this post was submitted on 14 Mar 2025
230 points (98.7% liked)

Games

39345 readers
1001 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I was specifically refuting, "They’re the only ones safeguarding the industry," and how they got to their refund policies matters when it comes to that statement. I was not here to throw a gauntlet down, insult Steam's honor, and challenge anyone to a duel. I prefer to shop on GOG these days, when possible, but my Steam profile says I have 991 games in my account, and I bought most of those. Valve and Steam have done lasting, measurable good to this industry and medium, but that doesn't mean they're safeguarding it or that it's all good news. As to the thing about ads, I don't think that model would actually work with the PC gaming audience, and I think Valve prohibiting it is just so that their audience still finds quality products on Steam and spends more money. Valve's best behaviors and worst behaviors are motivated by profit.

[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Valve's best behaviors and worst behaviors are motivated by profit.

That's where I disagree. Valve is not a publicly traded company. It is not beholden to shareholders to strive for profit above all else, and it shows in Valve's leadership.

[–] dustyData@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Just because they are private doesn't mean Gabe doesn't like to make a ton of money. Dude owns tons of yacths and would like to own more. I love Valve and think they are the biggest ethical company in gaming. But they're still a massive corporate monopoly. No one is perfect, and they did do things that hurt people. No need to be publicly traded to also be evil. Trust but verify.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Striving for profit is a quality tied to being a company, not being a publicly traded company. Everything they do is in pursuit of making more money. Often times, that means making the best store out there so that we shop with them instead of their competitors, which is how it's supposed to work.

[–] kitnaht@lemmy.world 0 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Everything they do is in pursuit of making more money.

That's where I'm saying you are wrong.

Publicly traded companies are beholden to their shareholders, and MUST strive to make money above all else. Privately held companies can put that profit motive behind other more important motives. Sure, does Valve want to make money? Absolutely - we've all got to make a living.

But is that their ONLY goal at the expense of everything else? Also, clearly not - or we'd have ads on every steam store page, we'd be paying monthly for steam, and you've seen all the shady, shitty things that all the other wanna-be steam competitors have done. So clearly valve does not value profit above everything.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

That's just not true. They're seeking profit by attempting to be the best place to spend your money. Epic would love for Valve to charge users monthly for Steam, but they don't, because it would just drive people away from Steam. They stand to make more money by doing what they're doing. This is not a public versus private thing. Arguably the negative that comes along with public companies is that there are more short term incentives at the expense of long term profit, but they're both doing what they do for profit.