Open any gaming PC, and chances are the blue icon of Steam is sitting right there on the desktop. Not hidden, not optional, but almost expected. Over time, Steam has gone from being just another launcher to becoming the default storefront for PC gaming, almost like a built-in part of the experience. The Monopoly Nobody […]
I mean what, am I supposed to be ‘preemptively mad’ because they might become worse one day?
Like I don’t understand why I’m supposed to be mad, it’s a service that’s useful and good, maybe it won’t be one day but what am I going to do about that?
“preemptively mad” got a chuckle out of me, yeah it’s premature to say that we should get big angy at Steam.
The word we should be looking for is “Critical.” Valve is a huge company, they are not saints, and we should treat them with skepticism as a matter of course. But that doesn’t mean they don’t do positive, thankless work for consumers too (in the form of Proton, Linux support, etc).
The first step of enshittification is being very pro-user. All of the good will from your users will build you a dominant market position so you can squeeze them later. We should resist any company dominating any market. Just because valve hasn’t screwed you over personally doesn’t mean we should just lovingly accept market dominance. The more competitive the market, the better.
The first step of not enshit would also have to be pro user otherwise it’s just shit to begin with.
I’m not saying they for sure will get worse. I’m saying that a market dominance gives them the incentive and ability to do it. In general, we should resist market dominance so that incentive and ability just isn’t there to begin with.