In a recent FAQ spotted by Automaton, Housenka responded to a hypothetical of “I’ll promote you, give me a Steam key” with a delightfully blunt: “Buy it, you piece of garbage.” Or, as Automaton translates it from the original Japanese, “Buy the game, you piece of sh*t.” I can’t decide which I like better, honestly. The full FAQ is worth a read, if only for Housenka’s sense of humour and an insight into the absurd questions independent devs get asked these days.

“Make this character’s ass and thighs thicker,” another frequent-question-asker demands, to which Housenka responds: “Accept her as she is.” When asked by a phantom answer if the game will add sex, Housenka also proceeds to provide a link to DLsite, an online store that sells doujinshi—self-published manga comics that are often (though not always) pornographic in nature. “No sex. Please visit DLsite for that.”

  • moosetwin
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    2 months ago

    “Make this character’s ass and thighs thicker,” another frequent-question-asker demands, to which Housenka responds: “Accept her as she is.”

    edit: there’s probably some irony or hypocrisy in me using this image (a guy with exaggerated muscles) as a positive on a comment about sexualization but I couldn’t think of a better image to use

    • @[email protected]
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      192 months ago

      but I couldn’t think of a better image to use

      kind of sums up the problem our society is struggling with. Chad is perfect here. Why should you try to think of a better image to use?

      We need to rationalize that humans like this sort of thing, and also that they shouldn’t demand it of others.

      Is it laughable to demand game characters always be hot? Yes

      Do people appreciate fan service characters? Also yes

      Humans have been sexualizing everything forever, it’s in our nature. But we need to stop being so damn creepy about it.

      • KillingTimeItself
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        22 months ago

        it’s ironic, that’s kind of the joke.

        The humorous part of the statement is not the fact that the dev doesn’t care, but the fact that the dev who doesn’t care is portrayed as this “gigachad” individual. The gigachad part here is literally not being THE gigachad.

    • @tfw_no_toiletpaper
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      2 months ago

      Many keys on such sites are bought with stolen credit cards. Publishers could disable these keys afterwards but most don’t because it’s not the sole fault of the buyer. That’s another method of selling these keys, never Buffy them for an indie Dev or small studio, they could actually lose money if they need to charge back (including fees etc), for the 500 Trillion $ networth AAAAA-Publishers I cannot be bothered to pay 70$

      • @[email protected]
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        42 months ago

        Also because the buyer is going to complain in public and leave out the fact that they bought their key at a sketchy key reseller.

  • voxel
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    2 months ago

    to be fair, the free “review” keys often end up on websites like g2a and kinguin, so if I were to publish a game on Steam, I would’ve replied with the same thing to anyone asking me for 'em… the guy’s based af

    • @rdri
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      232 months ago

      It’s been a few years since Valve introduced curators system. Curators don’t receive keys but legit copies. Not all curators act in a good faith but it’s impossible for them to put such copies on sale on platforms you mentioned.

    • @[email protected]
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      222 months ago

      Valve should enable a feature to make Steam keys self destruct for these scams. Let them generate a key that is valid for a few hours and if it didn’t get redeemed in that time frame, it no longer works. A key only valid until 5pm of issue date will let reviewers redeem it in time, but resellers will most likely have a dud by the time they try to sell it.

      • voxel
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        2 months ago

        devs can assign keys to specific promotions, and mass recall unactivated keys and activated games from people’s accounts, so yeah this is possible even though needs to be done manually, but most devs don’t do it

        • @cloud_herder
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          32 months ago

          Oh I would gladly do this manually - just have a spreadsheet pulled up of donated keys on half the screen and the revoke page in the other. Just going line by line, cross-checking, and yanking if I need to.

          Would totally do it for my Friday night. Especially if I knew they’d know what happened and why.

          • Zeppo
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            128 days ago

            Why? It would be a cinch to just use a database, write a small script and automate it.

            • @cloud_herder
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              127 days ago

              For sure. I meant that I’d enjoy it enough that I’d be willing to do it by hand, with a smile on my face. ☺️

              But yeah just a few lines of python and a txt file could do it.

      • @[email protected]
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        52 months ago

        And make them a review sample.
        And make them unique. All keys are starting or ending with an “R” in the code.
        This prevents scammers from being able to sell it to informed users

  • mistrgamin
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    172 months ago

    “Make this character’s ass and thighs thicker,” another frequent-question-asker demands.

    Genshin Impact and its consequences on the already stunted gamer race.

    • @yamanii
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      82 months ago

      There’s not a single thick playable character in Genshin.

      • @ZILtoid1991
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        32 months ago

        The modders made sure there are some…

    • @Gabu
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      62 months ago

      Genshin is literally Loli-land with a couple onee-sans, what are you on about?

        • @Gabu
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          32 months ago

          Loads of child-like characters and few thicc women, in non-weebspeak.

          • mistrgamin
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            2 months ago

            with the amount of thirstposts I’ve seen over that game in passing I find that alarming

  • @Juice88
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    172 months ago

    I got a friend that thinks I act “high and mighty” because I refuse to pirate games but I just don’t think it’s fair 🤷🏽. I expect a paycheck at the end of the week for my work so it’s only natural that I pay for the goods I receive from someone else’s labor. Plus gaming’s a hobby, my favorite one but a hobby nonetheless. I won’t die if I don’t play every new release.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 months ago

      Don’t pirate indie devs. Pirate triple A studios. They already paid the staff to make the game. You are just enforcing their shitty practices of not allowing profit sharing to their devs.

    • @[email protected]
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      122 months ago

      It really depends on who you’re talking about. Indie game devs? Don’t pirate. EA? The programmers/designers/writer/etc are getting paid the same amount either way, but there is still an argument to be made that if enough people were to pirate that it could cause layoffs in the future. higher amounts of piracy and higher sales are positively correlated tho so it’s really tough to say.

      In no way should someone be upset with you for you not wanting to pirate tho. That’s just ridonk

      • @Juice88
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        82 months ago

        It doesn’t depend for me. I just do not play games that I’m not interested enough to pay for. They all drop 90% off a year or two down the line if I change my mind. I’m in no hurry.

      • @[email protected]
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        12 months ago

        Most of the indie Devs these days work under indie publishers (lol) and also receive salary.

      • KillingTimeItself
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        12 months ago

        There is also an argument to be made that if enough people pirate it, a significant enough number of people will then buy it after the fact to support the devs, thus negating the piracy that happened to begin with.

    • @beetus
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      62 months ago

      Yeah, I’m with you. The entitlement around media (games movies TV) is insane to me.

    • KillingTimeItself
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      2 months ago

      average GOG enjoyer. At least, i would hope so, given that you pay for games. Though to be fair not a lot of indie studios release on GOG. They really should though.

    • @[email protected]
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      2 months ago

      I think being insistend on not indulging in any piracy is straight up dumb. Lemme explain my perspective, big game studios and publishers donmt really need your money,and the devs already did get paid making the game. Buying thoose games you are just pouring your money to the bottomless pit that’s publisher’s and game studio-corporatikn’s wallet. Indie games for example don’t fall into this category and are objectively unethical to pirate. Ofc it’s your choice I am just sayin

      • @Juice88
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        22 months ago

        That’s fine man. Games aren’t a necessity like food or shelter, guess I’m dumb for not indulging in every game I’m not very interested in 🤷🏽

  • @Zahille7
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    162 months ago

    In a recent FAQ spotted by Automaton, Housenka responded to a hypothetical of “I’ll promote you, give me a Steam key” with a delightfully blunt: “Buy it, you piece of garbage.” Or, as Automaton translates it from the original Japanese, “Buy the game, you piece of sh*t.” I can’t decide which I like better, honestly.

    Damn

  • @yamanii
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    112 months ago

    There are key beggars even on AAA tweets, it’s so strange, I think if may be bots that will sell them later.

    • tb_
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      21 month ago

      That’s part of how key reseller websites get their cheap keys. So: yes.