5 ms·

They can opt out like you can opt out of using a phone. Sure, you won't die, but you won't have much of a social life either.

by stavros 9mo ago

chii 9mo ago
You do know a phone has a browser installed right?
- stavros 9mo ago
  Really? Where can I see all the games this "browser" has, ranked by rating?
  - its-summertime 9mo ago
    Due to the web's distributed nature, "all" is impossible, but there are plenty of ranked-by-rating lists of web games out there. I don't want to be spammy so I'm only gonna link one of them that comes to mind, but there are a lot of other listings you can find at any search engine of your choice! https://www.kongregate.com/ https://www.kongregate.com/ (All is impossible for both iOS and Android also: Games that don't get updated, games that get unlisted due to having a link to their own website with the wrong phrasing next to it, games that get unlisted due to the app store owner not being satisfied with the description page for the game, regional restrictions, requests from governments to remove socially unacceptable apps, etc)
    - stavros 9mo ago
      My point was that the web has orders of magnitude worse discoverability than the stores, otherwise everyone would obviously just publish on the web. Saying "oh just do the thing you aren't doing" shows that one of two things is true: Either every app developer currently doesn't know the web exists, or everyone else knows something you don't.
      - its-summertime 9mo ago
        I'm aware of your point. I disagree with it. A lot of companies seemingly have found it viable to have first-class web apps as part of their lineup; Off the top of my head: Uber and Uber Eats, KFC, Patreon, (And every single competitor to Patreon), every single mini-app in China (where discoverability is much higher), etc etc. There are more app-having companies that have web apps than not
        stavros 9mo ago
        The original point wasn't that it's viable to also have a web app, but whether it's viable to only have a web app. How many of the companies you mentioned don't have mobile apps at all?
        its-summertime 9mo ago
        Of the patreon alternatives (dependent on content), Substack, X, Youtube, BuyMeACoffee, all have fan-side apps. kofi, Fourthwall, Squarespace, all the NSFW-centric alternatives, do not. Of the mini-apps in China, I don't know, I was never exposed to the existence of their non-mini-app counterparts.
      - ndriscoll 9mo ago
        Your point doesn't make any sense. The only reason Apple's store can have "all" the apps is that they are a monopolist and take steps to disallow anyone from selling apps through any other channel, so there cannot possibly be multiple storefronts with different selections like their is in any other context. On Android for example, Play Store does not have "all" apps, or even most apps that I have on my phone. Because Play Store has mostly garbage. It's a surprise to no one that Steam's storefront has a different selection from Amazon or Epic or GoG in the same way that no one is surprised that Walmart and Target carry different items. So "discovery" in your sense is basically "I ignore everything that isn't presented by this particular storefront", i.e. a complete lack of discovery.
        stavros 9mo ago

They can opt out like you can opt out of using a phone. Sure, you won't die, but you won't have much of a social life either.

by stavros 9mo ago

They can opt out like you can opt out of using a phone. Sure, you won't die, but you won't have much of a social life either.

chii 9mo ago

You do know a phone has a browser installed right?

stavros 9mo ago
Really? Where can I see all the games this "browser" has, ranked by rating?
- its-summertime 9mo ago
  Due to the web's distributed nature, "all" is impossible, but there are plenty of ranked-by-rating lists of web games out there. I don't want to be spammy so I'm only gonna link one of them that comes to mind, but there are a lot of other listings you can find at any search engine of your choice! https://www.kongregate.com/ https://www.kongregate.com/ (All is impossible for both iOS and Android also: Games that don't get updated, games that get unlisted due to having a link to their own website with the wrong phrasing next to it, games that get unlisted due to the app store owner not being satisfied with the description page for the game, regional restrictions, requests from governments to remove socially unacceptable apps, etc)
  - stavros 9mo ago
    My point was that the web has orders of magnitude worse discoverability than the stores, otherwise everyone would obviously just publish on the web. Saying "oh just do the thing you aren't doing" shows that one of two things is true: Either every app developer currently doesn't know the web exists, or everyone else knows something you don't.
    - its-summertime 9mo ago
      I'm aware of your point. I disagree with it. A lot of companies seemingly have found it viable to have first-class web apps as part of their lineup; Off the top of my head: Uber and Uber Eats, KFC, Patreon, (And every single competitor to Patreon), every single mini-app in China (where discoverability is much higher), etc etc. There are more app-having companies that have web apps than not
      - stavros 9mo ago
        The original point wasn't that it's viable to also have a web app, but whether it's viable to only have a web app. How many of the companies you mentioned don't have mobile apps at all?
        its-summertime 9mo ago
        Of the patreon alternatives (dependent on content), Substack, X, Youtube, BuyMeACoffee, all have fan-side apps. kofi, Fourthwall, Squarespace, all the NSFW-centric alternatives, do not. Of the mini-apps in China, I don't know, I was never exposed to the existence of their non-mini-app counterparts.
    - ndriscoll 9mo ago
      Your point doesn't make any sense. The only reason Apple's store can have "all" the apps is that they are a monopolist and take steps to disallow anyone from selling apps through any other channel, so there cannot possibly be multiple storefronts with different selections like their is in any other context. On Android for example, Play Store does not have "all" apps, or even most apps that I have on my phone. Because Play Store has mostly garbage. It's a surprise to no one that Steam's storefront has a different selection from Amazon or Epic or GoG in the same way that no one is surprised that Walmart and Target carry different items. So "discovery" in your sense is basically "I ignore everything that isn't presented by this particular storefront", i.e. a complete lack of discovery.
      - stavros 9mo ago