Varidin
@varidin.bsky.social
He/Him | 30s | PFP by @thisishannahko
cohost.com/varidin
cohost.com/varidin
Reposted by Varidin
i am going completely insane watching gamers make up shit about horses and interrogating every single thing the devs have said for inconsistencies and then deciding well it probably had cp in it. this is the easy mode version of the kinds of censorship that are to come and you're failing like babies
December 4, 2025 at 7:03 AM
i am going completely insane watching gamers make up shit about horses and interrogating every single thing the devs have said for inconsistencies and then deciding well it probably had cp in it. this is the easy mode version of the kinds of censorship that are to come and you're failing like babies
Reposted by Varidin
I think any conversation about whether or not Horses’ ban is justified is immediately shot down by the fact that Silent Hill 2 has existed for over 20 years as a celebrated mainstream classic.
December 4, 2025 at 3:16 AM
I think any conversation about whether or not Horses’ ban is justified is immediately shot down by the fact that Silent Hill 2 has existed for over 20 years as a celebrated mainstream classic.
Reposted by Varidin
the HORSES affair is a startlingly low bar to cross to see if people actually care about protecting games from censorship of upsetting themes because it's far tamer and has way more moral clarity than a lot of stuff that doesn't get banned. but it's also very clarifying to see who can't cross it
December 4, 2025 at 2:50 AM
the HORSES affair is a startlingly low bar to cross to see if people actually care about protecting games from censorship of upsetting themes because it's far tamer and has way more moral clarity than a lot of stuff that doesn't get banned. but it's also very clarifying to see who can't cross it
Reposted by Varidin
Also how childish is it to be boiling down a piece of art to just an enumeration of things it depicts that you find objectionable. If we care about video games we have to eradicate this kind of reductive nonsense.
December 4, 2025 at 2:23 AM
Also how childish is it to be boiling down a piece of art to just an enumeration of things it depicts that you find objectionable. If we care about video games we have to eradicate this kind of reductive nonsense.
Reposted by Varidin
These are good moments to remember that the CEOs of all the biggest companies in America are happy to go to White House dinners and slap this guy’s back. They do not care about this. Remember this, years from now, when they want you to forget.
Trump: "It’s a hellhole right now. And those Somalians should be out of here. They've destroyed our country. And all they do is complain, complain, complain. You have her. She’s always talking about the Constitution provides me with – go back to your own country and figure out your constitution."
December 4, 2025 at 12:13 AM
These are good moments to remember that the CEOs of all the biggest companies in America are happy to go to White House dinners and slap this guy’s back. They do not care about this. Remember this, years from now, when they want you to forget.
Reposted by Varidin
An experienced organizer I really respect once reminded folks "you can't always win, but you can always, always inflict a cost. Those add up."
You cannot match the size and resources of these organizations that are abandoning trans youth and sacrificing trans lives, but you have one advantage they do not: an ability to maintain a relentless focus upon them.
Make it your work, every week, to think about how you can punish them.
Make it your work, every week, to think about how you can punish them.
December 3, 2025 at 10:21 PM
An experienced organizer I really respect once reminded folks "you can't always win, but you can always, always inflict a cost. Those add up."
Reposted by Varidin
a videogame has content in it that i personally dont like which of course mirrors what i see as objectively good and moral so it's a net good i think it was banned
December 4, 2025 at 12:49 AM
a videogame has content in it that i personally dont like which of course mirrors what i see as objectively good and moral so it's a net good i think it was banned
Reposted by Varidin
I think about this a lot, I feel like it’s deeply related to generative AI
Some things in life are supposed to be a little bit hard! Some things should require effort! Human beings should routinely hear “no” and “not yet” and “you can’t do that” and “that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard”
Some things in life are supposed to be a little bit hard! Some things should require effort! Human beings should routinely hear “no” and “not yet” and “you can’t do that” and “that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard”
I think part of What's Going On with billionaires is that the daily friction of interacting with normal people is part of what anchors people to the real world, and once you have enough money to buy your way out of the friction you can knock down a load-bearing column propping up your sanity.
December 3, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I think about this a lot, I feel like it’s deeply related to generative AI
Some things in life are supposed to be a little bit hard! Some things should require effort! Human beings should routinely hear “no” and “not yet” and “you can’t do that” and “that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard”
Some things in life are supposed to be a little bit hard! Some things should require effort! Human beings should routinely hear “no” and “not yet” and “you can’t do that” and “that is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard”
Reposted by Varidin
I think part of What's Going On with billionaires is that the daily friction of interacting with normal people is part of what anchors people to the real world, and once you have enough money to buy your way out of the friction you can knock down a load-bearing column propping up your sanity.
December 3, 2025 at 8:10 PM
I think part of What's Going On with billionaires is that the daily friction of interacting with normal people is part of what anchors people to the real world, and once you have enough money to buy your way out of the friction you can knock down a load-bearing column propping up your sanity.
Reposted by Varidin
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
September 18, 2025 at 5:40 AM
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
*fires off a single fireball towards you that slowly tracks you*
Reposted by Varidin
Everyone is vulnerable to believing that their expertise - writing, tech, engineering, philosophy, whatever - is The Most Important One that’s going to Fix Everything, but there’s something unique about gambling addicts saying “what if we tried gambling our way to the truth?”
December 3, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Everyone is vulnerable to believing that their expertise - writing, tech, engineering, philosophy, whatever - is The Most Important One that’s going to Fix Everything, but there’s something unique about gambling addicts saying “what if we tried gambling our way to the truth?”
Reposted by Varidin
Striking a boat full of unarmed civilians is murder. The first strike was murder. The followup strike was also murder.
We're not at war. It's not a "war crime". Everyone involved, including the POTUS, SecDef, the Admiral who relayed it and the person who pressed the button needs to be on trial.
We're not at war. It's not a "war crime". Everyone involved, including the POTUS, SecDef, the Admiral who relayed it and the person who pressed the button needs to be on trial.
December 3, 2025 at 5:43 AM
Striking a boat full of unarmed civilians is murder. The first strike was murder. The followup strike was also murder.
We're not at war. It's not a "war crime". Everyone involved, including the POTUS, SecDef, the Admiral who relayed it and the person who pressed the button needs to be on trial.
We're not at war. It's not a "war crime". Everyone involved, including the POTUS, SecDef, the Admiral who relayed it and the person who pressed the button needs to be on trial.
Reposted by Varidin
Consider the following before adopting a Manticore for your family
December 3, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Consider the following before adopting a Manticore for your family
Reposted by Varidin
"valve is within their rights" is the most cowardly possible "I just want to shut down conversation" response imaginable to this whole thing. You can justify literally anything with "they're within their rights". things that are harmful to games, to art, to society, may well be "within rights".
December 3, 2025 at 7:29 PM
"valve is within their rights" is the most cowardly possible "I just want to shut down conversation" response imaginable to this whole thing. You can justify literally anything with "they're within their rights". things that are harmful to games, to art, to society, may well be "within rights".
Reposted by Varidin
Reposted by Varidin
Reposted by Varidin
I have many thoughts about this, one is I can't help but think this is all just shining a light on how games are still being held to wildly different standards than other media like film. I've played very few games like HORSES but watched so many films like it (as a connoisseur of arthouse horror).
Humble's now banned it too, post-launch:
www.ign.com/articles/hor...
www.ign.com/articles/hor...
Horses, the Upsetting Horror Game Previously Banned on Steam, Gets Last Minute Ban From Epic Games Store Too - IGN
Last week, we reported that disturbing horror game Horses had been banned from Steam. Now, at the last possible minute before the game was set to release widely across other PC store fronts, Epic Game...
www.ign.com
December 3, 2025 at 5:26 PM
I have many thoughts about this, one is I can't help but think this is all just shining a light on how games are still being held to wildly different standards than other media like film. I've played very few games like HORSES but watched so many films like it (as a connoisseur of arthouse horror).
Reposted by Varidin
re: LLM answers at the top of search results — it's so funny that they put a little imp who lies to you at the gate to All Human Knowledge. Does Google think it's protecting the city of Thebes??
December 3, 2025 at 5:59 PM
re: LLM answers at the top of search results — it's so funny that they put a little imp who lies to you at the gate to All Human Knowledge. Does Google think it's protecting the city of Thebes??
Reposted by Varidin
get a musicbee library of things you love. check out Qubuz for things Bandcamp doesn't carry. literally just pirate things because it is about as financially beneficial to the artists you love without supporting an AI-powered ICE recruitment tool that's trying to burn the music industry down.
December 3, 2025 at 4:50 PM
get a musicbee library of things you love. check out Qubuz for things Bandcamp doesn't carry. literally just pirate things because it is about as financially beneficial to the artists you love without supporting an AI-powered ICE recruitment tool that's trying to burn the music industry down.
Reposted by Varidin
Former Judge Andrew Napolitano, who worked alongside Pete Hegseth for years at Fox, says the Sept. 2 boat strike is "an act of a war crime."
"Everybody along the line who did it, from the secretary of Defense, to the admiral, to the people who actually pulled the trigger should be prosecuted."
"Everybody along the line who did it, from the secretary of Defense, to the admiral, to the people who actually pulled the trigger should be prosecuted."
December 3, 2025 at 4:20 PM
Former Judge Andrew Napolitano, who worked alongside Pete Hegseth for years at Fox, says the Sept. 2 boat strike is "an act of a war crime."
"Everybody along the line who did it, from the secretary of Defense, to the admiral, to the people who actually pulled the trigger should be prosecuted."
"Everybody along the line who did it, from the secretary of Defense, to the admiral, to the people who actually pulled the trigger should be prosecuted."
Reposted by Varidin
Last week, ICE arrested and separated a father and son after a routine check-in. Six-year-old Yuanxin had just enrolled in the first grade at an elementary school in Astoria. Now he's in custody, alone. ICE won't say where. This cruelty serves no one. It must end.
December 2, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Last week, ICE arrested and separated a father and son after a routine check-in. Six-year-old Yuanxin had just enrolled in the first grade at an elementary school in Astoria. Now he's in custody, alone. ICE won't say where. This cruelty serves no one. It must end.
Reposted by Varidin
its so crazy that young people became less interested in movies & tv at the same time weird tech guys mostly started deciding what gets made
November 27, 2025 at 3:42 AM
its so crazy that young people became less interested in movies & tv at the same time weird tech guys mostly started deciding what gets made
Reposted by Varidin
Let me get this straight: we trained this guy to be an elite killer, abandoned his country to the Taliban, isolated him, arbitrarily banned him from working and so left his family unsupported.
I don’t know if there’s any more efficient way of producing a mental health crisis outside of torture.
I don’t know if there’s any more efficient way of producing a mental health crisis outside of torture.
Alleged D.C. Shooter Begged CIA for Help as He Tried to Find Work newrepublic.com/post/203784/... via @newrepublic.com
Alleged D.C. Shooter Begged CIA for Help as He Tried to Find Work
The National Guard shooting suspect felt abandoned by the CIA after working together for so long, his fellow unit member said.
newrepublic.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Let me get this straight: we trained this guy to be an elite killer, abandoned his country to the Taliban, isolated him, arbitrarily banned him from working and so left his family unsupported.
I don’t know if there’s any more efficient way of producing a mental health crisis outside of torture.
I don’t know if there’s any more efficient way of producing a mental health crisis outside of torture.
Reposted by Varidin
this is why liberals won't call for actual consequences. nothing trump is doing is something we didn't spend two decades doing throughout the middle east, central asia and africa during the war on terror. it's just that trump brags about it on social media too much
'Double strikes' allegedly used on Venezuelan boats accused of trafficking drugs were used extensively under Obama.
Trump’s boat bombings: How the US has long used ‘double-tap’ strikes
'Double strikes' allegedly used on Venezuelan boats accused of trafficking drugs were used extensively under Obama.
bit.ly
December 2, 2025 at 5:01 PM
this is why liberals won't call for actual consequences. nothing trump is doing is something we didn't spend two decades doing throughout the middle east, central asia and africa during the war on terror. it's just that trump brags about it on social media too much