Gaming HotWheelsVroom • 1 week ago • 100%

FlatOut: A great introduction to the chaotic demolition derby racer. This game laid the groundwork for the entire series and it feels wrong to deny its place in gaming history. This is more of a test of the destruction physics, a tech demo, if you will, with racing elements. But, this is still a great game regardless. The handling is great, it feels fun to control, and the destruction physics are amazing for 2004. It is such a simple intro, but what an intro it is. FlatOut truly revolutionized the racing game genre with its destruction physics engine. For 2004, this was state-of-the-art, and it still is to this day. This game is, without a doubt, a true technological feat in racing games, and gaming in general. Definitely a game you should pick up and play. This is where FlatOut got its start, and it is an absolute gem to play. While not the best game in the series, it is a great introduction to the chaotic nature of the series. I got this for free on GOG during Valentine's Day, and it was an amazing experience. I loved FlatOut, and GOG were absolute chads for giving this game away for free. The best element of the game has to be the fact you can fly through the windshield if your car accures too much damage. This is an easy 8/10. Definitely pick this one up. FlatOut 2: ABSOLUTE PERFECTION. THIS is, without a doubt, the BEST game of the entire series, bar none. This is where the series hit its peak. There is a huge sense of speed, and that destruction engine is just... mwah, chef's kiss. This is a game for everyone who thinks that 'crash test dummy' should be a career choice. Wrecking into opponents and causing obscene crashes that feel borderline impossible in real life utterly satisfies me. Not to mention the handling, every vehicle feels so different but each of them feel perfect to control. You are very likely to oversteer on some vehicles, too. And, this is the first game of the series to include Nitrous. If you are in the air for a certain amount of time, or wreck into your opposition, you earn Nitrous, which allows you to quickly pick up insanely high speeds. The damage model of this game is, without a doubt, the best of the whole series. When I first played this, I instantly fell in love with it. I literally was yelling at the AI drivers like a madman, in a good way. I have never experienced this kind of feeling since I played Burnout 3: Takedown. Without a doubt, the best game of the whole series. THIS is what an arcade racer should feel like: chaotic and fun to play. The best part of the damage model is the improved version of flying through the windshield from the first FlatOut game. It's honestly a better version than in the first FlatOut. And that scream? Absolutely hilarious, one of the funniest parts of the game. This game is seriously on par with how much fun Burnout 3: Takedown was. It is always so much dumb fun to just wreck into your opposition and do insane crashes in whichever way you can. One time during a race, an AI driver flew over me with incredible height, and crashed right into a silo connected to a nearby barn on the other side. The car went absolutely nuts, rolled over several times before landing on its side, and the driver flew out of the windshield with incredible distance. I had to swerve out of the way to avoid getting hit, it was a moment that truly never could have happened in any modern racing game. Another time during that same race that silo crash happened in, I rammed into an AI opponent that was in first place from the car's backside, and in doing so, took both me and him off course. I then slammed into the side of his car, used my Nitrous, took both him and me back on the track by sliding his car across the grass while boosting, and then spun him out, taking me from second place to first place, and ultimately winning me the entire race. Another one that happened during that same race was that I was dragging an AI opponent and sliding his car into a barn by pushing his car on its side just like the AI opponent later on, and in doing so, crashed him into wood, sent him back several places, and severely damaged his car. It was so satisfying. It is literally just as fun as Burnout 3 is, and that's truly saying something. This is truly one of the all-time greatest racing games ever made, one of the greatest games ever made, and one of my all-time favorites, it truly falls under the Holy Trifecta. FlatOut 2 is an absolute must-play for anyone who loves arcade racing games, or racing games in general. This one gets a well-deserved 9.5/10. Truly one of the greats. How the heck do you top literal perfection? This one is truly unbeatable, no future entry can and will ever be able to top this. Might even be the Gold Standard. Who cares, though? Get it! It's worth it! FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage: A great sequel to one of the greats, FlatOut 2. It honestly feels like DLC for FlatOut 2, kinda similar to how Burnout Revenge feels like DLC for Burnout 3. Is it better than FlatOut 2? In my opinion, no. But not by a long shot, either. The graphics are very sleek and polished, a little bit more than its predecessor. The tracks are also very fun to race around in, handling is still excellent, and the damage model for the cars is still amazing. But, the reason I feel that Ultimate Carnage is knocked down a peg or two for me, personally, is because it just feels more or less the same with updated graphics. It didn't have that big leap that FlatOut 2 did. In FlatOut 2, new mechanics were introduced, like Nitrous. But, Ultimate Carnage is just FlatOut 2 with a new coat of paint to make it fresh. No, I am NOT saying it is a bad game, far from it, in fact. But, I don't feel the same way I do for FlatOut 2, since FlatOut 2 revolutionized the entire series with changing the series into an arcade racer and adding useful mechanics. It is just nothing more than a great sequel in my eyes. But, it doesn't have that technological leap its predecessor did. Either way, pick this one up, it is a great game and you should absolutely check it out. Great game, gets a 9/10. Beautiful and very fun to play. Get it. FlatOut 3: Chaos & Destruction: Easily the WORST game of the entire series. Bugbear handed the rights to FlatOut off to a entirely different studio, Team 6, so Bugbear could work on a different IP. And by God, this game is a complete train wreck. FlatOut 3 is, 100%, an absolute downgrade from Ultimate Carnage in every single respect. Actually, scratch that. It is arguably one of the worst RACING games ever made. The racing, which is one of the main focuses of the entire game, feels bland and uninspired. It actually feels boring to play, especially when the cars don't have the best handling, and in this game, they do not. They feel incredibly sluggish to control. Also, the puns and pop culture references when you select your character are flat-out painful to see. Some of them actually make me cringe just looking at them. The "Speed" mode where you race F1 cars isn't good, either, since there are, most of the times, uphills before sudden turns without warning, and the F1 cars control even worse than the cars from the main races. And this game is a buggy mess, too. Damage is almost NEVER calculated properly like in previous titles, and instead of your character flying through the windshield in certain crashes, they instead just get Thanos snapped out of existence. The AI is either brutally unfair as they can just get unnaturally fast and keep up with you to win races, or are absolutely braindead and don't know where they're at. And right from the get-go, the game's difficulty is absurdly high, even on the literal TUTORIAL race. The game's so broken as well, you can literally glitch through the terrain. Well, say goodbye to that car, it's heading to the Backrooms now. The WORST and most BROKEN physics, horrible AI that's either stupid or unbeatable, a laughably bad damage model, corny jokes, and the single-handedly WORST handling of any racing game I have ever played. FlatOut 3 is, without a doubt, THE worst game to come out of the entire series, and it completely ruined the series' reputation up to that point. Keep in mind, this game came out in 2011. You think they would learn from Ultimate Carnage and FlatOut 2. Nope! Far from it. Do NOT buy this, buy any of the previous games instead, you will enjoy them much more. I am sorry, but this... this gets a 2/10. Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Do not pick it up even if it is free. It is a waste of time, even if it is on sale, and it is just one of the worst racing games I've ever played. It's at least not The Day Before material where the entire game was a scam. But... horrible nonetheless. Avoid this game at all costs. FlatOut 4: Total Insanity: A mediocre game that is FAR better than FlatOut 3. It's not good, it's not bad, it's just... mid. It doesn't have the same charm of any of the FlatOut games prior to FlatOut 3. The graphics, yes, are beautiful, but where is the fun, chaotic nature of the previous entries? Damage model is okay, but nothing to take home about. Car handling? It's alright, could be better. But it's seriously lacking in one MAJOR department: fun. The fun was had in the chaos. The ludicrous speeds. The crazy crashes and wrecks. While it is a massive and major improvement over FlatOut 3, it is nothing compared to any of the games in the series before FlatOut 3. It's just a mediocre racing game. There is nothing special about it. It's an alright game, but compared to FlatOut 2 and Ultimate Carnage, it's a massive downgrade and not an upgrade. If it were anything like FlatOut 2 or Ultimate Carnage, I would so be behind it. But, once again, different developer, this time, Kylotonn. My honest viewpoint for this game is to wait for it to go on sale. It's a mediocre racing title. It improved on everything that FlatOut 3 failed in, yes, but it's severely lacking in several departments. I will say that it is at least... a game. Not good, not bad. Just passable. I will give it somewhere between 5/10 to a 6/10. I would say a 5.5/10. It seriously needs some work. If this game was just as fun as previous titles, it would have a much higher score. It's just okay, that's all I have to say about it. I don't have anything else to add about FlatOut 4. I'd recommend you wait for a sale before you pick this one up. Wreckfest: Okay, this is a great return to Bugbear's roots! I remember when this game was first being teased and it had the working title of Next Car Game and had that amazing and fun tech demo full with random crap inside of it. That tech demo is an amazing experience, an absolutely incredible and fun physics playground. I had so much fun messing around in that tech demo when it was first released at the end of 2013. It's a core memory. One of the most nostalgic demos I have ever played. But, Wreckfest as a whole is a great return to form for the developer Bugbear. This truly feels like a spiritual successor to FlatOut. The damage model is one of the best I have seen, and the cars feel great to handle and drive. The graphics? Absolutely gorgeous. The whole game truly feels like FlatOut 5. All of the little teeny tiny parts that come off of the car as it gets damaged is just so mesmerizing to watch and look at. Especially in that stupidly fun tech demo. This is everything that Team 6 wishes that FlatOut 3 could've been and then some. While it is a different game series entirely, it truly feels like a new entry in FlatOut. The tracks are great, and the demolition derby mode is a fun display of metal on metal mayhem. I could even say that this game is FlatOut 2.5. It brings back all of the fun of FlatOut 2 and completely modernizes and revamps it. But, there is one thing that this game lacks that unfortunately has to make me knock it down a peg, and that is the fact it just feels like... well, that - just a demolition derby racing game. A great game, absolutely, don't get me wrong. But it just feels like it has a little less of that arcadey-like feel that FlatOut 2 had. That's what made FlatOut 2 my personal favorite entry. Either way, Wreckfest is everything that FlatOut 3 should have been. It is kinda disappointing that FlatOut 3 went in the direction that it did, but by God, Wreckfest absolutely crushed it (pun intended) with the return to factor. In my opinion, this gets an 8.5/10. There is always room for improvement, though. But great game regardless! Definitely pick this up, it's absolutely worth the $30 or even at a slight discount.

copypasta HotWheelsVroom • 1 month ago • 100%

Hi. We’re Your Local High-Speed Internet and Cable Provider. Are you looking for a fast, reliable Internet connection? A large selection of your favorite HD-TV channels? With 24/7 access to the best customer support technicians? All at a fair price? # Fuck you. ~You'll take what we give you.~ You’ll have the option of “choosing" from several of our completely unwarranted rip-offs, including Internet speeds up to 200 times slower than Korea, *at twice the price,* TV packages with 500 channels, 90% of which you can’t view, and we guarantee a plethora of hidden fees. Then, our barely-trained technicians will come to install your services somewhere between the hours of 8 AM and 10 PM, knock once while you’re in the shower, and promptly leave. And once we finally do get your service up and running, it'll be down and limping within 3 hours. ***Indefinitely!*** Why, you ask? Simple. We are part of what is called an oligopoly. It's like a monopoly, only *legal*. See, in closed-door meetings with 4 or 5 of the other major providers, we've secretly agreed not to have different prices, allowing us to completely eliminate any competition, and collectively raise our prices to optimum cockbag levels, because we here at Your Local High-Speed Internet and Cable Provider don't believe in customer satisfaction; we believe in *money*. *Pools* of money. Looking for a better deal? You can **obble-gobble down our balls.** You're paying for it. # Your Local High-Speed Internet and Cable Provider. *"You won't like it, and there's no other option!"*

A place to express your frustration HotWheelsVroom • 1 month ago • 100%

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVpXxBp6EIk This ad is **unbelievably** offensive to senior citizens. In the way she is represented, she is literally stereotyping elderly people and it's *SO* disgusting and wrong. This Martha women is literally the Karen in a nutshell, and her acting is horrible and is sometimes **completely** nonexistent. It is insulting and offensive to **all** of the hard-working senior citizens who helped build this country. This ad is basically calling every single elder a Karen. Yes, it's a *fake* Karen, but this does *NOT* excuse the producers of this commercial from being so blatantly offensive and insulting elders. Not even Joe Namath or Jimmie Walker's Medicare commercials sunk this low and insulted elderly people. It was merely just them spewing out crap to promote blatant scams. Martha's ad is a ***WHOLE*** new level of scummy. This ad is literally stereotyping elderly people all across the world and saying that every single one of them are "Karens". It's **HORRIBLE** and **WRONG!** These people dedicated their *lives* to helping build this country to what it is today and all this commercial does is calls them lazy and it wants you to suspend the disbelief that all elders are Karens. That is literally the *whole theming* of this commercial. Hmm, why are elders lazy? **Because they can't do crap for themselves anymore!** Elders literally need help even getting up off of their butts to even move around, and it's not their fault, ***it's a part of life!*** Senior citizens literally helped make this country what it is today, and some of them have even fought in **historical** battles and wars. Calling these people *'lazy'* is really scummy and disgusting! Maybe you might wanna experience actually ***being*** an elder first before you spew out this hateful crap! If anything, this does ***NOT*** encourage the very elderly people that these ads target to call in for Medicare information, it just makes them feel offended and refuse to do business with them. If I was an elder, and I heard this, good job, your ad just made me seal the deal and choose to ***NEVER*** contact you for Medicare info. You make fun of and insult the elders you claim to be for and put an offensive stereotype on them, *then* you want them to contact you for Medicare info? **Disgusting.** You are literally stereotyping elders, which is literally your ***entire goddamn target audience.*** The people who made this ad should be *ashamed* of themselves for being so incredibly offensive to elders and insulting and stereotyping them like this. Literally is the most insulting and offensive Medicare ad of them all. This ad ***needs*** to be pulled for this! Worst Medicare ad of all-time just for insulting elders! Take it off the air. Now.

A place to express your frustration HotWheelsVroom • 1 month ago • 100%

Hello. I am a former Spectrum customer as we ditched Spectrum a while back and switched to Fastwyre Fiber. So far, I have been loving Fastwyre, they have been a joy to work with. A breath of fresh air. But, before that, we were, sadly, a Spectrum customer. And my experience with Spectrum was nothing short of awful. I at some points had constant breakdowns due to Spectrum's horrible and downright dogwater internet service. They were always a pain to deal with and was always the most frustrating ISP we have ever dealt with. They really were a nightmare to deal with on certain days. They seriously pissed me off. As a Charter Communications customer for over 10 years (including Spectrum years), we expected to be treated fairly and had decent if not good speeds. Nope! As soon as they completed the merger with Time Warner Cable and Bright House, it all went to crap. Speeds of our router slowed down gradually over time with no signs of ever stopping. At some point, we were getting less than a quarter of their actual speeds. It was the absolute worst during the pandemic when everyone was needing access to COVID-19 information like info as well as locations to where they could take their vaccines. It slowed down 10x as much. One time, I was trying to watch a Twitch stream on my laptop at the time that since got scrapped. Oh my god, the buffering was atrocious. The stream kept buffering every few minutes or so and it literally made the entire stream unwatchable. It actually, honestly, pissed me off and it made me just leave the stream entirely. I wish I was able to just cancel Spectrum right then and there. That day will never be forgotten in my eyes. Spectrum was just yanking our chains at this point, treating us like complete arse. That day seriously made my blood boil because all I wanted to do is relax and watch a Twitch stream. Absolutely atrocious behavior from Spectrum. In fact, I couldn't even simply browse the internet on certain days without Spectrum deliberately freezing or straight up throttling my traffic. Websites would load like a snail, and sometimes would refuse to load at all. Sometimes, it got so slow that I couldn't access about 99% of websites without being shown the infamous Chrome dino. The fact that I kept seeing that dino on my screen so constantly just proves how inconsistent and unstable their internet is. The internet, at a point, literally got so slow that it iddn't even exceed a single megabyte in speeds. Yep, you heard me. Less than a megabyte both down and up at one point (it hit 0.16 mbps down and 0.02 mpbs up). It is the all-time record for slow Spectrum speeds for me personally. I truly couldn't enjoy my time on the internet with Spectrum due to their inconsistent and crappy speeds. It would get so bad to the point where I would have to use my mobile hotspot pretty much 100% of the time. And oh boy, their Customer Service to us in particular was incredibly unhelpful and quite frankly assholes at times. All we were doing was just explain that our speeds were constantly going down the crapper and all the time the only response that we got was to restart the router/modem and try again. Sometimes, the reps were just assholes and hung up on us. Your customer is trying to get help, and you just hang up the phone on them purely out of spite? Shame on you! Imagine if I was working for an ISP and I just hung the phone up on you without even helping you! You'd be rightfully pissed off! Well, don't do that crap to us! Well, once they did finally get technicians out there, they only made things worse. First one installed a new router that made our internet go out twice as frequently within the first 5 minutes of it being installed, and the other one changed everything on the box outside of our house, and still made it worse. How do you send two tech guys out and have them manage to make our internet worse? In fact, there was one time that our internet was out for a whole 3 hours with no word or ETA from Spectrum. It just went down and we did not get a single word or message from them. Everything went down, the phone, the internet, and the cable. We could not access anything, we could not make calls, we could not go online, and we couldn't even watch TV. Every bit of our Spectrum service was down. We just had to sit there and wait for the braindead employees to get it working again. It would have been nice if we were given a word on if there was an outage or if there was scheduled maintenance for our area. Nope! We couldn't even call them to find out what was going on. We just had to sit there for 3 hours waiting for our service to be restored. It took over 3 hours for them to fix our service, the longest outage we have ever faced. And I know others might not be so lucky. Some of you have outages going on for more than a day. A week. Possibly even a month. Some of you may be really unlucky with a year-long outage, but I don't know. And despite all of that, Spectrum's prices were always outrageously expensive. At one point, the subscription we had to Spectrum Cable literally caused our price to go over $300 on the day our payment was due. Literally. We had to pay that much, and that was the time when we still had the cable portion of our service before we cut cord due to it making our bill insanely expensive. And even when we got rid of Spectrum Cable, our bill for the internet and phone combined still exceeded over $100 per month. We were still expected to pay this much for internet that never worked. And it was like this every month. In fact, it continued to rise every month that we continued to be on Spectrum. We barely had enough left by the end of it. Thanks to my autism check, it was just always barely enough to pay for most of the things we have in our house, like internet and water. So, thankfully, my check managed to keep us from going homeless due to Spectrum's insane prices for poor service. If it weren't for that check keeping us afloat, we'd have been on the streets by now, so I am thankful that check kept us from being evicted.. And speaking of Spectrum Cable, there was barely anything good on our subscription. Every time, there was always good channels getting replaced with channels we have never heard of. I was extremely upset when the good retro channel INSP was replaced with GRIT. INSP was a TV channel where we would watch a lot of classic shows that my uncle who passed away a while back grew up with. He was furious when GRIT replaced INSP, and I can't blame him. GRIT was just a TV channel with nothing but random Western shows that we truly didn't even care about. Spectrum replaced a channel we loved with a channel we couldn't care less about. Thank God that they never touched MeTV while we were still on cable, or there would've been a riot. Also, Spectrum had two contract disputes. One with Viacom, and one with Tribune Broadcasting. The Viacom one was set to bring all Nick channels offline, and thankfully, that never happened. But, the Tribune one happened, and it took our local news channel owned by Fox offline. So, now, there was no way for us to get weather on TV, and it pissed off Chiefs fans who were looking forward to seeing them in the Playoffs (this happened in 2019). And the only Spectrum Original I even cared for was Curfew because it had an interesting show concept. And oh man, when we had cable, the commercial breaks were awful. Let me sum it up for you. Spectrum ad. Spectrum ad. Medicare ad. Medicare ad. Spectrum ad. Medicare ad. All day, non-stop. I truly was getting fed up with all of the Spectrum ads and Medicare ads! For one, we already have Spectrum, why are you showing us ads for a product we already have, and, quite frankly, don't like? And two, why are you showing us these stupid Medicare commercials 24/7? Oh my God, the ones starring Joe Namath and Jimmie Walker were the most rampant when we had cable. I hated that Joe Namath went from being a former NFL quarterback to a person lying about Medicare benefits, and I hate Jimmie Walker's stupid voice. Him saying "It's FREE!" in that stupid high pitch drove me to madness. The commercial breaks were truly the worst. The Kay Jeweller's ad with that stupid "You Are The Reason" song made me wish I was deaf on numerous occasions. Spectrum's ad breaks on cable were abysmal and I am so glad we cut the cord on them so we didn't have to listen to any more of Spectrum's stupid showboating, the cringe ads, or the blatant and downright scam ads. And oh man, don't even get me started on that "Directory Assistance" nonsense. It was this stupid phone number that we used frequently if we needed to find a business. Whenever we called, their automated bot responds and asks for the name of a city and/or business. Every single time, the bot either gave us the wrong business or said the name of cities or businesses incorrectly. Their stupid bot made me wanna pull my hair out on numerous occasions. It always took so long before the bot gave up and connected us to an operator who actually would usually send us to the correct place. Sometimes, they also gave incorrect businesses or were complete assholes who just hung the phone up on us, but that was rare, the operators were usually really nice even though we could barely hear a word that they were saying. And every time we were in fact hung up on or given an incorrect business through an operator, we'd have to go through the stupid bot again, and every time we had to, it only made me wanna pull out my hair even more. We had to go through this stupid bot 3 times at one point before an operator gave us the correct business. That day was especially a nightmare. But, the good news is that I am no longer a Spectrum customer. On the very first day of May this year, we were finally able to disconnect our Spectrum internet and welcome Fastwyre Broadband's fiber internet into our home. And let me tell you, switching was the best decision we have ever made. Our bill has never been increased as far as I am aware, and the internet has constantly and consistently been up every single day with no outages, that is, until the middle of the night when most of us are all sleeping. But, it usually takes them less than 10 minutes to get it back up, and then it's working again. And our speeds? Absolutely incredible. We have always hit over 800 megabits per second both download and upload. Every single time. Almost a gigabyte in speeds every time. We have only had our Fastwyre fiber for a little over 4 months at this point and they have truly been a breath of fresh air. A thousand times better than what Spectrum could ever muster. And as soon as we dumped Spectrum for Fastwyre, they have constantly sent us junk mail in a desperate attempt to get us back by offering huge price discounts and promotions for being a long-time customer. And every time, we just laugh and throw their envelopes into the bin. It's laughable they ever think that will get us back. In short: Spectrum is an awful ISP, and if you can switch to a better ISP, definitely do so.

A place to express your frustration HotWheelsVroom • 1 month ago • 71%

Like, what the fuck ever happened to compassion?! It just seems like every fucking person online nowadays has to be passive-aggressive to someone JUST to get their stupid point across. Like, why are people so goddamn inconsiderate of others well-beings these days? It seems like they truly get a hate boner from every fucking thing they see online and think it is okay to be an asshole to them. Getting your point across to someone does NOT mean you can be an asshole about it and speak in a very rude and passive-agrressive manner to the OP. Have some goddamn compassion and at LEAST be nice when you're talking to them. Back in the days when I was first on the internet in the early 2000s, people were FAR more understanding of shit and weren't fucking assholes about it when trying to explain something to people. The Wild West of the internet was truly a much different and far better place than the internet we have now. Now, pretty much EVERY site like Reddit and Twitter has assholes being passive-agrressive or have a straight-up shitty attitude in general. Speak your mind even ONCE and people feel the need to be an asshole about it. There are features like the fucking block button for a goddamn reason, use them wisely and efficiently! If you truly do not like what someone has to say, fuck off somewhere else, leave the person alone, and block them if you so chose to. Being a fucking asshat about it doesn't get you anywhere, and NOR does it get your point across. All it does is makes you hated by the people who DO ACTUALLY give a shit. There is a serious fucking lack of respect, empathy, and compassion these days. These days a fucking MONKEY is more compassionate than a human, and I truly hate to say that, but it's true. We are truly going BACKWARDS with being 'human' with each other. This needless rudeness only makes me miss the old internet even more.

A place to express your frustration HotWheelsVroom • 1 month ago • 86%

I really, really hate bathroom doors that have small lock buttons that you press down on to lock the door. We have two of these in both of the bathrooms we have in our apartmentt. There is a bathroom upstairs in the hallway and a bathroom downstairs near the living room. To lock the doors, we have to press down on these tiny buttons that are next to the door handles. These buttons lock up the handles and prevent them from being turned, so just in case someone doesn't know you're using it, they'll know someone's in there, because the door is locked. The button is supposed to be unlocked when the handle is turned with the handle that is inside of the bathroom, yes, the lock only locks the handle that is outside of the bathroom. It should be fine, right? No problems, right? Well, I just proved today that these tiny buttons are probably some of the worst, most poorly designed locks I have ever come across in my entire lifetime. I went up to use the downstairs bathroom like I always do, and I always make sure to lock the bathroom door while I am in there so no one acccidentally walks in. on my doing my business. Well, when I got out of the bathroom and turned the door handle, I assumed the lock button was released as I always did, and just turned off the light and closed the door and went about my day as usual. Well, I didn't realize it at the time, but the lock was stuck, it was jammed. It never actually was released, and when I closed the door, the lock was still registered and I closed the door after using the bathroom in our living room without knowing or realizing this. Well, I truly didn't, until I had to go to the restroom again. I noticed that the door was not opening like it was supposed to, and I also knew that no one was in there, since the light was off and the door waa closed. The only way I would know someone was using it is if the door was closed but the light was on, so this made me very anxious and worried. And so, I tried everything to get this door open: I tried moving the lock using a knife, using the knife to pry the door open, even used a pair of scissors to try to unjam the button that was causing the door to be locked. No dice. Everything I tried was deemed as useless and I eventually assumed the door was going to be permanently locked so I went upstairs to use the bathroom instead and used the bathroom in the hallway. But I definitely couldn't stop stressing about this. A freaking button just caused the door to be locked for what I assumed was to be permanently. But, by God, I managed to open it eventually, and I am so thankful that I 'did' manage too. Throughout the rest of the day, I was stressing about being scolded for making the bathroom in the living room useless. I even tired finding help online, but no luck still. There was nothing about this button being stuck online, it was only the button in the middle of the door handle that was being discussed. So, I tried one last thing to get this door open, and thank God we had it. I tried using our yellow flyswatter we bought not too long ago to try to pry open the door. I still wasn't having any better luck, the door wouldn't budge. And so, I tried pushing on the bottom of the door as well on top of using the flyswatter. Still nothing. And so, I tried one last thing, and that was to move the flyswatter around the location of big hole where the big metal piece would usually go. I struggled and struggled to get this open, tried every place. And, after struggling for what felt like an eternity, I found a sweet spot, and by God, I got the door open. When I looked on the other side of the door handle, I noticed something that truly made me wanna facepalm so hard. The lock... was still active. It was pressed down, indicating the door was still technically 'locked'. It was stuck on the 'locked' state the entire time and I didn't even realize it. I truly was so annoyed when I made that discovery, but by God, I got the door open and the bathroom in the living room was finally rendered usuable again. And when I turned the handle again after a few minor inconsistencies, like magic, the lock released and the door was no longer in a locked state. And after I used the bathroom again, I had to test the door handle by opening and closing the door just to make sure it was actually unlocked. And it worked every time. I hate those bathroom door locks that are just tiny buttons! There is a high chance that they can get stuck and make an entire bathroom inside a household or apartment useless unless you really work for it to get the door open again. These locks are seriously some of the most poorly designed pieces of equipment I have ever seen. Imagine if we moved out with the downstairs bathroom door locked. The next family that moved in would have not been able to even 'use' that bathroom and would only have one bathroom available to them! And there is one of those same stupid lock buttons on the bathroom upstairs in the hallway, too. Both bathrooms we have both have these horrible door locks! And the worst part is that this could've happened to the one upstairs as well. Imagine if it happened to both! We wouldn't 'have' a bathroom! So yeah, I am definitely never, ever going to use either of those locks again. They have failed me once, and they probably will again. I am just going to shut the door from now on with the light on and not lock the door, thank you. Those tiny lock buttons on the bathroom doors we have are TRULY Asshole Design.

# IN A.D. 2101 # WAR WAS BEGINNING.

A place to express your frustration HotWheelsVroom • 2 months ago • 91%

I absolutely HATE loot boxes. Wholeheartedly fucking HATE them and the person who thought up that shit. Congrats, fucking idiot - you just killed rewarding gameplay and made it as so EVERY fucking modern game now requires you to grind for 200+ hours to unlock everything or the things you want. It's absolutely DISGUSTING and all it does is just encourages players to keep "grinding away wasting hours of their life to get more chances at loot boxes". It's horrid and vile. Loot boxes are the WORST fucking part of modern gaming. First off, you have to fucking earn in-game currency to even get a SHOT to try to earn something from the loot box. This is NOT fun and rewarding, it's fucking TEDIOUS and it gets ridiculous after you open your first, I'd say, 100 loot boxes. There are so many fucking problems with loot boxes that I have that make me truly DESPISE the concept as a whole. I truly hate the goddamn motherfucker who thought this bullshit was a good idea. This is a fucking system that is NOT based off of progression, but is instead a system based on PURE fucking luck and chance. Take Hot Wheels Unleashed, for example. The game is PLASTERED with a predatory system called Blind Boxes, which is just ANOTHER fucking name for a loot box. Every time I have gone into the game to try to get a car that I wanted, it NEVER fucking worked in my favor, all I kept getting were fucking DUPLICATES that don't even give you free upgrades. You just have the heartbreak of pulling a dupe, and that's it. "You get NOTHING! You LOSE! GOOD DAY, SIR!" FUCK those Blind Boxes. I hate them. They are WAY too overpriced for a fucking kids game and there is no enjoyability in wasting currency on 50+ to keep getting duplicates and not earn a SINGLE Super Treasure Hunt. This is not fucking 'replicating' real life, but some want to believe that because you rarely ever see STHs on the shelves. No! It's the game CONSTANTLY demanding more time from the player doing races and earning coins to get, you guessed it, EVEN MORE FUCKING DUPES. This is NOT rewarding, this is fucking TEDIOUS. Rewarding gameplay DIED when loot boxes were invented. In fact, lemme remind you. Hot Wheels: Velocity X. You earned EVERY goddamn car either through the Story Mode or from challenges and rewards. You got EVERY car as you progressed and leveled up through the game, and EVERY FUCKING car could be unlocked just through fucking PLAYING the goddamn game. THAT is Rewarding Gameplay. Earning things through PROGRESSION. Loot boxes are NOT rewarding. No! Loot boxes are just the game wanting you to ENDLESSLY grind to get the fucking thing you want and hopefully not pull another duplicate. I only VERY recently FINALLY started getting Super Treasure Hunts in Hot Wheels Unleashed, and that was AFTER quitting the game for an extended period of time. I guess the goddamn game FINALLY felt fucking sympathy for me, for once. Loot boxes aren't fucking fun. They make goddamn games a CHORE and NOT a hobby. This is exactly the fucking reason why people started going AFK, the fucking payout of HW Unleashed coins was ridiculous and you constantly kept getting fucking duplicates anyway, so that means "Welp, back to grinding for you"! NONE of this makes the game feel rewarding. It just makes it feel like a tedious chore and it makes the entire game a fucking unfun experience. Currently trying to get the 24 Ours car in HW Unleashed and ALL I have been fucking getting are duplicate cars apart from the Super Treasure Hunts. I kept getting the goddamn Camaro, Roller Toaster, taxi, garbage truck, and the Tricera-tops Truck. Even AFTER selling ALL of the versions of the car(s) in question I have gotten, I KEPT GETTING THE SAME FUCKING CARS BACK IN MY COLLECTION. I eventually wasted all of my goddamn coins on these fucking Blind Boxes, so now it will be back to grinding once again for me. I fucking hate this. I fucking hate that I will ONCE A-FUCKING-GAIN have to go back to completing a FUCK-TON of races to get more Blind Boxes only to get MORE DUPLICATE CARS. The plus side is that the goddamn Blind Boxes are at least free and can't be bought. I cannot say the same for goddamn games with full-on microtransactions. Guess what? They include fucking loot boxes. So, not only are you wasting your time getting fucking duplicates constantly, you are now ALSO PAYING for the privilege of wasting your time getting fucking duplicates constantly. This is a horrible fucking system that encourages people to keep at it, and keep spending money. Guess what? This is LITERALLY just digital fucking gambling at this point. It's basically the equivalent of a fucking slot machine at the casino at this point. You pay money, you play the slots. And just like IRL gambling, you usually NEVER fucking win anything and there's a 0.001% chance you will get the fucking thing you want. If not, then well, it's back to spending for you, my friend! 🤑 There are SO MANY fucking free-to-play games that have this shitty monetization. Fortnite. Rocket League. League of Legends. So goddamn many that I have lost count. They just expect you to keep coughing up that FUCKING DOUGH and keep ENDLESSLY trying to get what you want, only to 90% of the time get even more fucking duplicates. Have I ever told you the definition of Insanity? It's trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. But then, you also have fucking PAID games that you have to actually BUY with REAL money that have microtransactions as well. A prime example is Star Wars Battlefront II by EA. Filled to the fucking BRIM with paid loot boxes. You already paid for the fucking base game and are now expected to pay more. This is NOT fucking legal, it is fucking highway robbery. And guess what the fuck happens? People run out. EVERYONE on the fucking PLANET tells you that 99% of gamblers quit before they hit it big. And you know WHY that is the case? BECAUSE THEY HAVE RUN OUT OF FUCKING MONEY TO SPEND. There is a point in fucking time where the gambler in question cannot afford to pay to play the goddamn slots again, and quits because, well, THEIR WALLET IS FUCKING DRIED UP. THAT is the reason why gamblers quit before they hit it big, they don't have money to keep CONSTANTLY throwing at the fucking slot machines in the casino. I hate the fact that loot boxes are LITERALLY just fucking virtual slot machines and are for some reason NORMALIZED. THERE ARE LITERAL FUCKING CHILDREN BEING TAUGHT ABOUT GAMBLING DUE TO THIS SHIT. I hate the fact KIDS are being introduced to this fucking Pay-to-Win bullshit. It's everywhere. In every game. Every fucking game has it these days, and it shows no signs of EVER stopping, ESPECIALLY due to the fact that KIDS are getting exposed to this shit. Oh, that fucking reminds me! There is a game out there that I truly fucking despise for this EXACT reason I just mentioned. Roblox's horrible fucking pet gambling game, Pet Simulator X. The ENTIRE game has different rarities of pets ranging from Common to Legendary. The Legendary pets have less than a fucking ONE PERCENT CHANCE of getting randomly chosen. You go and open what I think were pet eggs, pray you get a Rare or even Epic pet, and then do it again. But, I WOULD be saying that if it weren't for the fact you constantly keep getting fucking COMMON AND UNCOMMON PETS. Pet Simulator X is literally just a fucking pet gambling game. It's even WORSE because it is ACTIVELY ADVERTISING GAMBLING TO LITERAL FUCKING CHILDREN and should be illegal. "Here's a $200 virtual pet! 5% chance for a RAINBOW one btw!! KEEP SPENDING KIDS!!!" It crosses the fucking line and shouldn't be allowed. OH YEAH, I SURE FUCKING LOVE TEACHING KIDS HOW TO GAMBLE AND NOT CARE ABOUT THE FUCKING PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS IT WILL HAVE ON THEM WHEN THEY GROW UP! I hate fucking loot boxes and I HATE THAT THEY'RE NORMALIZED. Thank fucking God that some countries have made them outright illegal. I am tired of constantly fucking grinding for something just to keep getting duplicate items of THINGS I ALREADY FUCKING OWN! Jesus FUCK, it's such a stupid-ass concept and the person who even THOUGHT of this idea should be ashamed of themselves, because they have just killed rewarding gameplay and have now enticed people of ALL ages to get into gambling. THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE IS WHY I WILL NEVER GO TO A FUCKING CASINO. EVER. Fuck loot boxes, and FUCK the person who came up with them.

A place to express your frustration HotWheelsVroom • 3 months ago • 85%

I DO NOT HAVE A FUCKING PHONE PLAN OR FUCKING PHONE FOR THAT MATTER. STOP ASKING ME FOR SHIT I DON'T FUCKING HAVE. EVERY FUCKING MAINSTREAM SERVICE OUT THERE JUST EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE A FUCKING PHONE AND PHONE PLAN THESE DAYS. WANT TO SIGN UP FOR A WEBSITE? VERIFY YOUR GODDAMN PHONE NUMBER. WANT TO TALK IN CERTAIN DISCORD SERVERS? NO SIREE. VERIFY YOUR PHONE NUMBER FIRST. LOCKED OUT OF ONE OF YOUR ACCOUNTS OVER SOME BULLSHIT REPORTS? VERIFY YOUR PHONE NUMBER TO UNLOCK IT. LITERALLY JUST FUCKING EXISTING? VERIFY, VERIFY, VERIFY! FOR THE LOVE OF FUCK, STOP PROMPTING ME TO VERIFY MY FUCKING HUMANITY WITH A PHONE NUMBER. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LOOK FOR FUCKING WORKAROUNDS AND BYPASSES TO GET AROUND THIS SHIT. EVEN IF I DID HAVE AN ACTIVE PHONE NUMBER, YOU AIN'T GETTING JACK SHIT FROM ME. THIS IS NOT MADE TO PROTECT YOU AND KEEP YOU SAFE, IT IS ONLY MADE SO THESE FUCKTARD COMPANIES CAN SELL YOUR DATA TO DATA BROKERS, WHO WILL THEN SELL THAT DATA TO ROBOCALLERS WHO WILL CALL YOU ALL THE FUCKING TIME! LOOK, YOU'RE NOT GETTING MY NUMBER. IF I HAVE TO FIND FUCKING FAKE PHONE NUMBERS OR SIGN UP TO TEMP NUMBER SERVICES, THEN SO FUCKING BE IT, BUT I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO POTENTIALLY BREAK THE FUCKING LAW TO GET SOME FUCKING SENSE OF PRIVACY. I LITERALLY HAVE A NUMBER ON TEXTNOW THAT IS BASICALLY FUCKING USELESS AND IS ONLY USABLE FOR MAKING CALLS AND TEXTING. EVEN IF I WAS ABLE TO USE THAT NUMBER TO GET A VERIFICATION CODE IN THE FORM OF A SMS, IT WOULDN'T WORK, BECAUSE "OH, YOU NEED TO SIGN UP FOR ANOTHER FUCKING SUBSCRIPTION (LOCK-IN NUMBER) TO GET VERIFICATION CODES"! FUCK, I CAN'T EVEN PARTICIPATE IN SOME TWITCH CHATS DUE TO THIS BULLSHIT BECAUSE SOME FUCKING STREAMERS SET UP THIS STUPID-ASS 'VERIFIED ACCOUNTS ONLY CHAT' BULLSHIT THAT FORCES YOU TO VERIFY VIA PHONE NUMBER TO ACCESS THEM. AND GUESS WHAT? MY TEXTNOW NUMBER? FUCKING USELESS ON ABOUT 90% OF SERVICES ON THE FUCKING INTERNET! WHY? OH, WELL, BECAUSE SOME FUCKING 'GENIUS' DECIDED TO MAKE IT HARDER FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME BY BLOCKING VOIP NUMBERS COMPLETELY. AND TEXTNOW IS A VOIP SERVICE. IF I DO TOO MANY ATTEMPTS TO VERIFY, I GET 'RATE LIMITED'. FUCK. OFF. GIVE ME ANOTHER FUCKING WAY TO VERIFY BECAUSE YOU ARE SURE AS FUCKING HELL NOT GETTING ACCESS TO MORE OF MY DATA! I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO EVEN "START" THIS PROCEDURE, ANYWAY, BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING PHONE TO BEGIN WITH! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH FUCKING PHONE PLANS COST THESE DAYS? WELL, HUNDREDS, MAYBE EVEN THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS. DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO GO BUY A FUCKING PHONE PLAN THAT IS OVERPRICED AS SHIT, GET A PHONE NUMBER, AND VERIFY WITH IT? OH, FUCK YOU. AND GUESS THE FUCK WHAT? GUESS WHO LOVES PHONE NUMBERS? FUCKING DATA LEAKERS. SHOULD I EVEN REMIND YOU ABOUT THE TWITCH DATA LEAK THAT TOOK PLACE OVER 2 YEARS AGO? PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCESSED. THAT POSSIBLY INCLUDED PHONE NUMBERS. THAT MEANS THAT THE PEOPLE WHO GOT BREACHED PROBABLY HAD A SHIT-TON OF ROBOCALLS. GODDAMNIT, THE INTERNET IS NOT A FUCKING EXCLUSIVE CLUB, YOU GODDAMN DICKWEEDS. BACK WHEN I WAS AROUND THE INTERNET, YOU DIDN'T NEED TO GIVE OUT JACK SHIT WHEN SIGNING UP FOR WEBSITES OR PARTICIPATING IN CHAT. HOLY FUCK, IRC DIDN'T EVEN NEED THAT SHIT. AIM DIDN'T NEED IT. YOU COULD JUST MAKE A FUCKING ACCOUNT ON THE AOL WEBSITE OR YOUR IRC CLIENT, AND BOOM, YOU COULD TALK TO ANYONE IN YOUR CONTACTS. NO STRINGS OR ANYTHING ELSE ATTACHED. BUT NOWADAYS, YOU HAVE TO GIVE OUT A SHIT-TON OF PERSONAL INFO TO ACCESS NEARLY ALMOST EVERYTHING, AND THAT INCLUDES HAVING A PHONE NUMBER, BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T HAVE ONE, THEN YOU ARE APPARENTLY JUST FUCKED, BECAUSE EVERYONE EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE ACCESS TO A FUCKING CELLULAR DEVICE. BACK IN THE 2000S, HAVING A FUCKING PHONE WAS A FUCKING NOVELTY. YOU COULD EVEN CONSIDER YOURSELF LUCKY IF YOU HAD ONE. NOW, EVERYONE EXPECTS YOU TO HAVE ONE. LIKE, WHAT THE FUCK? I HATE THE FUCKING FAKE-ASS EXCUSES COMPANIES GIVE BY CLAIMING THAT HAVING A PHONE NUMBER MAKES YOU MORE SECURE. BRO, THAT IS A FUCKING LIE AND A HALF. WHERE'S MY FUCKING LIE DETECTOR? ALL IT DOES IS GIVES DATA-HUNGRY COMPANIES ACCESS TO MORE OF YOUR INFORMATION, AS IF THEY DON'T HAVE FUCKING ENOUGH OF IT ALREADY. I MISSED OUT ON SO MANY GODDAMN COOL THINGS BECAUSE OF THIS SHITTY-ASS FORCED PHONE NUMBER VERIFICATION. I FUCKING MISSED OUT ON MONSTER HUNTER FRONTIER WHEN IT WAS STILL UP AND RUNNING DUE TO THIS BULLSHIT. NOW, IT IS FUCKING SHUT DOWN FOREVER AND I MISSED OUT ON IT ENTIRELY BECAUSE OF OVERZEALOUS VERIFICATION. I TRULY THOUGHT THAT PHONE VERIFICATION WAS GOING TO BE EASY AS THERE ARE SEVERAL DIFFERENT WEBSITES WHERE YOU CAN RECIEVE SMS TEXTS WITH EITHER 'REAL' OR 'FAKE' PHONE NUMBERS. NOPE! NOT ONLY DOES THE PHONE NUMBER NOT HAVE TO BE ALREADY USED BY TOO MANY PEOPLE, BUT IT ALSO HAS TO SPECIFICALLY NOT BE A VOIP NUMBER. I MIGHT AS WELL SAY 99% OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING INTERNET DON'T SUPPORT THESE FUCKING NUMBERS. THEY MIGHT AS WELL TELL YOU TO FUCK OFF AND BUY A PHONE PLAN. "DO YOU GUYS NOT HAVE PHONES?" MIGHT AS WELL SUM UP TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION ENTIRELY. DOES IT LOOK LIKE I HAVE A FUCKING PHONE? THEN DO NOT ASK ME FOR A FUCKING PHONE NUMBER OR ASK ME TO USE ANYTHING THAT REQUIRES AN APP! I FUCKING HATE THOSE GODDAMN 'AUTHENTICATOR' APPS BECAUSE OF THIS AS WELL, BECAUSE THEY 'ALSO' REQUIRE YOU TO HAVE ACCESS TO A PHONE. WE ALREADY PAY FOR FOOD, HOUSING, ELECTRICITY, INTERNET, WATER, AND OTHER ESSENTIALS. STOP ASKING ME TO GET A FUCKING PHONE PLAN AND PUT IN MY FUCKING PHONE NUMBER JUST TO ACCESS NEARLY HALF OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING INTERNET. BESIDES, YOU WON'T BE GETTING MY ACTUAL PHONE NUMBER EVEN IF I "DID" HAVE ONE, SO TOUGH FUCKING SHIT. GO ASK OTHER FUCKING PEOPLE TO PUT IN THEIR GODDAMN PHONE NUMBERS, BECAUSE THAT IS OBVIOUSLY YOUR FUCKING DAY-TO-DAY ACTIVITY. FUCK. YOU. ALL. 🖕