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Stop me if you've heard this before. (gaming)

Severs

Member For 4 Years
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I submit to you, a tale of some idiots for your entertainment.

An indie game dev walks into Steam and releases a shitty game. It is universally hated, as well as all of the other "games" they release. Users leave bad reviews on Steam and actively attempt to stop this dev from getting anymore games greenlit so no more customers are ripped off by absolutely abysmal quality of these games. Dev gets angry and files an $18 million lawsuit against 100 Steam users for being meany heads and not liking their crap games. Files for, and gets a subpoena, against Valve to release personal information on said users. In response Valve removes all the games from this dev from both the store and Steam greenlight, thereby ensuring this dev will lose what little sales they would have had otherwise.

As strange as it sounds, this is an ongoing issue that just recently became a thing within the last couple days. Digital Homicide has filed an $18 million lawsuit against 100 steam users. I have to say, I did have one of their games that I received for free from a giveaway, and before I even bothered to waste space on my hard drive I checked out some reviews for it. It, without question, looked like complete and utter garbage. There are no redeeming qualities to this game whatsoever. So I just left it in my library to collect dust and inflate my game count on steam... Until tonight when I heard about this lawsuit, and then I requested to have this game removed completely from my account because I will not have a game from these people anywhere near me.

I don't know what these people really expected to happen with this, or when people got wind of it, but it appears Digital Homicide has committed digital and financial suicide.
 

KDodds

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Welcome to Generation Idiot. It's a West Coast infection that has become a pandemic. Plastic nice, plastic gimmies, plastic trophies, people thinking if they glue two bottle caps together it makes them an artist and their trash is worth twice its weight in gold. Why? Because Mommy and Daddy and every teacher they've ever had applauded when they fell on their face and broke their nose at the sound of the starter pistol. 20, 30 years from now, it won't surprise me if hurting someone's feelings becomes a misdemeanor assault.
 

Rabbit Slayer

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Files for, and gets a subpoena, against Valve to release personal information on said users.

That is the only part I find troubling....what shitty state thought that was a good idea, Cali by any chance?
 

KDodds

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Close enough. At least I know (I hope) I'm not one of those users. I don't think I have any of their games, and I rarely post reviews and never for cruddy indie devs.
 

Severs

Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
Close enough. At least I know (I hope) I'm not one of those users. I don't think I have any of their games, and I rarely post reviews and never for cruddy indie devs.

Almost all the users they are going after are part of or associate with a particular steam group. I think the whole thing is just going to back fire in the dev's face, they just don't know it yet. Any judge who would actually render in the dev's favor would be setting a very dangerous precedent for free speech.
 

bondo

Silver Contributor
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Almost all the users they are going after are part of or associate with a particular steam group. I think the whole thing is just going to back fire in the dev's face, they just don't know it yet. Any judge who would actually render in the dev's favor would be setting a very dangerous precedent for free speech.
Omg!!!
Think of the reprocussions on vape reviews alone....;)
 

KDodds

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
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Yep, the whole Yelp thing being allowed to continue sets a very nasty precedent all around.
 

Severs

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Slight update. No confirmation yet, but due to statements made by one of the brothers who heads Digital Homicide, it sounds like he wants to take on Valve itself now because they were being meany heads and removed their games from steam. I'm sure we will hear more once the courts open up on Monday.
 

KDodds

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Slight update. No confirmation yet, but due to statements made by one of the brothers who heads Digital Homicide, it sounds like he wants to take on Valve itself now because they were being meany heads and removed their games from steam. I'm sure we will hear more once the courts open up on Monday.
They should just go ahead and change their name to Digital Suicide right now, because that's effectively what they've done. A retailer can not be forced to sell a product, and the only other major retailer, Origin, is not very likely to pick them up.
 

Severs

Member For 4 Years
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They should just go ahead and change their name to Digital Suicide right now, because that's effectively what they've done. A retailer can not be forced to sell a product, and the only other major retailer, Origin, is not very likely to pick them up.

This whole thing has been about as entertaining as a train wreck. You cringe every time you see this guy say -anything- but you cannot look away from him commiting career suicide. I mean the guy can't afford a lawyer as it is, he is currently asking for legal representation, and it's in direct response to Valve removing his games from Steam. So the only thing I can think of is that he is begging for someone to do pro bono work for him so he can sue Valve. Which is just ridiculous, but I almost want him to get some so that Valve can pull out the big gun and just outright shame him and whatever lawyer he gets in court. I mean that's what is going to happen here, there's no chance of him getting a lawyer good enough to take on the team I am sure Valve has on retainer.
 

KDodds

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Yep, I go back to my first statement. Generation Idiot. The sad thing is stupid doesn't know it's stupid.
 

Rabbit Slayer

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Freedom of speak does NOT exist on the internet....
Sure I can call everyone here a fucking asshole, cock sucking motherfucker, and not get modded, but mention cannabis and game over
 

robot zombie

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
Welcome to Generation Idiot. It's a West Coast infection that has become a pandemic. Plastic nice, plastic gimmies, plastic trophies, people thinking if they glue two bottle caps together it makes them an artist and their trash is worth twice its weight in gold. Why? Because Mommy and Daddy and every teacher they've ever had applauded when they fell on their face and broke their nose at the sound of the starter pistol. 20, 30 years from now, it won't surprise me if hurting someone's feelings becomes a misdemeanor assault.
Hahaha. I bet at some point in his teens, his dad saw him set up a computer and it blew his mind. Declared his son a tech genius right then and there. "My son's gonna be an ahhtist! He's gonna be a geenyus ahhhtist on da compwutah!" Probably put him through some rip off school. Little did he know that his genius son was just using the computer to illegally download video games and watch porn. :p

A lot of people in my generation seem to somehow have it in their heads that they're gonna make a living on their art because they made a thing once. But they don't put in the work. "Like, it's cool. I just go to school for this and get a career making the stuff I want!" And the thing is, that's what educators in these institutions will have you believe. They'll gladly take your parents' savings and fill your head full of crap. They look around the room at their peers and somehow they figure that everyone in that room is gonna do big things.

The problem is that society doesn't have the money to support a whole generation of artists. Maybe you'll get a job working on a larger crew or something if that's what you wanna do - not a bad choice... ...but not everyone gets to be a movie director, game developer, mainstream musician, and so on. That's the 1%. Chances are good that you are the 99 and thus suck. Unless you have some really serious talent, you're not going to succeed. The world doesn't want or need a few 100,000 okay game developers. It does need at least 100,000 people to work on games. But 1000 or so excellent top dogs is more than enough. Compared to other fields, the art world is very, very tiny.

I'm all for art. I love making art, but I really am astounded at how many people think they're just gonna go to art school and make MONEY. That shit takes WORK and SKILL. And even then, it takes LUCK. If that's your dream, then you dedicate yourself to it. You live in poverty and bag groceries to survive if you have to. Take whatever commissions you can. Everything you do is to further your skill. When someone literally has their whole life riding on a project, it shows.... ...and if it doesn't, might be time to consider another career path. It's important to know when to give up. People say never give up your dream, but it's not for everyone. It's never too late to have another dream.

Dunno what this guy's story is, but he probably should've gone to trade school. Just sayin'. Maybe HVAC or something. He might wanna look into that soon, actually.
 
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Severs

Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
He's gonna have to do something soon, because I guarantee he won't be working on games long, or even if he does he won't be able to sell much of anything. He will never get a job with any mainstream or even more well known indie developer or publishers. I can see that interview now. "Wait... you're THAT Romine? Out. Get out now, I don't want or need any of your garbage tainting this company."
 

KDodds

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Hahaha. I bet at some point in his teens, his dad saw him set up a computer and it blew his mind. Declared his son a tech genius right then and there. "My son's gonna be an ahhtist! He's gonna be a geenyus ahhhtist on da compwutah!" Probably put him through some rip off school. Little did he know that his genius son was just using the computer to illegally download video games and watch porn. :p
<snip for brevity>
I actually just had this conversation with a group of twenty/youngthirtysomethings. They were adamant that "in your day" (meaning me) it was a lot easier. You went to school and you came out and you got a job. Whoa. Just. No. You have no freaking clue. We went to school, we came out in our chosen fields, and we took grunt jobs with comparative crap wages and worked our way up, just like you're expected to do. Nothing has changed but your generation's attitude towards busting your ass to get what you want. Back in the early 90s, CNAs and CNEs at the top were basically writing their own paychecks, six figures, easy. BUT, the grunt level, out of school positions? High 20s, low 30s, no different than today's start that's a bit higher. No different. There is one other difference, the unemployed twenty and thirty somethings, from experience, are actually turning down these entry level positions because of wages and hours expected. The very same equivalents that we gladly accepted because we were willing to work to advance. It is a very rare find to find a twenty something who will bust his or her ass, exhibit work ethic and pride in their own quality of work, and not expect to receive overcompensation.

Anyway, no idea how old the Digital Homicide guys are, and don't really care. Generation Idiot isn't about age, it's about people now conforming to slacker-life and expecting the world to bend over backwards to facilitate that choice.
 

robot zombie

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
I kinda see both sides of it. Some of us work really hard and still struggle to survive. It can be pretty brutal. I don't think this is new though. Hasn't it always been like that? I like to hope that most people eventually find a way out of that. More of us work harder than people realize. Those people don't get enough credit. They work and live their lives silently.

The people I really feel for are low-income families. They really have it rough. Young, single people, not so much. Luck is a factor, but I have to believe that there are ways to make it work, even if you have to start from the bottom. That is doable when you only have yourself to worry about.


I work in management, so I see it all of the time... ...I hate to say that 9/10 of the well-interviewing twenty-somethings I hire don't make it more than a month (the one that does is the best worker I can ask for, though.) As soon as they realize that they have to do actual work, they drop off. They're not into meritocracies. Meanwhile, I have older people lining up, ready to come in any time, stay late, and work their asses off. It is truly pitiful when you are in your 20's and a 60-year-old woman with a reconstructed knee can work circles around you with a smile on her face.

At this point, I can safely say that I have a bias in my selection of people. The older person, if they're in good health, is usually a sure bet. They're likely to get along with everyone, they know what to do, they understand what work is, and they're happy to have jobs. The young ones often cannot follow directions, complain, don't have that "get to it" mindset, and tend to cause drama.

I can't help but wonder what they really think their dream job is going to be like. If you can't even put in the effort demanded by a simple, easy retail job, how are you gonna get there? What would you do if it was handed to you? It's like, "You can't muster this simple task and you're going to do what?"

And then, I come across all of these 20-30 something retail workers burning-out at part-time job after part-time job and just shake my head. They say they didn't make enough money. And yet, I see they've turned down a management position... ...or the hours were no good. I'd like to know what the hell they're thinking. If you're not pushing for something and not learning a skill or going to school, then what ARE you doing in retail at this point if not trying to make as much as you can? Where's the money that you need gonna come from? What is your plan?


No direction, no sense of urgency. But then, I suppose it's also a matter of living within your means. A lot of my peers are pretty hedonistic. Sometimes I think all that they really want is that free pass to travel, consume, and have fun. I don't really wonder why they're always broke. As soon as they get a little party money, they stop looking. Even if they made more, they'd still be broke! I know people that live like this. Coasting at age 28.


Somewhere along the line, I think that "blue-collar" became a dirty word. You can't do those jobs if you ever want to make it and be somebody. It's not worth the trouble. You have to go to school now or you just can't survive. Everyone wants to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an artist. All "long-term," no "right now." Not enough of them are thinking about what they're going to do right now. That's what I'm seeing.

He's gonna have to do something soon, because I guarantee he won't be working on games long, or even if he does he won't be able to sell much of anything. He will never get a job with any mainstream or even more well known indie developer or publishers. I can see that interview now. "Wait... you're THAT Romine? Out. Get out now, I don't want or need any of your garbage tainting this company."
Haha, yeah... ...he's fucked himself proper. I would really like to see him do an interview. Maybe if we're lucky, he'll go off on a rant somewhere. He seems like the type to scream and cry like he's somehow been cornered.
 
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KDodds

Silver Contributor
Member For 4 Years
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Our experiences are the same with the available work force. And yeah, it HAS always been starting position, and then either merit or nepotism move you up the ladder. There's really nothing more to it than that. Do you job, do it well, get along with others, work well with them, and opportunities will, most likely, present themselves. And if they don't or you feel they won't, you move on to something else, with your merits on your resume backing you. It hasn't changed in the 36 years I've been in the work force.

When I was in college, I downsized myself to a non-thinking position pulling auto parts in a warehouse. It was brutally physical labor, but I busted my ass. And my co-workers got angry. "120 line per hour is all you have to pull." I was pulling almost twice that when the work was there. "Why are you busting your ass?" they'd ask. Why not? Take some pride, do your best. "I ain't bustin' my ass for $X/hr." And that was the kicker. So when? When are you going to bust your ass? For how much? And that's why I moved up (still in school full time too, mind you) past them, and was eventually given a warehouse to run, all within a couple of years. But that was it. No where else to move, so I moved on. And moved on again to where I am now and have been for, oh, about 20 years maybe. Long story short, I started real full time adult work as soon as I was able (17) and spent the next 10+ years moving up and on steadily to get into the company were I am now, then another 5 years working my way up to where I wanted and needed to be. You can crunch 15-20 years of experience, ethics, proven track record, etc. into, "hey man, imma need a gud job, you gots 1 4 me?" But that's what's, by and large, not only expected, but vehemently argued over as a right to the extent of telling me I didn't live in a past they know about weren't even alive to see. And this is why "entitlement" has become such an overused word.
 

Severs

Member For 4 Years
ECF Refugee
Just a quick update on this, DigiHom is filing to dismiss the lawsuit against the 100 Steam Users now, and if they fails they are asking for a 90 day extension on it. They claim this is due to the fact that their business was destroyed after filing the case, financially disabling them. Who knew that suing your customers for stupid shit could have such a bad effect on your ability to do business with anyone.

Now this isn't to say they are dropping the matter entirely, although their case documents can, and have been, ripped apart by even law students. They are seeking for a dismissal without prejudice so they can file again at a later date. https://techraptor.net/content/digital-homicide-dismiss-steam-users
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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well when people jump on hype trains and buy games base don shit it's bound to happen. Just look at No mans sky and what a shitshow it has become.
 

Severs

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well when people jump on hype trains and buy games base don shit it's bound to happen. Just look at No mans sky and what a shitshow it has become.

There wasn't any hype to DigiHom's "games". Just them giving out free keys to people who upvoted the games when they were in the Steam Greenlight process. They wanted as many games as possible on steam because they can get a cut of trading cards bought and sold on the steam market. Or at least they did get a cut of those sales before they pissed Valve off and Valve told em to go pound sand, and removed any and all DigiHom titles from steam, and stated they will no longer do any business with them. They actually had 59 games that they intended to put on steam. Most of them being clones of each other which were clones of other games. They were actually so much cloned from each other that they shared save files and high scores with each of the cloned games. All they were doing for most of them was changing an asset here and there to make it look slightly different.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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There wasn't any hype to DigiHom's "games". Just them giving out free keys to people who upvoted the games when they were in the Steam Greenlight process. They wanted as many games as possible on steam because they can get a cut of trading cards bought and sold on the steam market. Or at least they did get a cut of those sales before they pissed Valve off and Valve told em to go pound sand, and removed any and all DigiHom titles from steam, and stated they will no longer do any business with them. They actually had 59 games that they intended to put on steam. Most of them being clones of each other which were clones of other games. They were actually so much cloned from each other that they shared save files and high scores with each of the cloned games. All they were doing for most of them was changing an asset here and there to make it look slightly different.
sounds shiity, but at this point 90% of devs are just terrible, and the mobile market has really screwed things up
 

Severs

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sounds shiity, but at this point 90% of devs are just terrible, and the mobile market has really screwed things up

There are plenty of good games to be had out there. Just have to dig through everything to find the jewels that are there. As for the mobile market, that's kind of a creature of its own and really deserves its own thread to be started.
 

SirRichardRear

AKA Anthony Vapes on Youtube
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There are plenty of good games to be had out there. Just have to dig through everything to find the jewels that are there. As for the mobile market, that's kind of a creature of its own and really deserves its own thread to be started.
yeah but a lot of developers are copying the way those games make money. I don't have a lot of time to play games, but I always have something good to play so I'm not concerned. Just saying that devs like this should get shit on. Also 1 week away from gears 4 so I'll be busy for a while with that
 

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