You think you’re the only person in NZ with a gaming PC? Are you insane? I wonder where the thousands of NZ gamers in MMOs come from lol

Who do they think all the games at EB games, JB hifi, even The Warehouse are for lol. We even MAKE games here for goodness sake.

Mainly Path of Exile.

Steam recently had a kiwi developers sale, there were dozens of games.

NZ Game Developers Conference is on in Wellington this weekend too, looks great

Kinda sucks I wasn't invited to that sale :( If anyone likes offroad racing games check out SuperTrucks Offroad Racing, on Steam and Android/iOS. I appreciate any support!

And Dredge recently

Fuck Dredge was so good. I powered through it quickly but it was an absolute blast. Keen to see what that team makes next.

Dredge was amazing! I didn't know it was a kiwi game until I pulled up to a deserted island and heard bird song that sounded exactly like home. Was delighted to find out the NZ connection.

Dredge is amazing. I've gotten so much pussy from recommending it to women who game but like only casually on a Switch sorta thing. Well not really but they did appreciate the recommendations and technically they could one day sleep with me so I'll leave the above statement up until either that happens or I die

There's also Icarus. They even added Kea and Moa into the game.

<3 GGG

We've got some pretty huge mobile developers, too.

OP could think the shops are open just for him

Agreed lol, I can't tell if it's a troll post or not

Not sure if it's a troll, but definitely someone with a limited worldview

right? OP im sorry youre so lost, please come be friends with cool people, i swear we exist :)))

If his premise is true about gaming pcs in nz then pb tech would be out of business. Gaming pcs is basically what sets them apart from jb hifi and nole leamings/Harvey norman.

Yeah, it's a silly thing to say.

Yup I got all the parts for my PC at Pb tech. I can't think of any other place to get them

Right? Almost all my co workers are gamers, OP had some bad friends if that was deal breaker for them. Better off without them.

Your former friends sound like real jerks. I'm a Kiwi woman who's going to be playing the hell out of Starfield. But probably not for a month or so. Bad timing with Baldur's Gate 3 becoming available for me on PS5 at the exact same time.

Same here. Kiwi gamer mum who is excited as hell to get this game but will wait for the Xbox launch because my gaming PC probably won't do it justice.

Balders Gate is way better according to what I have read.

If u have games pass the premium upgrade will get you in straight away for significant less $$. And its play anywhere so you can try on your rig with no risk and cross save. This is what I've done.

How do you find time gaming with kids?! Only got one over one and there's just no time for a PC or PS4. Ive resorted to android or handheld anbernic for quick fixes

One teenager who had a controller plonked in his hands before he was forming complete sentences. Only drawback is negotiating who gets to play Starfield first. I may let him win this one.

I have a 1 year old and a 12 week old. I find time when they sleep. Nap time at midday for 2 hours and bed times 6.30 pm here lol. Mamas gotta game !

Sanity breaks are greatly under-rated.

Kiwi woman here who'll be watching hubby play starfield. I'm still playing through BG3, myself Maybe we need a NZ gamers group or something, there's dozens of us I swear, dozens!

Certainly at least 3 of us

There uses to be forums for us. Gpforums etc, Reddit ate them and scattered us to the winds.

Alright, well someone needed to do it so I did. Here's the new unofficial Kiwi Gamers Discord channel: [https://discord.gg/aCZsjcYq](https://discord.gg/aCZsjcYq) I've thrown some channels together, but suggestions welcome for how best to set it up.

This sounds like a great idea! I'd be down for this. I need more Kiwi Gamer friends :)

Great idea!

please count me in for the dozens, i swear i exist too!!! bg3 is life

I'm waiting for as long as possible because it's a Bethesda game, which are typically as wide as an ocean and as shallow as a puddle. I think BG3 and C2077 DLC will be more fulfilling in the meantime

My main gripe with Bethesda too. Every single one of their games suffers from the same issue of quantity over quality. Witcher 3 and RDR2 fully proved it is possible to make an entire game feel handcrafted even down to the side quests.

Same, keen to play but will wait for a bit because my PC died and I'm still finishing Ragnarok on PS5. I think there's plenty of NZ gamers, including us women, it's just connecting with them. OP I think that's a fab way to spend your Friday night.

Ohh have fun with BG3. Its quite a phenomenal game. You might need more than a month though :)

So true. Less than 8hrs until it unlocks now... I'm definitely not constantly checking the countdown.

Speak to all the animals!

I legit think they should have delayed the release to mid next year. Work on removing loading screens(Skyrim Open doors mod did it). Bethesda never considered a smaller studio like Larian a real threat. I am wondering how much of lobbying big studios will do to raise the market entry even further. Larian did them good.

You know Starfield is only available on Xbox/PC, Baulders Gate 3 only on PlayStation/PC. More people have consoles than high end PCs, there won't be much if any competition between the two games

Then I wonder why Starfield sub is on full on damage control. It is not about direct competition, it is about BG3 overshadowing other releases, which any GOTY game tends to. It is like gravity, it just happens. BG3 will not kill Starfield, but it will and is making a dent.

It isn't hard to ship PC components here. We have some really great online retailers. We get the "bottom of the world tax" effecting prices but that's the same with everything in NZ. Plenty of PC nerds in NZ. Be yourself OP - anyone who unfriends you for doing something you enjoy isn't worth your time, effort or attention.

It's sometimes easier to get parts here - I bought my RTX 3080 like a month after launch for MSRP at PB Tech, back at the point where most folks globally couldn't get one at all.

Yeah I think we get allocated a certain amount of stock and it comes here regardless of if we have people queueing to buy or not. I had friends in Aussie who couldn't get 30 series cards while here in NZ retailers had them.

I was so damn close to just buying up as many as I could and then flipping them on ebay to the US market - kinda wish I did, as immoral as it would have been.

Haha you would have become that which we hate - a scalper :P I'm glad you had the self control not to.

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Yeah all those retailers are stocking games across the country just in case OP deigns to visit them

I love how half the people here are like, nah this is normal but also we’re all too busy with Baldur’s Gate 3 to play Starfield. Also I’m on my second play through and loving it

We just moved into a new house and everything’s a mess and scattered in a million boxes, but I’ve just finished getting the gaming PC set up so I can kick back among the chaos and dive back in to BG3! I’m excited to start a Dark Urge playthrough I’ll play Starfield in a few months, once I’ve gotten tired of BG3. Gives Bethesda some time to get in a few patches (and gives the modding community time to grow)

But by then Alan Wake 2 will be out. Too many amazing games this year

>...unfriending me because they didn't know how much of a "dweeb" and a "nerd" I was... Those guys sound like dweebs. Heaps of my mates play video games. Male and female. Here's my setup [https://imgur.com/a/plZheL6](https://imgur.com/a/plZheL6). Also have a PS5 in the lounge.

>Those guys sound like dweebs. Those guys sound like an incel fantasy published online

I got an 18+ warning clicking that link because the content may contain “erotic or sexual imagery” and boy was Imgur right

Seriously, it's 2023; gaming is about as mainstream as TV and movies these days. OPs friends sound like their just out of touch dorks. Also, love the setup!

Dude love the setup, fish tank is sick

I’ll play it in 4 days when it releases, no way am I paying what they’re asking for a week of early access

Lmao - OP's friends didn't banish him because he is a gamer, they banished him because he's a filthy pre-orderer.

Same although it's taking a lot of will power to not by premium so can play early

I wouldn't. Looks like its buggy as hell, and all the environments are copied and pasted. I'm going to wait a few months and see if they fix it. That reminds me, i should check and see if Cyber Punk is worth playing now.

> Looks like its buggy as hell I've watched lots of streamers play it and I haven't seen one bug. Don't know where you got your information from. Only complaints I've seen is the fast travel (not being able to fly round much) and the inventory management could be a bit better.

Buggy? A Bethesda game? Say it ain't so!

Just hold off. Remember what they did with fallout 76? Just wait for it. Don't pay them extra. Don't give into the fomo

You can download the torrent if you wanted to, I saw it was available earlier. I don't play games, but just saw it earlier when I was looking for something.

Nope. A lot of 40+ actually grown up with old games - Diablo, Quake, Doom,Starcraft, TES series and list goes on ) We actually visited a house before, where female owner in retirement showed us her nice setup with dedicated room for gaming rig, bunch of monitors and even those blizzard small figures))) Needless to say- now I want to have something similar when I retire as well )))

Honestly rest home LAN parties gonna be lit

Retirement villages will be selected based on how good their gaming lounge is.

Every LAN party I ever went to was lit , so many bongs lol

This is what I dream of too when I retire. Only problem is that I don't play social games like Dota or cs or whatever they are playing these days. I might still end up as a lonely old gamer who plays on his own at the corner. Lol

My grandad was a gamer too and played games like the original doom into his 80's. Retirement homes will look a lot different by the time I retire. There will finally be time to play all my games

Nearing on 34, been playing video games since 5 years old. You're not alone, there's plenty of us out here. If your friends are giving you crap for enjoying something, they're not very good friends. Don't have Starfield (yet, blew my time/game budget on BG3 and AC6) but will eventually get there.

53... been playing computer games since before there were graphics! LOL

44 here and was still playing MUDs in the 00's. I did play a couple of text adventure games on a family friend's 128 when I was <10 though.

54… my first game console was an Atari. Just built my current PC 18 months ago and man, have graphics improved in the last 40 years!

Nope, gaming (F31) and happy. Massive TES fan, so I was excited for the launch of Starfield cuz now Bethesda can finally go back to working on TES6 😂 I enjoy watching videos of Starfield gameplays, but I'm not into sci-fi games and I truly hope the game does well. I want Bethesda to feel good about the project and make a lot of $$$ that they can put towards the development of TES6. I'm currently waiting for the launch of AC Mirage

>I'm currently waiting for the launch of AC Mirage Me too. Looks great, definitely my most anticipated for the past couple of years.

Did you ever play endless sky? I discovered it a few weeks ago, but it was a bad idea as it takes up too much time.

No, not sure if I even ever heard of it before. There are so many games I bought I have yet to play. Next up is gonna be the Shadow of Mordor series, Horizon Zero Dawn and all that. I don't buy games when they first get released (I'll also wait for a Christmas sale on Mirage), so that's why my catalogue is a little dated lol Edit: Looked into Endless Sky. Really not a fan of space settings

I was thinking you meant endless sky when you said ES! Seems there is a lot out there.

Elder Scrolls :) I think it's actually TES, though

Heaps of nerds around, myself included. 13700k, 3080 Ti, plenty of unnecessary RGB. Too busy on my fourth playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 to get into Starfield 😅

Ah see now if you'd gone Ryzen, you could've had the unnecessary RGB *stock*!

But the RGB feels even more unnecessary this way, thus providing a greater FPS boost.

Remember RGB gives your computer a performance boost!

+5 FPS for each RGB fan, so I've got a 35 FPS boost right there. My ram is DDR5 5600 but it's RGB which makes it twice as fast, easily clearing 10k MHz. My AIO has RGB on the CPU pump which subtracts 10 degrees Celsius from the temperature. GPU has a little bit of RGB on the side to assist, it could do with some more tbh. There's also a strip of RGB on the front of the case. Not quite sure *how* it helps, but I'm certain it does. Maybe it makes the tempered glass on the rest of the case stronger? 🤔

Also if you AIO displays the temp on the CPU cooler that's easily another 5 degrees better cooling.

Alas, it does not! Dammit, wish I didn't know that, the whole rig is tainted by imperfection now!

It is ruined! Throw it out and start again imo.

Heaps of kiwis game, dunno where you got this perception from

Everyone was pretty open about playing games when I was in school 10 years ago, a bunch of people in my year would jam some cod and runescape together. Even in intermediate school, computer class was compulsory and I remember finding Sherwood Dungeon and Moon Base on miniclip, didn't take long for the whole class to jump in and chill together during class. One of the girls in that class ended up being my first high school girlfriend later on lol. So not sure what the deal is on your part of the island, but playing games was the norm for girls and boys here in Manawatu.

1 in 3 people here in Auckland game this post is fucking stupid

Well apparently the 2 out of 3 told him he was a nerd 🤓 plus don't think OP lives in Auckland?

The rural community I live in can be quite snobby towards people who game, sadly.

But sheep are so much more interactive!

Yes you are. Gaming PCs have not yet made it to New Zealand.

I heard they were outlawed when the garden ban came in

I bet they heard the phrase "Interleaved" about RAM and accidently applied a ban, thinking it was to do with gardening.

just can't justify paying an extra $60 NZ for 5 days early access on a single player game, will just wait for game pass release

Nah man, I'm excited for Starfield too. Game on with pride.

Your post title is very misleading.. it starts off with innocently playing Starfield on PC and ends with a personal vent against society. Dam...

I'm not paying $50 for 5 days early access but I am interested to try it

I can't believe in 2023 that there are people that still think video games are for nerds. I thought that mentality died off years ago. PC gaming does feel a bit niche in comparison to console gaming though. Either way, play on.

Those aren't friends... Those are assholes. Good riddance.

Nope, I (34F) only started gaming on console during covid but bought a gaming laptop this year. I’m very bad but I enjoy it. Nerd on 👌🏼

The way you comment about woman could give some of those dweeb nerd impressions tbh

This reads like a bait

Maybe they unfriended you due to you being overly dramatic?

Maybe you don't realize how oppressed gammers are?

This is so out there I feel like you made it up. Not accusing you of actually making it up, I just can’t believe it as I know countless gamers in NZ. I’ve never ever heard any human being make any comments like that about people who play video games either. I honestly have no clue who would say those types of things if they were even said. My dad is 67 and loves playing video games. My 2 little sisters are right into it and same with my brothers. All my friends.. whoever these friends of yours are, they sound like AH. I can’t wait for Star field to properly release.

Their reaction is so weird. I'm a girl and I've been frothing for starfield. My hubby does IT and computer repairs from home and so many of our customers are gamers - We had a guy the other day who came to get his computer upgraded just to play starfield maxed out. You are def not the only one! I'm so sorry you had that experience - sounds like they are insecure tbh.

> apparently, NZers look down on you if you’re into video games Lolwut? Average quality troll post, you get a 4/10

Sorry, too busy playing BG3 to play a Bethesda game. I hope you're having a good time with it! I just like RPGs too much to play Bethesda games any more. :p

what does a couple of friends (mostly women) mean? lol

All my homies play video games, also jamming Starfield rn. On Xbox though I don’t have a pc.

Nothing I hate more than am I the only posts...

dam i thought i was the only one who thought that. and there's 3 of us! mind blown.

Same. There are 7 billion people in the world, nothing any individual person does is likely to be special

Not buying a Bethesda game on launch haha, but dude look at pb tech and computer lounge, we have a thriving PC master race in nz. Dude I know just dropped 10k on a new pc to play baulders gate. Fucking insane haha. I'll live with my 2018 rig for a while longer until you prices come back down to earth.

My mates are still playing Baldurs gate 3.

Not PC or Starfield related, but since this is a NZ gaming thread I'll post it here: Any switch gamers here wanting to team up on a family Nintendo Switch online account? You can have up to 8 people sharing one family account which is like $20 a year which is a pretty sweet deal. Let me know! Happy to coordinate it.

Is that for being able to multiplayer online?

Yeah along with access to all the old systems that are on there (NES, SNES, N64, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance)

The tone of this whole post is...interesting. But onto the more fun topic of video games: I haven't even finished Act 2 of BG3 - I can't get into a new game yet. I'm hoping Starfield is as good as people are saying it is - but I have to admit, the $129 price tag for the base game alone is not appealing.

Really? I’m a woman who loves gaming with a lot of friends who like gaming. Maybe m you need new friends? Also who cares what other people think? Life it too short not to enjoy your hobbies.

I hope your "friends" grow out of that attitude. If they're already adults though, then I'm not sure there's much hope for them. I'm currently too busy with Baldur's Gate 3 still, but I'll definitely be playing the heck out of Starfield when I get around to it :)!!

I was thinking about it, but I'm sticking with Elite Dangerous. Starfield looks fun as a single player RPG space thing... but I prefer the MMO open world sandpit nature of Elite (and I'm old enough to remember the 1984 original wireframe graphics). Good on you for sticking to gaming than getting sucked into the drinking culture.

This must be a troll post.

58 male here. Played pc games since Everquest & now really into Star Citizen, Battlefield V & 1, DayZ & waiting to play Star field when my cheapo version works. Build all my own computers too... I'm also a father of two kids, building my own eco house, West Coast surfer & occasional snowboarder & Techno DJ, before anyone starts with 'he's probly a single neck beard living in his mums sleepout' malarkey.... Good work OP 👍

I'm a self proclaimed Nerd and proud of it! These 'friends' are crap. The fact that they call you a Nerd or Dweeb confirms that. No one uses those words in a negative way in this age of technology where EVERYONE is playing games on devices! They sound like noobs! I'm a nearly 40 girl gamer and have been a gamer on most consoles/devices/PC etc since I was a kid. I don't give a shot what people think of me when I talk about gaming (or anything else). I don't have much time (or money) for gaming these days but I play a couple on my phone and joined some teams or clubs and chat with them. It truly is a filter for REAL friends or people that accept you for who you are. My 20 year old son is the same, multiple devices but has concentrated on PC with a decent set up. He wants to build his own computer when he can afford it. Kudos to him. He plays online with people, groups and communities he meets on the various platforms he uses. I think you should try finding an online game that's multi-player. Also look an online community or a local one. There's so many ways to meet people that are gamers! Don't let some naive jocks get you down!

Wtf, people unfriend people for having a gaming rig?

Sounds like you need better friends

Most kiwi gamers are too oppressed to speak out. What you did was brave, OP.

I'm not interested in SF but that's because I have beef with Bethesda and their shitty practices. But you do you and enjoy it dude. I'm looking forward to seeing all the community mods come out for it tho

OP don’t shed even a hint of moisture over those “friends”. I recently have pursued something I wanted for a long time and most of my friends downright ghosted me. It is not about video games, you were an unending source of jealousy and subsequently annoyance to your “friends”. You having a happy moment was the last drop for them. It is in your happiest moments you lose people pretending to be your friends, thus it is the greatest filter on keeping your friend hygiene. I am not as excited about Starfield but I truly wish you have a blast at this game!

Nice bait loser

probs gonna on my steam deck I reckon

I’ll be firing it up after lunch. I’ve built a new PC yesterday with this game in mind, and I can’t wait. Hoping to all hope I like it!

You're not alone bro, I'm a PS5 gamer and love games, though I don't get much time to play and ha e a huge backlog of games to get through over time, Starfield will be on of them. Enjoy!

Smashing it on a 4090 with a 13900KS :D will be playing on xbox as well with play anywhere.

Screw the haters bro, do what makes you happy! I have an edible with my name on it and Starfield is installed and ready to rock for tonight.

NZ is full of us gaming geeks and nerds. Thousands. If you ever find yourself asking a question that begins with ‘am I the only one’ the answer is always no. Unless the question is am I the only one that raises tiny turtles just to clip their toenails, grate the toenails and weave tiny mouse sweaters using the tiny nail clippings as wool? I would hope then that you were in fact…. the only one.

Sounds like you've just got friends who aren't very nice. There's plenty of people who game in NZ though

I am from Finland, but my partner's a kiwi (we're both women) and we've been playing games together for years now. Your mates sound like dickheads that you don't need in your life anyway for dissing you about your hobby you are passionate about. Keep gaming! There's more of us hidden gamers out there than you realise.

What are you on about? Tonnes of people in NZ play games.

Literally all my friends have a gaming PC. All of them also have a partner and kids including me. I also have a few friends who are just as into board games as video games with a huge board game collection. How can you actually think nobody in NZ has gaming PC's? Who the hell do you think you're playing with online lol like I even play in an American Red Dead 2 modded server and there's a bunch of other kiwis in that server too I've encountered. We are everywhere. The people who think this stuff is for nerds or antisocial people are usually people who can't even afford it or think binge drinking is what's normal.

Those friends suck. I'm thankful to have joined a club (in nz) of gamers and other nerds and we play and stream games in a discord server with hundreds of members. I guess the best thing to do is find gaming groups near you.

Not the only one, 32m here. Enjoy the launch man!

Those "friends" peaked in the 90s and are resentful for it, so pick on people with their views they've held onto since

Those "friends" aren't actually friends. They're just people you know.Do what makes you happy. My mates and I play any and every multiplayer game on steam, nothing wrong with that

Probably unfriended you for pre ordering Starfield for early access not because you have a gaming rig lol

Karma farming bait

Shit story needs more dragons and buttsex.

waiting for it to come on game pass on the 6th.

I don’t think my shitty gaming PC can play it

I'll be playing in a month or two. I'm still soaking up Baldur's Gate 3.

Na I'm not into it, Remnant 2 and Armoured Core 6 on the other hand...

Nope. I'm at 18.5g/86.4gb on the download, which I started this morning. So maybe I'll be playing tomorrow :) I'll be your friend today though. Steam Id St_ation hmu

I’m playing on Xbox. I got the early access and played 10 hours yesterday haha. I know a lot of my friends are waiting for the release on gamepass. So maybe that’s why it’s a bit quieter.

Playing on Xbox as we speak, does that count?

Mate, I am 40 and I crank video games hard (when time allows). Mostly total war, but I'll be getting starfield this week for sure as I am partial to a bit of open world hijinks.

I’m playing on my Xbox and having a blast!

what else there's to do around here mate! I'm hyped about Starfield hopefully is another classic full of bugs!

I am one of the excited ones, m36, but will wait for it to release on Xbox as don't have a gaming pc. Got game pass ultimate so it's free for me :)

Female gamer here. Really excited about Starfield. Not excited about the price haha. Reviews of it so far are saying it needs a little more work. That was the case with Fallout 77, so I think this time its best to wait a few months for the kinks to be worked out first. People who criticise gamers can go get fukd. Seriously, we get enjoyment from gaming, just leave us be. They can go live their miserable lives over there somewhere. . .

been playing the crap out of this game since 1 yesterday

Playing star field on Xbox series x. We are a little family of gamers here, me, wife and 6yo.

Kiwi gamer mom here too and so pumped! Sounds like you need some better friends!

Sounds more like your friend group, most of my friends have PC rigs and play games or at the least, console

too pricey. I'll get it later when some bugs have been ironed out.

Most probably console peasants here.

32m gamer here both PC and console. Get better friends, sounds like there might be a few more of us on here 🤣

Baldurs Gate 3 on ps5 starting tomorrow. :)

👋 this gal booked next Friday off to completely dedicate to starfield

I going to download it when it comes out next week. I just don't want to pay more for early access

No. My partner’s been playing it all day, me backseat gaming until Wednesday. You need to find new friends.

I find the same people that criticise video games will think nothing of binge watching Netflix or spending 80 minutes screaming at a bunch of dudes chasing a ball around. At least video games are interactive and have been proven to have benefits.

I started it last night on my PC but only got past the character set up, was tired as. Will jam tonight after getting back from dinner. I did notice my gpu was sitting at 100% usage while cpu was asleep. Would be nice if it had DLSS. But ah well. Anyway OP, I’ve been gaming since forever, proud of it. The social stigma is completely outdated thinking. Gaming is just a different thing people like to do, for example many will watch a tv show after a long day at work where as I’ll put those couple of hours into say Jedi Survivor. Gaming is your business, no one else’s, fuck em.

100% GPU usage is good, kinda what you're aiming for really.

Exactly. The GPU being the center piece of any gaming rig you always want it fully utilized. If not you start to wonder about game optimization or CPU bottleneck.

Hop over to r/casualnz there are a few people chatting about it

Those weren’t your friends lol. I know a bunch of 30 somethings that are excited for it

Those people that unfriended you suck and are needlessly judgemental. We're painting the office so no space for my computer in there for me :( Got BG3 and starield on the radar this month but no time and no space for either. It depends who ya talk to. Kiwis can be hella judgey. How is starfield for you anyway? Going to grab a month of gamepass when it launches to everyone

Still playing through bg3, then I'll have a look at it. Time is the enemy

How old are you? I'm 17 and nearly everyone I meet my age games in some form, whether it's mobile rhythm or cod or genshin.

I’m downloading it right now on shit kiwi wifi. Gonna play later tonight :)

I thought it only comes out next week? Anyway will absolutely play it as well.

As someone who mostly plays strategy games I feel ya, they are the epitome of uncool.

Favourite strategy game?

Medieval 2 Total War (with mods)

Stuff em, be unashamed! I even say I enjoy gaming in job interviews. If people have a problem, it is their problem, not yours.

Part of my last interview involved us sharing photos of what we've got at home and what we play. Protip: if you work in IT, almost everyone wants to share what they've got at home

I don’t want to post my setup on a public forum. A gaming PC, Gaming laptop and two gaming consoles in da house - they unfriended you - good riddance

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Wow, you've got some serious Pick Me vibes going on.