#streaming is a privilege

[theoneguitarguy]

Streaming is a privilege.

Hot take, but streaming in general is a financial privilege many do not have. Buying high end computers and nice keyboards and mouses and top end monitors? All that is a privilege. And on top of that, video games as well? That's a privilege. Not everyone can just stream. I went into a stream not terribly long ago, and within about 10 minutes of watching, I remember hearing the streamer say that "anyone with an internet connection can stream" and it's such a dogshit take because it came from someone who looked like they weren't one emergency away from homelessness. The requirements to stream video games are to have a PC that can first and foremost run said games. Problem is, is that the newest AAA games are requiring 32 GB of RAM and an RTX graphics card to run smoothly. And while you don’t have to play the newest stuff out there, it just goes to show how financially inaccessible streaming is becoming. Most of the games I personally have on Steam are indies, JRPGs, Action-Adventure and the like. Most of them I can’t even run. I bought them with the intention of streaming, but due to “unforeseen circumstances”, I can’t. But I digress. In a world where there are the few are hoarding the resources of the many, it is becoming more and more inaccessible to do the things that make you happiest. If you have a $10,000 streaming setup in your room, and then hundreds upon hundreds of games in your backlog, you don't get to tell someone who's living on disability income that "anyone with an internet connection can stream". Because that's fucking dogshit and you know it. It's classist bullshit. It’s showing just how privileged you are to say something like that.

[rabbits-of-negative-euphoria]

this is what I've learned about the practice of politics over the past 8 years:

the time for talking about abstract political ideals is during the primary.

after the primary, the die has been cast, and your two choices are there whether you like them or not. your practical political responsibility still exists. any choice that seems to lie outside the two candidates is an illusion. to cast a vote for a third party or to not vote at all is still, practically speaking, a choice for one of the two main candidates.

furthermore, you are not voting for the candidates as people, you are voting for them as policy. voting for a person is a luxury most countries don't have anymore. you think Canadian Christian voters ever get a truly Christian ticket on either side? Norwegian Christians? Japanese Christians? America might still be able to vote for people in the primaries, but we don't have that luxury in the general election. the general election is about policy, and the candidates are only pieces in a larger game of chess.

the only thing that would persuade me NOT to vote for Trump this time around is if he had the exact same policy platform as Kamala Harris. if Trump ran on all of Harris' policies except for immigration, I would still vote for Trump, because it's materially worse for my family, friends, and neighbors to allow illegal immigration than to stop it. and as a voter, I have the power to stop it.

[mygwenchan]

About this whole Gagaoolala using AI for translations thing... I think I have a bit of a different standpoint when it comes to AI, since my job includes Online Marketing and also writing product texts and creating product images.

These days it's really hard to avoid AI, even if you want to. I have the direct comparison of using human made translations vs using an app. The human made ones might be more accurate, but they take MUCH longer and cost half a fortune. On the other hand, I can simply take my texts, throw them into an app and have the translations ready within seconds. Then go over them with some basic language knowledge and 5 minutes later I'm done with that task.

I really can't blame a smaller company like Gagaoolala for using AI. I mean, even the really big companies use it. Amazon for example has recently introduced a new AI that is designed to "improve" product listings. I spent about 2 hours yesterday going through all the suggested changes to my products. Let's just say they were worse than the latest Gelboys subs....

Anyway, my point is AI can be useful or it can cause more trouble than it's worth. Kind of depends on how you use it and what for. In Gagaoolala's case, if you really want them to hire human translators, a boycott is not the answer. Instead you'd have to be willing to A) pay more for your subscription and B) be willing to wait for subtitles. So no more comments like "Where are the subtitles, the series released 2 hours ago!". But if you're not willing to be patient and pay more, the only real alternative is to contact Gagaoolala and to tell them that in the near future human made translations could become their USP (unique selling point). They could actually gain a lot of new customers if they're clever and use that info for their marketing.

[cognitiveinequality]

I swear to you that dropping all my digital streaming subscriptions and shifting to almost exclusively watching my hand-curated collection of decades-old classic TV series through my local media server** has saved my sanity since the start of 2025.

I know to some people it might sound like I'm seriously mental, but I really can't tell you how nice it has been to just have an immersive ad-free stream of on-demand vintage entertainment that contains no references to our current reality. (Seriously, I'm watching shows from the early 70s and these people are renting apartments for $100/mo, driving without seatbelts, and drinking 2 martinis every night; I'm pretty sure that stuff counts as pure escapism these days.)

I'm making an effort to watch episodes/series in rough chronological order (Jellyfin has a filter view that can help do this) and avoid binge-watching since I think these older series genuinely benefit from being watched episodically, like they aired.

TL;DR these days talking to me is like, oh you're getting into Squid Game? Temptation Island? Black Mirror? Severance? Handmaid's Tale? That other thinly-veiled metaphor for our modern dystopia show that everyone is talking about? No, I haven't seen it. Yah, I'm good - I went home last night and caught Bob Newhart, M*A*S*H, Mary Tyler Moore, and The Odd Couple, then watched Columbo catch a rich murderer.

**NOTE: I actually queued this post weeks ago, and I'm now editing to add that I've recently gotten a couple of DMs with questions about implementing Jellyfin (after another post i reblogged with some mouthy tags about it). I feel strongly that you should have the option of streaming your own files for free at home, so I do plan to write up a general overview of my own kludged-together setup when i get a second, because i know that FOSS tends to have the least-good documentation for non-techy users, and I want to help give you a nudge if you're leaning that way. -C.

[baltharino]

Happy birthday Plutia 💜 (go follow TheWaterWitches on twitch)

[dnfity]

thinking about sands of time george and how everyone was shocked he wouldn’t get killed and they acted like it was impossible like maybe he’s just good at the game??? wild concept that the guy playing it for 15 years is actually good at it and it’s not just pretty privilege

sorry anon i just saw this but i used to get so evil about this u have no idea. ik this is just golorsd talking but i hated how it was a joke to make fun of george's mc skills just cus he didnt particularly tryhard as much as the people around him HES STILL A GOOD PLAYER STOP SAYING HES BAD. and i'll always love people complementing george's mc skills but the way people used to do it was so annoying 😭. like "omg that was Actually a good move" or "i thought george was fs gonna die its amazing he didnt" SHUT UP. like yea he sometimes messes up things but so does literally everyone. hes so smart and clever and it used to get so overlooked, i always think about his traps in deathswap 2, or his winning shot in mcc11, or getting top three overall in squidcraft 2, or the most recent sacrificing himself so that dteam as a collective have a better shot of beating the titan. and ofc that one famous sot moment as well. and im sure there are so many other moments im forgetting but like yea. georgenotfound is good at minecraft

[binders-and-beanies]

Art the clown is like if there was a fucked up guy

[rellbot]

i love watching rell in pro play in general but its different when i can get u know. the pov of the rell like i can with rekkles. its so nice it makes me really focus on the game

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

i had more ideas on hesphael cooking stream AU based on ora's comic

this is a modern AU btw no time loops for tesilid

ephael was the one who started it bc it looked cool. being a youtuber seemed fun. why did he pick cooking? because he was hungry.

hestio watched the video because he was curious / he walked by the room as ephael was cooking

hestio is absolutely appalled.

hestio starts off as the roommate off screen (privacy) who always keeps interjecting and eventually he just grabs shit out of ephael's hands so that disasters don't happen. and then he just becomes a permanent fixture

ephael's channel hasn't gotten renamed yet so newcomers are always like "who is this guy"

hestio's solo streams are very calm and peaceful bc he doesn't have anyone to yell at. until the audience discovers that if they say stupid shit he'll call them stupid

so you see... this is the internet. some people would be into that

unfortunately for hestio, he and the rest of the trio grew up in a cult-like environment where they didn't have access to the internet or other kids who grew up with access to it. they only very recently managed to leave and are still trying their hardest to reintegrate into society. so hestio has no clue what's going on. bless him.

no one let him google his own name and find his fanbase (i'm sure he will cluelessly do it one day on his own anyway, out of curiosity)

ailette help them please ailette you need to babysit them, ailette please please where are you ailette!!!

tesilette are having a nice peaceful modern AU romance in the background with no angst

(jk i'm sure i'll find a way to work the tesilette angst back in, but for now the possibility of them simply having a nice meet-cute exists)

[rum-inspector]

The petit bourgouscous life of a streamer I am about to buy my second mansion and a superyacht any day now

[toplesstopics]

Now livestreaming at https://www.joystick.tv/u/toplesstopics and (for Patreon donors and Promo Squad members) in our Discord server https://www.toplesstopics.org/chat while I draw my "Day in the Life of a Top Free Activist" webcomic and dispense newdeest / naturist dating advice!

[nero-neptune]

maybe i’m just easily annoyed (and the news is depressing), but i feel like people on here (or the internet in general lbr) are more willing to criticize/dismiss (even label unrelated things as) “white feminism” (even if it’s bringing up important/relevant issues) than talk about feminism at all. sexism exists in every community you can think of, within every race, ethnicity, social class, religion, nationality, sexuality, what-have-you. it’s easier and more entertaining ig to point out how feminism is lacking or who’s doing feminism “wrong” then attempt to bridge/fill the gaps and actually, Seriously Talk about sexism in detail (and not like it’s some sort of 2nd tier, we’ll circle back to this much later, type of oppression which i Really get the impression of, even within supposedly-progressive spheres) on the regular and not as a series of gotcha posts that get enthusiastically reblogged for a blip in time and then. crickets. like as far as the patriarchy’s concerned (like if i’m looking at this from their perspective), this nitpicking appears very divide-and-conquer. nothing goes anywhere. and things just keep slipping backwards. maybe i’m crazy (maybe i’m way off base), but isn’t feminism meant to help All women, even the ones you dislike? even the ones you hate? like what’s going on here? am i missing something?

[bucket-of-amethyst]

anyone else mentally ill over tango calling jimmy “j” one (1) time during the second plate up stream? just me?

EOURHJGK I NOTICED THAT TOO!!!!!!

AND I WAS LIKE "!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WAIT DID HE EVER CALL JIMMY THAT BEFORE OR THIS NEW?!!?!"

Glad to get confirmation that it was the first time and that we are sooo normal about it 😊👍

[possum-tooth]

do i have to see sonic 1 and 2 to understand 3?

[riacte]

rendog love language is literally killing his friends and being killed by his friends i'm so serious

[rellbot]

ok so. nobody in lr has background music on their streams except for rekkles. why?