Ask Lemmy

I have a Tesla that, for financial reasons, I can't get out of for another couple few months and while it is one of my favorite cars I've ever driven (and I've driven many), I can no longer enjoy driving it because Musk is a piece of shit that deserves cancer. Looking at Lucid and Rivian now.

I also used to believe America was a great country, but in my late 20s started to realize it's bullshit (I'm in my 40s now). It was kind of a sad realization and it has only gotten worse since then.

I also used to believe more in people and their ability for empathy and, if presented the facts, they'd ultimately make good decisions. I now believe people are generally selfish and narcissistic, and that most don't give a shit about facts and live entirely on off-the-cuff emotion. It doesn't stop me from caring and trying to help (some) of them, but it's definitely made me more wary and paranoid.

"Get a college degree and the world will be your oyster"

"Put in those extra hours/days/years, do more than the people around you, and it will payoff"

Twitter/Reddit.

I was all in. Quit Twitter around 2015 when it started getting ultra toxic. Quit Reddit when 3rd party apps were killed.

I’m really glad I couldn’t afford a Tesla back when the Model 3 came out because I probably would’ve bought one.

Things I actually fell for… mostly video games, but it’s not the end of the world. Mostly it made me much more discerning with new purchases.

Ctr +f "cybertruck": 0 results

Good job everybody!

Pretty much anything Elon Musk. I used to be an Elon Musk fangirl up until 2018, then each successive year was like the cutscene of Crash Bandicoot having all the boxes he's missed falling on his head.

Spore :(

Everytime I see it in my library, i feel a little sad.

I’m flopping what someone else said and goin with: buying a home in 2008. “Build equity! Stop renting”

Then the economy collapsed, I lost my job, moved to California for work after listing my house, could not afford Bay Area rent AND my mortgage, and the house got foreclosed on.

Fuck Chase fuck banks fuck the economy.

I pre-ordered No Man's Sky -_-

Now, they've done WAY more than any of us thought to make things right; but at the time of release, NMS was probably the single most egregious example of false advertising to hit the gaming industry, ever. Or at least within a comparable scope of visibility to the gaming community.

It wasn't just not living up to the hype; it was purchasing a brand new Lamborghini, and receiving 2003 Honda Civic.

And no they didn't just bite off more than they could chew - they knew what they had created; and proceeded to show demos and make promises that amounted to a completely different product. We were scammed.

...and then I guess their conscious got the better of them, cuz rather than disbanding their studio and laughing all the way to the bank like we all expected them to, they spent years at least trying to make look like the product they promised. So, credit where it's due. But still lesson learned: never preorder a game, no matter how good the demos looks, no matter how charming their spokespeople are, no matter how closely the product they're pitching aligns with your specific niche interests: assume it's all complete bullshit until you've seen some gameplay posted by real people.

"Spore." That video with Wil Wright showing it off was incredible. Ordered it from Amazon. CD key was no good. EA didn't give two shits. After over a week of dealing with them via support tickets and calls, I gave up and just returned it.

Meanwhile, my friend pirated it, played through the whole thing, and said it was just ok.

Doing a PhD. One more year and then I’m free again…

KSP2

Can't get it refunded now

That's definitely a lesson

Many people commuting in the Bay Area… “My Telsa.”

Music. Way too many albums are that one decent song you hear on the radio and 38 minutes of filler shite, and you could never take it back to the shop to get a refund for being full of shite. So all my music is pirated first, purchased second, and anyone that objects to this is basically admitting that their industry is based on selling shite that can't be refunded.

Tasmanian devil ankle tattoo.

Fuck, I know alright? It was 93 and I was barely 16

I once got a ouya.

3D printer (FFF).

Didn't start out too bad. I knew I was having issues but tried an upgrade I shouldn't have done (because complexity). Upgrade was mostly done too, issue was fan wiring/firmware. I stopped with it there many years ago, so now it's all dusty.

On top of all the variables/tuning/test prints, equipment/material cost etc. I also just don't want to sell anything like I once thought I might.

america

I never fall for hype, never pre-order. life is good

Foam mattress promising to be extra firm. It arrived in a convenient little roll, but 6 months later, it is absolute shit. Fell for the marketing and now my back is paying for it.

Not stuck anymore but I was for like a month. I bought Pretty Litter cause multiple drag queens I liked told me to do so. That is the worst goddamn litter I have EVER used in my life. The smell was horrendous, the dust was so so bad I actually couldn't even be in the next room when my partner did the litter because of my allergies, and our house looked like a fucking beach. Fuck those people. (And shame on me for falling for goddamn ads)

Stalker 2.

I didnt just buy the game once, I paid for a "collectors edition" with a bunch of physical merch that I wont see until may or june. and even briefly volunteered to be a community mod. sifting through waves of hateful filth from hostile actors within the "community". there is a LOT of Russian incited hatred against the game because of the fact the game was Ukrainian

I got incredibly hyped for the game because I had been waiting for it since the late 2000s. watched it die and come back from the dead, and it looked awesome.

the sad reality was that it needed more time in the oven, and I dont think they had a choice. I think they were forced to release it in the state that it was because they couldnt afford another year of no sales and surviving off investors and pre-orders. so what we got was like a 7/10 and it needs a lot more work.

and the political situation in their country where as many as 1/3 of the staff still live and work, is tenious by the day, they are absolutely fighting World War III over there. and some countries are trying to stab them in the back, telling them to just go surrender and get murdered..

Renting. An inescapable financial burden.

CGPgrey's AI and his self driving cars videos.

Definitely made some poor choices in life due to these that I could scream into a pillow. The future is always unpredictable, and while behind the scenes I'm sure a lot happened to improve both of these technologies, more than a decade later the use cases of both are still the same - grifting investors.

GTAV, sure the online portion was fun for a while, but it quickly devolved into a money sink.

At my lowest I bought shark cards for thousands of SEK every month, and it got clear that the devs had built the game to require an insane ammount of effort to gather enough money to enjoy it properly.

I quit cold turkey and am still ashamed that it is my most played game in steam

Apple Vision Pro. It’s an amazing technical achievement. But they should be pushing out tons of immersive content to keep it interesting. It’s otherwise a great tech demo that isn’t ready for prime time. This might be different if I traveled a lot, but I stay home mostly and just use my Mac.

I pre-ordered Brink.

Crypto. I didn’t spent a ton, but I didn’t make a ton either. I’m net up now but it’s so stupid.

I made 2K on Doge a few years ago, but ever since I’m just sitting on it. It’s not a loss unless you sell.

Maybe Linux, too lazy to swap back to windows, a lot of random stuff doesnt work or is super annoying to get working, like a material library addon I use for Blender doesn't work for linux apparently (sanctus) and makes it so I cant render with any light in the scene so its not just the menu but the materials themselves. I was hoping at least blender would work, already had to stop pirating houdini and I couldnt get the free version to work either.

All games have been fine, but I dont just game anymore, I like making stuff and playing with 3d tools.

At least embergen seems to work, so I might transition to jangafx over houdini, can buy it monthly and I spend way too much time learning houdini (its fun af) when im likely never making money off this hobby. (cant justify 300$ a year or 2500 perpetual rnow, its an insanely fun simulation toy so it honestly might be worth that, even not making money off it) Its just annoying, I've spent too much time learning it, my brains crammed with Houdini specific information.

An Indigogo electric bike campaign... 10 years ago. It was a scam and I lost a lot of money. Subsequently I have built 5 e-bikes on my own and do not regret it, they are wonderful. But, no crowd-funding for me, ever again. Also, I am anti pre-ordering anything in general.

Not that it was particularly hyped but I bought PS4 back in the day and just never really used it. My SO has uses it to watch netflix occasionally but that's pretty much it. The most useless purchase I've ever made.