Sadly, with these locked down hardware platforms like Xbox, PS, Switch, or even something like an iPhone, the buyer doesn’t own the hardware. You’re at the whims of the platform holder and what they decide: case in point this story. These platforms, which have grown evermore popular because of their ease of use, are gilded cages. You just noticed the bars.
If they don’t give you access to the bootloader and an option to install whatever OS you like, you’re beholden to the company.
That’s a recurring theme in the gaming industry, I don’t understand why buyers accept it (my guess : they don’t know about it). If you read the End User Agreement of the games you buy, almost all of them (all of them?) tell you that you don’t own your copy of the game, it’s the property of the publisher, and they only sell to you the right to execute the software on your computer. As it’s been successful at locking in users, hardware manufacturers try to do the same thing, usually by mixing in online software to make sure they can take your hardware down (and it’s not just in gaming industry, see printers and tractors). The ultimate incarnation of this attack on property are the game streaming platforms. There, everything is a rental, now, good cash flow!
The usual answer about such abuses from software producers would be to go FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), but it doesn’t really work with games : while there are some great FOSS games, the amount can’t compete with the proprietary industry. My personal solution has been to replace consumerism with creativity. Every night, instead of playing videogames, I write. I use tabletop RPG rulesets to spice up my writing, so that I don’t know what happens next and I’m surprised myself by where the dice rolls make the story go (instead of deciding of everything). I also don’t write to be read, nobody will ever read what I write, so I feel no pressure. It was hard at first (I guess my imagination was atrophied by too much consumption), but after a few years going on, it’s insane everything that happens in my games, videogames feel lame, comparatively. I call that “exploring my imagination”. I can do anything, and this time it’s not an hyperbole, like it’s the case in those videogames where they tell you “you can be anything” (no you can’t). And it’s free, and nobody can take it from me. I highly recommend.
I’ve already heard mention of Thousand Year Old Vampire, never played it, though. There are a lot of things happening in the space of solo roleplaying which are boons for writing, but you will need several lifetimes to try them all. :) I stick to the three ones I use and already know well from tabletop gaming (dnd, shadowrun and traveller), and I don’t want to start system hopping, because for me the focus is the story, not the rulesets, and it would get in the way. The only exception I made to that was to start using some parts of Mythic GM Emulator, because it can be used on top of the rulesets I use and it did indeed made my story way more interesting, especially when the pace is cooling down and you’re not sure what to do next.
That s why I mentioned The Story Engine. It’s not an RPG. It’s purely a … storytelling device?
It’s a bunch of cards and you pick a few (there are various algorithms to create different things) and then you just go wild with what you got.
Here, I just picked four cards and I got : Assassin - Wants to unravel the mystery of - Archive - But it will mean risking the thing most precious to them.
From there you can dig further, have another agent (like the Assassin here) with a conflicting agenda. You could generate what that precious thing / maybe person is. Etc.
You could check out the quickstart (what I just used) and see how it feels.
It’s not about why. It’s about you paid for the damn console. You own it and should be able to do whatever you damn well please with it
Sadly, with these locked down hardware platforms like Xbox, PS, Switch, or even something like an iPhone, the buyer doesn’t own the hardware. You’re at the whims of the platform holder and what they decide: case in point this story. These platforms, which have grown evermore popular because of their ease of use, are gilded cages. You just noticed the bars.
If they don’t give you access to the bootloader and an option to install whatever OS you like, you’re beholden to the company.
That’s a recurring theme in the gaming industry, I don’t understand why buyers accept it (my guess : they don’t know about it). If you read the End User Agreement of the games you buy, almost all of them (all of them?) tell you that you don’t own your copy of the game, it’s the property of the publisher, and they only sell to you the right to execute the software on your computer. As it’s been successful at locking in users, hardware manufacturers try to do the same thing, usually by mixing in online software to make sure they can take your hardware down (and it’s not just in gaming industry, see printers and tractors). The ultimate incarnation of this attack on property are the game streaming platforms. There, everything is a rental, now, good cash flow!
The usual answer about such abuses from software producers would be to go FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), but it doesn’t really work with games : while there are some great FOSS games, the amount can’t compete with the proprietary industry. My personal solution has been to replace consumerism with creativity. Every night, instead of playing videogames, I write. I use tabletop RPG rulesets to spice up my writing, so that I don’t know what happens next and I’m surprised myself by where the dice rolls make the story go (instead of deciding of everything). I also don’t write to be read, nobody will ever read what I write, so I feel no pressure. It was hard at first (I guess my imagination was atrophied by too much consumption), but after a few years going on, it’s insane everything that happens in my games, videogames feel lame, comparatively. I call that “exploring my imagination”. I can do anything, and this time it’s not an hyperbole, like it’s the case in those videogames where they tell you “you can be anything” (no you can’t). And it’s free, and nobody can take it from me. I highly recommend.
I’m curious about how you use tabletop rpg rules to help you with your writing. Would you mind providing an example?
There are many single-player RPGs focused on writing and imagining. Often they’re called “journaling RPGs”.
Here are some examples! https://www.dicebreaker.com/categories/roleplaying-game/how-to/how-to-play-tabletop-rpgs-by-yourself
Very interesting, thank you. I’ve never heard of anything like this before.
You’re welcome.
I’m guessing you know about Thousand Year Old Vampire then? And The Story Engine?
I’ve already heard mention of Thousand Year Old Vampire, never played it, though. There are a lot of things happening in the space of solo roleplaying which are boons for writing, but you will need several lifetimes to try them all. :) I stick to the three ones I use and already know well from tabletop gaming (dnd, shadowrun and traveller), and I don’t want to start system hopping, because for me the focus is the story, not the rulesets, and it would get in the way. The only exception I made to that was to start using some parts of Mythic GM Emulator, because it can be used on top of the rulesets I use and it did indeed made my story way more interesting, especially when the pace is cooling down and you’re not sure what to do next.
That s why I mentioned The Story Engine. It’s not an RPG. It’s purely a … storytelling device? It’s a bunch of cards and you pick a few (there are various algorithms to create different things) and then you just go wild with what you got. Here, I just picked four cards and I got : Assassin - Wants to unravel the mystery of - Archive - But it will mean risking the thing most precious to them. From there you can dig further, have another agent (like the Assassin here) with a conflicting agenda. You could generate what that precious thing / maybe person is. Etc. You could check out the quickstart (what I just used) and see how it feels.
Oh I see. That sounds cool, thanks for mentioning it. 👍️