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Monday Mini: Cozy Gaming · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to step
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: I never told you your protection of iHeart Radio, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: welcome to another Monday Mini in which I have answers,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: I have questions, I have thoughts, thanks to TikTok Dam's
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Internet corners, which I've been calling it. I know it's
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: been a minute since I've updated you on my gaming experience.
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Yes said it, um, and this time it comes with questions.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: I'm excited. Yeah. So first of all, let me tell
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: you the newest game that I've been obsessed with and
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: I'm loving right now, which is a Delicious World. And
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: it's one of those cooking simulator games where you have
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to do these things and you travel the world. But
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: this one is so different. This one's storyline which I've
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: told you about Lily's Garden a little bit and kind
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: of faded from that one because it gets I sometimes
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: spend money and I don't want to, and these are
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: supposed to be free games. Um, so I'm like, oh no,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: if I'm trying to spend money, then I'm too addicted.
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: So I backed off on that one and played this one.
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  Speaker 1: But this one is really interesting. So it's been around
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  Speaker 1: for a while The newest rendition came out in twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: and apparently there's a whole level of variations. Like the
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: characters have been around, but they all look different, they
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: have different worlds, they have children, they've gotten married. I
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: have not made it that far. I have not made
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: it that far. What the beginning of this story is.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Emily is a little as a cute cook who went
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: to school in Paris. Met someone his name is Jean
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  Speaker 1: Paul from Perry, and they were together, and then she
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: moved back to the US before they could finalize their
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: love all these things. Turns out he has sent her
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: a letter that it got lost and he was declaring
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: his love for her. Uh, this has been years and
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: so she gets this letter. Her mom, Evelyn, brings her
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: to the cafe. They have a conversation and they she
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: gets the letter, gives it to her her cousin Frank,
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  Speaker 1: who is the gay best friend as well as a
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: part of this. And I didn't know he was gay
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: for a while though, but like that's how you get introduced.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: She gets this letter, so she realizes that she wants
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: to go and see him. However, it turns out that
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: he is going to be a part of this big
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: cooking contest, and so she decides to enter to talk
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: to him because she didn't know how to get to
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: him outside of that. With this, she gets lost, she
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: gets diverted, She gets on the wrong plane or something
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: and goes to Italy and loses her phone, loses her wallet,
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  Speaker 1: so she has to work her way over to Paris. Yes, yes,
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and yes, okay. At the beginning of all of this,
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: by the way, we meet Patrick, a florist that becomes
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: someone she can't stand to. Uh to the po am
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: all right, am I right? And so we travel with
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: Emily through these different scenarios where she's having to cook.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: She cooks on a train, even she cooks at a
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  Speaker 1: Swiss candy place, like she does all these things. Um.
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  Speaker 1: And she finally gets to the contest, and I'm not
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: gonna spoil anything for you, but things happen. She finally
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: gets together with the John Paul, but of course, you
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: know the ifs of the who's and then what's going
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: to get together. She meets friends along the way. Frank
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: comes in and joins her because you know, he's like
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: supporting his girl essentially. But the thing about this, as
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: much as I really love this. The storyline has really
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: got me. Like, I'm like, the animation is super cute.
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: The storyline has got me, and I'm like, what the hell?
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  Speaker 1: And immediately Frank has a relationship with another chef and
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: they actually kiss in the animation I have never seen
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: as in fact, even the same size characters don't often
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: imply to the mary well like the early ones the
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Lily's game, I told you, I think it's implied that
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: her best friend uh and then the woman are together,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: but they don't really say that. But then in this
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: game there's a full blown relationship. They also have a
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: falling out and then they maybe have come back together.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: All of these things. Um, you have side quests for
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: the holidays, so there was one for Korean Lunar New Year,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: so it was super cute and I was like, oh,
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: look is that they had one for Christmas? And they
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: have one now for Valentine's Day. So you have little
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  Speaker 1: side quests and they kind of jump ahead in the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: story because I was like, wait, oh huh. But all
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  Speaker 1: that to say, this has been one of the more
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: fun games that I really really enjoyed as it becomes you,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, the story and it unfolds, and there's
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: definitely different variations. Apparently it was called Delicious Emily's World.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I don't like that as much, and they have different
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  Speaker 1: variations of that, and the animation is the same character
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: with a different look. There's another one that I started
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  Speaker 1: playing because it was like a delicious Airbnb type of
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: thing travel and it's the same characters, but it's by
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: different people. So I'm not sure how that came about.
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  Speaker 1: If someone who can explain this game to me, but
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  Speaker 1: I really really love it. It's really like just you
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: just try to make these dishes, which half the time
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  Speaker 1: I don't know what it is. I'm like, what is this?
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: And you try to do it in times and there's
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: people's and get stars and get moneys, and she's just
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: traveling right now, I'm at the point that she's at
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: London serving up fish and chips. Apparently she has daughters
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: and kids. Though, like this whole character design shows all
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: of the characters. Wow, it goes to that deep. It's
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: it's pretty deep. Also, we should say not currently a sponsor,
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: but give me some I don't pay money for it. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Although I have read this fan fiction pability. This is
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: a popular fan fiction trip. Yeah okay, okay, yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: Well obviously there's those very tropes up. But I'm like,
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  Speaker 1: but it's so cute with the design. So right now
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: she has decided she's not in love with John Paul,
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  Speaker 1: but the person she's in love with, as you can
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  Speaker 1: already guess, is with someone else, one of her friends actually,
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  Speaker 1: right row. So that's where I am with that story.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: So if anybody else knows about the story, let me know. UM.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: I do also want to give an update to way
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: Haven Chronicles, because you and I have really got into
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: the first one. I think I really got into the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: first two. Um. But it's supposed to be released April six,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: third one, yes, and I've already I told you that
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  Speaker 1: I already read a snippet of it. I'm very excited,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: very exciting. An update. I think we have to do
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: an update. Wels Uh Letten know who wrote in and
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: she needs to send us an update. She does it too, Amanda, Amanda,
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: so let's let us know. But now, okay, this is
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: the point that I'm really getting too, since because I've
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: discovered that this maybe who I am cozy gaming. Do
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: you know what cozy gaming is? So I was telling
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  Speaker 1: you before this, I've never heard this term. I don't.
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  Speaker 1: I bet if once you tell me what it means,
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I probably know what it is. But I've never heard
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: this term before. No, Okay, this is a fan picture
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: term curtain fick. I think it's the same thing curtain fika,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: which means like two characters go to by curtains together.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: It just means like kind of domestically, that's correct. Well,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: so there's different variations and this is a newer term. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: And I've seen it all over TikTok and to the
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  Speaker 1: point that it gives me recommendations of like, you should
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  Speaker 1: play this game if you like this, and I'll tell
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  Speaker 1: you why it's cozy. It still feels complicated when I
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: see the games that they're talking about, and I believe,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: don't get me someone that correct me if I'm wrong.
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  Speaker 1: Animal Crossing is considered a cozy game. How would makes
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  Speaker 1: sense to me? Okay, so it's says in one article. Uh.
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  Speaker 1: Cozy games are generally regarded as featuring a cute characters,
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  Speaker 1: often anthropomorphic animals or childlike humans, who engage in in
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  Speaker 1: playing player activities such as farming, gathering, growing, and nurturing
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  Speaker 1: with a vague goal of creative personalization and in game socialization.
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  Speaker 1: And it goes on to say, but coziness is broader
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  Speaker 1: than farming and village planning. The essential nature of cozy
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  Speaker 1: gaming is that of helping other people through non violent means,
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  Speaker 1: often by nurture and generosity. Uh and that self expression
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  Speaker 1: is core to the game's progression goals, which tend to
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  Speaker 1: be open ended. So another of the gamers who UH
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: talk about it says, most developers agree that cozy games
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  Speaker 1: are best defined by how they make you feel, rather
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  Speaker 1: than via mechanics or looks. Cozy certainly is, and cozy
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  Speaker 1: is always a good feeling, evoking cuddles on the couch
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: with pets, children and significant others. I did read one
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  Speaker 1: of them saying that they liked to play cozy games
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  Speaker 1: and in the bath before going to bed. So I
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: feel like I tried one and it's still frustrated me
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: because I couldn't. I'm like, I don't understand these buttons.
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  Speaker 1: So of course, I believe the switch has been the
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: most popular form to play cozy games. Uh and as
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: in fact, it says that that this may be one
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  Speaker 1: of the reasons why women are playing the switch more
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and one Statistics. It says in the US from early
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: to late the percentage of women playing on either Switch
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: or Switch Light jump from six point five to thirteen
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  Speaker 1: point two, whereas among the men UH the increase was
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: less fourteen point six to fifteen point nine percent. So
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: it was a pretty significant jump. More than doubled the
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  Speaker 1: amount of women playing on these games. And again, I
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: know that Animal Crossing was the huge thing, and I
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: still have yet to play that. I still don't quite
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  Speaker 1: understand that, And that's one of the reasons that the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Switch actually actually sold out correct, Yes, yes, yes, yes,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: um especially during the pandemic. I would also say, like
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: I'd be interested if because I always think of the
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Switch as the party system, right, like, yes, you play
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: with other people, which I think you know, during early
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: pandemic a lot of us were trying to do UM
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and and Animal Crossing. We talked about that, I think
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: pretty early in the pandemic we talked about that kind
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: of there's a way to have a connection That wasn't
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: like I'm going to kill you in this game. It
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: was much more like, hey, look at this room I designed,
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  Speaker 1: and here's my garden, and like you can go visit
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: each other's islands Like I'm much like kind of softer
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  Speaker 1: like more soothing interaction where you can just to visit
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: people in this virtual space if you want to, and
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: you don't have to if you don't want to. But yeah,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: it was definitely like that was it came out right
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: when the pandemic really was hitting with animal crossing. Yeah, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: he did, um And that might be why also because
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: during the pandemic, who wanted to be cozy? Another the
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: blogger who talked about the switch specifically talked about the
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: fact that to them, the term cozy gaming is used
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: to describe a feeling of comfort or care and as
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: in fact, in seventeen, Project Horse Shoe, which is an
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  Speaker 1: annual game designer think tank which I know nothing about, uh,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: talked about the coziness and game and they explored how
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: cozy gaming can reach larger audiences and how ultimately coziness
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: can be treated as quote a positive philosophy for driving
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: meaningful change in the world, and according to them, is
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: about safety, abundance, and softness like you said, and yeah,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: it's about being more emotional emotionally in evolved apparently going
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: beyond the whole sims idea, which I know nothing about
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: either I have, but I know people love SIMS love it.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: So the history of this is that they think it
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: goes all the way back to Babe in nineteen five
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: with little computer people, which I have no idea what
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: that is. Okay, you don't know either, that people to
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: tell me. Another statistic was that they talked about it
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: being in as Harvest Moon. The game Harvest Moon on
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: was S and E S, So S and E S
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: is Supernintendo. This is how little I know about the
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: gaming world. And then apparently Animal Crossing was actually released
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: on GameCube in two thousand one, so I guess they
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: were re released for Switch. It's kind of like a series, okay,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: okay um, and these are all about personal relationship building.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: So I'm very fascinated by this idea and I'm really
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: want to like it because I want to be cozy. Damnit.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Someone teach me how to be cozy. Another article that
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: I read about it actually talks about how they don't
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: think the name cozy gaming will stick because it will
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: just become gaming and hopefully they'll see it and treat
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: it as such. Because if we've talked about this before,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: what constitutes a gamer and what it's gaming, and I
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: know a lot of people like on Twitch that do
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: these cozy games as in fact, uh, several TikTok ers
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: have thousands of not millions of followers, couples who specifically work,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: and they highlight cozy games like that's it, um, And
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: they have a lot of content and people love their content. Again,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I know nothing about this, so I'm very fascinated by
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: this idea. I need people to a recommend things because
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: I do have a switch, I do have a PC,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: and I have a phone. Ok, I have to I
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: don't have a fancy PS four and five and six
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: don't star was Yeah, I got the six. Everybody, I'm like, no,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I just wasn't expecting play games on that right, Come
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: on a right, Absolutely, I just wasn't expecting it. That's all.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: I have a fancy pah, I have a gay ging
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: PC because it was on super sale at a costco
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: not a sponsor. Um. But yeah, so I want to
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: try these, I really do, because as you know, I
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: obviously love good stories and that's what draws me in,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: and I love cute things. I love cute things and
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I don't want animals to die. So definitely not playing
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Last of Us and especially watching you she kills all
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: the an I don't alright well side burned for me? Sure, Um,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: now you've got everyone who's listening to her mini series purpose,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: don't worry about it. That's the second one. You're gonna
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: be fun. Oh you're welcome. Um. But yeah, so I
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: really feel like this could be an interesting take. I
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: would love to try some You need to try some
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: off because you need this newer to you. Not so
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: you knew that you knew what it was. I think
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: a lot of people knew what it was before it
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: was coined cozy gaming. Um. But for me that title
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: makes me more interested. Well you know I'm interested in it,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: as you know. I love studying gaming. Um. And I
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: know I've said before it's a fascinating look in the
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: into my brain because games like Animal Crossing make me nervous.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: And you think, for a lot of people sort of
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: what you say a lot is like babysit your brain,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: But for me it's like, um, but there is that
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: kind of like especially on your phone, where you can
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: like just turn on something that you don't really have
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: to invest too much in, like you can, but it's
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: not like oh, God, what's gonna happen next? It's sort
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: of just like this is nice and I like the story,
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: and then you can turn it off once you whatever
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: you're waiting for is done. Like, um, so I definitely
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: think there's something to it, and especially when like right now,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: where you know, Samantha and I are still pretty much quarantining.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: But we've been in a pandemic so for a long
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: time I feel like it has been How can I
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: distract my brain in a way that's not gonna make
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: me panic right here? This? Yeah? Yeah? Um and yeah,
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: so for all of our listeners, because I know Annie
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: has accrued a pretty great group people who love games
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: and gaming and all these things. So recommendations, I need them,
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: and again pretend like I know nothing and then go
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: from there because I probably don't know anything about it. Yes,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and you you all have sent in a whole host
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: of amazing gaming recommendations, and some of them I would
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: say qualify as this cozy gaming. So I'll make sure
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: that you've got the Samantha, Yeah, keep those recommendations coming.
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: We love them. Uh. You can emails at Stefano your
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: mom stuff at iHeart media dot com. You can find
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast, or on Instagram
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: and TikTok at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks as
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: always to our super producer Christina. She looks like a
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: cozy gamer. I could see it. I could see it.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I could I could see it. Yes, And thanks to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: you for listening. Steffaner told you the Protection by Heart Radio.
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: For more podcast in My Heart Radio, you can check
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: out the radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: to your favorite show