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Gabe Newell caps off Steam Machine week by taking delivery of a new $500 million superyacht with a submarine garage, on-board hospital and 15 gaming PCs
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> The materials were also chosen with an eye on reducing maintenance and repetitive tasks for the yacht's staff, so traditional materials like teak decks and wooden handrails are out, and composite alternatives are in. The diesel-electric power plant works alongside a battery storage system that allows Leviathan to operate for long stretches with no emissions, and it also features an advanced wastewater treatment system. On the one hand, it's nice that mr Newell seems to be reducing the footprint of their luxury yacht above and beyond most of what I have heard happens in the rest of the luxury yacht industry. On the other hand, I shudder to think of what the footprint for the _manufacturing_ of this custom-designed, one-of-a-kind luxury yacht looked like. Not to mention 'composite' usually means some sort of plastic, so now there'll be one more thing spewing microplastics directly into the ocean...To be fair: the Emission free battery electric part is actually worse than burning diesel, unless taken from a grid or used in low power operations. If you use it to circumvent fuel Emission standards it's good. If you use it with regular fuel while entering a harbor it's good for the local environment while being bad for the global. (Overall probably good, in that case) Since a yacht would have a lot of idling while chilling at sea it's probably a net good.
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I think we're just at a point where a company not constantly trying to find ways to squirm out of every single thing is a breath of fresh air. "Hi! We're valve. We're mostly following the law without fuss, mostly make money by getting people to buy things they want, and our excessively wealthy owner acts like a preposterously rich person, not a comic book villain: Fantasizing about living his life isn't deeply concerning. The hardware we sell isn't deliberately worse for consumers to no benefit to ourselves" -- Hands down one of the best "big" companies out there.Here's another way you can look at Valve. They are a case study of how a privately held company, a company that does not have a boardroom of investors, demanding maximum possible short term profit, all the time... Can actually allocate capital more efficiently, and generally more fairly, and innovate better than a ravenous hoard of interest/rent seekers. You can look at them as essentially a counter argument to the modern American concept of a publically (stock market) traded company. While what they do, the tech, the platform, the games... while that's rather cutting edge... the way they do, that's actually old school, at the level of how a business fundamentally works, is legally defined. They are not 'beholden to capital' so much as they are ... 'beholden to Gabe.' You would think business majors and economists could look at this and go... oh, turns out capital markets aren't efficient, at all! We are at the point now where a privately held, effective monopoly is... actually less evil than basically every other major tech firm that is entirely investor-returns / capital-rent driven... where probably roughly 20%-40% of the people/orgs on all those other boards ... are just the same people, forming basically a de facto conspiracy. Basically, being beholden to a single, publically visible capitalist, who doesn't have to show you his internal books... appears to be objectively better than being beholden to many, obfuscated, invisible capitalists, despite them actually having to show your their books.
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I never understood the appeal of anything rich people like. A yacht? An HOA? A supercar? These don’t appeal to me at all. If given them I would hate them. I mean it might be fun to buy a politician but otherwise it sounds boring.I mean yachts seem to be his hobby, he has several. Idk, they can be kinda cool, but only in retirement and on vacations. Day to day, completely useless and cost a lot of money to maintain even when not used. And I don't think megayachts are as cool as smaller ones because part of the appeal to me is to get away from everyone. I wouldn't want 100 people on my yacht. Maybe 4-5 of my closest friends, but you can do that with a yacht costing two orders of magnitude less (and even that is if you want a passagemaker. Something that doesn't have to be able to cross the ocean can be had for well under a million I think) Supercars are fun IF you track them. Wouldn't want to drive one in traffic. Much prefer a luxury car for that if I was rich. Of course I think any rich person who owns supercars and hypercars, also has luxury cruisers to waft around in (or to be wafted around in). HOAs I'll never get. Fuck anyone who thinks they can impose rules on what I do with my own yard.
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That or you won’t outrage against your god Gabe. “ Elon, trump, bezos, sure fuck those guys, but I don’t have the energy to say fuck Gabe! “I hate Elon, Trump and Bezos for reasons other than their expensive hobbies tbf. The company Gabe runs may have what is essentially a monopoly, but it doesn't engage in monopolistic practices and it gives a lot back to the community, especially if you're a Linux gamer. EGS just sucks and Sweeney himself said he's not interested in improving it, except by paying for exclusives. Which is funny, because Epic Games used to be pretty great for the gaming industry - with their grants and stuff. GOG is cool, but often publishers don't want to sell their newer games without DRM. Steam is just the de facto best experience for buying games.
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To be fair: the Emission free battery electric part is actually worse than burning diesel, unless taken from a grid or used in low power operations. If you use it to circumvent fuel Emission standards it's good. If you use it with regular fuel while entering a harbor it's good for the local environment while being bad for the global. (Overall probably good, in that case) Since a yacht would have a lot of idling while chilling at sea it's probably a net good.Well I'm sure that they can charge it when docked. Would be idiotic if they didn't factor that in, given how much time yachts spend docked. And marine diesel engines also usually run at a fairly steady speed, they don't really get revved up. The big ones anyway, I mean. In diesel-electric systems you can run the diesel engine at its most efficient speed to power the electrical system which is what actually moves the ship. So I think it's a net good... compared to a straight diesel yacht. But obviously the better option would be no yacht.
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They should be *reigned in as a monopoly*. That’s how it’s fixed. Nothing drastic either, just stop Valve from (say) dictating prices outside their platform, and do the same for Amazon and Walmart while they’re at it.How DO you force the competition to be better? Because EGS plain sucks. The price fixing part is an issue, but they don't technically do any illegal price fixing. They just say they don't want to see your game cheaper elsewhere - you can drop prices elsewhere AND on Steam though.
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> Leviathan has two gyms, a 250 square meter beach club with a spa and bar, diving platforms, and whatever a "dedicated drinks pantry" is. The cherry on top: a room with 15 of the finest gaming PCs ever assembled. Yup, research vessel."The yacht has a strong focus on team building and onboard scientific work; in 2023, the yard suggested the yacht's engagement in scientific research and discovery meant there would be "innovative technologies" as well as a convention-defying layout that focuses on bringing groups together."
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How DO you force the competition to be better? Because EGS plain sucks. The price fixing part is an issue, but they don't technically do any illegal price fixing. They just say they don't want to see your game cheaper elsewhere - you can drop prices elsewhere AND on Steam though.> The price fixing part is an issue, but they don’t technically do any illegal price fixing. They just say they don’t want to see your game cheaper elsewhere - you can drop prices elsewhere AND on Steam though. I mean, if Amazon or Walmart tell a supplier "we're doubling our cut, but you can't price any lower in cheaper stores. Don't like it? We will drop you," people scream bloody murder. ...Because that's *exactly* what Amazon and Walmart do! It's *awful*, and it's not okay if Valve does it either. EGS is a victim of Sweeney's absolutely *massive* ego, but still, I think they'd have gotten a lot more busiess of every game on there was 20% cheaper.
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Or taxes
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Everyone on here acts like Gabe is THEIR billionaire, and Steam is THEIR capitalist billionaire corporation. Gabe is a dirtbag and a thief by the sole virtue of being a billionaire. Nobody earns a billion dollars, you get it by stealing wages and time from the workers below you. Steam is a dirtbag corporation as well, no matter how many fanboys try to sweep Steam’s history of fuckery under the rug
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I never understood the appeal of anything rich people like. A yacht? An HOA? A supercar? These don’t appeal to me at all. If given them I would hate them. I mean it might be fun to buy a politician but otherwise it sounds boring.Same. I'd probably build a giant dog park, giant playground for kids, lots of natural trails, etc. make it all free. Build shelters for anyone to use, garages where people could work on their cars safely and out of the elements, bike repair stations, things like that. Fuck a super yacht. Tells you how selfish people are, completely unaware how they got where they are. They could spend 10k/day and never spend all their money, not even a dent. Just selfish pricks. Bring the guillotine.
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I dunno about every other country, but age of consent legally applies to US citizens while abroad. I'm sure it's easier to get away with, but it doesn't make one immune to the law.If you are rich enough, you get away with anything.
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Privacy and Security. You're out there where no paparazzi can take bikini pictures of you. It's easy to secure so that nobody can kidnap you. And take a look at the interior of those Yachts, they are not cramped. Look at this thing:  It's bigger than your home. It has its own helipad. It is 111m long.> It’s easy to secure so that nobody can kidnap you. *Pirates have entered the chat* Yar, hold me grog me matey. *Somali pirates have entered the chat* Look at me. I am the captain now.
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Dude, I thought you were cool. Owning a yacht is like the lamest thing you could possibly do! With the coolest things being feeding the hungry and housing the poor obviously.
