Streams of Consciousness & Thoughts~~~

[Lynx]

Don't look at me like that. We already do it for weddings and new babies. "I've got a registry at (store) you can pick something from."

Maybe we should have a website that indexes wishlists for everyone. It could be searchable by name, and it would be linked to amazon, lowes, walmart, the top video game sellers, Harbor Freight, Home Depot... Whenever you add something to a wishlist, anywhere, it would show up by your name in the wishlist index.

"I put $40 on that weedeater you been wanting. Happy birthday honey."

I know a lot of people who mourn and bemoan their birthdays. This could make people anticipate them with joy again.

 

[Lynx]

It would probably be even more fun if you could do it anonymously. And it would take a lot of the sneaking out of Secret Santa stuff.

"Oh my goodness, someone just got me those earbuds on my list!"
"Who got them?"
"I dunno, they didn't put in a name. Just 'merry Christmas from your Secret Santa.'"

 

[seoulsearch]

MBGA!

Make Birthdays Great Again!

It seems an almost universal quality of life that the older you get, the more your birthday becomes just another day. Birthdays no longer have the thrill they used to have when we were kids.

But we can fix this!

I propose making Steam, Epic and GOG wishlists public. They need to be open to anybody and anybody should be able to contribute to the games on these wishlists. Then we can make it customary to buy games for friends and loved ones on their birthdays. Or for more expensive games, at least chip in a few bucks toward the price of the game the gifter chooses.

"Nah, I haven't got the new COD game yet. My birthday's coming up next month."

"Mom put $30 on my Elden Ring, but Aunt Polly put $20 on the Oblivion remaster. I might get BOTH and have a very happy birthday indeed."

This would have many social ramifications:
- "What do you get for the person who has everything" would be a thing of the past.
- Game sales would naturally go up.
- It would be very easy for any company's computer system to tell when anybody's birthday is, by checking which day of the year you buy the most games.
- There would be some interesting dynamics with wishlists themselves. "Do I really want everyone to know I'm keeping an eye on this game? Maybe I'd better just bookmark it..."
- It would be easy to tell which of your friends were cheapskates. They'd be the ones choosing early-access games.
- It would create pressure to buy a game. Do you really want your mom to see that the game she put $30 on last year is still hanging in your wishlist, with exactly $30 on it?

But most important, it would make people look forward to their birthdays again!

(Substitute makeup wishlists, or car parts wishlists, or whatever thing you like instead of video games.)

This is actually a really cool idea.

The kids in my family are no longer kids, and this would come in handy. I'd like knowing I was helping to get something they really want instead of a generic check.

I always ask the parents what they want and they never get around to telling me, so this would be very convenient -- and fun! I'd be happy knowing I was contributing to the exact pair of shoes they've been eyeing instead of having to guess and getting it wrong. And I could leisurely look through other people's lists (uh, not that I'm nosy or anything) on my own time.

And shoot, once you said that a beauty product list was fair game , I was all-in!!

After all, I have an image of youth I need to keep up.

I worked with an 83-year-old lady yesterday who told me I look 18 -- I'm pretty sure it was her cataracts talking , but I'll take it for as long as I can!