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Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

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Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#101

Post by berdario »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #54
hn_go_brrrrr wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's virtually no chance that the automated system that banned him knew the account belonged to someone with whom Stadia was doing business. Even if we assume there's a list of high profile people/accounts not to automatically disable, I can't see him being on it.

I think the point is that he has direct business with Google and yet _even he_ can't get his account unbanned. If someone in that position is screwed, an average joe is most definitely screwed.

Notably, it also happened to an employee's husband:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24791357

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#102

Post by insensible »

warent wrote: post #59
jug wrote: post #55

This makes me anxious about my long time Gmail address. Back then I got it just because it and Google was cool, and their services had a good reputation. It was a different Google back then. If they had launched it this year I would never have got one because chances are it would have been cancelled by 2025. Gmail is really the only valuable thing that actually ties my life to Google. And it's not that hard to replac…

I've been considering getting a new email address on a personal domain so it can be more portable and I can change providers. Does anyone recommend any alternate providers with custom domains, or some OSS? Is it possible to host your own email server on a NAS or RPi something?

I have done exactly this with Fastmail and my own domain, and the experience was wonderful, as in "why didn't I do this years ago".

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#103

Post by FeepingCreature »

Guthur wrote: post #52
poisonborz wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe the solution is to not have single platforms that are this big.

Then move off. It's not the only solution. There are alternatives to all these: Search, Email, Game streaming, Online doc editing, Etc

> Then move off.

Great, let's legislate that you can switch providers but you have to be able to keep your email address, like we did with phones.

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#104

Post by chmod775 »

WA wrote: post #69
3327 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good on him. Takes courage and an established product to do this. Good example of standing up.

> Good example of standing up. But he won't pull Terraria from the Play Store I guess. Because he has no choice unless he wants to wreck his business.

The Play Store Terraria is a different publisher. It's likely not his decision to make - and he shouldn't care considering that makes dealing with Google on that front is not his problem.

Also the revenue of the PC version should be roughly 4x all of the mobile versions combined (twice the amount of units sold, double the price).

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#105

Post by mschuster91 »

rochak wrote: post #2

Is there really no way for a user to get in touch with a human agent? I read that Google automates the flagging and disabling of accounts but given how many people have their livelihood linked to these accounts, Google must have done something. It makes me scared how deep I have dived into the Google ecosystem. Time and time again I think about transitioning to someplace else but don’t know how to. It seems too daunt…

> Is there really no way for a user to get in touch with a human agent?

File for a C&D and then, if that does not help, a court-issued injunction order ("Abmahnung" followed by "Antrag auf Erlass einer einstweiligen Verfügung"), if you're German. This works somewhat reasonable for Twitter, Facebook and Google.

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#106

Post by crocodiletears »

insensible wrote: post #102
warent wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been considering getting a new email address on a personal domain so it can be more portable and I can change providers. Does anyone recommend any alternate providers with custom domains, or some OSS? Is it possible to host your own email server on a NAS or RPi something?

I have done exactly this with Fastmail and my own domain, and the experience was wonderful, as in "why didn't I do this years ago".

Seconded

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#107

Post by hedora »

imagine99 wrote: post #94
josephg wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is there a good reason to keep using gmail? I've only got good things to say about Fastmail - which is paid, reliable, faster than gmail and private. And they're reinvesting some of their revenue into making better standards for email. I haven't needed to contact support, but I think they have a manned tech support email address too.

There is no other service with feature parity on the UI alone out there. I've searched one for ages and would switch the whole org over in a New York minute if there was an (ideally open-source) "copy" of the Gmail UI available as front-end for one of the other mail servers. Features we can't do without nowadays are tagging; advanced filter and forwarding rules; split inbox with tabs for ads, newsletters, social medi…

I think Fastmail ticks all your boxes except the split tab for messages and ads. Not sure about pricing. They’re cheap enough for my use case.

The UI is much better than the gmail one, and the mobile apps are excellent. It supports tags or folders, depending on user preference (I prefer folders, so this is a huge advantage vs gmail.)

The spam filter is much better than gmail’s, at least for my account. Over the same corpus (my email went to both during a transition period), they both let zero spam through, but gmail was incorrectly blocking 10-30% of incoming email until I disabled its spam filter.

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#108

Post by codetrotter »

WA wrote: post #69
3327 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good on him. Takes courage and an established product to do this. Good example of standing up.

> Good example of standing up. But he won't pull Terraria from the Play Store I guess. Because he has no choice unless he wants to wreck his business.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.and.games5...

Still there as of yet.

But maybe he means that he won’t be pushing any updates to Google Play?

Current Version 1.4.0.5.2.1

Updated December 8, 2020

Requires Android 4.4 and up

Time will tell I guess

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#109

Post by gambiting »

WA wrote: post #69
3327 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good on him. Takes courage and an established product to do this. Good example of standing up.

> Good example of standing up. But he won't pull Terraria from the Play Store I guess. Because he has no choice unless he wants to wreck his business.

Play Store isn't struggling for content. Removing terraria from it has zero impact on Google's bottom line. Stadia on the other hand very much is - removal(or cancellation) of an extremely popular indie game from the platform just accelerates its inevitable demise, something that will very much hit google's bottom line.

Re: Terraria on Stadia cancelled after developer's Google account gets locked

#110

Post by romwell »

2malaq wrote: post #71
jug wrote: post #55

This makes me anxious about my long time Gmail address. Back then I got it just because it and Google was cool, and their services had a good reputation. It was a different Google back then. If they had launched it this year I would never have got one because chances are it would have been cancelled by 2025. Gmail is really the only valuable thing that actually ties my life to Google. And it's not that hard to replac…

Yes, the good old Don't Be Evil days. I've asked so many people if they can remember Google's old slogan. Nobody does.

Their new slogan is hilarious. It's not even one slogan, it's three:

* Respect the user

* Respect the opportunity

* Respect each other

The first one is obviously a joke, because nothing says "respect the user" like canceling a beloved service with millions of users, or "updating" the product while losing half the features.

The last one makes you wonder why they had to put it into a slogan. Isn't it the baseline expectation? It's somewhere on the level of "Don't steal your colleague's belongings" as far as slogans go.

But it's the second one that is absolutely the best, and by that, I mean the worst. Orwell would've had a lot to say about it. The thing is, it has absolutely no meaning in the English language. What's next? Say hi to agility? Don't offend capital gains? Console excellence?

Of course, it doesn't really matter. The whole thing has a mafia vibe, as Google's slogans and culture are drifting towards loyalty rather than standing up for what's right.

--------

If you want to have more fun, look at Google's Community Guidelines[1]

Compare to The Mafia Code:

* Be loyal to members of the organization. Do not interfere with each other's interest. Do not be an informer.

--[Google: Treat our data with care. Don't disseminate NTK information.]

* Be rational. Be a member of the team. Don't engage in battle if you can't win.

--[Google: follow Three Values, in particular: Respect the opportunity.]

* Be a man of honor. Respect womanhood and your elders. Don't rock the boat.

--[Google: Do your part to keep Google a safe, productive, and inclusive environment for everyone.]

* Be a stand-up guy. Keep your eyes and ears open and your mouth shut.

--[Google: Discussions that make other Googlers feel like they don't belong have no place here.]

* Have class. Be independent. Know your way around the world.

--[Google: You are responsible for your words and your reach.]

[1]https://about.google/community-guidelines/

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