this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2026
728 points (93.1% liked)

Games

49817 readers
1891 users here now

Welcome to the largest gaming community on Lemmy! Discussion for all kinds of games. Video games, tabletop games, card games etc.

Rules

1. Submissions have to be related to games

Video games, tabletop, or otherwise. Posts not related to games will be deleted.

This community is focused on games, of all kinds. Any news item or discussion should be related to gaming in some way.

2. No bigotry or harassment, be civil

No bigotry, hardline stance. Try not to get too heated when entering into a discussion or debate.

We are here to talk and discuss about one of our passions, not fight or be exposed to hate. Posts or responses that are hateful will be deleted to keep the atmosphere good. If repeatedly violated, not only will the comment be deleted but a ban will be handed out as well. We judge each case individually.

3. No excessive self-promotion

Try to keep it to 10% self-promotion / 90% other stuff in your post history.

This is to prevent people from posting for the sole purpose of promoting their own website or social media account.

4. Stay on-topic; no memes, funny videos, giveaways, reposts, or low-effort posts

This community is mostly for discussion and news. Remember to search for the thing you're submitting before posting to see if it's already been posted.

We want to keep the quality of posts high. Therefore, memes, funny videos, low-effort posts and reposts are not allowed. We prohibit giveaways because we cannot be sure that the person holding the giveaway will actually do what they promise.

5. Mark Spoilers and NSFW

Make sure to mark your stuff or it may be removed.

No one wants to be spoiled. Therefore, always mark spoilers. Similarly mark NSFW, in case anyone is browsing in a public space or at work.

6. No linking to piracy

Don't share it here, there are other places to find it. Discussion of piracy is fine.

We don't want us moderators or the admins of lemmy.world to get in trouble for linking to piracy. Therefore, any link to piracy will be removed. Discussion of it is of course allowed.

Authorized Regular Threads

Related communities

PM a mod to add your own

Video games

Generic

Help and suggestions

By platform

By type

By games

Language specific

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
728
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by mecen@lemmy.ca to c/games@lemmy.world
 

This is self explanatory; to all who do not support the idea of ownership, there shall be no more funding, regardless of their game's quality.

Advice:

buy from GOG, avoid single player games which require internet connection or 3 party launchers.

Repost from reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/StopKillingGames/comments/1ugzirg/stoppayinggames/

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 141 points 1 month ago (20 children)

It is not self-explanatory. You needed to explain it. On its face, it sounds like it's saying to just pirate. I can get behind the message, but these three words aren't it. I know that coming up with effective, catchy slogans is hard, but this one's not going to do well.

[–] mecen@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not pay and even if pirate don't promote these games

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 31 points 1 month ago (4 children)

If you're endorsing piracy as a political stance in any way, I don't see it gaining traction. People need to be paid for their work; especially those who built a product for you that's meant to last and can't be taken away from you. I don't know how you convey that in a three- or four-word slogan, but I don't think this one does it.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 28 points 1 month ago (4 children)

People need to be paid for their work

The dogged insistence that piracy of a corporate product impacts the pay of it's employees neglects how the wage system works.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (19 children)

The wages only appear if the thing they produce creates profits for the corporation. If they continually produce something that doesn't sell, they won't have a job anymore. And I'll raise you another part of this equation. If you pirated Assassin's Creed: Shadows because you hate Ubisoft or whatever, that game will take somewhere between 35 and 65 hours for most people to finish, according to How Long to Beat. That's 35 to 65 hours that you weren't spending in some other game, perhaps a game that respects your values enough that you'd part with your money to play. Maybe that's Kingdom Come: Deliverance II or The Alters or Knights in Tight Spaces; whatever your preferences are, there's some other game that also didn't get your money because you were playing that pirated game instead, and I picked those three examples because they're recent and run a range of different developer/publisher models while still being DRM-free.

[–] athatet@lemmy.zip 29 points 1 month ago (5 children)

What are you talking about? Game devs are constantly being laid off even after the product they create, creates profits for the corp.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The wages only appear if the thing they produce creates profits for the corporation.

Would you take a job that requires years to complete and forego wages until it retails?

Nobody actually works like that.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (17 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] mecen@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Well if single player game needs to connect to publisher sever to play then you don't buy this game and piracy is just preservation. I'm not endorsing piracy, but not condemning it.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I agree with the first sentence, but that's what I feel this slogan does a poor job of reinforcing.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 month ago (3 children)

People need to be paid for their work;

Then they need to quit fucking over their paying customers

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (19 replies)
[–] Abyssian@lemmy.world 41 points 1 month ago (15 children)

At this point I think it's safe to assume all large companies are evil and so piracy of any software/media/etc created by a large company is the moral thing to do.

load more comments (15 replies)
[–] WolfLink@sh.itjust.works 29 points 1 month ago (3 children)
[–] Toga77@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago (1 children)

If buying is not ownership, piracy is not stealing.

Fuck em.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ysjet@lemmy.world 26 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm going to be honest, this sounds like an astroturf campaign trying to reduce SKG into absurdity to harm it's credibility.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] als@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Kinda telling that Valve aren't on here. They also only sell a license to play a game, not the game.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 18 points 1 month ago

Well technically and legally you always buy a license even with a game on physical media.

[–] MagnificentSteiner@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 month ago

Any media you buy is a license because you're only buying a copy, not the original.

Watch this by the guy who started Stop Killing Games. Then you can stop parroting the corporate wet dream that we don't own stuff we buy.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] random_character_a@lemmy.world 24 points 1 month ago

Most of those are ones i already hate.

My childhood friend and a common acquaintance work at Supercell. I once asked them what they think about the moral issue of putting paid loot boxes in games for children.

They had never heard of such a controversy and didn't understand why a fun and profitable feature would be somehow wrong.

[–] thiscat@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)

joke on you im playing retro games!!!!

EDIT: but no seriously playing retro games is a great alternative then playing what's new

load more comments (8 replies)
[–] vane@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Why ESL is bad ? They don't make any games. They just do esports that promote gaming.

Why Sega is bad ? What did Bandai Namco ?

Only one Chinese company but no explicitly Tencent who owns Supercell and have 1/3 Epic Games, 1/3 Ubisoft it is just it's brand name Level Infinite that means nothing.

No Scopely who owns Monopoly Go that alone makes $200M per month on gambling.

Any mobile gambling companies with micro transactions that are in fact casinos should be there instead of companies that just make AAA flops.

[–] stray@pawb.social 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Beangut@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Rockstar should be added to this list.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive.

Take-Two is already on the list, and also covers 2K and Zynga.

[–] CaptPretentious@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So really the list should show all the subsidaries. Because there's probably a decent number of people that don't know.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org 15 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Shouldn't it be #VoteWithYourWallet?

[–] rethnor@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Why not both? #StopPayingGames is awkward, why not #StopRentingGames or #StartOwningGames

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] tourist@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Should I feel bad for assuming any company's name that ends in "group" probably do some heinous shit

[–] kboos1@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I would like a law that says the publisher/owner/digital store has to remove any server pings and anti-cheat through a standalone update that can be shared and downloaded once they abandon support. This would go for games and any other digital media, alternatively they would have to offer a refund.

[–] JoMiran@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 month ago

I believe thatbis part ofnthe Stop Killing Games platform.

[–] flop_leash_973@lemmy.world 12 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I agree with the thrust of this, but I have no faith in the resolve of the average consumer to make a difference.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] kn0wmad1c@programming.dev 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I love steam, but it needs to be in this image.

[–] Limonene@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Did Steam shut down games people bought?

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Icedrous@lemmy.ca 11 points 1 month ago (5 children)

I’m assuming this also applies to Consoles as well: Sony removed purchased movies from people’s Sony Pictures Core app. I wonder if, or when, they’ll decide to do the same to games.

If it does come to that: what are our options as console gamers (other than piracy)? Buying physical discs?

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 month ago (3 children)

I would never buy a car that I had to store in someone else's garage.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›