Almost everything is pretend though, unless we’re talking about the basic laws of science (and even those change with context).

Language is “pretend”. Words don’t mean anything unless we all agree they mean something.

Valuing family is “pretend”. We all agree to give family importance, but plenty of animals don’t.

All laws are pretend. Country borders are pretend. Gender roles are pretend. Social position is pretend. Even my job is only my job because everyone agrees to give me responsibility in this role. Pretty much everything in society only works because of tacit agreement.

Which is the good one out of those?

Explain. Why would a realisation be dawning just now?

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In order of frequency of use with my Deck:

My most used accessory is a hoodie with the single front pocket. The Deck fits in this pocket and is great to carry around the house. Doesn’t fall out or anything.

Thick stick-on rubber button covers for the back buttons that make them far easier to press.

Deckmate. I primarily use this with a DIY phone holder to attach my phone.i watch movies while gaming in a dark room waiting for my son to fall asleep every night. Also great for the kick-stand, but I don’t use that much.

A barrel connector to USB-C converter to turn my laptop charger into a 65W USB charger at my desk so I don’t need to have multiple chargers and cables lying around. I also have a super small GaN dual port USB-C charger for travel. I would also recommend buying a bunch of used (branded) USB-C laptop chargers from eBay if you want multiple chargers scattered around the house.

Tomtoc carrying case.

My Synology NAS for easily transferring files to the Deck from other devices and for auto-backup of save files from emulated games using Syncthing.

90 degree USB-C connector along with a generic USB-C laptop dock. Extra long USB-C cable.

My hitbox controller for street fighter.

The Steam Link app on the PC to work as an instant remote access app to the Deck. Works great for setting things up (i.e. emulators) in desktop mode with the KB+M and screen shared to the large monitor.

Guitar hero controller…yup this still gets some use and is fun with the family.

Dualshock 3 controller (works natively with Deck Bluetooth connection).

PD power bank.

There are a number of options I haven’t explored. I haven’t touched anything on the inside of the Deck. You can get a bigger NVME drive or hall effect joysticks or a new shell. You can also get vinyl stick on skins for the outside. You can get all sorts of other mods. You can get to really significant surgical mods.

I Ii

II I_

A warning before you jump in: it’s crazy difficult. It took me about 70 hours of gameplay to be able to finish a play through…but after that it became pretty repeatable once I had learnt how to do it. This is pretty standard, but the failed runs are all fun and the gameplay is excellent and hilarious. I can give some generic starter tips if you want, things I wished I knew before having to learn the hard way (equally learning the hard way is the way rogue-lites are intended to work, so up to you).

The enemies are bullets that are holding guns and shooting bullets at you. You can unlock a gun that looks like a bullet, that shoots bullets that look like guns, that shoot their own bullets. Everything in the game is a pun.

Rogue-lites are basically made to be infinitely re-playable and if I find one I like then I keep going back to it. Enter the Gungeon is a game I’ve played for years. Then there was a while this spot was taken by Slay the Spire and Balatro in turn. Now I’m back to Enter the Gungeon.

Parenthood is already desirable. There’s a biological drive and social conditioning to desire it for most people. The disincentives have just become overwhelming. Children take a hell of a lot of resources. Every aspect of modern society has drained all the time, money, energy, emotional resiliance, social support, etc that people need.