Russia expanding Ukraine chemical weapons use, allege European spy agencies | Russia-Ukraine war News
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July 5 : Map or Globe
“Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade” (1989)
Indy is always jetting around the world on an animated map AND the movie also features Henry’s map of the canyon of the crescent moon
#Bales2025FilmChallenge #IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade #FilmMastodon #Movies
Searchers sweep Texas Hill Country for child campers after flash floods
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2025/0705/Searchers-sweep-Texas-Hill-Country-for-child-campers-after-flash-floods?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into The American Story @the-american-story-csmonitor
Searchers sweep Texas Hill Country for child campers after flash floods
More than two dozen children from a girls’ camp and many others are still missing while search and rescue efforts were continuing in the Texas Hill Country. Authorities say more than 1,000 rescuers are on the ground.Jim Vertuno, Julio Cortez, and John Seewer (The Christian Science Monitor)
Horoscope for Sunday, July 06, 2025
https://chicago.suntimes.com/horoscopes/2025/07/06/horoscopes-today-sunday-july-6-2025?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub
Posted into Horoscopes @horoscopes-ChicagoSunTimes
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People can swim in Paris’ Seine after 100 years of too much pollution, it is now safe again.
youtu.be/uk2WPmCdesU
So much can be done with just enough will.
#environment #goodNews #hope
#SilentSunday
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BLAHBYLON'S MUSIC SELECTIONS
Paul Davis - I Go Crazy
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6 July 1939 | French Jewish girl, Huguette Gutmajnster, was born in Paris.
In August 1942 she was deported to #Auschwitz from Drancy. She was murdered in a gas chamber after the arrival selection.
PirateSoftware Leaves OffBrand Games as Stop Killing Games Reaches Goal
Pirate Software Leaves Off Brand Games as Stop Killing Games Reaches Goal
This article shares Pirate Software's announcement about leaving Offbrand Games following the drama and controversy surrounding the Stop Killing Games initiative.Daniyal Malik (Sports Illustrated)
not reading / watching a play by Beckett means you're uncultured
Is there a community for Shit Lemmy Says?
Not that I'm aware of, but if you wanna start one, it might be a good idea to not fill it with fabricated quotes that remove all the surrounding context.
Maybe you could go back to reddit, make a subreddit entirely devoted to shit stirring and drama there?
Seems like a better fit to me.
His defense of Godot and his stance on the attacks, seem very reasonable and correct: , Clip 2. Nothing like what you remember, OP.
Separating from Off Brand Games to protect them of the fallout of his opinions and public exposure also seems like a correct decision.
Edit: fixed second link
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.www.youtube.com
- YouTube
Auf YouTube findest du die angesagtesten Videos und Tracks. Außerdem kannst du eigene Inhalte hochladen und mit Freunden oder gleich der ganzen Welt teilen.www.youtube.com
(the link is for the past week, so will be less and less accurate to the july first start date as the days pass by)
The only two reviews related to the drama are specifically in reaction to the alleged review bombing. The other negative reviews don't mention anything related to the drama at all, and so the increase is probably just due to the streisand effect.
I'll list the two drama-related reviews here trimmed down to the drama-relevant parts only (not the full reviews):
"Drumming up fake drama about a review bombing that never happened to artificially inflate your positive review count through fan counteraction is gross."
— Full Review"Wasn't gonna leave a review but Ludwig and Pirate Software cried review bombing so I'm leaving an honest review to combat the non-existent bombing."
— Full Review
As you can see by these excerpts, both of them were made AFTER the allegations of review bombing. They're not part of the review bombing itself that was being talked about.
Edit: fixed inaccurate -> accurate
Steam Community :: Rivals of Aether II
Rivals of Aether II - FeaturesEvery Character Will Be Free: On top of a launch roster of 10 iconic Rivals, all future characters will be added to the game for free and customizable with an expanding library of awesome cosmetics.steamcommunity.com
Exactly, seems competent. But only seems, he's a narcissistic nepobaby who just can't admit he's in the wrong be it in video games or real life.
I just can't understand why anyone would follow a piece of shit like him
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I would strongly disagree with not looking up the specific pronunciation of a word being an indicator of being less cultured, as this does paint those who are not able to hear it (or have learning disabilities) as inherently less cultured.
I never looked up the specific pronunciation because I was not aware the name was not pronounced the way it was spelt until my mother told me. Being a high functioning autistic individual, I am generally afraid of using words I don't already say a lot because I am never sure of the proper pronunciation (which is also subject to variation due to accents and regional dialects).
Personally, I subscribe to the idea of sharing new things with people and teaching if they're receptive to it, because that's a lot more constructive in my opinion.
You said the play was worth watching, yes? Is there a particular recording you would recommend recommend?
Care to elaborate on what he said and how it was wrong? Or....
Edit: down voting someone asking for clarification does not make your side look better or more right, you know, guys. The guy essentially said "nuh uh" like that was a strong argument, and I said "because?". Seriously, chill out.
So he said it would force MPs to be able to be played single player. Which, is wrong.
In the stream/video he is on a page that litterly says "this is what its not about" and he says "so this is all what its about"
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People have been out for him since the WoW drama where he as a self proclaimed genius and WoW god did everything wrong and left his mates out to die.
They dug into him and found that he's a master at bullshitting and pretending to find solutions to puzzles, that he obviously did google.
He might be a furry and also changes his voice to sound more masculine. He claimed to have received tens of thousands of death threats after the wow drama, which is highly unlikely.
He never admit fault but always doubles down.
All of that combined brought out the biggest of hate boners in people.
It's definitely easy and justified to dislike him, but he's not Hitler or something. He's just unlikable for bullshitting all day, but doesn’t deserve real hate.
People don't do themselves a favour by having such a low bar for literally hating someone. They will just get controlled by their hate.
People pointed out in his comments section but he did not apologize or mention for 10 months. When the video came out saying he was wrong he doubled down and said he is actually right. And then kept doubling down.
He also lied and said community is attacking him to see if that will hurt the movement. Community in fact did not attack him.
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Again, not taking the "he's definitely wrong" stance at face value. I'll decide for myself. Reasonable people can disagree and both br "right" from their perspectives. Regardless, who gives a fuck if one person is wrong and doubles down on being wrong when they have no authority to stop this movement (clearly, as it has been quite successful regardless of his opinion). That shit happens 1 million times a day on the internet, and often from big names too. The facts is that, generally, he is an ally to the gaming community, particularly for indie gaming, and this is in-fighting bullshit.
He also lied and said community is attacking him to see if that will hurt the movement. Community in fact did not attack him.
They are attacking him now, here, publically dragging him through the dirt, and I've seen it elsewhere as well for the last week or two. What are you talking about? Why are we talking about him now if not becuase people are pissed off and hating on him? I read that someone even Swatted him.
Yeah people take accountability tho. He did not say "oh sorry I did not read the slides where it specifically said the movement is NOT about what I thought." He just insisted he is right.
Also for the attacking part I wad referring to the accused reviewbombing of his studio/publisher. Sorry for not being clear.
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"Not only do I not support this, I will go out of my way to tell people not to"
"This initiative can eat my ass, the whole thing. It can eat my entire ass"
That's not mild criticism in my world. About something that he did not even understand in the first place as many things he complained about was things the initiative literally said they were NOT trying to do.
But hey. Sometimes people can be wrong. We make mistakes. But when someone refuses to acknowledge they were mistaken and instead double down.
That's when people get upset.
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"This initiative can eat my ass, the whole thing. It can eat my entire ass"
Do you have the clip/video source of this quote? I didn't see him say that in his critique videos I watched. I need context to judge it.
But at face value, I would still call that within the realms of normal criticism yes. He disagrees with the basis of the initiative. And disagreement doesn't mean that one or the other party is necessarily mistaken or that they are maliciously refusing to admit their mistake if unconvinced. They can just disagree. And even if they were being malicious or ignorant or too embarassed to admit their mistake, so what? Just don't engage, or argue in good faith. No need to swat the guy, make death threats, make weird personal attacks against him, or drag his name through the dirt across the entire internet because he is wrong or doesn't suck it up and tell you that you are right.
This initiative can eat my ass, the whole thing. It can eat my entire ass
Its like the most used clip in almost any coverage of this, I don't get why you keep asking as if its not a well documented thing.
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Not in the slightest in this case. He very much did say that live and also still stands by what was said. The idea that you need someone to walk you though it to such a degree is odd and likely is because you are looking for a particular reality that you can agree with.
Like I could understand if we were talking about some event that had opposing claims here, but in this case the man in question does not even deny that was what he said. And if you want "the context" more then what was on that clip, the live stream was just that he was made aware of the campaign and this is how he reacted.
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The irony is, the video you linked is actually walking you to conclusion. Asking for context and sources is normal, listening to a video with quotes chopped together, and believing it with no more questioning is not.
It was a many hour stream yes. But no that is the context, other then Thor just getting it flat out wrong and then doubling down there is not much more of that part of this story.
And if grabbing the first video covering it on youtube is "walking ... to [a] conclusion" then I guess so is this very thing I am typing. I guess we should all just stop what we are doing until someone digs up the original livestream in its totality, then at that point we can argue about if it really is the true copy.....
Come on the dood in question here does not dispute that is what he said, just the other day he thrust the knife in one more time.
Rage mill? The only one here that seems to be getting upset is you.
This is likely the end of pirate software (at least as he was), there is no rational reason to try and pick fights over this.
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Where do you get that I'm picking fights? I'm telling people they need to calm down over a complete non-issue. Feel free to browse my post history to confirm. Scroll past the mayo jokes and discourse around time travel and spacetime.
And yeah, rage mill. Googling this story shows dozens and dozens of angry response videos or celebrating the SKG milestone as a victory over PirateSoftware, hundreds of hate posts calling him a liar (about seemingly everything, not just this), and a ton of news stories about the situation, about death threats and swatting and the guy stepping away from his indie studio over an opinion he expressed on a topic relevant to his work a year ago. Yes, rage mill.
And I am telling you (not likely the only one) that this is very much a real issue. What you are looking at is someone killing their career over the need of their ego to double down over and over. They have become a figurehead of the worst part of the games industry.
This is not going to "go away" anytime soon, and as Thor is still digging deeper will only get worse.
I mean this guy was just about the only opponent to this petition, he went HARD and is now being dumped on.
Again, I answer. A lot of people.
This man has allowed his hubris and ego to destroy him, a story people like to see. The petition is not yet done and is now getting hate articles done on it (odd that). People are still posting about him as he is now the poster child of a shitty industry most dislike. The harassing of the studio he worked for is news to me (and I think a lot of people as it does not seem to have yet happened).
People who "move on" like you are talking about are a modern day plague, its how we get the absolute clown world we now live in. Have some principle and integrity.
I am not sure you can say that after trying to tell people how to act.
If being active and engaged on a topic is a "twisted way to view the world" then why are you here on Lemmy?
It was said during streams, but yes, I did find a video that captured it, the clips of the quotes end at about 7 min and start from where I linked.
Yes. People can disagree, disagreeing doesn't mean someone must be wrong or mistaken. But in this case. He very much was wrong and mistaken.
And you don't have to try and strawman this. I have neither harassed, swated, or made any threats, at all, against him. Nor have I ever advocated for it. I have also not claimed anyone deserves that treatment.
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Thank you for the link.
And you don't have to try and strawman this. I have neither harassed, swated, or made any threats, at all, against him. Nor have I ever advocated for it. I have also not claimed anyone deserves that treatment.
Didn't say that you are. But for some reason you are arguing with me while I'm just saying that he doesn't deserve all that. If we agree on that don't know why you're concerned with my comments.
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The guy took something he didn't understand and shat all over it to his audience, when told he didn't understand it he did nothing at all to correct his mistake or even admit one had been made.
And as a result he's being clowned on. And people are finding more and more things that follow this line of behavior from him and clowning him on that too.
If you act like an asshole. You'll get treated like one. There's a reason no one was talking shit about Bob Ross.
He pretended like this would force studios to publish sourcecode and that they have to give up on drm. I am not shure if he or someone else said this but someone also pretendet like new laws would somehow retroactivly apply to all games and now sstudios would have to give up server code that propably has thrid party software in it that they dont have the right license to just release it.( this is also a point i read alot from comments everywwhere and its stupid.) First, anny new law will take a ton of time untill it iss written then passed and then goes into effect. If this law passes studios will know way in advanced that upcoming releases in the eu would be under this new law and therefore can take this into account when builsing their infrastructure for online play/drm like in case of the crew.
Also anyone who is active in piracy forums where devs work on stuffk ows that they dont need aourcecode to get it running. People will chow through assembly if they want to make a game work, some decompiled lego island over the course of a year to preserve it.
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Yeap, and also that this will be the end of multiplayer games (bullshit in the extreme)
The irony of a guy called pirate software pushing for DRM on its own is, wild.
So "eat my entire ass" is not inflammatory now? Good to know.
Even of he did not say that, if he really wanted to give positive criticism he wouldn't advocate against it entirely. Your happy medium is correct, he was 100% against it from the beginning.
Not coming from anger or anything like that, just pointing out that you implied he was in the happy medium when he isn't.
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So "eat my entire ass" is not inflammatory now?
Do you have the clip/video source of this quote? I didn't see him say that in his critique videos I watched. I need context to judge it.
He did say that in his first video, but came out with a more reflective video which you probably saw.
Regardless, the fact he's dealing with such fall out over an opinion in an industry he's active in and getting ousted is dumb. Everyone is losing their minds over this but like everything people will move on to something else in a month.
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...he’s dealing with such fall out over an opinion in an industry he’s active in...
Congrats to him, he is now the poster child of everything everyone hates about the industry. And its all due to his own ego centred actions.
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Well, you've got a point with those that are hearing impaired or have a speech impediment, no argument there.
...
But uh, I am also a high functioning autistic... and, maybe I've just been around the block a bit more, crafted and worn more masks, maybe I am just older.... the way I see it is 'cultured' is another malleable, non specific adjective or group description, where... everyone who uses such a term actually has their own specific definition of what it means, but acts like everyone actually has the same definition.
I guess my use of the term is also coming across as... meaning that anyone it applies to is some kind of innately, fundamentally inferior, and I don't mean it in that way.
There are plenty of exceptional people who have no familiarity with ... some subset of all possible media or traditions or cuisine or concievably literally anything that anyone could consider to be a marker of 'cultured'.
And on its own... there's no shame in that at all... this seems so obvious to me that I am kind of baffled I'd need to explicitly say it.
If you don't know how to say a word, there's no real, serious reason to be embarassed: you never learned, you never had the experiences that could lead to that.
Someone can just say, oh, its actually said this way, (in this case this is rather clear and objective as the people who named it have an official, correct, 'canon' way to say it), and then you go 'oh, ok, thanks!'
...
Anyway:
Im not trying to say that not looking up how to pronounce a word means you are uncultured... that would just mean you never looked up how to pronounce it.
I am trying to say that many people who are familiar with and have read/seen/experienced Beckett... are more likely to get the reference immediately, similar to how an inside joke works.
So if you haven't seen Waiting for Godot... thats a part of culture you haven't experienced.
Thats what I mean by uncultured.
...
Ok, as for actual recommendations:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=izX5dIzI2RE
Turns out there is at least this rather low visual quality, but entire Waiting for Godot movie just on a tiny youtube channel...
And it also appears that I am so uncultured to have not realize there have in fact been several cinematic versions of the play!
This one appears to be from 2001, directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, produced in Ireland... not sure if it got a showing in theatres, or was made for public TV broadcast.
Seems right to me to go to an Irish production, with Irish cast, for a seminal Irish screenplay... at least as an introduction.
There are evidently at least 8 or 9 film/tv versions of Waiting for Godot, including one directed by Beckett himself, I had no idea haha!
www.imdb.com/find/?=waiting for godot
EDIT: bad url, bad! uh yeah, i guess just copy and paste it manually?
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Basically he is not happy with the wording of the initiative. He had a 10 minute follow up video after he had a knee jerk reaction and went to into personal attacks against the guy that thought of the movement.
I'm going to get to roasted for this but watching his video I see what he's worried about. I agree that this industry has scummy practices but this bill is going to be a monkeys paw scenario.
I would love for this bill to go through in a perfect world but as of now companies are doing layoffs and closing and adding in more red tap and financial burden will mean more projects will be cancelled or won't be released in certain areas because it's not going to be financially viable.
I'm open to have my mind changed as I don't have any insight on what happens behind the scenes in these operations but I think people looked at a PowerPoint that said "gamers are getting fucked over" (which is true when live service games close) and signed something that COULD make studios rally around their legal team and financial departments to make things worse.
Pirate also didn't do himself favors by being not media trained and careful with his words but now he's dealing with SWATing, death threats, harassment, and losing his job over an opinion that's honestly from a perspective of someone that has worked in that industry for a long while vs a community know for being miserable and ready with pitchforks over stupid shit.
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This is why I hate this community right here. I answered the person's question and gave him what pirates view point was while calling out these gaming corporations and explained what they will probably do if a bill like this passes and your take away is I am "felationing" (not a word) game companies.
Just droves of window lickers like you infest this space and any nuanced conversations get lost.
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Also without stating any actual concerns while fighting their gag reflexes.
Edit: Also the children yearn for the mines, they say while telling people not to be concerned about non corporate interests. After all the companies interests are basicly our own.....
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These are kinda wild takes. The gaming industry for indie companies is wild and expansive in a way I dont remember 20 years ago. Was I just naive? Am I naive now, and the guy who made a game on his own and uploaded it to steam was really just part of a large shell company?
I mean you're comparing these to the multinational coorporations that are ruining our environment, and healthcare (in the US). I dont feel like they're the same?
Maybe there needs to be tweaks so that the extra burdens don't inhibit small companies, but do the big ones. Maybe thats already in it, but its hard for me to take it seriously when you're comparing customer's desire for a good product with a child working in a mine.
Oh no, not putting this into a conspiracy. Not at all saying Thor is part of a large shell company.
The issue I am pointing to is how people (Thor included) defend and fight for those same multinational corporations. Hell even you by belittling one aspect of enshitification as lesser and not worth any attention is not doing any good.
Remember that we can do more then one thing at a time.
Fair enough.
I guess Injust hope small businesses can generally be held to a different standard, since small businesses generally are flatter and promote more leveled economic growth.
The YouTuber noted that his opinion on the initiative has led players to review-bomb the company's new releases. To avoid further harm to their reputation, he's terminated the partnership indefinitely. "I am no longer working at Offbrand Games,"
The damage is done now. He isn't likable, took a big loss on his part, almost took down his collabs with himself.
Let this be a lesson in being humble about your public appearence. He's essentially being featured in some questionable forums, I believe. This was absolutely not worth it for him.
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Unpopular take is a bit of an understatement. He called the entire movement shit and trashtalked it instead of just disagreeing. He also, after all the responses, doubled down and said he hopes "the movement gets want it wants, but not what it needs."
It's also not really a one off situation from PirateSoftware
This just served as a way for others to shed light on how scummy he is as a person in general.
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Is there some kind of summary I can read? I don't follow him and only read a couple articles about the situation and it didn't seem all that bad. But maybe it was.
The one video I half watched was him defending Godot from people overexaggerating, so I don't see evidence of him being a scummy person in general.
Clip of his response:
twitch.tv/piratesoftware/clip/…
Video summary (timestamped at where he just trashtalks the movement for a solid minute)
youtu.be/R-RaQZPzhqU?t=494
I don't know if there's any real good TLDR for this situation, here's the best I could find:
sportskeeda.com/us/streamers/p…
WoW controversy part
deltiasgaming.com/pirate-softw…
There's a couple of other stuff like abuse allegations against him and other minor controversies like cheating in puzzle games. You can look those up if you want.
Also, for context, I do not condone any of the harm sent his way. I think what he's done is pretty scummy, but he and his team doesn't deserve being sent death threats and swatted
Pirate Software World of Warcraft Drama, Explained - Deltia's Gaming
Twitch streamer Pirate Software received alleged death threats after a World of Warcraft Hardcore Classic raid went wrong.Abhimannu (Deltia's Gaming)
For reference, this is the first time I've watched anything by PirateSoftware, and I've only heard about him in the past week or so. So I'm coming at this from a pretty neutral position and as someone who generally supports SKG (I'm not in Europe so I can't sign, but I would if I could).
Clip of his response
Looks like he's responding more to online bullying, not the petition. The only time he mentions Ross at all (and not even by name) is him giving sarcastic support (hope petition gets everything you asked for, but nothing you wanted), which underscores his view that the petition is overly vague.
The video summary is useful, it looks like PirateSoftware completely missed what the petition was for. I've read the petition and watched the supporting materials, and it's clear to me that the focus is to make games (SP or MP) continue to work in some fashion for those that bought it after support ends. But it seems PirateSoftware somehow misinterpreted it as "all games must be playable SP after support ends," which isn't the case at all. Using the WoW example, players just want to keep doing raids w/ friends after support ends, and they're happy to host the server themselves.
here’s the best I could find
I think that's the one I read. Here's my takeaway, I obviously haven't confirmed everything (I'd rather not dig through his videos)
WoW controversy part
Idk, that situation looks dumb. I don't know who the group leader was, but here's how it seems to have unfolded:
- someone says run (beginning of the clip), so he runs
- on the way out he exhausts his manna trying to save the group
- someone else says to come back because they're getting wrecked
- seconds later that same person says "just run"
I don't think there's a good outcome there. Either he returns to help the person getting wrecked and likely dies (I'm not familiar w/ WoW, but it seems he's out of resources), or he runs and doesn't die, and there are conflicting commands from the group. It was a tense situation and the group was looking for someone to blame. The article mentions the group worked it out.
I think what he’s done is pretty scummy
Here's how I see it, taking things from PirateSoftware's perspective:
- misinterprets the petition (honest mistake IMO), probably because Ross Scott isn't some suave presenter and jumped to conclusions (i.e. this is just some angry gamer who threw something together); that last part is absolutely speculation on my part, drawn from my own initial reaction
- got a ton of unrelated backlash, like people digging through his history to defame him, death threats, etc
- he doesn't see his error, and instead sees Ross Scott as the unwitting leader of a horde of angry gamers who are going to accidentally destroy a chunk of his industry
What needed to happen is for PirateSoftware and Ross Scott to jump on a call to clarify the petition. It's absolutely fine if he still thinks it's a bad petition, but at least ensure you understand what it's talking about so you can elucidate reasons for opposing it.
I think PirateSoftware is your typical self-centered streamer/YouTuber. He probably didn't watch Ross Scott's rebuttal, probably because the community's reaction left a bad taste in his mouth. On the flipside, one of the streamers I like also initially rejected the petition (not sure if he changed his mind, I don't watch him all that often), probably because the rational initial reaction to proposed laws is to reject them.
I think it's an unfortunate situation. I wish Ross Scott was more charismatic. I wish PirateSoftware didn't misread the petition. I wish they jumped on a call to work through the details, which would be especially valuable to Ross Scott to get the feedback of an industry insider. A lot of unfortunate things happened, but I still don't think PirateSoftware is a bad person, I think he's just a typical streamer who tends to jump to conclusions (easy to do when doing things live) and is a bit self-centered (which you need to be as a streamer IMO).
Anyway, that's my take given the limited amount of time I've spent on this.
It's not just because of his stance on SKG. That's just a catalyst.
He's curated this image of being some kind of industry guru, through carefully edited shorts, appeal to authority fallacies and thorough moderation of dissenting opinion.
Because this is the first time (I'm aware of) he's taken such a strong contrary position to a popular argument, it's caused people to look closer and pull back the curtain.
What they've discovered is that they've been lied to (by the "hacker" who gained access via social engineering), and that's what pisses people off.
The criticism of his character has been around for a long time, but his message was always louder. Until now.
I haven't followed him at all, in fact, I've only watched a few videos by him over the last week or so due to this controversy, and read a couple articles about it. I found this wiki page about him, which claims his career has been:
- worked as a freelance security researcher and developer (I'm guessing basic pen tests, given his likely experience at the time)
- started at Blizzard in QA, left after 6 years as a pen tester
- created indie studio w/ friends, and so far has completed one game, has one as "early access" (for 7 years!!), and one in progress
- streams a lot
I don't know what claims he has made in the past, but working at a major studio for several years in multiple capacities would certainly give him some insight that most outside the industry don't have. He has also likely learned some game dev in his stint as an indie developer, though I don't think that's particularly relevant to the claims he has made about SKG.
Is that history inaccurate?
From what I've read, the main complaints are:
- take on SKG - people don't think he has the credentials necessary to make the claims he has (for the record, Ross Scott also doesn't have any relevant credentials)
- something about WoW? Sounds like a misunderstanding that he cleared w/ his team (I watched a clip of the original stream)
- people claiming, without evidence, that he's lying about his credentials
Here's my opinion:
- agree w/ take on Godot
- disagree w/ take on SKG, though I do understand that the petition is a bit vague in some areas, but that's for legal reasons (i.e. you can't force a studio to release their server code)
- he's a bit abrasive, hence why I haven't been able to actually finish any of his videos; had I found him months earlier, I would've been turned off purely based on his style
I don't think he deserves the flak he's getting, I do think he made some serious mistakes on the SKG opinion, and he should've been better at reading the room and actually had Ross on to discuss the initiative and air his concerns.
I didn't really follow him, but the YouTube algorithm filled my feed with his shorts and I inevitably formed an opinion based off those. I don't watch twitch.
When I first saw the negative coverage about him with the wow thing, I thought it was just people being petty and the usual trolling
Not to the extent I'd post defensive comments, but I was on his side. I did start to wonder if he was full of it, the coverage following ross' rebuttal of his arguments confirmed it for me.
I'm not trying to convince you if he's a bad guy or not, just explain why a lot of people, including me are annoyed at him and creating a market for content pointing out his lies.
I don't want to go in depth on his background, that wikka is broadly correct although his first job was in QA at blizzard due to nepotism (source: Thor himself on stream) he left and I don't recall whether the security researcher job followed immediately but he did a stint of that where he did pen testing via social engineering (source his LinkedIn) and returned to Blizzard to work in the security department, not nepotism this time (according to him) although he had worked there before and his Dad still did which wouldn't have hurt. Then he worked at Amazon as a tester.
As for his credentials and their relevance to his take on SKG, the big difference is that Ross doesn't claim to be an expert, he's made it clear his opinion is the way the industry treats eol products is anti-consumer, that the law isn't clear on whether that's allowed, and that if you agree, you can join the campaign. Jason on the other hand is relying on his credentials to back up his arguments and why people should listen to him.
The wow thing, as I understand it, mistakes were made by several people including him, not that big of a deal, except he refused to admit any wrongdoing and banned anyone who disagreed which rubbed people up the wrong way. It might have caused less of a stir if he didn't flex on others about how good he is.
Jason on the other hand is relying on his credentials to back up his arguments and why people should listen to him.
Perhaps. But he also has some relevant credentials, since he has worked with a big AAA studio, worked w/ an indie publisher, and has been working on games w/ a team.
It's a bit odd IMO for him to go out of his way to defend live-service games since that rarely describes indies, but I wish he'd clarify his point there in the context of a revised understanding of the petition. It wouldn't sway my opinion, but perhaps it could sway others who are on the fence about the petition.
It might have caused less of a stir if he didn’t flex on others about how good he is.
Sure, but isn't that kind of what streamers do? If you're not wanting to watch someone flex on others, then perhaps watching a popular streamer isn't the best move.
I think the main issue is that he didn't step to self-correct. When you have a controversial take (and I'm sure he was aware his take was controversial), you need to be extra careful you have accurate facts. When he got a bunch of pushback, he should've reached out to Ross to have him on to talk about the petition, which would both provide a chance to elucidate the facts, as well as give viewers more context on the issues he has with it. That didn't happen, and I think that's the main issue here.
That said, I think the response to Jason/Thor was way too aggressive. Yeah, he has a bad take, but I saw some review-bombing on his own games, which doesn't really help things (I didn't even know he made games until I was trying to find out why so many people cared).
Anyway, I'm happy to continue largely ignoring him, because he doesn't produce content that's interesting to me.
But that's the point people are making, that his credentials actually aren't relevant, at least not to the extent he's an expert. He worked at Blizzard, but not as a developer, it's been likened to someone who worked in the billing department at a hospital weighing in on medical care.
He does have experience as a dev on Heartbound, but that's not AAA, and he seems to have got bored of that, preferring the ego boost of being a streamer.
He's still entitled to an opinion of course, but it shouldn't carry the weight it had been given.
His support for life services makes sense when you find out the game publisher he (allegedly) founded and the one he recently resigned from, was publishing live service games.
He claims he was review bombed, others have checked the steam stats and it didn't support his claim.
It seems like you want to give him the benefit of the doubt, and TBH that's fair enough, especially if you're just going to ignore him. Like I said, I think a lot of people who are mad at him were following him, and feel like they were taken for chumps.
If you did decide to dig into it though (and I'm not recommending it), there are some content creators bringing receipts, and there is a definite pattern of behaviour.
He worked at Blizzard, but not as a developer, it’s been likened to someone who worked in the billing department at a hospital weighing in on medical care.
A QA would probably be more involved, since they would be testing the game or something related to the game. How relevant his experience was depends on what he worked on and who he had access to talk to. I learned a lot about electrical engineering while working as a software engineer at a company that built custom antennas because I talked to the EEs a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a similar experience at Blizzard.
preferring the ego boost of being a streamer
And probably the money. With a big enough audience, it pays reasonably well. I doubt his games are selling well enough to live off of.
He claims he was review bombed
He claims the other publisher was review bombed, I'm talking about his studio's games, which do seem to be review bombed (overwhelmingly negative for recent reviews, positive all time).
I think a lot of people who are mad at him were following him
Perhaps. But a lot of people knee-jerk join the bandwagon as well. Look at everyone jumping on the Godot hate train. I refuse to form a negative opinion without being fully informed, because the cult of public opinion can be absolutely reactionary.
So I err on the side of giving people the benefit of the doubt.
And yeah, content creators jumping on the bandwagon isn't my cup of tea, since they have a motivation to exaggerate to get views. I want a pretty unbiased, fair take, not a rage bait take, and that's more likely to be found on a forum like this instead of on YouTube. Hence why I'm asking.
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welcome to the internet
Yeah, this is the sucky part about the modern internet. It used to be that the internet was a place for discussion and we've twisted it to a place to enforce conformity.
I don't know anything about this guy, so maybe there's a more established pattern here, but ideally we don't jump down someone's throat when they do one or two unpopular things, but instead wait for a pattern to emerge before getting out the pitchforks. But everyone needs to be first, because the first one gets the eyeballs and there's not much downside to ruining someone's reputation unnecessarily.
It's stupid and I hate it.
It's also a little gross how many people are trying to pay their bills by stoking rage about this rather than moving the issue forward. And yes, I do understand that the rage is probably why this movement got past the goal posts.
I still think we need to self reflect as a community.
PS was gross, but we should be better.
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I think it's a little gross how much we've chosen to pile on as a community.
In the real world we have in front of us some of the ideas put forth by Stop Killing Games will actually be hard for companies to implement. I don't feel bad for them nor do I support the murder of games. It's just not a simple prospect.
I think it’s a little gross how much we’ve chosen to pile on as a community.
The man is still advocating (to this very day) against Stop Killing Games, why does he get a pass? Why should I give a flying fuck about companies that have been bleeding a hobby I enjoy for years. Why are people so FUCKING WILLING TO STAND UP IN DEFENCE OF THE INDEFENSIBLE!
Sorry that last one is not the games industry only. But really why do people think its gross to call someone on their bullshit, but not gross to play defence for a multinational company?
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