There's a new one?! Welp between this and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, I guess I'll be busy for a while.

Thanks for the heads up!

I share your exact experience. I had the same frustration with Disco Elysium too, though I enjoyed the writing so much I ended up playing through regardless lol

Yes! Freakin' Secret of Monkey Island...

Thanks for the WotR review, I'll definitely give it a try now. I was genuinely afraid to try it because of how time-focused Kingmaker was lol

Oddly enough I think the concept still holds water, but perhaps for action rpgs? The strategic aspect of crpgs just didn't mesh with timed events for me I guess

Pathfinder: Kingmaker is entirely real time (as in, like you suggest, events are on a schedule and you can't do them all in one run). I can't speak for the sequel as I haven't played it.

I personally found the mechanic infuriating (modded a workaround), but you may like it if you like crpgs.

The web is currently a communal well. We all drink from it because people before us paid the foundations.

Google aims to be the owner of that well. Like the land and oil barons before them, they wish to monetize every last second of web access.

That same corporation, to spew such vile, ignorant nonsense is...well, I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise, should it?

Hey, I'm open to trying anything. The current biggest problem is oligarchs and power centralization though, which capitalism sort of encourages.

Without much heavier regulation, sticking with capitalism will essentially doom us all. We need more localized, equal resource management. We need logical transportation logistics, and we need more nationalized (federal) goods and services.

But I do agree with the spirit of your message. We do need to all be working together towards a shared goal, instead of...this.

I do hope we see more of this bridging the gap with socialism, but you're right. To current capital owners, a new system will mean the end of being capital owners. Since they're defined entirely by their money/capital, to them it's a legitimate existential threat. Or so it feels like, it seems, given how they've been acting.

But fingers crossed for a more sane future. Hopefully.

I like to think there's a distinct difference, summed up like so:

Communism attempts to put the control and distribution of resources (capital) on the collective, ie everyone. Since everyone effectively owns it, it feels like nobody does.

Capitalism puts it on individuals. Nowadays, almost all of these individuals acquired their resource(s) by inheritance. If not, by dubious (morally questionable) means.

This is a simplification that may upset people on both sides, but it's about as clean as I can think to make it.

Note: the following is from the perspective of a somewhat average person living in the US.

My personal thought is that the democratic republic political system would ideally be coupled with the communistic (I'd prefer federated unions, ie federations, but speaking broadly) economic one. They seem to be natural matches.

However, it seems the coupling of said republic with capitalism causes significant and repeated backslides on social issues and education. Capital owners, after all, are most interested in maximizing gains while minimizing losses; this has led to a fairly high number of people being convinced to think that education is bad, especially university level education. Which, in turn, makes them compliant voters and eager workers, often severely underpaid. Which they, of course, have no idea of knowing since they likely have never left their birth town.

That's not to say that such things won't happen with communism. They should happen a lot less, but only if we put controls in place to combat abuse and overreach. In other words, regulations. Capitalism...might be beyond hope at this point, given how capital owners have been acting lately.

I don't know what will actually end up working, but I hope we try something new soon. Because this ain't it. Preferably before we extinct more species. Hopefully before we extinct ourselves.

I keep ranting, sorry for the wall of text.

Yeah, I didn't mention them because they're literal set dressing used by a dictator to convince people he wasn't one. It's worse if the man truly thought creating a centralized power structure would be beneficial to Marxist principles, because he himself proved that it can't work.

Here's why: once you establish a centralized power structure, it doesn't matter how kind or charismatic the person (or small group) in charge is, it is the literal definition of fascism.

I don't know how to more clearly put this. Even if I give you the benefit of the doubt, he created a centralized power structure that was immediately corrupted and abused. You're saying "but look at all this other stuff" like it takes away from the fact that this is fascism.

What I don't get how you reconcile communism with totalitarianism (literally fascism with extra steps).

Sta·lin·ism /ˈstäləˌniz(ə)m/ noun the ideology and policies adopted by Stalin, based on centralization, totalitarianism, and the pursuit of communism.

Sorry, but it's true, Stalin was a fascist. Democratic centralization is still power centralization, and runs counter to all of communism's economic ideologies.

On the one hand, yes, absolutely.

On the other, tankies are fascists. They just happen to prefer their slaves to be communal, rather than spread out amongst corpos.

Stalin was a fascist. Being a Stalinist means you're a fascist. Ergo, tankies are fascists.

Centralization of power is always bad. Because fascism is always bad. We need to stop looking at bygone eras of centralized power structures and move towards a more federational (federated) power/governance structure.

Then we need to get rid of the power balance for good. Until then, be weary of communists masquerading under the same flag but pushing for power centralization.

Communism isn't a form of governance, our first step should be to mold our democratic republic around it instead of capitalism. Then change it as our needs demand.

Easier said than done, I realize, but change is possible. Fingers crossed it happens soon. Sorry about the rant.

Capitalism will also always end in fascism because of greed. Greed is what motivates companies to beg for government handouts when the market deemed them unfit.

Greed is what motivates them to influence politics via regulatory capture and lobbying.

Greed is what moti ates them to push worse and worse quality products and services for higher and higher prices.

Greed is what makes capital owners pay their employees wages insufficient to live on, while pocketing 90+% of the profit generated by the same employees. All while actually doing nothing of value.

Yeah, the system is built on greed. This isn't a good thing, and the fact that you think it is just boggles my mind. Are you being paid to push this? Do you really want to see your progeny enslaved that badly? What the fuck is the matter with you?