Love this series so much! Relaxing and chill and just fun to go at your own pace and make your own goals. I remember buying two cartridges for Wild World so I could have two saves! Also played a ton of New Horizons during the pandemic, like a lot of people I think. I actually kind of got burned out on that one and haven’t played in a long time, my island is probably covered in weeds now, ha ha!

I really love how they opened up more customization in New Horizons, including the terraforming. But they need a better system for actually doing the terraforming in the next game, because it seems so finicky right now. I also would love to see some inspiration from Pocket Camp come to the main games with more ways for the villagers to interact with your outdoor decorations so the villagers don’t just end up sitting on the ground most of the time!

My bank account tells a different story.

But seriously an interesting article! I had no idea that such a huge swath of books simply aren’t profitable, even for the big publishers. Wild!

Hope everyone has a good week!

One more turn…

…and it’s morning.

I don’t play The Sims for months and months, then come back to it and play really intensely for few days.

Skyrim, Fallout, Stardew Valley, and the Animal Crossing Games are my perennial favorites!

Time will tell on this one, but I think Baldur’s Gate 3 will be one I come back to again and again.

Mine’s not so much a pile so much as at least half of my bookcase. And it’s a little bit of everything!

Been playing a new farm in Stardew Valley after the 1.6 update. I hadn’t played much since back before 1.5, so there is a lot of new content! Also still grooving on Cyberpunk 2077, getting some of the main quest done.

Started a new farm this morning, ha ha! I’ve barely played since before the 1.5 update, so I’m excited for all the new content!

I relate to this a lot. I was on Reddit for over a decade, too, when I left after the third-party apps shut down. I loved a lot of the discussion over there (once I got away from some of the big subs and found smaller ones), and still kind of miss it. There really was a period of sadness when I left. I’m trying to be active over here to help these communities grow, but it’s hard to get back into it and be motivated sometimes.

I saw that something unlocked, but I thought it was the same maps with a chance to go back and get the species you missed or something like that. I’ll have to go look more closely!

Very excited for the Stardew Valley update!

I played Terra Nil, which was really enjoyable, but way too short! It only has four levels, and I would have played much more than that.

Also playing Against the Storm, which I stumbled across on Steam looking for something else to play after I finished Terra Nil so quickly. Really liking this one as well! The city building itself is fun, and the added aspect of the metagame/cycle outside of the city builder is a twist that I think works really well.

Also still working on Cyberpunk 2077!

I kind of miss Street Pass. I always loved it for when I was going through airports- you could get Street Passes from lots of different places!

Have a good week, everyone!

Board games would be a good one!

The weekly “What are you playing?” thread, too!

We have a literature community, but I would love a weekly “what are you reading?” or similar thread. I love seeing what other people are reading and sometimes find new books in those types of threads. Mostly I just want to talk about books, ha ha!

Just helping sentient taxis find their way home and other miscellaneous gigs in Cyberpunk 2077. Making slower-than-usual progress on this one, even though I’m enjoying it a lot, because I’ve been busy lately (and have a really good book that’s stealing my time, ha ha!).

Also it’s more like what I’m planning to play, but I’m definitely going to start a new playthrough of Stardew Valley once the 1.6 update releases. I haven’t even done most of the 1.5 stuff, so I’m looking forward to a starting up a new farm!

Are the readers-in-residence allowed to read their books on their phone?

In simpler terms, you won’t find labels like “fiction” or “biography” on the shelves. Instead, you’ll find genre labels lifted from book titles (“Living by Fiction”), poetry lines (“Flood the Margins”) or wordplay (“Subject, Object, Predicament”).

I get what they’re going for, but good grief that sounds like it would be annoying if you’re looking for a particular book.

Blaine is a pain, and that’s the truth.

I haven’t even completed all the 1.5 stuff yet, ha ha!

Hope everyone has a good week!

Interesting article!

The use of AI should be disclosed to readers “where appropriate,” the guidelines read, though, as with so much else, precisely where that line is drawn is left to the author. 

I would appreciate a disclaimer like this, because I’m not interested in reading books written by AI. But that does beg the question of where to draw that line and where the distinction between authors using AI as a supplementary tool (e.g. to fill in a description of a room like the writer mentioned doing), and where the AI is doing big chunks of the writing itself lies. How much AI assistance to too much?

I just did two playthroughs of BG3, and I think it’s now one of my “happy” games! I can see myself going back to it several more times!

Still having fun playing Cyberpunk 2077. Mostly I’m just driving around Night City doing side gigs and not really doing the main story, ha ha!

Animal Crossing games for me! Just chilling and catching bugs or fishing or whatever is super relaxing. I also like that nothing feels rushed, you can move at your own pace, and make your town/island look however you want.

Someone else mentioned Skyrim and that’s another one for me. I have it on practically every platform and I drop back into it every so often.

Oh no, hope the camera is okay!

I’ve never had the squirrels mess with my Bird Buddy, but they try to get into all the other feeders!

Hey Texans you can vote right now! Early voting for the primary is open until Friday, March 1. The primary is being held on Tuesday, March 5.

More info, find a polling location, register to vote, etc. online here. You also can usually find sample ballots on your county government’s website.

Having a night to meet up with some friends, got a day planned for volunteering at a local non-profit, and finally getting to dive into The Expanse book series, among all the day-to-day stuff!

Congrats on the job(s)!

How are we already in the second half of February? Has this month absolutely flown by for anyone else?

Busy week coming up, but mostly with events and activities that I’m looking forward to. Hope everyone has a good week!

This meme made me smile!

I’m in the same boat. I tried Storygraph and the error rate importing from Goodreads was too high for me and it was missing some features I use to keep my books organized.

I’d love to move away from an Amazon-owned company, but all the alternatives are lackluster, at least for me.

Goodreads’ strongest utility is its shelves, which function as a kind of external brain for some folks.

That’s me, ha ha! I use Goodreads solely to keep track of my book collection and reading data, and completely ignore the reviews and all of the social media features.

Lego sets! I had some that were ice planet themed, and I remember having a bunch of spaceships that had transparent green windows, visors, etc. that I thought were so cool.

Isn’t that one part of a trilogy? I think I remember seeing those books!

I completely missed getting Gale in my first run, so I finally got to see his story the second time around! Also accidentally skipped the Mountain Pass area (and some smaller areas) and did a big chunk of Act 3 backwards. My first playthrough was a mess, ha ha!

Such a great title, ha ha!

Okay, turns out I’ve had this book on my list for a while and I couldn’t exactly remember why I had it in there until your description jogged my memory! Sounds like I need to read this one soon!