Someday soon, and it isn’t as far off as some people think: the government will know who we are.

Thank you for taking a moment out of your day to fight for the actual meaning of words. I am completely serious here.

I know what open source means.

A group that wants to host that game server is eventually going to need to fix it, or adapt it to new software / hardware if we expect it to be able to run in perpetuity. They will need to be able to modify that source code to do so.

So the game publisher can’t just publish one final compiled package “for people to use.” The software has to be able to be maintained, not just used. And if we expect the software to survive over time, it will need a community not just one group. Open source is the only thing that would allow the game publisher to walk away from it, but allow the software to live on.

It sounds like she asked them to do it for her - doesn’t that involve her?

Among other things, you are there to ensure the heterosexuality of the event for them, so they can explore each other a little bit without fear of commiting. They sound like trad guys and trad guys are raised to think that sexual identity is all or nothing and that if they let in even a little bit of gay their entire identity will shatter. It’s sad that the culture does this to them - they do it to each other, really. Have patience. Let them go at their own pace. Exactly as you would with any partner, with any sexual experience.

And when date night progresses to the right point, you’ve got 99.8% the hardest hard you’ve ever had. A cat couldn’t scratch it.

This tweet does not understand the difference between libido and erection. I’m happy for him that he’s so ignorant. I wish the same for all of you, truly.

Because erectile dysfunction is when you’re plenty horny but the flag keeps going up and down anyway. ED pills do not make you horny, they help your vascular system direct the blood where it needs to go to keep the flag raised. They only work when you are already aroused.

When you take one before date night, you might feel a little flushed but that’s it. You don’t immediately get hard out of nowhere. Your nutsack tyrant doesn’t materialize next to you with a hammer and whip like a demon ready to slave drive you into machismo.

But then how could anyone use it? If it’s to download and run at home, you can get away with it. But in many of these cases they’re saying open source it so volunteer group XYZ can host a server and keep the game alive. Wouldn’t group XYZ be vulnerable to copyright action?

Pourquoi pas les deux?

Yeah I think there’s some promise in “open the source” as a remedy here. Because that doesn’t really put any onus on the game maker. They can keep making games exactly as they do now, but if they want to utterly walk away from a title, they have to open the source.

I think the complications with this would come from IP and copyright law, licensing, etc. for example, if the developer licensed any other software (or music or whatever) in order to make the game, do they actually have the rights to open source all of that? Perhaps not.

It’s kind of like accelerating the public domain thing. Very interesting remedy for this situation, but extremely complex legally, I would guess.

Absolutely. Age verification sucks. It’s just an example of the complexities between a two sentence concept and an actual software implementation. I lived through SOX, GDPR, and many others. They sound simple. “Right to be forgotten” but they are complex as hell and often have unforeseen side effects.

Well unfortunately most of these are.

If they’d made it “pedophiles and racists” it would be more complete description of the US and Europe and then Canada would also fit.

Interesting… I never thought about this but the Middle East are insane about drugs. Cut off your hand type penalties. And maybe this is because they are religious. Or maybe it’s because the oil trafficking cartels (aka their governments) don’t want the competition of drug trafficking cartels. It’s the same reason that some dictators have banned religion: they don’t want any other institutions with power around that they don’t control.

I wasn’t referring to you but rather the heavy downvoting that my comments are receiving. I know when I’m muddying the hive mind’s cherished narrative with complications from reality, and that’s a stoning offense, no mistake.

I believe you’re trying to make it sound like “no it would be simple, just don’t go out of your way to do the bad thing.”

I know people just want to root out only the most obvious most insidious cases where online is totally unnecessary so it can seem like a simple matter of not doing it. But what about all the rest of gaming? How are we going to define these concepts? Write this law so that it will work for Fortnite, Among Us, MOBAs, and Hearthstone. Just try.

If someone wants to write ten paragraphs defining “single player games” with due precision and “unnecessary online components” and the required remedies for games that do have online components I’d love to hear it. No one here will take this time even though ten paragraphs is a laughably small length for such legislation to be written.

This bound/enforce bit is a distinction without a difference. In each case you need to understand the letter of the law and dance around it. SB2420 has plenty of things to “simply not do” and any “ensure offline play” law would absolutely have things you must do.

Yes it’s video games and people want what they want and always think it’s simpler to deliver than it is.

Take Among Us. It is not some huge bullshit live service game, but it makes use of the internet. It was created by a small developer.

The game includes local network play which is a good thing because I assume it would have to under this law, so it can play “offline.”

Do we think that local network play was zero effort to include? Would it really have no effect on small developers if they all had to include this always?

I know what you mean about small indie games being simple but the reality is a little more complex than that image. Small developers do also create online games. They aren’t big shit shows like Fortnite but that doesn’t mean they don’t use the internet.

No one ever wants to hear that it’s more complicated than they think it is, but that’s the truth virtually all the time.

I understand the core case that this man wants to stop. But laws have to be written for all, with precise language, and can’t just say “you know the kind of game we’re talking about.”

And that’s where this gets difficult.

I would, but it’s video games and the mood in the room is not one of curiosity and discussion, but of pounding fists on the table. But suffice it to say that people think they can explain a law like this in two sentences while I despair that it can even be written at all, even with 100 pages, and function recognizably.

If you want an example, take Texas SB2420, the recent age verification law which said “the App Store has to ask your age and then tell developers so they can only show age appropriate content.” And now go read the full text, which I did at work. And look up Apple and Google’s implementation guidance and API specs. A “simple” thing people think can be explained in a few words is much, much more complex underneath. Like I said, I don’t even think this law can be written and come out the way we want it to.

I’d only be repeating myself.