5 ms·

Are we defending billionaires again?

by SSchick 8mo ago

preisschild 8mo ago
Gabe Newell? Yeah. He deserves it frankly.
- eloisant 8mo ago
  He's a great guy, but nobody deserves to be a billionaire. He would do great even if he was "just" a multi-millionaire.
  - preisschild 8mo ago
    I'd honestly much rather have him select where that money goes towards than many governments
    - eloisant 8mo ago
      In democracies money going to governments isn't sucked to some kind of vacuum. It's reinvested in infrastructure, social programs, investment programs, etc. The US would be better off if it had more money to invest in healthcare and education, and Gabe would still be fine living in a house worth a few millions instead of on a half billion yacht.
      - preisschild 8mo ago
        I live in a democracy (central Europe) and too much is spent on subsidizing farmers and useless social programs.
        account42 8mo ago
        You don't think food security is something a country should invest in? Sure, let's have everything we need to live be produced in China, what could possibly go wrong.
        wolvoleo 8mo ago
        Where do you think your food comes from? Why do you think we don't have to worry about someone shooting us for 20€? These things are not wasted money. They could be spent more efficiently, but I don't think they are a waste at all.
      - AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
        > In democracies money going to governments isn't sucked to some kind of vacuum. It's reinvested in infrastructure, social programs, investment programs, etc. In practice it mostly goes to other rich people/corporations and affluent retirees. Around half of federal revenues go to retirees (and disproportionately to the affluent ones), another trillion+ dollars goes to defense/VA contractors, another trillion dollars goes to interest (i.e. other rich people/corporations), and then all the rest of it combined is less than any one of those things individually.
        Hikikomori 8mo ago
        That the American system is broken doesn't mean we shouldn't have a government.
        AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
        If the money is currently going to the wrong places, and collecting more money only causes it to go to the same places, then you need to focus on getting the existing money to go to the right places and prove that you can actually accomplish that before "just collect more money" becomes anything resembling a reasonable proposal. At which point you wouldn't need to collect more money, because there is already scads of money being collected, it's just going to the wrong things.
    - TheDong 8mo ago
      This comes right after the news that Gabe purchased another Yacht (like his 6th or 7th?), so at least some fraction of the money is going towards normal billionaire stuff, which certainly doesn't help the homeless, or the even more oppressed Gamers.
- account42 8mo ago
  For what, being slightly less greedy than his peers? Steam is what normalized always online DRM in gaming. Steam and Valve games also normalized micro-transactions and gambling mechanics. The guy is far from being a saint.
  - wolvoleo 8mo ago
    Agreed, the DRM and the always online and forced updates have bothered me ever since steam became a big thing. I really like that on gog I can choose to install every version of a game ever released. So they can't remove content like music due to expired licenses etc.
  - pjmlp 8mo ago
    Also lets be honest, the main reason SteamOS exists is not to pay Windows licenses, that is all.
  - Hikikomori 8mo ago
    Steam does not require always online, you can login, download your game, then go offline. Steam also does not require DRM, developers can choose not to use it, if they do you can just copy the game install dir to a separate folder and run your game without steam. I guess you could say Valve made this easy, but its not like games didn't have DRM befores team or wouldn't have required always online without steam.
- vga42 8mo ago
  Gabe is pretty cool and Valve is an amazing company that has done great things for both PC and Linux gaming. But this is not enough to counter the absolute shitshow that is USA right now. But hey, they have midterms coming up this year. That's a great opportunity to redeem some of their earlier sanity. That is, if the democracy still exists then. It's not just the left that is worried -- many american centrists have started to wonder. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-trump-maga-ice/685751/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-tr... -- https://archive.is/Maalh https://archive.is/Maalh
  - niek_pas 8mo ago
    Man, that is a really fucking great article. Thanks for sharing.
- MrBuddyCasino 8mo ago
  The moment Gabe bites the dust is when suddenly a lot of things become way shittier.

Are we defending billionaires again?

by SSchick 8mo ago

Are we defending billionaires again?

preisschild 8mo ago

Gabe Newell? Yeah. He deserves it frankly.

eloisant 8mo ago
He's a great guy, but nobody deserves to be a billionaire. He would do great even if he was "just" a multi-millionaire.
- preisschild 8mo ago
  I'd honestly much rather have him select where that money goes towards than many governments
  - eloisant 8mo ago
    In democracies money going to governments isn't sucked to some kind of vacuum. It's reinvested in infrastructure, social programs, investment programs, etc. The US would be better off if it had more money to invest in healthcare and education, and Gabe would still be fine living in a house worth a few millions instead of on a half billion yacht.
    - preisschild 8mo ago
      I live in a democracy (central Europe) and too much is spent on subsidizing farmers and useless social programs.
      - account42 8mo ago
        You don't think food security is something a country should invest in? Sure, let's have everything we need to live be produced in China, what could possibly go wrong.
      - wolvoleo 8mo ago
        Where do you think your food comes from? Why do you think we don't have to worry about someone shooting us for 20€? These things are not wasted money. They could be spent more efficiently, but I don't think they are a waste at all.
    - AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
      > In democracies money going to governments isn't sucked to some kind of vacuum. It's reinvested in infrastructure, social programs, investment programs, etc. In practice it mostly goes to other rich people/corporations and affluent retirees. Around half of federal revenues go to retirees (and disproportionately to the affluent ones), another trillion+ dollars goes to defense/VA contractors, another trillion dollars goes to interest (i.e. other rich people/corporations), and then all the rest of it combined is less than any one of those things individually.
      - Hikikomori 8mo ago
        That the American system is broken doesn't mean we shouldn't have a government.
        AnthonyMouse 8mo ago
        If the money is currently going to the wrong places, and collecting more money only causes it to go to the same places, then you need to focus on getting the existing money to go to the right places and prove that you can actually accomplish that before "just collect more money" becomes anything resembling a reasonable proposal. At which point you wouldn't need to collect more money, because there is already scads of money being collected, it's just going to the wrong things.
  - TheDong 8mo ago
    This comes right after the news that Gabe purchased another Yacht (like his 6th or 7th?), so at least some fraction of the money is going towards normal billionaire stuff, which certainly doesn't help the homeless, or the even more oppressed Gamers.
account42 8mo ago
For what, being slightly less greedy than his peers? Steam is what normalized always online DRM in gaming. Steam and Valve games also normalized micro-transactions and gambling mechanics. The guy is far from being a saint.
- wolvoleo 8mo ago
  Agreed, the DRM and the always online and forced updates have bothered me ever since steam became a big thing. I really like that on gog I can choose to install every version of a game ever released. So they can't remove content like music due to expired licenses etc.
- pjmlp 8mo ago
  Also lets be honest, the main reason SteamOS exists is not to pay Windows licenses, that is all.
- Hikikomori 8mo ago
  Steam does not require always online, you can login, download your game, then go offline. Steam also does not require DRM, developers can choose not to use it, if they do you can just copy the game install dir to a separate folder and run your game without steam. I guess you could say Valve made this easy, but its not like games didn't have DRM befores team or wouldn't have required always online without steam.
vga42 8mo ago
Gabe is pretty cool and Valve is an amazing company that has done great things for both PC and Linux gaming. But this is not enough to counter the absolute shitshow that is USA right now. But hey, they have midterms coming up this year. That's a great opportunity to redeem some of their earlier sanity. That is, if the democracy still exists then. It's not just the left that is worried -- many american centrists have started to wonder. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-trump-maga-ice/685751/ https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/01/america-fascism-tr... -- https://archive.is/Maalh https://archive.is/Maalh
- niek_pas 8mo ago
  Man, that is a really fucking great article. Thanks for sharing.
MrBuddyCasino 8mo ago
The moment Gabe bites the dust is when suddenly a lot of things become way shittier.