#Free Online Games without Downloading

[enterprisewired]

Play These 8 Free Online Games without Downloading 

Share Post:

LinkedIn

Twitter

Facebook

Reddit

The whole process of downloading a game can be a bit daunting and lengthy, especially if you want to play with just minutes to spare. Good news for you, there are countless online games available today that you can access from your browser—without downloading and paying a penny.

Here are the top free online games without downloading that you can play for fun right now!

Let’s explore 8 free online games without downloading:

1. Agar.io

What It Is: Agar.io is a massively multiplayer action game where you control a cell in a petri dish, aiming to grow by consuming smaller cells and avoiding larger ones.

Why It’s Great: This game’s simple mechanics and competitive gameplay make it incredibly addictive. Plus, it’s browser-based, so no downloads are required.

How to Play: Navigate your cell with the mouse, eat smaller cells, and avoid larger ones. The larger your cell grows, the more challenging the game becomes.

2. Slither.io

https://enterprisewired.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1.1-Slither.io-Source-crazygames.com_.jpg

Why It’s Great: The game’s simple concept and competitive multiplayer mode offer endless replayability. It’s a great choice for quick gaming sessions.

How to Play: Use the arrow keys or mouse to navigate your snake. Consume pellets to grow and avoid crashing into other snakes.

3. 2048

What It Is: 2048 is a single-player puzzle game where you combine tiles with the same number to reach the elusive 2048 tile.

Why It’s Great: Its challenging yet accessible gameplay makes it a perfect brain teaser. The game is easy to pick up and play, with no downloads needed.

How to Play: Use arrow keys to move tiles in the grid. Combine matching tiles to increase their value and aim to reach 2048.

4. Cookie Clicker

What It Is: Cookie Clicker is an incremental game where you click on a giant cookie to produce more cookies and upgrade your cookie production.

Why It’s Great: Its addictive nature and incremental gameplay make it perfect for passing the time. You can start playing instantly without any downloads.

How to Play: Click on the giant cookie to produce more cookies. Use your cookies to buy upgrades and increase your cookie production rate.

5. Poptropica

https://enterprisewired.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/1.2-Poptropica-Source-coolmathgames.com_.jpg

Why It’s Great: Its engaging storyline and diverse quests provide a rich gaming experience. It’s ideal for players who enjoy exploration and problem-solving.

How to Play: Create your character, explore islands, interact with NPCs, and complete quests to advance through the game.

6. Tetris

What It Is: Tetris is a classic tile-matching puzzle game where you arrange falling blocks to create complete lines and clear them.

Why It’s Great: Its timeless gameplay and simple mechanics make it a go-to choice for quick, satisfying play sessions.

How to Play: Rotate and move falling blocks to form complete lines. Clear lines to score points and prevent the stack from reaching the top.

7. Krunker.io

What It Is: Krunker.io is a first-person shooter game with a variety of game modes and customizable settings.

How to Play: Use WASD keys to move and mouse to aim and shoot. Play various game modes and customize your character for a unique experience.

8. Hooda Math

What It Is: Hooda Math offers a collection of free online math games designed to be both fun and educational.

Why It’s Great: It’s an excellent resource for students and anyone looking to improve their math skills while having fun.

How to Play: Choose from a variety of math games that range from basic arithmetic to more complex problem-solving challenges.

Summing Up

You do not need to wait for lengthy downloads to enjoy great online games anymore. Whether you’re into brain-teasing puzzles or adventure quests, the list of free online games that do not require any download is just what you need for a fun time.

Also Read: The Best Gaming Websites for Gamers of All Levels

[kajalbasolanki]

Playing Free Games Online Without Downloading by 5 Min Games

In today’s fast-paced digital era, entertainment has taken a swift turn toward convenience and speed. Gone are the days when users had to download heavy files and wait for long installations to enjoy their favorite games. The concept of playing free games online without downloading by 5 Min Games is transforming how casual gamers interact with the web. Whether you’re taking a quick break or just want a few minutes of excitement, platforms like 5 Min Games offer the perfect solution.

The Evolution of Instant Play Gaming

The gaming industry has seen a significant shift over the past decade, especially with the rise of cloud-based and browser-enabled games. Free online games no download platforms have democratized gaming for everyone, eliminating device compatibility issues and storage concerns. 5 Min Games online has become a popular choice among casual players who value time and convenience.

Instant browser games are now optimized to load within seconds, providing engaging gameplay that doesn’t demand high-end hardware or lengthy tutorials. These quick free online games are designed to be accessible to all—students, office workers, and anyone with five minutes to spare.

Why Play Games Without Downloading?

There are several reasons why more and more people are shifting toward play games without downloading models. Here’s why:

1. No Storage Hassles

Downloads can consume large chunks of your device’s storage. With instant browser games, everything runs online—freeing up your phone or PC for other essential data.

2. Time-Saving Entertainment

Installing a game might take minutes or even hours. On the other hand, 5 minute games online are designed to be launched and played within moments, making them perfect for short breaks.

3. Cross-Platform Compatibility

You can enjoy these games from any device—mobile, desktop, or tablet—without worrying about the operating system or performance requirements.

4. Safe and Secure

Without downloads, the risk of malware or unwanted software is significantly reduced. That means a safer, cleaner browsing experience.

5. No Commitments

Casual gaming is all about fun and freedom. You can start and stop whenever you want—no accounts, no login requirements, and no pressure to make in-game purchases.

What Makes 5 Min Games Stand Out?

5 Min Games has built a name by curating a collection of titles that are engaging, lightweight, and easy to play. Unlike many platforms that overwhelm users with ads or push paid content, 5 Min Games focuses solely on quick online games free that offer real entertainment value.

Key Features:

Instant Play: Click and play—no wait times.

Diverse Genres: From puzzles and strategy to action and arcade, there’s something for everyone.

Minimal Ads: Enjoy seamless gameplay with fewer interruptions.

User-Friendly Interface: Simple navigation means even non-tech-savvy users can enjoy the games.

Mobile-Optimized: Designed to perform well on both smartphones and desktops.

Popular Categories on 5 Min Games

To give you an idea of what you can explore, here are some fan-favorite genres on the platform:

🎮 Puzzle Games

Think quick, solve faster. Puzzle games like "Color Cascade Sort" or "Connect the Dots" challenge your brain in short bursts.

🚀 Action Games

Short action-packed games keep your adrenaline pumping—perfect for a quick escape from the daily grind.

🧠 Strategy Games

Want to exercise your planning skills? These games offer satisfying problem-solving experiences in under five minutes.

⚽ Sports and Racing

Love a quick soccer match or high-speed car chase? These games deliver excitement with zero downloads required.

Benefits of Quick Online Games Free

Playing quick online games free offers cognitive benefits as well. Short gaming sessions can help:

Boost Focus: Short challenges can help sharpen your attention.

Improve Mood: A few minutes of play can release endorphins, improving your day.

Enhance Problem-Solving: Many games test logic, speed, and memory skills.

These games are not just for fun—they’re beneficial when consumed in moderation.

The Future of Instant Play Browser Games

The rise of instant play browser games is just beginning. With advancements in web technologies like HTML5 and WebAssembly, browser-based gaming is becoming more powerful and responsive. These innovations are paving the way for high-quality games that rival traditional downloadable titles.

As attention spans shrink and digital experiences become more spontaneous, platforms like 5 Min Games are ideally positioned to cater to the next generation of gamers.

Who Can Enjoy 5 Min Games?

Students: A five-minute break between study sessions.

Professionals: A stress-reliever during work intervals.

Parents: Quick distractions for children with educational benefits.

Gamers on the Go: Fun, fast entertainment during commutes.

Anyone looking to play games without downloading can benefit from what this platform offers.

How to Start Playing?

It’s simple:

Visit https://fiveminutesgames.com/

Choose a game category or browse the latest games.

Click on a game to start playing immediately—no registration needed.

That’s it. No downloads, no delays—just instant fun.

Playing free games online without downloading 5 Min Games is more than just a trend—it’s a lifestyle choice for modern, busy individuals who still want a dose of fun. Whether you’ve got five minutes to spare or need a quick mental refresh, 5 minute games online offer the perfect digital pit stop.

As gaming continues to evolve, platforms like 5 Min Games are proving that quality entertainment doesn’t require hours of investment or gigs of space. So next time you find yourself with a spare moment, try out these free online games with no download and experience the joy of instant play browser games—no strings attached.

[myxdollyt]

MyxDoll Bratz Room Décor

Bratz Room Décor

OMG OMG OMG! I'm totally excited right now! I grew up playing with Bratz and had an obsession with them! I love bringing things that made me happy in my childhood to my games. Its very y2k if you ask me. I decided to do a Bratz Collection set, so your sims can now collect their fav dolls. I've tried my hardest to get as many dolls and swatches as I can from online. So, please be aware that some dolls only have a limited amount of swatches due to the quality of the images online. For the wall paint, I color match from the Bratz TV shows to get the exact colors. I also, made inspired color swatches I felt will match the Bratz style. I hope you guys have fun with this collection. There are so many more good Bratz collections out there that will pair up perfectly with this one. Love you guys. Enjoy!

NOTED these are functional chairs. You can grab a snack by clicking on the chair.. 

4swatches Chairs & Stools

55swatches Wallpaper

6swatches Pillows

18swatches Rugz

20 different types Bratz Dolls

1swatch Bratz TV

12swatches Poster

Mesh made by me

Do not claim it as yours

Do not edit the mesh or recolor

Do not put behind paywalls, discords, or WhatsApp!!!

Do not convert without my permission!!!

Give credit to me and link cc back to my Patreon MyxDollYT

(Check my gallery for sims and builds @23Chelzea or #MyxDoll)

You are free to use my cc, but give credit if you are re-uploading.

Early Access, Public 2/28/25

Download Here

[dandelionsresilience]

whether the internet becomes an intolerable surveillance state, ubiquitous subscription model, or unusably ad- or AI-ridden shithole, I think we need to remember

how to do things offline

either on your personal hard drive (just because it’s an app doesn’t mean the information is stored in your device) or on paper. I’m not saying the collapse of the internet is imminent, and I’m not suggesting we do everything completely without technology, or even stop using it until we have to. (to be clear, I also don’t think the internet will just blink out of existence, suddenly stop being a thing at all; rather I think it might continue to lose its usefulness to the point where it’s impossible to get anything done. anyway) but some people may have forgotten how we got by before the internet (I almost have!), and the younger generation might not have experienced it at all.

I figure most people probably use the internet mainly for communication with friends and family, entertainment and creation (eg. writing), and looking up how to do things, so here’s how to do those things offline:

First and most importantly, download everything important to you onto at least one hard drive and at least one flashdrive! files can get corrupted and hardware can get damaged or lost, but as long as you keep backup copies, you have much-closer-to-guaranteed access versus hoping a business doesn’t decide to paywall, purge, or otherwise revoke your access. I would recommend getting irreplaceable photos printed as well

download and/or print/write down:

anything important to you - photos/videos, journals, certificates, college transcripts

contact info - phone numbers and/or addresses of friends/family (know how to contact them if you can’t use your favourite messaging app), doctors (open hours would be good too), veterinarians if you have pets, and work

how-to’s - recipes (one, two), emergency preparedness (what do I do if… eg. I smell gas)

other things you might google: cleaning chemicals to NOT mix, what laundry tag symbols mean, people food dogs and cats can and can’t eat, plant toxicity to pets

and know offline ways to find things out - local radio station, newspaper, a nearby highway rest area might have a region map, public libraries usually have a bunch of resources

also, those of you who get periods should strongly consider not using period tracking apps! here’s how to track your period manually

free printable period tracker templates (no printer? public libraries usually charge a few cents per page, or you can recreate it by hand)

moving on to entertainment, you can still get most media for free! it’s completely legal to download your favourite movies to your own personal hard drive, you just can’t sell or distribute copies (not legal advice)

movies: wcostream.tv (right click the player) - the url changes every once in a while but usually redirects; I recently noticed that it’s hiding a lot of movies behind “premium,” so it may or may not work anymore | download youtube videos

music: how to get music without streaming it | legal free downloads

games: steamunlocked.net - doesn’t have every game and can be slow to update, but very reliable

books: free online libraries | legal free downloads

otherwise passing time:

active outdoor games

for road trips (social verbal games)

for when power’s out

for sheltering in place (not all offline, but good ideas)

board games (often found at thrift stores)

ad-free customisable games collection (mobile)

read, write, draw, or whatever your craft is, sing, dance, clean, reorganise, take a bath

go outside - excuses include napping (if safe), eating, reading, finding cool plants/animals/rocks, playing with the dog

places to go include:

zoos and museums can be surprisingly cheap

parks and nature preserves

library, mall, or game shop

and a few miscellaneous things for good measure:

time budgeting | household management

how to use a planner | I’ve had success with visually blocked-out schedules like these

please add on if you have any other offline alternatives to common uses of the internet!

[meanstepdad]

it's finally here! in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the sims series, i present my big, dumb labor of love.

"i really love the sims" is a 64-page love letter to the sims franchise, spanning all 4 mainline titles as well as a collection of my favorite sims spin-off games.

topics covered in the zine include:

the wild history of developing the sims 1 and how a rumored unscripted lesbian kiss saved the game from obscurity

the importance of a free and accessible modding scene for sims games and the necessity of archiving old sims content

how the sims games have always served as a tool for exploring gender and sexuality

a measured response to the sims 4

a celebration of my favorite sims handheld and console games

a bibliography with further reading, listening, and viewing recommendations

and much more!

the digital version of this zine is free/pwyw! part of what makes the sims series so special is the massive amount of work made available for free by passionate modders and custom content creators. from new hairstyles and clothing to entire gameplay expansions and custom software, their generosity has been foundational in fostering the creative community that surrounds these games and it's what has inspired me to release the full zine online for free. i spent dozens of hours writing, editing, and designing this zine, but it's nothing compared to the thousands of hours i've spent downloading custom content for the sims.

physical copies of the zine are also available for purchase! they've been gorgeously printed in black-and-white by a local printer and make a lovely, tangible token of affection for the series. the physical version of the zine is $10 and ships to anywhere in the united states (because i don't know how to ship/price for outside the US and i'm scared)

you can download the digital version here

or buy a physical copy here

and check out my other zines here

thank you so much for all your support and thank you to the amazing sims community online. the games wouldn't be the same without all your love and support ❤️

[simspaghetti]

This has been a long time coming, I've been wanting to make something like this for ages and I finally had some time over the weekend to get it done - I dunno how useful this will be for anyone else, but hopefully at least a few other people might find this template handy!

Here's a full size picture of what the blank template looks like:

I made a couple examples of what it can look like edited over screenshots - as you can see you can just resize the boxes & text as you like to get the ideal final product:

Instructions for use:

This is a .psd file, and as such it needs to be opened in an editing tool that allows that file format - I personally use photopea which is a free online alternative to adobe photoshop - Disclaimer: I haven't tried using it any other editing software like photoshop / gimp but it'll probably work in there too, if you have any problems in those apps lmk and I'll try and fix it!

Each section of the template is separated into folders, open these up and you can edit the text / image elements for each section, you'll need to hide and unhide layers to be able to do this (the little eye icon next to a layer toggles it to be hidden / unhidden)

If you need to resize the boxes, make sure to hold down the shift-key so that you're able to do it more precisley

I have included icons for every career in the sims 3 including all of the expansion packs, however I have not included the skill images you might need as that would be a bit too extensive

For the skill images, I recommend downloading this ultimate icon collection from ModTheSims, as it'll almost definetly have everything you could possibly need to use :)

Terms of Use:

Please don’t claim as your own or reupload without my permission, I’d love to see you use them in your game if you do choose to tag me - but that's totally optional :) Alter and customize the templates literally however you want, but if you’re gonna reupload a downloadable variation of them I’d appreciate a link back to my blog

Download Here (Simfileshare, .psd file)

The font used for this template is DM Sans, it can be found in all variations here - I only used 'bold' & 'bold italic'

Credits: Heavily inspired by the gorgeous Clean UI created by JustMiha, as well as these promotion templates for TS4 by CupidJuice - and thanks to TheSpiritRealm on MTS for compiling all the icons I used - and total credit goes to EA / Maxis for the icon designs as well I did not make those lol

[luigiblood]

Virtual Game Cards, a detailed explainer, and other thoughts

As of this writing, we're a few days after the March 2025 Nintendo Direct, and a few days before the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct of April 2025, and in the last Direct, Nintendo announced a new optional feature that will apply to Nintendo Switch 1 & 2 systems starting late April 2025.

This feature is the Virtual Game Cards. Many people got confused about it, and to be honest, so was I initially. The video is not really well thought out, though, after watching more than one time, you might get it, but still, it's not a very good explainer from Nintendo, so first of all, we need to set things straight for anyone who doesn't get it and reads this blog somehow.

I also want to talk about what it means for the future, and my personal impressions of it.

The Current System

For explaining what this is about, we need to dispel one notion that I saw a few times: This new system has NOTHING to do with your physical game cards, and ONLY has to do with digital games and nothing else. And no, this is not evidence of Nintendo putting physical game cards away. Stop.

Now we need to talk about the current system that we've been using for playing digital games to this day, because many people can take quite a few things for granted. This system is also in place for PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

All digital games are owned by an account, and for the sake of explaning things, I will refer to that about your account and your games from there on.

There is a concept called the primary console, and it basically means the main console linked directly to your account. It has several benefits:

Your digital games can be played without an Internet connection to boot them.

Other accounts on that console can play your digital games.

If you buy a digital game from Nintendo's webpage, your primary console would automatically start the download.

Meaning, if you have a second, third or however many consoles you own with your account in them, that it doesn't have those benefits, you would require an internet connection anytime you want to boot your digital games, and other accounts on those consoles cannot play them.

That's the old system.

Virtual Game Cards

Now that we got the old system out of the way, we need to explain the new one. Now forget the old system entirely, this new system is a completely optional replacement, with its own completely different logic with different pros and cons compared to the old one.

The goal of this system is for accounts to use more than one console at a time, without a huge dependency on an Internet connection at all times, and I really wish Nintendo pushed these benefits in their video.

With this new system of digital game access, all of them would be considered as Virtual Game Cards that can only be inserted in one console at a time. Your account can only have up to two consoles linked this time around where you can access your digital games.

Because Nintendo insists on this system to not be abused: You would need to link both consoles locally (+ online for security), only the first time though. After that you can just freely manage what digital games you want access for on each console, and you can even use a website for that, so an internet connection is required to transfer games around both.

When you have access to a digital game in this system (as in, the Virtual Game Card was inserted), an Internet connection is only required the first time you boot it up. It won't be required in subsequent plays.

And all accounts on that console can also play it freely. This means it gives basically the same advantages as a primary console, but per digital game instead.

And then, on top of that, you can lend one of your digital games to another account in your family group (this is not just a Nintendo Switch Online thing, it's a free feature of your Nintendo Account).

Pros & Cons

To sum it up, here's the pros & cons of the old system:

Pro: You can have as many consoles linked to your account as you want, and access your digital games on all of them.

Pro: (Unintended?) You can share your account to another person to let them access your games.

Con: Only one console (primary console) can let other accounts have free access to your digital games.

Con: Playing a digital game outside of your primary console requires an Internet connection no matter what.

Now, the pros & cons of the new Virtual Game Card system:

Pro: On any console where the Virtual Game Card is inserted, the digital game can be played without an Internet connection.

Pro: Likewise, the digital game can also be played by anyone else's account on that console freely.

Pro: You can lend your digital game to another account from your family group...

Con: ...for 14 days, only locally, you cannot lend to anyone in your family online.

Con: You can only link up to two consoles (only locally) with access to your Virtual Game Cards.

Con: Extra Steps? You would need to virtually eject and insert digital games everytime you wanna use a different console to play the same game, and an Internet connection is required for these actions.

Con: (Intended?) You cannot share your account to anybody else to share your games without changing linked consoles.

As a reminder, you can choose between both systems, but they're really completely different systems.

The catch?

As you can kind of tell, it would look like the Virtual Game Card system has more pros than before, but that's kind of the catch here.

For me, this new system actually solves some problems I currently have, but this would bother other people with different needs. That said, I believe Nintendo is still right in assuming one person doesn't need more than two Switch consoles. I don't personally see the use of having even more, unless...

Unless, that is, you're sharing your account with friends to share your digital games. This system is totally made against this use, and I'm sorry to tell you: Nintendo completely forbids this. And maybe, this is happening too much for Nintendo's liking. So instead of banning people, they devised a system that punishes this use, without making everyone have an entirely worse system, solving other problems that the old system had in the process.

So let's be clear here: this kind of system proves how much Nintendo doesn't really trust their userbase to not abuse the system. But do I really blame them for that?

At this point I just have two questions:

Is the Switch 2 forced to have this Virtual Game Card system?

And how long until this new system is no longer optional?

If you're having a home console, and then a console to play on the go, this can solve the problem of the overreliance on Internet when you're outside of your home. The difficulty of doing a portable console is that you have to deal with the possibility of not always having an Internet connection, and this is clearly a response to that.

What this new system implies can also be the complete removal of the concept of "secondary" consoles. I feel like there would be only one primary console for an account, and linked locally to a secondary console, which, obviously, is supposed to punish those who does account sharing.

The good?

I spent a lot of time talking about the catch, but there is still I think good things about this.

On a personal level, I have two Switch consoles: One of them is purely for myself, the other one is for my mother/father. I could have made the other console my primary console and solve this problem, but for convenience, I would rather want my personal console to be my primary console. Also in this home, it happens that I get power outages or/and Internet outages (sometimes no mobile network in the slightest), so I'd like a solution that doesn't really punish anyone when it happens.

So this new system actually have some convenience for me. I could just switch games between both of them. And on top of that, I can lend my games (and viceversa) with my brother who has his own console. For family users, I think this is nice stuff.

Many people have compared this with Steam. I had to look up the new Steam Families system which replaces the old system I knew:

Nintendo's system is clearly worse than Steam's. Steam just lets everyone in the family freely share their digital library with everyone in the family, and now, there's even less Internet dependency. There's still the idea of only lending one digital copy at a time (meaning if two people in the family owns the same game, two copies can be shared across the family to play together), and it doesn't seem to have a limitation of how many PCs can be used. Steam probably trusts their userbase way too much but it sure is the most consumer friendly of the options.

On consoles, this kind of system doesn't really exist. Sony and Microsoft definitely doesn't, and Nintendo is essentially doing a small dabble, which is still nice, let's be fair here.

Conclusion

It's really hard to say if this system is better or worse to me, overall. It depends on your needs, but I think this is a clear attempt to prevent account sharing, first and foremost, while attempting to give a concept of digital game access in a sort of tangible way, while not requiring a permanent Internet connection.

This is already the beginning of a new Nintendo that will represent the Nintendo Switch 2, and I don't believe this is the only big "change."

[johziii]

i was debating whether or not to upload this bc i made these patterns using photoshop and create a pattern tool, but the designs are NOT MINE. i found these vectors online and the original owners may actually be selling them, so i feel like i'm putting their designs up for free even tho its just for a game and im not putting it behind a paywall. anyways, idk if anyone has a problem with this being up for download pls lmk!! i'll take it down without hesitation.

**disclaimer: i do not own any of the artwork used in this cc set (they are pics i found online)**

info of cc item(s) is under the cut! pls lmk if there’s any problems & feel free to tag me if you use them in your gameplay and post to tumblr! <3​

TOU ♥ CC PAGE ♥ MY KO-FI ♥

sfs | google drive

nature pattern set

found in theme

ver 1 (left) and ver 2 (right)

9 patterns (18 total)

[rimouskis]

thoughts on social media use, algorithms, and the strangeness of being a human in the world:

I don't remember when I downloaded tiktok. It was either 2021 or 2022. I was working from home and had more unsupervised down time than I was accustomed to. It was easy to scroll and get lost in it.

The algorithm was good. It had my interests pinned so quickly that it was almost alarming. I suddenly felt reattached to youth culture, which was something that had been slipping out of my fingers as I aged into my 20s. I rather enjoyed getting to explain new jokes or memes or references to my older friends who weren't on the platform. It was, for a time, my favorite way to spend time online, aside from Tumblr.

And all I did was consume. I barely even commented on things, mostly because the constant notifications you couldn't silence when your comment got liked were annoying, but also because I didn't think I had much worth adding. It was entirely passive. Scroll, watch, scroll, scroll, scroll, watch, watch, scroll. An eternal feed of dopamine beamed right into my skull.

I stopped writing as much, though there were lots of things I could blame that on. I stopped reading almost entirely, though that had been true for a little while, so I also couldn't blame that on the app either, not really. It wasn't like I could point to the app and say "THIS THING IS RUINING MY LIFE!" because it wasn't. I was entertained. I felt informed because I started seeing some news items this way that I hadn't seen elsewhere. I was Connected To The Culture, and I've always enjoyed that. I found music I liked, and cultural critics I liked, and endless, endless amounts of Content that I liked.

My phone was old. So old, in fact, that the screen was made out of some sort of thing where the stark white like/comment/home icons on tiktok's interface literally burnt themselves into my screen. I was kind of embarrassed about that. I didn't use it a weird amount, I was on other apps, I had a life, I ran, I was outdoors whenever the weather was good, I was always busy around the city going to events and seeing people and going to hockey games. So what if I burned some icons into an old, faulty screen?

Then my life got blown up in short order, through no fault of my own, and it wasn't until I got a new, fully in-person job that I began noticing how much I was watching tiktok when I had a SECOND of free time at my job. It was more obvious when I was in an office that my fingers twitched with desire to scroll and watch short-form videos. It was embarrassing. It was like a smoker tic for a cigarette between their fingers.

Sometime in late 2023, I told my friends I wanted to stay off of tiktok more. I was sick of not writing like I used to. I felt like all my time was spent staring down at a little screen. In bursts and spurts, I would go a day or two without using the app, or only using it in the evening before I slept. I always ended up back on it, though.

It wasn't until March 2024 that I deleted the app off of my phone instead of just hour-limiting it. It was gone.

Funnily, some time later, maybe a week or two, I tried to redownload it. But, lo, my curated algorithm was gone. It had reset entirely, like it had forgotten me. My For You Page was gibberish, wholly unlike the fun, """"curated"""" (bleh) page I'd once had that could spoonfeed me stuff calibrated to my exact interests.

And just like that, the spell was broken. I deleted the app off of my phone forevermore. I left it logged in on my laptop, where the FYP was similarly broken, and I would—once every two months or so—go online to check on the pages I followed and watch a bit of their content. A mere five or so minutes would go by before I hit the end of my "Following" feed, and I'd close out of the tab, having seen all I wanted to see. It was kind of shocking how once the addictive, spot-on algorithm was destroyed, so too was my interest in the app.

That isn't to say my attention span has returned. It doesn't feel like it has. It wasn't like I smugly wiped my hands of algorithms, either. Even though I'd previously never used the "For You" tab on Twitter, I began clicking onto it. Then, a couple months ago, I started going into Instagram reels consistently, also having never done that before.

Twitter is, of course, a terrible place now filled with absolutely hateful bigots, but it's also a place unshakably dedicated to a culture of dunking and owning and getting one over another poster and being confrontational and being rude and being the first to say the most provocative, attention-grabbing thing about ANY topic.

It became deeply unpleasant to be on. It had been for a while, if we're being honest. I stayed off hockey twitter for months because I couldn't stand the horrible takes about the Pens, or about Geno's contract, or about how Sid should jump ship.

Instagram, meanwhile, was more insidious. I've never felt the kind of anxiety about my Instagram that I know bothers some other people—I deeply enjoy it as a tool of curation. I'm a hobbyist photographer. I like sharing snippets of my life (lol obviously, given what I'm doing right now). I love the language of images. I didn't really follow any influencers or news outlets, just old friends and acquaintances and family members and some small artists I enjoy. I muted the stories of people who shared incessant and oversimplified PSA graphics about the news or social issues. I kept it rather apolitical—that was what Twitter and sometimes Reddit were for.

When I started perusing the curated/algorithm Reels feed, though, I started to get sucked back in.

It was nice, at first. My tendency to stay away from political/news content meant I didn't get ragebait on there. In fact, the VAST majority of content I was served was interior design, furniture restoring/flipping, and home remodels.

It was really interesting. I liked seeing people's homes! I liked daydreaming about getting to do big-scale renovations with custom homemade cabinetry and wallpaper and gorgeous tiles. Sometimes I'd get recipe content, too, and vaguely crunchy-but-still-sensible environmentalist stuff.

I started noticing, again, how much time I was spending on it, but it also wasn't just taking my time.

All the beautiful new furniture made me want new furniture, too. All the starkly-beautiful and obsessive (and frankly stupid and overconsumption-informed) organization content made me want to improve my hall closet. Suddenly the interior design in my home—which had gotten compliments from everyone who'd ever stepped inside, from my landlord to my friends to my family—wasn't good enough for me anymore. I wanted a change. I wanted a gallery wall. I wanted a sideboard. I wanted removable wallpaper. I wanted beautiful, impractical, expensive storage. I wanted, I wanted, I wanted.

I've never been particularly influenceable, not when it comes to internet influencers. I'm very informed and watchful over my money. I know what I like spending on. I plan and I make it happen. And what influencers were often selling—clothes, makeup, beauty products—wasn't where I loved spending my money.

Home decor, though? Home improvement? Interior design? Turns out that could get me to open my wallet.

I did make some changes to my living space. I like them. I think they're beautiful and they solve both a storage issue I had and a oh-god-I-own-too-much-art-where-am-I-gonna-put-it-all problem I had. But I noticed what made me spend that money: seeing other peoples' beautiful homes.

I didn't like that.

I read AHP's "Culture Study" newsletter. I find her an interesting journalist and I usually find what she has to say, and what her guests have to say, to be interesting. This morning, she put out a newsletter talking about how she'd deleted Instagram from her phone before Christmas, and taken her email app off too while she was at it.

There are so many good chunks of this newsletter, but I want to share a few:

I find myself diverting my scroll energy to Facebook, where I still have an account to access dahlia groups, but it feels even more gross than before: a wasteland of AI accounts promising blue dahlias and weight loss reels and suggestions to friends of friends who haven’t updated their Facebook accounts in nearly a decade. It’s like a frat house basement at 10 am. Why the fuck am I here.

and

After years of people yelling at me in books, think pieces, and tweets (lol) to “break up with my phone,” “delete your social media accounts,” and “fuck Mark Zuckerberg,” turns out the thing that I needed was a whole conglomeration of quiet arguments and technological shifts that made my phone and the social media accounts on it feel less precious. Put differently, I haven’t come to value it less; instead, it’s become less valuable.

and

The amount of space these technologies take up in our lives — and their ever-diminishing utility — has brought us to a sort of cultural tipping point. I’ve sensed it over the last year, when my social feeds seemed to finish their years-long transformation from a neighborhood populated with friends to a glossy condo development of brands.

AHP articulated precisely what I'd been feeling. My curated feeds of people I'd CHOSEN to follow had been replaced with algorithms of content created by professional influencers who wanted my attention (to monetize it, to sell me things, to sell my eyes to a company, whatever).

I was disgusted by the few home renovation accounts I'd begun to follow posting their all-precious Amazon links of useless chintz. Twitter was plainly a hellhole. I'm sick of businesses and businesspeople deciding what I see in the desperate hope that I hand them money.

This has bled out to other parts of my life, even. Though I've lovingly heaped praise onto Spotify for giving me two new playlists of just-for-me algorithm-picked songs each week, I've gotten into watching and listening to DJ sets on Youtube (this and this were really enjoyable) because something that's become patently clearer to me was my own desire to experience curation.

I want to feel like what I read, what I hear, what I see, has been lovingly and intentionally made by another human because they loved it so much that they had to share it. Not because they wanted to sell me something. Not because an algorithm thinks that since I liked Song A, I'll like Song B, C, D, and XYZ based on other listener patterns. Because a real human put time and effort and a pinch of luck into discovering something and wanted to share it.

I'm getting off of Instagram Reels. I'm unfollowing the home decor/design pages I added into my feed. I'm debating deleting Twitter off my phone entirely. I'm tired of being fed ads, even if they're disguised as pretty home updates. I'm tired of being fed the worst news and the worst denizens of the internet all clamoring for attention. I'm tired of an algorithm determining what will suck up my attention.

So, all of this to say: it's been weird seeing people—friends, acquaintances, old coworkers—post on Instagram mourning the (very brief) death of Tiktok. The idea of the app being banned in the States, while worrying from a freedom of speech/oligarchy perspective, didn't bother me on a personal level as a now non-user. It's been weird noticing that my dad has started watching YouTube shorts in retirement. It's been weird seeing all the algorithms and feeling so claustrophobic about them. I want out. I want away. I can feel their presence like a shrinking room, the walls touching my skin.

This is pie-in-the-sky and naive, but it's why I like Tumblr. I shell out a few bucks a month so I don't even see ads anymore. I ticked the "do not show blazed posts" option for my dash. I don't go on the "For you" page. Every morning when I scroll my dash, I always reach the end, because I don't even follow all that many people. There is a finite limit to what I see. I can go a half hour without anything new appearing on my dash, some days. It can even get boring.

...it's nice. It feels self-curated. It's actually what I want out of social media.

Anyways, this is now a stupidly long post, and I don't have a closing statement beyond "I want to experience human-curated spaces that aren't trying to sell me shit" and "I want to stop subjecting myself to algorithms out of fear that I'm missing something or out of fear that I'll be bored."

I'll finish out with three more quotes from the AHP piece:

Not��being bored is why you always feel busy, why you keep “not having time” to take a package to the post office or work on your novel. You do have time—you just spend it on your phone.

and

App Time is Time, App Energy is Energy

and

The world, filtered through the apps, is not the world we want for ourselves. And in many cases, it’s not the actual world we inhabit.

[yukirayu]

These I've also shared on Twitter, but I thought I'd share them here before someone tries any sort of libel.

You know what's funny about this whole discourse about the Slow Damage patch ? The whole discourse reminds me of game mods, in a way.

Game mods are made by fans, for free no less, for you to download, and only if you wanted, to help improve your experience with a game.

Whether it's improving the aesthetic (character or background design) or tweaking some of the gameplay elements itself. Or adding new elements, or even changing things purely for shits and giggles.

That way, mods are akin to patches. More often than not, mods are made because the base game had flaws in their design (technical or otherwise) that the mod intended to fix or improve.

But these mods are optional. And naturally, most mods are going to use preexisting assets from either the game they're modding or from another game, assets that they'll either refine or combine with other assets to make something better.

While some mods earn a raised brow, if the mod isn't to one's liking, most generally just ignore it.

Except in this specific instance, some don't like the mod that is the patch and feel that it doesn't sit right with them for whatever reason, believing that its existence would be "spitting" on the original game or because it no longer sounds as snarky as they themselves would like to read it as.

But instead of ignoring the patch, which they were explicitly advised to do if they take offense to it, they decide to make their dislike everyone else's problem, and by poisoning the well, no less.

And one quick way to ensure that is to accuse the patch of bigotry towards the LGBT community.

I'm already aware that this same accusation is spreading like wildfire, both in Reddit and especially in Twitter, and in some Discord spaces, most likely.

But did anyone, and this includes the accusers, even play at least 40% of the patched version, and intensively at that, before making that claim?

Oh, I'm all too aware that bigotry is a real, serious and widespread issue.

But in most online circles nowadays, accusing something of bigotry right off the gate is also one surefire method of turning people off of it before they can even check it out for themselves.

I mean, what better way of publicly dragging something you don't like through the mud than to spread accusations/misassumptions that are quick for others to believe before anyone can even try and personally fact-check anything?

Especially in a place like the internet itself.

The note stating the avoidance of using a specific pronoun for some characters to not assume their identity could've been phrased better, yes, and the patch team did clarify their stance on the matter. Alas, anything can still easily be misinterpreted and used as flame bait.

But what's odd is that the people who first touted this claim (either here or in other platforms) have one thing in common: they never checked out the patch (let alone played through one certain route in full) to personally confirm if that really is the case.

Taking all this into consideration, I think that no matter how the patch was presented, it'd get backlash.

Even long before any of us knew this patch was even going to be a thing, even giving constructive criticism about the localization and any mistakes/goofs it made already drew ire, and it's those same people who took offense that are spreading the hate about this patch.

It all really boils down to the matter of the patch even existing, since - as some detractors point out - it's what they call to be a disrespectful spit to the face, even without factoring the false accusations of transphobia and plagiarism.

Let's say they used the JP game files instead and have the patch work with that version. They'd get decried for copyright infringement and they risk a C&D order.

Use the EN files? We already get the claims that they barely did anything to the text, among other things. Why?

Because they didn't adjust every single syntax and change every single word in every single sentence… when English isn't exactly the most versatile language and there's only ways you can translate something, especially in the simpler sentences like "Who are you?".

Using a thesaurus on everything would make it sound weird. Heck, the patch being more verbose and detailed and impersonal (which is what's to be expected when it's third person and in a visual novel, no less) already got it accused of being no more than a fancy MTL.

And it doesn't help that many already assume that the statement that MTL can be a helpful tool is also the same as "MTL being the superior translator of all time", and people will find anything and I mean anything to hate on something and discredit it.

And as for the preferring 1st person over 3rd person and vice versa? It's a matter of preference, yes, and that can't be helped.

But let's get one fact out in the open: Out of N+C's 5 main VNs, only one is told in first person POV in the JP/original version, and that's DMMD.

The other game that used 1st person narration is Slow Damage's spinoff game, Clean Dishes, but not the main/parent game itself.

And even years before they got licensed, the fan patches followed the intended narration viewpoint of the first 4 VNs. Third person for Togainu no Chi, Lamento, and Sweet Pool, and first person for DMMD.

Their respective localized versions (except Lamento), also followed the intended narration viewpoint, and nobody complained because that was all they knew.

But because Slow Damage's localization took the creative liberty of changing the narration from third to first person, with people exposed to it, it's not really surprising some have gotten accustomed enough to end up preferring it.

Even when another version that retells the game in original narration comes up, for the past two years, the localization has been what they knew, and that is what many usually then decide to stick to.

In the scenario where the localization - even if it would still be a mess - never changed the narration, would people still say "Oh but they should've changed it to 1st person since it would've enhanced the story"?

It's telling that it never happened with Togainu no Chi, Sweet Pool and DMMD, no?

And before anyone tells me that I just hate localizations overall, you don't hear me complaining about the official translation of any of the BLVNs that Mangagamer licensed, do you? I also have plenty of gripes with DMMD's fan translation over what it did to Mink.

[anim-ttrpgs]

The Eureka Kickstarter Pamphlet

It’s not much of a secret that my career and future financial stability is riding on the upcoming Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy Kickstarter (April 10th-May 10th) being successful and hitting as many stretch goals as possible.

If you would like to help a disabled person have a viable career, and see more work from myself and A.N.I.M. in the future—well, first of all, back the Kickstarter on April 10th, but secondarily, spread the word so that others can at least know about it and may back it themselves.

Besides just telling people about us and reblogging our posts, a really helpful way for you to spread the word would be to go to this link here (it’s the same link as the one for downloading the free demo) and download the EurekaPaphlet3pg-1 PDF. It’s a foldable pamphlet you can print out and give to anyone who has an interest in TTRPGs at school, at work, at a con, etc. You can even print out a bunch of them and leave them at your local card&hobby store. These pamphlets even include QR code that will give anyone scanning them access to the free Eureka demo. Also, since it’s a PDF, you could also just send it to people online without actually having to print it out.

(Make sure when you do print it out, that you print it out double-sided!)

It’s a nice pamphlet with some of our best art on it, and does a good job of getting right to the point of what Eureka is.

If any of y’all could hand this out and/or show it to people, it could mean a world of difference for making Eureka and A.N.I.M. a viable career path for someone who struggles to hold down any “normal” job.

Set a reminder for the Kickstarter launch here.

See a preview of the Kickstarter campaign here.

Join our Patreon for just $5 and get perpetual updates on the in-progress prerelease version of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy and several adventure modules.

Visit our website or go to our itch.io page (follow us there too so you'll get notified when the game fully launches) for more information and a free demo! Also, in case anyone didn't know, the free demo isn't just a small chunk of the game anymore, it's almost the full game. Like, everything. If you previously downloaded the demo that kept most of the game hidden, go download it again to get access to all of that hidden stuff and more!

Interested in actually playing this game, and many others, with the developers? Check out A.N.I.M.'s TTRPG Book Club, a club of nearly 100 members at the time of writing this where we regularly nominate, vote on, and then play indie TTRPGs! At the time of writing this, we are playing Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, and sign-ups are closed for actually playing it, but you can still join in to pick up a PDF club copy of the rulebook to read and follow along with discussion, and sit in on and observe sessions! There is no schedule obligation for joining this club, as we keep things very flexible by assigning multiple GMs with different timeslots each round, to try and accomodate everyone! This round, we had over thirty people sign up, and were able to fit in all but one! Here is the invite link! See you there!

[twigstick9]

OMG LOOK WHAT JUST CAME IN THE MAIL TODAY

i got a 3ds xl!! i’ve been wanting one for so long and i finally saved up for one. i could ramble forever about this console so here’s everything i love about it under the cut ^^

customization:

the console has so many customization options. You can change the wallpaper of your console, and you’re able to add badges, which are like little widgets/stickers on your home screen. modding your 3ds allows you to have user made wallpapers and widgets, which gives an unlimited possibility of personalization. You can also customize the outside of the console, like purchasing different 3ds colors, face plates, or console decals. the top of your 3ds is also a perfect spot to put stickers on, if you’re a sticker fanatic like myself. and furthermore, i just learned recently that the new 3ds, and only that system, has interchangeable face plates and has multiple official plates variants you were able to buy in stores

applications:

the 3ds comes with so many cool apps already pre downloaded. the camera app, mii maker, internet browser, voice memo, health and safety warning. heck nintendo even added street pass and a step counter which insentivised you to go outside. i really like street pass because you can meet other peoples miis and collect puzzle pieces when you pass by someone with a 3ds on them. and also the step counter can give out tokens that can be used in 3ds games?! how cool is that! face raiders is also a cool game that came with the console, although a bit weird. goodies like these could entertain you without even purchasing additional games. not to mention there were free games on the eshop, like flipnote studios and badge arcade. it’s super cool to see so many little things on a small console

animal crossing new leaf:

i won’t lie and say i didn’t get this console so i could play my old copy of new leaf. but there’s other games too trust me! mario kart 7, tomodatchi life, rhythm heaven megamix, every pokemon game, n64 zelda, wario ware gold. it’s cool to have all these games on the go, and some of the best games of their respective series. having a console that’s backwards compatible with original ds games is a nice perk. (and with a modded console you can emulate ds, gba, and gameboy games)

modding:

this is like thing the 3ds is known for today. modding your 3ds allows you access to entire 3ds library FOR FREE thanks to hshop, which is a fan made recreation of the nintendo eshop. there’s other apps like netpass, which allows you to street pass people across the world, and pretendo, which is a fan recreation of the nintendo network, allowing you to play games online. you can also mod individual games, like mario kart 7 and tomodatchi life. i think you can also download music and movies straight to your 3ds?? i’m not that knowledgeable when it comes to modding, but this is just the tip of the iceberg of what you’re able to do. if you have a computer and a micro sd card, follow 3ds.hack.guide and MOD YOUR 3DS!! once i buy i bigger sd card i’ll try to mod my console, so i’m crossing my fingers!

there’s so much for me to talk about but these are the reasons i wanted one. i recommended getting a 3ds if you’re a fan of nintendo handheld games and emulation! but yeah that’s all thanks for reading this far haha

[broodsys]

okay i need to decompress now so everyone... look at my current palia home 🙂‍↕️

i recently restarted! downloaded the game directly from the site and made a new account, bc i'd played months ago and i was going Fast and tbhhh i kinda... forgot too much of the plot 😅 so i'm making a point to take things a bit slower this time

i'm really good at hunting in this game tho. it's inevitably my first skill to hit 10 and always my top skill

i JUST set up the outside structurally and got the inside finished (well, "finished" - it's always a wip) but i haven't added much to the outside yet. i'm thinking about making a path connecting the front of the house to the base of the steps, and ofc so many plants. i have so many fucking flowers in my chests rn lmao....

oh! and all the "randomly" stacked chests serve a purpose >3 they let me jump up to the tracks, and the two "random" ones underneath show me the one place i can smoothly walk under the tracks

also, feel free to add me! just know that i don't really play with ppl lmao... in rl i very often have to step away from my pc without much warning so it's just not that feasible to do group stuff, but we can always party up for whatever little bonuses that come from that or if i'm online u can yell at me to come help u chop down a flow tree or smth lmao

haven't gone into elderwoods yet tho! so no spoilers pls 💖

[meanstepdad]

i made these little mini-zines as a way of processing. well. everything going on lately in the united states lol

"make zines" is a double-sided mini zine that includes a mini poster on the inside with instructions for how i made both of these zines.

"it would do us all well to make more art" comes with an additional PDF that gives instructions on how to print, cut, and assemble the zine from one double-sided sheet of paper.

both zines are available for free/pwyw to download and print from my ko-fi shop! feel free to print them, share them, take them apart to make your own zine templates, etc.

if you'd like to order physical copies of the zines together—because you don't have access to a printer, because you want to support me, or because it's nice to get things other than spam in the mail sometimes—i'm selling the physical copies together for $5.

here's a link to my ko-fi shop if you want to check out my other work!

and i'll put my big long rant about the thoughts i had while making these zines behind a cut.

i don't think that art is the solution to all our problems or that making art is on par with direct action, protesting, forming local community networks, calling representatives, donating to mutual aid funds, etc. art isn't a free pass to avoid doing the hard stuff. especially all of the stupid, silly art that i make, like my zine about the sims games lol.

when i think of discussions about the importance of protest art, i can't help thinking about that quote from vonnegut: "during the vietnam war, which lasted longer than any war we've ever been in -- and which we lost -- every respectable artist in this country was against the war. it was like a laser beam. we were all aimed in the same direction. the power of this weapon turns out to be that of a custard pie dropped from a stepladder six feet high."

creative doubts are a very leisurely problem to have in the scheme of things.

with that being said, these zines are more of a mantra that i've developed to pull myself away from all the spiraling thoughts that come when i spend too much time online doomscrolling, or when i think about the works i've made on gender, queerness, and anti-fat bias and how pointless it all feels.

and then i remember there are both very shitty, rich people and their very shitty, indoctrinated followers that would prefer i continue to feel this way, and that i and the people like me stop existing, or at the very least stop making our existence known and stop thinking our work and joy and community is of any importance. and then out of spite i resolve to scroll less and make art more, because i'm not going to give them that kind of resignation for free.

additionally, i think zines are a really valuable tool to utilize during a time when it's getting more difficult to organize and access information online. we're coming into an age now where we're really recognizing the impermanence of the internet—from important webpages and communities being wiped from existence to the increase in online content censorship that we see from platforms trying to appear more advertiser friendly family-friendly. this inherently conflicts with the nature of the world that we find ourselves in, whether it's talking about queer bodies or the ongoing genocides. additionally, it's getting harder and harder to access news that isn't from extreme right-wing sources without running into paywalls, which makes it difficult to educate yourself and others on important topics.

but nobody can shadowban zines. if your zines get taken off the internet for whatever reason, no one can stop you from printing off physical copies and mailing them, putting them in public places, or sharing them in-person with others. zines are both ephemeral and eternal, and also a great way of turning feelings of hopelessness into hope and community that you can share with others, whether they're about important things or silly video games.

[alphagodith]

what do we do now?

go get all your vaccines updated asap. they are likely about to be banned.

download all your favorite fanfics from ao3, and any 'adult' content anywhere, as these are likely also about to be banned.

delete period-tracking apps if you have them, get an iud and/or stock up on any other preg-prevent drugs you can, even if you don't CURRENTLY need them. men, get vasectomies. they are reversible and whether you want kids or not, pregnancies can now result in your partner's death far more easily than they should.

if you rely on commissions from online communities, make sure you have many different ways of being reached. diversify.

see if you can get prescription-strength toothpaste prescribed and filled by your dentist. flouride is likely getting removed from water and dental health can directly impact your cardiovascular health as well.

it is now more important than ever to save your money and invest if you can, as social security and other such benefits you may come to rely on in old age are likely going to get canceled. pay off debts early to avoid interest, buy refurbished outdated tech instead of new (it is way cheaper and works just as good if not better than new), don't buy a car that gets less than 45 mpg (priuses do not need to be charged and are lovely), buy used (they work just as well as new, they just don't have useless prestige), buy frozen meals from the grocery store instead of fast food (just as fast to prepare and much cheaper), etc

with public education being abolished, if you have or want kids, i recommend finding and stocking up on educational books and games. you can likely find a lot of them at discount stores like goodwill. even old or slightly outdated texts are better than nothing at all.

get a vpn (i use proton cuz it's free) and switch from google to duckduckgo so you can find life-saving information and help without being tracked by people who want you dead.

[kris-tyne]

Chromebook Tech Literacy Masterpost

I've seen a lot of posts about the systemic death of tech literacy in schools with the advent of ChromeOS, and instead of responding to them one by one, I want to create a masterpost to destroy the system. First: FUCK CIPA. The Children's Internet Protection Act is a United States FCC act that standardizes internet safety across the country. Public schools are not required to comply with this act, but they will lose discounts offered for the E-rate program. In short, if you don't want to put up web filters, then you don't get government grants for technology and Internet. Fuck that. Many of these workarounds bank on my personal experiences, so some solutions may not work with your web filters, but they definitely are a step in the right direction. For talking with friends: chat rooms are your friend. Many chat rooms for professional use act just like Discord, and many are just a single text channel. Several I've used include: Google Messages, Rumbletalk, Slack, Element, ClickUp, Pumble, and... in a pinch, Google Docs can give you a shared document that's practically impossible to block. For watching videos: some chat rooms, especially Rumbletalk, allow you to directly embed a YouTube video. This is rare, however, so we found some workarounds. Canva has a video search and embed function that allows you to play YouTube videos straight from the editing page of their slideshows. For anime, a website that I don't think is maintained as well but should still work is AnimeTribes. It is a .ru site but it is perfectly safe, as long as you don't click on ads. I've never seen it redirect you otherwise, and the owner used to be commonly found on the chat page. Another piracy site is 9Anime, which doesn't work on Chromebooks but is an infinitely better source in general. A non-anime video piracy site is Arc018, which is my favorite. It does redirect you decently commonly, but just take care to avoid those redirects and follow piracy suggestions that I will lay out further down. For adblocking: the easiest method is to use uBlock Origin. Though, with all the stuff that Google has been doing, I'm not entirely sure if it works anymore. I gave up on Chrome the second I could get away from it and I suggest you all do the same. For playing games: so. I'm a nerd. I play Pokemon games. SO if you do too you're in luck. The only thing I could come up with was to download GPemu, a ChromeOS based emulator. Unfortunately it's pretty bad, but apparently there's an alternative called EmulatorJS. I never used it myself, but if someone wants to try it and let me know how it goes, that would be appreciated. HOWEVER, none of these work without the games to play them with. I'm going to detail piracy safety later, but for now: Vimm's Lair recently got axed by Nintendo's DMCA, but some ROMs may still be available. Another source (which is admittedly undergoing some major changes) is The Internet Archive. I haven't done a lot of searching on the Archive, and I don't know if it works on Chromebooks, but try it and let me know :).

Circumventing the web filter: While those solutions work for specific things you can do online, these present a general solution, capable of multitasking and providing you much more extended freedom. The first is CroxyProxy, a completely free proxy service that can be added through the Chrome Web Store. If the Web Store is blocked, it can be accessed via the direct website or through specific IP addresses. These change frequently, and I’m absolutely positive the ones that I have access to are blocked or simply go nowhere useful. The other option, assuming you have a home computer connected to the Internet at all times, is Chrome Remote Desktop. It will work as long as both computers are signed in to one shared Google account and both are connected to the Internet.

But Ty... none of this works for me: Oh boy. I guess it's time for my trump card. The pinnacle of my Chromebook workaround career has culminated in this. The ultimate destruction of ChromeOS, all without jailbreaking the computer and getting in a LOT of trouble (don't do that please). My magnum opus came from my blossoming understanding of emulation and, specifically, Windows images. During my senior year, I successfully used a trusted and necessary source (unblockable) to emulate a Windows computer entirely through a single Chrome tab. This source… Microsoft Azure. This cloud computing service allows the creation of a remote desktop that will save data when offline. The biggest hurdle with Azure is that… it costs money. However, when I did it, I got 200 hours of emulation FREE, and I would highly recommend you find the same deal, if it still works. Things to note: you can make multiple accounts, but you will need to also have separate payment cards, as multiple accounts with the same card will flag and not be usable. The frame rate is decently shit, and there is no physical graphics card, so the vast majority of games will not run. I mostly used it for Discord. However, feel free to experiment and make it your own. Use this knowledge wisely, and run free, my friends. Fuck CIPA, and fuck ChromeOS!

Please feel free to reblog or comment with more suggestions, because I would love to add them!