#politics in video games

[dwarvenhobble]

Please let people have to a break from caring about [current thing in politics]

So up front, I'm not American and a department store funded parade isn't something I care particularly about. That said I've seen a lot of reaction from people online about how awful it was people chose to boo protestors who blocked the Macey's day parade to protest about events in Gaza. This is part of an annoying trend I'm seeing of activist groups seemingly being unwilling to let people have a break because said activists seem to be acting like the super hardcore evangelical Christians of old and seem to think it's their duty to convert people to their faith recruit people to their cause and somehow if they recruit enough regular people with no major power it will fix the issue. Or they have to recruit everyone and are worried some-one might not know. Every few months it's a new thing that's demanded we care about and many of them still ongoing. But also these groups offer no solutions, no actionable stuff like say "Hey guys try to recycle when you can" or even these days a petition to sign or anything. It's just "Join us and perpetually push for the cause by trying to get more people to join" seemingly. People who work 9-5 jobs and are worried about the cost of living and other rising costs and expenses want to have some downtime. Be it going to a parade, going to an event, watching some show to let them forget the awful state of the world for a bit. It doesn't make them bad people it makes them human because everyone needs to recharge their proverbial emotional batteries sometime. No-one can and does perpetually care about all the issues all the time no matter what some activists may claim. If they did the sheer existential dread and horror of the world would drive a person mad.

"Oh but the people involved in [current thing] don't get to have a break so why should you?"

is the general reply and to that I say, they probably wish they could, people there take any moments they can to try to forget and have a break and likely wish they could. So we who can do that should appreciate what we have and can do and be able to enjoy things for those who wish they could too, even if for a little while. Because you can bet many people would in said situations would want help but they'd also not want people to not live their lives and spent their whole time miserable.

If people care for an issue they'll come to such groups who care for it to. This is why I dislike groups trying to push a "With us or against us" kind of narrative to try to pressure people into joining. Do they have so little conviction and belief in their own cause and message that they don't believe people would join them otherwise?

[itsbasil]

this literally never stops being funny like dog they made starship troopers with the Baby's First Satire cranked up to 11 and these people are still fucking dumbfounded that the creators don't share their politics

[prokopetz]

Yes, you've successfully dodged allegations of monarchism by having the heroic princess decide to abolish the monarchy and institute representative democracy in the last five minutes of the game. Bravo.

Now give us the sequel where every prospective heir in a thousand-mile radius comes out of the woodwork claiming she's not allowed to do that and her actions should simply be construed as abdication, five different people declare themselves King, the nation plunges into civil war, and the ex-princess has to ninja around murdering all of her would-be successors in order to make the transition stick.

[reasonsforhope]

Federal regulators on Tuesday [April 23, 2024] enacted a nationwide ban on new noncompete agreements, which keep millions of Americans — from minimum-wage earners to CEOs — from switching jobs within their industries.

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday afternoon voted 3-to-2 to approve the new rule, which will ban noncompetes for all workers when the regulations take effect in 120 days [So, the ban starts in early September, 2024!]. For senior executives, existing noncompetes can remain in force. For all other employees, existing noncompetes are not enforceable.

[That's right: if you're currently under a noncompete agreement, it's completely invalid as of September 2024! You're free!!]

The antitrust and consumer protection agency heard from thousands of people who said they had been harmed by noncompetes, illustrating how the agreements are "robbing people of their economic liberty," FTC Chair Lina Khan said. 

The FTC commissioners voted along party lines, with its two Republicans arguing the agency lacked the jurisdiction to enact the rule and that such moves should be made in Congress...

Why it matters

The new rule could impact tens of millions of workers, said Heidi Shierholz, a labor economist and president of the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank. 

"For nonunion workers, the only leverage they have is their ability to quit their job," Shierholz told CBS MoneyWatch. "Noncompetes don't just stop you from taking a job — they stop you from starting your own business."

Since proposing the new rule, the FTC has received more than 26,000 public comments on the regulations. The final rule adopted "would generally prevent most employers from using noncompete clauses," the FTC said in a statement.

The agency's action comes more than two years after President Biden directed the agency to "curtail the unfair use" of noncompetes, under which employees effectively sign away future work opportunities in their industry as a condition of keeping their current job. The president's executive order urged the FTC to target such labor restrictions and others that improperly constrain employees from seeking work.

"The freedom to change jobs is core to economic liberty and to a competitive, thriving economy," Khan said in a statement making the case for axing noncompetes. "Noncompetes block workers from freely switching jobs, depriving them of higher wages and better working conditions, and depriving businesses of a talent pool that they need to build and expand."

Real-life consequences

In laying out its rationale for banishing noncompetes from the labor landscape, the FTC offered real-life examples of how the agreements can hurt workers.

In one case, a single father earned about $11 an hour as a security guard for a Florida firm, but resigned a few weeks after taking the job when his child care fell through. Months later, he took a job as a security guard at a bank, making nearly $15 an hour. But the bank terminated his employment after receiving a letter from the man's prior employer stating he had signed a two-year noncompete.

In another example, a factory manager at a textile company saw his paycheck dry up after the 2008 financial crisis. A rival textile company offered him a better job and a big raise, but his noncompete blocked him from taking it, according to the FTC. A subsequent legal battle took three years, wiping out his savings. 

-via CBS Moneywatch, April 24, 2024

--

Note:

A lot of people think that noncompete agreements are only a white-collar issue, but they absolutely affect blue-collar workers too, as you can see from the security guard anecdote.

In fact, one in six food and service workers are bound by noncompete agreements. That's right - one in six food workers can't leave Burger King to work for Wendy's [hypothetical example], in the name of "trade secrets." (x, x, x)

Noncompete agreements also restrict workers in industries from tech and video games to neighborhood yoga studios. "The White House estimates that tens of millions of workers are subject to noncompete agreements, even in states like California where they're banned." (x, x, x)

The FTC estimates that the ban will lead to "the creation of 8,500 new businesses annually, an average annual pay increase of $524 for workers, lower health care costs, and as many as 29,000 more patents each year for the next decade." (x)

Clearer explanation of noncompete agreements below the cut.

Noncompete agreements can restrict workers from leaving for a better job or starting their own business.

Noncompetes often effectively coerce workers into staying in jobs they want to leave, and even force them to leave a profession or relocate.

Noncompetes can prevent workers from accepting higher-paying jobs, and even curtail the pay of workers not subject to them directly.

Of the more than 26,000 comments received by the FTC, more than 25,000 supported banning noncompetes. 

[mysharona1987]

[jdragsky]

i'm gonna go one step further and say it's actively good to engage with media you have fundamental ideological disagreements with, especially when you use that as a testing ground to conceptualize your own worldview and help you crystalize your perspective on things

[troythecatfish]

[percistent]

Get owned you shit tier company

[uncanny-tranny]

This might be a half-baked theory, but I wonder how much of the "think of the children!!" ideals that are almost... aimed at women rely on the idea of women as Forever Children.

What I notice is that a lot of these ideas of corruption in youth are feminized in a way that evokes motherhood, but I also notice that many people blur the lines between women or anybody forced into or expected to be women and children so that they are as one.

[lostinthewoodsomewhere]

Remedy characters that just casually hang out at the Remedy office...

[mercisnm]

put these two in one graveyard and they shall end up being best of friends, i think

[facts-i-just-made-up]

Which country is the biggest exporter of video games?

Though China, Japan and the United States make great leaps and bounds in video game production each year, it is a small country in the Austrian/Bolivian borderlands that makes more tons of video game per capita than anywhere else in the world.

The small nation of San Sundertail was founded in 1981 by Mario von Wiisportz as a social experiment. Surviving at first on the quality of their mining craft and production of ceramic plastic, and mostly metal gears, their game industry grew quickly after. The government of the country was based on a tetrad of rulers who answered their nation's call of duty including the Prime Minister, the Prime Echoes Minister, and sadly another minister who was dismissed for Prime Corruption. Rumors of another arrest circulated but a 4th Prime still has yet to released. Hopefully a more straight-line tetrad will fall into place soon and clear the growing mess.

Sadly as a result, the nation is plagued by crimes such as grand theft auto, assassinations according to some kind of creed, and even the raiding of several tombs. Leaders insist that there is no inherent evil resident to their country, but the U.N. Squadron has declared this to be a fantasy, and the final one that they'd accept. Being a far cry from peaceful, they feel they now have just cause to enter the uncharted regions nearby and open a diplomatic portal, no matter what the fallout of such a commanding and conquering action may be.

This got depressing cuz all the franchises have negative or violent names. I'm gonna go take my mind off it with something else, something with serene rolling landscapes and lots of rest and quiet. Here we go, "Silent Hill" sounds nice, I'll try that.

[brightlotusmoon]

Husband is playing a game called Tower Of Fantasy and screenshot this

KING: "Having barely enough to survive is the same as having nothing. For, if you find yourself in that state, whatever is left will soon be taken."

[prokopetz]

The principal difficulty of having a Pokémon pick up your groceries for you isn’t getting it to understand the concept of a grocery list, but getting it to understand the concept of capitalism.

One might assume that Meowth is the exception, given that Meowth is literally the capitalism Pokémon; the trouble here is that, while Meowth does understand capitalism, Meowth also understands shoplifting.

[one-time-i-dreamt]

I was on a coffeeshop date with Sniper from Team Fortress Two, and then my brain interrupted the regularly scheduled broadcast with something about totalitarian governments.

[itsbansheebitch]