u/Batman_beyond123

Hi everyone,

I want to buy Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced and this will actually be my very first game purchase ever. I am a student and could never afford games before, so I used to pirate them. I recently started an internship and wanted to treat myself to something nice as I've saved up some money from the last 4 months. It's a big deal for me, personally.

I had a few questions before I go ahead:

1. Should I buy now or wait? I have zero experience buying games on Steam. Do prices usually drop after a few months or does it stay the same for a while?

2. Is it worth it? The original Black Flag is one of my all time favorites and this one looks really amazing. Considering it is a big spend for me, I just wanted an honest opinion from people who know more about it.

3. Any way to get it cheaper than Steam? Are there legitimate sites or stores where I can get a lower price?

I know pirating is not great & I am not proud of it, but I genuinely had no money back then. Now that I have a little income I really want to do things the right way and support something I love. Even just knowing if it is worth the wait would help me a lot. Thank you for reading this.

Hi everyone,

I want to buy Assassin's Creed Black Flag Resynced and this will actually be my very first game purchase ever. I am a student and could never afford games before, so I used to pirate them. I recently started an internship and wanted to treat myself to something nice as I've saved up some money from the last 4 months. It's a big deal for me, personally.

I had a few questions before I go ahead:

1. Should I buy now or wait? I have zero experience buying games on Steam. Do prices usually drop after a few months or does it stay the same for a while?

2. Is it worth it? The original Black Flag is one of my all time favorites and this one looks really amazing. Considering it is a big spend for me, I just wanted an honest opinion from people who know more about it.

3. Any way to get it cheaper than Steam? Are there legitimate sites or stores where I can get a lower price?

I know pirating is not great & I am not proud of it, but I genuinely had no money back then. Now that I have a little income I really want to do things the right way and support something I love. Even just knowing if it is worth the wait would help me a lot. Thank you for reading this.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a final-year undergrad from a Tier-3 engineering college in India, currently working as a Project Associate at IIT Hyderabad.

This research cycle has been completely surreal for me. After presenting 3 papers (2 Orals) at EACL last month, I just received my notifications for ACL 2026 in San Diego. I miraculously had 2-4 submissions accepted:

• 1x ACL Industry Track Accepted
• 1x ACL Student Research Workshop (SRW) - Thesis Proposal Accepted
• 2x C3NLP Workshop Papers (Reviews are not out yet)

Here is my dilemma:
One of my co-authors (a postdoc from Stanford) is graciously registering and presenting our Industry Track paper. However, to keep my SRW Thesis Proposal and the workshop papers in the proceedings, the ACL rules state I must register as a "Virtual Student Presenter" for the Full Conference.

The Early Bird cost for this is $300 USD (approx. ₹25,000 INR).

To put that into perspective, my home university provides zero conference funding for undergrads, and my current intern stipend barely covers my rent and food in Hyderabad. $300 is a massive financial wall for me right now.

I am filling out the ACL Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Subsidy application for a virtual waiver. However, the author registration deadline is May 11, and the D&I grant notification doesn't come out until May 26. If I select "Pending Subsidy" and the grant gets rejected, I won't have the cash to clear the balance, and my papers will be pulled from the program.

I’ve worked for over a year on this SRW Thesis Proposal (focusing on mitigating bias and hallucination in low-resource multilingual RAG systems). I’m applying for PhD programs this November, and having an ACL SRW Main Conference publication is critical for my profile.

My questions:

1. Has anyone successfully navigated this "pay before grant notification" paradox with ACL before? Is the D&I committee usually forgiving to undergrads from the Global South for virtual waivers?
2. Are there any external NGOs, open-source AI collectives, or industry sponsorships that offer micro-grants ($300) for researchers from developing countries just to cover registration fees?

I am trying to exhaust every option before I am forced to withdraw the SRW paper. Any advice, leads, or pointers to organizations that support Global South researchers would be life-saving right now.

Thanks so much for reading.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a final-year undergrad from a Tier-3 engineering college in India, currently working as a Project Associate at IIT Hyderabad.

This research cycle has been completely surreal for me. After presenting 3 papers (2 Orals) at EACL last month, I just received my notifications for ACL 2026 in San Diego. I miraculously had 2-4 submissions accepted:

• 1x ACL Industry Track Accepted
• 1x ACL Student Research Workshop (SRW) - Thesis Proposal Accepted
• 2x C3NLP Workshop Papers (Reviews are not out yet)

Here is my dilemma:
One of my co-authors (a postdoc from Stanford) is graciously registering and presenting our Industry Track paper. However, to keep my SRW Thesis Proposal and the workshop papers in the proceedings, the ACL rules state I must register as a "Virtual Student Presenter" for the Full Conference.

The Early Bird cost for this is $300 USD (approx. ₹25,000 INR).

To put that into perspective, my home university provides zero conference funding for undergrads, and my current intern stipend barely covers my rent and food in Hyderabad. $300 is a massive financial wall for me right now.

I am filling out the ACL Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Subsidy application for a virtual waiver. However, the author registration deadline is May 11, and the D&I grant notification doesn't come out until May 26. If I select "Pending Subsidy" and the grant gets rejected, I won't have the cash to clear the balance, and my papers will be pulled from the program.

I’ve worked for over a year on this SRW Thesis Proposal (focusing on mitigating bias and hallucination in low-resource multilingual RAG systems). I’m applying for PhD programs this November, and having an ACL SRW Main Conference publication is critical for my profile.

My questions:

1. Has anyone successfully navigated this "pay before grant notification" paradox with ACL before? Is the D&I committee usually forgiving to undergrads from the Global South for virtual waivers?
2. Are there any external NGOs, open-source AI collectives, or industry sponsorships that offer micro-grants ($300) for researchers from developing countries just to cover registration fees?

I am trying to exhaust every option before I am forced to withdraw the SRW paper. Any advice, leads, or pointers to organizations that support Global South researchers would be life-saving right now.

Thanks so much for reading.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a final-year undergrad from a Tier-3 engineering college in India, currently working as a Project Associate/Research Intern at IIT Hyderabad.

This research cycle has been completely surreal for me. After presenting 3 papers (2 Orals) at EACL last month, I just received my notifications for ACL 2026 in San Diego. I miraculously had 4 submissions accepted:

• 1x ACL Industry Track
• 1x ACL Student Research Workshop (SRW) - Thesis Proposal
• 2x C3NLP Workshop Papers

Here is my dilemma:
One of my co-authors is graciously registering and presenting our Industry Track paper. However, to keep my SRW Thesis Proposal and the workshop papers in the proceedings, the ACL rules state I must register as a "Virtual Student Presenter" for the Full Conference.

The Early Bird cost for this is $300 USD (approx. ₹25,000 INR).

To put that into perspective, my home university provides zero conference funding for undergrads, and my current intern stipend barely covers my rent and food in Hyderabad. $300 is a massive financial wall for me right now.

I am filling out the ACL Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Subsidy application for a virtual waiver. However, the author registration deadline is May 11, and the D&I grant notification doesn't come out until May 26. If I select "Pending Subsidy" and the grant gets rejected, I won't have the cash to clear the balance, and my papers will be pulled from the program.

I’ve worked for over a year on this SRW Thesis Proposal (focusing on mitigating bias and hallucination in low-resource multilingual RAG systems). I’m applying for PhD programs this November, and having an ACL SRW Main Conference publication is critical for my profile.

My questions:

1. Has anyone successfully navigated this "pay before grant notification" paradox with ACL before? Is the D&I committee usually forgiving to undergrads from the Global South for virtual waivers?
2. Are there any external NGOs, open-source AI collectives, or industry sponsorships that offer micro-grants ($300) for researchers from developing countries just to cover registration fees?

I am trying to exhaust every option before I am forced to withdraw the SRW paper. Any advice, leads, or pointers to organizations that support Global South researchers would be life-saving right now.

Thanks so much for reading.

Hi everyone,

I’m currently a final-year undergrad from a Tier-3 engineering college in India, currently working as a Project Associate/Research Intern at IIT Hyderabad.

This research cycle has been completely surreal for me. After presenting 3 papers (2 Orals) at EACL last month, I just received my notifications for ACL 2026 in San Diego. I miraculously had 4 submissions accepted:

• 1x ACL Industry Track
• 1x ACL Student Research Workshop (SRW) - Thesis Proposal
• 2x C3NLP Workshop Papers

Here is my dilemma:
One of my co-authors is graciously registering and presenting our Industry Track paper. However, to keep my SRW Thesis Proposal and the workshop papers in the proceedings, the ACL rules state I must register as a "Virtual Student Presenter" for the Full Conference.

The Early Bird cost for this is $300 USD (approx. ₹25,000 INR).

To put that into perspective, my home university provides zero conference funding for undergrads, and my current intern stipend barely covers my rent and food in Hyderabad. $300 is a massive financial wall for me right now.

I am filling out the ACL Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Subsidy application for a virtual waiver. However, the author registration deadline is May 11, and the D&I grant notification doesn't come out until May 26. If I select "Pending Subsidy" and the grant gets rejected, I won't have the cash to clear the balance, and my papers will be pulled from the program.

I’ve worked for over a year on this SRW Thesis Proposal (focusing on mitigating bias and hallucination in low-resource multilingual RAG systems). I’m applying for PhD programs this November, and having an ACL SRW Main Conference publication is critical for my profile.

My questions:

1. Has anyone successfully navigated this "pay before grant notification" paradox with ACL before? Is the D&I committee usually forgiving to undergrads from the Global South for virtual waivers?
2. Are there any external NGOs, open-source AI collectives, or industry sponsorships that offer micro-grants ($300) for researchers from developing countries just to cover registration fees?

I am trying to exhaust every option before I am forced to withdraw the SRW paper. Any advice, leads, or pointers to organizations that support Global South researchers would be life-saving right now.

Thanks so much for reading.