Things you enjoyed until they got greedy - How corporate greed killed every hobby

[homophobic fujoshi]

Pets are one case where you could argue it's a good thing it's become more expensive. Growing up in the (white trash) country side there were always dogs, cats and other pets kept and they were never taken to the vet. No expensive pet foods, animals just ate whatever (dogs ate leftovers, cats ate birds and milk). People didn't spay their animals so we heard stories of kittens being drowned in a bag or something equally horrible. Nowadays keeping pets is seen as very expensive because you actually need to take them to the vet instead of just letting them get sick and then shooting them and telling kids they ran away. Although I sometimes miss how easy it was to just have tons of animals running around, I'm ultimately glad people are more responsible now.

 

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

Basically all content creators, they all now have a Patreon or some shit like where you have to pay extra if you want to watch all their videos or listen to their podcast episodes ( I never do)

 

[Xarpho's Return]

Basically all content creators, they all now have a Patreon or some shit like where you have to pay extra if you want to watch all their videos or listen to their podcast episodes ( I never do)

I mean, there's sites that archive Patreon content but as long as they full archives I've never felt the need to pay for additional content.

 

[NoIdeaWhatImDoing]

I mean, there's sites that archive Patreon content but as long as they full archives I've never felt the need to pay for additional content.

only for some.

 

[Sog Dog]

Trailer Park Boys. Bubbles' current troubles aside, the show was incredibly funny and compelling when they were shooting it guerilla style on a shoestring budget. The constraints of the production forced them to be creative, and compelled a sort of mundane absurdity that I and a lot of others found really entertaining. Once Netflix got involved and they suddenly had infinite money and the ability to do whatever they wanted with no constraints, it just became slop.

 

[2mm and 99 others]

Coffee in restaurants.
I remember in the 90's, where I live one would mostly get the sloppiest but cheap version that is just coffee grounds mixed with hot water. And I hated it. Later there came filtered coffee and espresso and that was good, but since it became hipsters' obsession some time later and we all learned the word 'barista', the prices became disproportional and outrageous.
All I want is a warm caffeine boost that isn't from a piss dispensing automat, or, on the other hand, a 4 euro tiny little fucking espresso.

I liked that in Sweden, on places like long-distance trains they have large self-serve samovar thingy with great free coffee. Because there they treat coffee as a daily necessity, not a goldmine. This also saves the money that would go into an espresso machine and its operator. At least in high-trust places.

 

[Jean ValJean]

Cars.
Not the pixar movies, but motor vehicles in general. Since around 2012, cars have sucked. Their designs are just copy pasted SUVs with no difference between them, filled with "infotainment" computer systems that are prone to breaking down, and at a starting price that used to get a luxury car back in the day. There's a lot of things to point the finger at. Boomers pricing young people out of the market. Screen addicted Karens who only care about looking good on the school run. Or dealerships selling knowingly bad product as part of planned obsolescence. Even brands that used to be known for reliability are facing issues with break downs.

Part of this issue, at least in the US is the result of the Government's Cash for Clunkers in 2009 which was supposed to boost the economy by offering incentives to new car buyers while also reducing the number of "gas guzzling clunkers" on the road. What it actually did was destroy the used car market and made it almost impossible for someone at the poverty level to find a decent used car.

 

[ChampFantana]

Lego. Lego used to be normal toys.
Now they're over-priced things for fanatics with blatant misprintings and set errors.

I've been a LEGO enthusiast for 30+ years now. The best Themes they had were the unlicensed ones. Unfortunately , the licensed stuff has all but choked out the non-licensed stuff.

We're not gonna get a proper Space theme again so long as Star Wars is still around, and we ain't getting a proper Castle theme with Harry Potter and Lord of The Rings in the mix.

Nowadays with all the licensing premiums, basic set prices are through the roof and they ain't coming back down.

A great example is the infamous $1,000 Death Pancake that came out recently. I don't mind dropping serious dough on great set, but I sure as hell ain't paying a grand for 1/4 of a Death Star.

The CMFs are one of the best things LEGO has done in years, but even that has its own problems. Every non-licensed CMF Series has at least one highly desirable chase minifig. Scalpers will literally sift through multiple cases to find them, buy the store's entire stock and sell them on EBAY for astronomical markups.

It happened with the D&D Dragonborn Paladin and most recently with the Wolfpack Beastmaster.

 

[Judge Dredd]

Part of this issue, at least in the US is the result of the Government's Cash for Clunkers in 2009 which was supposed to boost the economy by offering incentives to new car buyers while also reducing the number of "gas guzzling clunkers" on the road. What it actually did was destroy the used car market and made it almost impossible for someone at the poverty level to find a decent used car.

The UK had a similar thing in the 90s I think. The scrappage scheme. It was before my time but I hear it was a shitshow. Supposedly the government never did get around to crushing those cars, so there's a huge number of 90s and older cars sitting around, almost perfectly drivable (at least as good as a car left unattended for 25 years can be) but none are road legal due to paperwork. So many "classic" cars that could be saved by collectors.

I've been a LEGO enthusiast for 30+ years now.

I was going to say it's not that long, but I know if I look I'll make myself feel old.

We're not gonna get a proper Space theme again

Off topic, but I remember hearing the licensing age made lego a violence toy, whereas previously all the sets were nonviolent. But I remember lego having pirates, and that weird miners vs aliens mars series that was everywhere when I was a kid.

 

[Sog Dog]

that weird miners vs aliens mars series that was everywhere when I was a kid.

Shit, that's a core memory unlocked.

 

[ChampFantana]

For the record, the best Themes LEGO ever made were Adventurers, Western, and Fantasy Castle.

 

[Haffhart]

For the record, the best Themes LEGO ever made were Adventurers, Western, and Fantasy Castle.

As a kid I had a set from the Avatar TLA Theme, or the set I think, because nowadays I learned that the TLA Theme was short-lived and only had one or two sets. Who knows how much that set would've been worth if I hadn't opened it and lost it in a move. Whatever, that was a good Christmas tho. I'm not into Lego, but the TLA Theme will always be my favorite for this reason (along with the Auschwitz one of course).

 

[The Ugly One]

For the record, the best Themes LEGO ever made were Adventurers, Western, and Fantasy Castle.

Captain Redbeard would take umbrage with that.

 

[DSP for president 2032]

Here to say Warhammer for like the 3rd or 4th time this thread. Being introduced to it is like a ticking time-bomb being planted in your brain that makes you develop a burning hatred for Games Workshop when it goes off.

Already hated them for getting litigious with fan animators, already despised them for the ridiculous overpricing ($11 for an exacto knife) but the more I think about "Primaris Marines," the more I shake my head and realize that there is no end to their greed.


We're going to sell you a Space Marine army a second time, and you will open your wallet and like it!

So glad I got my figures from a Chinese knock-off web store, and use those cheap Spanish paints.

 

[There She Glows]

Architecture.

This is a picture of the now abandoned Kelenföld Power Plant built in 1914.

It's an industrial building built for function, there was no reason to make it beautiful except for the love of making beautiful things. Nobody would consider building anything like it today.

Just realized the title of the thread is hobbies but my point stands since I like to go check out buildings as a hobby. Every day some beautiful old Victorian burns down or whatever and economy housing is built in its place.

 

[Nick Gars]

Indie game releases.
The vast majority of indie games these days release as an Alpha or Beta build, and then just coast for the next 1-2 years before releasing the 1.0 build.

It wouldn't be as bad if the Alpha or Beta was just an already completed/mostly completed version of the game looking for feedback for potential changes or bug reports.
The problem is that's rarely the case these days and a lot of Indie games are released as literally half a game, with the rest of the game being released over the next year or so until they release the 1.0 build.

Idk about everyone else but I don't like the idea that I buy a game, enjoy playing it, and then 10 hours in I can no longer progress because the creators are still making the second half of the game.

Then you'll see games on Steam that say "newly released" and they'll have 1k+ reviews, then you find out, "Oh, this game came out 2 years ago, they're just re-releasing it essentially to bring in more money"

I'm an achievement nigger, so this one in particular irritates the ever-loving fuck out of me. I've lost track of the amount of games I've 100%, just to have to come back to a game that has probably already overstayed it's welcome for another 10+ hours. Its never a massive improvement based on feedback like you would think, its always more of the exact same shit with minimal changes made.

Thread tax: Pokemon has already been brought up, but it's my #1 in this regard. Fuck Jewtendo into a smoldering, nuclear pile of ash at this point. Most lucrative franchise in the world, a franchise you can experiment with in ANY way, and still PRINT FUCKING MONEY! But what do they do with it? FUCKING NOTHING! Release the same exact fucking game with an even smaller budget every generation, with even shittier programmers on board than the last.

And then the fucking gall to try and sue competition (Palworld) out of existence.

You have the cheat codes to infinite wealth, and you do the fucking bare minimum with it, Nintendo. You are fucking hack frauds.

 

[Grand Duke Snowfall]

Every day some beautiful old Victorian burns down or whatever and economy housing is built in its place.

And every time one of those bitch ass house flippers takes a beautiful old place and turns it into a sterile nightmare with the aesthetic of a dentist’s office and the comfort level of an airport lobby, an angel loses its wings.

 

[Night Terrorist]

WWE. Everything about it is so much worse than it used to be, and I don't just mean out-of-control ticket prices. Samey, uninspired sets, advertising and logos everywhere, the merch is boring and/or ugly and has no effort put into it. Combined with how much of a disaster the show quality has been compared to just last year... jesus, what the fuck is going on?

 

[Lord of the Large Pants]

I mean, there's sites that archive Patreon content but as long as they full archives I've never felt the need to pay for additional content.

A lot of Patreon types are starting to get wise to this, and the Patreon post is just "check the Discord for the content", which never gets uploaded to the rip.

I can't really say Discord for this topic, because it was never good, but still. Fuck those niggers.

 

[M3xus]

Video games in general are either barely-working live service casinos where everything except the store breaks, or indie titles with too many goddamn words/ugly PS1-knockoff graphics. I have to go back at least a decade and a half nowadays to find new games to play.