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Destiny Child

Destiny Child is a free gacha game from Korea that has become a go-to for both my husband and I. He introduced me to the game almost a year ago, and for the longest time I had held off on downloading it, finding the game to be a sensory overload but still enjoying the art style and animations while watching him play. I eventually gave in and downloaded it and fell in love instantly.

The entire game is built around collecting childs which you power up to fight in various dungeons, raids, PVP, and other events. There is a humorous main story that follows an unenthusiastic demon that unintentionally enters a contest to become the next great demon lord. You, the master, are helped in your training by three charismatic succubi. It’s a silly story, but very wordy and thankfully there are options to skip dialogue if you’re not that interested.

“Why, hello there, my new adorable little master ❤️”

To say that this game is addicting is an understatement as the game dumps loads of awesome looking childs on you. The designs range from cute, to scary, to sexy, the art style for some characters is very sexualized. Despite the highly sexualized character, I liked that all body types are presented beautifully! The game rewards you for literally everything that you do, and has daily quests available to keep it active. There are several types of currency that you spend on different gacha roulettes that have a chance of getting you stronger childs, some are limited time only. This game has also done some crossover events with some beloved franchises, including Hatsune Miku, Street Fighter, and Dead or Alive. These crossovers surprisingly fit well with the overall style of the game and I’ve been very happy to collect some of my favorite characters.

With all free games, this one also has a pay options to purchase additional passes, which get you bonus mission rewards, skins, and more opportunities to use the gacha roulette. Spending money in this game can quickly become a money dump as the purchased items are not cheap. It’s unfortunate, but it’s understandable that the developers need to make their money in some way. The constant updates and multiple events that are constantly going with brand new childs to get keep this game alive and going strong, and the international version is far behind the Korean version in terms of event and child releases. Overall I really love this game, and think it’s worth playing even without using the payment options.

Let’s Discuss!

  • What do you think about the art style? Are the sexualized characters good or bad?
  • Do you consider gacha games to be a form of gambling?
  • How do you feel about free games that use cash shops?

Game Information

Destiny Child
Publisher: SHIFT UP Corporation
Developer: NextFloor
Release Date: October 27, 2016
Genres: Gacha
Platforms: Mobile
Official Website

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I Miss the Early Days of the Internet

When I was a young girl, my parents taught me how to use the internet. It was the 1990’s, and we had a home computer and AOL, and on there I made my first email “pen pals” and I learned how to type and do so well. I still did regular kid things, like play outside or played video games on our Super Nintendo and later Playstation. As I hit my tweens, the internet still had dial up connection, but there was a plethora of more niche websites to explore.

Throughout my teenage years I got really into message boards and cute game or avatar websites like NeoPets and Gaia Online. I can’t remember the first website builder I ever used at around 12, but it wasn’t long before I switched to Geocities and then eventually Angelfire. I mainly hung out on anime or vampire themed websites before I found my home with online trading card games, or TCGs. I got into blogging via LiveJournal in high school, and though I have stopped writing in it, the journal is still there for me to look back on occasionally. Through message boards and TCGs I had made some lifelong friends that I still talk to in the present day. My fascination with my online niche communities became something I was known for even among my circles of real life friends.

Life back then was far more simple before the modern era of the internet. Social media simply didn’t exist, and though there was drama occasionally among the communities I frequented, it was mostly self moderated and could easily be separated from my personal life. I could simply log off and not have to worry about anything. While the person that I was online is very much like the person I am in real life, it was a safe space for me where I could truly be myself.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve seen a lot of those old communities die, and be replaced by the overwhelming noise from social media and viral news. As our world has become more connected, it also makes me feel more disconnected at the same time. When social media was new, I was in love with Facebook and MySpace, sharing pictures and connecting with friends, both my previously anonymous internet friends as well as old friends I knew in person when I was younger.

More recently, I have fallen completely out of love with social media, having become a place bombarded with filters and an obsession with collecting followers or going viral. Social media and dating apps wrecked havoc on my personal life and made me feel less able to connect with anyone. It became a pain point for my husband and I, and though we’ve resolved our issues, it still causes deep anxiety for me.

The internet today has it’s benefits of course, it’s easier than ever to build websites like this one, there are still people out there putting out quality content, and the fast and ready access to content is wonderful. I love being able to chat with friends via voice communication platforms or watching my friends stream games. I don’t have to worry about clicking on a website and having a dozens of loud and obnoxious advertisements popping up on my screen, but then that’s because advertisements have been scattered cleanly throughout every website that I open. Folks are out there fighting for representation for different identities, but then I see those same communities turn in on themselves and attack.

Often I find myself wanting to go back to when the internet was much more simple with our niche communities. I have friends that I can talk to just like I did back then, though the medium has changed, but there is a part of me that wants to go back to a time before the internet has become so much a part of everyone’s personal lives. I feel less free sometimes being me, sharing details of my personal life, sexuality, or religious and political views for fear of backlash from family or employers. I know it’s hopeless to think about, and things weren’t perfect back then, but I can’t help feeling like I just had so much more fun back then.

Let’s Discuss!

  • Were you around on the internet in the 90’s and early 00’s?
  • How do you feel about the way that the internet has evolved over time?
  • Do you ever get nostalgia or want to go back to the way things were?
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Taking a Break from Grad School

As stated in the title, I am taking a semester off from graduate school. I’m over the halfway point for my degree, and though the temptation has been strong to just push through and finish, I have realized over the last semester that I am in serious need of a break. I’m currently a graduate student at the institution that I work at and I am thankful for the opportunity that I have to get my tuition drastically discounted. Currently, I am studying for an M.A. in Human Services Counseling with a concentration in Student Affairs, through my career I have found a genuine love for higher education and assisting adult students with their academic careers.

When I first enrolled in college as an undergraduate freshman, I couldn’t imagine that I’d be where I am today. All I knew back then was that I wanted some form of a degree so that I could have better job prospects to support myself and my daughter, at that point being a newly single mom. By my senior year I had realized that all of the careers that I wanted to do required a graduate degree minimum, and so I had decided that I needed to pursue one. Now that I’m here, I question sometimes why I’m doing it or why I ever wanted to, but I know that it is necessary for my career and would be extremely beneficial, it would allow me some job security if and when I eventually move on from my current institution and move out of state.

When I was an undergraduate I was exhilarated, I loved studying and reading all of the material for my classes. I kept pushing for the highest grades that I could and just reveled on my on campus program. Now that I have switched to a graduate program however, one that is entirely online, I find myself at a disconnect. An online program is the only feasible program for me presently, now that I work full-time, am married, and have two children. It is just so much more practical, but now that it has been a few years I find it difficult to find the same exhilaration that I had felt as an undergrad.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m studying things that directly impact my career, and I feel that I am pursuing it at the right time now that I have had a few years off to read and improve my writing and analytical skills. I’m actually doing relatively well in my classes, maintaining a 3.7 or higher GPA. Suddenly this past Spring though, that fire burned out and it has been a genuine struggle. So I decided for my mental health that I needed to just step away for a semester, enjoy the things that I did without any guilt, and breathe easy.

I’ll be picking back up in January to complete my last three classes, and I have a capstone field experience semester that I haven’t decided when I want to complete. Maybe over the fall, but I’m tempted to wait until next year since it would simply be easier for me financially to save over the fall semester as well. I found also that being so burned out from classes has also negatively impacted other aspects of my life – I’ve been more tired at work and at home, so I want to take some time to read and replenish my spirit.

Let’s Discuss!

  • Are you currently in college, what are you studying?
  • Do you ever get burnout and how do you cope with it?
  • Would you like to pursue higher degrees, why or why not?