There is a huge difference between these two situations.

Just curious, what would you say about buying an item from somebody if you knew they obtained it illegally?

I think you’re spot on with the Uncanny Valley comparison but I’m not sure it’s due to the comparison with the environment though.

Well, I’m not gonna talk semantics, but since it’s degrading or shows a lack of respect, it probably qualifies as an insult. The same way this does:

He’s doing a great job at making himself look foolish.

The guy is going to tournaments and sometimes playing wearing his furry suit. He is also clearly happy to represent (and celebrate) his community. When you say the “real” self doesn’t exist, that’s probably because you mostly (exclusively?) play online, but when you attend tournament, you’re clearly a person facing…

If a 5 year old wants to go to the DMV and take a driving test, and can prove to all satisfaction that they’re just as capable a driver as anyone else with a license, what logical reason is there to deny them a license?

People mostly do it when using English words with French speakers because they don’t want to sound snobbish (even if they can pronounce the word perfectly). I live in an English speaking country, but I definitely switch to French pronunciation of English words when I go back to France.

The article says that their salaries are roughly similar to other game companies. With a standard software developer salary in France, you should be doing well. It’s definitely fine if you want to make more, but we’re talking more about comfort than financial security at this point. And choosing to spend most of your…

Well, that’s what all companies like that will probably tell you, it’s hard to sustain growth as one of the pillar of the philosophy is one person - one vote. The more people you have, the more diluted each voice is.

The number is important for sure, but I’m sure you also need to have the right people. Having complex discussion with 8+ people can turn into chaos pretty quickly if everybody is not on the same page (or just don’t value their voice the same way).

That’s a very lazy-person thing to say. If you work in a small team with cool people and everyone is paid the same, emulation will push everybody to give its best.

I guess it’s more wording at this point. Many times, ESRB submission is a collaborative process, they know what kind of ratings developers hope for when they submit their games, so if they see that some content will bump a game to a higher rating, they will definitely tell them to remove that content if they want to…

Are you sure about that? If you’re an artist and want to deliver a message, but need to change your work because of the backlash you’ll get, yes, that would probably be censorship. But if you’re an entertainment company, you want your customers happy rather than pissed off, so wouldn’t adapting your work to your…

Not arguing with what you say, but ESRB doesn’t censor games. They issue ratings adapted to the game content. For customers, they’re just indications. Developers are free to adapt their game to get a lower rating (which can impact retail and marketing) or to go with what they have.

That’s not entirely true. The concept of PickUpPutDown you talk about really works on games that allow a full experience during short play sessions. Games with lots of 5-10 minutes levels are a lot more enjoyable on the go than big RPG. Try playing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 by 10 minutes chunks and you probably won’t…

Of course people are more than their gender, but if you’re straight and cisgender it’s definitely not as life defining.

Software?

You should read about the whole ESRB process. Stuff added just having release (even Day 1 patches) are not necessarily stripped content. Games have to be finished a while before they are released to get their ratings. So it’s entirely possible that all the stuff developped after that process gets added just a few days…

Very interesting piece. Coming from Europe, I’m left wondering how the fascination for guns can be so different when we are mostly exposed to the same movies/video games... It’s kind of weird, I feel like they are part of our “America” fantasy the same way Star Wars has light sabers and blasters. They look cool, we…