(no subject)

[the_rck]

I used a half tablet of Halcion last night and don't feel hungover/groggy today. I'm not sure that it helped me sleep, though, so it may be a tradeoff. I'll try a whole tablet tonight and see how that goes given that I should be able to sleep myself out tomorrow. The whole tablet Thursday night did help me sleep, so I'd like to know if the fatigue on Friday was from the Halcion or just from it being the end of a trying week with less sleep than I actually need.

Scott and I are poking at Steam to see if there are games there that Cordelia might like (and be willing to have us know that she's playing). He's used Steam for a while, and I never have. I'm frustrated because I can't get the searching interface to do what I think it ought to, because I can't make it cough up a complete list of searchable tags or categories. I'm also not seeing any sort of label that indicates a target age range or levels of gore, sex, profanity, etc. Cordelia says she doesn't want any of those things, so sorting in a way to eliminate them would be beyond helpful.

I don't think this entirely me because Scott was having trouble with it last night. It may just be that neither of us know the code words that would tell us what's what. He mostly does combat stuff, board/card games, and the like. Things Cordelia's decidedly not interested in.

Scott and I are thinking that Cordelia might like something in the vein of a visual novel. Assuming we can find one that has a female protagonist, no graphic sex or violence or horror elements, and isn't romance/dating focused. Cordelia has informed me that she's not interested in hidden object games (I tried to sell her on the Dark Parables series which I enjoyed and which otherwise fit what she seems to want-- no time pressure, no risk of losing due to making a mistake, no reflex tests or need for eye-hand coordination, no gore, no explicit sex, no swearing, etc.)

I'm not sure whether Cordelia's really not interested in having any romance or just isn't interested in us knowing that she is.

Scott is trying desperately to get his payment information changed in a dozen different places where he'd pay monthly bills via Discover (his card number was used for Lyft several times last Saturday while he was at work so new number). Verizon has locked him out because he couldn't answer a security question that he's absolutely and utterly certain that he wouldn't have chosen because it's something that he doesn't have an accurate answer for (What was his first school). I think he got Netflix and Hulu updated. Discover very kindly sent him a list of places he's been making regular payments to. Verizon's just being unpleasant.

We were a bit freaked when the new card arrived because the front was blank apart from the Discover name and logo. They're now printing the number and name and expiration on the back and not bothering with raised type. We were sure, at first, that they'd just sent a completely blank card. Why on earth put the information on the back? I can't imagine that's actually more secure since turning the card over is beyond easy.

Comments

[komadori]

I would recommend King of Dragon Pass, but I'm not sure if that's exactly what shes looking for. For me, it's hopelessly addicting, and I can barely think of anything else when I'm playing.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll look into it.

[tani]

Steam does have ESRB ratings for some of its games, but it's pretty hit or miss. I only see them on the store page of each game. I haven't tested this hypothesis, but I suspect it's only the non-indie games that will reliably have a rating like that. I just spent some time poking around, as I use Steam a lot, but have never looked at it from the perspective of parental controls, and I don't see a way to specifically search by rating or warning or anything similar. I don't really think of it as a place that's very parent-friendly, to be honest.

You might have some luck with using a curator as a starting point. You should be able to find the Curators link on the main store page. I didn't see any content-related ones while I was looking, but there were several for visual novels and the like.

My personal suggestions: Perhaps something like Minecraft or Stardew Valley. I believe that creative mode on Minecraft doesn't have combat at all. Stardew Valley has mild combat, but you could pretty easily just avoid it, and the worst that would happen is that you'd have a bit more trouble with gathering some materials. There's also romance options in Stardew Valley, but they can be completely avoided.

Cherry Tree High Comedy Club is a visual novel. I haven't played it yet, but I see no mention of romance or anything in the description.

There are also a ton of cute little indie games, like Lilly Looking Through, that are low stress and don't punish you for taking time to get through puzzles with anything other than your own annoyance.

[the_rck]

She has played Minecraft, but it doesn't seem to appeal now. I'm not sure about Stardew Valley; I suggested Harvest Moon, and she rejected it. I have the impression that they're somewhat similar.

I'll look at Cherry Tree High Comedy Club and Lilly Looking Through.

It's not so much that I want to control what she sees as that I don't want to embarrass her with her parents knowing what she sees that she thinks we ought to disapprove of. She's really appalled at the discovery that I write (and read!) M rated fic. She doesn't know that I write and read E rated stuff, too. I want to filter out things she says she doesn't want. I don't know if she doesn't want all of the things on the list or just doesn't want us associated with it.

[tani]

Yes, Stardew Valley is similar to Harvest Moon, so if she wasn't interested in Harvest Moon, she probably won't want Stardew Valley either.

I did poke around a bit more, and there are a couple of account options re: violence and sex. If unchecked, they supposedly keep you from seeing the games with high levels of violence and sexual content, unless you specifically search for a certain game title. I've never tried, so I'm not sure about how well they work. You can also choose up to 3 tags that you'd like to see less of. These are both assuming an account, though.

I totally understand where you're coming from on filtering the things she doesn't want vs. controlling. The ESRB ratings were just the first thing that popped out at me for content warnings like that. I hope that you guys are able to find some games that strike a good balance for you.

[kalloway]

Most card skimmers and camera set ups are only catching one angle, though, which is the top. I'm sure that'll change as issuers adjust their own security, etc. but it is a unique attempt at a solution. /has had 'blank' card for awhile

[the_rck]

Interesting! I wouldn't have thought of that.

[evalerie]

I have a "blank" card too. I didn't know that was about skimmers.

My eldest (who doesn't like his name to be used online) plays a number of Steam games. I can ask him for suggestions if you would like. I've seen quite a few that seemed like good choices, and often they cost like $8 or $15, which seems pretty affordable compared to a lot of other games.

[the_rck]

That would help, so please! I don't know if his interests would match Cordelia's even remotely, but he might have some better ideas for how to search the site.

[evalerie]

I asked my teens for advice about absorbing games that had no sex, gore, or profanity. We came up with this list -- mostly not on Steam:

IB (pronounced "eeb") - a free horror game. (I have not played this one and am worried that this could be too grim, or otherwise not appropriate.)

Terraria - my eldest says it's good for about 1 hour of playtime.

Civilization 5 or 6 - costs about $60, very absorbing for a long time. (I've been super-addicted to earlier versions.) Build a civilization, unlock achievements, make everything grow.

Desktop Tower Defense. Bad gadgets travel on a track, so you set up a variety of cool towers that shoot the gadgets before they gets to the end of the board.

Bloons - many variations, some much better than others, but almost all are addictive and absorbing (and free). You need to set up gadgets to pop balloons before they reach the end of the track.

Sugar Sugar - Sugar is pouring down; you need to draw lines to get it into a cup. (I love this game!) Has some good sequels, too.

OneMoreLevel.com - has lots of free games, many are good.

Minesweeper.io - this is the URL of a multiplayer Minesweeper game.

Portal / Portal 2 - kind of dark; costs money; kept my kids' interest for years. (I have not played this, but note that it has a creepy, perilous vibe to it.)

2048 - slide matching number tiles together to make bigger numbers.

Twenty - Match tiles with the same value to clear them from the board. More tiles fall from above.

[adrian_turtle]

I haven't played it, but the local 13-year-old speaks well of Undertale. (She speaks *extravagantly* well of it.) It can be played with or without violence