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A meme that humorously contrasts how unlocking characters in video games has changed over time. The top half, labeled “Unlocking characters before,” shows a nostalgic image of a character select screen with many locked characters, alongside an excited player holding a controller—implying that characters used to be unlocked through gameplay. The bottom half, labeled “Unlocking characters now,” shows a person entering credit card details on a laptop, poking fun at the modern trend of requiring real-money purchases (microtransactions) to access additional in-game characters. The meme critiques the shift from achievement-based rewards to monetized content in gaming.