#and if you don't give a shit its a lot easier to gamble

[mewvore]

as someone who worked as a stripper for several years, showing your body is not a one way ticket to financial security. there were many nights where i worked for 8 hours and ended up owing the club money, due to how things like set rent work. and many more where i made $60-80 for a full night’s work. not that you can’t have great nights some times, or make half your rent in a hour, but many people who work in sex related industries are doing so freelance, and may never know if their next month is going to be able to support them through the year or if they’re getting their power shut off. you can be trapped in a cycle of saving what you can for months, only to have it evaporated by an unexpected expense during a bad month.

yeah absolutely, its... well its work. I don't mean to sorta condense it down to that but of all people I'm WELL aware that sex work is a working class activity.

for anyone a bit lost on the convo thread at the moment, I made a post about how I'd personally never get rich because it requires a persistent gambling mentality, and someone mentioned sex work (or adjacent types of showing off ones body publicly) as one thats probably less of a gamble for wealth. and this anon here is explaining that its very much just a normal job you probably shouldn't bet everything on it for making you rich/very few people are rich solely from sex work

to circle back to what I meant overall, when you grow up in poverty a lot of things have to be calculated based on risk and loss, as opposed to risk and reward. that mentality is very hard to shake the longer you stay poor. when you've eaten syrup sandwiches and worn your siblings clothes for 10 years, even very little things can make you completely satisfied and less willing to risk that little bit of satisfaction because you know what its like to have literally nothing. so I personally can't see myself doing the kinds of risky behavior with the little bit I have that a lot of wealthy people do to gain and maintain their riches, whether its making shady deals, playing stocks, trying to fool people, committing felonies like wire fraud, or even just like actual straight up gambling.

also theres a survivorship bias? like yeah there seems to be a million celebrities and or influencers doing all the above betting, but even in their seemingly endless masses they're like 1/100000, you rarely hear of the gamblers who lost

[unidot]

Some Fade Valorant headcanons from my twt

-Since her powers are not mind reading and not clear, she also uses her psychology knowledge to base assumptions on people and use their fears against them more affectively

-Fidgets with her hands a lot. She either uses an object to keep her hands busy or uses her nightmare tendrils

-Doing henna and drawing are some kind of meditation for her. They help her to keep herself grounded when the nightmares and visions get especially bad

-She prefers bitter coffee

-Born in the city of Bursa, later moved to İstanbul

-She doesnt have a cat of her own, mostly takes care of street cats

-She loves homemade food but is not that good at cooking so she mostly goes to restaurants that makes homemade like food

-She is around 172 cm (5'8") tall and is 27-28 years old

-since its confirmed that the nightmare is not a seperate entity, the prowlers act on her most basic emotions deep down (playing with people she likes, hissing at people she dislikes etc)

-She cant shut down her powers because they work like a 6th sense in a way. She constantly feels the fear and discomfort around her but choses to not focus on it

-Designed her own nazar symbol

-She is really bad at singing

-likes photography and she is good at it thanks to needing to take a lot of photos in her job

-Knows hacking because she hacked into Cypher's computers and compiled all the information on the protocol without being detected

-she sometimes plays chess with Cypher

-Her favorite color is blue (color of nazar, her vest and her ult)

-does coffee fortune telling for her friends

-her favourite food is mantı

-didnt really had a good education but has a lot of knowledge on stuff thanks to reading a lot and doing a lot of research on stuff she is curious about

-She was really skinny when she joined vp (mostly because she didnt really took good care of herself as she did research for her blackmail attack) gained some fat and muscle after vp's food and training

-she learned some German in middleschool and highschool. With that vp has 2 agents who both knows Turkish and German (Kj being half Turkish from her mothers side)

-Omen and her dms are full of cat videos they found

-her prowlers name is Karabasan

-her favorite book genres are books that explore the human mind or detective books

-she tans easily

-she dislikes swimming. Prefers to read a book on the beach

-she is generally tidy but can get messy when she is focused on a mission. Her desk especially becomes a mess

-she smells like coffee and burnt sages

-she doesn't really care about other agents' opinions on her. She is still friendly sometimes and civil to them, but if they don't forgive her, she honestly doesn't give a shit. And agents that still dislike her are mostly civil towards her

-if she is feeling down, she often goes on walks outside. Helps to clear her mind

-its hard for her to care for something or someone. But if she does, she cares so much

-she has a motorcycle back home. It's easier and more efficient for her since Istanbul traffic can be hell

-she is great at gambling or games like gambling since she is observant and can just feel the peoples fear or anxiety of losing

-she sometimes falls asleep (passes out) on random places if she hasn't slept in a really long time

-Omen knit a sweater and a scarf for her

-she gets along with Harbor really well. They share books and talk about their experiences with working in Realm while drinking tea or coffee

-she can really relate to Neon with not being able to control her powers fully and that affecting her life and relationships. She doesn't admit it, though

-she plays backgammon with Cypher and Harbor

-she spends a lot of time and effort on her "messy" appearance

-she is one of the busiest agents. She gets a lot of assignments (mostly intel work)

-she knows all of the agents' most secrets and fears but she honestly couldnt care less. Your secret is safe with her (If you are on her good side)

-she prefers to use a Phantom than a Vandal

-she finds Dizzy cute because she looks like a sleepy kitten

-she is still secretly salty about KAY/O catching her

-she and Skye dont really like eachother that well but they see eachother often during the early mornings (Skye going for a morning run and Fade still not sleeping) and Skye's tiger and Fade's prowlers likes to play so they end up seeing eachother more than they would like

-Used to go to clubs and bars often. Mostly to stay awake and keep her mind busy

-She is actually kinda rich. Her bounty hunter job paid her well

-Secretly wants Neon's black cat plushie but would never admit it

-she is really great at reading people but she is bad at interacting positively towards them. Her compliments or her comforting words can be awkward or just not appropriate

-other than cats, one of the other animals she really likes is octopuses

-she and Chamber trade expensive coffee

-she has a lot of scars on her body

-she is not that psychically strong compared to other agents

-she has high alcohol tolerance

-names all the cats she looks after on the streets. Either gives them cute names or just normal human names

-she is superstitious. Mostly about nazar

-her hand writting is really messy

-she was born left handed but she is now ambidextrous

[elytrafemme]

a thing you might consider with "how fucked up of a fanstory can work with this OG material" is, kind of sort of age rating - ive never watched dsmp as far as i know most minecraft series are aimed at, more or less, middle school age, ace attorney is 12+ in many countries (and in those that it isn't - i feel like a higher rating is a massive overreaction).

danganronpa games are consistently 16+ or equivalent in most areas (18+ in some like south korea).

if you want to write fanstories (which might not be for you anymore, just giving a suggestion), i'd start aiming at media that are aimed at an older audience - there might just more to work with if the series deals with darker themes from the get-go. pegi16 or above game series i've dealt with recently that i liked (but might not be for you - mind the warnings and general descriptions) would be Needy Girl Overdose/Needy Streamer Overload and Yakuza/Like a Dragon.

hey, yeah, fair enough points. for me i think all that plays a role in the kind of stuff i can write, but it's more-so a matter of just... communities surrounding things, and the nature of the media itself. i think part of what made danganronpa easier to write fic for wasn't necessarily the explicitness of it-- because that's not really a required part of the kind of stuff i write-- but more that it's... not exactly a well written franchise. it gives you a bunch of characters, a bunch of unresolved potential, some dark background themes (which AA and DSMP also do), and a half nightmarish plot to tinker with to your desire. so sure if i wanted to extrapolate off of dialogue it's easier, because it's not exactly airtight anyway.

compare that with AA, and it's a lot more... clear? honestly, i don't stumble on true AUs that frequently for it-- people see the well written characters and dynamics and sometimes even plot and you work in post-canon, or canon divergences, etc. you get some fun shit in the midst of AA4 and my favorite era is the post SOJ stuff, because that's like as post canon as you get. but all of it feels sacred because it's like... good? there's a heavy pressure not to bastardize things. and half of why i write weird shit is because there's a heavy thing in my chest that i need to take out on characters, but then i get caught up on like... i don't know. characterization comparisons? it's just so beloved in a way that's hard to fuck up. (notably, a lot of people have written really well done, in character, complicated fics for AA exploring like, seven year gap stuff or long distance relationships or resolving parental trauma or whatever).

and then DSMP is like... ugh. i don't know how to articulate this. but it feels like the lines are crazy thin, which makes sense obviously and i don't disagree with any of those lines. so it's often easy to work within canon, but i like, notoriously cannot write mid-canon things. like i can't do "missing scenes" or "canon divergences" i'm bad at it. i like AUs and post canon, i like working off non-existent material. but AU-ing DSMP is kind of a weird gamble.

i dunno if any of this makes sense, but it's just a fragment of a thing that kind of goes along with what you've said. i honestly think how flawed a media is, and how apathetic its audience is, is like the biggest factor. nobody gaf if i write like komaeda having a splitting episode at 2 in the morning, right. it feels like i have to think way harder if i want to do that in anything else -- and i know that viscerally because i've tried.

i'll look into those medias though. thanks anon, take care

[fangirltothefullest]

Not only that but these games are designed to force you to make purchases to progress. Games like garden-scapes are notorious for requiring luck to pass levels as opposed to skills. Candy crush does this too. Games like Cookie Run can be a bit better about offering alternative ways of progressing and leveling up etc but they still use the same tactics and its EASIER to make the purchase over waiting a long timw. AFK Arena does this too. You can wait and save up but if you want cool shit you have to wither dedicate serious time every single day to get ANYWHERE and have a ton of patience, or you purchase and you often miss out on the cooler characters which help you progress better if you dont pay.

And if you leave the game, many of them, like a casino offering free chips upon entry, will give you cool things when you come back after a long time to entice you. Ah yes remember why you left? Not when im showering you in presents!

Garden-scapes is a perfect example. It showers you with gifts and power ups you would normally have to buy just for returning after a few months. They do this so you progress but then when you run out they're hoping you spend money. It's insidious and it's not regulated and the money spent is often in small amounts so it feels like you aren't paying much but 14 purchases of 2.99 is still a lot of fucking money to spend on a videogame and if you do this several times a month or even a week you start hemmoraging money.

Gambling is addictive and these games are using gambling tactics in their gachas and by designing levels only beatable by chance.

Don't judge those who fall into it because it's very easy to fall prey to things like this without knowing you've fallen.

If you’ve never been addicted to mobile games it’s difficult to understand why someone would spend money on that.

As someone who used to spend money on mobile games to the point where I couldn’t afford soap once, those people don’t want to be spending that money.

Before I quit I spent a lot of my time thinking about idle games and spending money on it made me feel like I was making progress and it felt like I was escaping the mental trench I’d fallen into. In reality I was just digging myself in further. It’s a lot like gambling. You’re chasing the hope of good brain chemical releases even when you don’t get it.

Eventually I had to erase all games on my phone and take a break from video games altogether. I’m in a much better place now and I no longer play idle games and I can safely play candy crush without spending money now.

But like. I see people asking how someone could be stupid enough to spend money on candy crush. I know. It’s a compulsive behavior you can’t stop doing even when you want to.

It starts with thinking I’ll just do it this one time. And then that mental barrier is broken. It’s a lot easier to spend money then. And these apps work really hard to wear down your impulse control.

[fayesdiary]

List of reasons why I unironically think the best way to enjoy Heroes is to not play it:

(This isn't to shit on anyone who likes the game, just... read all the way until the end, please.)

You can get excited at every new banner without having to worry about powercreep, saving your orbs or other stuff;

You can enjoy the best parts of Heroes (the art, lines, voice acting and interactions) for absolutely free, right away;

You don't have to get a headache trying to understand paragraph-long skills;

You save a lot of space on your phone, seriously even the lite version is ridiculously huge. That, or I just have a shitty phone, or both;

You don't need to do every single monthly quest, arena, mode and whatever modes they added just to get more resources. As someone who played a bunch of mobile games before, this shit is designed to get you to sink a lot of time in tasks that might not even be fun in the first place. I remember I quit Heroes three years ago because I was about to do the high school finals and I realized just how much time I was sinking into it doing arbitrary thing that stopped being fun a long time ago, and just doing them to get orbs and have another shot at summoning another Hero, hoping it was the one I wanted. Almost all of the time it wasn't because the summoning is rigged against you, but I'm sure you don't need me to tell you that. And the worst thing is, I didn't realized how much time I spent playing Heroes and not even fun until after I uninstalled it. This is also why I never felt the urge to come back and it's such a shame because if this was a mainline title or at least not a gacha it would be my favorite. Huge crossover? You can customize units however you want? Sims-like minigame in the form of Aether Resort? Endless potential for character interactions and what-ifs? It would be the best thing ever! But still, the fact it's a colossal, mostly unfun time sink is one of the reasons I stopped playing it and never looked back. The other is...

Heroes is a gacha. Or in other words, gambling. Now, I don't care that it's a mobile game. It could have been a AAA(derogatory) title on the Switch, be the best FE title ever and the problem would still stand with its current monetization. Because make no mistake, gacha games are inherently predatory, and the players are subject to constant psychological manipulation to get them to spend as much money as possible. And there are several horror stories of people spending an unfathomable amount of money because of pressure by a limited time banner and what not, and the general attack to neurodivergent people who are more vulnerable to this sort of manipulation. This video by Jim Sterling really encapsulate the damage this does to people's lives and the truth behind shit concepts like "personal responsibility", "self-control" and "whales", I recommend you give it a watch. (And also subscribe to them because they're great and expose the gaming industry for the abusive shithole it truly is behind the curtain.) Hell, from personal experience: While I haven't spent any money in mobile games in general, I constantly felt the pressure as someone who loves minmaxing and is really vulnerable to FOMO, and the only reason I haven't caved in is because I never had a credit card enable to Google Pay so there was enough of a wall to get me to stop before it was too late. Because after you make the first purchase, opening the wallet again would have been much, much easier. And I still spent a ridiculous amount of time on the game doing henious tasks just to get those few extra orbs, to do one more summon hoping it's the one Hero I want and constantly being disappointed because the chances are rigged against you. My experiences with gacha games made me realize how vulnerable I am to develop a gambling addiction, and it's why I refuse to play another gacha ever again. Better safe than sorry. And still, if I was a parent I would be fucking terrified, because children are much more vulnerable to this kind of pressure. Having to check every single game they play to ensure there are no microtransactions, and still not being safe because they could always make a "suprise" update and add microtransactions and loot boxes that won't be notified in the boxart warnings, or when you've already bought it. Make no mistake, this is psychological warfare through and through, and it can't be fixed through "self-control" and "personal responsibility". This shit needs to be regulated.

[minthysugamon]

Barell of a Gun (Hitman! Jimin x Reader)

(Warnings: This one is pretty dark. Please don't read if you feel uncomfortable at the mentions of Paid Murder,Gambling,Uncomfortable Situations and Kidnapping. This doesn't depict Jimin's real personality. It's only a work of fiction. Please don't associate Jimin with this after you read it,he isn't like that in real life. IT IS ONLY A WORK OF FICTION BASED ON A JAMES BOND-AGENT 47 TYPE OF CONDUCTING LINE)

Word count: 2045

As soon as night has fallen,he started to get ready. Pen,check. Knives,check. 9mm,check. Everything was going perfectly. Park Jimin never paid attention to the victim. At least,he never let his emotions rule over the goal he had in front of him. And that goal was the 1,000,000$ he will get after he eliminated the person in the portfolio. It's a well paid price,and until he does the job without being noticed,it's worth it. He never accorded time to his emotions. It's a rational job,find the person,eliminate them,get paid. Nothing really hard. He prefers to say eliminate because killing would make his targets look like victims,whilst most of them are just rotten people.

"Agent 91,welcome. Please type in the password to unlock." His computer displayed the following words. He typed it in once. Doesn't work. The fourth time,same thing happened. "Fuck. Not again. I don't have time for this shit right now." Jimin was starting to get agitated. The fifth time,he just scanned his retina,hoping it would work. And it did. Thankfully. Because if it hadn't,the whole fuck-up would've cost him a lot of money and primarily his life,probably.

While sitting in the car,you had some Depeche Mode song your brother was blasting earlier in his room,stuck on repeat in your head. It was called Barrel of a Gun or something,the guitar riff was kinda cool so it stuck to your neurones. The ride to the casino was accompanied by an awkward silence,your date for the night has chosen some pompous place to dine at and now wanted to go gamble some money away. He was the son of some rich politician at your school,of course he would do something like that. "Did you like the meal?" The guy placed a hand on your knee,not as if you had asked,but for the moment you didn't do anything. "Yes,i liked it,even thought the wine was a little bit dry for my taste." He simply smirked and rolled up the partition in the back of the Limousine before his hand has made its way higher up on your thigh. "Well..if it can comfort you,i know that something won't be as dry as the wine tonight." Breaking point. You took his hand into yours and simply smiled. "Jacques,listen. I appreciate your gestures and all,but please,please,pretty please,don't ever fucking touch me again without me consenting to it." You heard a pop coming from the bone of his hand,not realising you were literally almost breaking it so you had let it go.

Jimin had stepped into the grand hall of the Casino of Monte Carlo,getting the casual verifications done. He stood at the roulette table,and since he had some time to kill,he didn't mind gambling away some thousands. The main point was to blend in,not to be outstanding. "Mesdames,Messieurs,Faites-vos jeux." He had forgotten how wonderful the french language sounds...as wonderful as a cat choking on some plastic wrap. His bet was put on the number 3,his lucky number. Not that he was superstitious,but it always brought him chance,so...why not this time? "Les Jeux sont faits." As soon as the roulette started spinning,he looked around himself and finally saw his target. But it wasn't planned that he will have company.

Sitting besides Jacques while he was playing a hand,needless to say,it was more than just boring. You never wanted to go home as much as you did now. Plus,the high-heels were killing your feet,it was a plus reason for you to just get up and leave. But you didn't. Simply because he was already kind enough to take you on a date,so,you had nothing more to do than just sit beside him and observe. Jacques wasn't good at Poker,even if he liked to think the opposite,and his loss was already over 100,000€. If he were a simple man,he would already be indebted,but it wasn't the case. The game only started to be interesting when another man sat down at the table and joined the party.

"May i?" Jimin asked with a small smile on his lips. He knew his target was beside him,it will be easier to calculate his every moves. But he didn't realise it will be harder since you were in the frame too. As soon as the game started,he saw that the guy wasn't good at playing,only bluffing,so,he took this to his advantage and told himself he will use the "I'm just tryna help you bro" card later. Jimin's eyes were mostly on you though,and he didn't calculate his emotions,but he would've been lying if he said you weren't beautiful.

You were looking at the cards in Jacques's hands. Seeing the 3 others on the table,he was already fucked,but of course,he had to bluff. "50,bet" echoed from the man beside you and everyone folded. Except one. The new player at the table. "Oh...i see you play with big amounts...let me make it more interesting then. Calling 1600." The black haired man's proposition made you jump a little bit. It wasn't only 1600€,but 1,600,000. "So..? What do you think? Reasonable proposition,no? Or...are you scared of losing?" The guy smirked and your partner stood up. "I'm going for a smoke. Pause the game." "Man,it isn't such a bad proposition,but okay...let's say 1,400,000 to save your honor." He followed Jacques to the balcony. Which was a pretty bad idea knowing how he can get when he's angry,you knew how out of hand the situation could get,he was the same at Uni. Anger Issues was his middle name.

Jimin was only trying to provoke the poor guy. Poor...let's not say that. He was the kid of an asshole that got rich by scamming poor people. Let alone,the father was a politician. The only way for Jimin to attain his final target was to hurt him. Not that he had to,but it was more effective this way. "Stop fucking following me. I have enough of your gimmicks. I saw how you were looking at him. You're on a date with me,not him." The hitman simply laughed. "Oh..you thought your little girlfriend came after you? Believe me,she has better things to do. Now,if you excuse me..." Gun cocked. Silencer already on. And fire. The bullet went straight through the younger one's head,in between the eyes. "Bull's eye. Good." As the body of the guy has fallen,Jimin started to wipe his silencer and put the pistol away. Too bad the girl was at the balcony as he did it.

"What the fuck have you done? WHO THE FU-" You screamed at him,but the scream hadn't live to its full potential as the guy from the table had silenced you with a hit to your head. You woke up five hours later,tied to a chair,in a living room in some old ass apartment,still propably in southern France. "Rise and shine babygirl,you're safe now. My name is...you have no buisness knowing it,but call me 91. Or Jay. Whatever suits you." As you looked around you,you saw nothing you could recognise. Only the feeling of the rag on your mouth was prominent,with the bounds around your wrists and legs. "I guess i should take off the gag...but can i trust you to not scream?" You nodded,already planning to get away somehow. As Jay took off the gag you inhaled and tried to scream but he had his hand in front of your mouth. "I should've killed you when i had the chance. I didn't need any kind of witnesses. But here i am,trying to plan out something so you don't talk. Now. Stop screaming or i'll send a bullet flying through your brain. Also..what's your name again?" He knew it of course...but wanted to hear it as he took off his hand of your mouth and looked at you. "Wasn't that your initial plan? And my name is (Y/n)." The sass in your words left him surprised enough to smile and unload his gun. "Wow,getting sassy i see. I like it." "Why did you kill him? Was it because he was involved in some shady buisness?" You talked way more than you should have. And Jimin liked that. More information means more time...which means a better approach towards the target. "What do i look like? A social justice warrior? Honey,i get paid for shit like this. But now,my only problem is you. What should i do with you? You weren't in the frame. And now you are here,bound to a chair...don't get me wrong,i like the view,but you shouldn't have wandered away from that goddamn table yesterday." You simply lowered your head and looked at his hands. He was fidgeting. Unable to decide what he should do. "You should probably kill me then. I mean,if i am too much to handle,and since you know i'll be talking as soon as i get out of here,you should just choke me to death...quick and effective." He smiled and took your chin with two fingers so you were looking into his eyes. "Let me think about it. But i already know i won't kill you...in the end,you're truly innocent so..there would be no fun in that." "So...you're pretty much a social justice warrior then" He let your chin go and stood up to walk around the apartment.

Jimin knew killing you would've made too much mess,plus,cleaning the whole appartment after it would have taken too much time. Plus...he kinda started to like you. You were the type of girl he could settle with. So he went with plan B...or more like,he wanted to go with plan b which was about to let you go and threaten you to not talk. But as soon as he heard footsteps coming towards the apartment,Jimin changed his mind and chose Plan C. "You'll be coming with me. We have to get away. I already lost more than 3 hours with you getting in my way."

You were quickly untied and he secured a gun around your thigh. "You know how to use one? Just in case,to be safe." Why on earth would he give you a gun? "I could kill you right now if i wanted." "Yeah,i know,but you don't want to. That's the positive point. Now open the window and get out." God knows why you obeyed him,but it was almost automatic. Did you like the rush of the situation? Maybe yes. Maybe it was simply because you were scared...maybe it was because you kind of liked the way the whole situation turned out. He was following you as soon as he cleared the area,and unlocked his car. "Get in. I'll be here soon. No more than 2 minutes." "Huh? Where the fuck are you going?" "Getting my shit and then i'll be here." And with that,he was already on his way.

No more than two minutes after,he was back with his suitcase and the briefcase containing some papers,his pc and most importantly,the money. "Buckle the belt. We'll be on the road for 10 to 15 hours..." "Where are we going?" He simply smiled and turned the engine on. "Let that be a surprise..." "So...you're pretty much kidnapping me,right?"

He chuckled and looked into the rear-view mirror. "It's better than the barrel of a gun against your head at least. And...you'll see,it won't be as bad as you think."

Was this really the life you were about to live? Probably. Was it safe? Probably not,but did you have any other choice? No. But...little did you know,it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

(Y'all,i'm sorry if it is bad...i really wanted something different but in the end idk...it doesn't seem good to me...i let you all be the judge)