While I understand the logic wrt the concerns about the content of hentai, I do find it interesting that it's so prominent in the discussion of safety issues.

To me, it's always felt "safer" than real-life content because a lot of the big risks go away. I don't have to consider whether the actors were coerced, or whether they would have been able to stop a scene if uncomfortable, or whether they regret putting that content out there and so on.

As a consumer of hentai or similar, it becomes a lot more reasonable to say, "I don't know what the imaginary background of this character is, but I'm interpretive them as an adult, so I'm all good", or "Did they really give their consent to dick-cthulhu? Of course they did! Who wouldn't!?" because I can't really be meaningfully wrong about a imaginary character.

Whatever the morality of, I guess let's say, fictional immorality, the potential harm from "real" porn just seems so much larger than the potential harm from drawings and writing. However much I enjoy seeing real human beings doing delightful things to each other, if the only porn on the internet was hentai and dirty stories, I'm inclined to think it'd probably be an overall win in terms of harm reduction, just because it doesn't require real people to be doing the stunts. So it's interesting that the fictional stuff seems to be so top of mind when we talk about safety.

Although, I imagine that's likely because in the discussions of rule-setting the issues around "real" porn are talked about far less, because who's really going to make a good-faith argument that's pro sharing images of abuse of real people.

(Also found your point about cultural imperialism interesting! An angle on the topic I'd not considered before)

As someone with an interest in human (ironically given the context of tentacles) sexuality, seeing all these nuances and intricacies emerge from the complexities of human kink is really fun.

Although that being said, I can imagine it's very much not fun for you admins trying to navigate this stuff in your free time. Much appreciation for taking on the task! ♥️

I keep beating this dead horse (no kink shaming 😜), but it's still a bit worrying how difficult it appears to safely build a sexual community online today. The work of making a community safe, diverse and welcoming would naturally always be a challenge, but I can only imagine the stress worrying about the legal and regulatory side of things, so again, thanks for your efforts!

Would second this. On one hand I'm terrified to find out; I'm conflicted enough already about the morality of a lot of the porn industry, but sticking my head in the sand won't help.

I think the number of decent human beings who would use the list to actively blacklist and advocate against bad studios is far greater than the number of diseased individuals who would use it to look up the content for "fun".

Lol I love this comment! Mwah! 👄

Thanks for clarifying!

Not a fantastic game, but the first Walking Dead Telltale series really hit me in the feels and so has stayed with me. The Witcher 3 definitely affected me, but it's hard to seperate that feeling from the books.

I'd say Kerbal Space Program, Factorio and Rimworld because whenever I play those it's like coming home, but since I'm always playing at least one of them, it feels a bit like cheating.

The feeling of the Tribes games is always there in my mind. I occasionally go back but the freedom of movement in that game is just so liberating. I never know why they aren't more celebrated. (Titanfall 2 comes close, but still not quite the same).

Battlezone 2 is IMHO another unsung classic. I loved the mix of RTS and FPS. Another one from before the mechanics of FPS and the general feel of motion had standardised (to a fault) which I think helps it keep it's hooks in me.

I was enjoying plexamp but had no idea of the restrictions. My missus probably hadn't bothered to try it yet so we hadn't noticed.

Such a shame because plexamp seems to me superior to the experience from all other streaming apps, apart from my less than perfect music collection!

Will have to give this Symfonium a look!

I never managed to finish Disco Elysium, but not out of lack of love. It's absolutely fantastic.

I really want to go back to it, but I'm almost afraid to. There's so much depth to all those characters, I'm worried by not having played it for so long I'd have forgotten all the useful context, but starting from scratch feels, IDK dishonest somehow? The playthrough I was on felt like the "authentic" one, and restarting, at least without completing that imperfect first playthrough, would be somehow missing the point.

My other fear is that, also finding myself in a bad place increasingly over the last few years, I'm afraid it might end in a way that's too bleak to bear. Your comments on finding hope in the ending, despite despair, might be the motivation I need though!

Yes to both! But especially Barotrauma! Really unique atmosphere to that game and such a rich selection of gameplay mechanics I'm always fighting off the desire to start another game!

I even get lost just building convoluted, overcomplicated and, as a result, buggy submarines in the editor.

Man, I love that game. It might be the greatest unsung game to come out in the last few years. My only problem is being a misanthrope, and scared of the general multiplaying public, I'm always intimidated by public games, but I'd love to convince enough buddies to play a campaign through. As you say, you lose some of the existential dread, but I'd love to explore some of the roleplaying aspects and more complicated gameplay loops, and the bots are a liability (although so much better than they were!).