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Games

How Video Games Can Benefit Your Mental Health

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A lot of parents out there are worried that video games can make their children violent, aggressive, or prone to neglecting their homework. And you know what? That’s somewhat true as long as the child spends too much time playing video games and if he doesn’t receive a strong education at home. Otherwise, gaming can be beneficial for people of all ages, and we’ll immediately explain why.

Gaming is a form of entertainment, and no developer or publisher created a game in order to make someone become violent or aggressive. Most of the time, video games display aggressive behavior in order to show that those who don’t behave well in society will face their downfall sooner or later. As for the other video games, the developers and publishers simply don’t care, but that doesn’t mean that they encourage any kind of antisocial behavior.

Video games can actually benefit the player’s mental health, and here’s how:

Stimulating ambition and reflexes

Many times in video games, such as shooters like Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, or Sniper Ghost Warrior, the player needs to be extremely careful to shoot his opponents at the right moment. If he delays even a second, that can be enough for him to miss the mark and become the next target in the game. In a game like those from the FIFA series, on the other hand, you constantly need to be aware of your opponent’s moves and tactics, while at the same time, you need to apply yours at the right time. In other words, there’s a lot of strategic thinking needed to win a match in a FIFA game, which is another confirmation that video games stimulate your mind a lot.

The more you progress through an RPG game, for instance, the harder the game itself will become. If the current level isn’t enough for you and you need the game to become harder, don’t worry, as most video games offer you the option to increase difficulty. In other words, video games seriously stimulate the players’ ambition.

Reducing stress

A lot of those who like to play video games say that such a task induces them a state of relaxation, which will automatically reduce their stress. It’s a fact that stress is one of the biggest problems in our society, and it can occur because of countless factors: politicians, our jobs, our bosses, not getting paid enough, not getting the chance to succeed at the job, and many more.

Prolonged and chronic stress can also significantly impact both our physical and mental health, and that could potentially contribute to the development of various diseases. If you want a list of health conditions that have been associated with chronic stress, you can consider depression, anxiety, hypertension, immune system suppression, gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Guess what conditions such as depression or type 2 diabetes can do to you if you don’t treat it? Both of these two conditions can have serious consequences for a person’s health, such as contributing to severe complications that could even be potentially life-threatening.

You got the idea: playing video games can help you get rid of stress, while stress can lead to even worse conditions if you don’t take good care of it.

Ultimately, we must all be well aware that video games are useful only as long as you use them in the right way. Excessively playing video games would certainly not be a good idea in most cases. But excess, in general, is not good, regardless of what domain you apply it to.

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Tech

Top Ways Facebook is Still Better Than Instagram

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You may have heard about all those social media gurus who claim that Facebook is obsolete and that it’s far behind Instagram when it comes to sheer quality. While they may be right, Facebook still has some powerful and very useful features that are still not present on Instagram. However, both of Meta’s platforms gather an enormous amount of users, and there are plenty of people out there who like to use them both.

After all, there’s no rivalry between Facebook and Instagram, and one strong argument to support that claim is that both platforms are owned by the same company, as we mentioned above. Both apps are far from perfect, as there are still individuals who choose not to have a profile on any of them. We definitely need to respect them. Both platforms have their flaws.

Let’s see what are the most important Facebook features that are absent on Instagram:

Text-Only posts:

Believe it or not, there are netizens out there who don’t need to add their texts over an image, customize them, add bunny rabbits, and all sorts of unnecessary features. Some people simply prefer text-only posts, and guess what? Facebook is the only platform of the two mentioned above that is able to display such posts.

Notes:

If you have a hunch that you may be the reincarnation of Shakespeare, you can go ahead and take advantage of Facebook’s Notes feature, which will allow you to write much longer posts than usual. In other words, your Facebook profile can practically become a true blog filled with your own long posts.

Events:

On Facebook, you can find events happening anywhere or even create and manage your own event. You can facilitate event planning and coordination by creating events and inviting people. Instead, there’s no similar feature available on Instagram. What a bummer!

Groups:

Facebook Groups provide a playground for people to gather, connect, and discuss certain topics, at least until the admin doesn’t like some of their comments and blocks them. But hey, it’s still better than no groups at all, right? It’s true that there’s also such a thing as “Instagram Groups,” but Facebook’s feature is much more popular and teeming with users.

Marketplace:

On Facebook Marketplace, users can buy and sell just about anything they wish. This is a great feature for anyone who wants to sell or buy something locally and fast. On the other hand, there’s no such feature available on Instagram, as the platform is more focused on visual sharing.

Pages:

Facebook Pages are specially designed for organizations, businesses, public figures, and brands who have the goal of creating a public presence. On the other hand, it’s also true that Instagram has business profiles, but the main idea is that Facebook Pages offer more detailed customization and extra features for organizations.

Third-party integrations:

Compared to Instagram, Facebook has been more open to third-party integrations. In other words, Facebook can rapidly give you access to games, quizzes, and various other apps that you can connect to your Facebook account very fast.

It’s obvious that both Instagram and Facebook are platforms that can turn out to be very useful for a person, depending on each person’s wishes and goals as they navigate the web. It’s difficult to say absolutely objectively which one of the two apps is better.

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Tech

Best Alternatives to Tinder: What’s the Best App to Find a Life Partner Online?

Photo by Oziel Gómez on Unsplash

It’s 2023 out there, meaning that people are looking for a life partner online more than ever. App developers know this very well, which is why more and more online dating software appear out there for us to install and run. Perhaps the most popular dating app at this time is Tinder, but guess what? That doesn’t automatically mean that it’s the best app, as plenty of people have complaints about it.

Tinder will rapidly give you the opportunity to match with people from your own county and even city if that’s what you want. You can check out a person’s profile to see their interests, hobbies, photos, and desires. Even so, the app has its flaws, and one of them is that the free version offers a limited number of profiles that you can see. Furthermore, some of those profiles are fake, whether the devs are willing to admit it or not.

Therefore, are there any better online dating apps than Tinder out there that we can use? Let’s try to find out:

Hinge

Let’s face it: looks aren’t everything, as you still need to find something interesting in the other person’s personality if you want to create a true connection. The devs behind the Hinge app know this very well, which is why they’ve created an app that focuses specifically on such aspects. Hinge tries to make users build meaningful connections, as they are encouraged to engage in conversation starters.

OkCupid

OKCupid also tries to focus on compatibility between users, which is why the app uses algorithms to match users that have something important in common. One major aspect of OKCupid is that this app offers detailed user profiles, as users are encouraged to answer questions about their lifestyles, interests, and personalities. As a result of their answers, the app will generate compatibility scores and match percentages.

Bumble

Bumble is pretty similar to Tinder, meaning that both apps allow users to swipe left or right on possible matches. One of the unique and amusing features of Bumble is that only women can start conversations in a match, as the developers probably know that the ladies are too assaulted by messages from guys in dating apps in general.

Also, once a match is made on Bumble, users have a limited time to start a conversation. The match will simply expire if no message is sent within the specified amount of time, which is a pretty good feature in case you don’t want your list clogged up with matches whom you never text.

Zoosk

Zoosk is one of the most popular dating apps, as it has been around since 2007. One of the most interesting features of Zoosk has to do with Behavioral Matchmaking, which means that the app uses a unique Behavioral Matchmaking technology that learns from your actions as a user on the platform. In other words, the more you use Zoosk, the more accurate your potential matches will become over time.

In order to make Zoosk understand your preferences better, you can use the Carousel feature, which allows users to rapidly review and like the possible matches.

Coffee Meets Bagel

Coffee Meets Bagel is also a pretty interesting app, as it offers limited daily matches. In other words, this app takes a “slow dating” approach by providing a limited number of curated matches, which are referred to as “bagels” each day. The matching algorithm is also personalized, which is always a plus.

Regardless of what app you use to look for a life partner online, it’s always a ‘must’ to be honest and respectful in your online interactions, not to mention when you meet your match in real life.

Categories
Games

Top High-Graphics PC Games That You Can Play With Only 2GB of RAM

Credit: Steam

The standards that people have nowadays when it comes to gaming are usually very high, as it’s hard to find a game that doesn’t have mind-blowing graphics. While these games will also usually take a toll on your PC’s hardware, there are still plenty of titles out there that impress the world with their amazing graphics and can be played without having some high-tech gear at your disposal.

High-graphics PC games that you can play even though you have only 2GB of RAM on your computer truly exist, and we’re not saying that you can find them in some parallel universe. They exist in our own physical reality, and we’re delighted to have the chance to mention some of them:

Sniper Elite V2

Sniper Elite V2 was launched in 2012, and it represents the beginning of some of the most amazing elements that make Sniper Elite a top-end series. This game was the bee’s knees at its time, and it qualifies as a tactical stealth shooter set in the German battlefields of the Second World War. You play as Karl Fairburne, an American sniper who needs to apply every dirty trick in the book to get his hands on the V2 rockets mission plan that the Nazis were ‘cooking.’

The Sniper Elite series is mostly known for introducing the so-called kill-cam, meaning that when your character fires a bullet with his sniper, you will see that bullet as it flies in slow motion and pierces the organs of your opponents. Sniper Elite V2 harnesses the kill cam very well. As you’ve already guessed, this game is not for the faint of heart.

Sniper Elite V2 can be played if you have at least 2GB of RAM and 256MB of VRAM on your GPU.

Sniper Elite 3

Launched in 2014, Sniper Elite 3 is the sequel to Sniper Elite V2, and it brings even better graphics than its predecessor. This time, Karl Fairburne will go to the dangerous fields of Africa, where he will encounter pretty much anything you can imagine in a large-scale war: lots of soldiers equipped with terrifying weapons (such as snipers and rocket launchers), mines, and even tanks. Besides his weapons, Karl also has some dirty tricks that he can use to lure his enemies directly into traps. Compared to its predecessor, Sniper Elite 3 is more focused on a stealth approach, as it is indeed feasible to make your way through the enemy’s territory without alerting anyone. However, it’s VERY difficult!

Sniper Elite 3 even takes the kill cam to a new level, adding more detail to the graphics that display a lot of gore and blood. That’s just the harsh reality of war, folks, so please don’t blame the guys from Rebellion for creating such an amazing game series!

Similarly to its predecessor, Sniper Elite 3 demands only 2GB of RAM and 256MB of VRAM for your graphics card.

GTA 4

GTA 4 represented a huge improvement over the predecessor GTA 3. Rockstar released their new game in 2008, where the main protagonist is Niko Bellic, a war veteran who came to Liberty City (a parody of New York) from Europe to hopefully live a better life. Along with his cousin Roman, Niko will get into all sorts of trouble in Liberty City, as he has a taste for adventure and danger.

GTA 4 offers a massive open-world, and it will work even on PCs that have 1.5GB of RAM. The graphics might not be as spectacular as other titles from this list, but they still represent a huge improvement compared to GTA 3.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (aka CS:GO)

CS: GO came out in 2012, being the successor of the legendary CS 1.6. The new game of the series was built on pretty much the same concept as its predecessor: you get to be part of either one of two groups: terrorists or counter-terrorists. You and your team need to kill all opponents of the other team. The first team that loses all of its members loses the round as well. Alternatively, if the terrorists plant the bomb and it explodes, they win. Counter-terrorists can also win the round if they find the time to defuse the bomb that was just planted.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive brings much better graphics than what we’ve seen in Counter-Strike 1.6 or in any other game of the famous shooter series. The 2012 game also brought new weapons and new maps, and it’s pretty hard to complain about anything this game has to offer. It is still played by millions today despite being a game that’s over a decade old.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive needs at least 2 gigs of RAM and 256 gigs of VRAM to run on a computer.

Mafia II

We may be subjective on this, but Mafia 2 takes the cake, as it’s most probably the best game on this list. Set in the mobster world of the ’40s and ’50s, the world of this game had amazing attention to detail from the devs. The guys from 2K Czech did a fantastic job for those times, as this game came out in 2010. That was 13 years ago, and even so, Mafia 2 had fantastic graphics and audio effects. Even the facial expressions of the characters look in accordance with what they speak in the cut scenes, while the shooting sounds extremely realistic and piercing.

In Mafia 2, the player puts himself in the shoes of Vito Scaletta, a war veteran from Europe who came to Empire Bay (New York), where he meets his good friend and partner in crime, Joe. Vito will rapidly start to climb the ranks of the criminal world, although such a path won’t bring him any peace and joy.

Mafia 2 needs only 1.5GB of RAM to be played on the PC.

Which one of the games mentioned here is your favorite and why? Feel free to tell us in the comments!

Categories
Tech

Are You a Guy Who Doesn’t Get Matches on Tinder? Try These Methods!

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

If you’re also one of those guys who use dating apps such as Tinder and barely get any matches, well, it’s time to learn some important tips! It’s somewhat true that guys get fewer matches than gals, but it doesn’t necessarily have to happen that way in all cases. Although dating in real life is a much better idea than looking for a life partner online, it’s time to lend a hand to those who prefer the virtual realm!

It’s indeed possible to overcome any social or personal limitations and become a big hit with the ladies, even after meeting them online. Almost nobody trusts online interactions these days and for good reasons. That’s because you can be literally anyone you want when you’re hiding behind a smartphone or laptop. But as long as you’re honest in your online interactions, there’s not much to worry about.

Let’s cut to the chase and speak about some of the most powerful methods to get matches on Tinder as a guy:

Be honest

Making an honest profile on Tinder is a ‘must’ if you want to attract women. What do we mean by this? Simple: don’t write in your description that you have 4 expensive and fast cars in your backyard, a huge house with 10 floors, and a bank account bigger than the Statue of Liberty. You got the point: don’t lie like a complete son of a gun. Such lies will rapidly get uncovered as soon as you meet the woman whom you match in real life. If, on the other hand, you’re a very poor person and you’re ashamed of it, it’s best to focus on other aspects of your life when you complete your profile without mentioning your financial status. You can focus on the books you like to read, the places you’ve visited, what you want from your future life partner, and so on. There are ways of being a cool and attractive fellow, even without being rich.

Upload photos where you appear surrounded by friends

In general, girls are attracted by influential and popular men, which means that it’s best to surround yourself with other people in order to get matches. Make sure that you appear to display a positive attitude in those photos, as being kind and friendly is also a “must” while you look for a life partner. No woman likes to go out with the Grumpy Grinch, and let’s be honest: men also wouldn’t like a woman alongside them who disrespects and mistreats them.

Don’t be a hater

If you’re misogynistic, you hate Joe Biden, or you dream about conquering the world and enslaving people one day, at least don’t say those things in your profile presentation or during the first online interaction with your matches! Yes, we get it. You want to show the girl that you have some knowledge, a strong personality and that you have some idea of what’s going on in life, but that’s no good way to do it. Everybody knows that life in general and society in particular are far from being all sugar, spice, and everything nice. Nobody needs another drop of negativity in their life, at least not from the start of a relationship, whether it’s online or offline. You should instead focus on some of the positive aspects in life in your discussions with your new match. Surely, you can also find life enjoyable, at least a bit.

Don’t have high demands from the start

If you want 5 children and a faithful wife who doesn’t flirt with other guys and doesn’t even have any social media accounts, it’s best not to express those things in your first interactions or in your profile presentation. No woman likes commitments nowadays, and they will rapidly run away from a guy who seems to be “backward.” Nobody cares about the truth nowadays, either, so feel free to abstain from expressing any “radical” wishes, at least during the first interactions and the first dates with a match. If you truly have serious intentions with the girl you’ve met online, sure, go ahead and tell her what you truly want after you two went out a couple of times! If she will be disappointed by your demands, it’s time to move on.

Display a positive vibe

Try to be as positive as you can in your profile and your interactions with future matches. There’s no use trying to nag the girl for not knowing who the first President of the United States was, for instance. Don’t play the intellectual role unless you’re absolutely sure that your match is capable of keeping up. No woman likes to feel overwhelmed by a discussion partner.

At the same time, don’t be the type of guy who complains about the New World Order, about Joe Biden or Klaus Schwaab. As we already said, everybody knows that life is not all peaches and creams. When looking for love online, people usually look for someone to alleviate their existence, not making it worse.

You can have light discussions about your job and ask the girl about what she does for a living. You can talk about the weather, future concerts in your area, and a lot more. There’s no use being too judgemental from the start.

You got the point: getting more matches on Tinder and maintaining them is easy if you know how to play the game. Just go ahead and apply the steps mentioned above!

 

 

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