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Steam is now banned in Vietnam
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this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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Ah Of course. It is impossible to criticize any actions taking place by any entity against a capitalist entity without defending capitalism yourself. Cehckmate liberals.
It depends on the purpose and shape of that criticism. If you criticize a communist nation banning a particular corporation's marketplace from their country on the basis that doing so is a part of a grift that seeks to engineer a national-level monopoly over a particular corporate sector by banning external competition, then, sure, that's a valid criticism because the intent is innately unethical. But if the Vietnamese video game industry is actively harmed by Steam, an American company, using its vast resources to outcompete Vietnamese publishers, then what is your opposition to this that doesn't encompass a de facto defense of free market capitalism?
I don't think steam is doing that the government of vietnam isn't claiming they are banning steam for that reason. What is happening is that the government of vietnam is actively hurting their domestic video game developers because they have instituted onerous "government scrutiny" whereas if you want to publish on Steam it costs like $150 and an email address.
The problem solely lies with the Vietnamese government, as a self-inflicted problem, no where else.
Not GP but the article didn't say that Steam outcompeted local developers by "using its vast resources". On the contrary, it alleged that local developers cannot compete on Steam with international developers, because those do not have to apply the local regulations:
A somewhat shaky argument considering that the same is true for many other countries applying their own local regulations, which Vietnamese developers do not have to follow.
But anyway, what is my opposition that doesn't encompass a de facto defence of free market capitalism? The damage to the users. What about all the Vietnamese people losing access to Steam's online features, which are arguably necessary nowadays for many games, especially multiplayer ones. And for what? To benefit Vietnamese businesses? Not very socialist of you comrade Vietnam. *smh*
In any case, this is all pure speculation at this point, since both parties have yet to make a statement about the situation:
That said, my current head cannon goes something like this:
Vietnamese devs: Dude, these regulations on games are killing us. We can't compete on Steam with games like these.
The Party: Okay we hear you. *bans Steam*
Vietnamese devs: Wait, what? (← we are here)
Edit: formatting
That's not really contrary to the point, but orthogonal to it. Steam is outcompeting on the basis that it receives special privileges on the basis of its international status. It's still outcompeting because of a resource advantage. But that advantage exists because domestic developers are disadvantaged by virtue of national regulations over domestic developers.
Your argument is the same kind of "consumer rights" argument that I've seen everywhere on the internet, because you are implying that there is material harm to the people of Vietnam caused by Steam's banning. Which is a fairly specious argument. It's the loss of a luxury item. No one is materially harmed by it. It's not like Vietnam banned insulin. And while you may not use the same language, you are effectively saying that every consumer on the planet should have free access to the best products available for whatever "thing" they want. In this case, video games. It's a de facto argument for free market economic policies.
What? According to the article based on which we are discussing this news that is the point (allegedly). And it is unrelated to your point yes. I'm not entirely sure where you even came up with your point to be honest.
I guess the consumers, i.e. the people of Vietnam in possession of this luxury item, would disagree with that assessment. Especially if they have sunk significant finances and/or time into their Steam account.
Nobody said it is?
Again, what? I'm saying people will want to keep access to something they already paid for, their games on Steam and the according metadata like savegames, multiplayer access, and such. Not sure how you managed to pull this interpretation out of what I said, but be assured it's incorrect.
Since the whole logic chain that led you to this conclusion was already riddled with errors from the very beginning this is simply a non sequitur.