As much as we like to think we’re invincible, we’re not. But what if we were to change? What if our bodies were built to survive a low impact crash? What might we look like? The result of these questions is Graham, a reminder of just how vulnerable our bodies really are.

Verbrenner literally translates to "burner". It's the German word (or rather nickname) for an internal combustion engine powered car.

geteilt von: https://feddit.org/post/24810676

geteilt von: https://feddit.org/post/24810493

SKG has anounced the final, verified count of all valid signatures. 1,294,188 signatures out of an original total of 1,448,270 have passed the test making an invalid rate of only ~11%. An accompanying Reddit post said the following:

Hello,

Another announcement. Things are moving quite fast right now, and we’ve decided to share the final count with you ahead of schedule. Originally, this wasn’t possible due to certain background limitations, and our plan was to wait until shortly before our next meeting with the EU Commission.

At that point, we intended to reveal everything through a video, alongside a redesigned website, a restructured Discord, and several other updates that—ironically—I still can’t talk about just yet. We didn’t want to present our case unprepared, unintentionally leak information to lobby groups, or worst of all burn out our team.

(...)

Tomorrow, we’ll also be sharing this information on our newly rebuilt or, in some cases, entirely new-media channels. Ross has kindly agreed to lend his voice and face to help with that rollout.

The handover is planned for mid to late February.

Cheers

Moritz Katzner for SKG

https://www.reddit.com/r/StopKillingGames/comments/1qluxts/stop_killing_games_final_count_of_verified/

Stop Killing Games is an European Citizens Initiative with the goal of combating planned obsolescence in video games due to mandatory online functionality. It collected signatures up until summer of last year. Since then things have been relatively quiet around the initiative while the relevant authorities where checking each signature for its validity.

Central thesis: "In a world where established platforms are turning from the promised rescue of digital journalism to its danger, journalism should consider being active in the fediverse."

1. Update on the Verification Progress

Out of 1,448,270 signatures, 689,035 are already verified, and 15 countries have met their thresholds. We are still missing the two largest countries—Germany and France—but based on our current progress, we are confident we have surpassed the required thresholds.

2. Update on the DFA

The DFA’s (Digital Fairness Act) feedback phase ended yesterday. Thanks to your support, it has received a record-breaking number of submissions. This level of engagement was unprecedented in EU public consultations. Thank you for your efforts.

3. Meetings

Over the past few months, we have engaged in intense discussions with:

• Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
• National governments
• Political parties
• The European Commission

Some representatives even reached out to us proactively. Your emails made this possible.

4. Academic Support

While we cannot share too many details yet, we are actively working to secure expert backing. Having politicians, lobbyists, and developers in our ranks is invaluable, but we must credibly address the tough questions—without relying on expensive consulting firms. (We are a grassroots movement, after all.) Once finalized, we will make a dedicated announcement. Thank you in advance to our new allies.

Why We Need Everyone, Including Studios

Why Engage with Studios?

Some may ask: "Why engage with those who created this mess?" The answer is clear: there is no monolithic "industry." The vast majority of studios—especially European ones, both indie and AAA—have always listened to players and strived to do right by the community. This issue is driven by a powerful few who do not represent the values of creators or players.

Studios Stand With Us

Many studios have not remained silent—they have stood with us. This is not just about consumer rights, though that alone should be enough. It’s about what games should be:

• More than sloppily assembled products
• More than ignored studio visions
• More than just another price tag on a shelf

Games are art. Developers—the people who craft these worlds—are almost never the problem. They suffer under the same corporate greed as players, facing crunch, rushed releases, and compromised creativity. The proof is everywhere: broken launches, abandoned projects, and exploited teams. *to make this clear, we are not making a point about how a game should be or what is considered to be "a good game", that's something very subjective. The point is that it's culture and thus needs to be protected like any piece of culture.

A call to action

Our fight is not against a united CEO front. It’s against a handful of companies holding our favourite games' hostage. That’s why we said "enough"—and why so many of you did too.

Let’s not just talk about developers but with them, big and small, who are already resisting these awful practices. We can’t undo past damage, but we can stop what’s coming. If we allow these few bad actors to dictate the future, we will continue to lose ground on issues that should never have arisen.

Help raise attention

For Citizens:

Reach out to:

• Your government
• Consumer protection groups
• Your favourite studio

For Developers (Indie or Established):

** Make your voice heard.** No one will blame you for stepping into the spotlight to do what’s right. We are already in talks with many in the industry, but we can’t be everywhere. If we’ve missed you (and we apologize—there are simply too many to track), please reach out to us.

We are planning public events and want to bring some of you in front of parliament to demonstrate how things could be.

Thank you for your ongoing support, we are a community project, so feel free to reach out to us at any given time (don’t expect an immediate answer though).

For SKG

Policy and Communications Lead

Moritz

Stay Connected Follow us and join the conversation here:

• Discord (community): https://discord.gg/TCE6uXwsBe
• Reddit (official): https://www.reddit.com/r/StopKillingGames/
• The SKG Wiki: https://stopkillinggames.wiki.gg/
• Website (official): https://www.stopkillinggames.com/
• Mastodon (official): https://mastodon.social/@StopKillingGames
• Twitter (X, Ross): Accursed Farms — https://x.com/accursedfarms
• Twitter (X, personal for future communication on the grounds work): Moritz Katzner — https://x.com/Moritz_Katzner

(written by your favourite GPT, YOUR NOT GOING TO TAKE MY DASH AWAY, Clankers)

SKG also has a Community here on Lemmy. You can find it at !skg@lemmy.dbzer0.com

“What is happening in Gaza is unacceptable,” von der Leyen told the Parliament in Strasbourg. “We will propose sanctions on the extremist ministers and on violent settlers.”

The EU is Israel’s largest trading partner, accounting for 32 percent of its total trade in 2024, so any possible suspension will have a major effect on the Israeli economy. [...] [T]otal exports [have been] amounting to €26.7 billion in 2024.

The admin of the Mastodon instance cyberspace.social just received an AI powered notice to delete the parody account @microsoft@lea.pet