imapuppetlookaway
Testing what they can get away with is my guess.
I just started using this one today: https://docs.searxng.org/ and it did a great job for what i needed. I never heard of it before, but found the link on an old Lemmy post.
I don't know how it would work for other people with other needs, but i needed to find graphic designers to help me with a project. DuckDuckGo kept giving me hundreds of results from a handful of big companies, but i wanted small companies and individuals. Found exactly what i needed on the first search using this engine.
I agree with this post. Move on and build your life your way.
I'd like to add, in case it's helpful, from my own experience the thinking about it never ends. My dad passed 40 years ago and i still have the same thoughts, feelings, arguments even (a little more one-sided now that he's gone, though). I mean the dynamic might last forever, but you can separate that emotional internal dynamic from how you live your life. And there's a kind of "this stops here" effect, because your own children will never have to deal with all that stuff, because you dealt with it and moved on. That's something to be proud of.
Just by coincidence i'm watching a gameranx video about the 10 worst AAA games, and Falcon says the same thing about games as a service (subscriptions, micro-transactions, etc.): "it seems like they're playing a game of chicken with the consumer to see what they can get away with".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8jDgkikylY
(start at 19:45)
Yeah i think we're in a golden age of indie games. When i want to find a new game, i search youtube for "best indie games of 2018" or 2017, 2021 or whatever. So much great stuff to play made in the last 5-10 years. And so much more affordable. And it feels great to give my money to these devs.
I got them on Firefox with Ublock Origin but only with my VPN on US or Canadian servers. Then a few days later, even on those servers they disappeared. Haven't seen one since those first few.