Pretty sure there is a return policy on Steam. I think maybe part of the reason there aren’t great policies for physical copies is that part of the value in buying a new physical copy is that it’s unopened. Well, clearly there is, as used copies sell for a little less. I think Gamestop should have a return policy,…

Wow. There’s no need to be insulting or vulgar. Even if you don’t care about general decorum, it also hurts your case, as it makes it look like you have no valid argument to defend your position, and can only resort to using emotional language to try to force your baseless opinion. And beyond the vile tone, the…

Putting aside for the moment how stupid their unoriginal concept is, there’s a special irony in trying to enforce restrictions on the concept of people reacting to third-party original content. If the unoriginal “reaction” concept should be policed, shouldn’t the use of third-patty original content be policed even…

Not really. The point of capitalism is to create something that didn’t exist before that provides value to the consumer above the value of the components, thus creating profit. Somehow that sentiment has devolved into taking whatever you can get away with and restricting others from doing the same. The positive effect…

The “pirates wouldn’t buy it anyway” argument doesn’t really hold up. I’m sure they wouldn’t have bought every game they pirated, but I’m also sure they spend less money on games than if pirating were impossible. Imagine if pirating were impossible: do you think that, considering all the pirates out there now, none of…

How is it not stealing? It’s a product that people have put time and money into creating for the purpose of selling it. Pirates take that product without paying for it. You’ve made it clear you are very upset at the idea that pirating is stealing, but you haven’t given a single argument to support the assertion that…

You’ve used three different adjectives to show you don’t like that I used the word steal, but you haven’t said anything to prove it’s the wrong word; it seems completely accurate. Taking something that you are supposed to pay for without paying for it is stealing. The word’s meaning isn’t bound to physical goods.

Well that’s not quite right either. Using the Internet to steal games is kind of like someone photocopying each page of a book, along the lines of what you may have been talking about in your last paragraph, it wasn’t clear what you were getting at there. Libraries are legitimate, pirating is not. And again, a lot…

What I mean is, if, say, half of gamers pirated games, the producers would have to double prices to get the same money as if no one pirated them (and played the same number of games). So in that scenario, if you bought a game, you’re paying your share, as well as one of the pirates.

That’s a tremendous false equivalency. If there were a library system set up for games that wouldn’t be abused, I might be for it. But it probably would be. And libraries only work because so few people use them - if everyone used libraries as their source for books, writers wouldn’t get paid and thus would stop…

Well if someone can’t afford to buy a game, why should they still be entitled to play it? If you don’t have enough money to go drinking, that doesn’t make it okay to break into a liquor store just because you know you won’t get caught.

Well sure, just like anything else, overdoing it can be harmful. And yes, in general self-improvement can have terrific payoffs, but I speak from experience when I say that spending all your free time on something to improve yourself that you don’t enjoy can be soul-crushing. If you can find something that improves…

I think you’re looking at it wrong. All those people who have a stigma against video games: what are they doing instead? Probably watching sports or something pointless on TV; if they are reading, I doubt it’s anything substantial, anything that will change their lives materially. Everyone is doing something that’s…

Yeah, the standard should be to write women as well as men, so in a reasonable world it’s ridiculous to praise men for actually doing that. But we clearly all accept that we are not in that world. So the question is, what do we want?

There’s no reason to infer them being propped up as saviors, not outside your personal delusions at least. The reason people pay attention when a man calls himself feminist is that there are very loud voices on the other side, men being aggressively anti-feminist, so seeing someone different helps the view that the…

I’ve watched SNL for twenty years or so now, rain or shine. I don’t really know why. It was never great; even looking back at the old seasons everyone raves about when they say it’s garbage now but used to be great, it really wasn’t. It was just something. It was some kind of commentary on the culture of the day, even…

Wasn’t Gavin a notorious cheater? Seems like he’s projecting, or at least drove her to it. And Gwen’s obviously been on tour herself, she knows what that’s like, of course she’s not going to actively enable him.

I wonder if video games have any influence on their affiliation; I mean, they are used to systems where they are the savior, the vital decision-maker and most prominent actor, with clear rewards for decisions that actually require very little personal investment or visible ramifications to others. I would imagine the…

In response to everyone insulting Michael Pachter:

What the hell, map. That’s not how you map.