So Valve is not your friend, according to Polygon.
- Thread starter BrawlMan
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We've got two pages because of a Polygon article dude. We've had 3 posts in threads on mediocre games turn into scream fests in the last two months alone. There's at least two people that are at least thinking in their minds "Well, it's Polygon, they've run true stories before(that they copied from slightly more reputable sources)". Just because a horribly broken, badly rainbow-painted, gender confused, cuckoo clock is right this time doesn't mean it has any real trust from alot of people. And at least one of those "Alot" is me.Wrex Brogan said:
I'm not even saying they're wrong or that Valve cares about me beyond what I can pay them, but they're at least honest about what they want from you. And I'll take that over a piece that just suddenly turned up out of the blue from a news outlet that has ties to a company that is trying to make their operating system less and less accessible for anyone but their pre-approved and rubberstamped programs. Not to mention they sorta rolled out a new update for their newest OS and people have reported some Steam games not functioning properly here and there. Which may just be a coincidence and be a unpackaging fuck-up, I know.
All I'm saying is that best case scenario, they ran out of things to take off social media and turn into a big deal(or overhype a game to the point that nobody has any interest in looking at it), annoying as hell and largely something anyone that uses Steam or has any experience with any company knows already, but whatever, they have no other talents or skills to make a living anyways. Worst case, it's the first in a line of hitpieces.
Either way, I don't particularly think Polygon has much value to me and I don't think they should really have as much of a market share of games "journalism" as they do. Was simply reminding people of instances where they have supremely fucked up if they were on the fence of "What if Polygon knows what they're talking about?".
Not in terms of customer service, Origin by most accounts is far better in that department then Valve is, plus let's not forget Origin had a refund policy years before Valve did.BabyfartsMcgeezaks said:
I personally like GOG better since all the games you buy there are DRM-free.
I think more often then not they do know what they are talking about.Redryhno said:
Some people are obsessed with Valve to a truly unhealthy degree, it's beyond disturbing how many fanboys are willing to overlook their many problems, it took years of Total Biscuit and Jim Sterling railing on Valve's terrible decision making before they finally started trying to stop the flood of awful shovelware games. I'm sick of Valve cultists trying to whitewash everything.
I'd also point out that Steam, back in the day, was worse than Origin or Uplay when it launched. They were first, so they were always going to have the worst version.Ishigami said:
OT: Me personally, I've been buying my games elsewhere, like Humble. They usually give way better deals too. I haven't been liking the way Steam has been doing things lately (like years). I don't know how much of a cut Steam gets by purchasing elsewhere like this, but I hope its less than normal. Steam still has the best library function.
As to journalism, all journalists are biased. There is no way not to be biased. It doesn't matter if its FOX news or the NYT. If your offended by the bias, may I suggest that find news from both side of the political spectrum to try to give you a balanced view. If you cant handle one side (left or right), then you are just wanting someone to pander to your biases.
Yeah steam support sucks balls, luckily I haven't been in need of it in a decade or so.darkrage6 said:
Origin does a couple things better but its functionalities and aesthetics are still very lacking compared to steam.
Well i just lost a rather long post by accident.darkrage6 said:
so i think I'm going to condense this now.
This is illogical
polygon, has set a precedent when they penned that editorial, in which they were willing to attack the consumer and two that they are concerned largely with corporate money.
It takes a special kind of wretch to say that people are wrong for being disappointed with the product they received when it failed to be as advertised and you are one of the people who advertised it.
now assuming, against all reason that they are unlike every other site in the media at large, that they do not subsist on corporate money and click bait. This would not make anysense at all and would speak of great hatred for their consumer base as all whole embedded in the company.
but that's generally impossible and i doubt they directly hate the consumer, it's far more likely that like every publisher and their dog they simply snatched up some money to protect their interests, namely the interests of the corporations they serve to disseminate information for.
Whatever the case is a publication isn't just going to swing around in a year or 3 to favouring the consumer over the people who pay them directly.
Since you brought up gg I will add to that, GG itself only served to force them to have ethics policies and place the fear of god in them not actually have them follow those codes.
Now for a second point I'd like to pull attention to your post wherein you comment because i lack empirical information i am in your own words "talking nonsense". I firmly disagree with that, one can make reasonable assumptions based on what they have seen but to remedy both of our ignorance, i went looking for an old video i watched years ago on the subject.
while inconclusive it is the closest thing to concrete metrics either of us has sought to bring into the conversation up until this point.
We can see a reasonable systems of action and motivation removed from political reasoning. Assuming polygon does had connections with Microsoft, which is very much clear by the start of the video one could assume that it's their best interest to serve as a spin machine for Microsoft given the connection.
We see them breaking their ethical code, attacking the consumer, and we have reason to suspect them of being possibly being biased where possible though the sample size is not definitive. this site, very reasonably has a poor reputation.
even during my original conversation with in which you responded to, the person i was speaking to agreed it was bland.
what more is there to say?
Polygon is another crooked site on the internet, in an age where trust in the media is at an all time low.
it is another brick in the wall.
how sensitive to this you may vary but given that my more common hobby is wargames and miniatures i can see i've rarely seen people as crooked as them. most of what i read wouldn't dream of attacking their reader base.
and historical do not have the marginal utility of games nor the cost wall, though it does have a stepper curve.
I mean, yeah? Hell, I've been unenamored with Steam ever since they gamified spending money during their steam sales. That was garbage, doubly so after gamers figured out how to game that scheme so everybody got a chance at the grand prize and valve stepped in to squash that. Add to that a strong aversion to any sort of accountability whatsoever regarding Greenlight, asset flips, an embarrassingly long run of enabling gambling, and general apathy towards any sort of minimal oversight whatsoever, and we have a company coasting on the evaporating goodwill of decade old games they aren't continuing to make.
To the point where if I buy a PC game anymore, I'd rather it not have a Steam key.
And if your entire rebuttal is "but Polygon" while ignoring everything about Valve? Congratulations, you're everything you hate about the people you don't like.
To the point where if I buy a PC game anymore, I'd rather it not have a Steam key.
And if your entire rebuttal is "but Polygon" while ignoring everything about Valve? Congratulations, you're everything you hate about the people you don't like.
Are you trying to ignore the fact that bringing up someone's race and gender and not performance is utter garbage racist and sexist? If so then I can just congratulate you on levels of divisive moral relativism that you achieved and display here.Silvanus said:
Hi Silvanus! Sorry for the OT - is your current avatar from the old Italian TV series "Don Camillo e Don Peppone"? Such an obscure obscure reference, if this is the case I didn't think anyone else in this environment would even have ever heard of it!Silvanus said:
Even bringing it up is "utter garbage racist and sexist [sic]"? That's sheer nonsense. These elements have been discussed and explored throughout art and artistic critique since the very formation of art; they play a central role in some of the greatest artistic pieces (and their critiques) in the history of artistic media. Simply ignoring them would lead to a poorer, more bankrupt artistic landscape. I reject that completely.Jamcie Kerbizz said:
It is indeed Don Camillo! Nice catch! It's from one of the Don Camillo films released between '52 & '65. I used to read the books when I was littler, but only saw the first film quite recently. Fernandel makes a fantastic Don Camillo.Emanuele Ciriachi said:
What elements? Telling someone who makes a presentation that he is wrong colour and gender is art now? Dig the hole deeper...Silvanus said:
No, obviously not. You've just pulled a ridiculous, extreme scenario out of your ass.Jamcie Kerbizz said:
Above, you said that merely bringing these things up is "racist and sexist". You've now leapt from that generalised statement to a specific, extreme example (one you just made up).
If you want to discuss this in good faith, stay on the same page.
Firstly, your original post [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.950447-So-Valve-is-not-your-friend-according-to-Polygon#23973069] (the one with which I first took issue) referred to diversity in the game itself, not the presentation panel.Jamcie Kerbizz said:
Secondly, above, you seemed to say that merely "bringing it up" is "racist and sexist". That is clearly a much more generalised statement. Now, if that statement referred solely to that particular article focusing on the demography of the presentation panel, say so. That's not how I took it: I took it to be a condemnation of discussing demography in games in general.
===
For reference for others, here [https://www.polygon.com/2017/4/26/15438184/call-of-duty-wwii-trailer-reveal-diversity] is the original article from Polygon, which was referred to a few posts ago. I noticed it hasn't been linked yet. It's a pretty shitty article.
Thanks for the video Cleric. You've made several points I was trying to bring up, but in much more detail. This is what I meant when I said about them big deals over nothing in most of their articles, or forcing ethics and codes; only to never follow up on them. Or better yet, flip-flop whenever it suits their own interests.cleric of the order said:
I'm shocked. My worldview has been utterly shattered. Next you'll tell me corporations appeal to me because they want my money.
Article raises interesting points about Steam's omnipresence on PC gaming market, but it's nothing i haven't heard before. And yes, i wish online platforms would adopt GOG's bussiness model instead, but i don't see Steam as cancer that eats gaming, yet. Maybe type 2 diabetes...
Article raises interesting points about Steam's omnipresence on PC gaming market, but it's nothing i haven't heard before. And yes, i wish online platforms would adopt GOG's bussiness model instead, but i don't see Steam as cancer that eats gaming, yet. Maybe type 2 diabetes...
From my personal experiences, Valve is the worst.
Why?
1) No Customer service.
I've had 3 or so issues over the years and in all 3 cases I never once get a reply. Their customer service to my questions have been to ignore them entirely forever. Kudos on being the literal worst a company could possibly be in this regard.
2) They screwed the fans with Half Life 2.
It's okay to plan a cliffhanger in a movie only for that to never resolve. Movies don't always have their sequels greenlit. Valve's Half-Life franchise was an enormous financial success. They've since gone to focus on steam which was even more successful. The decision to screw the fans here has only ever been a deliberate one...there was no financial hurdle in place and no good reason to stop episode 3 when they did.
3) Steam Greenlight. If you follow Jim Sterling you'll have hundreds of reasons why this shows a complete disregard for quality or caring.
For the record, point number 1 is the most important to me by far. Points 2 or 3 are more petty gripes with their business decisions which is something I'd have with pretty much any major company out there.
Why?
1) No Customer service.
I've had 3 or so issues over the years and in all 3 cases I never once get a reply. Their customer service to my questions have been to ignore them entirely forever. Kudos on being the literal worst a company could possibly be in this regard.
2) They screwed the fans with Half Life 2.
It's okay to plan a cliffhanger in a movie only for that to never resolve. Movies don't always have their sequels greenlit. Valve's Half-Life franchise was an enormous financial success. They've since gone to focus on steam which was even more successful. The decision to screw the fans here has only ever been a deliberate one...there was no financial hurdle in place and no good reason to stop episode 3 when they did.
3) Steam Greenlight. If you follow Jim Sterling you'll have hundreds of reasons why this shows a complete disregard for quality or caring.
For the record, point number 1 is the most important to me by far. Points 2 or 3 are more petty gripes with their business decisions which is something I'd have with pretty much any major company out there.
If the first thought anyone had to this startling revelation was anything other than "No shit, butt-munch", then I would be fucking stunned.
Looking at this thread and the one on NeoGaf about this topic. People compare Steam to other DD services and never even consider going back to physical copies. It isn't likely, especially since PC gamers won't even consider it but it isn't impossible to do.
GOG is the sweetheart right now but it used to be Steam, this is the progression of things and GOG will not always be the sweetheart.
GOG is the sweetheart right now but it used to be Steam, this is the progression of things and GOG will not always be the sweetheart.