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InitialsDiceBearhttps://github.com/dicebear/dicebearhttps://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/„Initials” (https://github.com/dicebear/dicebear) by „DiceBear”, licensed under „CC0 1.0” (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)ST
Posts
9
Comments
14,092
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • Sure, I just don't trust results from subjective studies, unless it's tracking trends over time. So maybe if they had opinion polls like this before smartphones were a thing in classrooms, while smartphones were a thing, and after they were banned I'd trust the results somewhat. But if we're just tracking an after-the-fact poll, it just feels like confirmation bias. I believe teachers have an incentive to overstate the impact of policies that give them more control, because they want to encourage more such policies, even if they aren't effective at achieving tangible results.

    So yeah, I distrust this type of study. I don't think it's necessarily worthless, I just don't think many conclusions can be taken from it.

  • They should be compelled to either make those cosmetics available for everyone or have some technical means to prove ownership (e.g. blockchain or cryptographically signed file). You can't lose stuff you bought just because the publisher shut down the servers.

  • Sure, you're paying for a performance when you watch a film or play at a theater. If I pay to watch a video game tournament, I'm likewise paying for a performance, not the game.

    When you buy a film (DVD, Bluray, or Digital Copy) or a recording of a play performance, you own that copy and can watch it as often as you want for as many years into the future as you want. What we're saying is that video games should work the same way, if I buy a game, I should be able to play it whenever I want at any point in the future. That's it, it's the same thing as with a film.

  • ? I've never used TikTok...

    But yes, kids die all the time for various reasons. When talking about individual causes, it's important to look at the impact on trends. Are more kids dying due to TikTok, or is TikTok merely replacing another cause?

    Obviously no death is acceptable, but death will happen. The role of public policy isn't to prevent all death, but to address the bulk of it with the least invasive policy possible.

  • It isn’t 8 hours of work and you’re done

    That really depends on the type of content. Something like LTT is very much 8 hours and you're done, except the handful of times when there's a time crunch (e.g. new hardware launch). Even smaller creators plan out videos in advance and can create a working schedule.

    The hardest part is starting out, followed by finding an audience. Once you get the audience, creating a consistent schedule is the easier part, especially once you can start hiring help.

  • Maybe for the top tier influencers, but there are a ton of people making a reasonable living just by doing it what they enjoy. For example, strategy game streamers:

    • FlorryWorry is probably the most popular EU4 streamer and has won the tournament something like 7-years straight; he makes enough to go full time
    • NumotTheNummy is perhaps the best MtG Arena draft streamer, and has tons of subscribers (LSV honorary mention, who got famous for being a top-tier MtG pro tour competitor)
    • Hikaru Nakamura - #2 chess player in the world, has a very healthy following

    There are plenty more who are popular because of their skill at what they stream about and are competent enough at keeping people's attention. If you're the best, people will come to you, it's not always just luck. A lot of people get there through luck, but a lot earn their way too.

  • It's both fear mongering and a problem. I imagine there are a lot more unreported cases, since teens are especially unlikely to ask for help with something like this. On the other hand, it was used as an excuse to attack TikTok, which is stupid because the similar things happen on other platforms and happened before everyone was on social media. Kids will do stupid things as long as peer pressure is a thing.

  • Sort of. They need to have the tools as well. So I suppose they could release the APIs for their servers before shutting down their servers so community servers can be created, that would probably be sufficient. But they need to do something beyond just saying, "we won't sue you if you reverse engineer it."

  • There's a great way to know what's in it: paste to a text editor or something. Here are my red flags for this sort of attack, in order:

    1. Asks me to do something outside of the web page, to make the web page work - kind of makes sense for email verification, but that's about it
    2. Asks me to copy paste something - kind of makes sense for CLI installers or configs for dev tools, but not much else
    3. Uses the Run Command function - nothing good happens with that function, and IMO Microsoft should remove it; power users can open a terminal, it's not that hard

    Must users should notice at least one of those. If a web page is asking you to do something you don't understand, don't do it.

  • Yeah, I draw the line at the kernel.

    If they want to protect against piracy (losing game IMO) or try to limit cheating, that's fine as long as it doesn't impact gameplay (i.e. I can still party SP offline) and it keeps working in 20 years when they've stopped supporting the game. If that means releasing a patch to remove server interaction when they shut the servers down, that's fine.

    I am not okay with needing to install a kernel module just to play a game. That's a security risk, prevents compatibility tools like WINE from preserving the game, and makes the game more fragile (will a kernel update break the game?). That's a red line for me, and I refuse to play any game with kernel-level DRM or anti-cheat.

  • What do you mean? Pretty much every game on Steam is "third party." They do mention certain things on the store though, like kernel level anti-cheat or needing a third party account, though I don't know how many people check that.

  • Agree with this, but I don't supply my kids with phones at all, despite their friends having them. If there's an emergency, they can go to the office or ask their teacher. If that's not possible, the school will likely call instead (e.g. when there was a bomb threat a couple of years ago).

    I have chosen to not give my kids phones, but I also think other parents should be allowed to choose differently. Everyone's circumstances are different, and I don't want the government stepping in to make parenting decisions for me, even if my decisions would be the same. That's overreach and I will absolutely oppose it.