dingus

dingus, 2 years ago

My old person trait is that none of the things mentioned in the linked image happened on accident.

They happened because capitalism doesn’t give a fuck about anything except bleeding as much money as conceivably possible out of each and every human.

1. Apps allow companies to suck more data out of your device than a website, allowing them to sell more of your data and… make more money.
2. Video games needing access to the internet is simply Digital Rights Management and a way to prevent piracy and… make more money. Remember, most companies view something pirated as a “lost sale,” not that you would have never purchased it to begin with. As Gabe Newell once said:

“We think there is a fundamental misconception about piracy. Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem,” he said. “If a pirate offers a product anywhere in the world, 24 x 7, purchasable from the convenience of your personal computer, and the legal provider says the product is region-locked, will come to your country 3 months after the US release, and can only be purchased at a brick and mortar store, then the pirate’s service is more valuable."

3. This one speaks for itself. Being able to be in control of the products you buy is freedom. Having products controlled remotely by a corporation is giving them carte blanche to make more money off of you.
4. Removing accessible customer service means more people will just give up on trying to get their problem solved, effectively allowing the company to steal from people and… shocker… make more money.

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I agree, in theory, in respect to ghosting, but we live in a society that teaches us to be isolated, and doesn’t teach interpersonal skills unless the interpersonal skill is “Fuck you, got mine.” (which is, not surprisingly, a thing about making more money.)

In other words, these aren’t old people opinions. These are “I’m not gonna let capitalism absolutely fuck me endlessly” opinions.

dingus, 2 years ago

Demos used to be everywhere back in the day! I think they have a huge impact, because it’s a way to try to play a game without dumping all the money on it without knowing what the gameplay is like and if its actually fun.

When I was a kid, DOOM having the first episode of the game available as shareware was huge and I used to walk to my friends place after school and watch him play until he would get bored and let me play for a while.

From an old interview in 1999 with John Carmack about this very subject (emphasis mine):

Carmack: DOOM 2 was explicitly a commercial release. We sort of half heartedly did some shareware distribution with Quake, but I think the industry has almost unanimously decided that the three or so level demo is the best test vehicle.

A lot of people consider themselves to have “finished DOOM” when they just finished the shareware episode.

dingus, 2 years ago

Lemminkäinen?