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PlzGivHugs

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PlzGivHugs ,

I’d personally say its like a 7 or 8/10. Its probably the most mechanically varied and deep PvE focused survival game, but at the same time, it does really feel incomplete. Building lacks options, end-game content is often finicky or tideous, and performance issues can make the game near unplayable in enemy-dense regions.

PlzGivHugs ,

Nah, LTT is almost certainly too small of a company to benifit from something like this. They want to help those really in need, like Bell and Rogers.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

The problem is that, at least for Steam, they’re not a monopoly, nor are they necessary even within their market. Devs can and do distribute and/or market successful games without going through Steam and players can play games without ever getting Steam. I mean, if we were to take what I’d estimate are the most popular games right now:

  • Roblox - only a dedicated storefront/launcher
  • Minecraft - Up until recently, only a dedicated storefront/launcher, even now, not Steam
  • Fortnite - Originally only dedicated launcher, built a storefront off of that, still not Steam
  • Counter-Strike 2 - Steam
  • CoD - Not Steam? I think? Honestly its been such a mess in publishing I don’t know.
  • League of Legends - Only a dedicated storefront/launcher
  • Valorant - Only a dedicated storefront/launcher
  • GTA V - On Steam
  • Apex Legends - On Steam
  • Overwatch 2 - popularized off Steam, turned to Steam after massive mismanagement butchered the game

Its absolutely possible to launch and maintain a successful game off Steam, and people have and continue to do so. Even exclusively talking about 3rd party storefront/launcher combos, theres a lot of options. Steam its just popular because its not only worth using (a bar most of the competition already fails to pass) but offers a lot both to users and developers from cheap, effective marketing, to tools to support Linux, to better controller support.

https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/2f1f8084-b369-47db-a0da-7decafe4e09f.webp

PlzGivHugs ,

I was talking about whatever the current, popular CoD is. I don’t follow the series, thus my not knowing. Last time I tried to play, it was Battle.Net exclusive.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

I’m not talking about billion dollar studios. I’m talking about indie devs.

Billion dollar studios like Notch, Battlestate games, and Roblox (pre-Roblox).

Moreover, they take a 30% cut and no one has ever batted an eye, not even today.

Because unlike Apple, you can choose to instead or also sell on dozens of other storefronts that also charge about 30%, such as Humble, GMG, Fanatical, Epic, Microsoft, GOG, IndieGala, or GamersGate, or one of a half dozen or so that charge less such as itch.io, or you can just put it on your website. A monopoly doesn’t mean something costs money, it means there are no other options. Theres more competition in the games retail market than there is most other areas.

Their success has been to convince gamers they are friends. That’s all. Apple on the other hand garners insane antipathy from the public.

The difference is that Apple follows the same sort of business practices as much of Steams competion, and the industry in general. They invest in measures to stifle competition, often at the cost of the user, rather than using their position for R&D or development that might help users. People view Steam positively because they’re one of a very small number of companies that try and make a good, or at least innovative product, even if their end goal is still to get your money. Compare that to Epic, where they immediately started limitting consumer choice by buying exclusivity and by doing things like removing the Linux versions of games they bought (even after they had already been paid for), or what you’re complaining about, Apple, where they prevent installing anything they didn’t approve (esspecially anything indie), and don’t allow devs to use services other than their own.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

Sorry how is forcing me to run their stupid app that gobbles system resources, ugly as hell and super invasive to run every game good for the user?

Valve doesn’t force you to run it, game devs do. Steam’s DRM isn’t mandatory for developers to implement. For example, I know FTL is drm free on Steam. If I remeber right, SteamPipe can also be used for a much more lightweight experience as well, if you don’t want to do anything but install games (and not use their DRM or features).

You can’t move purchases out of your Steam account and Steam won’t even let you transfer it after you die. Not sure how that’s good for me like I’m dead you can’t let my kid have it because you’re so nice.

They will ban you indefinitely even over a small dispute, like say a charge back or sometimes just a random violation of their TOS which says they can ban you for no reason.

This isn’t good, but its standard and unless licensing laws and/or other big publishers change, I doubt this will. Its not something that makes Valve any less of a standout in the market when every other company does much worse than this.

Needing an internet connection even for single player local games is also great stuff.

For developers that do chose to implement DRM, the offline mode on Steam is relatively permissive.

If you own a game and then buy a bundle with that game, they don’t give you another copy (that you could gift to someone) which is wild because you literally paid twice for it.

Again, this is set by the publisher/dev. Valve offers the option to discount the pack by the given amount. Not as good as traditional physical software, but again, its not as bad as basically all of the competition so…

But they are just as shit of a company as every other company. Like I said, they aren’t there for you. They just have good marketing and a good front facing VP.

Yes, because providing tools for gaming on Linux doesn’t affect the customer buying/using their products. Neither does VR, or portable PC hardware as they’re exactly the same offerings as a desktop PC with better marketing. Neither does improved controller support - its just flashy UI for what was already easy to do. Neither does providing tools and hosting for a modding API - any dev who doesn’t launch with a home-made one is just too incompetent to be selling games anyway. None of these things are anything more than flashy marketing, so we should just be using itch.io’s VR headset for the lower rates and Epic’s Linux compatibility tools for those who don’t want to support Microsoft’s anti-consumer practices. And of course, instead of doing these things, they’re secretly buying exclusivity to every game and preventing you from repairing your devices despite the repair information provided (but you don’t realize because of marketing).

Also they control so much that just wait another 5-10 years when management changes. It won’t be good for the user I can tell you that.

Given that Gabe Newell owns a majority share from what we know, and he has shown a desire to build a stable, competitve company rather than just trying to join the race to the bottom, it’ll likely be longer than 5-10 years. That said, yes, this is a concern, but thats unavoidable, and “but someday they might not be good” isn’t a reason to dislike them as they are now.

PlzGivHugs ,

Skibidi Toilet is a serious of SFM shorts that became popular with young kids. Think in the same vein as the weird flash videos or early SFM videos that were popular with young kids 10-15 years ago. “Skibidi” doesn’t mean anything and is just taken from that.

PlzGivHugs ,

Source Filmmaker - basically the tech used in Valve’s games (IE Half Life 2, Team Fortress 2, Gmod) but repurposed into an easy to use animation tool. Valve used it quite a bit for their content but it was also popular among amateur animators since it was easy to use and had bunch of ready-to-use resources from Valve’s games.

PlzGivHugs ,

I know in previous posts, you’ve talked about leaderboards and comparing stats to friends. For those who might be embarrassed by their stats or who would be anxious comparing stats, is ir possible to hide these menus and/or play the game without them? In particular, is it possible to play with other social features still enabled?

PlzGivHugs ,

I really wouldn’t say the genre is oversaturated. TF2, Overwatch 2, Smite, and Paladins (if thats even still around) are the only ones that really come to mind.

TF2 is obviously outdated, largely abandoned by the devs, as well as being very much on the shooter side rather than the Moba side.

Overwatch 2 is a microtransaction filled mess that locks heros behind paywalls and grind.

Paladins, I thought was pay to win, although I admittedly haven’t looked at it in years.

Smite, I can’t personally play because my account got locked halfway through account creation so I can’t comment on that, although its probably the closest.

If you want a game thats based on skill rather than your wallet, it seems like its just a very old fps, or Smite.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

Currently two:

War Thunder - It has so many issues from the grind, to unadressed design issues (IE 10kg HE shells doing no damage on a direct hit), to balance issues including p2w vehicles. That said, under all the shit, theres a solid foundation, and no other game comes close to replicating it.

Super Auto Pets - Its an autobattler streamlined to the point where its the perfect casual game when I don’t feel like anything else. It also doesn’t have any of the normal f2p traps, and is monitized purely on cosmetics that can also be earned for free.

Edit: I guess Dota 2 counts too. I put a ton of time into that. I’m not a particularly good player, but its one of the best team-based games out there, so I enjoy playing it with friends.

Getting into Civ 6

I got into Civilization rather late with their fifth entry. I was hesitant because as I get older I need more time to game than I do new titles. Still I picked up six with all DLC during the last sale. I have to say I am liking the changes. It was good to wait because Civ does need its DLCs to feel complete....

PlzGivHugs ,

IMO, Five is easier to learn and more straight-forward, while Six feels more convoluted, but Six gains some depth and variety from that if you put in the time to learn it.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

At least the stuff I’ve seen is more a criticism of the lack of functionality for the Rabbit, esspecially unique functionality or areas where it excels. The fact that it is basically all able to be contained in one app is viewed as evidence of the relative simplicity, and the fact that (as reviews highlighted) a phone provides a better interaction method compared to the dedicated devices just highlights how unnecessary the hardware is.

Basically, its competing against phones in functionality, but a phone at that price can do everything it can and better, plus so much more. Even worse when considering everyone also already owns a phone and won’t be able to replace with a Rabbit.

PlzGivHugs ,

I’m guessing people saw the title and initially assumed it was going to be a low effort shitpost or something. I made that mistake the first time I scrolled past it. I don’t thing “Ahoy” was originally in the title either, which can’t help.

Is the new Fallout TV show depressing?

I get pretty easy depressed watching TV shows with a depressing tone or a lot of character deaths or that. If its more in the background its generally fine, but things like Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and The Boys are a lot for the moment. How does the new Fallout show compare?...

PlzGivHugs OP ,

Yep. I think it came out yesterday.

When people post YouTube links, is there a cool open source way to watch it on mobile without going through youtube, firefox, or downloading adblockers?

When people post YouTube links… is there a cool open source way to watch it on mobile without going through youtube? Because when I click on a YouTube link and I’m on my phone and it immediately gives me an ad it’s pissing me off like in a huge way… is there a way to bypass ads without an ad blocker on my phone

PlzGivHugs ,

Are you looking for an app, or an alternative website?

PlzGivHugs ,

Honestly, I think the original. I know its inferior to most of the other games in most ways, but I’ve found a lot of the modern Zelda games feel pretty shallow and formulaec. Not to say they’re bad, but none of them really feel like they stand out to me either - they’re just good games. The original on the other hand, feels very different from a lot of the games since then. The world is kept a lot more foreign and hostile both in terms of aggressive enemies and in terms of tutorialization. Its makes the exploration so much more rewarding, and when you do find a new item, that much more special.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

I saw this posted a couple days ago which pretty succinctly summarizes the current state of the market. https://sh.itjust.works/pictrs/image/86a0067e-80f9-434b-963e-194a1a3df651.webp

That said, worth noting that these launchers and complex storefronts aren’t really needed either, which is part of why I don’t have an issue with Steam. If you have a good game, you can just sell it on your own website like Minecraft, League of Legends, or Tarkov. Steam’s biggest (or at least most universal) utility for developers is just that it provides very cheap, very effective marketing.

PlzGivHugs ,

Annoyingly, my cat has zero interest in spiders. Any other bug from silverfish to houseflys, she loves to hunt, but not spiders.

Guess what the one bug I’m afraid of is.

PlzGivHugs ,

Some notable examples that aren’t overly old include Overwatch 1, Minecraft, LoL, and Tarkov.

PlzGivHugs ,

I mean, even as someone who isn’t really a fan of Borderlands, this feels immediately different in tone, and the actors all look cheap and out of place. The aethetic (esspecially in contrast to the games) kind-of reminds me of old 80s/90s direct to VHS movies where it was made by a small studio trying to make something completely out of scope, and of the writing shown, it seems slower, shallower (even by Borderlands’s low standards) and more sanitized. Borderlands doesn’t set a high bar, but this seems like it’ll struggle to meet even that.

PlzGivHugs ,

Unfortunately, its not that simple. Hamas is a terrorist organization that activly targets civilians, often over military targets. Killing them sooner, as well as helping end the war, protects civilian lives. Its a terrible calculus, but when you’re fighting an organization that has no respect for law, nor human rights then thats what happens. You kill them, or you let them continue to kill civilians and millitary personal alike.

That said, saying that Israel is just doing this because Hamas is using civilians as a sheild is giving Israel way too much credit. They have repeatedly been caught shooting unarmed and fleeing civilians, targeting refugees, and they have a long history of this treatment towards Palistinians. Israel is almost as willing to kill civilians as Hamas, and actually have the weapons to do so.

PlzGivHugs ,

I’m not sure what is reportable there. Im literally saying civilian deaths should be minimized. Is it because I’m acknowledging Israel has repeatedly targeted civilians?

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

I agree overall, and that was exactly my point with, “history of this behavior towards Palistine”. Its also why I felt the need to specify that Israel is killing civilians outside of when Hamas hides behind them. Israel is not a “good guy” here, and their misdeeds are what spurred this on.

My point was on negotiating with terrorists, once they’ve already turned to violence. If it gets to the point of terrorism, its a lot harder to just let individuals involved walk free. Hamas will just keep trying to kill people, and keep hiding behind civilians, continuing to cost lives.

Again, I agree overall, but even if Israel withdraws from Palistine, walks back all their oppresive policies and agrees to start cracking down on mistreatment from individual Israelis, Hamas won’t just disolve overnight nor will radicalized individuals immediately put down their arms. Its a process that takes decades (likely longer given how long and how intensely Israel has been oppressing Palistine), which doesn’t help when you’re deciding whether or not to shoot the terrorist with a hostage.

PlzGivHugs ,

Store link: …steampowered.com/…/Deep_Rock_Galactic_Survivor/

PlzGivHugs ,

I’ve intentionally held off on spoilers so far, but Im really hoping once finished, Sons of the Forest will be a nice step up from The Forest. The original was so great in so many ways, but also had so many massive incongruities - esspecially with the content so focused around violence and the enviroment that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot.

PlzGivHugs ,

Well, this takes place in the Half Life/Portal universe where the world basically ended in the early 2000s, so it makes sense.

PlzGivHugs ,

Its not quite a pirate game, but if you’re willing to expand your seach to include a nautical mystery game aboard a trading ship in 1807, than Return of the Obra Dinn is worth a look.

PlzGivHugs ,

Tl;dr: Escape the Backrooms is 20% off.

How long will food be safe to eat if frozen immediately after cooking it?

I made some awesome arroz con gris (beans and rice) that I froze after cooking it. The only animal product it contains would be lard. Otherwise, it’s just rice, beans, garlic, onions, green bell peppers, olives, and herbs. I don’t remember how long ago I made it, but it could be anywhere from 6-12 months ago. It stayed...

PlzGivHugs ,

After that long, taste and texture might start deteriorating, but as long as you’re sure it has remained completely frozen (the recommended tempretures are 0F and -18C) it should be safe effectively forever.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

Copyright law doesn’t really care if its commercial/personal - just if its fair use. For reuse of characters, its an esspecially high bar. In this case, its reuse of characters as-is so that wouldn’t be considered transformitive, and its obviously not criticism, so it wouldn’t be allowed.

For a comparison, every Pokemon is under the same protection Mickey Mouse was a decade ago. Basically, unless you’re directly criticizing the art or character its not technically fair use. Even gameplay footage is a grey area. Its just a matter of how litigious Nintendo wants to be.

Edit: minor correction, commercial/personal sort-of matters, but more in a “is it competing with or damaging to the original work” sort of way - something making money looks more official and suggests more effort and intent, for example.

PlzGivHugs ,

All this copyright nonsense over a free mod is just a waste of resources.

This is what it boils down to, not that these mods are legal. Copyright is basically meant to block anything that could even remotely compete with the work, and give a monopoly over the idea. Doesn’t matter if its a free passion project or a billion dollar company. Thats part of why its so absurd that copyright lasts so long. That said, most don’t want to spend a fortune playing whack-a-mole with their own fans’ free passion projects, unless those passion projects compete with them directly. That might even be why Pixelmon is left up - its seen as too janky to directly compete whereas this mod/game combo is pretty much what fans have been asking GameFreak to make for a decade and as a paid, commercial product at that.

PlzGivHugs ,

Even in parody works, you’re inherently walking on eggshells. It needs to be a pretty direct and obvious ciritique of the original material. Something like PETA’s Pokemon Red, White and Blue is unchallenged because its so unsubtle they’d have a reasonable defense. It would need to be a lot more than just a line in the mod description to give him a good defence. Even if it was as direct in it’s criticism as PETA’s game, just because he’s legally probably covered, also doesn’t mean he can’t be taken to court, and unlike PETA, a mod-maker won’t have a fortune to burn on an expensive fair-use lawsuit, nonetheless if its a riskier or more complicated case.

PlzGivHugs ,

Personally, was not a fan. While the gameplay is similar to Mass Effect 1’s combat (already not a stand-out, even if not bad), it feels so much more tacked-together, like they hadn’t started figuring out the gameplay until the last minute. Abilities and anything beyond basic basic aiming is clunky, AI characters are outright suicidal and it all just feels samey to play. The setting was cool though, at least.

PlzGivHugs ,

Considering the state CS2 is in, and the lack of updates, its hardly surprising.

PlzGivHugs ,

The Royal Court granted the application on Friday and the funds will now be returned to Nigeria.

Where it will immediately be stolen again.

PlzGivHugs ,

Obviously relationships are messy and complicated and varied, but generally the big difference is a commitment to a future together. For example, committed partners might pool finances, or have a kid together - the sort of things that you plan on working together on the rest of your life.

PlzGivHugs ,

Chickadees are suprisingly friendly - or maybe just stupid. It takes almost nothing to get them acclimated enough to you to land on you. I used to feed them sunflower seeds out of my hand.

PlzGivHugs ,

Tl;dr: The recent 7.6 magnitude earthquake was slightly beyond the rated limits of one plant but the plant wasn’t running, and there was no damage done.

PlzGivHugs ,

Competition in terms of hardware is still competition, regardless of if Valve maintains their share in another market. Even then, SteamOS seems to be primarily an attempt to disrupt an even bigger, more powerful, and more malicious monopoly: Microsoft.

PlzGivHugs , (edited )

Again, that doesn’t mean they’re not competeing. Valve is using their presence in the online retailer market to help fund their hardware, but its not like they’re releasing them for free or anything and its not like most other hardware OEMs can’t do this. Companies like Asus and MSI aren’t small companies, they can and do use the same tactics if the market is worth it. Even assuming they’re released literally at-cost, Valve isn’t exactly an established OEM - other companies already have decades of experience, established computer manufacturing and logistics networks, Valve is the new disruptior trying to get established, not the other way around.

PlzGivHugs ,

AI struggles to make a complete, composite product. This is the limit on game creation as it is anyway, not number of assets available to steal/download/buy. There are thousands of options for near-complete games out there that can be easily customized further with the millions of art assets out there as it is.

Even then, Steam isn’t completely without moderation. It’s been possible to automate the creation of asset flips for a while (and we’ve seen it done plenty of mobile), but Steam makes some effort to remove the lowest quality games and make it ineffective to publish low-quality shovelware. AI is still quite a ways off from being even remotely faster or more effective than just buying a template and filling in the resources with cheap or free assets.

PlzGivHugs ,

The term was invented and popularized by file-sharers whose copyright indifference was frequently termed “stealing” - when it has little in common with theft of a physical object.

I could be wrong, but I thought the modern use of the term was coined and mostly popularized by Brady Haran (of Numberphile) and other YouTube creators, primarily using it to describe news sites taking and re-uploading their content. Still not usually claiming ownership, though.

PlzGivHugs ,

Or Pheonix Point, where Epic bought an kickstarter game that was funded under the promise of releasing on Steam, GOG and potentially other stores and promptly made it exclusive - and this was in the early days when their launcher/store was in a much worse state too.

PlzGivHugs OP ,

I don’t have an issue with downvotes on the face of it - I came from Reddit, and found their system pretty good. The issue I have is that it seems to be used as a “disagree” button a lot more here, which discourages discussion regardless of the quality. For example, even on this post, anyone who said they’ve had a negative experience has been downvoted.

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