My understanding is that this is a rage-baitey misunderstanding.
Yes, they are renaming the base game (to improve search results, it is speculated) but otherwise this is more of a soft-reboot, a free DLC(for owners of current DLC) with some core mechanic overhauls.
It’s not even going to stop being an MMORPG, the marketing team was just allergic to the acronym for some reason.
In fact, it was confirmed that for base game players without DLC, this is all just a big nothing. We’ll still keep our progress and data, just not get any new DLC content(obviously), though the rebalancing will still trickle down.
New World isn’t shutting down, it’s getting a new DLC and a less generic name, the marketing guys just tried to oversell it like a new game. Guess they earned their bonus because everyone is talking about it now…
Genuine curiosity…what are some proposed solutions we think Valve can implement to solve this crisis?
I ask because the line about VAC being a joke gave me a thought…VAC is such a joke because it is so simple and un-invasive. Do we really want VAC “upgraded” to the level of more effective Anti-cheats, where it cuts down the bots but is now a monitoring kernel service? Just a few weeks ago people were in an uproar about the new Vanguard anti-cheat…do we want that for Valve? Or do we think they can do it a better way?
As an aside, honestly in my mind community servers with a cooperative ban list plugin might be the most effective solution of all…it would still be a game of whack a mole since they can always churn out new accounts, but that’s what gives me pause about other solutions because the only real solutions to slow cheaters start to sound like charging for the game(to make account creation costly) or implementing a bulletproof system of hardware bans, which means invasive solutions that can be certain they aren’t virtual machines or such.
It’s basically docker compose in a website, and you can just decide one day to turn it off and use the compose files directly. No proprietary databases or other weirdness.
That’s right. Had Steam Deck run Windows, or even for those that install Windows and join the survey, they would be lumped in with the Windows metric and nobody would care as it would be a drop in the ocean.
Linux is the underdog, always has been, maybe always will be. So any uptick in metrics is far more significant than a twitch in the Windows numbers and gets a more exciting response. I think the problem is many don’t see it as true adoption when Steam Deck has such a console-like experience for a lot of users…for the naysayers it is like including PlayStations in the survey and saying FreeBSD users are everywhere. Technically yes, but also no, right?
That doesn’t make a great example because you don’t even have the option to exit PlayStation and use BSD, but I hope it gets the idea across.
I think it’s because generally speaking, thanks to the efforts of Valve with game mode etc to create the console like experience, many that have a Steam Deck don’t “use” Linux…they use Steam, they click Install and they click Play and that’s it.
Like a non-profit, with tax breaks and the ability to earn enough to operate, but little more than that or the taxes come back with a vengeance.
Everything needs money to run but when there’s the option to shovel out whatever bait it takes to chase the dragon of uncapped earnings, they’re not in it to keep us informed, just to keep us spending.
It’s very likely something like this will only exist in the Bedrock version, so there’s that. And even if they also put it in Java, there’ll be a mod to remove it very, very quickly.
I agree cash is the right idea, for now, but can you say for sure cash payment will be possible forever, or even the next 50 years? Wouldn’t it be better to blunder around with new ideas while cash is still a good fallback? Not saying I like crypto, and the cost on resources and the environment sucks bad, but I can at least appreciate them trying something. Now we just need to come up with sustainable options…
I get that cash seems a pretty durable idea, and it’s lasted for hundreds of years, but it did so before the massive societal turn towards technology we’ve made in the last 30 years.
Do you game at all? Gaming on Linux has made great strides, be be fair, but for a lot of titles you still need to consider a dual boot of some form of Windows, thanks to over the top anti-cheat, DRM, and developer support.
Absolutely. You can even throw the telephone in there. At the start it was a great way to reach Grandma across the country or the doctor across town. Now most of the traffic on it is robots and extortionists trying to fool Grammy into giving her money for some lie or another.
I don’t even answer my phone for numbers anymore…be on a short named contact list, leave a voicemail reminding me you are someone I should put on that list, or nothing doing. Sucks for anyone putting me down as an emergency contact though…
And I feel TV being 25% ads is being pretty conservative…oh, but streaming! Swap the ads and channels you don’t want for a higher per-channel price and no ads…oh, wait, now you get a higher price and the ads!
There’s a whole lot going towards ending the web as we know it.
Censorship, consolidation, AI, greed, to name a few.
Why, I couldn’t even get into the article before it faded into a paywall.
I get people want to be paid but splashing cash on every page is not the internet as I knew it.
Getting to this article from a social site(Lemmy) was also not how I knew it, that’s the consolidation part. After MySpace, in the era of Facebook pages it started. Less personal websites, less websites in general, just get everything from Facebook and Reddit.
And sure, AI is also going to water down content, with prompts written by cheap corporate lackeys that we will still have to pay subs for after a social site sends us there.
And then there’s also the censorship and laws coming out to restrict what’s available. First to protect the children while they are young, then more to “protect” them as they get older, and eventually they will know nothing but state approved media.
To quote the article,
It’s the End of the Web as We Know It.
And I’m old and bitter about it. It had good promise, but enshittification took hold as was inevitable.
I wonder if it can be detected by the streaming apps. Some of them are really anal about ensuring you can’t record or whatever, and don’t work if it doesn’t get all the HDMI security stuff just right. I’ve had issues with bad cables and my portable projector(Anker) has to side load an alt version of Netflix because they couldn’t/wouldn’t get the device to pass Netflix “certification”.
I’m guessing this means new partnerships and money changing hands, or nobody on a Roku can watch Netflix anymore, or they put these ads at a higher level that bypasses whatever security/DRM Netflix uses. Probably the last one, but if Netflix thinks they will lost money to this they’ll probably just pull their certification anyway.
People have been defending a lot of abusive practices in a lot of fields of late, it’s not unique to gaming or even digital media.
I also think you narrow your scope too tightly, Valve is hardly the sole offender and this post is picking on them particularly, not the industry as a whole. Valve may have been first, may be the biggest, but they are not the only and frankly if it were up to the publishers I think it could be so much worse. And once you find that nuance, it’s hard to blame Valve alone, and you look to see how they may be putting the brakes on it getting worse. Do not ignore what little is good simply because it is not perfect and all. I feel you, man, but I’m not sure what to do about any of it.
I could abstain from (Steam/EA/Ubisoft) video game purchases but, frankly I already do that. Work doesn’t leave me as much time as my youth…
Back to piracy, sure, all DRM is broken eventually, hell even Denuvo for a time, but…Valve makes it too easy IMO. They could be constantly working on improving the DRM, keep the pirates on their toes having to put real work in and per-game unique hacks but, they don’t. I have it on good authority that bypassing Steam DRM is not only easy, but the same methods from years ago work today. They are certainly pulling their punches on this, probably because Gaben is willing to die on the hill that piracy is a service issue only, and will not give it any mind.
Some of your Valve supporters may actually be closeted pirates happy with the status quo, I think, because of that.
I think we need to take that fight right to the top then. Until the DMCA is challenged, this is our lot, as that is the Act used to justify and preserve DRM of all kinds, even internationally.
Of course there’s also piracy in which case Valve has actually been a tremendous help. A majority of releases it seems are actually just Steam bypasses, because Valve has made a majority of developers content with just Steam DRM, and has done nothing to combat the issue. Now there’s Denuvo to fight that but that’s not Valve special…