ProdigalFrog

@ProdigalFrog@slrpnk.net

A frog who wants the objective truth about anything and everything.

Admin of SLRPNK.net

XMPP: prodigalfrog@slrpnk.net

Matrix: @prodigalfrog:matrix.org

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ProdigalFrog, (edited )

XMPP would be the best choice at this point in time, as it doesn’t suffer the downfalls of Matrix (though even Matrix would be better than Discord).

ProdigalFrog,

This is a summary from @Essence_of_Meh:

TL;DW:

  • Patrick Breyer and Niklas Nienaß submitted questions to the European Commission on the topic of killing games (the latter in contact with Ross and two EU based lawyers).
  • EU won’t commit to answering whether games are goods or services.
  • EULA are probably unfair due to imbalance of rights and obligations between the parties.
  • Such terminations should be analyzed on a case-by-case basis (preferably by countries rather than EU).
  • Existing laws don’t seem to cover this issue.
  • Campaign in France seems to be gaining some traction. Case went to “the highest level where most commercial disputes submitted to DGCCRF never go”.
  • UK petition was suppose to get a revised response after the initial one was found lacking. Due to upcoming elections all petitions were closed and it might have to be resubmitted.
  • Also in UK, there’s a plan to report games killed in the last few years to the Competition and Markets Authority starting in August (CMA will get some additional power by then apparently).
  • No real news from Germany, Canada or Brazil.
  • Australian petition is over and waiting for a reply. Ross also hired a law firm to represent the issue.

This is a simplified version of simplified version.

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

Article’s kinda crap, really; the whole point is “a prick hired a prick to be involved in a prickish game.”

Ken Williams has generally been pretty well regarded, especially by Sierra fans. He was even included in the old Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy, so I think it comes as somewhat surprising that he was so easily swayed by Rush Limbaugh back then, and shifted so far right wing to the point of purposefully working with a cop so heavily associated with systemic racism and the Rodney King beating.

It certainly was news to me, as someone who grew up with those games.

ProdigalFrog,

The article is pretty well laid out, IMO. It sets up the story with background information of who Ken Williams is, the history of the Police Quest series and the Sierra hacker/stoner culture, then goes into Daryl Gates and his background, and finally how Ken hobnobbed with him and pushed hard for him to be involved despite the resistance of the game devs. It then goes into how the game that Daryl advised on was deeply influenced by his racist views, which Ken had no trouble publishing, and even hoped would generate controversy for profit.

It gives all the context needed for non-sierra fans and for people not familiar with Daryl Gates, and doesn’t really have any fluff or repeating points.

Not sure what you mean by skewing the facts? Could you give an example?

ProdigalFrog,

Yeah they’re great, always look forward to the skit at the end :)

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

Apparently a few coop banks somewhere are adopting/have adopted taler, so hopefully it takes off.

ProdigalFrog,

A not insignificant portion of online games utilize the steam friend system exclusively to enable inviting others to your party, and would not function otherwise. One example off the top of my head is Hunt: showdown.

ProdigalFrog,

Absolutely, I’m surprised they haven’t addressed that privacy concern.

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

The National Post is a right leaning publication, and this article uses quotes from a Republican appearing on Fox News to provide context for figures sourced from the Daily Mail, which is owned by immigrant hating Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News.

The article also mentions some lawyer telling Voice of America something, but the source link only takes you to Voice of America’s website, not to any specific article. It’s possible this was done intentionally to hide when that event occurred, because VOA was a mouthpiece for the Trump presidency when he was in office after installing loyal right wing followers in leading positions.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America

Look under ‘Controversies’

I think it’s safe to say this article is attempting to send a certain message, and is clearly biased, so bear that in mind, dear reader.

ProdigalFrog,

Steam’s hardware survey reports 1.94% of their userbase is using Linux, beating Mac OS, which is at 1.38% respectively.

Not to mention plenty of Linux users don’t game at all

The Steamdeck is pushing the needle on that, creating a bunch of Linux gamers with some not even realizing it.

ProdigalFrog,

I think the original comment in this chain was mentioning that the stats from the statcounter website were using really outdated data for the percentage of Linux users on steam, I don’t think they were relating that stat to overall Linux usage.

ProdigalFrog,

The OG comment is referencing the body of this post, which are stats from the website. The website is using outdated steam stats, the comment is pointing that out.

The comment you replied to that was pointing that out was not corrolating the steam stats as general linux stats, only pointing out that the linux userbase on steam has grown since those outdated stats.

ProdigalFrog,

Everyone loves to masterbate to how “bad these companies are”, dude you CHOSE them.

I think the point of the video is that there are backroom deals that secure Microsoft being chosen. The new mayor of Munich is a clear example of conflict of interest. Microsoft is clearly lobbying the French government as well.

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

The LiMux project in Germany had some shady stuff going on in the background. Microsoft almost certainly bribed the new conservative government to switch everything back to Windows. There was a great documentary about it from DW that interviewed some whistleblowers, but I can no longer find it. However, Quidsup on Youtube did a good video encapsulating the course of events.

EDIT: I was able to find the documentary by searching the old title in German, which brought up the original German version, and from there found the English translation!

ProdigalFrog,

Please do! But what channel are you referring to?

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

History tells us that 85% of these people will move to Windows 11 despite what they say.

The interesting rub this time is the hardware. There’s tons of still powerful and useful CPU’s in use today that don’t support Windows 11’s TPM 2.0, so I wonder if that will push a few more people to Linux than when Windows 7 was EOL.

ProdigalFrog,

He’s like the Ken Burns of gaming! 😄

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

For those who can’t watch the video:

Across the globe, companies can simply say you DO NOT own your games as long as they have a EULA, and it even gives them the power to destroy your ability to play a game!

Ross Scott (of Freeman’s Mind and Game Dungeon fame) has done the leg-work of researching how much power these companies have in various countries, and what he found was that, as a gamer, you effectively have the same amount of rights as a squirrel.

The only way to stop this practice would take millions of dollars to fight it legally in court, and uh… I don’t really see any millionaire gamers willing to take up that cause. So, in any realistic sense, the corps have won here. There’s nothing we can realistically do, short of boycotting.

BUT, that doesn’t count for the EU, Scandinavian countries, Canada, UK, or Australia. Unlike the US, they actually have functional consumer protection laws, and ways for consumers to fight back against corporate overreach without needing to have a few million in the bank.

If you live in any of those countries, we could use your help! It would help even further if you’ve purchased and own The Crew at any point in time, but you can help even if you haven’t!

If you live anywhere else, you can STILL help by helping sign a French consumer petition, which has real weight to do something, it isn’t like one of those pointless change(dot)org ones! But to participate, you must have owned the game.

You’re on the front lines of consumer protection for gamers across the globe! Your actions (if we’re ultimately successful) would likely have ramifications even in the US and Canada!

How can you help? If you can’t watch the video, here’s the website with an FAQ on what you can do to help: StopKillingGames.com

This is likely going to be the biggest push for consumer protection for gamers there has ever been, so… Like, it’s kind’ve a big deal. Let’s make this count, guys.

ProdigalFrog,

Hmm… That’s a bit of an odd case. I’m not sure how that would fare under this proposal. I would personally be for saving that content, but if they argue the removal of that older content is part of the experience of the game, similar to how MMO’s change things with updates… I dunno, could be tricky.

ProdigalFrog,

Ah, if you paid specifically for that content (as like a DLC or something) and it has been removed, I think this initiative might help with that, because that is absolutely destroying access to something you paid for. The main game may still be online and supported, but if they kill support for the expansions you purchased, that’s effectively ‘ending’ support for the DLC/expansion, which is destroying a product you paid for.

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

For those who can’t watch the video:

Across the globe, companies can simply say you DO NOT own your games as long as they have a EULA, and it even gives them the power to destroy your ability to play a game!

Ross Scott (of Freeman’s Mind and Game Dungeon fame) has done the leg-work of researching how much power these companies have in various countries, and what he found was that, as a gamer, you effectively have the same amount of rights as a squirrel.

The only way to stop this practice would take millions of dollars to fight it legally in court, and uh… I don’t really see any millionaire gamers willing to take up that cause. So, in any realistic sense, the corps have won here. There’s nothing we can realistically do, short of boycotting.

BUT, that doesn’t count for the EU, Scandinavian countries, Canada, UK, or Australia. Unlike the US, they actually have functional consumer protection laws, and ways for consumers to fight back against corporate overreach without needing to have a few million in the bank.

If you live in any of those countries, we could use your help! It would help even further if you’ve purchased and own The Crew at any point in time, but you can help even if you haven’t!

If you live anywhere else, you can STILL help by helping sign a French consumer petition, which has real weight to do something, it isn’t like one of those pointless change(dot)org ones! But to participate, you must have owned the game.

You’re on the front lines of consumer protection for gamers across the globe! Your actions (if we’re ultimately successful) would likely have ramifications even in the US and Canada!

How can you help? If you can’t watch the video, here’s the website with a step-by-step guide on what you can do to help: StopKillingGames.com

This is likely going to be the biggest push for consumer protection for gamers there has ever been, so… Like, it’s kind’ve a big deal. Let’s make this count, guys.

ProdigalFrog,

Appreciate your help. :)

ProdigalFrog,

Cheers man! :D

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

Does distrobox alleviate those issues?

ProdigalFrog,

Appreciate the info! I’ve been interested in immutable distros, but that would be a pretty big issue for my main PC.

ProdigalFrog,

I guess it would be for someone who wants a collection of physical games, but doesn’t have room for the consoles? It does seem like an odd thing to want.

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

Can’t disagree with that. I’m struggling to see how there’s a big market of people who want to collect physical games for a wide variety of systems, but not the consoles themselves.

ProdigalFrog, (edited )

Phrononix’s forum is known for having some of the most toxic individuals in the open-source ecosystem, with flame wars, pointless complaining and arguing happening usually starting within the first 10 comments.

I have no idea why or how it got so bad there specifically, but it’s bad. Though oddly enough, in-between all the negativity, will be developers of major systems, like AMD driver engineers, calmly talking with other big movers in the industry.

I guess it’s one of the few sites that is dedicated to reporting on such things, but boy howdy is it an odd mix of spiteful users and developer networking.

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