Valve could’ve legitimately done nothing and still be winning in comparison to the big three, but instead they’ve slowly and steadily been helping the gaming community to give Windows the middle finger by making huge contributions to Linux gaming.
Honestly, its downright shameful how many companies have forgotten that a good way to make money from customers is simply to treat them nicely while they’re buying your goods.
Helping the gaming community by popularising not owning your games, lootboxes and child gambling, early access and asset flips as well as being the first to cave when visa and MasterCard started pressuring companies to stop selling certain games?
You never owned your own games, you just never read the documentation that came with your discs and cartridges before.
Even GOG, who pays lipservice to “owning” your win games, just sells the same “license to access” the software that everyone else does. You can’t re-sell it, you can’t reverse-engineer code or modify most games, you can’t leave these “possessions” in your estate. You don’t own them.
No, they didn’t break down the doors of individual gamers. They targeted retailers and producers instead. They introduced DRM in their hardware. And with the rise of the internet they HAVE been breaking down the doors of people who make tools to extract the software from their cartridges. Even after emulation was established as legal in the Sony vs Bleem case, Nintendo continues to use their money and lawyers to bully emulator developers. They famously sent DMCA takedowns to people who made Let’s Play videos or streamed the game, or even speedrunning videos.
Speedrunning events have had to cancel or ban Nintendo games because of their legal actions. Nintendo has taken legal actions against tournament organizers for competitive multiplayer games.
Here’s another website dedicated to tracking Nintendo’s bullshit.
Most games on steam are drm-free or have a very weak DRM which is easily removed. Not great, but not the worst.
Lootboxes kinda suck, but at least they only use them for cosmetic items, it’s not pay2win, more like pay2lookgood.
About the child gambling…
Pretty awful, but I think the ones who should bear most of the blame should be the parents. I have younger family members (not my kids) and their parents couldn’t give less of a shit about ensuring they only have access to age appropriate content. Steam has parental controls implemented, USE THEM.
Starting to think that allowing kids to access these features (when parental control is available) should be considered some kind of negligence.
Most games on steam are drm-free or have a very weak DRM which is easily removed.
Blatantly false. Take a glance at all the novice/low budget devs who tightly couple their game to Steam’s proprietary multiplayer api.
Lootboxes kinda suck, but at least they only use them for cosmetic items
That doesn’t mean they weren’t trailblazers for one of the most parasitic features of the 21st century.
Steam has parental controls implemented
The controls don’t even work for this. Even if you scrutinize every game before white listing, the devs can patch in loot boxes (or any toxic mechanic) at any time without your knowledge.
And putting that aside, “bad parenting” is such a shit cop out when Steam’s main page is devoted to high revenue [toxic] games. This is like blaming parents when cigarette companies made ads specifically appealing to children, as if the inability to legally buy their product absolves them from the damage done.
I think lootboxes and child gambling should be the same category if we are talking about steam.
Not so much of an actual gambling imo. All you can know is that you will pull something out of a fixed list. But that is all the gambling part. At least with cases you know for a fact that you going to get something. Actual gambling happens off-site with skins that are traded using bot accounts. These services are actual gambling sites with games and chances to win something or lose everything.
Valve probably can ban skin trading and then we’re done. Also, they probably can ban skin market while at it. But, I bet steam market brings tons of money. And, it is not like they are responsible for children gambling skins out off-site. Also, Valve did made restrictions on gambling. This month Valve has banned skin gambling logos/ads on tournament teams jerseys. And also a restriction that would render your newly purchased skins non-tradable for a week. Drop parental control in the mix - children wouldn’t be able gamble anymore.
Valve could’ve legitimately done nothing and still be winning in comparison to the big three, but instead they’ve slowly and steadily been helping the gaming community to give Windows the middle finger by making huge contributions to Linux gaming.
Honestly, its downright shameful how many companies have forgotten that a good way to make money from customers is simply to treat them nicely while they’re buying your goods.
Valve’s big business strategy seems to be just wait for your competition to shoot themselves in the foot
Helping the gaming community by popularising not owning your games, lootboxes and child gambling, early access and asset flips as well as being the first to cave when visa and MasterCard started pressuring companies to stop selling certain games?
You never owned your own games, you just never read the documentation that came with your discs and cartridges before.
Even GOG, who pays lipservice to “owning” your win games, just sells the same “license to access” the software that everyone else does. You can’t re-sell it, you can’t reverse-engineer code or modify most games, you can’t leave these “possessions” in your estate. You don’t own them.
??? You think Nintendo was going door to door to pull nes cartridges away from people for violating their tos???
Nintendo has such a thorough history of anti-consumer litigation that they have a Wikipedia article dedicated to it.
No, they didn’t break down the doors of individual gamers. They targeted retailers and producers instead. They introduced DRM in their hardware. And with the rise of the internet they HAVE been breaking down the doors of people who make tools to extract the software from their cartridges. Even after emulation was established as legal in the Sony vs Bleem case, Nintendo continues to use their money and lawyers to bully emulator developers. They famously sent DMCA takedowns to people who made Let’s Play videos or streamed the game, or even speedrunning videos.
Speedrunning events have had to cancel or ban Nintendo games because of their legal actions. Nintendo has taken legal actions against tournament organizers for competitive multiplayer games.
Here’s another website dedicated to tracking Nintendo’s bullshit.
Abd that makes steams licencing bullshit ok?
What licensing bullshit are you referring to?
Most games on steam are drm-free or have a very weak DRM which is easily removed. Not great, but not the worst.
Lootboxes kinda suck, but at least they only use them for cosmetic items, it’s not pay2win, more like pay2lookgood.
About the child gambling… Pretty awful, but I think the ones who should bear most of the blame should be the parents. I have younger family members (not my kids) and their parents couldn’t give less of a shit about ensuring they only have access to age appropriate content. Steam has parental controls implemented, USE THEM. Starting to think that allowing kids to access these features (when parental control is available) should be considered some kind of negligence.
…???
Blatantly false. Take a glance at all the novice/low budget devs who tightly couple their game to Steam’s proprietary multiplayer api.
That doesn’t mean they weren’t trailblazers for one of the most parasitic features of the 21st century.
The controls don’t even work for this. Even if you scrutinize every game before white listing, the devs can patch in loot boxes (or any toxic mechanic) at any time without your knowledge.
And putting that aside, “bad parenting” is such a shit cop out when Steam’s main page is devoted to high revenue [toxic] games. This is like blaming parents when cigarette companies made ads specifically appealing to children, as if the inability to legally buy their product absolves them from the damage done.
How the hell haven’t you heard if steamless it easily removes steamdrm
I think lootboxes and child gambling should be the same category if we are talking about steam.
Not so much of an actual gambling imo. All you can know is that you will pull something out of a fixed list. But that is all the gambling part. At least with cases you know for a fact that you going to get something. Actual gambling happens off-site with skins that are traded using bot accounts. These services are actual gambling sites with games and chances to win something or lose everything.
Valve probably can ban skin trading and then we’re done. Also, they probably can ban skin market while at it. But, I bet steam market brings tons of money. And, it is not like they are responsible for children gambling skins out off-site. Also, Valve did made restrictions on gambling. This month Valve has banned skin gambling logos/ads on tournament teams jerseys. And also a restriction that would render your newly purchased skins non-tradable for a week. Drop parental control in the mix - children wouldn’t be able gamble anymore.