I fed up to see the discourse about steam being the best thing since sliced bread. Its a shitty company, pro censure, anti lgbt, anti owning game, with another oligarch ceo . I exclusively use GoG now

Of course, none of that is possible against a nuclear power, because it first relies on unconditional surrender. I also don’t think any leaders in the world have to political will to do that, either.

IMO, the key points for handling a nuclear power is two or three things:

1: Identify potential replacement of leadership, who would be open to negotiation. They just need to see value in having dealings with other powers. It could be a gift, political legitimacy, or the threat of being removed from the census.

2: Collaborate with “outside” powers to cushion the repercussions of removing the target country’s inconvenient leadership. For example, offering aid to civilians, moving military forces around to increase or ease tension, establishing narratives, ect.

3: The actual removal of the existing leadership. Trump sent a special forces team into North Korea. That was stupid, but a carefully planned operation with a genuine goal, such as eliminating the Kim family, might work out. This assumes that China is participating, as the northern border is probably less secure against intrusion. At this point, China probably doesn’t want North Korea around, because Kim could point a missile at someplace unwanted, and unprompted.

I am not saying it to be easy, it is more about leaders having enough guts and foresight to consider such measures. Putin’s Russia certainly does some of this, considering the shadow fleets, hacking, and influencer operations. Krasnov is an example of removing leadership without even involving blood, by influencing politics from afar.

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 play online games since counterstrike 1.4 came out. If russians lose access to online games, it would make every online game in europe better. It sucks for them, but maybe they need their own servers so they can be toxic to themselves.

What’s the alternative? They have to obey the law, right? What should they have done? How is this “bowing to Kremlin” as if they’re kneeling, waiting to suck their dick or something.

Genuinely curious about these questions.

So, human rights stuff aside, how/why the fuck do we need a genderised solitaire?

Yes, those things can be done, and they’re good ideas. One key difference between the U.S. and North Korea thing is that Russia can, or at least is believed to be able to, use a nuclear response anywhere in the world. North Korea couldn’t threaten the U.S. with nuclear reprisal. But, yes, removing the entrenched and uncompromising leader is the first step, and that is much harder against a nuclear power.

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?

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?

Because MS, Epic and Sony are scared shitless that valve will dominate gaming market after major hardware announcement and had begun digging dirt on them.

Only in last 2 weeks there been like 3 “major” anti Valve news. I find them to be astroturfing. All these news are nothingburgers.

My tinfoil shines on top of my head

Yeah, I don’t know why it’s news at all. It happens in every other country with any amount of censorship, US included.

This is the most sane take I’ve seen. It’s honestly weird how ignorant this thread is, regional censorship is not new. Australia has a habit of banning violent games. The Middle East and China have a habit of censoring all sorts of things. Many countries have their own laws of what is and isn’t okay and they fluctuate all the time. My friend in Germany couldn’t play Wolfenstein because any games with Nazi imagery were illegal until relatively recently.

Literally every company that operates in those countries also censor their stuff. The only reason this article exists is because [thing but Russia] gets more clicks and outrage compared to [thing in fifty other countries]. You’re free to hate Steam for it but this isn’t weird or exclusive behavior. They’re running a business.

What’s the alternative? They have to obey the law, right? What should they have done? How is this “bowing to Kremlin” as if they’re kneeling, waiting to suck their dick or something.

Genuinely curious about these questions.

Considering the horrid state of economics and corruption in Russia, it is doubtful that their nuclear stockpile and submarines are fit for the job. Honestly, I think North Korea might have more reliable nukes, even if it is less than a handful. With Russia, it would be a fusion roulette.

‘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.