ChingShih's recent activity
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Comment on Because European sunscreens can draw on more ingredients, they can protect better against skin cancer in ~health
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Comment on Monaco GP under pressure to change after Charles Leclerc’s processional victory in ~sports.motorsports
ChingShih Link ParentI was waiting to see if you did your usual post! I hope all is well and that you were just busy!I was waiting to see if you did your usual post! I hope all is well and that you were just busy!
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Comment on Because European sunscreens can draw on more ingredients, they can protect better against skin cancer in ~health
ChingShih LinkThe op-ed makes a good point about regulation of sunscreen and some of the inefficiencies of getting other "drugs" approved in the U.S. versus Europe. But it's really just a complaint piece about...The op-ed makes a good point about regulation of sunscreen and some of the inefficiencies of getting other "drugs" approved in the U.S. versus Europe. But it's really just a complaint piece about the FDA, which is a fair topic on its own, and the author doesn't tackle anything of substance on any other topics they bring up either, which is unfortunate.
Right now there is a push to get ocean-going tourists in the U.S. to buy sunscreen that have fewer chemicals in it that are harmful to the environment. These sunscreens are often called "reef safe," though they're not perfect, and aren't necessarily something that Europeans are concerned about having on their own shelves because there are cultural and practical differences in the way that they utilize sunscreen. Reef safe sunscreens are becoming mandated in some states seeking to protect the reefs that attract tourists and preserve their state's natural beauty.
I have to say the op-ed also adds an element of fear-mongering compared to an eerily similar report I found on literally the same topic (sunscreen vs FDA). Granted, the report is quite a bit more detailed and rather than saying regulation is "expensive and time-consuming process" to such an extent that the FDA is preventing hard-working Americans from getting life-saving cosmetics. Instead it provides a more candid truth and provides a source:
The FDA has responded that the sunscreen manufacturers had not submitted enough information to prove these chemicals were safe and effective for use.
The agency asked for more data, including measurements of ingredient levels in people's blood, and long-term studies of systemic toxicity and potential endocrine system disruption.
The companies have yet to satisfy the FDA’s data requests – and in the meantime, Americans are being shortchanged with inadequate sunscreens, especially compared to European ones.
So there's the issue. There's a lot of red tape for health and safety reasons. It's cheaper for companies to continue to sell existing products already deemed safe. Companies aren't actually trying to improve our lives altruistically. News at eleven.
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Comment on Monaco GP under pressure to change after Charles Leclerc’s processional victory in ~sports.motorsports
ChingShih LinkSorry if Monaco's circuit is a tired topic in the F1 community, but I am interested in any reading that folks might have about what measures have been taken or could be taken to address the issues...Sorry if Monaco's circuit is a tired topic in the F1 community, but I am interested in any reading that folks might have about what measures have been taken or could be taken to address the issues mentioned by the article (or mentioned elsewhere).
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Monaco GP under pressure to change after Charles Leclerc’s processional victory
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Comment on Valve confirms your Steam account cannot be transferred to anyone after you die in ~games
ChingShih Link ParentI get that, you don't need to convince me of it. I just don't think companies see it that way. Seriously, email Gabe about it and see what he says.I get that, you don't need to convince me of it. I just don't think companies see it that way. Seriously, email Gabe about it and see what he says.
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Comment on Valve confirms your Steam account cannot be transferred to anyone after you die in ~games
ChingShih Link ParentI was hoping someone would bring up a case or two where TOS were proven not to hold up. Yes, until it's tested more in court and there are further rulings, and as you said especially in US courts...I was hoping someone would bring up a case or two where TOS were proven not to hold up. Yes, until it's tested more in court and there are further rulings, and as you said especially in US courts with so far contradicting rules, this won't really be hashed out to consumers' satisfaction. There haven't been many yet, but hopefully more will follow. However parts of a TOS being unenforceable doesn't mean companies won't continue to attempt to enforce behavior on customers and/or prevent them from doing things that should otherwise be legal via other interpretations of the law (the second amendment is a great example of how interpretation works vis-a-vis enforcement).
Software being classed as a good means that if you have a perpetual license, you own it, and can transfer it.
I certainly hope that becomes legally true in the U.S.. Your link though doesn't actually address the second party being able to sell or transfer the software to a third party. It just states that the original sale, and the person conducting the sale, transfers the license to use and own it to the second party, insofar as its a perpetual license. It says nothing about transferring to a third party, in the case of inheritance or another sale, which is what was originally talked about. Your link says:
In relation to “sale”, the CJEU applied the commonly accepted definition of “an agreement by which a person, in return for payment, transfers to another person his rights of ownership in an item of tangible or intangible property belonging to him.”
But I don't see how actually transferring rights of ownership to something with, say, intellectual property or a copyright, would mean that person can legally turn around and sell it to someone else. That wouldn't hold up, so I don't think the linked ruling you provided is a particularly good example.
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Comment on Former Square Enix exec on why Final Fantasy sales don’t meet expectations and chances of recouping insane AAA budgets in ~games
ChingShih Link ParentWell it seems like we're far apart on our views on this. But I'll tackle one of your concerns. There are a lot more indie studios out there than you might think. And I feel like there must be a...Well it seems like we're far apart on our views on this. But I'll tackle one of your concerns.
I just can't see how a large team of 50-100 working on an "indie" project that sells for indie prices could possibly be profitable.
There are a lot more indie studios out there than you might think. And I feel like there must be a ton of examples in the size you've specified, though I can only come up with a few that are still indie and make for good comparison (i.e. having more than one game under their belt at the moment, or have attracted venture capital because of their success), but I don't have their financials in hand so I don't know if employees are making industry-standard (or comparable to SE). I don't know what their marketing spend is. I don't know what their turnover rate is (I expect it's a lot lower than SE).
The last time I did a head-count Petroglyph Games had around 50 employees total and real office space. Their games sell for around $20 at launch and get discounted from there. They've been chugging along for decades.
Stunlock Studios, makers of V Rising, have 40 employees. Add a few more people working for the publisher to get it published and you're in the 50-100 ball park. And the studio has been around since 2010, they're not a one-hit wonder.
Splitgate devs 1047 Games have ~50 devs, maybe more? Only one game though? But they have gotten to a point where venture capital is privately invested in them.
Shiro Games, makers of Dune: Spice Wars and Northgard among others, have 70+ devs.
I expect a lot of the devs partnered with THQ Nordic have team sizes of 40 or so, but also rely on contractors or actors. That is true of Ashborne Games (makers of the excellent Last Train Home that had actors for FVM scenes) and probably other studios like Black Sea Interactive. So there might be a sweet spot for these studios, but it does often take a few more people to actually get the game published, so I think it's fair to round these up to that 50-100 figure you were after.
But the key thing that successful studios do is they stick to a reasonable budget and ship a decent product. I'm sure you can think of a lot of indie studios that didn't do either of those things, and undoubtedly had a lot of project management headaches along the way (or were just a straight up cash-grab on Greenlight/Early Access), but there are a lot of studios out there that are successful and aren't one-hit wonders from 3 guys in a garage.
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Comment on Former Square Enix exec on why Final Fantasy sales don’t meet expectations and chances of recouping insane AAA budgets in ~games
ChingShih Link ParentI fully understand that team sizes are different and so are expectations. But publishers and those with large in-house development teams don't need to scale-down in order to produce games with the...I fully understand that team sizes are different and so are expectations. But publishers and those with large in-house development teams don't need to scale-down in order to produce games with the scope or reach of an indie title. They don't need to do that to produce good games either, so I'm not sure what disconnect you're pointing to with my understanding. I did write some of the above originally as part of my other post (a reply to the main OP), but saw that it fit better with the direction Akir was going (I actually waited to see if they posted first since we're sometimes on the same page).
The assumption was big team ⟩ big product ⟩ big sales.
I addressed this in my other post as well. Navok outlines that that's not actually how SE viewed it. They compared their sales performance to market investment performance on top of all that. Chasing "what if" profits pegged to what the stock market actually did is foolhardy when they're in entertainment and not the financial industry.
If SE execs were as hard on themselves as they are on their employees, they'd have fired themselves for having that absurd fixation a long time ago. Ultimately, SE has a management problem. They haven't been properly understanding their Total Addressable Market. They haven't been trying to communicate with their customers in effective (and modern) ways. They've allowed producers and executives to draw out development times on games which have run up the budgets on them, with less to show for it (I pre-ordered FF15 and Versus XIII on PS3). They've invested in technologies that haven't come to market in a timely manner and have the same financial issues (Luminous Engine?). It's not the fault of the developers, or the size of dev teams, or even the fault of community managers, that any of these things happened. There's a management culture that just isn't living up to their own expectations.
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Comment on Valve confirms your Steam account cannot be transferred to anyone after you die in ~games
ChingShih Link ParentApologies if I came off as too dismissive, but the article brings up the best example: you can't give away/bequeath/sell your iTunes collection. Or your Google/Apple/Samsung Store apps. Or any...Apologies if I came off as too dismissive, but the article brings up the best example: you can't give away/bequeath/sell your iTunes collection. Or your Google/Apple/Samsung Store apps. Or any other software no matter how much you've spent. It's a legal thing. But that doesn't mean you can't load up an iPod and give that to someone, which IIRC is what people suggested back when that was in the news. Of course the better move is to buy DRM-free music in the first place.
I do agree that it's reasonable to want to be able to transfer games, music, etc., to next of kin, but I would say that TOS should've made it clear to everyone that that's not how it works for digital media. And people have warned about this every time a new digital medium has taken off. Physical books are always legally transferable to other people or can be resold, that's not the case with DRM'd e-books. Physical games are always transferable or able to be resold, that's not the case with digital games. Music. Movies. TV shows.
This is the Faustian bargain people made. They chose convenience over a physical version. And often at the same price to the consumer, I might add, which always mystified me. Even today I will buy a physical copy of a game over a digital at the same or similar price.
All that said, I absolutely want this practice to change. Maybe making an example of Valve's Steam Store will help raise awareness. But this is an issue with DRM, legally binding contacts (TOS), and all of that. It's an issue that needs legislative change because it's not something that Valve can or will change alone -- because I'm sure that many companies appreciate that sales of digital games on the Steam platform are at least partially predicated on the customer not being able to transfer or resell their digital goods.
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Comment on Valve confirms your Steam account cannot be transferred to anyone after you die in ~games
ChingShih LinkThis is kind of a silly article. I'm not sure why any of this needs to be brought up. The TOS of every bit of software ever is pretty clear that you don't own it (perhaps unless you're in one of...This is kind of a silly article. I'm not sure why any of this needs to be brought up. The TOS of every bit of software ever is pretty clear that you don't own it (perhaps unless you're in one of those utopian societies that respects customers). If a company says you can't trade accounts, then no, legally you can't do that, but ...
People have been trading Steam accounts for decades. Steam support has had a whole process for recovering accounts even as far back as registering CD keys. I don't think they have EVER had a system that checks that you aren't using the same credit card across multiple accounts -- and that would be one of the easiest ways to determine if people are VAC ban-evading, smurfing, sharing account credentials/payment methods across a family or other relationship (before gifting, I'd login to my gf's account and buy her games directly), and so on. They certainly don't care if multiple accounts are originating from the same IP address or sharing the same Steam Deck.
"Steam Families" is new. Cool. They've had "Family Library Sharing" for a long time. It allows you to authorize multiple accounts on a device and you can just ... play that other account's games whenever you want. From your own account, with your existing friend's list and all that. The only hangup I've had doing that has been when there's a third-party account required to login with (mostly F2P stuff). But the "Family Library Sharing" thing is what everyone wants out of this process. Just don't tell Steam? They'll never ask? They specifically don't have a mechanism in place to make sure this isn't being "abused." Can we not ruin this?
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Comment on Former Square Enix exec on why Final Fantasy sales don’t meet expectations and chances of recouping insane AAA budgets in ~games
ChingShih Link ParentYeah, Navok's stand that "Otherwise live service titles will be all we have left" suggests he's looking at the ultimate demise of AAA gaming simply because the traditional formula for making games...Yeah, Navok's stand that "Otherwise live service titles will be all we have left" suggests he's looking at the ultimate demise of AAA gaming simply because the traditional formula for making games has gotten complex and only certain variables matter to the accountants and executives anymore, because those variables maximize ROI. That's a really distressing way to view creating entertainment and I think you're right to point to indie games as examples of quality, worthwhile entertainment and adhering to a development and marketing formula that is substantially different from what AAA studios want to work with.
It's kind of crazy to me that an indie Metroidvania called Hollow Knight might have 15 million copies sold (at $15 or less), while a main-line FF title might be "struggling" to meet corporate's expectations. Hollow Knight had marketing in the form of a lengthy Kickstarter and that was pretty much it. The rest has been word of mouth/internet culture/YouTubers at essentially no cost to the developers. Their work stands on its own merits and the game doesn't have any live services. All the DLC added real content and were Kickstarter stretch goals, but otherwise released the content as free updates.
I know that live services as the gold-standard for raking in money, but it sounds like Navok is making the case that if you don't do live services right, if you don't have that addictive gameplay loop and spending hook for your game, then you need to do something else to get those sales. Navok suggests raising prices to deal with falling sales numbers. But maybe that something else is called "quality?" And appealing to the people looking for entertainment and not a second job grinding season passes? There are multiple sectors to the gaming pie and SE could sell to the "single-player" or "non-live services" sector and still make a profit.
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Comment on Former Square Enix exec on why Final Fantasy sales don’t meet expectations and chances of recouping insane AAA budgets in ~games
ChingShih Link ParentThanks for sharing this in a non-Twitter format! Really illuminating and well-articulated. I hope that everyone gives Navok's writing at least a partial read because people have been complaining...Thanks for sharing this in a non-Twitter format!
Really illuminating and well-articulated. I hope that everyone gives Navok's writing at least a partial read because people have been complaining about SE's press releases and general sales performance woes. I knew that they had some interesting expectations for ROI -- I've heard that typically it's development cost + marketing cost multiplied by a magic number (so $300M game + $100M marketing x 3 = $1.2B sales expectation) or something like that. I didn't know SE was pretending they were a hedge fund and basing their calculations against theoretical stock performance.
The part about being wary of releasing games too close to competing blockbusters is something I started tracking back in the old days of /r/JRPG's release date calendar because I wanted people to see how this dynamic played out in real-time. Smaller studios were frightened of releasing within weeks of a Halo or Call of Duty. But the thing about gaming is that, at least until live service games as Navok points out, some people would still pick up all the new releases on day one and while they had something specific they'd want to play that night, they'd get around to the others eventually. Or they'd at least get around to buying it the month of release while it was still very fresh. Those people are called fans. Companies should be cultivating all the good will with these fans as best as possible. But we never really see that from a lot of Japanese publishers (including Bamco until more recently), because it always seemed like corporate didn't value this customer relationship at all. It was always about brand loyalty for the executives. They sold a product and loyal customers had to buy it; who cared if they liked it or recommended it to their friends? So of course they were surprised when things changed in the early-/mid-2010s.
Navok laments the lack of sales to repeat customers for mainline Final Fantasy games, and for good reason, but the funny thing to me is that Square Enix has always had all the ingredients to the secret sauce. They have/had brand loyalty, they have name cachet and some inertia, they have developers who can do great things and they've invested a lot in those developers. They also have something that Navok didn't once mention: they have live services in the form of FFXI and FFXIV -- and there have been a lot of diehard fans there for basically a decade for corporate to learn from. So why hasn't SE capitalized on all of this in the last ~10 years? It's not because Fortnite stole their ice cream.
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Comment on If you had US$50K and had to purchase a classic car, sports car, and daily driver for your budget dream garage, what vehicles would you pick? in ~transport
ChingShih Link ParentI was hoping we'd have some motorcycles! It's an awesome bike no matter what, but what variety of NineT would you get?I was hoping we'd have some motorcycles! It's an awesome bike no matter what, but what variety of NineT would you get?
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Comment on If you had US$50K and had to purchase a classic car, sports car, and daily driver for your budget dream garage, what vehicles would you pick? in ~transport
ChingShih Link ParentI was hoping we'd have some motorcycle garages! The Ural with a sidecar is just so cool, but all of these would be head-turners for sure. I'm sure the insurance would be eye-watering, but luckily...I was hoping we'd have some motorcycle garages! The Ural with a sidecar is just so cool, but all of these would be head-turners for sure. I'm sure the insurance would be eye-watering, but luckily that doesn't matter here. ;)
Ride safe!
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Comment on If you had US$50K and had to purchase a classic car, sports car, and daily driver for your budget dream garage, what vehicles would you pick? in ~transport
ChingShih Link ParentThis is a much more practical garage than I was expecting to see. Awesome and certainly enjoyable! :)This is a much more practical garage than I was expecting to see. Awesome and certainly enjoyable! :)
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Comment on If you had US$50K and had to purchase a classic car, sports car, and daily driver for your budget dream garage, what vehicles would you pick? in ~transport
ChingShih Link ParentExcellent and very shrewd choices! Having a corvette and a Porsche would make you welcome at any gathering of any kind ever! :) Would your Cayman be a hardtop or convertible, harsh winters...Excellent and very shrewd choices! Having a corvette and a Porsche would make you welcome at any gathering of any kind ever! :) Would your Cayman be a hardtop or convertible, harsh winters notwithstanding?
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If you had US$50K and had to purchase a classic car, sports car, and daily driver for your budget dream garage, what vehicles would you pick?
I saw a video by Throttle House with this premise and thought it was a fun one. What three cars or trucks would you want in your budget garage? Let's assume that you can only buy vehicles legal in...
I saw a video by Throttle House with this premise and thought it was a fun one. What three cars or trucks would you want in your budget garage?
Let's assume that you can only buy vehicles legal in your country, but that there are no costs for importing. For instance, it might be illegal to import or drive a car with the steering on the opposite side as normal, so that's out. But you can import a legal car for no additional cost. Prices are today's prices, but if your prices are not in US$ then don't feel obligated to be exact down to the dollar/euro/CHF since exchange rates fluctuate. And to keep things easy, there is no VAT/sales tax.
If you'd prefer to spec out a wishlist for a country you'd like to live in (like Japan or Germany) you may do that instead, but same import rules apply. :)
For instance, my garage might look like:
Daily Driver: Subaru Outback 3.6R (2014) - $17,500 ... I'm not too familiar with the pros and cons of this spec, but this seems like a decent fit for commuting needs, unless I should look at a newer car with a lower trim?
Sports Car: Mazda RX-8 40th Anniv. (2008) - $13,000
Classic Car: Chevy Corvette (1969) - $17,500 ... I'd prefer pop-up headlights, but it says it has under 6K original miles???
Total: ~$48,000
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Comment on Are there any backpacks which are both stylish and functional? in ~life.style
ChingShih LinkThere is a wide selection of backpacks on YOOX. This link goes to "men's" backpacks, though I'm not sure there's a difference for most of them, and some might be kid's sizes. In the menu on the...There is a wide selection of backpacks on YOOX. This link goes to "men's" backpacks, though I'm not sure there's a difference for most of them, and some might be kid's sizes. In the menu on the left you can also sort by "trends" and see if your preferred style might conform to one of those terms (unfortunately it might be "preppy") so you can better narrow your selection either there or elsewhere. More important might be to see what brands trend in the direction of your tastes, but you might've found it with ISM Bags.
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Comment on In Switzerland, modular mobile ASTRA Bridge lets highway traffic fly over roadwork in ~transport
ChingShih Link ParentThat was my thought as well, but it's a really cool implementation. I do wonder if it would be perfect for major cities where road closures can mean diverting traffic or dramatically changing the...That was my thought as well, but it's a really cool implementation. I do wonder if it would be perfect for major cities where road closures can mean diverting traffic or dramatically changing the flow of traffic for weeks.
Yes, as I mentioned the article brings up a valid concern. The FDA takes a long time to vet products. There's a safety element to that. But a lot of these people advocating simple-sounding solutions are over-generalizing the ease at which the solution would be achieved or understating the reason that things are the way that they are. I linked to the EWG report because while it comes to a very similar conclusion, it does so in a less biased way, despite being fundamentally biased in their goal as an NGO (to have safer sunscreens). Bias isn't bad. But Tabarrok is laying out a few examples of why the FDA isn't good at its job while ignoring that the purpose of the FDA is to make sure companies are selling products that aren't harmful to people's health and, in the case of the U.S., we've determined that our standards are -- for reasons that Tabarrok hasn't touched on -- different than Europeans.
Tabarrok's article also comes at a time when we're inching closer to seeing litigation of American and European companies for "forever chemicals" that are not well understood by regulating bodies and may have profound health effects on people who used those products. Streamlining regulatory approval hasn't helped people understand the consequences of the products they choose to use on their bodies. It certainly hasn't been effective in protecting the environment, so some U.S. states are being proactive in doing that themselves. Tabarrok doesn't mention this because he's either not aware of other arguments, and therefore isn't interested in presenting a balanced argument (which I wouldn't expect from an op-ed), or doesn't want to bring up a case of a state exercising its right to self-regulate (but in this case it is choosing what products are allowed for sale and goes against his personal beliefs that everyone should have European-grade sunscreen).