News from the lovely world of the Games Industry.

[Syt]

Keep in mind that their main income these days is the microtransactions in FIFA Ultimate Team and the likes, players buying card packs to create their teams for online play.

[Syt]

Microsoft's game pass subs will go up in price: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/microsoft-reveal-massive-game-pass-ultimate-and-pc-pass-price-hike-concede-that-price-hikes-are-never-fun

[Josquius]

Lots of chat online about GTA6 being delayed.

Less talk about why.


https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/all-you-had-to-do-was-follow-the-damn-law-rockstar-workers-are-protesting-outside-take-two-after-gta-6-devs-alleged-ruthless-union-busting/

'All you had to do was follow the damn law, Rockstar!': Workers are protesting outside Take-Two after GTA 6 dev's alleged 'brazen' union-busting

[Jacob]

I suppose the two are potentially somewhat connected, but really - I don't think there's ever been a Rockstar game that has not been delayed. The Rockstar way is to be overly ambitious, destroy the dev teams through massive overwork, and still blow the target date... usually at least twice.

I have no doubt that disgruntled Rockstar employees were looking at unionizing in response to the usual callous work-'em-'till-they-break approach. Nor do I have any doubt that Rockstar fired all those people because they were trying to unionize. But I expect that even if there had been no union drive, and no related firings, GTA6 would still have been delayed by exactly the same amount of time.

[Sophie Scholl]

So. Jacob. Any comment?   

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[Jacob]

Good luck to them

Philosophically, I'm in favour of indie / DIY type stuff.

Professionally, I wish I was in position to continue building on the cool stuff I've made in the past, but alas...

[Jacob]

In other news, it seems Roblox is getting sued for allowing pedophiles to prey on kids on their platform.

[The Minsky Moment]

Yeah Roblox seems like a horror show.  To the point where I'd rather my kid just play Fortnite.

[viper37]

Jeffrey Epstein Reportedly Had a Major Hand in Making Call of Duty Series a Microtransaction Hell

The title is misleading, be warned.
But:

Furthermore, Bobby Kotick, who is best known for his 32-year tenure as CEO of Call of Duty studio Activision Blizzard, is mentioned more than 300 times across the newly unsealed files.

One May 2013 email exchange between Epstein, Kotick, and futurist Pablos Holman directly discusses the idea of using virtual items in games as tools for behavioral conditioning. The language used was anything but subtle:

As confirmed in the email chain, Kotick proposed tying educational content to real-world incentives, suggesting rewards like "cell phone minutes, iPhone credits, virtual items in games." Holman replied in agreement, pushing even further into the psychological implications.
"I'm all for indoctrinating kids into an economy," Holman wrote. "You gotta love how his example for 'real world events' is 'virtual items in games.'"
While those lines weren't from Epstein himself (contrary to what many are claiming in now-viral videos), he was part of the conversation. What does stand out, however, is the casual tone around the idea that virtual economies can shape how children think and behave.

They discussed how to use the game's micro transaction system to hook young people into it.  And trips to the island by Kotick.


So, there's really a pedo-satanist cabal running the world after all?

[Valmy]

So, there's really a pedo-satanist cabal running the world after all?

As it turns out...yeah.

What is up with pedophilia? It seems most of the world's institutions are at least partially devoted to covering up and empowering pedophilia. Why? What is the goddamn appeal? And why are people so loyal and accomodating to those that perpetrate it?

I am sure it is some kind of power move rather than anything else. But damn.

[Jacob]

As it turns out...yeah.

What is up with pedophilia? It seems most of the world's institutions are at least partially devoted to covering up and empowering pedophilia. Why? What is the goddamn appeal? And why are people so loyal and accomodating to those that perpetrate it?

I am sure it is some kind of power move rather than anything else. But damn.

Without getting into the why of it, I think we can observe that it's a thing for a non-trivial section of adults to be attracted to pubescent and just-out-of-puberty kids.

We can also observe that in our society there is strong social pressure against adults having relationships with pubescent and just-out-of-puberty kids. But social pressure does not remove the underlying individual impulse.

Then you have what I consider pretty much a universal law of human existence - where individuals or institutions have access to power without effective means of accountability some of them will abuse and exploit that power, no matter how moral or upstanding the institution itself is supposed to be.

So... as long as there is the impulse and ways to pursue that impulse without any real likelihood of repercussions, you're going to see some percentage of people indulge in it. The more widespread the impulse is, the more likely is that it'll be pursued.

The very rich have long been accustomed to avoid any real accountability for their transgressions; and they're not even supposed to be moral exemplars but is generally understood by society to be allowed to indulge their whims.

The only answer, IMO, is stronger mechanisms of accountability.

[viper37]

We can also observe that in our society there is strong social pressure against adults having relationships with pubescent and just-out-of-puberty kids. But social pressure does not remove the underlying individual impulse.

Yeah, it used to be pretty much the norm, and still is in some countries that an older man can marry a young woman.  Or have sex with young boys in cultures where homosexuality is frowned upon.

[The Minsky Moment]

If sight unseen you had to guess which games industry personality was the most likely to appear in the Epstein files, wouldn't Kotick have been a top guess?

[The Minsky Moment]

What is up with pedophilia? It seems most of the world's institutions are at least partially devoted to covering up and empowering pedophilia. Why? What is the goddamn appeal?

I am sure it is some kind of power move rather than anything else.

If I had to speculate, it's what you said above.  It's about exercising domination and control. And thus is likely to materialize among people whose primary motivation is exercising domination and who have the means and opportunity to indulge in that.  Draw the Venn diagram and you get a bunch of rich and powerful men.

[Sophie Scholl]

If sight unseen you had to guess which games industry personality was the most likely to appear in the Epstein files, wouldn't Kotick have been a top guess?

Absolutely. He checks like... every Epstein pal checklist mark. Just a horrible person.