Steam has been banned in China • Hacker News Board

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#101

Post by andrepd » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:03 PM UTC

gunfighthacksaw wrote: post #55

OtomotO wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

If you resurrected Lenin, took him for a walk around Shanghai or Beijing and explained the deal to him he would be proud since so much of their political system is derived from Leninism, ergo communism. Even their market economy seems like a redux of Lenin’s NEP. Don’t try pulling that tired old “not real communism” schtick, we all see through it. Another thing, if they weren’t communists, where is the incentive to k…

>Another thing, if they weren’t communists, where is the incentive to keep up the charade with all the symbolism? Surely a rational non-communist polity would realize there is a lot to gain from dropping the whole red, socialist realism and adopt a more (post-)modern aesthetic.

Much to the contrary. All governments strive for continuity to legitimise their regime. It's why for example even revolutions often co-opt the institutions they're trying to replace. In this case the communist "branding" is what gives them their legitimacy.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#102

Post by armendhammer » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

Banning google, banning, crypto, banning Steam, so much for progress.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#103

Post by justbaker » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

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"

That’s how I remember a friend advertising Ultrasurf to me — a vpn used in China

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#104

Post by jokoon » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:04 PM UTC

I just asked my 23 years old sister if she knew what Steam was, she said no.

I would guess that China doesn't have any big enough economic advantage of allowing steam, so maybe steam is not that really big that people think.

Not to mention Valve takes a large cut of game sales so China has pretty good reasons to block it.

Aren't PC game sales a big stagnant? And on all those sales, Steam seems to be interesting for indie and niches games, not for big AAA games, since those AAA games often have their own online platform.

I looked some numbers some time ago, and to me it seems that the PC game market is not really profitable anymore.

And honestly, China might also increase its game profits by banning steam. When you can legally push a product out to make more money, you do it. China doesn't care about liberal economics.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#105

Post by rocknor » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

mrjin wrote: post #89

siva7 wrote: post #25

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

How do you tell that?

No post body was provided.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#106

Post by justbaker » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

qybaz wrote: post #44

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.

You should be sceptical of all the news about China that come from the West.

> You should be sceptical of all the news about China that comes from China.

Fixed it for you.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#107

Post by whycombinatore » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:05 PM UTC

okasaki wrote: post #79

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Can you point me where to sign up to get paid to defend China online?

I checked, and you don't have sufficient social score.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#108

Post by ABeeSea » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:06 PM UTC

foverzar wrote: post #88

honkdaddy wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's very interesting. So you think generally the news of vast human rights abuse we see coming out of China are due to the West's psychological struggles (?), and not due to actual suffering caused by the Chinese government? Do you have any Chinese heritage in your family? This reminds me of the perspective most of my half-Chinese friends had from back in college. They always felt as if it was their duty to defend…

> So you think generally the news of vast human rights abuse we see coming out of China I think that generally western news have a tendency to misrepresent countries that are culturally different. E.g. as a Russian, reading western news about Russia makes me think that journalist play a broken telephone game, misrepresenting marginal stuff as some kind of insane norm, in a completely unnuanced way, without any contex…

Your argument basically boils down to “you should trust propaganda from the authoritarian Chinese government because I trust the propaganda from the authoritarian Russian government.” It’s not very convincing.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#109

Post by foverzar » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:07 PM UTC

nowherebeen wrote: post #64

dkjaudyeqooe wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"It seems like they are trying to pick fights out of nowhere as if..."

...that is what people generally do on the internet, when they disagree.

Re: Steam has been banned in China

#110

Post by 300bps » Sat, Dec 25, 2021, 1:07 PM UTC

jokoon wrote: post #104

I just asked my 23 years old sister if she knew what Steam was, she said no. I would guess that China doesn't have any big enough economic advantage of allowing steam, so maybe steam is not that really big that people think. Not to mention Valve takes a large cut of game sales so China has pretty good reasons to block it. Aren't PC game sales a big stagnant? And on all those sales, Steam seems to be interesting for i…

China seems more anti-game than it seems pro-profit in this case.

Otherwise why limit children to 3 hours per week of gaming? Why ban images of “effeminate men”?

To me, China seems to be preparing.