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Cake day: June 15th, 2023

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  • I mean, any person that tries to learn history from video games or movies alone is pretty dumb. In order for it to be entertaining, artistic liberties often need to be taken which usuaally means the final product is not historically accurate. The thing with Assassin’s Creed games is that where history was involved, in the past they tried to be as accurate to real life as possible. The layouts of cities, the appearance and roles of real historic characters, etc. In more recent years they have tossed that out the window, but historic accuracy on elements not related to the assassin storyline was something Assassin’s Creed prided itself on.

    Even still, most only have a single text screen at the very beginning that just says “this is a work of fiction.” I don’t know that I would call that emphasis, but it is present. I also haven’t tried this mod myself, but I don’t see that it would be portraying itself as real events unless it says “this is based on real events.” I have always assumed that video games are a work of fiction, even if they are based on real events. If I wanted to learn more about the real events, I would do research on my own.

    I suppose at the end of the day more context is needed. Did Valve contact the mod author prior to takedown to request a change in the mod description to add a “work of fiction” tag and the author refused? If Valve just straight up removed it without even contacting the author, I think that is not good.

    I am concerned that censorship might become greater with this action. What other governments will say to Valve “remove X or Y game/mod because it is offensive or portrays real life characters or events improperly?” Ideally none, but still. I don’t exactly agree with the context of this mod and entirely understand why it would be offensive, but at the same time I think that a mod author or game developer should be free to create whatever they want, without fear of censorship removing their work.


  • EDIT:

    Valve has denied reports its pulled a controversial mod from Steam around the world at the request of the South Korean government, saying the mod was only blocked in South Korea and only because it broke local laws. The mod’s author is said to be behind its global removal.

    EDIT: This was important information I was not privy to when I originally made this comment. This makes more sense and is completely understandable.

    Original comment below:


    I feel like this opens the door to banning any “alternative history” setting for a game or mod on Steam.

    For example, if someone wanted to make a mod about WWII but aliens invaded Earth and the Allies and Axis decided to make an agreement to become allies to repel the alien invasion, how would that be different from this? That would effectively make Nazis “good guys” in that alternative historical setting. Obviously, that is something that never happened in real history, but if someone is interested in real historical events, it should be on them to do their research, not a video game developer or a mod author.

    Unless there is specific context where a government is pointing to this mod saying that’s “how it really happened,” would not a disclaimer saying that the events in the game are not based on reality and set in an alternative timeline be sufficient?










  • Sometimes, but most of the time duplicates let you level up a character beyond their basic level (Limit Break, most commonly called), or give you materials to pick a new character (sometimes called Pity System, but that is a little different), or materials to forge new weapons.

    I have played many gacha games, and I have only ever spent money on NieR Reincarnation because I wanted Square Enix to see that I like Yoko Taros games and want more of them. I am not a whale, dolphin, or a minnow. I am a “barnacle” F2P player, and I have never had a problem with the games I play. They’re not really designed to be constantly played all the time like a “regular” game would be, instead being level or session style games. I don’t compare my game progress with other players, and I play to have fun and pass time. I get exactly what I want from them for whenever I play them.


  • I would just like to mention that it is called “gacha” not “gotcha.”

    “Gacha” is short for the Japanese term gachapon, which means “capsule toy.” You remember gumball machines? You put a quarter in and twist the handle and a gumball comes out. Gachapon is like that, but with a small plastic ball with a random toy inside. Those are less common than the gumball machines, but there were also some that had sticker/temporary tattoo sheets and those hard candies that looks like fruits(mostly bananas).

    Gachapon is a bit different from gambling. Gambling comes with the inherent understanding that you have a chance to lose. With gachapon, you always get exactly what you are paying for: a random capsule toy. You just don’t get to pick which one you get. With gachapon, you always “win,” there is no chance that your money is spent and you get nothing in return. This is why games with gacha mechanics makes duplicates of characters or items useful. Whatever you get is still useful to you, even if you don’t get what you wanted.

    I think you already understand the negative aspects of gachapon, but I just wanted to add that little bit of information.