sirdorius

sirdorius , 3 months ago to Game Development in Dwarf Fortress creator blasts execs behind brutal industry layoffs: 'I think they're horrible… greedy, greedy people'

It's important to understand that this is not just individual greed. The problem is that greed is ingrained into the system. Capitalism simply does not function without greed.

The only reason shareholders will move their capital is if the company is expected to grow. What is the point in risking your money if there is no profit? This search for infinite growth is what leads to the death of products. It creates different objectives and incentives than simply making a good product that users will pay for and providing a steady job for employees. A situation where the company does not grow but continues to make a good product and pay its workers a decent wage is an acceptable one for everyone except for shareholders.

Executives are just the middle layer between investors and workers. They make sure that investors get their return on investment, since investors don't really give a shit about the product or even how it operates, they just care about the numbers on the balance sheet. And as someone noted in another comment, they are paid mostly in company stock so that the interests of shareholders become partially their own.

sirdorius OP , 5 months ago to Game Development in Unity owned ECS patent uses techniques described in 2013 Stack Exchange post

This is the point of patents. Privatize technology that would benefit all and then ask rent from people using it. Then make money without doing shit, except for the odd enforcement (through lawsuits). Just feudalism updated to the modern age.

sirdorius OP , 5 months ago to Game Development in Unity owned ECS patent uses techniques described in 2013 Stack Exchange post

Yeah, I forgot to mention in my original post that ECS was extensively described and already in use by many private commercial engines (like Overwatch) at the time when the patent came out. Absolutely ridiculous patent that shows why the whole system is broken.

sirdorius , 5 months ago to Technology in Google Discloses That Incognito Mode in Chrome Isn't Entirely 'Private'

Honestly, this article is pretty bad at explaining the problem here. It's clear that other websites will try to track you, but the important part of this incognito drama is this:

The plaintiffs also accused Google of taking Chrome users' private browsing activity and then associating it with their already-existing user profiles.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/google-agrees-to-settle-in-chrome-incognito-mode-class-action-lawsuit/

sirdorius , 5 months ago to Game Development in Humble advice for those who want to switch to game development

As a programmer you'll be payed less than a software engineer at other tech companies, unless you're in a big AAA gaming company. Also you're more likely to have more crunch time and worse working conditions. I switched from a well paying gaming job to backend and doubled my income in one shot. On the flip side, the gaming job was way more fun.

sirdorius , 5 months ago to Memes in Lemmy about to implode.

The fun thing most of these games aren't even truly capitalist. City builders like Cities Skylines, Tropico and Anno have little or no free market and you're just in control of a centralized planned economy.

The only truly capitalist games I saw on that list are X4 and Offworld Trading Company since you play as a single private owner competing with others on the market.

sirdorius , 5 months ago to Game Development in Unity Software to lay off 1,800 employees, or 25% of staff

Every major business decision go to a vote?

Yes, especially when you plan to fuck over all your existing customer base, as was the case here. A lot of Unity employees knew this was a major fuck up, and would have never went with the plan

sirdorius , 5 months ago to Game Development in Unity Software to lay off 1,800 employees, or 25% of staff

It's great to see the majority of workers paying for the mistakes of that big pricing fuckup that was approved by a minority of people in power. Just a normal day for capitalism, nothing to see here.