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From: Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Just Another Necessary Reminder That Valve Promotes Underage Gambling
Date: Wed, 01 Jan 2025 13:44:58 -0500
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Justisaur <justisaur@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of
the porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs say:

>On 12/31/2024 5:56 PM, Xocyll wrote:
>> Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of
>> the porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs say:
>> 
>>> On Tue, 31 Dec 2024 09:11:54 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
>>> Xocyll wrote:
>>>
>>>> Zaghadka <zaghadka@hotmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of
>>>> the porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs say:
>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, 30 Dec 2024 00:24:01 -0500, in comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action,
>>>>> Xocyll wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the
>>>>>> entrails of the porn spammer to utter  "The Augury is good, the signs
>>>>>> say:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> While it's great fun to point fingers at Epic, or Microsoft, at EA or
>>>>>>> Activision for their scummy, quasi-legal behaviors, let's not also
>>>>>>> forget that the darling of the PC Gaming industry, Valve, is neck-deep
>>>>>>> in supporting not only gambling, but underage gambling.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> A huge chunk of Valve's income derives from selling lootbox items used
>>>>>>> as 'tokens' by gambling websites, and the company turns a blind eye to
>>>>>>> the practice even as it rakes in billions. Its uses psychologically
>>>>>>> manipulative practices to ensnare its victims, and uses the same shady
>>>>>>> tactics as other gambling companies to find loopholes that keep it
>>>>>>> (just barely) on the right side of the law (and sometimes not even
>>>>>>> then).
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If they sell "lootbox" items used as "tokens" on gambling sites, isn't
>>>>>> it the gambling sites responsibility to not have underaged people on
>>>>>> their sites?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If they can't use the tokens, the underaged won't buy them.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> If some bar does a weird promotion, like bring in a rose, get a free
>>>>>> beer, you gonna blame the florist for an underaged kid buying a rose and
>>>>>> trading it for beer?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Not illegal to buy a rose, or sell one, the bar is committing the
>>>>>> illegal act by trading a kid a beer for that rose.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Assign the blame where it belongs, with the gambling sites that are not
>>>>>> keeping underaged gamblers off their sites.
>>>>>>
>>>>> Did you see the part where the guy bought a Steam Deck without ever
>>>>> leaving Steam? It may be a loophole that games are not physical purchased
>>>>> goods (technically you are purchasing a license), but that Deck may be a
>>>>> real problem for Valve if they continue to let it be bought in that way.
>>>>> It's real. It can be sold for real money. No need to regulate anyone. A
>>>>> 12 yo can sell a Deck.
>>>>>
>>>>> That kid just cashed out. Virtual currency for real product, giving the
>>>>> virutal currency value, which means you're spinning an RNG for some kind
>>>>> of random compensation. Since letting people cash out is what apparently
>>>>> defines gambling, I think Gabe may have f-ed up with his shell game.
>>>>
>>>> I just watched the video, and my god this guy is full of shit.
>>>>
>>>> He doesn't believe Valve can't shut down offshore gambling sites that
>>>> are not subject to US Laws.
>>>>
>>>> The US gov't can't shut down offshore revenge porn sites, etc, because
>>>> they have no legal jurisdiction, but Valve magically can, according to
>>>> this guy, what utter horse shit.
>>>>
>>>> They're a fucking gaming company, they can send a cease and desist
>>>> order,but that's going to mean jack and shit to some Chechen hosted
>>>> website.   All kinds of grey countries willing to sell service to
>>>> dirtbags.
>>>>
>>>> Like the spammers of 20 years back, they go after the ISPs selling the
>>>> service in the USA, and the spammers just got accounts on CHINESE ISPs,
>>>> who were glad to have the business, and the US couldn't do shit about
>>>> it.
>>>>
>>>> This video is nothing but selective and deceptive misquoting and
>>>> inferences with no evidence.
>>>>
>>>> IE Valve says playerbase goes up after the game goes on sale or they add
>>>> new features making it a stickier experience, and this guy says "what's
>>>> stickier than a casino?"   INFERENCE WITH NO EVIDENCE.
>>>>
>>>> More Full of shit than Alex Jones.
>>>>
>>>> This is why I generally don't watch videos posted here, that's 25
>>>> minutes of my life I'll never get back.
>>>>
>>> Yup. There's this thing I call "YouTube voice." He has it. It is a method
>>> of speaking both overly authoritatively and midly to moderately
>>> antagonistically, usually about some SHOCKING CONTROVERSY or SECRET
>>> INFORMATION, that seems to keep people of a certain generation engaged.
>>>
>>> Not for me. I can't stand it. It's like watching AI Walter Cronkite
>>> shouting at me, "And that's the way it is!!!" in fevered desperation.
>>>
>>> This issue was "shocking," "criminal," aaand a "buried" news story. Sure.
>>>
>>> There is an upside: If you hear "YouTube Voice," the voice is so
>>> over-the-top authoritative and edgy that you can rest assured the
>>> YouTuber has done zero research and is talking out of their ass. Nobody
>>> with information to *share* talks like that. People with information they
>>> want you to *believe* on the other hand.
>>>
>>> So YouTube Voice=zero credibility. You have to go in and take the nuggets
>>> of accidentally imparted information (usually glossed over because real
>>> information is boring and unengaging) and figure it out for yourself.
>>>
>>> So I picked up on the Steam deck purchases. Hmm. Maybe spend 10 minutes
>>> on that instead of 25 on fuck all.
>> 
>> What makes me wonder is how many of the "underaged gamers" were actually
>> underaged.
>> 
>> We saw head and shoulders only, and no identification.
>> 
>> It's a fact that some people look years younger than they actually are,
>> as some people look years older.
>> 
>> Recently watched Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, and the 2 girls
>> who stay over at the house that's "haunted" are Sophia Lillis (who went
>> on to do the D&D movie with Chris Pine) and Laura Wiggens.
>> 
>> Both are supposed to be 16 and look it, Sophia IS 16, Laura is 30.
>> 
>> Pretty easy to find some 20+ person and display them as a "kid" online
>> to make your point.
>
>On the opposite side
>
>Steve Buschemi "How do you do, fellow kids?"
>
>Apparently my age at the time - 55, but looks older.
>
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiOMbqPHFwo
>
>reverse and twist it:
>
>Agatha all along "She's been around for centuries, she's seen the rise 
>and fall of empires."
>
>Actress I guessed was 35, Playing someone more than 400, Kathryn Marie 
>Hahn's actual age is 51.

That's been a thing for a long time, some people just don't seem to age
(they keep writing articles about Cindy Crawford not aging,) while
others seem to have pressed the fast-forward button (often due to drugs,
alcohol and other fuck-you-up substances.)

Was a girl in my highschool oh those many years back, who was 14 and had
a 1.5yr old in daycare at the school.   Saw her a few short years later
- she looked 40+, barely recognizable.

Xocyll