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The endgame of people putting AI everywhere actual creation could have occurred will always be, to me, "why would I give you money when I can just generate it myself". Even for this; people were already wary of GoG, and although I really really want to support their initiative to archive old games and keep them available, I can't really put money in a structure that's likely to support infamous tech. Promises of "doing the right thing" be damned.

If someone felt they needed an image to describe their sale, they should have put some effort into it. Just look at how Steam handled this. People are still attached to a random sales mascot character way after it ended. If you can't be bothered to make something, as other pointed out, a collage of game art or a plain text message will do the job just fine. And won't attract the ire of people that are seriously getting tired of this shit.

If the goal is to pander to people that absolutely *crave* AI slop content, then, sorry to burst GoG's bubble, but these people don't care where it's from or what it is. That's not a great goal to run after.

As I see it, it's either "harmless" but normalizing such abuse of the tech, or downright disrespectful to people that wanted to support GoG.

Bad move.

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Quoting: eggroleAs everyone has said, I see no issue with the 30% cut, but I think the more important part, that has a bit of merit IMHO, is the off-platform competition restriction. If my game is for sale on steam for $50, why can't I sell it direct on my website (or any other platform for that matter) for $40?

This *feels* very anti-competitive, but what do I know.

I dunno, I've seen a bunch of games for which Valve isn't enforcing any kind of price parity clause on non-Steam versions, with some of those non-Steam versions being free while the Steam versions are paid, so I doubt such a clause actually exists.

And if there was such a clause, I think it's weird the various lawsuits against Valve are somehow unable to quote the relevant passages from the Steam Distribution Agreement.

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I have a soft spot for Xfce, so I'm very excited to see where this goes! I ran Xfce on Linux Mint many years ago, in a few years I could be toying around with xfwl4 on some older hardware I no longer use :-)

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Quoting: suchI disagree in that not paying for a few pieces of art isn't a proper saving, just one you report to particularly... challenged management to get them off your back. That goes triple if you're generating this much negative sentiment. That can have more of a sales impact than your sales banner.

Oh sure, I was honestly more referring to the other indications that they're going all-in on AI (such as that quote from the job posting that I'd pasted above). Having generative images as banners on the site is, I'm guessing, just the tip of the iceberg.

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Quoting: msmafraKyle Gospodnetich made things clearer today https://universal-blue.discourse.group/t/correction-regarding-gpd-win5-support-for-bazzite/11574

I give the following absolutely reasonable and correct though:

A GPD representative appears to be directing their users to a discord other than our own for support as well.

They shouldn't direct the users to the Bazzite people to do the support for GPD, right?!?

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Just when you thought GOG was done shitting itself...

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Quoting: apocalyptech

Quoting: suchIt's GOG. What profits?

I mean honestly it's possible that's at the root of the issue here. I actually have no idea what GOG's financials are like, but if they have historically struggled to turn a profit, latching onto the "AI" bandwagon is an unsurprising move, at least. The suits tend to see modern generative systems as a shortcut to Increased Productivity™ and they might just be assuming that this is the magical tech that's gonna turn a struggling company into a thriving one.

Whether that's true or not in either the short or long term is another question entirely, but if that's the thought process over there, then it's at least an understandable pivot.

I disagree in that not paying for a few pieces of art isn't a proper saving, just one you report to particularly... challenged management to get them off your back. That goes triple if you're generating this much negative sentiment. That can have more of a sales impact than your sales banner.

Unless GOG are playing 5D chess and doing this as part of a coordinated effort to boost visibility. Who knows anymore. I'll take my tinfoil hat off now.

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you-were-the-chosen-one-anakin-dot-gif

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GOG, here's a freebie: Have passionate nerds and community members do some simple artwork for you. Announce the dimensions, pick the best, or even have voting among the community, and then promote each artist who wins with their banner/artwork. No other gaming store does it, and it would probably instill a lot of good will.

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This has to be some kind of miscommunication, GPD is a Chinese company right? Something has to be getting lost in translation because this situation is too weird.

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Quoting: suchIt's GOG. What profits?

I mean honestly it's possible that's at the root of the issue here. I actually have no idea what GOG's financials are like, but if they have historically struggled to turn a profit, latching onto the "AI" bandwagon is an unsurprising move, at least. The suits tend to see modern generative systems as a shortcut to Increased Productivity™ and they might just be assuming that this is the magical tech that's gonna turn a struggling company into a thriving one.

Whether that's true or not in either the short or long term is another question entirely, but if that's the thought process over there, then it's at least an understandable pivot.

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I really hope they improve gamepad support, the lack of it makes it not particularly playable on Android handheldds which is a shame since it runs way better than Minecraft onnsaid platforms

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Well that's highly disappointing. I was considering becoming a gog patron but now I'm not sure knowing my money may not be going to actual artists or developers.

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My feelings on that are clear: As long as people find it acceptable to use AI for coding (and they seem to), it must be okay to use it for everything else, too.

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This wasn't a good move. I'm sure they will lose some Patrons after that.

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Quoting: eggroleWhile pretending to be affiliated somehow is shady, I find it amusing that FOSS (built on other FOSS no less) is talking about IP and asking to stop using their logo and name.

There's nothing weird about it. You can create FOSS, and want to protect your name and your project reputation. Don't confuse open source code with IP and trademarks - they're separate things.

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Quoting: eggroleWhile pretending to be affiliated somehow is shady, I find it amusing that FOSS (built on other FOSS no less) is talking about IP and asking to stop using their logo and name.

Being FOSS and protecting IP is normal. Look at OBS with the Fedora Flatpak situation.

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Quoting: eev

Regardless of any thoughts on it one thing remains clear - the more AI generation is used for the little things "it's just this, it's just that!" - the more it will be accepted, and the more it will replace actual people. We'll see less actual art, less real intentional character in what we see - and more slop with melting consoles.

Gotta be real with you, this sounds hollow when you constantly promote ARC Raiders. Regardless of wether or not the actors signed off on it, there's nothing in there that needed it and it's just a severe cost cutting measure that'll lead to lower quality voice work the more accepted it is.

I'm still going to report on things as they evolve with generative AI, regardless of my feelings - that's the point of that.

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good for them

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Absolutely rad viewing angle on that TV. Maybe that's why the console is melting.

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Regardless of any thoughts on it one thing remains clear - the more AI generation is used for the little things "it's just this, it's just that!" - the more it will be accepted, and the more it will replace actual people. We'll see less actual art, less real intentional character in what we see - and more slop with melting consoles.

Gotta be real with you, this sounds hollow when you constantly promote ARC Raiders. Regardless of wether or not the actors signed off on it, there's nothing in there that needed it and it's just a severe cost cutting measure that'll lead to lower quality voice work the more accepted it is.

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Quoting: eggroleWhile pretending to be affiliated somehow is shady, I find it amusing that FOSS (built on other FOSS no less) is talking about IP and asking to stop using their logo and name.

I truly fail to see the irony in here?
You can develop FOSS but still have trademarks for Name and Logo?

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It's GOG. What profits?

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Quoting: eggroleAs everyone has said, I see no issue with the 30% cut, but I think the more important part, that has a bit of merit IMHO, is the off-platform competition restriction. If my game is for sale on steam for $50, why can't I sell it direct on my website (or any other platform for that matter) for $40?

This *feels* very anti-competitive, but what do I know.

This part is true, I can agree on that.

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Very exciting. XFCE is THE formative Linux DE in my personal experience having run Xubuntu for a many years, and I only began using KDE then GNOME on my high end rig when Wayland became too important for gaming etc. I still use XFCE on my spare laptop. Looking forward to XFCE staying relevant.

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Won't someone think of the profits!?

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Let's not forget that that job posting for a Senior Software Engineer included the requirement "Active use of AI tools in daily development workflows, and enthusiasm for helping the team increase adoption."

Use of AI Tools was listed as mandatory, whereas familiarity with CI/CD was only a "plus."

There have been a lot of complaints levelled at gog.com over the years and I've always felt compelled to defend them. I'm feeling an awful lot less likely to do so lately, though.

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As everyone has said, I see no issue with the 30% cut, but I think the more important part, that has a bit of merit IMHO, is the off-platform competition restriction. If my game is for sale on steam for $50, why can't I sell it direct on my website (or any other platform for that matter) for $40?

This *feels* very anti-competitive, but what do I know.

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XFCE would probably be my second choice after KDE. I really like its super lightweight and functional focus.

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I feel like I would rather see some stylish text on a solid color background as a sale banner than AI slop.

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