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Agent_Karyo

@ Agent_Karyo @piefed.world

Posts
648
Comments
388
Joined
8 mo. ago

MJ12 Detachment Agent

  • PC gamers win the first battle against Valve Corporation as £656m competition claim receives judicial approval

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  • That’s plenty of competition, it’s just that they suck at actual competition or are comfortable in their niche market.

    I am not talking about the mere presence of competing entities. I am talking about market forces (in the real sense). If they were subject to market, they would not be able to charge an arbitrary 30% (because this figure would undercut to gain market share).

  • 'Colony Ship is a Dark Christian Sci-fi RPG' - Warlockracy

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  • I wouldn't really call Colony Ship a dark Christian RPG.

    It is an excellent game! Strongly recommend if you prefer roleplaying focused RPGs and don't like excessive action combat (FPSs are great, don't see what RPGs should be just like them in terms of combat).

    I can also recommend Iron Tower's previous game Age of Decadence. Relatively original setting for an RPG and modicum of originality for the ending scenarios.

  • Growth of the Fediverse (20260201)

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  • Thank you for this! I am surprised Piefed is not larger with the recent growth spurts.

    One other data source:

    https://fedidb.com/

  • PC gamers win the first battle against Valve Corporation as £656m competition claim receives judicial approval

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  • I am surprised how easily people are siding with Valve. I say this as someone who's last console was the SEGA and is happy to see Valve improve Linux gaming.

    That being said the 30% fee cut is clearly only possible due to lack of competition. In a competitive market, the cut would go down to service cost + some margin (subject to competition).

    I don't believe Valve or any other platform providers ever argued around economic reasoning for choosing specifically 30.

  • PC gamers win the first battle against Valve Corporation as £656m competition claim receives judicial approval

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  • It most definitely does cost the customer more.

    What your describing us not how pricing and economics works.

  • Why is Valve being sued for almost $900 million, but Epic Games wasn't sued when they bought Rocket League and Fall Guys to remove them from steam?

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  • I wouldn't call them malware, but both Valve and Epic are not your friends and they have done a lot of bad shit (Valve was huge in enabling lootbox gameplay).

  • Ashes of Creation shuts down shortly after Steam arrival and raising millions from MMORPG fans, and they want answers (and money back) - The Escapist

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  • I was interested in AoC as I prefer sandbox MMOs. I just can't play themepark MMORPGs, I always feel like I would be better of playing a single player RPG or multiplayer game of a different genre.

    That being said their monetisation policies were a massive red flag (including selling Star Citizen style JPEGs of MMORPG items) and their CEO was disengagous.

    I would much rather AoC was a success, I would even be willing to try out a 1.0 release, but such a complex sandbox MMO is difficult to implement form a financial perspective if you have ~250 employees based in the US (and in a very expensive region too).

  • Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney supports the $900 million lawsuit against Valve, arguing Steam is "the only major store still holding onto payment ties and 30% junk fee" [refer to in-app purchases]

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  • I apologize for the broad generalisation (in my defence, the use of demonyms in such a context doesn't always suggets complete generalisation). That was uncalled for.

    I've lived for several years and travelled a lot around the US (both while living there and during subsequent visits). The impression I got is that corruption is not purely a far right thing and a far larger proportion of say the centre-right voting public enable it than would think. They might not be as openly committed to crime and corruption as say the far right, but much for the centre-right voting is simply too well off to risk rocking the boat and pursuing true anti-crime measures.

    Let me give you an example of the latter. Meta has been found to knowling enable and support fraud to the tune of $16 B (10% plus of revenues) in 2024 alone. They even had a playbook to enable this scheme, so there likely entent to engage in crime.

    This is a more pedestrian example, there also the enablement of Rohingya genocide (I don't support capital punishment, but I would be willing to consider exceptions for egregious crimes against humanity, but let's go with a more clear cut case.

    Am I being unreasonable in stating that the vast majority of the centre-right voting public may vaguely believe Meta's action to be criminal, but they fundamentally oppose any actions that might address such criminal activities. Things like immediate internment of all Meta executives and senior operational staff involved in this scheme, raids on their properties to uncover evidence, asset seizures for any entities involved in crime (so Zuckerburg would lose ownership stake in Meta if his engagement was proven during criminal proceedings)

    The facts are pretty clear in this case, Meta didn't even deny it, they decided to try PR their way out of it, hoping the issue would be forgotten.

    There may be structural reasons for not pursuing such crimes, but that's a weak excuse. Every country has problems (some far more challenging than American structural issues),

    I stand by what I said, tech platforms (especially B2C, but not only) run by entities either based in the US or being subject to American influence cannot be trusted.

    I will happily change my stance; it brings me no joy to see any country become a bastion of negative forces such as oligarchy and global promotion of crime and corruption. But there are limits to open mindedness and a desire to emphasis the positive elements of a given culture/nation.

    At some point, there has to be real world changes and impact. I do not believe a hypothetical win by the centre-right in both legislative and executive office will change anything (FWIW, I actually lived in the US under Obama). I will also note that the issues with Valve were implementing during Obama's terms.

  • Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney supports the $900 million lawsuit against Valve, arguing Steam is "the only major store still holding onto payment ties and 30% junk fee" [refer to in-app purchases]

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  • Apologies, in retrospective that was wrong to say.

    I should have said "entities based in the US jurisdiction (or that are influenced by American-style corruption)".

    You are correct that the nationality plays no role in this.

    That being said, it is fact that all major US B2C tech platforms support corruption, engage in crime, engage in spyware activities and leverage shallow pompous PR copytext about alleged belief in free speech and "government official this or that".

    That ship has really sailed.

  • Team Fortress 2 Classified (fan-made overhaul & expansion) is now available on Steam

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  • I haven't played the release version, but it definitely branches out into its own thing. It is not just a direct clone of ~2010 era TF2. I would check it out if it sounds interesting.

    I am planning to play it this weekend and I hope it gets enough momentum in Europe to have somewhat full servers.

  • [Meta] Some other popular horror communities on Fedi

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  • I honestly didn't intend to imply that it wasn't a community where I mod/curate.

    I should have mentioned that at the beginning of the post, didn't think about it. :)

    Don't add horror games, but consider adding the other horror communities and general communities.

  • Team Fortress 2 Classified (fan-made overhaul & expansion) is now available on Steam

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  • Oh Yeah, time to get back into TF2.

    One thing to note for others, this is a recreation (and evolution) of TF2 before it went crazy with random bullshit (so ~2010ish era).

  • Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney supports the $900 million lawsuit against Valve, arguing Steam is "the only major store still holding onto payment ties and 30% junk fee" [refer to in-app purchases]

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  • Funny thing is I don't support Valve or Tim Sweeney. While by American standards, Valve are angels, that is a very low standard. Sweeney is your stereotypical American corporate degenerate:

    But honestly Valve is no better. Europe (and other countries/regions) should either force Valve to have to de facto white label their store for Europe (where they are a junior partner and hold minimal control) or kick them out. And I am not saying there can't be collaboration on common goals; e.g. investing into Linux support and open platforms, but you can't have Americans in charge of major platforms. That ship has sailed.

    There are many massive issues with Valve:

    • They made a huge contribution to the rise of lootbox gambling schemes
    • They initially attempted a fraudulent scheme on local consumer laws on refunds
    • For most of Steam's life their TOS had mandatory arbitration requirements which is a local corruption scheme that is not too different from Soviet kangaroo courts. In their defence they did add that "as far as your country’s laws permit".

    I will admit that the overall logic of the case doesn't make sense.

  • Yes, Paradox are aware that a “barrage of DLCs” can scare away new players, for all their bundles and discounts

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  • Most of the paradox DLC come with free updates though.

    That may be true, but I am not interested in a game where every little gameplay element is monetized into DLC and then you need to figure out which DLC is worth buying and it's not clear what you're exactly playing.

    On their Steam page, I have ~30 DLC in a $180 bundle. I am good.

    I can either by a new(er) indie space strategy game (which I can come back to after a break) or play an older game with long running mods (some of which are actually a lot more novel and unique and keep getting updates).

    One example is the Dune Wars mod for Civ 4 which I've played almost for as long as the regular Civ 4 configuration. It's even been updated with graphics from the Villeneuve movies. You get an elaboratly designed, 4X Civ4 total conversion mod, with a great respect for the lore and its gameplay implementation, with updates spanning many years (if not decades), for free.

  • 'Go Back and Play Morrowind and Tell Me That's the Game You Want to Play Again' — Former Bethesda Veteran Delivers His Verdict on Potential The Elder Scrolls Remasters - IGN

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  • Yeah combat aged very poorly

    I disagree, it's a matter of what you are looking for and your taste in gaming.

    I prefer combat like say in Morrowind or even the original Deus Ex. When I am playing an RPG, I want the combat to be challenging from a gameplay experience perspective (it's difficult to shoot when you start out in the OG Deus EX) and reflect the fact that you're a low level character and that you need to learn the game and understand how combat works.

    Many modern RPGs almost play like an FPS with RPG elements tacked on. If I want to play an FPS, I will play a real FPS.

    General UI/UX improvements are a must, but it's not wrong for combat to be on some level unintuitive when you start out.

    It's sort of like saying Jazz has aged poorly just because it's not mainstream in the way it may have been 70+ years ago.

  • Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines 2 left a gaping, $28 million hole in Paradox's year-end financial report

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  • The studio that made it pushed so hard to not call it VM 2 for that very reason…

    That's not the impression I got from following the new on VTMB. That's what they claim, but their actions speak otherwise.

    Don't get me wrong, I think TCR make some solid games (although often with subpar gameplay), but that doesn't mean I am going to uncritically accept their PR narratives.

  • Yes, Paradox are aware that a “barrage of DLCs” can scare away new players, for all their bundles and discounts

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  • I played Stellaris around the time it came out. Took a break from it for some time, wanted to play it again and then saw a huge list of DLC they released and decided that it's better to play indie alternatives (that often continue to be developed for free, with an occasional DLC or two to expand the game and support the creators).

  • Oblivion Remastered's wildest bug made me choose between losing achievements or living as a fugitive

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  • Depends on the game, for RPGs I tend to agree.

    For strategy games (that are sandbox based), sometimes achievement hunting can allow you try novel approaches.

  • [Epic Games] (Game) Definitely Not Fried Chicken

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  • Been meaning to try this game. Might as well get it on Epic (which thankfully supports all regions).

    That being said, I've only made one purchase, an early version of Against The Storm from way back in the day.