steam is just so based.
I dont think a single more based company has ever existed. It rivals the greats like linux, with a touch of gambling.
I dont think a single more based company has ever existed.
Hyperbole much? I like Steam as much as the next guy but lets not pretend the guy that owns 6 yachts is a good person just because he’s better than the next worst. Steam DRMs the shit out of games sold on their platform and if you’re an indie dev that wants to sell your game Steam is THE place to do it.
Steam made $10bn last year, they have about 100 employees (their parent company Valve has about 400). I used to be a bigger fan of GabeN but more recently really started considering him and looking into it and realized he’s just another unethical billionaire. This video by Coffeezilla is a good jumping off point. regarding the intentional targeting of youth with addictive gambling mechanics in loot crates and circumventing gambling laws. It’s all very purposeful and continues to this day.
Yeh plus they let neonazi groups usw their forums for recruiting and hate speech, because they don’t want to pay any mods.
I sometimes feel an anxiety when pondering what will happen when daddy Gabe isn’t here to keep the wolves at bay.
That’s my fear too , whoever gets their hand on valve will decide the future of pc gaming kinda , I just hope it won’t get sold to ea , riot , tencent or whatever
gabe is a very smart person, if he doesnt have a post death plan for steam i would be immensely surprised.
The fact he is doing research on BCIs, I like to imagine his plan is digitizing himself so he can live forever on the net.
Man I love it when people glaze objectively bad companies just because it’s popular opinion to like them.
Remember steam started the business model of not actually owning your games.
Gabe has made billions by stealing profit from the workers that actually make games.
They had to be sued just to offer refunds.
They host tons of malware and shovelware and outright scam games and even protect them from “”““review bombing””"
They pushed “early access” into the mainstream.
And because of people like you that would literally suck Gabes dick for the meme, they get away with it.
Remember steam started the business model of not actually owning your games.
GOG exists, go use GOG. Steam is popular because they don’t fuck over buyers, and they run a good business model, people are ok not “owning” things if the service is reasonably well put together.
Gabe has made billions by stealing profit from the workers that actually make games.
steam takes a 30% cut, which isn’t all that high, especially when you consider that they develop things like proton at zero cost to anybody, including developers. You’re also getting the single largest and most widely used publishing platform, period. It’s really hard to beat something of that caliber, so it’s definitely a tradeoff. There are also cases of devs making games that become so popular they pull in millions of dollars worth of revenue.
They host tons of malware and shovelware and outright scam games and even protect them from “”““review bombing””"
in defense of steam, if they specifically curated high quality games people like you would accuse them of gate keeping the platform. Scams are definitely a thing, malware, technically is. I’ve not seen malware ever in my personal experience, and i doubt most people have, and whenever it does happen, steam responds accordingly so i’m not sure its a fair statement.
They pushed “early access” into the mainstream.
there’s nothing necessarily wrong with early access, i actually think it’s a really productive way to provide tons of play testing and development potential for smaller dev teams. Does it also incentivize shovelware? Sure, but it’s a platform you can make money on, that’s not abnormal. And again, it’s usually very well known when games are abandonware.
And because of people like you that would literally suck Gabes dick for the meme, they get away with it.
surprised you didn’t mention gambling, that’s probably the most significant argument against steam right now, they effectively run what can be considered an online casino.
Ok then fund linux gaming
That’s one of the greatest thing Valve is doing. They’re breathing life into Linux gaming.
While I think capitalism encourages unethical business practices, keep in mind that Valve actively supports the development and popularization of the kernel as well as other projects like Wine from their profits.
G*mers have been too Stockholmed by Steam’s monopoly to recognise that everything they complain about with EA or Ubisoft all started with Valve.
me: steam is terrible; it’s just drm with a nice bow on top
steam: steam visual novel fest starts now
me: i love steam stuffs more items on my wishlist
(for real tho itch.io and gog are much better use them - and download the actual offline installers from gog don’t use galaxy)
GOG Galaxy isn’t bad to use. It has cloud saves, and update checking - which is useful for some people. And games installed using the offline installers still show up in galaxy (and can be updated etc.) In fact, you can download the offline installers from the Galaxy app itself if you want to.
@cupcakezealot wasn’t Itch also American?
yeah it wasn’t necessarily an alternative; i was just saying they’re better because they tend to support indie devs and/or are more drm free than steam. i didn’t know of a purely non american one that i use :(
@cupcakezealot I like that they support indie creators as well, but Valve also did wonders in regard to gaming on Linux in general. I personally support both, as long as they are not supportive in any way to the current Trump administration.
Apparently GOG is Polish. DRM free, too; the one time I used it it literally just gave me the raw game files, like back in the day.
i didn’t know they were polish but yup! for most games you can go into your account and download all the manuals and exes/pkgs for any game you own!
I love my Steam Deck and Proton, but it pisses me off how many Steam games are spyware / DRMware and won’t start without internet on this PORTABLE console, and especially that Valve allows this kind of toxic shit.
So, my Steam Deck stays blocked from the internet in my firewall and I either buy from GOG when available, or there’s this girl on the internet who shares a huge library of games that require no internet connection.
Also, Gabe can STFU about piracy being a service problem until Steam bans DRM and spyware.
Why not just turn on offline mode on the steam deck? Its easier than blocking it from the internet…
Still need to connect to things on my local network.
You can just not buy the games that have stuff like Denuvo etc. If you keep buying them, of course they’ll keep including the DRM etc.
Steam is the storefront, and they have plenty of games you can buy without that crap.
Yup pretty much it.
Gaben is pretty chill, ngl
Accurate and warranted.
I still don’t understand why the company is so highly regarded. They enable underage gambling. Life must be easy for a company. You just have to be a little bit better than the others and you are regarded as a hero.
i mean, out of all things a company can do that are bad, underage gambling is probably one of the better ones, and the argument in favor of it is that it’s on games like csgo and cs2, where the age range is obviously higher than an actual child.
Realistically, i think you have to be kind of stupid to get caught in gambling, but it is also definitely predatory, and there’s a reason it’s a heavily regulated industry. There’s definitely a better solution than we currently have, but it’s not as bad as it could be either.
“underage gambling is probably one of the better ones”, “you have to be kind of stupid to get caught in gambling” you seem like you do not know what you are talking about respectfully.
Have you watched cofeezilla? The industry already has armed mafia structures.
I never gamed, so…
- Fuck gambling
- Fuck walled gardens
- Fuck billionaires (nobody needs that much dough)
- Fuck Valve/Steam (it’s easy for me to say)
Steam isn’t perfect and I sure as shit won’t be the one defending a corporation, and this isn’t a good excuse at ALL, but if you’ve never gamed you wouldn’t believe how much worse it is on the other side (GOG being the only exception).
And as far as corpo rats go, at least Valve employees own 49% of the company.
I’m literally installing windows right now. I feel disgust, but I need it for one application that I know will never have a Linux version. I got tired of the slow as shit virtual machine I used for it before. I can’t replace it with an alternative either, for business reasons.
You are allowed to say Fuck on the Internet. Why are you following the self-censorship rules for Instagram and other social networks if you are making a joke about them?
Looks like it was baked into the image template they used
No excuse. Build it from scratch again. Build it better.
We can rebuild him. We have the technology
I realised that those who censor themselves on the Internet, grew up on the Internet when YouTube started demonitising profanities and thus picked up the habit.
We are getting old.
youtube was good before googol bought it, now it is crap.
Daily dose of getting old: that buyout was like 20 years ago
The buyout was less than a year into it existing
Very few actually remember pre-google youtube
I just reposted it from elsewhere, no need to read too much about it
[ removed from lemmy ]
I’m just happy to see a meme template from Half Baked.
Chappelle’s old stuff is fire
Have you ever looked at memes on weed?
The man who delivered that line is now my generation’s Walter Cronkite
Ha, right! Also, oy, I’m old
Steam may be a very successful business, but they’re still the seed crystal for a whole ecosystem of gambling that preys on addicts and children with the whole CSGO loot box thing. Take a wild guess what forms of addiction have the highest suicide rates?
Fuck Valve. Fuck all Corps. No business has ever nor can ever, genuinely give a shit about anything other than increasing profit.
No business?
I work as a software developer for a small business and they do care about us and not just profits.
Recently we were all given a pay rise and a reduction in hours as they can afford to support that.
Correct, no business. That same business will lay you off in a heartbeat if they can. Businesses do not care about you.
Also, not true in my case.
They do care and have shown on numerous occasions my supporting me when I have needed it and instilling in us that we come first and the business is secondary.
Like the owners literally do the same work as us and are far more accommodating than they have to be for us.
How else would you get a pay rise and a reduction in hours, able to work from home when having car trouble, not having a good mental health day fine take it off, etc. We also don’t have any targets or KPIs and don’t actively seek new work as our clients are loyal.
I cede my point. I knew I was laid off for being a piece of shit, I just knew it.
Sorry, I’m not doing great these days.
I’m not saying you’re a piece of shit, just that there are a few good employers out there. I also realise I am lucky.
Nah you’re good sorry wasn’t implying that.
On the other hand, Valve wishing to seek an alternative to Microsoft’s poor decision[1] making has been a great boon to the Linux community. Valve was also there at the start of Vulkan[2]. But is “funny” that Gabe Newell started off as a Microsoft employee, in fact the one that led the team that ported Doom to Windows with Doom95 and in turn also helped launch Windows (95) as the gaming OS for decades to come.
As much as I distrust and hate corporations, Valve isn’t in it for the shareholders, you can’t buy Valve stocks and that means they at least have a bit more soul than a lot of other corporations - even though they are profit seeking.
What I don’t like about them is how they sell you a service, not an actual game. You technically buy a lifelong lease on each game, never ownership. Your shit can be gone in minutes with nothing to prove for it, except for bank statements saying Valve took your money.
Which is why I’ll always buy on GOG[3] if possible. DRM free and European.
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Does everyone just keep glossing over the ‘they enable the abuse of addicts and children” part?
I’m not saying I disagree with your other points I’m just confused.
Because it’s a weak-ass point, quite simply. Capitalism itself does that shit, not gonna knock Valve for something every game company does, if we play that game with everyone it gets exhausting
“Wont SOMEBODY think of the children?” Is literally a Simpsons meme
Every game company does not operate a gambling system that is the center for a literal whole ecosystem of predatory shady businesses. But that was a halfway decent try at a whataboutism argument /s.
Yes that quote is at the heart of a Simpsons episode. And it’s about people using moral panic crusades as a means of enacting draconian measures of control based on a fear based in falsehood. Valve demonstrably engages in the practices I mentioned so I think your point kind of falls completely on its face. I am glad to see you recognize capitalism as inherently exploitative though.
Every game company does not operate a gambling system that is the center for a literal whole ecosystem of predatory shady businesses.
Making a more specific point after the fact doesn’t change the original point.
whataboutism
So busy trying to sound smart you proved you weren’t worth engaging with
This reads like you took in all the words I wrote and then responded to them without actually understanding or comprehending any of the content.
Linux is more important to them than child abuse.
😂
Sounds like a systemic issue…
*glances at capitalism" 👀
Also an entirely voluntary issue with viable quality alternatives that exists solely due to people not chosing FOSS video games to play.
Examples:
Platformer- Super Tux
FPS- Xotonix
Strategy- Beyond All Reason
I’m gonna add that the ceo is a bilionare who owns an entire fleet of mega yacths
https://luxurylaunches.com/transport/gabe-newell-luxury-yachts.php
Depends if the business it publicly owned.
I think valve are mostly fair to consumers. The money they make from gamers is doing some good in the linux sphere.
I thought it was pretty well known Valve is privately owned.
They make money selling off of gamers by selling games. They take advantage of and enable systemic abuse of, I’ll say it again, addicts and children. I’m not saying they aren’t also fair to their customers in most of their dealings and that they aren’t doing good things for the Linux ecosystem. But we’re also talking way more money than I bet you’re thinking. Gabe’s uber rich person kink is super-yachts. Multiple, super-yachts. You can appear and behave with decency and still contribute to the detriment of society at the same time.
I agree with this, but you have to admit that if all corps were like steam it would be a lot better.
Hey both things can be true. I feel like at this point though the only reason they haven’t stopped the whole gambling thing is because it’s basically a money faucet and in a monetary economy who’d ever turn off a money faucet? But that’s the rub, greed is inherently incentivized.
Costco is cool too! They have local products.
Most important of all they compensate their employees like they are actual humans.
And, they told the ignorant people to go fuck themselves in regards to stopping their DEI efforts.
Keep that DEI and I will keep shopping!
And their management bust unions like their lives depend on it.
Costco can be cool all they want once the federal government of the USA tells them to fuck over Canadians they will. It’s a very dangerous game to rely heavily on American companies in Canada right now. No matter how ethical they might be. The trade war has already begun and the USA will use any lever available when the time comes to annex.
The issue isn’t the federal government tells them to fuck over Canadians (or anyone else). It’s that they don’t tell them anything. They just make Canadian goods cost more in the US. They don’t have a choice. Most businesses would rather the cost stay the same, but we have a dumb ass president who’s fucking us all over for no good reason.
for no good reason
Well, the reason is to destabilize the west because Putin wants a new Soviet Union
It’s certainly not a good reason. But it’s not just “dumb trump pulling levers he doesn’t understand.” It’s “dumb Trump pulling the levers he’s told to. He doesn’t understand what he’s doing, but those planning the lever pulls do”
