've seen anyone argue that reviewers should destroy review copies post-review so they can't have the pleasure of playing again, but that's an implicit reward, too!
I suspect that's because there's a bright line between "enjoy the game" and "earn money".
4/?
At heart, I think the "selling without disclosure isn't OK" argument is about ethical bright lines: if not drawing the line at "any money", where *is* the line?
Whereas "WTF, how is this a problem?" is a more practical-results-oriented stance: is it actually *likely* to promote bad beavhior?
3/?
At the same time, if they sold for, I dunno, $50,000, I would absolutely see a structural/ethical problem with selling them and not disclosing - then the game itself is a form of payment, and "paid review without disclosure" doesn't sit well.
So I see where that argument's coming from? But. 2/?
I definitely don't think your channel is unethical. I *do* wonder, in a general sense, about the ethics of selling copies received for review.
Practically, I think it's broadly unlikely to incentivize poor behavior, because the amount of money an aftermarket game sells for isn't all that much. 1/?
(My primary joys in game design are most often systems design, worldbuilding, and seeing people who aren't me interacting with and enjoying those things I've made, conjuring a living experience out of cardboard, formalisms, and art.)
I find the arts-and-crafts aspect more fun/satisfying when making something I haven't made a zillion times. So, the first time I prototyped custom dice or tiles was absolutely delightful! But cutting out prototype cards I've done so much of, it's now just... a task, mildly dull.
Which is *not* to say that the answer for freelancers is "stop freelancing and find a salaried position".
Just that I suspect some % of that overhead comes inevitably with freelancing, and I'm not sure how one might try to change the industry ecosystem to avoid it.
My impression - take with a grain of salt - is that for just focusing on the design, "a salaried position at a game company" is probably a better bet than being an independent designer (which carries the sort of communication-and-publicity overhead common to most freelancers)?
Last I heard, Knizia had an agent - but he's an extremely high-profile designer, and he's been in the industry long enough that the professional relationship might well date from the days when having an agent was more normal. Plus, my info is at least half a decade old.
...sheesh, if he'd been clearer that he meant "GenAI can generate game *ideas*", my eyebrow would have raised just as much, but for very different reasons. 🤨
I can understand a desire to alert people to how startlingly quickly GenAI is improving. I don't think his method of doing so was helpful.
This compare-contrast post is *tremendously* topical, an excellently thoughtful read, and a useful reminder of some non-obvious truths. acoup.blog/2026/02/13/c...
More respect to the people of MN than I know how to convey in words.
We're live folks!
#TTRPG #NativeSky #RPG #Gaming #tabletop #roleplaying #IndigenousFuturism
www.kickstarter.com/projects/coy...
I had someone point me at www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXVq..., which is a take vastly better-informed than my own on what folks in the military are / aren't likely to do in the current political situation. I found it useful, don't know if others might as well?
That sounds immensely rough.
Just as courage is not the absence of fear, but "acting well despite fear"; integrity is not the absence of feeling tempted, but "acting well despite feeling tempted".
FWIW, "why did it take so long" didn't occur to me at all. 6 weeks seems *fast*, given everything.
We gave this to family for Xmas, and they were *delighted* by it. They briefly tried rationing the moments so the book would last, but ultimately couldn't stop going back to it to be charmed again + again. 🙂
Brandon's ultimate point is absolutely 100% supported by my experience, in ways I never would have imagined in 2012.
(You can jump to 13:00 for the 3-minute version, or to 15:00 for the 1-minute version, but the full speech does give a lot more grounding, context, & momentum.)
As opposed to the Wizard of Oz!
Or for a less serious answer: I'd rather be called Average than Mean. ;)
If I imagine that, I instinctively think of the name as applying to *me*, because that's how names like Faith and Hope and Sin-no-more work in US culture.
But the audio mentions that in Zimbabwe, the names are often related to the lived experience of the *parents*, which has a whole different spin!
I always enjoy @99pi.org, and their recent look at how some *really* neat Zimbabwean names have roots in post-colonial reclamation seemed like something folks might be interested in.
99percentinvisible.org/episode/657-... for best reading, podcastaddict.com/99-invisible... for best listening.
Personally, no, but I think you're a member of the TTGDA – maybe ask on the Discord? I've seen people get answers to similar questions there, sometimes.
No worries! - I'm delighted you're getting to try out the released version!
(Jumping in on the heavy side, too, with expansion stuff in your first game...)
Dunno about other folks, but the most common reason for me is that a beverage is hot, and the aeration helps. Other reasons are habit (due to needing it for heat often), and comfort from that particular tactile experience of the liquid.
