“Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: […] like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.” —Jonathan Swift

  • 110 Posts
  • 1.12K Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: July 25th, 2024

help-circle



  • I work on PCSX2 in a small capacity. They’re not my cup of tea, and I feel like they actively hamper a first or second or possibly even third playthrough. However, I’ve had some modest enjoyment adding them to games I beat 50 times over in the PS2’s heyday just to have a better sense of permanence, to see if I’m good enough for the harder-ish challenges of dedicated fans, and to (ideally) see cute puns/references in the achievement names.

    I think achievements are actively bad for a first playthrough and only, in that capacity, serve to turn games into a checklist simulator that cynically exploits dopamine pathways. But I also won’t nag the people who do use them for first playthroughs, even though I think they’d holistically enjoy them more without.

    On the whole, RetroAchievements clearly breathe new life into games for a ton of people, and I’ve got no problem with that.


    Also, the people who develop the RA infrastructure are really cool from what I’ve heard and seen.












  • regarding the marketing of the product or the functionality of the product?

    The marketing, to which Google is going to obviously and correctly respond that:

    • A reasonable consumer would not expect that “ad-free” means that creator-submitted sponsored material is not present in the videos, descriptions, etc., which they create.
    • There’s a “Restrictions Apply” link taking you to the ToS, which itself in the “Advertising” section prominently – literally the first word – links directly to a FAQ stating that YouTube Premium has nothing at all to do with blocking sponsored content.
    • That is to say that the terms and FAQ clarify what a reasonable consumer would already assume.

    I’ll repeat what I think you already saw in another comment: I’d love to have it shoved in my face when a judge or jury actually buys this (I’d assume plaintiffs would request a jury and the defendants would not) and Flemming et al. see a dime.



  • Can a company market a submarine but then define a submarine as a lamp in their ToS and you’d just be out of luck?

    No, because a ToS can’t cure an obviously false advertisement, but when looking at what a reasonable consumer would take away from the advertisement, you can see the ToS is clarifying what a reasonable person would already assume – namely that MrBeast, before sending 42 junior high students to fight to the death in a chocolate factory, spending 45 seconds raving about how much he loves to put Hello Kitty-branded capsaicin under his foreskin isn’t something that YouTube Premium is going to get rid of.



  • The lawsuit tries to claim that the terms of service reinforce this, when in reality, they directly contradict this already-bad-faith interpretation of what Google advertises. “Restrictions apply” is extremely normal for any advertisement and is effective in negating claims of false advertising provided they clarify what a reasonable person could plausibly already assume.

    and think you’re off the hook

    Come back to me when Flemming et al. win this lawsuit. Even a token settlement, come back and rub it in my face. I encourage you, because I won’t be wasting the time to keep up with this doomed nonsense.