dtcwee: The Value of Nothing

Back in 2015 there were few video games with authentic Asian environments, so I made a few experimental maps in Half-Life 2 . It was also common wisdom that games had to be complete and flawless on launch. Probabilistic monetisation such as loot boxes were a no-no. Triple-A games justified their price tags by being known quantities. Now, in 2026 there are a deluge of high-quality games from Asia, featuring characters, motifs, and visuals from Asia, which are also turning the common wisdom on its head by being serialised, free-to-play, and with a strong 'gacha' component.

War is widely seen as indefensibly evil. Edwin Starr's question, " What is it good for ?" is clearly rhetorical. However, some like yours truly have a macabre fascination with the notion that it can enrich. The link between war and wealth was probably around before Nathan Rothschild reputedly used advance knowledge of Wellington's victory to enhance his fortune. God ordered the Israelites to plunder their enemies with fluctuating specificity . A family story has my great-grandfather reaping huge profits from selling surplus American military landing craft (that he just happened to have lying around the yard.) America's last wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are cast as cynical ploys to create customers out of victims. Keep Calm and Invest. Data tells its own story. In particular, we can cross reference periods where the U.S. was at war, against the S&P500 and its precursor index from 1940 to 2014. I would think that the massive government spending in mo...

I've been wrong. Many times. Often for the 'right' reasons. 

Is ending a financially draining relationship worth the hit to assets? Some tools to price staying vs going. via GIPHY

Is having children to care for you in old age a good strategy? The social contract, particularly in Confucian societies, is that adults are expected to care for their elderly, reciprocating the care received as children. But how well is this expectation played out in fact?

Why you should want to work. The fable of the 'The Ant and the Grasshopper' is often used to prime the work-shy for shame and deprivation.