Why the fuck is Steam still in Russia?
Gabe needs НКВД money.
CSGO trolls from Russia probably make up like 20% of their total revenue.
💲💲💲
Why are they still in America?
‘This isn’t “wokeness”, it’s basic human rights and equality and nothing more,’ he added. ‘If Steam can’t support free speech of LGBTQ+ people, then at the very least they should be transparent about this.’
What a bizarre response. Neither Roskomnadzor nor Valve claimed this had anything to do with “‘wokeness,’” and Steam was in fact transparent about this.
I don’t really get what anyone expects Valve to do here other than comply with the law. Still, I’m surprised they’re even able to operate in Russia given all the sanctions.
Pulling out of Russia entirely is an option. It’s not like they’re relying on them to stay in business.
Well, given the sanctions, this ought to be a given. I don’t understand how valve can operate in Russia at all tbh.
The sanctions did impact Steam’s operations in Russia. Russian users currently can’t use any payment methods to buy games aside from Steam Wallet funds.
Then yeah, I’m surprised valve is cooperating. I suppose they are planning for the future, should the sanctions end.
It is, but the alternative is that everything would get pirated instead. And like Trump, Russia is fishing for a “woke” escape goat to continue to come up with excuses to shut down exposure outside of the state controlled media, which Steam provides.
If Steam goes out of Russia, there will be a state sanctioned pirate streaming service for games, and it will include spyware. Steam isn’t just one entity, it is an entity for every country it decides to operate in.
Still, I’m not going to complete defend Valve on this, but at least they aren’t pulling a “many gamers complained about this and we listened” card. They also didn’t remove the game from the store in its entirely just because Russia was complaining, but limited access to it locally.
Maybe Valve should get out of Russia, but I don’t see this negatively affecting Russians as much as it will make the bubble they live in even more closed off. VPNs would be an alternative if Russia wasn’t criminalizing them.
They could just not comply? What’s Russia gonna do, nuke Gaben’s yacht?
I don’t really get what anyone expects Valve to do here other than comply with the law.
Lol.
Are you sure about that? Apple.
Google, fair enough, but I don’t know to what extent they actually do business in Russia. Can you buy a pixel in Russia?
I can’t answer if Pussiansinten can buy a pixel or not. But I guess even Tim Cook needs НКВД money.
There’s a thin red line that tie both Putin’s oligarchs and Trump’s oligarchs: “wokeness” is a concept fabricated by the latter but is completely compliant with Russian’s 2006 federal law. They can’t formalized that freedom of people doesn’t matter, they need to make-up a blurry concept of “tradition” and a vague concept of something that may corrupt the aforementioned joke (“traditional values”: the one between the traditional human ape rape cave and matrimonial rites after human ape pack raided another pack and took their females)
I mean on the literal level, “‘wokeness’” was used quotatively by Masters, as though somebody else had actually said that exact word. This is what strikes me as bizarre.
But also, the ‘woke’ thing is a new layer to the culture war that emerged in the late '10s. It was precipitated by similar disagreements over issues of social justice and affirmative action, of course, but not to the same extent or precision. However, Russia is acting consistently with how they acted a decade ago. So this is my weak argument that ‘wokeness’ is indeed not relevant here even in concept.
“Non-traditional”? Homosexuality has been around and recorded since the Romans and even prior. 2000+ years isn’t traditional? That’s just as long as Christianity.
It was illegal in the UK till the mid 60s, Russia is still holding out
Nah, they actively got worse as authoritarian governments are wont to do.
Non-traditional as to the religion. Orthodox catholic church is fucked up in head, and lately been standing on a wrong side of many things. Even going so far to in-fight with each other for their statements. They are like The Mouth of Sauron - they preach on behalf of government and lately it feels that they spit to vile shit out of their mouth just to please their government.
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This sucks.
However, I think it is important for Steam to continue operating in Russia: by seeing the living standards of other people across the world, younger Russians will develop those same expectations. Everyday things like furnishings, food, how people treat each other, and so forth. When the Russia we know dies, it will be important for the Russians of the future to have ideas and desires to drive them forward. Also, Russian authorities won’t be able to fully inspect ALL media for LGBTQ+, which means that people will see something that they “shouldn’t”.
In the long run, the media that people consume will determine how they feel their nation should become. It is my hope that Putin’s Russia will die in the coming years, and a better nation born from the ashes.
Everyday things like furnishings, food, how people treat each other, and so forth.
Russia is not a post-apocalyptic hellscape (yet). They have pretty much the same food and furnishing as anyone else in the west. And learning about how people across the world treat each other from video games sounds like a horrible idea.
Russians have been consuming US culture slop for a long while. Turns out, it doesn’t help.
there’s also a troubling trend in the gaming industry for the very most right wing propaganda to be promoted and pushed alongside gaming content. steam is not the true exposure to liberating ideology that will wake the chauvinists up. far more likely to make them go, “see, this is how the world works.”
A: Videogames are not just made by the US. As it turns out, Europe, Asia, Africa, and many other places create stuff. It is a way for people to explore other cultures, without needing a plane ticket nor permission from governments.
B: Russia isn’t known for its general prosperity for the ordinary person. Also, it is in a state of war, which means less of everything that people like. Constant reminders of what isn’t there, may speed an end to Russia’s aggression. Hopefully, things will go Nepalese.
C: Be it books, games, or movies, the fundamental crux in many of them revolves around the interactions of people. A major element of videogames is helping out people and being helped in turn, trading things, meeting folks with different ideas and appearances, ect. These are good things for people to learn.
I wonder if the same people who say Steam should pull out of Russia would agree that Steam should also pull out from the US. I mean, that’s what should happen given the basis of the arguments being used, right?
If the US opposes values Valve has then they should.
I’m not going to pretend Valve cares about these causes though.
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Well the US is kinda preparing for war with a foreign nation under false pretenses rn. Venezuela specifically.
And the whole thing where they are trying to dial back rights for everyone but rich white men.
Well definitely that too, I just mentioned the part that’s also the pretense in case of Russia. Of course Russia is also trying to dial back rights for everyone but rich men (white is default there anyway).
I can actually say I’m not in the US market myself, largely because of the recent developments - there’s a type of incredibly niche enterprise-focused software for a particular industry in the US market only, that I’m very familiar with, could (with help of course) build a significantly better competitor than any of the incumbents, and best of all, the current players all are incredibly expensive, so I could charge half, or even less, and have no trouble paying staff. But I’m just not doing it, despite it being a potential ticket to becoming a multimillionaire later in life.
Trouble is, among the people I’d have to move to the US with myself, and whose help I’d like in the project (so family members who’d live with me and potential engineers to help me), there are some women and LGBTQ folk. We’re all white so ICE isn’t as much of an issue as it would be for someone of darker complexion, but the whole eroding women’s and LGBTQ folks’ rights issue would be a problem for those close to me, therefore a problem for me.
To be fair, it would’ve been extremely challenging anyway. I have connections in the target industry and I’ve worked towards building an MVP, but the financial aspect of it all is problematic. Money to get certified for a bunch of things, money to hire people because one man can never do everything alone, etc. Can’t get small business loans in the US as a foreigner anymore, etc.
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Just inspecting the double standard often seen in issues like these. Russia bad Amerikkka good etc.
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Have you seen the news the last year? Pretty much all companies are cozy now with the Dementia Don administration banning LGBTQ stuff noticeably past simply “games”.
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I mean, if you want to operate in a country, you follow their laws when in the country?
How about having some fucking backbone?
That’s how to cease operating in a country.
Valve should cease operating in Russia.
Also, Valve with every other company should already have been ordered to stop operating in Russia by their respective countries.
I don’t disagree.
So?
It’s not as simple as about backbone. I agree that ethics are a good reason to stop doing business with an individual but if a company like Valve were to pull out of every country based on ethical matters, they’d need to found their own country.
Not every country wants people like me dead.
Not every country has decent civic rights. Yet Steam doesn’t operate in only 4 and these are the ones US has issued a ban to trade with.
And as we are on topic of pulling out of operating in Russia, many western companies did so, yet since initial “withdrawal” in 2022 some had reinstated their businesses. And noone is taking about it. 🤷
Would that really be a bad thing?
Steam is one service Russians can’t easily replace. If their backwards policies prevent it from operating there, maybe they would take steps to change them.
If they don’t like it, they can leave Russia.
Generally yes, but legality is not ethics.
Where do you draw that line?
I agree with folks that they should just pull out of the country and tell customers its because of their countries laws preventing them from doing business there.
So, human rights stuff aside, how/why the fuck do we need a genderised solitaire?
Because the dev wanted to make it and other people wanted to play it.
Its a free card game with paid or grind to get skins. One of those skins is a rainbow camelion.
Someone wanted to play a game like it, and someone else coded it and decided to sell it. Capitalism. You may as well ask the question, “Why does porn exist.” People can’t have sex whenever they want, with whoever they want, so a wank with some NSFW material solves the problem. A demand results in someone realizing they can make money meeting the demand.
It’s called “complying with the law”.
Strange then that Google and Apple didn’t take it down. Valve made a choice and not a good one.
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It’s just sad.
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If I’m looking to buy a game online, the prices are comprable and one is DRM-free on GoG, I go with GoG everytime.
