I completely agree about supporting Wikipedia. I actually do donate to Wikipedia via subscription and recommend others do as well. Being able to just download Wikipedia is also just such a boon. That being said, Wikipedia is just that, a pedia, like an encyclopedia. It’s static knowledge. It can’t rephrase things or simplify them or provide more context than it already has. A phonebook to a phonecall.

I would love to see a breakthrough in energy solutions for high-processing, but I doubt I will in my lifetime, and am pessimistic about such advances even being possible.

Once both major world militaries and hobbists are using it, it’s jover. You can’t close Pandora’s Box. Whatever you want to call the current versions of “AI”, it’s only going to get better. Short of major world catastrophes, I expect it to drive not only technological advances but also energy/efficiency advances as well. The big internet conglomerates are already integrating it into search, and I fully expect within the next 5 years to have search transformed into an assistant-like chatbot (or something thereof).

I think it’s shortsighted not to see the potential of accumulating society’s knowledge and being able to present that to people in an understandable way.

I don’t expect it to happen overnight. I’m not expecting iRobot or Android levels of consciousness any time soon, but the world is progressing toward the automation of many things - driven by Capital(ism) - which is powerful in itself.

Operating in China and having 10% of your company publicly owned by an entity of the Chinese government are two different things

I don’t think it is. Steam operates in China and even allows China to censor the Steam store page and games as needed. Valve doesn’t take much issue bending over for China either in that regard. EGS and Steam are both Corporations and China is a large market.

And the cherry on top is their close relationship with tencent, aka one facet of the propaganda arm of the CCP.

I see this a lot and… do they though? From what I can tell, Steam also operates in China. Sure, Tencent invested in EGS, but not in any kind of controlling stake. Tencent does invest in tech and EGS is probably a solid investment.

I don’t think the GoG numbers matter, and I do think Steam’s days are numbered if they continue on their current course (like, within the next 50 years, not tomorrow, but in my lifetime). GoGs DRM free and game archive mantra is going to give them longevity. The World continues to digitize, and eventually, society is going to have to grapple with Internet privacy and digital ownership. Steam on the otherhand is catering to the same crowd EGS is at a 30% tax. No doubt Steam has the numbers, no doubt they will for awhile, but I do think they will eventually run out of Steam if they don’t invest in a more sustainable business model.

To be clear, I don’t hate Steam or am in any way rooting against Steam, this is just my PoV in comparing their business model to EGS who has primarily invested in their UE5 engine. Valve on the otherthand does well with hardware, Steamdeck and SteamVR I think are both solid.

I also don’t believe that EGS is as bad as a company as people make them out to be.

Could you point to these games or any documentation on how a developer may reach out to Valve regarding developing in the Source 2 Engine?

I was able to find sources for the Source engine, but not Source 2 which Valve has been primarily making games on in the last 10 years. In any case, neither are as widely supported or available as UE5.

I find it strange that you think GOG has a better business model than Steam and will be more competitive long-term. Why do you think so?

Steam is it’s own DRM system. Control (2020) is a perfect example. You can’t run that from your steamapps folder due to Steams DRM to verify a purchase license. GoG on the other hand has the same game, usually cheaper, an runs entirely independent of any platform. Not every Steam game is like this, but most major releases are.

The nice thing about a “Free” Engine is that anyone can pick it up. This means the more people pick it up, the more tutorials, the more docs, the most common issues are found, the more common solutions, etc. So while you believe that performance is an issue, it really is one of the better available engines out there and it can only get better. Again, Steam does not let other people use their Engine - what’s the next best free thing - Unity?

A lot of Steam Stans here.

Here’s some neat facts:

• Epic Games is the same Source Developers behind Unreal Engine 5. UE5 is arguably the best game engine right now for modern graphics.
• Epic Games Unreal Engine 5 is Free to start developing and only kicks in commission after X% of sales.
• Both Steam and GoG take a ~30% commission on all game sales.
• Steam games aren’t DRM-free (neither is EGS, but 0% + the driving force behind UE5?)
• The Steam Source 2 Engine is proprietary; only their team can develop Source games.

It sucks that EGS is looking to suck up games, customers, data, etc. Their App / Interface also kinda sucks. UE5 on the other hand kinda rules, and Steam has been quietly collecting cheques while their Source Engine has collected dust. Almost all my games are on Steam but the ones I want to keep I’ve been getting through GoG.

GoG I think has a solid business model of DRM free games and game preservation. EGS is leading in one of the industry’s most innovative and developer-accessible game engines for the foreseeable future. Steam is going to have to make some tough decisions I think to compete as time goes on.

As always, Simpsons did it…

deleted by creator

Maybe, but if we convince enough people to leave their homes, maybe we can be loud enough to call for change…

We really need to tax the mega rich. I compiled this list of numbers after the President speech last night, it’s kinda wild:

$            99,000 - National Median Income is less than $100 thousand.
$         1,000,000 - 1 Million Dollars.
$       485,000,000 - Cut Funds to International Relations and whatever.
$     1,000,000,000 - 1 Billion Dollars. There are over 400 Billionaires in America.
$    22,000,000,000 - Cut Funds to American Social Serivces through HHS (Human & Health Services).
$   244,000,000,000 - Elon Musks Net Worth.
$ 1,620,000,000,000 - 1 Trillion Dollars - Meta (Facebooks) Corporate Net Worth.
$19,900,000,000,000 - The U.S. National Debt in Jan 2017 (Obama to Trump)
$27,800,000,000,000 - The U.S. National Debt in Jan 2021 (Trump to Biden)
$36,000,000,000,000 - The U.S. National Debt in Jan 2025 (Biden to Trump)

(List of Mentioned Trump Cuts)

Imagine traveling down a liminal space of tubes and the only signs are nondescript TLDs.

No sir, I don’t like it.

What’s the explanation? AWS sounds like ad trackage.