TynanSylvester

"Veil of ignorance" is the thought experiment:

What society would you want to live in if your social position was randomized?

I suggest a similar thought experiment:

What rules+norms would you want to live under, if the identity+beliefs of the power holders was randomized?

@mode7games @adamofgreyskull @cliffski Beyond that it's hard to response since you're really vague about what you're really advocating or why.

Corporations should seek to manipulate culture to good ends, I guess? Or someone's idea of good.

Anyway I should go be productive so I'll have to leave this one, cheers.

@mode7games @adamofgreyskull @cliffski You're sarcastic, but what you're saying is true. Laws that control speech to manipulate culture are very common.

e.g. Places like China, Russia, Iran, Saudi, Cuba, NK today have very active speech control police with specific cultural goals they pursue by force.

@mode7games @adamofgreyskull @cliffski You're right that neither of those is a good solution.

Valve isn't doing either.

Valve's solution is to lean on the centuries of accumulated wisdom in the law, by basically doing an #import from the law itself.

An admirably humble approach imo

@adamofgreyskull @cliffski @mode7games Murder is often unjustified too in games (and movies, books, etc).

E.g. GTAV, top selling game of all time, basically about mass murdering people (often innocent people) to get money and power and women.

E.g. Any crime movie

@mode7games A system that is minimally restrictive and based on a more mature system (the law) has less edge cases by design. Less chances to do wrong.

As opposed to making things up ad-hoc, in emotionally heated moments, without context or consistency, based on the outrage of the day.

@mode7games Anyone with power has a responsibility to not use it to do evil.

Note that the #1 obligation is not "to do good", but "to not do evil". There's a difference!

A behemoth crusading for goodness is dangerous. One wary of his own power, and doubtful of his judgment, is much safer.

@SpaceHavenGame @Kjep64 @Pete_Complete I'm only bitter at you because you misspelled the name of RimWorld in your Twitter bio!

I kid I kid, Space Haven looks great. Glad to see your KS got off to such an explosive start.

@mode7games Yes, in one sense it is.

(Related: I've considered the idea of Steam as an API only, with the "front page" functionality being offloaded to other companies who can compete freely to display/sort the games in the way their customers want. I'd love it if Valve would do that.)

@mode7games "The community" doesn't "ask". A miniscule group of loud recreational ragers demands.

The vast, vast majority of Steam users don't know or care about this. Their goal is to satisfy their play preferences, not to prevent others from doing so.

@mode7games In no way is the game under discussion being "foregrounded". It's hidden from anyone who doesn't specifically search for it.

I don't think Valve should be "taste makers" or "curators" either. They're good at technology, their job is to move data according to customer wishes.

@TheEggpie @mode7games We already went over this; megacorporations can be powerful enough to violate rights very easily and without violence.

But I'm not interested in circling so I'll say goodbye on this. Cheers.

@TheEggpie @mode7games "Emotional safety" is a phrase that makes no sense.

Nobody's emotions are affected by a product they never interact with, and nobody will interact with this who doesn't search for it.

There's no evidence that video game depictions cause real-life violence. Studied many times.

@TheEggpie @mode7games I think the megacorps should probably be broken up and/or regulated to protect the rights of citizens (privacy, free speech, non-deceptive practices, transparency, etc).

But until we can get there, I'm just advocating that they should respect those rights without being forced.

@TheEggpie @mode7games The same does not apply to an indie game studio or a mom&pop cake shop, because customers can go to alternative suppliers with no significant consequence.

But there is no real alternative to Valve, Google, Apple, Facebook, Mastercard/Visa, PayPal, etc.

@TheEggpie @mode7games When companies get big enough they gain the power to use force to shape speech on a national or global scale. They can destroy you economically. Their influence cannot be escaped.

Thus they gain the obligation to not misuse that power.

@TheEggpie @mode7games So no, I wouldn't "be fine" with it but I wouldn't be shapening the pitchforks to try to destroy it. I know they'd end up used on me some day.

(That said, what you described might be lawbreaking if it contains calls to real-life violence.)

@TheEggpie @mode7games You seem to assume that one can only "be fine" with something, or ban it.

But freedom and tolerance mean having a space between those: I disagree but it's not my place to use force.

Without that space, society is an endless war for power; and only the victors can be free.

@TheEggpie @mode7games Uh, no

@TheEggpie @mode7games Maybe you don't want it.

But if it exists, *someone* wants it.

That's what it means to be a free society and to have individual rights:

You don't get to force others to conform to your preferences.