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SolidShake, do games w 'No gay, no pay': The RuneScape community is absolutely mauling Jagex's new CEO over his decision to cancel new Pride Month events

In my opinion companies shouldn’t do anything about any month of anything. They often use it as a marketing tactic

Catoblepas,

If you mean this about any Christmas, seasonal, 4th of July, Halloween, Easter, etc events… sure. But taking out just the Pride event is targeted.

anyhow2503,

Probably why the comment you replied to didn’t say that at all.

InternetCitizen2,
@InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world avatar

Some what of a tangent on Christmas is that there is the “War on Christmas” narrative. I am always curious about what it is supposed to mean. The Christians that are into it often take capitalism to be good as an axiom the way they do their own faith. Which is at odds with their culture war as capitalist firms are what drive the secularization of Christmas. Would a commercial with Jesus on the cross saying he is thirsty and having a Roman Soldier pass him an ice cold Coca Cola be better?

Lost_My_Mind,

Would a commercial with Jesus on the cross saying he is thirsty and having a Roman Soldier pass him an ice cold Coca Cola be better?

Yes. PLEASE put this on the air. I am begging someone to make this a reality. Also, full disclosure, I do enjoy watching the world burn over stupid shit. Christians losing their shit over THAT commercial would be comically delightful.

jaybone,

Oddly I don’t think Christians would even be upset about that. You could have it directed by Mel Gibson. They would love it. Because it features their guy. Other than that, there’s no real concept of some sacred image or respectfulness.

It would work with Moses too. Replacement his sandals with some Nikes before he goes out for his walk in the desert. He’s still their guy too, since they have the Old Testament.

But try that with Mohammed or Vishnu, and there’s your war on Christmas.

NostraDavid,
@NostraDavid@programming.dev avatar

Would a commercial with Jesus on the cross saying he is thirsty and having a Roman Soldier pass him an ice cold Coca Cola be better?

I tried it using Sora, but “This content can’t be shown for now. We’re still developing how we evaluate which content conflicts with our policies. Think we got it wrong? Let us know.”

This was the prompt:

Give me a Coca Cola commercial where Jesus has been nailed to a cross, and says “I’m thirsty”, after which a Roman Soldier passes him an ice cold Coca Cola.

I tried replacing “Jesus” with a man, but no dice :(

Ledericas,

it would be PONTIUS passing him the soda.

atomicbocks,

Where I am from several years ago the city renamed the Christmas Parade to Holiday Parade in a bid to be inclusive of other winter holidays. A small subset of citizens got butt hurt and have held a competing Christmas Parade several times.

Apparently the war on Christmas is acknowledging that there are other options.

kelpie_returns,

Half agree. Even if many of them are just money-hungry, there is still a ton of non-fiscal value in making it clear that queerness is not a shameful anomaly and can instead be a point of both strength and pride. Lots of kids out there are stuck in families that want them to believe the exact opposite, when they genuinely need to know that the world has more to offer than just that.

I don’t appreciate companies trying to capitalize on this, but as a friend and sibling to many queer folk (and as well as being a bit fruity myself, even if not fully this or that), I think this visibility is currently very necessary and possibly even life saving for some severely stuck folks. Even if the motivation is obviously crook, I can get behind giving those people the inspiration they need to accept and understand themselves in spite of those who would rather see them hating themselves or worse.

kruhmaster,
@kruhmaster@sh.itjust.works avatar

deleted_by_author

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  • BossDj,

    Santa’s Red suit was a staple, at least in American advertising, for decades before coca cola did it

    www.snopes.com/…/the-claus-that-refreshes/

    NIB,

    I used to believe that too, because it was pointless. But it seems that i was wrong. The fact that it was pointless, means that the corporations felt comfortable with using and abusing that to maximize profit. And the fact that they are afraid to do that, indicates how fucked things are now.

    So i am ok with corporations using movements for marketing reasons, because ultimately this is the canary in the mine. If the corporations consider it a brand risk, then society is moving towards the wrong direction.

    Zorque,

    I’m not comfortable with companies using any kind of marketing tactics. Because 99 times out of a 100 it’s speedy and underhanded.

    But since they’re going to be doing it anyways, doing it with pride, or disenfranchised demographics, at least normalizes their humanity. Which, at the end of the day, is the point of pride month et al.

    redhorsejacket,

    Take it easy there, Chicken Little. “I’m uncomfortable with any kind of marketing” is so hyperbolic, it’s almost parody. Putting the name of your business above the door? Thats marketing. Creating a website where customers can find and engage your services? That’s marketing. A minority-owned business proudly owning that status? That’s marketing. A friend telling you about the great meal they had the other day from a local restaurant? Believe it or not, that’s marketing.

    Marketing is not evil in and of itself. Unless humanity returns to a tribal social structure where you can count the number of non-related acquaintances you know on your fingers, it is a necessary component of operating a business. Of course, you’re 100% right that there have been dubious applications of the principle, but again, you’re throwing the baby out with the bath water, and it hampers the salient point that you’re trying to make.

    Zorque,

    Sure, if you only take it at it’s most extreme and dont use a little bit of critical thinking. I specifically referenced companies in a thread about large corporations manipulating social issues for their own gain. I also gave wiggle room with the 99 out of a 100 reference.

    I think you also cast far too wide a net with your definitions of marketing, especially in the context of the conversation happening.

    I’d check your own sky to be absolutely sure it’s falling before throwing aspersions like that around. You may have a hysterical over-exaggeration of your own there.

    redhorsejacket,

    Dis u?

    I’m not comfortable with companies using any kind of marketing tactics.

    Now, I felt like I was fairly gentle in pointing out the absurd nature of that statement. I even readily acknowledged what I assumed to be your intent, i.e. there are absolutely marketing tactics which go beyond the pale. But, as I, and others, have pointed out, you’re the one operating on your own personal definition of marketing here, which is in contradiction to what that concept actually is. Any intro to business class will tell you that marketing is, essentially, ANYTHING an entity does to inform people of its services. It’s an enormous umbrella, which includes tactics both odious and innocuous. It is as readily applicable to the gal who posts on Facebook that she’ll do your hair for $20 as it is Facebook selling that information to a third party so she can be served targeted salon equipment advertisements.

    All I’m saying is, if you say “all marketing is bad”, you need to be prepared for people to call you out on the hyperbole of that statement. Therefore, you might consider arguing the point you actually intend to make (which is good and I agree with you about!), instead of leading with a statement which you don’t actually believe.

    Calling you Chicken Little was facetious, but meant to be a gentle dig at the hyperbole. Still, I shouldn’t have said it, and I apologize.

    Zorque,

    Seems a little overboard for some kind of friendly conversation, especially when it had nothing to do with my general point. I was just stating that I wasn’t comfortable with marketing in general. The implication being from large corporations.

    As I’ve never taken an intro to business course, as I’m not interested in that aspect of hyper-capitalism that entails, I just go on the general context of the thread and general sentiment. Not a super-literal definition given in your community college.

    The hyperbole seems to be all yours, you’ve taken a statement I used to lead into the general topic of my comment and somehow built an entire personality out of to assign to me.

    I’m not comfortable with marketing. That is my personal opinion. I know lots of other people have other opinions. Some people are neutral, they don’t give a shit. Others seem to think of it as completely and utterly necessary in every degree of society. They’re allowed that, I have no power nor will to take that from them.

    Flames5123,

    using any kind of marketing tactics

    So there shouldn’t be a poster on a wooden pole for a new corner store? How about fancy signs? No happy hours either?

    Zorque,

    I’m perfectly fine without those, yeah. Though you seem to be taking my meaning to a more extreme degree than was inferred.

    Crikeste,

    Can something be good and also a marketing tactic?

    SolidShake,

    Not while racism and sexism exists unfortunately

    Crikeste,

    I’m trying to understand your point, but I’m a little lost here.

    Do you mean the way the public reacted to their ad?

    Or the way they capitulated to that reaction?

    I mean: Yes racism and sexism are pervasive in our society, but using Ben and Jerry’s (operating under the same racism/sexism) as an example; they do heavy marketing tactics toward LGBTQ but they are also an ally.

    Does them utilizing that make them bad?

    SolidShake,

    Well, the example of bud light is they made their can rainbow color, while the LGBT community was like “hell yeah!” They lost almost all their hillbilly south customer base.

    missingno,
    @missingno@fedia.io avatar

    Never be fooled into believing that corporations are your friend. They are always just looking to chase profits.

    But if corporations believe that Pride is profitable, that is a sign that society is headed in the right direction. Whereas if they turn around because Pride is no longer profitable, that is a cause for worry.

    tonytins,
    @tonytins@pawb.social avatar

    It’s a bit of a catch-22. As much as companies would want to, they have to maintain customer loyalty, or they risk losing money.

    KubrickFR,
    Squizzy,

    Its a tradeoff, we know they only do things for the bottom line but having pridr celebrations did reinforce exactly what the pride movement wanted to push. My work isnt that bad tbh they have a committee that runs talks and discussions on equity and exclusion and the likes. The committee likely doesnt cost much, but they get to champion it and the people in that community feel welcomed and it does help breakdown barriers.

    SolidShake,

    My work turns pride month/mens mental health month into (we want to sell 3500 cars this month and also donate a few dollars to make a wish)

    Better than nothing I guess. But still kinda shitty.

    andros_rex,

    RuneScape regularly does holiday events. Theyve done it for Christmas and Halloween as far back as RS1 - like, the Christmas hats are the iconic RuneScape thing. People have paid obscene amounts of real money for them.

    The Pride event was no different. You get fun little items for completing a silly little quest. It’s not even like mega “gay”, it’s just cute and inclusive.

    SolidShake,

    First time I played RuneScape was this year. The Easter stuff was fun to do.

    xavier666, do games w After getting Stardew Valley to 'a good place' with update 1.6, Eric Barone is now fully focused on his next game

    I won’t give you any free stuff any more

    Gives free stuff next year

    Gigachad

    Croquette,

    The old Terraria trick.

    njm1314, do gaming w Kerbal Space Program fans react with anger over Intercept Games closure, and you know what that means: Review bombing on Steam

    Reviews are one of the only weapons and Outlets that consumers have anymore. Especially a dire need because game journalism is so incredibly incredibly corrupt and inept. So the bitchy tone of this article certainly does track.

    tetris11,
    @tetris11@lemmy.ml avatar

    If Amazon has shown us anything though, its that reviews can be bought and sold en masse. I’m not sure how Steam reviews are mitigating this, but I fear that it will be undermined soon

    jwelch55,

    Do you actually look at Amazon reviews and trust them now though? They may have proven they can pay to put them there, doesn’t mean anyone cares about what they have to say… Though I’m probably overestimating the general population of Amazon shoppers

    tetris11,
    @tetris11@lemmy.ml avatar

    The individual review don’t matter though, it’s the mean star score that people glance at and then scroll by on

    KingThrillgore,
    @KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml avatar

    You have to have a copy of the game on Steam to review it. It will automatically say you got it for free if it’s a key from Steamworks (given to the press usually). This means the costs of faking reviews would outpace the volume really early.

    tetris11,
    @tetris11@lemmy.ml avatar

    can’t multiple people share an account and post individual reviews from it?

    lud,

    No, reviews are per account. A single account can post multiple reviews for the same thing (obviously)

    Zozano, do gaming w Modder behind the 'Swiss army knife of PC gaming' deletes their 20 year-old Steam account with anti-Valve manifesto: 'By the end of my bitter dealings with Valve… there was zero hope'
    @Zozano@aussie.zone avatar

    Reposting my comment from the other post:


    Stores should only provide DRM, and anything else that they do must be optional.

    But earlier:

    I would rather pay a fraction of the price to play a game for one month than pretend digitally distributed games have the lifespan of a boxed physical product.

    So, DRM is bad… but acceptable if it’s only DRM?

    If DRM is a critical failure point for game preservation and ownership, then a store providing only DRM is still part of the problem.


    In lieu of even the simplest commitment by Valve… Game Pass represent far greater value to consumers.

    Game Pass is the epitome of temporary, self-updating, DRM-heavy software that you can’t patch, mod, or preserve. Yet it’s presented as a solution?


    Valve does not expect users to delete their account; they think… nobody will ever hold them accountable.

    Then:

    They claim that upon deleting your account, your community posts will remain and will be attributed to [deleted], however this is not true…

    Wait, isn’t it contradictory to say they didn’t expect users to delete accounts while criticizing their policy on deleted accounts?


    Because the Steam client patches itself… their DRM prevents running Windows 98-era games on original hardware.

    That shit is 25 years old. Does this goober really think it’s reasonable to expect support for an obsolete operating system?

    Also, is this really a steam-only issue?


    Valve’s… design deliberately hooks and blocks access to those APIs as part of Steam Input’s initialization.

    This is typical behavior of API abstraction layers.

    If Steam Input replaces lower-level APIs, that’s exactly what it’s designed to do. Epic, Microsoft, and others do the same. The difference is the option to disable it - not the architectural behavior itself.


    In summation: This dingbat is a walking contradiction with an axe to grind.

    MBech,

    I would field a guess, that this person is super angry about being left behind in the ever growing tech industry. Some of the complaints are valid, but directing them at specifically Valve seems super weird, since they are currently the best company concerning user-experience.

    Zozano, (edited )
    @Zozano@aussie.zone avatar

    Some of the complaints are valid, but their solutions are just as baffling as their targets.

    It seems evident that they’ve either got a case of cognitive dissonance flowing out their ears, or they’re dishonest in their motivation.

    In any case, you’re right, it is weird to point the finger at valve, especially since they’ve done so much for gaming as a whole;

    • Proton: should speak for itself. Carves games out of M$'s gated community.
    • Platform features: workshop, discussions, groups, guides. Fucking amazing.
    • Family sharing: nobody asked for it, and it seems like a bad business move - Valve did it anyway.
    • Index: great piece of tech. Too bad about the price tag though.
    • Deck: fucking masterpiece. Blows Switch out of the fucking water.
    • Support staff: fucking legends. I’ve had multiple interactions where they have breached their own policy to keep me happy,
    • Privately owned: despite the incentives to cash out and make bank. They have a fucking spine, which makes them dangerous to other platforms.

    This guy claims to be a long-time developer and modder, yet suggests Game Pass is better for preservation than Steam. If that’s their industry insight, no wonder nobody at Valve took their feedback seriously.

    arotrios, do games w WoW guild uses exploits to get world 'first' on new raid, gets banned, puts its name backwards and does it again
    @arotrios@lemmy.world avatar
    XM34, (edited )

    You’re wrong. Bob spelled backwards is not WoW 🤓

    /s (obviously)

    Albbi,

    Bob - Weird Al Yankovic might be up your alley.

    Mesophar,

    Madam I’m Adam

    GeeDubHayduke,

    So is racecar and abutttuba.

    Vandals_handle,
    @Vandals_handle@lemmy.world avatar
    SoftestSapphic,
    @SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world avatar

    Dammit Im mad

    Vandals_handle,
    @Vandals_handle@lemmy.world avatar

    But Dad, I’m jesus christ

    RightHandOfIkaros, do games w The Witcher 4 got a surprise reveal at The Game Awards, and this one is all about Ciri | PC Gamer

    As if anyone expected to play as any other character than Ciri.

    Pooptimist,

    I hoped for a witcher (whichever gender) from one of the other schools, tbh

    Tywele,

    I kind of hoped for a custom character like V

    Kolanaki,
    !deleted6508 avatar

    I think every game should have a customizable player character.

    N1ghtstalk3r,
    @N1ghtstalk3r@lemmy.world avatar

    You’re getting downvoted but I agree, to an extent. If it’s an RPG telling a grand story, and not an individual piece dedicated to a unique individual, then yes.

    oxideseven,

    Same. Dunno why the downvotes.

    wcSyndrome,

    I didn’t downvote but I disagree. It is nice to be able to roleplay your own character but I also like having well written established characters

    oxideseven,

    They don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Mass Effect worked.

    apprehensively_human,

    If we’re following rediquette, (if such a thing still exists or can even be applied to Lemmy) downvotes shouldn’t be used on things you disagree with.

    N1ghtstalk3r,
    @N1ghtstalk3r@lemmy.world avatar

    Over time the concept of the downvote lost its meaning, even on Reddit (and that happened a while ago).

    Sadly most people just downvote when they don’t like what you’ve said, not if it’s factually incorrect or misinformation etc.

    djsoren19,

    Every game feels a bit broad. Even if just for the sake of development, I’m okay with story-focused games having pre-built characters. Especially if we’re not actually meant to like or agree with the character we’re playing as, such as Martin Walker in Spec-Ops: The Line.

    Kolanaki, (edited )
    !deleted6508 avatar

    Give me one good reason I shouldn’t be able to have a customizable PC in Tetris.

    Seriously: I think narratives in games should be based on player choice. To me, that’s the difference between a game and a book or movie. To choose your own path instead of passively following one.

    But clearly I am a minority here. Some of the biggest games are linear set-piece things with no choice in the narrative structure. Even open-world games tend to be linear narratively.

    To use your example of Spec Ops: The Line: there is significant player choice that the main dude did not have to be a rigid character. They could have been as customizable as V from Cyberpunk 2077, and the effect would still land.

    RightHandOfIkaros,

    So did I, but I mean, given the current game development climate, Ciri was an extremely predictable pick.

    Not only is Ciri a woman, which modern games seem to be making super majority of main protagonists these days, but she also has market familiarity. Her character is recognizable and therefore has a builtin audience, where a new character does not.

    Viking_Hippie,

    Besides, they’ve already established some of her signature abilities and had people play as her in some of the previous game, kicking the familiarity up an extra notch.

    RightHandOfIkaros,

    Yep. Ciri isnt the worst choice in the world, I just was hoping I could have played as my own character instead. It will be interesting to see what they do with the story.

    Viking_Hippie,

    Yeah, I’d have preferred making my own character too but, failing that, a great character that’s already established in the series and has been a lot of fun playing as so far ain’t bad either!

    ZeroHora,
    @ZeroHora@lemmy.ml avatar

    I really hope they don’t stick with Ciri gameplay from TW3, I never liked when I was forced to play as Ciri, her abilities was less fun than Geralt signs.

    Viking_Hippie,

    Judging by the video, she’ll be behaving more like a witcher, with the two swords, the signs, and the potion quaffing. If they hold to that and also let her keep her “short teleport” move from TW3, I’m looking forward to it 🙂

    ZeroHora,
    @ZeroHora@lemmy.ml avatar

    If they changed the double dodge = roll to double dodge = short teleport, but not as crazy as in TW3 that would be cool, they could also make the whole gameplay more agile than TW3, seems like a good fit for Ciri.

    DerisionConsulting,

    If women make up around 50% of the people on earth, shouldn’t they make up around 50% of the main characters?

    felykiosa,

    I think that wanting equality over men/women % of MC is not something you would want to focus on I would rather have a quality story and universe whatever of the gender of the MC.

    ( I will clarify my point , I am an human therefore I am for gender equality obviously but I don’t think that this metric is the most interesting )

    DerisionConsulting,

    I completely agree that the quality of the story is kinda the whole point, but I am tired of seeing comments like the one RightHand made; complaining that she is a woman just because she is a woman.

    felykiosa,

    Yep redpills comments are tiring

    RightHandOfIkaros,

    It isn’t a complaint, simply an observation. I usually pick to play as a woman in games I can choose the gender of the protagonist anyway.

    havocpants,

    Same. If I’m going to have to look at an ass for 40 hours of gameplay, I’d rather it was a woman’s ass.

    Silverseren,

    I mean, I agree. But, based on that argument, it's totally fine if 100% of pre-created MCs are women then, since it's only the story and universe that are important (and I would be 100% a-ok with that happening).

    felykiosa,

    True

    CosmoNova,

    In my opinion it doesn’t make all that much sense because of major Witcher 3 spoilers.

    rtxn,

    It makes perfect sense with two of the three endings, and could even work with the third depending on how much CDPR wants to explain the cosmology behind the white frost.

    Don_alForno,

    Nah. Cat eyes and witcher potions don’t. They have some explaining to do.

    snazzles,

    I imagine we’ll get that lore in the game no?

    djsoren19,

    Is it really that hard to imagine she eventually undertook the Trial? Yeah Kaer Morhen lost the ability to administer the Trial, but there’s like 10 different Witcher “schools.” Maybe we’ll see Ciri working with the School of the Crane or w/e.

    Don_alForno,

    As far as we know it has never been done on a woman or an adult. Also, she already has super powers. Why risk a procedure that only 3 in 10 young boys used to survive?

    djsoren19,

    This is just wrong, School of the Cat managed to successfully get to a point where 1/10 women survived. School of Crane is the later iteration of the School of Cat, which is why I mentioned them specifically. It’s reasonable to assume they kept iterating on the original formula for the trial, so maybe they’ve gotten to a survival rate of 3/10 for women as well by the time of the game?

    As for why, it’s because Ciri wants to be a proper Witcher like Geralt. She was raised in Kaer Morhen, one of the ending of Witcher 3 is Geralt handing her a Witcher sword. You really can’t think why she would take the Trial, even knowing the risk?

    uid0gid0,

    Ciri can’t be a proper Witcher. She can’t do Signs because she is a Source, as Triss discovered. That was at least half the reason her Witcher training was cut short and Triss took over her training before they sent her to Yennifer. The other half being the herbs and mushrooms they were giving her were interfering with her development. She never got the Witcher mutagens at all. Ciri’s abilities are completely different from those of a Witcher due to her Elder blood.

    Don_alForno,

    School of the Cat managed to successfully get to a point where 1/10 women survived. School of Crane is the later iteration of the School of Cat, which is why I mentioned them specifically.

    Where is this info from? I could only find fan fiction so far.

    As for why, it’s because Ciri wants to be a proper Witcher like Geralt.

    Too thin for a 70% death rate when you already have most of what it takes for other reasons.

    djsoren19,

    I guess it depends on what you call fanfiction? It’s from Opowieści ze świata Wiedźmin, which is a collection of short stories written by authors other than Andrzej Sapkowski in the Witcher universe. The authors have other published works, so I’d argue it’s a bit more official than pure fanfiction, but I can’t confirm how canon it’s considered. Certainly something CD Projekt Red could rip-off for their non-canon story set like 20 years later though.

    Also Ciri has been well established to be a headstrong idiot, so I’m not sure why you’re trying to examine her decision through rational logic. I’d bet she’d accept the Trial even with a 0% survival rate if she felt it made her a “proper Witcher.”

    CosmoNova,

    It’s almost definitely a break with the series in that you likely won’t be able to import your save file, which always was a core feature of the series. There are also other lore details that don’t add up here, which have already been explained. There could’ve been many ways to progress the story but I don’t see how that is possible here. It’s most likely a soft reboot.

    N1ghtstalk3r,
    @N1ghtstalk3r@lemmy.world avatar

    Some games do allow you to import saves from older games that have swapped the MC. They just take the choices you made in the story arc and use that to create conditions for the world you’re now in. But it’s a rare occasion from what I know.

    rtxn,

    It could work the same way as the three origin stories in CP77: each ending from The Witcher 3 leading to a separate intro story with a time skip before the main game begins.

    CosmoNova,

    I guess that could be possible though I doubt it. The 3 origin stories in Cyberpunk were extremely shallow and didn’t add anything to the story. I don’t see why they would go for it again when it didn’t work out last time.

    spooky_mango,

    WITCHER 3 SPOILER BELOW

    SpoilerHow so? One of the endings literally has geralt gift a witcher sword to Ciri. The only thing I’m confused about is how she now seems to have the witcher mutations

    rtxn,

    :::spoiler Witcher books spoiler One of the early Witcher books mentioned that Ciri was given some witcher drugs while she was training at Kaer Morhen, but didn’t undergo the trial of the grasses at Triss’ request. :::

    generaldenmark,

    Continuation of the book spoilersWacky books tbh. I don’t remember thinking it was for her to undergo trail they gave it to her, but mostly because that’s all they really knew to do

    FeelzGoodMan420,

    I did. The games already completely shit on the ciri book lore. I was hoping for a fresh slate with new characters, perhaps during a different time period entirely.

    caboose2006,

    Young vesemir FTW?

    FeelzGoodMan420,

    I was hoping you could be the first witcher. That would have been awesome.

    Big_Boss_77,

    I don’t know how it would’ve tied into the “Witcher” arc… because I don’t think they were around yet? But I would have loved to had a game set during the “Conjunction of the Spheres”.

    FeelzGoodMan420, (edited )

    Huh? What do you mean? I’m saying i would have liked to play as the first witcher, which would have taken place 400 years or so prior to the first game.

    Edit: apologies i misunderstood your comment. See my below response. A game based on the conjunction would have been awesome. Too bad.

    Buddahriffic,

    They meant they wanted a game set during the conjunction of the spheres but didn’t know if witchers were a thing yet at that timeframe in the lore. The wording made it seem like they were talking about your first witcher idea but they were talking about a different alternate timeframe setting they’d like to see.

    FeelzGoodMan420,

    Ah gotchya. Thank you. Yes, in the lore (as best I can remember) there were no witchers during the conjunction. It was when humans first appeared.

    djsoren19,

    I think you’re both asking for the same thing. IIRC my lore correctly, Witcher clans were founded after the Conjunction to deal with the sudden influx of monsters. A game about the first Witcher could be set mere months after the event.

    FeelzGoodMan420,

    I sound like a huge nerd here but i believe witchers were created 500 years prior when the humans first got to the continent and encountered monsters. Both humans and monsters came from the conjunction. It is never explained what humans were doing for the first 1000 years after the conjunction (conjunction was 1500 years ago) prior to arriving on the continent. I assume they also had to deal with monsters or maybe the monsters were dropped only on the continent? No idea. The author was unfortunately not very consistent or clear on historic lore. Perhaps it was intended. I’m not sure.

    Source: I spent way too much time looking at lore explanations and engaging on forums.

    Carighan, do games w Steam is 'an unsafe place for teens and young adults': US senator warns Gabe Newell of 'more intense scrutiny' from the government if Valve doesn't take action against extremist content
    @Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

    I mean yeah, no shit. The steam forums could be removed at no loss to the human race, in fact it’d remove a non-negligible percentage of all really shitty talk on the internet if they deleted everything entirely.

    daggermoon,

    The steam forums are fucking cancer. I was looking for info about a bug I was having with a newly released game. I instead saw an entire thread about how the game is woke and you shouldn’t buy it. The game has an implied lesbian character. Who gives a fuck? The game was pretty good btw.

    Blazingtransfem98,
    @Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online avatar

    I’ve seen whole threads in game forums dedicated to Nazism, and I myself have been called a “groomer” and the t-slur because people knew be as a boy before I transitioned. Legitimately horrible place, they absolutely need to take more action against this.

    daggermoon,

    Sorry to hear about your experience. Are the forums moderated at all? All I see is people being terrible to each other. I also saw someone requesting a Brazilian Portuguese translation for a game and people calling them a fucking idiot and telling them to learn english.

    Blazingtransfem98,
    @Blazingtransfem98@discuss.online avatar

    There’s almost no moderation on Steam at all. Sometimes threads advocating violence get removed, or threads with a lot of hate get locked but it’s almost always long after the damage has been done and often times the ones doing nasty shit don’t end up getting banned.

    Carighan,
    @Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

    It’s up to each game dev to police their forums, AFAIK.

    Bassman1805,

    Can they disable their steam forums if they don’t want to moderate them?

    Carighan,
    @Carighan@lemmy.world avatar

    That’s a good question. I would hope so!

    Voyajer,
    @Voyajer@lemmy.world avatar

    Yes, some are completely read only

    atrielienz,

    I don’t use steam forums. But I have questions. Do the steam forums have any moderation at all? Is there a report button? Can you report comments or forum threads?

    I want to know because I feel like a lot of social media has the same problem as steam forums and these tools exist on the majority of those. They rely on the moderation of fellow users.

    I also question whether or not steam actually has an automod or anything like that. Or human moderators.

    Please keep in mind that I don’t use the forums so I really have no idea. This is the first time I’m hearing about this, and I’m interested in knowing more.

    Vendul,

    deleted_by_author

  • Loading...
  • Tetsuo,

    While I agree with you that some people are too thin skinned to handle some conversation online… Steam forums or YouTube comment sections are really the very worst of the worst.

    If all you read is trash tier content on a platform even if you understand it, it still sucks and remain quite infuriating.

    Basically, steam forums are mostly trolling so at this point it’s not about the sensitivity of people but rather that these platform are particularly bad.

    Badland9085,

    There’s the “this is too woke” gang, and then there’s the “this doesn’t have enough representation” gang. You can’t win.

    Dremor,
    @Dremor@lemmy.world avatar

    Be careful of not putting plain hate for no reason at the same level than an overzealous minority advocating for rightful social changes.

    Agent_Karyo,
    @Agent_Karyo@lemmy.world avatar

    I think it really depends on the game (genre?).

    I mostly play economic strategy / tycoon games and the forums are pretty chill. The most “controversial” threads revolve around gameplay mechanics discussion or perhaps complaints about lack of updates.

    I don’t think I’ve even seen anything approaching what you are describing in economic strategy game forums.

    I would most definitely oppose shutting down the steam forums.

    Appoxo,
    @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    There is some important ounce of knowledge there.
    Let’s say a majority.

    brsrklf, do gaming w To appease a Steam user's demands for straight representation, Webfishing added a 'Straight' title that costs 9,999 fish bucks

    The quotation marks are a nice touch. Quality trolling.

    FlihpFlorp,

    I think a question mark in parentheses would also do the trick

    StrandedInTimeFall, do games w 'AI is coming for all of us:' Mass Effect, Metal Gear Solid, and Baldur's Gate voice actor Jennifer Hale weighs in on SAG-AFTRA's games industry strike

    The biggest thing companies want to do with AI is infinite cheap content. They want generate a movie or other entertainment for a 10th or even 20th of the cost while burning a state’s worth of energy. They’re going to try and generate a successful movie from models that are trained on previously successful movies. And, they’ll get it.

    At least at first. Eventually, even we’ll burn out from endless selection of predictable movies and other entertainment. And, I’m not talking just once a year. More like once a month. At some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, they’ll learn that the attention economy is not infinite. There is a limit of people, time, and money. They’re putting most of their eggs in the this basket and I hope it smashes to pieces.

    AI isn’t here to improve anything. It’s here to open a path to infinite growth. Infinite entertainment, infinite weaponizing, infinite whatever. More predictable, infinite growth. Problem with that is that we’re slowing as a race and sooner or later it will start shrinking. The more they try to take, the quicker this is going to happen.

    deafboy,
    @deafboy@lemmy.world avatar

    Sure. Let’s protect the proper culture. Like Fast and Furious 10, or the 60th marvel superhero movie rehash :P

    AWittyUsername,

    Yeah modern “blockbuster” movies and “AAA” games might as well be AAi generated.

    uranibaba,

    I am waiting for an AI model and corresponding tools to generate my own anime and manga. No more stupid open endings, no more infinite story they stop producing because who knows, no more “I was in the same room as a girl, OH NO! Someone might have seen me, I’m so embarrassed!”.

    I almost wish I could take existing anime, put it in a machine and make it better. That should actually become a thing, use AI to make your favorite TV shower more to your liking. Someone needs to create this. Bad ending? Fix that. Bad dialog? Fix that. Change gender on all characters? Fix that as well. Foul langage? Easy.

    p03locke,
    @p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

    we’ll burn out from endless selection of predictable movies and other entertainment

    We aren’t already doing that? Even without AI, most of today’s writers suck ass, and corporate meddling has stomped out risk taking. Writers have no chance to build experience with good shows with longevity. With no risk, there is no creativity.

    All of the good series were ones from cable TV. Breaking Bad, Sopranos, old Star Trek, Mr. Robot, Babylon 5, House, Rick and Morty, Game of Thrones (even if it ended badly), Better Call Saul, The Expanse (which died immediately after it switched to Amazon), Gravity Falls. About the only streaming series I really enjoyed was Loki, and that only lasted two seasons. Anything else might have a good first season, but they chop out any sense of character development by making these season 6-8 episodes long. No episodic content. No character development. Just go go go towards the seasonal end goal. And then get cancelled, because they didn’t get a chance to shake out the mediocre ideas and improve their direction. Can you imagine Star Trek:TNG being represented by only their first season, and then cancelled as a result of that?

    All of the recent good movies were from directors that had a chance to take risks back in the 2000s, and are now given full creative control to do what they are good at. Dune was a great movie, but it simply adapted the source material, and was given enough budget and resources and creative control to Denis to produce what it needed to be. How many good directors will be left when the old guard retires?

    All of the good games are from indie series now. Concord is being getting review-wrecked and shat on, while people focus more of their attention on an fucking asset-flip game about a squirrel with a gun. All of the good bigger studios are gone, fully absorbed into the Microsoft/ZeniMax/WB/EA empire. Only the first or second-time indie game developers are the ones producing good games.

    Hell, at this point, maybe AI would do a better job than the shit that’s out there. I doubt it, though. It’s too half-baked right now.

    Lenny, do games w Star Wars Outlaws' $110 and $130 editions prompt a collective sigh from potential players tired of season passes and ill-advised early access periods

    Fuck Ubisoft. Fuck major game publishers.

    Do you live outside of the US and hate Ubisoft and the direction the games industry is headed towards?

    Do you live in the US and have ever ‘owned’ a copy of The Crew from Ubisoft?

    Visit stopkillinggames.com to help drive a dagger through their rancid hearts.

    www.youtube.com/watch?v=w70Xc9CStoE

    Defaced,

    I want this to take off but unfortunately it won’t. Nothing ever comes of these kinds of things and this is no different.

    Huff_Chuggems,

    That’s the spirit!

    bigmclargehuge,
    @bigmclargehuge@lemmy.world avatar

    “They already stole your car, why call the police”

    Shnog,

    Because I love my dog.

    VelvetStorm,

    The difference is the police will arrest people who steal cars and will prosecute them but they won’t do the same for the uber wealthy exos of these companies.

    bigmclargehuge,
    @bigmclargehuge@lemmy.world avatar

    I mean, 90 percent of the time, the police can’t do jack about a car theft besides keep their eyes peeled. By the time you even realize it’s gone, it’s usually in pieces or in a shipping crate on its way to another country.

    I admit the analogy wasn’t perfect but i think it gets the point across

    hoshikarakitaridia, do games w 'We don't have shareholders, but we also don't think about them,' Larian Studios uses its stage time at the DICE Awards to speak out against a brutal industry climate

    You know, they got a point. You gotta believe in the project, and when you do it properly, you will make the money back, and much more.

    echo64,

    Okay, but where’s that money coming from? Someone has to upfront pay for things. Larian are lucky, they have a majory investor that was not looking for any control, they released in early access and had runway money from previous projects to go with. They are the exception, not the rule, unfortunately.

    Publishers no longer publish third parties for the most part, so everyone who isn’t a subsidiary of a large company has to find funding somewhere.

    surewhynotlem,

    Indy studios exist and some self fund. They’re not going to be releasing AAA games, but they’re not expected to.

    But yes, if you want to create the game equivalent of an MCU film, you need significant starting capital.

    echo64,

    It’s worth noting the vast gulf we are talking about here between the “self funded” indie studios and even A games, not even AA, just A.

    The self funded indie game made by one person in their spare time that 200 people play (and occasionally a standout hit that 8 million people play) really isn’t under contention here. We’re talking about the responsibilities when starting a business.

    We are not talking about making an AAA game, an equivalent of an MCU film (as those are limited to the deep pockets of large companies).

    Most companies that aren’t making AAA games, are also taking funding because people have to make rent, and workers deserve to get paid a wage.

    Enoril,
    @Enoril@jlai.lu avatar

    From me for example. I follow this studio and team since many years and i’ve participated to the funding of Divinity: Original Sin (DOS) more than a decade ago…

    They got money from several sources but mainly because (or i should say thanks to) they delivered good products, they have being able to survive and work on BG3. Luck is not the reason, they’ve worked hard to achieve that…

    echo64,

    They have, I’ve been playing their games from their first divine divinity game. But they are still in a lucky situation, privileged from the reality that everyone else has to go through.

    bouh,

    They worked hard for decades. They’ve been betrayed and hampered by editors in the past until kick-started. It’s not a lucky situation, they built this luck.

    echo64,

    they worked hard, they are in a lucky and privileged situation unlike almost every other company.

    Consider an amazing actor or director that you respect. They worked hard, they made amazing things, and they got super lucky. Talent and hard work guarantees nothing.

    gapbetweenus,

    You want tell me that to run a good business, one has to be able to negotiate preferable terms with investors?

    echo64,

    If the implication is that they should be negotiating better terms. Well, good luck with that. I’ve been a part of many teams involved with investor negotiations. You need their money a hell of a lot more than they need your teams risk.

    gapbetweenus,

    I don’t say it’s easy. But if you want to make a good creative product you have to be able to keep the creative control, that is part of your job and what makes realization of creative ideas, especially on big scale, more difficult. It’s the same with other creative media like movies.

    echo64,

    I’m saying it’s not just “not easy”, it’s impossible unless you are an already established entity that has some cards to hold in negotiations.

    Put yourself in the position of a new company, you’ve a great idea, a great team. How are you going to fund development in 2024?

    gapbetweenus,

    How did Larian Studios arrived at their position?

    Telodzrum,

    Spending well over a decade pushing out moderately successful shovelware on consoles before crowdfunding D:OS and its sequel, which provided enough of a portfolio to attract the CCP’s money and allow for the development of BG3.

    gapbetweenus,

    So the way is quite straight forward, do some shitty projects until you have money/reputation to do the projects you actually want.

    echo64,

    How are you going to fund thr shitty projects again?

    gapbetweenus,

    Depends, some people do other jobs to fund their projects. Some just do low budget stuff. Some are good at negotiating or find funding programs. Sure it’s an effort but people out there are doing it in all kind of ways.

    echo64,

    they aren’t, I’m sorry you can’t see the point we’ve been making.

    Calcharger, do games w 'We owe them a huge debt': Baldur's Gate 3 lead writer hopes they did '90s BioWare proud
    @Calcharger@kbin.social avatar

    My only complaint is how horny everyone is. I act nice to people and they wanna jump on my dick. Literally had a mind flayer try to smash my pelvis and I’m like DUDE MELLOW OUT

    fibojoly,

    We are this close of having a proper RPG that’s also a proper AVN.

    Coelacanth,
    @Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

    Absolutely agreed. I asked one person if they wanted to share a drink at a celebration (that’s just social decorum, right?) and have done no flirting before or after that and now that person talks to me like they’ve been in love with me their whole life.

    And I get the idea that you want to let everyone sleep with their favorite NPC regardless of who they’re playing as but it just feels weird to me that everyone is so both pansexual and horny. It makes me feel like nobody has any preferences and just falls in love with you because you’re the main character.

    And in general it also lessens the sense of camaraderie a bit for me when it comes down to sex so much. I wish some companions had other interests and had no desire to get in your pants.

    meldrik,

    Is there even a point to the romance? It doesn’t seem to have an actual effect on the story, so far.

    bouh, (edited )

    You could say that of real life too…

    meldrik,

    No? 😂

    Coelacanth,
    @Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

    I can’t say anything about the ending but as of the end of Act 2 at least one romance can have an influence on the main story.

    eestileib,

    everyone is so both pansexual and horny.

    Finally I get some representation in a game!

    Nioxic,

    You not gonna complain about “woke” ???

    /s

    mr_jawa,

    I think it’s great for people to have representation but I’m hoping that someone makes a mod to turn it all off. I also really just want an adventure without having to deal with horny party members.

    Coelacanth,
    @Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

    I think there is already a mod that turns off all approval gains, but beware that I think this also blocks off several companions’ personal quests, since they’re related to the relationship. At least that’s what I heard.

    The mod I’m using tweaks approval so the gains are smaller for little stuff, losses are bigger and important story decisions etc become more significant (in both directions). I unfortunately didn’t find it until I was already near-max with several companions but it should in theory make it more difficult to end up with everyone being in love with you before the third long rest.

    Secret300,
    Rhotisserie,

    To be fair it almost feels like a homage to early bioware. I remember a few bioware games that had this issue. I remember the forums being full of complaints about surprise romances in mass effect or dragon age.

    I do think the issue is more prevalent I’m BG3 though.

    Coelacanth,
    @Coelacanth@feddit.nu avatar

    It’s made worse by Larians decision to absolutely juice the approval gains when going from Early Access to Full Release, apparently. Makes everything move way too fast and really exacerbates the issue.

    astral_avocado,

    I fucking love it, it’s great

    rozodru, do games w Young men are 'playing videogames all day' instead of getting jobs because they can mooch off of free healthcare, claims congressman

    working where exactly? working on a farm that will pay you minimum wage, if that? oh OH I know working in the tech sector where it’s now and has been for the past couple years an absolute nightmare to find a job in.

    There are NO jobs out there that will pay for the current cost of living and the ones that COULD aren’t hiring, and if anything, are laying people off. And yeah, these unemployed young men are TOTALLY playing videogames that now cost $80 a pop paid via a job they don’t have.

    FlembleFabber,

    U ok?

    rozodru,

    I’m fine, are you?

    MITM0,
    @MITM0@lemmy.world avatar

    He is.

    Appleseuss,

    Are you?

    wabasso,

    Btw is $80 actually up from the oughts and 10s? I’ve had $80 as the price for the latest AAA game in my head forever and am continually surprised it hasn’t changed.

    vxx,

    Are you from canada?

    wabasso,

    Yes but to be clear, I was joking.

    vaultdweller013,

    BTW Steam Sumner sale is going on right now, Robocop for 5 bucks for the win! Id buy that for 5 dollars.

    daniskarma, do games w Nexus Mods' new owners promise they won't monetise the site to death as users panic at the whiff of venture capital

    Mod hosting seems to be a great usecase for torrent. It only need a suitable frontend and we are golden.

    YiddishMcSquidish,

    Hit me up with an addy when you’re on it!

    WhyIHateTheInternet,

    Ooh I’ll take some addy too. Been too long and I need to clean my fuckin house.

    mnemonicmonkeys,

    Would a federated discovery frontend work? Peertube’s back end of the service would probably work great as a starting point since it uses torrents to ease up on traffic for individual servers

    pepper0,
    @pepper0@aus.social avatar

    @daniskarma
    just use magnet:// links, and optionally ZeroNet if you really require html site.

    Gnutella2, e2dk:// had network wide plain text search function.

    @mnemonicmonkeys
    unfortunately WebTorrent is not feasible due inability of web browsers to participate in current DHT network.

    Find freedom by abandoning https web. In real p2p there is no distinction between fronend or backend, all peer equal.

    @games

    d00ery,

    Seems like a good idea. I wonder if there’s anything already similar. It’d be a real treat to see a VC company get shafted.

    punkibas,

    Someone mentioned this in another thread and I found it interesting:

    Ckan kerbal space program mods

    Apparently its a frontend for mods that’s hosted on github

    msage,

    Github, that’s limiting API calls, hmm…

    whodatdair, do gaming w Discord confirms it's moving toward 'becoming a public company' as it hires a former Activision executive as its new CEO

    This whole “spend a ton of money to get your foothold, take over a market, then enshittify to bilk the users” shtik is getting very very old.

    Rose,

    That’s Jason Citron for you.

    HobbitFoot,

    That’s tech companies for you.

    Why else would they make all this for free?

    ized,

    Might finally open the doors for viable alternatives. If Spacebar (former fosscord) garners tractions for example due to mismanagement by discord they might make the transition over from discord to an open source, decentralized alternative for the everyday discord user viable. Although I haven’t tried Matrix in a while… But convincing users to switch to a completely separate service is way more difficult.

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