theories-off-topic

[theories-off-topic]

Unplayable: How Game Dev's Obsession with Graphics Is Killing Accessibility

Lately, almost every new game I’ve tried to play—InZoi, Sky, Palia, Infinity Nikki—crashes on startup. The reason? My system doesn’t meet the minimum system requirements anymore. On the contrary, games older than 5 years—Sims 4, Stardew Valley, Genshin Impact—all work without any errors!

Why do Newer Games have Higher Game Graphics? Game developers claim they want to "improve" the gaming experience, but their idea of improvement seems limited to just pushing higher video game graphics. When creativity stagnates, better visuals become the easiest way to make a game stand out. Having better graphics quality than similar older games is the only way to attract attention to the newer games, right? Would you rather play a game with poorer graphics or a game with the highest graphics quality your pc can handle? (For me, gameplay is always more than video game graphics)

It's doing more harm than good: Due to this, many casual gamers are unable to play or try out games. Thousands of complaints hang themselves on Reddit forums on these elitist high minimum requirements. When the devs themselves responded, they said that they would rather have their players play on good graphics than play at all; they don't want their players to be using potato graphics. So, nowadays for any Gen Z to play a game, they have to spend hundreds, or thousands into their gaming set-up just to play a twenty-dollar game? I don't know about veteran gamers, but we casual players, especially ones from developing countries, would never spend so much. I'm from Bangladesh myself, and 2 dollars is a lot for me.

"Potato" PC or Poor Optimization? Here’s the kicker: My laptop runs Genshin Impact on max settings, but Palia won’t even launch! How does that make sense? If my so-called "potato PC" can handle a game like Genshin, why does a cozy life sim like Palia demand so much more? It's because of poor optimization!

Developers, instead of blaming potatoes, maybe optimize your code?

The gaming industry is being a bit stubborn about their games, aren't they? After all, we gamers want to enjoy your lovely and precious games, we want to see the gameplay, and experience it rather than just see it. Come on devs, don't just blame our veggie PC. They can run Genshin at the highest setting! Fix your code! Let us love and cherish your games!

Conclusion: These high game requirements are quite frustrating and expensive. Imagine spending money on a game, downloading it, and then boom! You can't play because you need to spend more on your gaming set-up. Game devs have the pure intention for a better experience, but instead, it's keeping us gamers from developing countries even trying it for a second, and the casual gaming community. And what's more, is that our 'potato' PC can handle those graphics. Just fix your code? Don't break up with us, okay? My heart isn't ready for it!can't play because you need to spend more on your gaming set-up. Game devs have the pure intention for a better experience, but instead, it's keeping us gamers from developing countries even trying it for a second, and the casual gaming community. And what's more, is that our 'potato' PC can handle those graphics. Just fix your code? Don't break up with us, okay? My heart isn't ready for it!

[theories-off-topic]

POVERTY: The Core Issue of Everything. Can it ever be fixed?

Think about the meals you’ve eaten the past week. Were they tasty? Were they fun to eat? Were they affordable? To most people, food is such a commodity that most forget how more than 2 billion people face food insecurity, a quarter of the world population! This isn’t just with food. It’s the same with electricity since 685 million people don't even have alarms to wake them up every morning. Millions around the world lack necessities, which is majorly caused by a very common issue: Poverty.

Poverty is one of the core issues that is often ignored the most, whereas global warming and pollution are issues that are more focused on. Yet poverty is one of the factors that cause them. India is a country stricken with poverty, and they are also one of the most polluted countries in the world.  India’s poverty causes lack of education. This creates lack of regulations, awareness, and institutions to deal with pollution. Furthermore, 44% of the world's population (3.5B) earn less than $6.85 a day, which is not enough for anyone to live by. Poverty must be addressed even if it’s difficult to solve.

According to the book “Why Nations Fail,” by Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, poor countries are poor due to their unreliable institutions. Countries with high amounts of corruption often have unreliable systems and regulations, which can make investing and finding work difficult for the common people. For example, in my country, most people who have high-paying jobs also commonly have connections to the government. This led to the 2024 Bangladesh Quota Reform Movement that ended in the prime minister resigning her position. Before the movement, it was difficult for even the most capable people to find any work, due to government corruption.

So, there are two solutions. The first is to change countries' policies to spread power more equally among the citizens. The Bangladesh Quota Reform is an example as through this movement, work and income became more fair. However, to change policies the citizens must understand systems and be perceptive. For that they must be educated, which will help them to create a movement to reform the policies. Through education, the population would be more knowledgeable about how to manage critical aspects. A Smarter population will also allow for them to make better decisive choices in politics. Thus the second solution is to educate the people. Though it is difficult to provide quality education from the start, countries could focus on the education department and slowly improve it over the years.

Many suffer from poverty as they lack the most basic necessities. Poverty is a huge issue that impacts almost half of the world population, and it is mostly caused by corruption and poorly managed economies. Education can create more reliable economies and allow for policy reformation. Honestly, all the governments are corrupt, but we can still push for a better world no matter where we are.

Yet, sometimes I realize that maybe poverty may never be fixed. Class distinction has existed from the infant stages of society. In fact, the existence of low-class is what inevitabely helps to turn the cogwheels of development. The citys and countrys that are heavily developed have used slavery as a key point in their growth. Most food, like coffee beans, are cheap and accessible to us because the farmers sell them for such low prices that they themselves are in poverty. For each great thing, a lesser thing must exist to support it. Otherwise, everyone's mediocre. I would happily prefer being mediocre, but sadly, the world is governed by greedy and malicious people. And as long as we humans exist, class distinction and poverty may never trully fade.

[theories-off-topic]

Why Developed Countries Might Be the Next Developing Countries

A developed country is usually defined as a ‘high-quality’ country. To be considered one, the GDP, industrialization, infrastructures, and standard of living are considered. Yet, these countries are having their inflation sky-rocket. House prices are increasing to phenomenal heights, and rent is becoming more of a luxury than a necessity. Even necessities such as food and water are getting more…

[theories-off-topic]

Can't Harvard Just Leave My Mind?!

Harvard Business School! Harvard Medical School! The number one school! “I got into Harvard, I’m so smart!” I’m tired. Just tired of hearing Harvard repeatedly as it is praised too much. And when it’s not praised, it’s only about the money it makes. As a tenth grader about to take my secondary school board exams, I naturally think about my future. What university will be my future destination?…

[theories-off-topic]

SUV Sized Drones Spotted in the Sky! First of all, wth?

Governments are liars. There’s even a name for when they lie: Propaganda. This more often than not begs the question, how trustable or reliable are our governments? In Minnesota, America, a local mother called Deborah Wagner had spotted distant and strange lights that would move, flicker, and were impossible to locate. She didn’t just see one, she saw a whole bunch. And it wasn’t just  her, people from New York and New Jersey could see them too.

Could these lights be UFOs? Perhaps aliens have started to see that Earth isn’t that boring anymore. Or maybe they are aliens that escaped area 51? According to the FBI, they were SUV sized drones—which gives more questions than answers. Since when did SUV sized drones exist?

Read further: https://theoriesofftopic.wordpress.com/2025/02/05/suv-sized-drones-spotted-in-the-sky-first-of-all-wth/

[theories-off-topic]

That BIG Problem...

Imagine an object; it's right in front of you. It's terrible, awful. So you run from it. You run as fast as you can, as far as you can. The distance between you and it increases, and you can see that object become smaller and smaller until it becomes a speck, then no longer can you see it. You've evaded it, but you keep running farther and farther. Because that object still exists, even if it's far. Not so soon, your legs become tired and start to give up. "It's far enough," you tell yourself. You stopped.

That object returns right in front of you as it was a while ago. Panting breathlessly, you begin walking after a short break. You move slowly and steadily. Stopping would mean the object would return, so you need to travel for as long as possible. Hours later your legs are in pain. A day following it's numb and wounded. Your eyes are droopy. When you fall, that object stares mockingly. Though sleepy, you feel frustrated. No matter how far you try to go, it always comes back as soon as you stop moving. You can never escape it.

This object is a problem. Yet this problem isn't a trauma, chores, stressful work, a past lover, not even yourself. Because the problem isn't about you. It was never about you specifically. It chases everyone. It. Follows. Everyone. At first, the object was like a cute hamster, everyone thought it was harmless and advantageous. Yet with time the monster grew, now the size of a building. If you looked closely, the object would appear inflated, like a balloon to its limit. If it keeps growing it would burst and would affect everyone. Do something. You want to be happy. You want others to be happy. So why are you all trying to escape rather than to fix it.

What do you think the biggest problem is that needs to be addressed before it's too late?

-TOT

[theories-off-topic]

Money Doesn't Bring Success. It's Not Supposed to.

In my teenage life of being in high school, the word "success" was always put around the digits in your bank account or the number of followers on Instagram, and especially how we must get A's to achieve those yachts and Ferraris. Many say grades aren't important, you just have to be "smart" or "innovative". It is as if we need to invent or create a company to be even deemed the slightest bit successful. Yet when you do even a little bit of research, success was never about profits or popularity or global recognition or achieving a Nobel prize. To succeed simply means to achieve a goal, and you know this.

The Problem with the Societal Definition of Success: Let's say to be successful you need to be rich, what does being rich even mean? Owning a yacht? In my country, you can be called rich only by owning a car (because I'm from a developing country). The definition and criteria for being "rich" are ever-changing, just like the weather, the temperature, and beauty standards. Not only does it change with time, but also with location. But to set a rigid definition, rich simply means (in terms of economy) "Having a great deal more money than average" or "Having more possessions than others. Popularity can have the same concept, being popular means you're more well-known than ordinary people.

These definitions of successes put a sad reality onto the world. For someone to be deemed successful, another has to be unsuccessful. Only a select number of people can succeed. Does this mean that some people can never succeed? Even if they want to? Now woah there satan, no need to be so cynical.

How to Achieve Real Success: The poem "If" by Rudyard Kipling perfectly visualizes what kind of person you need to be to 'Own the Earth.' In my interpretation, if nothing in life can waver your morality or affect you, and you can walk through and handle pain unbothered, or not think about everyone else's acceptance or follow their expectations, then yeah, you're successful.

The definition of success means to achieve a goal. But life has no goal, how would you succeed in it? The only way to "achieve success" is to feel successful. Now I am very joyous to tell you that billionaires are not successful, well most aren't. There are some egotistical bastards out there who think they own Earth and treat people like spit, but they're not successful because we all agree on that, right? But most billionaires, millionaires, or rich people, in general, who have some self-awareness, are often faced with imposter syndrome, which never goes away. They know they are successful, but they don't feel it. So are they successful? God didn't say having money means you succeeded.

So how do you get the 'feeling of success'? Well, just be happy! Life has no goal, but life has a meaning, which is to live through it and experience it. We all have different requirements for happiness. So tell me, what is it that will make you happy?

-By TOT

[theories-off-topic]

AI is Killing Human Creativity!

I know what you’re thinking, “Duh, it is,” but no, you don’t understand it. By creativity, I didn’t mean how students are using ChatGPT to write their essays. AI is already being used to create pictures, art, and videos; some companies have even begun to use it to write their blogs. If this is how AI keeps progressing, the only jobs we humans will have will feel meaningless. Arts, photography,…

[theories-off-topic]

Double Trouble is Royalty

Double Trouble is one of the few Etherians who can use magic. And from episode 6 of season 1, we know that only princesses have magic. The fact that they can shapeshift without any incantations troubles me, other than them, no other 'non-royalty' characters have been seen using magic

Disclaimer: I am not calling Double Trouble a man or a woman, they are non-binary.

Double Trouble is NOT a Sorcerer/Spell Caster: The common people can use magic by sorcery, which requires incantations. These incancations are physically or verbally noticeable. However, we don't see Double Trouble use any incantations. Nor are they from the Mystacor Kingdom that they'd learn magic spells. As they don't use any other magic other than shapeshifting, it's plausible that they don't know any other magic other than shapeshifting, and it would be unlikley for a spell caster to use exclusively a single spell. Plus, no other character harbors the spell to shapeshift, meaning shapeshifting may not be possible through casting spells in the first place.

Only Royals have Magic: As stated before, only royals can use magic. Adora, though having no royal linkage, is a selected princess. She was chosen to be the princess of power, so in the end, she is still a princess. The show also clarifies that no commoner, other than some royals, can use magic. This is constantly shown through the character Bow and by background/secondary characters. It would be weird for Double Trouble to be the only non-royal character who can use magic without incancations, they have to be a royal.

Read more at my official blog!

[theories-off-topic]

Does being close to your Mother Tongue make you smarter?

Dear -------,

In the last class, you said that more creative people are closer to their native language and gave China and Japan as examples. However, I found something off about this, so I have thought about it since then, and I would like to discuss and refute your claim.

First, you are partially correct. Countries with more innovations are more based on a singular language. There is America with heavy on English and their invention of smartphones, then there are your examples with China and Japan. And developing countries have English as a major language despite it not being their native tongue. However, you may have noticed that countries that weren't in the British colony are more developed.

Read more at the official blog!

[theories-off-topic]

Why do some Jobs have so much Competition?

One of the most��common dreams of the younger generations is to be a YouTuber. After all, it seems to us that the life of a Youtuber is a pleasant one. Yet, at the same time, we are all aware of the competition present to become a successful Youtuber.

Why do some jobs have so much competition than other jobs? This is a question I’m sure you all know, but allow me to present you two of my own theories. The first is “Competition due to saturated markets,” and the second is “Competition due to lack of audience.”

Read more at my website!