5 ms·

Should we stop playing video games altogether then? If you stick to PC instead, you’re still at the mercy of platforms like Steam. They can, and will, remove g

Should we stop playing video games altogether then? If you stick to PC instead, you’re still at the mercy of platforms like Steam. They can, and will, remove games over time. GTA being a great example.

hananova 3y ago
As far as I'm aware Steam has never removed a game. They have unlisted games for several reasons, but that has never affected previous purchases.
theodric 3y ago
I don't know. Maybe. I've gone back and forth on this many times. Wanting to play a video game, and having to learn how to free up enough conventional memory in DOS that I could do so without giving up sound and joystick control, was really my entry into tech. I can't say my life would have been better without them. On the other hand, they're as much of a time sink as you allow them to be, and in the last decade are increasingly also vying to be an unlimited money sink in the form of microtransactions, lootboxes, gimped free-to-play (or even pay-to-play!) with progression held back without paid boosts, etc. Should we want to engage with such dark patterns? Once I got into Linux in the mid 90s, and especially once I really bought into the whole FL/OSS-as-an-ethos activist/evangelist stuff as a late-teen, my gaming options became quite limited. I spent a long time saying playing video games was bad, and a sign of poor life choices. I dialed back my rhetoric as I entered my late 30s, and I own and occasionally use a Steam Deck now. I even "own" Diablo 4 - failing to take my own advice here - but I do find it difficult to convince myself to invest time in what is essentially an MMO that will probably be reset or switched off at some point. There's no sense of permanence, and I have no faith that MicrosoftActivisionBlizzard will keep running D4 services for the next 25 years the way Blizzard did for Diablo II. But I've got the farm now, and that will outlast me, so whatever. "Touch grass" as the kids say, but as a(n a)vocation. That's certainly more than you wanted to read. Sorry.
- honkycat 3y ago
  Games are better than they ever have been before, by FAR. You just have to look past the mainstream junk. Design has gotten a lot better and they have figured out ways to add fun progression to arcade style games.
Liftyee 3y ago
Plenty of DRM-free marketplaces like GOG or itch.io are available. No restrictions, play it however you want.

hananova 3y ago

As far as I'm aware Steam has never removed a game. They have unlisted games for several reasons, but that has never affected previous purchases.

theodric 3y ago

I don't know. Maybe. I've gone back and forth on this many times. Wanting to play a video game, and having to learn how to free up enough conventional memory in DOS that I could do so without giving up sound and joystick control, was really my entry into tech. I can't say my life would have been better without them. On the other hand, they're as much of a time sink as you allow them to be, and in the last decade are increasingly also vying to be an unlimited money sink in the form of microtransactions, lootboxes, gimped free-to-play (or even pay-to-play!) with progression held back without paid boosts, etc. Should we want to engage with such dark patterns? Once I got into Linux in the mid 90s, and especially once I really bought into the whole FL/OSS-as-an-ethos activist/evangelist stuff as a late-teen, my gaming options became quite limited. I spent a long time saying playing video games was bad, and a sign of poor life choices. I dialed back my rhetoric as I entered my late 30s, and I own and occasionally use a Steam Deck now. I even "own" Diablo 4 - failing to take my own advice here - but I do find it difficult to convince myself to invest time in what is essentially an MMO that will probably be reset or switched off at some point. There's no sense of permanence, and I have no faith that MicrosoftActivisionBlizzard will keep running D4 services for the next 25 years the way Blizzard did for Diablo II. But I've got the farm now, and that will outlast me, so whatever. "Touch grass" as the kids say, but as a(n a)vocation. That's certainly more than you wanted to read. Sorry.

honkycat 3y ago
Games are better than they ever have been before, by FAR. You just have to look past the mainstream junk. Design has gotten a lot better and they have figured out ways to add fun progression to arcade style games.

Liftyee 3y ago

Plenty of DRM-free marketplaces like GOG or itch.io are available. No restrictions, play it however you want.