The Dumbing of Age Book 10 Kickstarter continues! We’re past $59K, working our way up to $60K, when we unlock the next character magnet: ERIC (the fingerguns guy)!
Three days to go!
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The Dumbing of Age Book 10 Kickstarter continues! We’re past $59K, working our way up to $60K, when we unlock the next character magnet: ERIC (the fingerguns guy)!
Three days to go!
Jocelyne!!!
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“also they increased spin distance for the pandemic that must have happened off-camera, but I get better connection here, accounting for GPS drift and Niantic’s shitty server issues plus the fact the current build is hot garbage”
“…you know I don’t play anymore? to understand any of that?”
“it’s fine, Team Rocket finally came back so I wasn’t listening to you anyway”
(gotta love edits; I made one that, however accurate to the object’s location, moved a Pokéstop DIRECTLY under a Gym, and now it’s impossible to spin deliberately)
“Are you saying Pokémon Gyms are migratory?”
“Not at all. They could be carried.”
“Wot, a Pidgey carrying a Pokémon Gym?”
“Don’t be daft. It was a Pidgeot.”
“That’s not how to spell Peugeot”
*Cue Pokemon Go players joking about their OP Pokemon holding out practically solo, AKA “carrying” the gym…* 😋
Cue Pokemon Go players chiming in to let you know it hasn’t worked like that since 2016.
One of the few things I miss from 2016… although I do think the modern implementation is healthier for gameplay.
Is that a European or an African Pidgey?
But then of course, African Pidgeys are non-migratory.
“It doesn’t matter. Do they have my leg?”
People still play Pokemon Go?
I do when I know I’ll be around a gym, but if I’m not near a gym, what’s the point?
Amber is people?
If Amber is people, and Soylent Green is people, is Amber Soylent Green?
Soon.
I wouldn’t think so because of the Pandemic.
But as the saying goes, “life finds a way”.
That’s what I would’ve figure, but I do suppose covid doesn’t actually exist in DoA at least for the characters while they’re on campus and Amber is a big enough nerd to still actively play the game long after its boom period. There are still people today who play Mass Effect 3’s multiplayer.
I’m referring to the real world, and I figured that even after adjusting the gameplay to the current viral climate, it would lose much appeal to every other free non-AR alternative.
Wed is Raid Hour, and my friends get together, in our cars, and play.
Communicate thru chat, and chase down the raids in the area.
Afterward, we chat and trade, in the parking lot, distanced, and masked.
I like that. What a cool way of staying connected, getting out and still being safe.
The poor sods.
(This comment was originally beneath the comment about playing Mass Effect 3 Multiplayer where it made sense.)
It is a little sad because there’s really nothing else like it around and the way Bioware is looking there may never be another one.
The fact that Robin made a reference to Marco Rubio’s covid shot yesterday makes me think we’ve skipped it. Apparently, Pokemon Go was the fifth-highest-grossing game of 2020, though, so someone’s been playing.
Niantic implemented temporary ‘quality of life’ improvements to support players playing the game during the pandemic. Increased range to access spinners/gyms so that players don’t have to group closely together, a ‘remote raid’ feature allowing players not physically present to be invited to raids, daily freebies for players that might not be able to get to spinners, GO Rocket in balloons every 6 hours, etc.
That said, they’ve announced that a decent amount of them will be permanent changes after positive feedback. (As demonstrated by the fact that they tried rolling back some of them in the fall going ‘well cases are down so it’s fine,’ and then about a month later going ‘yeah we didn’t think that one through, whoops, they’ll be in place again until at least June.’)
I also assume that Amber wasn’t really in it for the social aspects. No organizing mass raids, just catching Pokemon, taking over weak gyms and the like. Pretty much how I’ve played it.
I live on two (three with the bonus distance) Pokéstops so when I’m particularly bored I send gifts to my friends who don’t
You know, I never watched Pokémon on account of being old and never played it based having a flip-phone that is a phone and not a microtablet. And about the time I was vaugely thinking it might be a good companion activity for walks and a tablet, we had a pandemic start. But now I’m pfully Pfizered and thinking about it again.
Can it be played on a tablet instead of a phone? Is there a free app? Are there any questions I should be asking?
There is a free app. You can download it on a tablet, so I think you could play it.
As long as the tablet has internet, I believe so. Technically it can be played off of wifi, but the location accuracy can get a bit wonky.
Yeah, it kept my friend sane for the past couple of month. Here in Hungary you were allowed to go grocery shopping all througjh the pandemic, sometimes go to the office, so she walked everywhere
I got 600000 exp in it today!
Sweeet! I got 450000 back on the 13th, and that’s without triggering a Best Friend bonus. I’m finally within 100000 xp of Level 40, now that they’ve raised the level cap
The last major rejiggering left a spawn point in our back yard, so I don’t even have to move to play (although I run out of balls a lot now)
My apartment Dog Park is a stop, and with remote passes, you can hit gyms and raids. On special days, the trade distance is raised to 40km! They made thing so much easier, during these times.
D’oh! Remote RAID passes.
I lost my balls years ago.
oh.
That’s not what you meant.
Hope you held on to your marbles.
If only, I think I lost most of them first. The rest went shortly after my balls. Or is anyone else /planning/ to retire homeless?
Long story short, they added in a bunch of features to allow people to still play with relative ease without having to actually go anywhere. Primarily, remote raid passes that let you do the large scale pokemon fights from a significant distance away.
There are literally thousands of people who still play **Everquest**
Guess she’s not feeling the effects of whatever the hell is going on with Walky because she’s diverting her eyes elsewhere. Because Amber is acting the same as usual.
Nah, she just hasn’t looked at him yet.
I now want a retelling of the Perseus myth where he wanders into Medusa’s domain looking for a PokéStop, and averts his gaze by never looking up from his phone.
Amber’s natural avoidance of social contact temporarily counters Walky’s new hotness aura, but I think there is still some residual effect just by his presence. She actually chose to continue this conversation!
Well it isn’t a sensitive subject like it was before, so maybe it was just that she didn’t want to talk about that, and less that she just didn’t want to talk to him at all. I suspect we’ll soon know more.
Is Amber not going to her classes?
It’s only the second day, she may not have had any yet. Even if she does, there’s no guarantee it’s at the same time as Robin’s class.
Also just based on the windows I’m guessing it’s the end of the day ( or IU has some window tinting technology) time in Doa can jump pretty abruptly if nothing important is happening. Amber could’ve attended her classes but it just hasn’t been important enough to mention probably because no other main characters share her classes.
Does that mean that Lucy followed Walky around all day long
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2020/comic/book-11/01-this-bright-millennium/bonuspeople/
So yes.
Huh, Joyce was giving hints about her eyes last October. “This is kinda far back.”
That was after the reboot, so it makes sense.
Maybe she’s on her way back from class.
I’m actually surprised that Pokemon Go is still a Thing. Even the hardcore Poke fans in my circle dropped it like a hot brick when the pandemic started and never went back.
There’ve been a bunch of adjustments for the pandemic that actually make it more playable for me than it was before. (We can hold more than ten gifts at once! The ability to raid remotely, though the pass capacity is also ridiculously low! Team Rocket balloons so you don’t have to go to a Pokestop and hope to encounter them! Extended Pokestop range! Daily free items!)
Granted, they’ve still geared events around the assumption people are in easy range of Pokestops, but it’s still pretty substantial improvements.
I’m able to spin one of the Pokestops near where I live occasionally, when I couldn’t before. Sometimes even the one across the street from it if I’m lucky.
… I am sincerely worried about Amber’s ability to interact with people in The Outside if Walky’s commenting on it and she’s going ‘sure, I can do one of those’ about conversations.
Also at first I didn’t realize all serifed I’s are at a bit of a slant in this font and was concerned it might be emphasized. AG, if Amber’s trying to put literally all social interactions on your plate, I think you’re allowed to burrito one important but easily-replacable item of hers.
I think that’s a very valid concern given how she’s been portrayed since the jump. The sense that I’ve gotten is that she’s basically been shutting everyone out (at least outside of the internet) since at least December.
“Burrito”?
Depending on wat she picks, it might pass worse than Taco Bell.
Sometimes I wonder if I missed out by not getting into Pokémon as a kid because the ‘rents thought it would de-sensitize me to violence.
Then I remember how utterly stupid I can be when I get overly engrossed in things and realize that if I’d gotten into Pokémon, I would probably have broken into someone’s house while playing Pokémon Go.
You missed out yes.
You missed out on a lot, you poor deprived soul.
Why would you have broken into a house? You can get the Pokeymon from like half a block away.
It depends. How much brain space would you want permanently devoted to recognizing odd names as Pokemon and not trademarked names of prescription drugs, or deeply, deeply silly lore designed to retroactively justify the central conceit of the franchise being cockfighting? (It is canonically established in the games that Pokemon all have an instinctual desire to fight each other, constantly, and allow themselves to be trained by humans so that they can meet more varied opponents. Humans in the Pokemon verse literally evolved to be fight managers. This isn’t even the weirdest piece of Pokemon lore I can cite off the top of my head.)
I love Pokemon so much.
Funny thing, the brain actually never “runs out of room” to remember things, but these we tend to subject our memory capacities to the polar opposite of olympic training.
Well, I mean, technically there’s a mathematical upper bound to how much data can be stored in a given volume using matter, or I guess light. However, that limit is far beyond useful for the way we use neurons to store data (we are much less efficient). However that also is a moot point because between our limited lives, and as you say, ignorance and inapplication of our brains is a sport, so yeah, functionally our ability to remember is limitless compared to the other limits we are subject to. (sleep, eating, hygiene, and ultimately death)
Sometimes I feel like I should try to get into Pokemon just so I know more than a few random names that I’ve heard of in other games like Smash Bros, but since I’m working full-time I don’t know when I’d find the time to get into it.
The good news is the main-series games are pretty low-impact, and thus easy to play for short bursts – fully turn-based combat, ability to save any time, and nothing that’s really reliant on reaction times until the most recent games. (Let’s Go using the catching mechanic of Go and required motion controls, and Sword/Shield using wandering Pokemon that you would have to avoid if you really don’t want to fight – but it’s not super tricky to escape if you do. And the curry-making minigame, but given that’s optional it’s not too bad.) Go doesn’t require a dedicated gaming console and is easier to start, but heavily location-dependent – if you don’t live in walking distance of Pokestops, you have less access to items and the raids where you can catch rare Pokemon. It’s also freemium to DEEPLY annoying extents (limited-use incubaters for eggs, storage caps and things being items that really have no business doing so, paying to recharge your transfers from Go to the main games via an already-paid subscription service…) and there was something particularly obnoxious about Niantic partnering with Autism Speaks, considered a hate group by autistic people as a whole, for an event a few years back using a franchise designed by an autistic man and appealing to autistic people almost by design. I still play, and that seems to have been a one-time occurrence, but that’s in part because it happens frequently enough I’m just resigned to it. (The joys of having the conversation so thoroughly dominated by ‘cure’ rhetoric and parents of autistic kids over actual autistic people.)
In other words, it doesn’t need to take too much time until it becomes a hyperfixation and then you’re here forever. (Seriously, it’s an addictive substance to several forms of neurodivergence.) Join us. Joiiiiiin uuuuuuus.
I started playing Pokémon Go while working full time. I would spin Pokestops while riding the bus to and from work.
‘Sup, fellow never-got-into-Pokemon-despite-being-the-target-demo-at-the-time. I’ve seen snippets of the cartoon and played one of the original Game Boy games briefly, but that’s about it. There are dozens of us! Dozens!
I never got into Harry Potter, either. Too busy reading old computer books… I was a strange child.
–if I stay here with you girl
Things just wouldn’t be the same
‘Cause I’m as free as a bird now…
And this bird you cannot change!
TBF, it’s a very relatable move.
I continue to love the chemistry between these two. They really get each other – I can’t think of any character who seems to understand Amber better than Walky, and that includes both Ethan and Mike.
Whether they end up dating or not, I love them interacting and want to see more of it.
“So you … felt awkward and bolted.”
Man, in my portion of the meat-world I’ve got that move down so well it’s actually an art form now.
Oof. If I bolted from every awkward I’d have never developed friends at all. Nor would hmmm… what’s the balance here, either I’d not ever have left the house, or I’d have pulled a Gump and run forever from constantly bolting new awkwards.
Lucy made a move.
It was not super effective.
Sounds like it was super awkward.
But frankly it sounds adorable and would have worked for me.
LUCY
MAKE A MOVE
It seems like that should be the title and chorus lyrics to a song.
Okay, there’s no way Walky doesn’t know Lucy is into him at this point if he noticed and commented on the fact that “she pulled her hat down over her face” when he “ran [his] hand through his hair.” He sees the connection between those two events and felt awkward about it. That does not bode well for Lucy×Walky.
Yep. I’m definitely leaning toward “he kinda knows but just isn’t into her” after this strip
I’d put it less “not into her” and more “not comfortable with a relationship right now”.
I mean, he could just not be into Lucy, that’s of course possible… but his attitude’s just had more of a feeling of being very guarded for the most part. Lots of silly stuff, but I’m just remembering his attitude towards Booster, which felt like he was refusing to engage. Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s still a fair bit of a mess considering Mike and all.
Run your hand through your hair like you don’t care.
I’m still not sure if he isn’t just that oblivious of her feelings for him. I’ve definitely had a few times in my past where I noticed things were kinda weird and awkward between me and a woman, but it was only much later (sometimes months or even years later) that I realized the reason things were weird and awkward was that she was probably into me at the time.
My sense all along is that he knows, but it isn’t something he wants to deal with, so he avoids thinking about it.
Maybe it is supposed to be the modern version of the Danny/Joyce stuff from Roomies.
Somehow, it was inevitable that the only person who would really understand the problems Walky is having with relationships would be Amber.
o3o I guess that’s my cue to pick back up the adventures of hot walky…soon. I’ve been a bit burnt out as of late.
It’s fiiiiiiine, we all got stuff to do and burnout is a bongo
Lampshading the remodeled lobby, are we?
The phone makes her immune to his charms XD.
Oh i get it, amber hasn’t looked up yet
But something tells me she won’t be… Uh… Charmed? By him, or at least not the same way as others have
I was looking to see if anyone else had noticed that one! Should be interesting to see if she goes full “nosebleeding anime protagonist” in reaction to his hair.
so it’s not only me whose portals tend to shift a bit over the months. GPS incertainity I guess.
Amber : “So I would have had that happening to me if I used Amazi-girl’s hair products ? Really dodged a bullet there”
YEEEEEEEES! THEY MEET AND ARE ALONE!!!!!+
Seems like Walky may have started to realize that the girls find him hot now. Maybe.
Yeah, I figured he knew.
was gonna say “more amber, please”, but… huh. with mike dead, walky an ex, and ethan off getting conversion therapy, i suppose she “no longer serves a narrative function”, and is slated to become soylent green.
Not calling you out, but calling attention to “conversion therapy”. This is not a therapy and does not deserve to be referred to as such. It’s abuse, and is illegal in many places.
I forgot that Ethan had mentioned something about it, but I hadn’t realized (or forgot) that’s what was happening. Is there a referrence for this?
No. Not as far as I can remember either. As far as I know, Ethan has just vanished without mention. Probably because all the characters how might care know and thus there’s no reason to comment about it.
Or he’s around, but just hasn’t come on screen.
I believe Walky mentioned something about Ethan technically being around? Or at least, he mentioned Ethan in the present tense.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2021/comic/book-11/03-see-you-in-the-funny-page/icebreaker-2/
“He’s started looking like Peter Parker from the first Spider-Man 3” doesn’t necessarily rule out that ‘conversion therapy’ is somehow taking place, but certainly makes it less likely. It also doesn’t necessarily mean Ethan is even at school, because Walky could simply be following him on social media or something.
Yikes, where are people getting this awful reference? When has anyone ever said Ethan was going through that?!
They haven’t.
Sometimes I forget Walky is like this on purpose and still very much socially aware of things.
For the love of God, Amber, look up from your phone! You need to succumb to the hotness! Walky’s Harem needs more co-ed bodies, it always needs more!