if video game company execs had brains capable of thinking more than one financial quarter into the future they would be pushing to onboard the 50-65 age market so they could have a solid base of retirees with low mobility and lots of disposable income in 10+ years but because they're short-term shit-for-smarts they're gonna have to wait like half a century to really rake in that sweet sweet old person money and most of that generation won't even be able to afford a 70$ AAA price tag. idiots. fuckin fools.

I currently work with elderly folks and do you know how fucking bored they are? I walk into people's rooms and 80% of them are just watching tv all day. Or sitting in the dark. They are so fucking bored and if someone had taught them to play x-box before their ability to retain new information started to degrade they would have more options than fail to do the crossword and then wait 3 hours for the next mealtime but SOMEONE was busy trying to legalize gambling to children so now Joan is just wathcing Fox News all day. She could have been playing Animal Crossing. fuckin hell

This is, uh... this is literally why the Nintendo Wii took off as strongly as it did internationally, btw. Like, this is a genuine thing. It's a thing video game companies have even taken advantage of in the past.

I know a decent chunk of you are too young to remember this, but because Wii controllers were SO adaptive and SO new user friendly, the Wii was literally marketted at a "grandma joins the fun" whole family console for like. A really long time.

One of the biggest buyers of Wii consoles and adaptive accessories were retirement homes.

But now the Wii doesn't work properly anymore because the online support is all gone and new controllers are worth their weight in gold etc etc.

This is a GAPING hole in the market that LITERALLY IS A KNOWN QUANTITY. Retirees made the Wii. It was a fucking JOKE until people realized that toddlers and the elderly could both use it too.

But for some reason (short sighted infinite growth driven profit seeking), game companies remain convinced that retirees are allergic to their product even now.

Like. They're so convinced that Xbox is LITERALLY TURNING OFF ADAPTIVE CONTROLLERS FOR LOW MOBILITY USERS in like a fucking week.

The stated goal? To force disabled users to buy their brand new, basically untested proprietary controller at an immense fee and hope that it just so happens to have the unique features needed for their specific disability.

Literally on Nov 12 2023, Xbox is ending all support for adaptive controllers from 3rd parties, eg, the people actually doing product research into the needs of the disabled, elderly, etc.

Like, we're past the point of merely forgetting this market exists.

We're at the point of violently rejecting the unwanted from video gaming entirely by making it physically fucking impossible.

i have this npc named au'liver who runs a dimension-hopping magic shop that i put in every single campaign because I love him and logically it tracks that I can do that.

i named him au'liver because i'd been dogsitting my brother's dog oliver the week before i made him up on the spot while dming a game

a few sessions later, my player, teiani, pointed out that he was "au'liver the place" which was like. jawdrop. not intentional but so good. so he became au'liver l'place.

few years and a few campaigns later, that same friends talking to me about dnd and she refered to my games as the au'liverse. i cant stop thinking about that

highest compliment ever. you must au'bjectify him

It costs more than the fucking console

Steps you can take:

Send xbox feedback telling them you're disappointed and upset with this change.

If you have an xbox game pass, cancel it and cite this as the reason why.

If you are someone with a disability, that uses a 3rd party controller for accessibility reasons, file a civil rights complaint.

The more people that file, the more seriously the DOJ takes it, and the more pressure Microsoft will come under to reverse this dogshit choice.

McDonald's is giving out free fries.

Disney is giving out Disney100 cards.

Starbucks is giving out buy one get one frees.

Why? Because their stock prices are falling.

They are losing money because of the boycotts because we are not giving them more money to fund and support the genocide of Palestine.

They're scared.

So they're gonna do whatever they can to get that money.

Keep it up.

Make them cry.

We may not be able to get them all, but the ones we get oh they are gonna suffer.

There were a lot of freshwater mussels on the 2021 US extinction list. They didn’t leave us with haunting recordings of them calling out for a mate they’d never meet, there were no drawings in vivid color. They were extremely important nevertheless and their loss is frustrating too. That’s why stream ecology and mollusks have always fascinated me. They were silent, stalwart little heroes and entire species were lost to pollution.

Yeah, I am bothered by extinct animals. Even this guy. They can’t all be thylacines.

For all of my US followers for whom general public official election day is coming up (Nov. 7th) PLEASE do not become so disillusioned with the current state of higher power politicians that you skip out on voting for local offices; off year and local elections are already critically unemphasized but these are the people who have the most direct power over jails, police, school curriculum, etc. Do not let your grief be weaponized as a distraction from also continuing to fight police brutality, queer and bipoc censorship in schools, bodily autonomy, housing inequality, etc, on the smaller scale battlefields where every vote truly does count

postal service kinda gay….

all these “packages” that are “in the male” 🤔😳

you know van gogh wasn’t appreciated in his time either