I hate headlines like these. It feels like they’re intentionally ambiguous.

Honestly, I’m a bit skeptical of StopKillingGames. It feels like a good thing, but it also comes off as naive. Like the whole “just distribute the server” requirement is impossible with the way modern games are developed, and may be cost-prohibitive to implement for most developers well into the future. Besides, some games really are less like a painting and more like a musical; performance art necessarily has to end at some point, so it’s all about the experience and the memories. Nobody complains when the actors take a bow, because that’s the expectation.

Louis Rossman sometimes rubs me the wrong way, but he usually makes really good, nuanced points: https://youtu.be/TF4zH8bJDI8?si=m4QGHfHY1fOtITpw

Keep the debate alive, because we all love playing games.

The challenge is that requires creativity. Creativity isn’t a stable investment.

Viva La indie game studio!

Didn’t they give out refunds? That seems like the right thing to do when a massively multiplayer game is dead on arrival.

The only one arguing against documented historical facts and ongoing reality in this thread is you. The PRC isn’t some magical place where people don’t do awful shit to each other. They’re just really good at covering it up.

It’s hard realizing that it’s a messy world full of people who do bad things to each other for stupid reasons. Just remember:

Roses are red.

The sky is blue.

Single-party authoritarian ethnostates leverage the absence of a free press to hide mass atrocities against ethnic minorities.

Acceptance is the first step to letting go of copium.

Literally visible to the naked eye from space.

Yes. They are.

Welcome to the wide world of OSINT 🙃

So what’s the score? I haven’t been keeping track. Is the home team winning?

Not defending. Admitting that evil things have been done to 780 people while at Gitmo. It’s a problem, and we’re working to fix it.

But imagine being unable to admit there are millions of detainees in Xinjiang.

That’s the difference between Western Democracy and an an authoritarian ethnostate. There’s no way to fix something you won’t admit exists.

That history article you linked goes as far as the 1950s.

Who’s debunked it? The CCP? Are they still sticking to the “reeducation centers” line? Have you been “reeducated”?

There are some perverse arguments that let Gitmo exist. It’s a heated debate around whether the US Constitution extends to non-citizens. As usual, Wikipedia has a fantastic summary.

… which is a debate that can occur in a diverse nation with a free press. Do you feel threatened because you’re arguing against Western Democracy on the Internet, a product of that same Western “regime”?

Didn’t think so.

Right. Okay, I’ll do your homework for you…

You’re claiming that a handful of people pointed out some things Western governments were doing that were illegal according to said governments’ legal governing documents, but because of the way they did it, those governments (and citizens) are pissed off at them.

I’m saying the systematic oppression of the free press, human rights, and the decades-long genocide of Tibetans and Uyghurs are perfectly legal according to the PRC.

These aren’t even comparable. Keep trying.

And your argument is cherry-picked. Which is worse?

Ahh, yes, because they pissed off the Deep State, which is ultimately controlled by Hillary Clinton. Sorry, forgot about that one.

/s … if it wasn’t obvious

Why is that weird? Western governments are generally bound by constitutional agreements to not utilize that information against their citizens. That’s not to say they don’t do shady stuff with that information, but getting “disappeared” is more the butt of a Hillary Clinton joke than it is an actual reality for Western citizens … unless you’ve really REALLY pissed off Hillary Clinton.