Tag Archive for 'anticapitalist bullshit'

PC Gaming is a Donor-Supported Industry with the Pretense of Selling a Product

Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 12:01 PM on December 29, 2011 in Crosspostery. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/ED

In today’s world, everything digital can, and will, be made available free. They’re non-scarce goods. One industry has reacted to this new reality by sustaining itself with its fans’ desire to voluntarily reward creators — even if it won’t admit that to itself.

The act of physically purchasing PC games is going extinct. More and more gamers are finding it simpler, easier, and more convenient to download their games without leaving home; sometimes, of course, these downloads come from unofficial sources and aren’t paid for. But Valve Software’s Gabe Newell has famously called piracy a “non-issue” for their company. That’s because they sell all of their games via their Steam platform, which he claims competes with piracy on service.

But in most cases, Steam doesn’t provide any real advantage over piracy. Nor do any other paid digital distribution platforms or methods. So why, then, do people continue to throw money at them? Is it marketing bullshit about convenience? Fear, uncertainty, and doubt about viruses?

No. PC gamers are a generally savvy group of people. They’re probably spending money because they want to.

Continue reading at Falkvinge on Infopolicy

    Debugging the Profit Motive: Part Three — Pressure

    Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 12:00 PM on July 11, 2011 in Crosspostery. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/Rk


    Here’s an article I wrote for Falkvinge on Infopolicy, the third in a three-part series on how the theoretically reasonable and rational “profit motive” is actually broken and damaging to society. But we can fix it.

    A banker offers you a loan so that you can buy a house located near your cushy new job. You sign, comfortable that your salary will allow you to afford the payments. Months later, your employer downsizes, and your job disappears. With no job, you can’t pay back your loan. But the banker’s not upset — in fact, he was hoping for this. As you miss payments, your interest rate goes up. You need a new job to pay your increasing debt, and conveniently enough, the banker is the only one in town hiring. This is the crux of the issue with the profit motive: those who profit can put harmful pressure on others.

    At its core, profit is power. Whether it takes the form of having many coins, being owed many debts, or something else entirely, profit is a measure of one’s ability to get other people to do things. By giving a merchant money, I can get her to give me her product. By reminding my friend of all the favors I’ve done for him, I can get him to do me a very large one. I gain these abilities through profit.

    As I’ve tried to drive home, this is a perfectly reasonable thing to desire, and a perfectly natural thing by which to be motivated. But today, sometimes profit enables us to make people do things that they don’t want to do. Is this a necessary evil, or just another fixable bug?

    Continue reading at Falkvinge on Infopolicy

      Debugging the Profit Motive: Part Two — Shiny Gold Coins

      Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 12:01 PM on July 7, 2011 in Crosspostery. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/3C


      Here’s an article I wrote for Falkvinge on Infopolicy, the second in a three-part series on how the theoretically reasonable and rational “profit motive” is actually broken and damaging to society. But we can fix it.

      A salesman sells you a tube of toothpaste, claiming it will make your teeth whiter than they’ve ever been in just a week of use. It’s a bold claim, but he wins you over — for twice what you’d normally pay for toothpaste. A week later, your teeth are still yellow, and you’re tremendously ill. Not only was the toothpaste nothing special, but it was also contaminated with a nasty bacteria; apparently, it was cheaper not to sanitize the toothpaste factory equipment. Now your friends certainly won’t buy any of this not-so-miracle toothpaste, but the damage is done. You’re vomiting, and the salesman’s got your money. Herein lies the problem with the profit motive: bad behavior is profitable.
      [...]
      Fortunately, it isn’t insurmountable. It’s a bug in the system, and bugs can be fixed. To fix a bug, you often have to dig deep to find the root of the problem, deconstructing it — and the system it exists within — to its bare essentials.

      Continue reading at Falkvinge on Infopolicy

        Debugging the Profit Motive: Part One — Bad Behavior

        Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 1:01 PM on July 4, 2011 in Crosspostery. 0 Comments Tags: , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/kV


        Here’s a new article I wrote for Falkvinge on Infopolicy, the first in a three-part series on how the theoretically reasonable and rational “profit motive” is actually broken and damaging to society. But we can fix it.

        A man in a big house on a hill asks you to tend his garden. In return, he’ll give you a great deal of shiny gold coins. It’s not like he’d miss them, because he has more shiny gold coins than anyone you know. But you don’t want to lift a finger for this man; everyone knows that he got all his shiny gold coins from lying, cheating, and stealing. Unfortunately, you’re starving and your rent is due — the only way to pay for food and shelter is with shiny gold coins, and Big Evil House Man is the only one with any to spare. This is another problem with the profit motive.

        Continue reading at Falkvinge on Infopolicy

          Basic Tech Security Recap From the 2011 NYC Anarchist Bookfair

          Published by Zacqary Adam Green at 6:20 PM on April 10, 2011 in Miscellany. 0 Comments Tags: , , , . Short URL: http://plankhead.com/Nu

          Thanks to all the NYC Anarchist Bookfair who came to the joint ATS/Plankhead workshop on Basic Tech Security. For those of you reading this who have no idea what I’m talking about, uh, I did a joint workshop with ATS on Basic Tech Security at the Anarchist Bookfair. I mean, duh. You probably could have surmised that from reading the first sentence.

          Anyway, as promised, here’s an easy reference guide to some of the stuff we talked about. If you have any further questions, leave a comment on this post, or email me at Zacqary@plankhead.com. Read on for, in no particular order, all of those things:
          Continue reading ‘Basic Tech Security Recap From the 2011 NYC Anarchist Bookfair’