Nibodhika
@Nibodhika@lemmy.world
- Comment on When society completely transitions to cash-less, what happens when the power goes down? End of the world? 4 days ago:
Also, I can tell you from personal experience, cards were working Monday during the blackout. Not on wireless machines obviously since we had no cellphone reception, but for example Supermarkets were letting you pay with a card.
- Comment on Looking for a local co-op game to play with my SO (Steam Deck) 5 days ago:
One of my favorite games to play with my SO is Out of Space the vibe is very similar to Overcooked but it’s procedurally generated and a lot more chilled out, i.e. less chaos.
- Comment on What's the point in getting married? 1 week ago:
First of all getting married is extremely cheap, just a small fee in most countries.
A marriage is a legal document that brings many legal consequences, from tax to residency and even hospital and death care there are many reasons why that document might be important for you. If you’re going to spend the rest of your life with someone else, it makes a lot of sense to do it, it makes lots of stuff much easier.
- Comment on I'm bored and desperately search for a proper game 1 week ago:
- Factorio, I know you said you couldn’t get into it, but try peaceful mode, it’s a great game even without enemies
- RimWorld, it’s an excellent colony management game
- Dwarf Fortress, this is the big boss, it’s really hard to start, but it’s the most complex simulation game out there. If you can get into it, it’s infinite hours of fun.
- Comment on What programs do you wish a good FOSS alternative existed, but doesn't or most of the FOSS alternatives simply aren't good? 2 weeks ago:
15 or so years ago people were saying the same thing about decentralized social media. Yet here we are.
No we weren’t, Email has been a thing for much longer than that. Everyone always knew decentralized social platforms were possible.
In any case you’re only scratching the surface of my points which is why you think they’re shallow, you haven’t answered a single one of them in any satisfactory way. Your answers get it 80% of the way there (which is the easy part that anyone knows how to do), but the last 20% is what makes this impossible in any practical sense of the word.
The main problem that Steam/GoG/Itch/etc solve is not selling games, but providing a secure validated platform where games can be sold. And this is the hard problem to solve on decentralized platforms. To answer you question, why do I buy games? there are 2 main points:
- It’s convenient
- I want to support the devs
Neither of those points work on a decentralized platform. It’s not convenient because of the payment hassle and trying to figure out if something is legit or not. When you buy stuff at Amazon even if it’s sold by someone else you’re safe that if you get scammed you will get your money back, on a decentralized platform that’s not the case, you will need to be extremely aware of who’s the seller, which instance is it being sold on, etc, etc. This alone completely obliterates the convenience of pressing a button and getting a game, so in this any decentralized platform will be worse. And the second point also is related, I can’t know if I’m supporting the devs or some random person who’s re-uploaded the game. Sure, PGP signatures would be nice, and we can use that to add a checkmark next to someone, except you need a centralized PGP public signature registry, so you’re no longer fully decentralized, and if you add a solution to it (e.g. blockchain of public PGP signatures of known sellers) it’s still possible to simply create another seller with a similar enough name, or create the official name before the official entity does it so you look more official than the actual official site.
In short people would not easily know if they’re buying from a pirate or from the devs, so that takes away convenience and support for the devs, the only two reasons I buy games. Valve/GoG/etc manage this very easily because they’re a centralized platform that control what gets on their store, so they can easily validate if the thing they’re selling is being sold by the actual dev, and even so there have been cases of indy games getting plagiarized and re uploaded by a different party. But in those cases, Valve took the loss, refunded the users and took the game off the store, in a decentralized platform that won’t be possible because the scammer is the only person with the power to do that, so again, less convenient, less secure.
Which leads me to payment, you think that just integrating something like Paypal is enough? first of all the moment you do that you loss the decentralized battle, now everything is centralized on the payment method and they can arbitrate stuff, so you haven’t solved anything by being decentralized.
Finally with all of this if you’re a company developing games why would you choose this platform? it provides nothing to you and there’s a 100% chance that anything you sell there will immediately be copied and resold by someone else. Which means that on corpo-mind if they wanted to get in there, they would strengthen their DRM policies to try to prevent this.
It’s a nice dream, but there are too many things that make this very difficult if not impossible to happen. Proving ownership of external stuff in fully decentralized systems is simply impossible, which is why stuff like HTTPS relies on centralized nodes for validation and why NFTs while a great idea on paper are synonym with scams on most people’s mind. Even if someone was able to create such a platform, no one would use it, so it’s just pointless. Which is not to say that there aren’t strives we can make in that direction, e.g. trying to enforce a common protocol for APIs which would allow multiple stores to be accessed from a single app is a nice start, a blockchain for ownership of games that can be part of that API used by stores to allow to cross-buy is another interesting idea (although the store would probably still charge something to activate the product, but essentially we’re moving the fee from the publisher to the customer in exchange to allow him to only pay a fee to activate the same game on multiple systems). Etc, etc, etc, there are plenty of nice ideas on how the situation can be improved, but a fully decentralized store should not be the end goal.
PS: The fact that you didn’t mentioned OpenBazaar in your reply is a relatively good indicator that you haven’t given this problem enough thought to understand the pitfalls you’re missing.
- Comment on What programs do you wish a good FOSS alternative existed, but doesn't or most of the FOSS alternatives simply aren't good? 2 weeks ago:
This will never happen. The problem with decentralized stuff is that anyone can put anything, so piracy will be omnipresent there, why would you pay for a game when the seller next store is giving it away for free (or much cheaper), and how would you distinguish between “EA” selling the Sims 1 there and “TheRealEA” selling the Sims 1 there for the same price. Also decentralized card information is a bad idea, so you would either need a centralized paying hub, setup your card with every seller, or only be able to use crypto to pay, all of those are bad in their own way. But it’s a nice dream
- Comment on What are some FOSS programs that are objectively better than their proprietary counterparts? 2 weeks ago:
Why? What can Visual studio or Clion do that vim can’t? Lots of what those two can do are easy to setup, but I can’t think of anything that vim can’t do (and can think quite a bunch that those two can’t)
- Comment on Nintendo Maintains Nintendo Switch 2 Pricing, Retail Pre-Orders to Begin April 24 in U.S. 2 weeks ago:
I agree with most of what you said, I don’t think the price is as high as people make it out to be, but:
So if it will be the cheapest console of its generation
Cheapest version of the Steam Deck is still cheaper for very comparable hardware, and while generations don’t align I think the Deck is closer to the Switch 2 than to the switch 1, and a Deck 2 would be miles ahead of a switch 2.
- Comment on Doom (2016) now DRM free on GOG 2 weeks ago:
Not always, they only started to offer Linux support after Steam, and even then it’s just a very small part of their catalog and none of their own games/products, so I think it’s fair to say they don’t offer Linux support but sell some products that do.
- Comment on What are some FOSS programs that are objectively better than their proprietary counterparts? 2 weeks ago:
Why not use something like Nvim on both?
- Comment on What are some FOSS programs that are objectively better than their proprietary counterparts? 2 weeks ago:
I wish more game/software had Linux support. I know there’s wine but still
There, FTFY
- Comment on What are some FOSS programs that are objectively better than their proprietary counterparts? 2 weeks ago:
I agree, there are very few really good IDEs and the majority of them are closed source. The only open source one I can think of off the top of my head is Kdevelop, and last time I tried it it was not great.
That being said, I think the reason for that is that most FOSS projects are stuff someone started and maintained because they wanted an alternative with XYZ, and for IDEs a good chunk of people who could build excellent IDEs don’t even use one, so they don’t even start to work on it. The reason is that vim/emacs are so great it’s very hard to beat them, I think a good configured vim/emacs can beat anything the best IDEs can do, and while configuring vim/emacs to get to that level is difficult, it’s stile much more easy than building an IDE from scratch. So you’re left with a gap where beginners don’t have any tools because experts don’t need them.
- Comment on What are some FOSS programs that are objectively better than their proprietary counterparts? 2 weeks ago:
Godot is objectively better as an engine, you might still prefer Unity for the amount of content you can pay to get, but if you’re doing everything yourself Godot is miles ahead of Unity. I always give this example because it’s so dumb but perfectly illustrates my point:
If you’re writing a Single player game, you don’t care which controller pressed a button, otherwise if for some reason there are multiple controllers connected only one of them will provide input to the game. In Unity the way to deal with this is to make multiple mappings, e.g. Controller 1 button A means jump, Controller 2 button A means jump, etc, etc. Unreal has the same thing, Godot used to be the same, but a quick look at the code base and a couple of lines of code later and boom, Godot now has an Any Controller button A means jump mapping.
This sort of thing makes Godot objectively better than Unity. There are other things too, but this one takes the cake for me.
- Comment on What are some FOSS programs that are objectively better than their proprietary counterparts? 2 weeks ago:
Why shouldn’t it? As long as your system detects the pen and sensitivity (and Linux is excellent at peripheral support) any program should be able to use it properly.
- Comment on What's a cancelled game you really miss? 3 weeks ago:
It is still being released but they had the designer/writer from the 1st one leading the writing team, but fired him due to “creative differences” so don’t expect anything similar.
- Comment on What's a cancelled game you really miss? 3 weeks ago:
This one gets me as well, Paradox had a great history of maintaining and upgrading the base game with money made from DLCs, some of which are content/feature related and others are way cheaper and are cosmetics, all of that while providing mod support. And that model would have been awesome in a sims like game.
- Comment on Nintendo ‘warned to expect 145% tariff on Nintendo Switch 2’ 3 weeks ago:
Then why are you getting angry while checking this sub and this post? Seems like you’re also getting worked up over it.
I’m sorry you’re in a bad situation, I get it, I’m also not in a situation where I could even buy the switch 2 even if I wanted to. But this is a big deal, the USA have fucked themselves up in the ass so hard that people outside of it might get hit with it. The price of the switch 2 is just one of the tips of this iceberg, the price of the PS5 is another, but in a short while the same thing will start to happen to lots of electronics, including hospital ones, which could increase the price for everyone depending on how this plays out.
Unfortunately for the rest of us the US is a BIG extremely consumer market, and if they get taken off the picture the profit margin decreases and prices need to hike to keep up.
- Comment on Suggestions for mouse only games? 3 weeks ago:
I have also recently been playing Mini Motorways and found it more fun than Mini Metro (too bad it’s not available on Android, since mini metro is one of my favorite phone games)
- Comment on Suggestions for mouse only games? 3 weeks ago:
CK can be daunting, I recommend you choose which time period you like best and go with that game, e.g. if you like sci-fi go with Stellaris, if you like WWII go with Hearts of Iron 4, etc. liking the time period where the game is set can make a huge difference in you willingness to learn it. For example if you don’t like medieval it might be daunting to track lineages and hereditary traits and how the ownership of land works (I once lost an entire kingdom because of it on CK2), but if you like WWII maybe seeing historical facts reflected on mechanics or learning military tactics is more interesting to you. All of those games are very different from one another, but they’re also very alike, starting with one that’s just the right one can help you pass the steep learning curve.
- Comment on BDS calls for boycott of Microsoft and Xbox gaming products over alleged Israeli military connections 4 weeks ago:
Whoosh?
- Comment on BDS calls for boycott of Microsoft and Xbox gaming products over alleged Israeli military connections 4 weeks ago:
They can even call them something cool like Steam Machines
- Comment on Are Nintendo's $80 online game prices a result of tariffs or is Nintendo just using them as an excuse to price gouge as corporations do? 4 weeks ago:
IIRC the price was announced first, and it’s the same in other countries so I don’t think that’s the reason. Which means that lets asume they will use Japan’s tariffs of 24% on them their base price goes from 80 to 99.2, plus in the USA prices are usually pre-tax so you also add tax on top of that, this varies from state to state, but a quick Google puts it at around 5%, so you will actually be paying $104.16 for them, and $117.18 for physical copies, or $126.63 if they’re manufactured in China and you get that tariff instead. This is just one example of what these isolationist policies will cause, be prepared to have that happen to everything.
- Comment on Why don’t brands make simpler names? 5 weeks ago:
H is for High Performance, U is for Ultra-Low power usage. So if you want something for gaming choose an H if you want to have hours of battery life choose a U. Pretty simple and easy to st a glance see if s processor is what you’re looking for.
The 7 is not repeated on Ryzen 7 9700X, otherwise you wouldn’t have stuff like the Ryzen 5 1600X. The first 7 (or the 5 in my other example) is the segment, i.e. towards which market it’s directed, Ryzen 3 are entry levels that you should consider for your grandma, Ryzen 9 are high power CPUs. Then the first number of the 4 digits is the generation, the second one is the how it stacks up to others in it’s series, the third and fourth are extra differentiation if needed, then there’s some letters for feature flags. So for example your Ryzen 7 9700X is a high-end 9th generation high clock/performance CPU, just by that name alone I can guess that it outperforms a Ryzen 7 9500X and possibly matches a Ryzen 9 7700X. If you learn to read those it makes it very easy to figure out if an upgrade is worth it just by the model number.
USB naming convention is a mess, I’m not touching that.
Also not sure about the pro, none of my phone’s ever were pro or even had a pro version so not sure.
Sony is a bit weird, but WH-1000XM5 is a Wireless Headband (WH) 1000X is the model M5 is the generation, so those are newer than WH-1000XM4, and the next iteration of them will be called WH-1000XM6. The N is as you guessed noise canceling, the 1000X are top of the line so they have it too, no need to advertise it. I don’t know much about other products of them, but they do seem weird.
Monitor names can be very helpful, for example Dell uses [Series][Diagonal][Year][Ratio or Resolution][Features] so just by looking at a short code, for example I’m not even sure this monitor exists but a U3224QWC is an ultrawide QHD 32 inches IPS with anti-glare monitor released in 2024 with a USB-C input. That being said www.reddit.com/r/funny/…/computer_monitors/
- Comment on PC gamers spend 92% of their time on older games, oh and there are apparently 908 million of us now 1 month ago:
I mean, Factorio’s early access is the middle point between now and when God of War 2 was released. Meaning that when Factorio was on early access God of War 2 was as old then as Factorio is now.
- Comment on What was the 'bear vs man' controversy? 1 month ago:
Maybe stop and listen to what I said, unless you have lived in very specific cities it’s almost assuredly I’ve had more risk to my life walking home in a week than you ever did in your entire life, having lived for a good chunk of my life in one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
I’ve lived in places where you can get shot because you turned the wrong corner, places where you need to talk to people with machine guns to let you pass. Maybe you should unshove your head out of your own ass and see that other people also have problems, and alienating them is not going to make any friends. Unlike you I recognize the struggle that minorities face, I’m not looking only at myself and forgetting others exist and trying to pretend they don’t suffer. If your first response when someone says “I suffer” is “your suffering doesn’t matter because I suffer more” the person will reply (or at least think) “if you don’t care about my suffering, then I don’t care about yours”, and that’s not constructive, everyone suffers and everyone deserves to be treated equally.
- Comment on What was the 'bear vs man' controversy? 1 month ago:
Sure you can, it’s like saying you can’t be racist against white people, and having lived in a neighborhood that was 99% black I can assure you that’s a thing.
People need to decouple the ideas of discrimination and institutionalized discrimination. Discrimination can happen in any direction and it’s on an individual level, institutionalized discrimination can only happen from the people “in control” towards the rest, e.g. cis, hetero, white, males. Obviously institutionalized discrimination is way worse and should be fixed, however antagonizing people and claiming you can’t discriminate against them will lead them to close down into “well, if I can’t be discriminated against then neither can you”. It’s important to teach people that anyone can be discriminated, and to show how our society as a whole discriminates certain groups, this way the message becomes less of “you’re an asshole for being in the same category as people who are assholes, and there’s nothing I do to you that will make me an asshole” and more “it sucks when some people are assholes to you, imagine if the majority of people treated you like this”
- Comment on What was the 'bear vs man' controversy? 1 month ago:
While I think that’s a great way to view the question, and can definitely see the reasoning and sort of agree with it, there’s one test that can be made for some arguments to know whether they’re inherently prejudiced or not, that is the black switch. This works because our society has internalized racism, at least the talking of it, to a point where we can easily recognize racist statements, while the same is not true for sexist statements yet.
With that in mind how would it be if the question was “would you rather be in a forest with a bear or a black person?”. You immediately recognize the inherent racism there, and the person asking that question could very easily show statistics on the number of crimes committed per ethnicity to prove his point of why he would choose the bear, and even argue the same you did that a bear is predictable humans are not. Still you understand that the question is inherently racist.
This is not to say there’s no issues to be discussed here, or that women don’t suffer at the hands of monsters out there, and if you can’t understand why women would choose the bear you need to read more into what they go through… But still, regardless of all of that, the question is inherently sexist.
- Comment on How come in most school in the USA (at least mine) they teach Spain Spanish instead of Mexico Spanish? Would not Mexico Spanish be an obvious choice to teach? 1 month ago:
Because it’s the same language. I grew up in Argentina, and the “Spanish” (the name of the language is actually Castilian because there are multiple languages in Spain) we learn at school is the “Spain” one. In reality it’s the language as defined by the Real Academia Española so the language is the same (yes it includes the vosotros conjugation, no, no one outside Spain actually uses that but we learn it in school).
The differences between Mexican, Argentinian or Spanish Castilian is more in the pronunciation and the use of some words, but the language we learn at school is all the same, and I imagine it’s the same one that you learn too.
That being said, using vosotros to us sounds similar to how using thy might sound in English. A good teacher would explain that outside of Spain we use ustedes which uses the plural third person conjugation (i.e. the same one as ellos), but the correct plural second person is vosotros.
- Comment on What is the minimum number of words needed to communicate 2 months ago:
Toki Pona doesn’t work like that, each word has multiple meanings, it’s made to be generic. For example Tawa means move, go, away, etc and Mi means me, we, us, mine, ours, etc. But Mi Tawa which literary means I go is used to mean Bye. Or Akesi which means disgusting animal or lizard and Linja which means long, flexible, cord, etc. So a Snake is an Akesi Linja.
- Comment on why was 1995 video games console very pixel art graphics but music was high quality and images were great??, 2 months ago:
I’m having trouble understanding what you mean by that. Music predates computers by a long shot, you can hear Beethoven symphonies which were composed at a time where computers didn’t even exist in science fiction. Even if you’re talking about recorded music you can get Jazz records that also predate computers. So I’m not sure what exactly is there to compare here.
I guess your question is in the lines of “why doesn’t Mario soundtrack sound like Radiohead” which is a very valid question, we clearly had the technology to record and play Radiohead music, so why not during games? The answer is simple, computers just weren’t capable of it (although in the 90s that changed but let’s start from the beginning). The computers at the time were 8 bits, this means that any value you store must be between 0 and 255, this leaves you very little sound capabilities, together with this games needed to be extremely small in order for the computers of the time to be able to run them. This severe limitations led to the aesthetic and sound of classic games, they were essentially the best graphics a computer could run at that time. You can find 8-bit versions of almost any music, which will show you an idea on how that music would have sounded like in one of those games (although that’s not exactly true because of the size limitations the music would be even worse quality).
In the 90s we made the jump to 16 bits, and that allowed a lot more sounds, voices sounded a bit garbled so they were rarely used but you can find some. But in this era you start to get music that’s closer to real music in games, take for example Sonic and compare the background music with the original Mario.
Still in the 90s we made the jump to 32bits, and then audio was no longer a problem. In this time you get games showing video and full audio, and there are games whose soundtrack were actual albums.