Krafton won’t be getting my money. I’m not rewarding them for their unethical behavior.
“Thanks for pirating a game that I’ve spent years working on,” game design lead Anthony Gallegos replied to one such self-reported pirate. “I’m disappointed that you’d do that when it’s kind of how we make our living. I hope you rethink your life choices.”
Thanks for working for a studio that sold their soul to a foreign publisher for $500 million and a $250 million bonus.
You should read up on the situation a bit more. Buying the game actually helps the people he tried to fuck. There’s a threshold where the bonus gets paid out and Krafton actually loses money per sale for the next several million sales.
I am read up. Krafton has shown their bad faith and has not sufficiently given me reason to believe that they will change moving forward.
If I started a business and had to give up 100% of my business to keep it afloat, I’d recognize that I messed up and move on.
If you like the product, go buy it. Help them reach the milestone.
I am speaking for myself. I know it’s a good product, but I have a policy to not support early access titles unless they meet specific criteria.
I have been burned far too many times with early access titles that stay in limbo or don’t deliver on release, especially by studios under hostile publishers (who are very greedy).
I am poor and my health isn’t very good, so I feel it’s imperative that I make good decisions with my limited resources.
Subnautica 2 isn’t a bad product in its current state and it will likely release in an even better state, but I feel the whole thing is tainted for me.
Questions like, “What if Unknown Worlds stayed independent?”, or, “What if Krafton were more ethical?”, would ring through my mind constantly while playing. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the experience.
You can hate mega corporations, CEOs and board members
I don’t agree with their decision to move forward with Krafton. They obviously wouldn’t retain sovereignty by letting a publisher buy them completely out for $500 million. What transpired after the acquisition was something anybody with business sense could’ve foreseen to some degree.
but most of the lower lever employees are not there by choice.
This is a design lead speaking as far as I know. All employees are there by choice - even if it’s not their first choice, it’s their choice…as much as it pains me to admit (as somebody who isn’t a fan of the exploitation dynamics that run our society).
With some exceptions, we all have a choice in the first-world. Chains can be external and internal. In your example, the chains are mostly internal even if there is some degree of external chains. If you’re living in SF and are a game developer, chances are you aren’t doing terribly.
As for exploited and poor third-world countries or those who lack citizenship in first-world countries (i.e. undocumented immigrants), I’m inclined to say that is modern slavery. It sometimes literally is slavery, even child slavery.
Here in the first-world, we presently benefit from child slavery and third-world exploitation in the products we consume. It’s not uncommon either.
I believe people have to choose differently if they want different. Be the change you seek, that whole jazz.
I’m contested on this. The thing is, this logic applies everywhere even the extremely evil corpos like nvidia, palantir, etc. There will always be someone scraping the bottom earning for scraps in all different types of companies.
So where do we draw the line? How evil must the company be so it is fair to leave the lower level employees behind?
Ultimately, I dont think it is fair for the consumers. We are drawned in this choice where support for the lower class means feeding the executive class. It all trickles down, and thats the problem.
No, I am not saying we should buy anything from megacorpos just to support lower level workers. I am saying we shouldn’t blame the lower level workers for the evil of corporation because they often don’t have a choice.
Funnily enough, the workers of the megacorps you mentioned likely have more choice than most to tread their own path. They very likely have significant financial reserves (at least compared to a poor and sickly person like me).
When there is a mass exodus of NVIDIA/etc. workers, I will be chipping in to support them directly.
Are you this harsh with food and hardware from companies?
Selective would be a better word.
I just buy different things or shop at companies that are doing things differently. I love it when companies I support make significant progress to be better for themselves, for their customers, and for humanity as a whole.
(And yes, I am aware of greenwashing and it still bothers me to support some companies, regardless of the good that I recognize that they do.)
Are you selective about the chocolate you consume? I am. I don’t support child slavery.
They are salaried anyway, they should be happy if people are enjoying what they created, pirated or not.
Maybe if they didnt have such weird data farming people would be more willing to pay for it. They basically justified all of the Krafton worries people had (outside of firing the devs).
People can run their own justifications for piracy, but god this has always been a shitty one.
It’s like not considering veganism because “The cow’s already dead. It’s been chopped up in that steak on the counter. Me refusing to eat it won’t change anything.”
So you have to buy the steak or they won’t kill more cows for you, but you still only buy cow that was already dead anyway, so it’s not you making them kill the cow. That’s basically the same as being vegan.
I’m not buying it because the first one was buggy as shit, had a draw distance that’s laughable even for a Unity game, had incredible music that’s it’s barely heard because it cuts off all the time, wall “suggestions”, clipping, other graphical glitches, and has the gall to advertise “Hit F8 to report bugs” every moment it’s showcasing its own bugs.
And don’t get me started on the design flaws. The Insulting unrealistic O2 meter. There’s not enough keyslots. Torpedos are useless. The Cyclops is useless, and yet, you have to spend all of these resources just to get some material for the final rocket. It dies to leeches in very short order, and moves around like a space cow.
Also, the whole game taunts a story and then delivers a milquetoast ending.
Krafton won’t be getting my money. I’m not rewarding them for their unethical behavior.
Thanks for working for a studio that sold their soul to a foreign publisher for $500 million and a $250 million bonus.
(No, I’m not pirating the game.)
You should read up on the situation a bit more. Buying the game actually helps the people he tried to fuck. There’s a threshold where the bonus gets paid out and Krafton actually loses money per sale for the next several million sales.
I am read up. Krafton has shown their bad faith and has not sufficiently given me reason to believe that they will change moving forward.
If I started a business and had to give up 100% of my business to keep it afloat, I’d recognize that I messed up and move on.
If you like the product, go buy it. Help them reach the milestone.
I am speaking for myself. I know it’s a good product, but I have a policy to not support early access titles unless they meet specific criteria.
I have been burned far too many times with early access titles that stay in limbo or don’t deliver on release, especially by studios under hostile publishers (who are very greedy).
I am poor and my health isn’t very good, so I feel it’s imperative that I make good decisions with my limited resources.
Subnautica 2 isn’t a bad product in its current state and it will likely release in an even better state, but I feel the whole thing is tainted for me.
Questions like, “What if Unknown Worlds stayed independent?”, or, “What if Krafton were more ethical?”, would ring through my mind constantly while playing. I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the experience.
I don’t think that’s fair. Not everyone get to choose where they work.
You can hate mega corporations, CEOs and board members but most of the lower lever employees are not there by choice.
I don’t agree with their decision to move forward with Krafton. They obviously wouldn’t retain sovereignty by letting a publisher buy them completely out for $500 million. What transpired after the acquisition was something anybody with business sense could’ve foreseen to some degree.
This is a design lead speaking as far as I know. All employees are there by choice - even if it’s not their first choice, it’s their choice…as much as it pains me to admit (as somebody who isn’t a fan of the exploitation dynamics that run our society).
Well, in a sense yes, but for many people the choice is either work there or go unemployed, especially the lower you go on the corporate ladder.
Like I said, I don’t think it’s a fair choice.
Well, we agree.
As for myself? I chose to not be a slave and I’m sticking with that.
I also get to choose, but I am privileged to be able to choose.
With some exceptions, we all have a choice in the first-world. Chains can be external and internal. In your example, the chains are mostly internal even if there is some degree of external chains. If you’re living in SF and are a game developer, chances are you aren’t doing terribly.
As for exploited and poor third-world countries or those who lack citizenship in first-world countries (i.e. undocumented immigrants), I’m inclined to say that is modern slavery. It sometimes literally is slavery, even child slavery.
Here in the first-world, we presently benefit from child slavery and third-world exploitation in the products we consume. It’s not uncommon either.
I believe people have to choose differently if they want different. Be the change you seek, that whole jazz.
I’m contested on this. The thing is, this logic applies everywhere even the extremely evil corpos like nvidia, palantir, etc. There will always be someone scraping the bottom earning for scraps in all different types of companies.
So where do we draw the line? How evil must the company be so it is fair to leave the lower level employees behind?
Ultimately, I dont think it is fair for the consumers. We are drawned in this choice where support for the lower class means feeding the executive class. It all trickles down, and thats the problem.
No, I am not saying we should buy anything from megacorpos just to support lower level workers. I am saying we shouldn’t blame the lower level workers for the evil of corporation because they often don’t have a choice.
Funnily enough, the workers of the megacorps you mentioned likely have more choice than most to tread their own path. They very likely have significant financial reserves (at least compared to a poor and sickly person like me).
When there is a mass exodus of NVIDIA/etc. workers, I will be chipping in to support them directly.
Well in that case I can agree.
Are you this harsh with food and hardware from companies?
It’s okay to be selective, but you should be honest about it and not act holy.
Selective would be a better word.
I just buy different things or shop at companies that are doing things differently. I love it when companies I support make significant progress to be better for themselves, for their customers, and for humanity as a whole.
(And yes, I am aware of greenwashing and it still bothers me to support some companies, regardless of the good that I recognize that they do.)
Are you selective about the chocolate you consume? I am. I don’t support child slavery.
They are salaried anyway, they should be happy if people are enjoying what they created, pirated or not.
Maybe if they didnt have such weird data farming people would be more willing to pay for it. They basically justified all of the Krafton worries people had (outside of firing the devs).
People can run their own justifications for piracy, but god this has always been a shitty one.
It’s like not considering veganism because “The cow’s already dead. It’s been chopped up in that steak on the counter. Me refusing to eat it won’t change anything.”
this is true
It should be a rare justification, but it’s becoming increasily more common.
Why does every game need to call home? They dont and people have a right to protest that.
I personally wont buy the game or pirate it until changes are made. I can live without it.
Indeed, if the game isn’t financially successful, you can bet that publishers will shy away from similar titles and also the devs in the future.
Still, Krafton is one of the worst publishers I can imagine. So not giving them money is fair here.
So you have to buy the steak or they won’t kill more cows for you, but you still only buy cow that was already dead anyway, so it’s not you making them kill the cow. That’s basically the same as being vegan.
I’m not buying it because the first one was buggy as shit, had a draw distance that’s laughable even for a Unity game, had incredible music that’s it’s barely heard because it cuts off all the time, wall “suggestions”, clipping, other graphical glitches, and has the gall to advertise “Hit F8 to report bugs” every moment it’s showcasing its own bugs.
And don’t get me started on the design flaws. The Insulting unrealistic O2 meter. There’s not enough keyslots. Torpedos are useless. The Cyclops is useless, and yet, you have to spend all of these resources just to get some material for the final rocket. It dies to leeches in very short order, and moves around like a space cow.
Also, the whole game taunts a story and then delivers a milquetoast ending.
Have you heard of this thing called fiction?
You’ve got to be over 50. I have only ever heard dads and grandpas complain about mechanics that are clearly meant to introduce conflict and tension.