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Steam has been banned in China

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Re: Steam has been banned in China

#61

Post by idxoutofbounds »

foverzar wrote: post #36
meibo wrote: post #2

Note: this refers to the global Steam service/community - Valve still offers Steam China with a very limited/censored selection of mostly-Valve games, adhering to local child protection laws. Most Chinese Steam users have historically been using the global service instead, as this Chinese version of Steam has only been available since February 2021.

I really love how we all have an impression of China as a country without access to global internet, but then there are things like "Most Chinese Steam users have historically been using the global service instead". Really makes you want to visit and see how this actually works for yourself. The more I read about China, the more unbelievably contradictive it gets.

There's a small minority of college educated youth that speak english and are able to use VPNs to bypass GFW.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#62

Post by medstrom »

axiosgunnar wrote: post #54
OtomotO wrote: post #46

"we've always been at war with eastasia" The major problem I see, is that every major power uses propaganda to their benefit, yet even highly intelligent people often don't see the propaganda of their native (or chosen) home. I see the propaganda of China, Russia as well as the one of the US and Europe. There are no white, selfless knights around. There never were. Does that mean that nothing matters, that (subjectiv…

Of course I see Western propaganda, but at least Western propaganda pretends to benefit me. So I would rather pretend to believe in Western progaganda than Chinese propaganda. „Humans are humans“ is dangerously naive in a world full of thug nations.

Pretends to benefit you? Example, please?

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#63

Post by nothis »

qybaz wrote: post #56
manuelabeledo wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is indeed a country full of contradictions. I was there in 2016, and besides the usual, like Google, Netflix, Facebook or Twitter, most western sites seemed to work, just very, very slow for some reason. Also, some high end hotels did provide unfettered access to the Internet for some reason, so I guess anyone could go there and browse Facebook for the price of an expensive coffee.

>Also, some high end hotels did provide unfettered access to the Internet for some reason, so I guess anyone could go there and browse Facebook for the price of an expensive coffee. Practically everybody who is knowledgeable with computers uses a VPN - restrictions are only for "the plebs"

Whenever I read about countries banning sites, people post "just use a VPN, lol". But I wonder: If China really wants to, couldn't they just block VPNs? At the worst, just whitelist a bunch of sites and services and literally block everything else?

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#64

Post by nowherebeen »

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #45
siva7 wrote: post #25

What is going on here with the comment section? Seems like it's flooded with pro ccp activists

You'll find the same with any article critical of China. The party is paying people (quite well) to defend China online. It's another kind of misinformation campaign.

There are definitely signs of them here. I have another thread that had someone trying to steer my comment into a East vs West argument just for mentioning China. It seems like they are trying to pick fights out of nowhere as if they are getting paid. And if you notice, they come at certain hours like there is suddenly a wave of them all at once.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#65

Post by medstrom »

enkid wrote: post #38
32ninin3 wrote: post #23

European and American economies will be destroyed by China soon. But their stockholm syndrome prevents them from doing anything against it.

Ooookkkkk. That's not even China's goal. China need the US and Europe to have strong economies to sell stuff to for the foreseeable future. China doesn't have a strong consumer sector, outside real estate, which is not a good driver for growth in the long term, and the demographics of China mean it's not likely to develop a strong consumer class before the work force ages out.

But why do you need to sell stuff to anyone, once everyone else has shit economy? You can lie back and relax at that point, you're still top of the heap.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#66

Post by honkdaddy »

marderfarker2 wrote: post #31
IsThisYou wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> US government Why should I trust what they have to say as opposed to, say, China’s government? Or any government at all that I did not vote for? I’m not a U.S. citizen nor on the payroll of CCP or whatnot.

Is this part of the playbook when training people on how best to deflect blame from China's sins? Seriously, I see it all the time.

Someone will share a well agreed upon anecdote of the horrors being committed by the Chinese, and without fail, one of the first responses will be whataboutism regarding the US government, as if that has any bearing whatsoever.

Nearly any civilized country around the world is in full agreement that there are horrific atrocities being committed by the Chinese, and it's largely due to economic bullying that we're forced to turn a blind eye.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#67

Post by flohofwoe »

idxoutofbounds wrote: post #61
foverzar wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really love how we all have an impression of China as a country without access to global internet, but then there are things like "Most Chinese Steam users have historically been using the global service instead". Really makes you want to visit and see how this actually works for yourself. The more I read about China, the more unbelievably contradictive it gets.

There's a small minority of college educated youth that speak english and are able to use VPNs to bypass GFW.

I might be wrong, or it may changed in the meantime, but I had the impression that VPN traffic is also slowed down extremely. While it allows you to connect to any foreign service, it's so slow as to be nearly useless. I only tried VPN services that were located outside China though. Maybe there are Chinese VPN services which have a 'fast route' to the outside world (I'd be very surprised if this is legal though).

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#68

Post by pell »

marderfarker2 wrote: post #31
IsThisYou wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> US government Why should I trust what they have to say as opposed to, say, China’s government? Or any government at all that I did not vote for? I’m not a U.S. citizen nor on the payroll of CCP or whatnot.

> Why should I trust what they have to say as opposed to, say, China’s government? Or any government at all that I did not vote for?

Yeah, the CCP has a great track record admitting their atrocities. Let’s totally trust them instead of the Uyghurs who are all collectively making this up out of spite.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#69

Post by ketzu »

axiosgunnar wrote: post #50

> The move comes as a surprise How dense and gullible do you have to be? Do people keep forgetting they’re dealing with an authoritarian dictatorship? ANYTHING is on the table, nothing should come as a surprise. Divest from China and diversify manufacturing sources, otherwise we will wake up one day imprisoned, and „the move will come as a surprise“

> Do people keep forgetting they’re dealing with an authoritarian dictatorship?

> ANYTHING is on the table, nothing should come as a surprise.

That does not follow from the first part. People and politics can, at large, still be predictable independent of the political organization.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#70

Post by kmlx »

tombh wrote: post #59
siva7 wrote: post #25

What is going on here with the comment section? Seems like it's flooded with pro ccp activists

I must offer another data point. I'm British, and often find myself in these threads criticising criticism of China. Not because I'm being paid by the CCP, but because I believe that mainstream anti-Chinese sentiment tells us more about the West's psychological struggles to come to terms with its own historically unprecedented imperial past, than it does about China itself.

> West's psychological struggles to come to terms with its own historically unprecedented imperial past, than it does about China itself.

oh come on. we criticise China because it’s whole political system, that was set up very recently btw, fights against basic rights we take for granted in the West. not because of what the romans or european empires did hundreds of years ago, but because of what China is doing right now.

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