Star Wars knights of the old republic (it was so much fun exploring none skywalker Star Wars stories)
pong (first commercially successful game)
baldur’s gate II (because I love it)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ( it is universality recognized as the worst game of all time)
the legend of Zelda (it is universally recognized as one of the greatest of all time)
world of Warcraft ( the most successful English mmorpg of all time)
Warcraft III
sim city
Everquest ( it is called evercrack for a reason, this game literally gave rise to emotional support groups) The most amazing tidbit about that game. After it had been out three years I saw a guy playing his character in a Wizards of the Coast store, who had a really weird color name over his head. Apparently one got that color when you have looked 500 days on the character. I did the math… that is real time days. That meant he had played that game 1.5 years of the last three. My mouth fell open……)
As a 3D animator, I can confidently tell you we routinely act out the part and film ourselves for reference, usually under multiple angles and over multiple takes.
The story of the whole series spans decades and decades, and even watching a video laying out an abridged version of that story takes like 6 hours to watch.
Something as long running as that and with lore that goes that deep should definitely be preserved at all costs.
I find it funny that a lot of the fediverse is anti-cryptocurrency, yet this is a perfect example of a problem cryptocurrency can solve. No one can stop you from transacting on a number of blockchains.
In theory, crypto could be good for this, but crypto is used (and designed) more as an investment than a transaction tool.
Also, the issue here is not centralized currency under a government, it’s centralized payment processing under monopolistic private companies. Crypto is not required to solve that, all that is needed is an alternative payment processor (in an ideal world, probably a public one run by that government, since in a modern world that seems like an essential service to me).
It’s a good point, but a payment processor run by the government would also be under pressure (from voters) to wield its power to suppress marginal content.
Imagine a US-government-run payment processor right now - it would be blocking anyone that sells anything “woke” or “DEI”.
I am a strong believer in democracy. I don’t think that the answer to a bad government is to reduce the power of the government, because that power will inevitably go to undemocratic institutions. Only the government is accountable to the people. So even when the government is currently controlled by people I dislike, I still want more things to be brought under the power of the government rather than privatized.
The answer to bad government actions, in my view, is to fight for a more democratic government, and zealously advocate for good ideas among the voting population.
Yeah, that’s a good point. I guess in light of that what I would say is that, if you are going to have a state-run payment processor, you need to build in a) pluralism (enable and encourage multiple processors) and b) legal protections (legally guarantee that the payment processor has a limited remit in terms of allowing all payments unless instructed to block them by a court order) which would help mitigate or slow down anti-democratic backsliding.
Honestly, I am OK with payment processors being privatized, they always have been. What needs to happen is regulatory legislation that restricts the grounds on which a financial institution can reject a transaction to strictly what violates interstate commerce law.
Just because they always have been doesn’t mean it’s good. It’s definitely not good for private companies to have monopoly power like that. That power will only be used for their gain (and our collective loss).
Fair enough. I guess I am just so used to the way things are I struggle to see how a government payment processor works without running the risk of police overreach. I do understand that long standing agencies like the IRS and DoE do a good job of fending off advances of police trying to illegally obtain private info, but a new agency or new power for an agency wherein they have access to the exact purchase data of every transaction done using anything other than cash gives me strong pause. It would be trivial to put it under the executive branch and put in there that if someone uses it they waive their 4th Amendment rights in such a way that it is not unconstitutional. The police state already wants to push us towards a cashless society because getting the information is already borderline too easy and there are privacy laws in place to supposedly protect us from such intrusion. Taking out the middle man means I have to trust some department head who is probably a political appointee, and we all see how well that can go.
True, but crypto is used very successfully all the time to purchase things online. Now just because most of those transactions are for drugs doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, steam should start accepting monero, the only truly secure and private crypto currency.
In theory, crypto could be good for this, but crypto is used (and designed) more as an investment than a transaction tool.
I would argue that while crypto is as investment now, it was initially designed and intended to be used for transactions.
Out of curiosity though, why do you think this situation would be any different if it were government controlled? Especially considering that you sometimes have administrations like Trump’s, which would do anything no matter how corrupt.
If it were government controlled, it would be accountable to the people, to the extent that the government is democratic (ideally, much more than it is now), and would also be run as a service rather than for profit.
I mean you can use it as currency, and I do sometimes. I have bought plenty of steam games with Bitcoin. I’ve also bought a bunch of stuff on Newegg, and other places online.
It has exactly as much protection from scams and fraud as cash does, that’s essentially what it is.
This sounds fantastic. I’ll have to try it out. Years ago, I tried using hyperspin, but found it to be a lot of work and eventually gave up. This looks to be much simpler, which is exactly what I wanted.
Finally someone mentions it. It’s just straight up gross to compare. But I will say people getting this mad isn’t as absurd when you have the backstory.
In the context of US; Gay, lesbian, or trans characters existing is enough to label a media under “porn” and states like Florida regularly ban lgbtq+ books using this loophole.
So a lot of people instinctively go on defensive when anyone bans porn.
Also full story wasn’t the business independently chosing to moderate. Another company told them to and game company had to comply.
People are mad an unrelated company out there is trying to regulate what you can’t buy with your money. It just feels weird.
Censorship is always the first step. Genocide is the last step. People getting mad when the first step toward fascism is crossed is a very good thing to fight fascism and try to prevent a future genocide. This is exactly what the poem is about : react on the first step, because it will be too late when the genocide starts.
I liked what I saw from the first handful of articles, so I’ve added that site to my feed reader. It’s good to see you back again! I hope you’re doing better.
That’s really kind of you! Don’t expect to be inundated, it’ll be a weekly thing for whoever is in the fediverse scene, loves gaming, tech and so on, and wishes to contribute articles. I think it’s fun, so I’m glad you gave it a nod of approval!
bin.pol.social
Aktywne