r/SocialistGaming

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTS5Nhax7/

There are soon votes in Germany in some of the Bundesländer (Counties). The problem is, we might get the first majority(>50%!) of the proven extremist right wing Party "AfD".

Its a complex topic I don't want to overexplain. But I think education is the key for a lot of things. Thus I hope to bring a little political education to young German players (and the World). I hope this game works as a multiplicator & shows that modern problems often dont have easy or simple solutions. Everything comes with con's and pro's.

It's slowly rolling out globally:
• Android & iOS Links

Would be happy to hear your opinions about this. What could I improve to educate more?

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaK6WNZKTjc/

The ESA just said, live in committee on the POG Act, that Minecraft community servers are illegal.

AB 1921, the Protect Our Games Act, has now officially failed in committee.

The vote was 4 yes, 3 no, with the rest abstaining.

Video is in the comments.
Timestamp: 56:24 in the original stream Minecraft private servers are illegal, according to the ESA.
The lobbyist who made the claim: Jennifer Gibbons, Entertainment Software Association
https://www.theesa.com/staff/jennifer-gibbons/

Here is exactly what happened, and why we are not going anywhere.

AB 1921 did not make it out of the Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee. The bill needed a majority of the committee to vote yes. It did not get there. Four Democrats voted yes, three Republicans voted no, and the remaining Democrats abstained.

Those abstentions matter. In a committee vote, an abstention is not neutral. It has the same practical effect as a no, because a bill only advances if it gets a majority of yes votes. Not enough yeses means the bill stops here for this session.

That is the loss.

Now here is the part the headlines and clickbait YouTube “SKG FAILED??!” thumbnails will not give you.

We never expected to get this far.

This was our first attempt, in our first year, in the United States, with a U.S. budget of zero dollars. No paid staff in California. No war chest. No in-person lobbying operation. The timeline was so compressed that we could not get funding in place fast enough to put people in the building.

We ran this on volunteers, emails, phone calls, and the truth.

And we still pushed a consumer-rights bill through the entire State Assembly, 43 to 16, and into a Senate committee vote. We were only three votes away from this becoming law.

A volunteer movement with nothing took on one of the most powerful trade groups in entertainment and forced them to spend real money and real effort to stop us.

They had to work for this.

They are going to have to work a lot harder next time, because next time we will be ready.

The opposition was led by the Entertainment Software Association, the lobbying arm of the biggest publishers on earth. They did not fight this with facts. They fought it with fear.

They brought in a high-paid, D.C.-based lobbyist, Jennifer Gibbons, who worked the offices with claims that ranged from misleading to flatly false. We are putting those claims on the record, because sunlight is the entire point:

They claimed that running a private server, like the ones people run for Minecraft, would be “illegal.”

They claimed the bill demands “forever” support.

They claimed it is “impossible” to keep online games playable after support ends.

They claimed games with licensed content, like music, car brands, or sports, could never stay playable after sales stop.

They claimed that requiring an end-of-life plan would force studios to build “a completely new product.”

Every one of these claims was designed to scare a busy legislator who does not have time to fact-check a well-dressed lobbyist in real time.

It worked just well enough this round.

It will not work when we are standing in the same room, with developers and players beside us, ready to answer every single claim as it happens.

Here is what happens next.

We are not stopping. Not even close.

Next session, we come back with an in-person lobbying presence, the funding to do this properly, and a long list of organizations and developers signed on in support.

We are not limiting this to California. We intend to introduce versions of this in other state legislatures, and we are seriously looking at the federal level.

The ESA is about to learn what it is like to fight on many fronts at once.

They have to win every single time to keep things the way they are.

We only have to win once to change them.

That math does not favor them.

• SKG and SKI are recruiting!

As we, at Stop Killing Games, grow and expand our structure and efforts, we are at the stage of making mass recruitment. Likewise, we are helping establish the SKI movement (Stop Killing the Internet), our sister project launching tomorrow, which will have their own teams. For those reasons, we now created a form where those of you that think that have the skills and availability can apply to either SKG, SKI or both! Before we make that announcement public in other platforms, we are giving the community here in discord the head start courtesy, as this is our center of operation and we love the community here present. If you wished to be more involved with these movements, this is your chance. Even if you are uncertain what exact team/role you would end up in, don't be shy or judge too much the titles. We have created a section in our discord server where you can talk/write and we will have people talking to you and help you figure out which role would be suitable. Also, if you have any questions related with the recruitment topic, feel free to ask in this new section. We have also a voice channel where potentially, interviews will be conducted or questions can be directly made. Here are the respective text and voice channels ⁠recruitment-text⁠recruitment-voice

You can read more about the teams at: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kAvWKeurT9FH10iTs7dWKUxS5coxhIJQsqeZDiESoJg/

And you can apply at: https://forms.gle/pU71JR4xVRpJi8cv7

We just passed 2,000 supporters, and we couldn't have done it without this community.

Thank you to everyone who has signed, shared the petition, debated the topic, or simply helped keep the conversation alive.

This campaign is about more than GTA VI.

It's about preserving physical gaming, protecting true ownership, supporting collectors, game preservation, independent retailers, and making sure a "physical edition" actually contains a physical game.

This isn't just a petition asking Rockstar to "put the game on a disc." We spent a great deal of time creating a detailed proposal that explains the concerns behind this issue and even offers practical solutions that could address Rockstar's leak prevention and security concerns while still allowing for a genuine physical release.

Now we need your help more than ever.

Please don't stop at signing.

• Share the petition anywhere you can.

• Post about it on Reddit, X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Discord, YouTube, or any gaming community.

• If you're a content creator, we'd love to see videos, discussions, or reactions about this topic.

• Use #discisgold so we can build one united community around this movement.

• Tag Rockstar Games, Take-Two Interactive, gaming journalists, and your favorite creators.

Every share reaches new people.

Every video keeps the discussion alive.

Every signature makes our voice stronger.

A special thank you to our early supporters:

Rahim, Tyler, Curt, Kevin, Malik, Sabin, Arpad, Marcello, Patrick, Joshua, Mr H, Temo, Chris, Matthew, and our anonymous supporters.

Your generosity helped this campaign reach thousands of people, and we truly appreciate your support.

If the biggest game in history replaces a disc with a download code, it could influence the future of physical gaming for years to come. That's why we're trying to make our voices heard while there's still time.

Petition:

https://change.org/discisgold

Code is cold. Disc is gold.

Stay loud. Stay together. Make it matter.

I just cleared Wavetale off my backlog and am curious if others on here have played/y’all’s thoughts.

Specifically, I was surprised and impressed by the story, which is essentially a YA Bildungsroman about environmental justice, grief, war, and propaganda (with a bit of labor). Sort of Erin Brockovich meets are we the baddies meets Jane Fonda. (With a fair dose of cliche, often-hokey dialogue, and a quasi-lib ending—the capitalist polluter-oppressors come to their senses due to moral suasion, but without any “truth is in the middle” bullshit.) I don’t recall any of the reviews mentioning how political it is?

The game itself is a mixed bag but ultimately enjoyable imo. The core “magic surfing” mechanic is a lot of fun, the art style is mostly good (with the exception of faces, which up close do not look good at all), and the soundtrack is lovely. Gameplay is quite simple and very repetitive, and the difficulty level is generally very low (speaking as an Extremely Mediocre Gamer). The exception being frustrating boss fights due mostly to fighting with the camera and unclear objectives. And again, the dialogue is sometimes stilted, and the story has some cliches—it’s YA lit.

Overall I feel like it’s a good choice for a pre-teen with a budding interest in politics, who likes 3D adventures but is not very skilled. And it’s often on sale for ~$5.

But I’m curious if others feel differently!