The Paradox of Exclusion: Why Forced Labels Might Be Fragmenting Gaming Communities

 

For decades, the beauty of a digital avatar was its ability to act as a blank slate. In the heat of a cooperative raid or a high-stakes match, the only metrics that mattered were your skill, your communication, and your willingness to play the objective. However, as the conversation around "inclusivity" becomes more front-and-center in game development and community management, a growing number of players are concerned that the execution is actually achieving the opposite of its intended goal.
When a community or a game is marketed primarily as "LGBTQ+ friendly" or defined by specific social labels, it inadvertently shifts the focus away from the shared experience of gaming. For many players, the goal of jumping into a virtual world is to leave real-world sociopolitical markers behind. By hyper-focusing on personal labels, communities can feel less like a broad gathering of gamers and more like a collection of segregated silos. This "label-first" approach often creates a narrative that certain spaces are built for specific identities rather than for gamers as a whole.

The core irony of pushing aggressive inclusivity initiatives is that they can create a more restrictive environment. Here is how that fragmentation often happens, the "Opt-In" Barrier, when a group is labeled as being for a specific demographic, players who don’t fit that label—or simply don't care to lead with their own personal identity—may feel like they are intruding or that the space isn't "for them," even if they are perfectly welcoming individuals. The Loss of Meritocracy as historically gaming has been a space where your "stats" define you. When identity politics are introduced into the recruitment or social structure of a guild or clan, it can feel like the focus has shifted from "are you a good teammate?" to "do you fit our social criteria?" Creating "The Other", by constantly drawing lines around who a space is for, we reinforce the idea that we are different from one another. True inclusivity should be invisible; it’s the result of a culture that accepts everyone by default, rather than one that has to announce its virtues constantly.

The reality is that a vast majority of the gaming population simply doesn't care about a player's personal life, orientation, or background. In a lobby, you are a Medic, a Pilot, or a Tank. When the community focuses on the game, people from all walks of life naturally bond over shared victories and defeats. When we stop trying to categorize every player and instead focus on the shared passion for the hobby, the barriers come down naturally. By removing the labels, we return to a space where the only thing that matters is the game itself.

When we stop trying to categorize every player and instead focus on the shared passion for the hobby, the barriers come down naturally. By removing the labels, we return to a space where the only thing that matters is the game itself. Moving toward truly open spaces to foster a gaming culture that is genuinely inclusive, we should consider moving away from performative labeling and back toward a community-first mindset. Focus on behavior, and not identity, moderate communities based on how people treat each other, not based on the labels they carry. Universal welcome, instead of saying "This space is for [Group X]," the most inclusive message is simply: "This space is for anyone who loves this game." Keep the Game Central and let the mechanics, the lore, and the teamwork be the bridge that connects people.

By letting go of the need to "push" a specific narrative of inclusiveness, we might finally find the organic, unified community we’ve been looking for all along. Pushing the mentality that everyone regardless of their identity is equal and that what is desired is simply people sharing their love and passion for gaming, in the long run, creates a community that bonds over gaming and not real world politics or drama.

Pixels and Passion: Why It’s Time to Take Adult Video Games Seriously

When we talk about video games as an art form, we are quick to praise complex narratives, breathtaking open worlds, and emotional orchestral scores. But there is one corner of the medium that is routinely pushed into the shadows, despite having a massive, passionate audience and a wealth of untapped creative potential: adult video games.

For too long, society has viewed adult interactive media through a lens of puritanical skepticism. It’s often dismissed as low-brow or taboo. But if we peel back the stigma, we find a genre that is desperately in need of more attention, better production values, and—most importantly—cultural respect.

It’s time to stop treating adult games as a guilty secret and start looking at them as a valid, creative frontier. Adult games are uniquely positioned to explore themes that mainstream, "family-friendly" titles won't touch. When done well, they can offer, complex human relationships: exploring intimacy, romance, and vulnerability in ways that rating boards usually sanitize. Safe spaces for exploration: interactive environments where adults can explore their own preferences, identity, and desires without judgment. Diverse storytelling: from cyberpunk visual novels to high-fantasy RPGs, adult games span every genre imaginable.

The problem isn't a lack of ideas; it’s a lack of resources. Because of the stigma, developers often operate on shoestring budgets, face banishment from major payment processors, and are locked out of mainstream app stores. Imagine what these creators could build if they had access to the same motion-capture tech, voice talent, and software engineers as mainstream indie studios.
Why is it that we can go to a cinema and watch an R-rated drama with intense physical intimacy and call it "prestige art," but if that same intimacy is rendered in a game engine, it’s labeled "horrible and bad"?

This double standard ignores a fundamental truth: adults consume adult content. Shaming the medium doesn't make it go away; it just drives it underground. When we relegate adult games to the dark corners of the internet, we do a disservice to everyone, The audience: consists of consenting adults who deserve high-quality, safe, and curated entertainment. The creators: artists, writers, and programmers who are forced to navigate brutal censorship laws and financial blacklisting just to make a living.

By shifting our focus from judgment to design, we can foster an industry that prioritizes ethical production, fair compensation for artists, and top-tier storytelling.
Supporting this industry means advocating for open platforms where developers can sell their work without fear of sudden de-platforming. It means recognizing that an adult game can be just as thoughtfully constructed, bug-tested, and polished as any mainstream puzzle or strategy game.
Video games are a mirror of human experience. We use them to explore fear, triumph, curiosity, and competition. It is only natural that we also use them to explore intimacy and desire.

It's time to let go of the clutching of pearls. Let’s stop looking at adult material as something to be hidden away, and instead recognize it for what it is: a creative medium built for a very real, very human audience. When we replace stigma with support, we create a better, safer, and much more interesting gaming world for everyone.

The Invisible Glitch: Why Older Gamers are Fading from the Server

For decades, the image of a "gamer" was a teenager in a basement, fueled by energy drinks and lightning-fast reflexes. But the generation that grew up with the NES and the original PlayStation has stayed in the game. Now in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, these veteran players find themselves facing a boss fight they didn’t see coming: social isolation and the quiet creep of depression.

As the industry pivots toward high-octane competitive play, many older gamers are finding that the hobby they once loved is increasingly leaving them behind.
In our younger years, a six-hour marathon session was just a Saturday afternoon. Today, for an adult with a career, family, and a mortgage, finding even one hour of uninterrupted playtime feels like a victory.

However, this lack of time creates a painful cycle. Research increasingly shows that for long-term hobbyists, losing the ability to engage in their primary "stress-relief" activity can lead to symptoms of depression. When you only have 45 minutes to play, and that time is spent downloading a patch or getting "stomped" by a 14-year-old with 80 hours of free time a week, the game stops being an escape—it becomes another source of frustration.

The social landscape of gaming has shifted dramatically. In the early days of MMOs like EverQuest or World of Warcraft, success required cooperation. You needed a community. Today, modern "matchmaking" has replaced the need for long-standing guilds.
Many older players report a struggle to find groups that accommodate a "life-first" schedule.
The "Elite" Barrier: Many active clans require "daily logins" or "minimum play hours" that adults simply can't meet.

The Toxicity Gap: The anonymity of modern voice chat has fueled a level of hostility that many veterans find exhausting.

The Vanishing Friend List: One by one, the "Last Online: 7 Years Ago" notifications pile up as old friends sell their consoles to make room for cribs or home offices.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle is the industry's obsession with PvP (Player vs. Player). Most AAA titles today are designed around competitive ladders, battle passes, and twitch-reflex combat.
For many older gamers, the appeal has shifted toward PvE (Player vs. Environment) and cooperative storytelling. They want to build something, explore a world, or solve a puzzle with others—not prove their dominance in a lobby. When every major release feels like a "second job" requiring constant practice to stay competitive, many older players simply choose to walk away.

If you’re feeling the "gaming blues," you aren't alone. The industry is slowly waking up to the "Silver Gamer" demographic, but in the meantime, here are a few ways to reconnect:
Seek out "Low-Salt" Communities: Look for Discord servers specifically labeled for "Adult Gamers" or "Casual Parents."
Prioritize "Drop-in" Co-op: Titles like Deep Rock Galactic or Helldivers 2 offer cooperative fun that respects your time without requiring a 40-man raid schedule.
Embrace the Single-Player Renaissance: Sometimes, the best way to fall back in love with gaming is to remove the pressure of others entirely and enjoy a story at your own pace.

Politics in Gaming and how it will lead to the end of Gamers

 

For a lot of us, gaming isn’t just a hobby—it’s the place we go to chill, squad up, grind loot, and escape the noise of real life. Whether you’re raiding at midnight, sweating ranked matches, or exploring a massive open world, games create a kind of digital “third space” that feels separate from all the arguing, debating, and hot‑takes happening everywhere else.

That’s why so many players feel strongly about keeping real‑world politics out of gaming. It’s not about siding with one viewpoint or shutting down tough topics—it’s about protecting the atmosphere that makes gaming special. Here’s what that means from a gamer’s point of view.

When political themes get dropped into games, intentionally or not, it can feel like that escape is being taken away. Suddenly, the same conversations you’re trying to avoid end up right in the middle of the thing you play specifically to avoid those conversations. For many players, that breaks immersion and shifts the vibe from “fun” to “fatiguing.”

Gaming has always been one of the few spaces where people with totally different backgrounds can play side‑by‑side without caring about each other’s beliefs. In a dungeon, raid, or squad, the only thing that matters is whether you can land your shots or time your abilities.

The moment a game adds politically charged themes, though, the community can split fast. Instead of arguing over balance changes or patch notes (which is standard gamer behavior), people start debating interpretations and messaging—stuff that has nothing to do with gameplay.

A lot of gamers just want stories that feel timeless. We love heroic arcs, fantasy conflicts, sci‑fi struggles, and deep world‑building—but those don’t need to mirror real‑world political systems or hot‑button issues to be meaningful.  Neutral narratives give players room to interpret things their own way. Nothing feels forced. Nothing pulls them out of the experience. For many players, that freedom is a big part of why games are such powerful escapism.

In today’s media landscape, it’s common for companies to pack political symbolism or references into entertainment just to match whatever is trending online. Gamers usually can spot that from a mile away—and they don’t love it. When political themes feel like they’re inserted for attention instead of genuine storytelling, the experience immediately feels less authentic.

None of this means games can’t explore heavy themes or big ideas. Some of the greatest games ever made deal with deep emotional or moral questions. The point is that a lot of gamers want those themes handled in a balanced, subtle, narrative‑driven way—not as a reflection of modern polarization. Gamers aren’t trying to shut down creative freedom. They’re trying to preserve one of the few entertainment spaces where people can connect without stepping into real‑world conflict.

Gaming has always been at its best when it brings people together—raids, co‑op runs, LAN parties, clan nights, online matches, you name it. Keeping politics out isn’t about ignoring the real world; it’s about holding onto the one place where everyone can escape it for a bit.

Steam's losing its Steam

 

It appears that Steam is pushing back the release of its Steam Machine, and possibly its Steam Frame to Late 2026 or Early 2027. The exact date has not been announced, but neither has a closer release date either. In a video posted by Steam late in 2025 they announced they would begin production and release of three new Steam based items that would integrate together and work off one another to create a the perfect collection.

The launch of a new and improved Steam Controller that is based more off the Xbox Controller design and less like the earlier and first model of the Steam Controller which was loosely based off the Xbox Controller and had additional touch sensors that allowed you to use it like a mouse. The launch of the Steam Machine, which would act like a 'Game System' in the sense of making it similar to Xbox and PlayStation for use with a TV. It would allow you to bring your Steam Library to your Livingroom, bedroom, or any other room without the need to move your computer. And lastly the successor to the Valve Index, the Steam Frame. The Steam Frame was to be Steams state of the art VR Headset System.

These together with Steam OS and Steam Link would have created a complete gaming suite that would have propelled Steam further than its competitors. Sadly however, that dream of a complete suite is starting to look bleak if not a little further off which means it may lose its luster by then.

With the AI Boom causing harm to production of vital hardware for gaming systems and computers around the world, game systems like Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation, and now Steam's Steam Machine are seeing a huge hit to production. 

With Microsoft's Xbox's future looking grim day by day due to the AI Boom and its loss of its CEO, Sony going quiet on its own production and now Steam announcing a push back on the roll out of its Steam Machine, it is proving that gaming in general is taking a hit right where it hurts.

With all this said, it can be confirmed that the AI Boom is killing gaming hardware or making it so expensive that the everyday person can not afford it. Steam while not exactly priced all that great from what I heard, it was a bastion of hope for the gaming community...and now it may be delayed or worse cancelled at some point thanks to an AI boom that has created a lot of investments but has gained nothing from them.

Another game falls to the Chopping Block

 

Sadly like so many other games recently in the ever increasing body count of games that are lost to the sands of time before they even have a chance to flourish another one is now laid down to rest. Highguard a game that was announced in December came out on Steam on Jan 26th, 2026 and is done having its servers shut down on March 12th. 

Highguard stated that it was a, "Highguard is a PvP raid shooter where players will ride, fight, and raid as Wardens, arcane gunslingers sent to fight for control of a mythical continent." which combined a fantasy world with technology and magic and pitted two teams against one another. In a phase based system of sorts, it allowed a team of players to choose a base type, reinforce it with traps and upgrades, then head out into the world on mounts to get resources and find the other teams base. The next phase was about finding a relic that could unlock 'Siege' like weapons used to counter the shielding of the enemy base. That led to a phase which involved planting a bomb in the enemy base and getting it to detonate.

The graphics where well done, the music was said to be nice, and the concept wasn't bad either. However, many players felt that the characters where not fleshed out well, the weapons were poorly designed, and the armor wasn't done well either. It said that on the day of launch it may of had around 100k people on playing, but soon after it's numbers fell to where only around 3k to 4k players played concurrent on the server and there were issues with the matchmaking.

What also hurt the game was the fact that soon after its launch, several of its dev team was laid off from the company meaning it had already loss staffing that could have been used to increase the games outlook. This sadly has been a growing trend in the gaming market and one that is proving that most gaming companies are out of touch with the masses of gamers out there.

Another thing I believe hurt the game is the lack of visibility. I honestly had never heard of the game until I seen it on a news article which prompted me to write this post. It is sad to think that a game could have went somewhere had the company that made it put time into posting more about it and sending out some sort of media coverage. Sadly however they did not.

There has been a growing list of games that sadly do not last too long due to either not enough players, bad press, lack of interest, lack of concept, or the company doesn't make the money it thinks it should and then it drops the devs. It is a trend that is getting worse and worse as time goes by and while this is a bad thing, it is allowing Indy Gaming companies and groups to bring about changes and games that resonate with gamers everywhere. 

HD2 Community in Turmoil

 

Recently I done a blog on the incident that involved the proposer of a charity event that was named the, "D10 Dev" Event. The event was proposed by a community member that he would put up 1000$ to have certain members of the Arrowhead Dev team to participate in a mission at the highest level in the game against the Automatons. The event was to bring a sort of light to the idea that many players have had that the balance of higher level missions is off and needs to be looked into and worked on.

What made this unique was instead of just calling out Arrowhead on the balancing issue and just fussing about it, the player was willing to use it as a means to fix the balancing issues as well as raise money for charity, which to most people seems like a win-win. After the post about the event other content creators and players of the HD2 community said they would also throw in $100 into the prize pool to go to charity as well if the Devs would run the mission with a specified set of weapons, armor, and stratagems, which again were done to bring notice to the games imbalance on the higher levels. 

However, despite the intent of the challenge, there was a group of HD2 players who didn't see it as a simple call out on balancing. These divers apparently called, "Glazedivers" took to Reddit and began speaking badly about the player and rallied a bunch of those divers like them together. What happened next is sad, and honestly as a member of the HD2 community I am both angered and saddened by the events that happened as it shows that even in the HD2 Community there is a group that is toxic and doesn't have the idea of fun and love of the game in mind.

It was reported that the player in question was then doxxed by other HD2 Community members to the point that the player was forced to make life changing decisions. The cowards of the Glazedivers threatened his life, the life of his significant other, an animal sanctuary that they volunteered at and his job. In the end he was forced to remove his name from the Animal Shelter for fear that the shelter would have been further targeted by those threatening him, and he was then let go from his job. 

Because of this incident, he lost his job, his ability to volunteer, and his love for not just the game of Helldivers but his love for gaming in general. He stated in a final post that he was going to be leaving the HD2 Community as well as most likely would not play games again, at the very least not online. He stated he would now be forced to find a new job, probably move, and would not be able to volunteer any further and that it had made his home life 'harder'. 

Arrowhead and Sony came out with a stern stance on the issue of Doxxing and being Toxic to other players. But currently it is not known if they have sought out to remove the Glazedivers responsible for the Doxxing or if they will take any actions. Though it is not known what they as a company can do against the Doxxing of a player. While the player themselves might be able to seek damages and sue the people that done the Doxxing without their names or locations they may not get prosecuted for the incident. 

The HD2 Community today was filled with those that were blaming Arrowhead for the incident or at the very least for not going after the Doxxers openly and said that the game should be Reviewed Bombed and people should stop playing until they do something to help the person that has been most affected by the Doxxing. Others are saying that the community itself should figure out who the doxxers are and take their own justice out on them. There are also those that are still defending the doxxers though they are very far and few in between. 

Personally, it is incidents like this that put gamers in a bad light and makes people that are on the fence about gaming decide it's not for them. Not only is this a slap in the face to the HD2 Community and a blackeye that we will have to walk around with for no telling how long, but it also hits any Gamer Community in the gut as it forces only the bad to be seen by those that are not gamers but may of thought about becoming one.

I think the HD2 Community should find out who these Glazedivers are, report them to Arrowhead, and then demand that Arrowhead send that information to the affected parties and then tell them to pursue charges against them for harassment, terroristic threatening, Libel, and Slander, as well as demand reparations from the parties involved for causing the loss of income. But sadly I don't see that happening.

*Note: Glazedivers: A subset of Divers in the Helldivers 2 Community that are seen as highly skilled and experts on high level diving runs. They also tend to be a protecting group of Arrowhead. It is reported they defend Arrowheads decisions and rebuke those that go against Arrowhead. 

Reddit v. Arrowhead

 

In a previous blog post I spoke about how a Reddit user and Helldiver had made a request of Arrowhead about the balancing issues that they are saying are plaguing the game. The user had issued a challenge to Arrowhead Dev's to play the game on the hardest difficulty, on an Automaton Planet, and with certain weapons and stratagems. Of course officially the Dev's had not posted a response but unofficially there were speculations that they may accept the challenge as it would net $1K in funds towards a charity of their choice.

However, as of today, things got explosive...Hellbomb explosive. Arrowhead Game Studio's posted an official statement, not through one of the Dev's accounts and they did not post it in the 'in game' role play that they normally do. This was directly from Arrowhead and it was straight to the point.

Arrowhead made it clear that toxic behavior will not be tolerated...and I agree with this 100%. From what I was able to gather through the Discord there was an incident in which Reddit users had started doxing members of the Dev team and the user that issued the challenge. While the exact wording of what was said between the parties wasn't discussed it was assumed that Reddit users had started the Doxing attacks due to Arrowhead not yet accepting the Challenge. I believe there is also more to this, but I was not able to get a great deal of information due to my limited time and the fast pace nature of the Discord server.

The majority of posters were calling out the Reddit Doxers and even referred to Reddit Users who exclusively use it as a social site as 'low class' and people that 'cant be trusted on real social sites'. I do not share these same views but I also do not use Reddit that much if at all so I'd be the worst one to comment on that part.

Regardless, there is supposedly now a campaign going that is asking everyone to once again rage hate and vote down HD2 on Steam and other platforms. I have checked Steam and there have been several to post that they are thumb downing the game and not supporting it for various reasons all that lead back to the doxing and the handling of the doxing by Sony and Arrowhead. That said, I will still be playing the game and supporting it. I think that we are seeing what happens when you allow gamers in a community to throw their weight around and not realizing that they are hurting the game as a whole and the gaming community as a whole and how their actions harm the idea of what "Gamers" are.

In times like these we should not be shouting at one another or doxing one another or doing anything of the sorts, we should work together to figure out who is at fault, and then remove those people from the community, not turning on one another. But in modern gaming...it seems that we turn on one another sadly more so than removing the problem.

Society v. Commonsense

 

Recently, several gaming companies and communication-based companies, such as Discord, have either stated the use of or have already started using Face ID and other AI-based programs to create profiles of their users. They have stated this is to ensure that Children are not using their platforms or that if they are using their platforms, they can move them into contained social interactions to keep them away from possible child predators. While this sounds noble and like it is done with the best interests of the community in mind, it is actually creating a dangerous precedent that will soon lead to a divided community and possibly the setback of multiplayer online gaming to the Stone Age.

With Roblox being one of the most played gaming platforms in the world, it has garnered a lot of bad press due to its lack of security when it came to its younger audience. However, recently, in an attempt to stop this bad press, they have implemented a new AI system that uses Face ID. Face ID's system requires you to take a profile front and profile angled view of your face, and then it determines your age, and using that, it then slots your account into an age group. It is supposed to ultimately separate the younger audiences from the older ones. While in theory this sounds like a good thing, it has already caused issues. Several communities based on role-playing that were created several years ago have seen their older membership get pushed out of chats with their younger members because of the age difference.

Several communities have had to either shut down completely or create a second community site to allow members to speak to one another when it comes to their Role Plays. As time has gone by, platforms like Discord have now come under scrutiny as well from people on their servers and how they are handled. This comes after several cases involving child predators using Discord as a means to reach out to 'targets'. With this being disclosed, there was a call for Discord to also implement the new Face ID system. Which they have supposedly stated they will do.

While I can understand the need for companies that deal with children directly or even indirectly to take precautions to ensure the safety of them, this does not rest just on the companies, and instead also falls to the parents to do their job and do what they can to educate, monitor, and curate what their children are playing and who they are talking to. Sadly, we live in a society that has gone from the times of AOL and YIM, and worried if the person you're talking to is an axe murder and now we have entered the era of Discord and worrying if the person you're talking to likes kids.

In the end, this really does fall more to the parents than the companies, and what sounds good may end up being not so good after all. Currently there are already other companies that are looking at developing their own versions of Roblox and Discord to get the people that will leave Roblox and Discord due to their new policies as they will force out people that don't want to use the Face ID system, as well as those that are not into forcing communities to decide between being only for people of certain age groups or a community that wants to be inclusive and let people decide for themselves what communities they want to be apart of.

Balancing Issues in Helldivers

 Recently a concerned player issued a challenge to the leadership team of Helldivers 2 through a post on their reddit and Discord stating that he would give $1000 dollars to any charity that Arrowhead wanted IF they would get a certain group of 4 Devs together and have them play the game on the hardest difficulty fighting the Automatons. As of the posting of this blog article there has been no real response from the Arrowhead Dev team other than that they were aware of the challenge issued.

This challenge stems from a growing number of members of the player base saying that the current balance of the game is off on the harder difficulties. When compared in groups such as Level 1 to Level 3 then from Level 4 to 6 that the higher levels seem to be off balanced. This became apparent during the invasion of Cyberstan when the amount of Automaton and Cyborg forces greatly out numbered the Helldivers. Many Divers complained that the VOX engines alone with their almost continues drop from Automaton drop ships was enough to prove the balance was at the very least slightly off. 

With the Battle for Cyberstan being fresh there has been a call for a look at the balancing of the game on higher difficulties as well as some of the balancing in regards with certain weapons and stratagems. The majority of players agree that while Arrowhead has been doing a good job of fixing multiple errors including the Hard Locking issues, they are still off a little bit when it comes to maintaining a balance in the game. 

As someone myself that doesn't play higher levels because I'm not that good and honestly after seeing the hell and torment that those levels bring I decided that my blood pressure probably couldn't handle it, so I tend to stay on the more lower levels with Challenging or Hard being about as high as I go. But that said I can tell that between going from Medium to Challenging and then to Hard there are some issues with balancing.

The game has reached a point where people are now looking for more upgrades and new additions that will lead the game into being more for more types of players, between the desire for Ship Upgrades, a use for XP and Levels, Weapon and Armor Customization as well as a Guild/Clan system, there is still a hard push to fix some of the balancing issues before those other upgrades are made.

As for the gamer that made the offer, I have seen where other gamers have followed suit and offered their own money to pool with his to be given 100% to a charity of Arrowheads choice if they can beat their own game on the hardest difficulty. I am not sure at this moment what the 'Prize' pot is at but as more gamers join in it makes it hard think that Arrowhead won't respond at all and that they wont take up the gaming community on this...if for no other reason than to just try and get some money for a charity.  

AI Companies leading to Gaming Crash

 In recent months there has been a startling amount of information coming from multiple technology manufacturing industries and gaming industries alike, the stark reality is that AI Companies are causing an economic and technological shortfall that will ultimately lead to broken dreams, loss of jobs, and loss of access to affordable gaming.

So how did this happen? The long short of it is that AI Companies are working around the clock to build large Server farms that facilitate information networks and nodes that work in cooperation with one another to create vast networks of AI Programs working together for multiple goals. With everything working with and along side AI large amounts of servers and other hardware is needed to ensure that the amount of people needing information from the AI Programs are met as well as increased in order to facility AI growth. To that end, the AI Companies are spending billions in hardware upgrades and purchases to create these AI Farms. 

Much like the Bitcoin and other Crypto Currency mining boom that happened not too long ago, people and companies were started with the idea of putting together rigs to mine the currency as a means to make money. This required rigs designed around certain hardware requirements and most of that was around the RAM and Graphics Cards used to process the information as they were upgradeable and more cost efficient than buying increase CPU power from the Mother board resources and the Processor itself.

AI Farms are doing the same thing now. They are purchasing large amounts of RAM and Graphics Cards in order to mass produce AI Rigs that work in tangent with one another to produce results and get people to subscribe to their AI Network in order to generate revenue for themselves and their shareholders. This means that companies like NVIDA and Radeon are selling large amounts of these items. 

It has just came out that one such producer of RAM and Graphics Cards has announced it will be cutting its domestic and exported production cards down 40% and instead focus on using those resources in AI Farming and AI investment. In doing so its graphics card that was first released just a year ago for around 800$ went up to 2000$ just recently is now expected to hit a staggering 5000$. They say this is to offset the cost of their loss of production...a loss that they brought on themselves. 

So what does this mean for us as Gamers? Well to be blunt...its not good. As I stated earlier we have already seen Steam push back its release dates on its 3 new items, the Steam Controller, Steam Frame, and the Steam Box / Machine. It has also recently had to stop selling its Steam Deck because it lacks the needed parts to build them for sale. As this continues we will also see the price of gaming Computers increase to a point that the average person will not be able to afford a new computer or to even upgrade their current ones.

There have already been several services I've seen where you can 'Rent to Own' a gaming Computer or to simply 'Rent' a Computer paying a monthly fee to use the computer and I'm sure there are even Leases available so after so long you can turn it in and get the latest one. But that isn't what gaming is about is it?

Other systems such as Xbox and PlayStations are affected by these changes as well as they are also hitting shortages of hardware needed to produce their current models. Though with Xbox's new CEO coming from Microsoft's Window's AI Division who knows what the future of Xbox will hold now, some people are even saying that soon the entire gaming division at Microsoft will soon come to an end as they will be integrated into the AI Division. Rumors are even saying that there is a possibility that there will soon be games created 100% by AI and will not need any assistance other than those that will need to have understanding of the Prompt Language to use for the AI's. 

With hardware shortages, "Rental" and "Leasing" Computers, AI Farming and Networks slowly becoming the new "IN" thing, it is telling that the Gaming Market is going to take a large hit and if the lack of resources continue and the prices of everything keeps going up soon, the idea of gaming will become a thing of the past...and all of those people that still have their classical systems will be sitting pretty with the rest of us wishing we had of hung on to that old Nintendo or Sega.

Steam in Court in the US and UK

 

Recently there has been several court cases brought about due to the practices that Steam uses when it sells games. Multiple companies are complaining about the amount of percentages that Steam takes from their sales that they say is creating problems for their companies due to higher prices and less marketability on the Steam platform. Because of this several courts in the UK which has some of the most strictest business claws in the world and courts in the US in States and Cities that lean against the interest of businesses. Steam of course is defending itself well stating that if these companies do not like the marketability or division of profits then they can seek out other platforms such as EPIC and GOG. 

Several of the gaming companies have let it slip that they have looked at these other platforms and while the profit for them is better the marketability is down as Steam is one of the longest running and most well known platforms in the world when it comes to buying video games on the PC. Another issue that is less well known is the DMR (Digital Media Rights) that the gaming industry is pushing and forcing Steam to implement on all games. Steam itself has stated it was not in favor of the new DMR enforcing but due to the market and business they had to.

So what is in the DMR realm that is making Steam and consumers and gamers annoyed and pissed? Well that is actually easy to explain. Previously in the era of physical copies, when you the consumer purchased the game, you owned it. That meant that the company could not refuse your rights to it or to how you treated the data on the physical platform. As games went from physical copies to online and streaming the companies realized they could do something new. When you purchase the game under the new DMR you do not actually 'own' the game. Instead you are purchasing a License to play the game. A License means that they as a company have the right to revoke that License at any time for any reason and there isn't anything you can do about it because the right to Terminate is found in the clause of the TOS.

Simply put, you purchase a game from EA for instance, well you purchase the "License" to play the game from EA and they hold all rights to the game and the form in which you play it. If at any time they decide to terminate that contract, you lose the ability to play the game. So imagine buying Mass Effect the pack that gives you all 3 games and all the DLC content, the one day you log in to see that your License has been terminate for no reason given and you no longer have access to the games or the DLC. The money you spent is gone and there is no way they are going to give you your money back.

I think that it goes without saying that as a gamer, the idea of the entire DMR system is nothing short of just taking gaming away from the gamer. When person purchases the game they expect to be able to play it from now until they either sell it, it gets damaged, or until they shelf it and NOT have the company just decide one day to shut down the License and then make it to where you go to log into the game after a long day at work and find out that the company has decided to tell you 'No'.

As far as Steam and its 30% profit, that is their decision to make just as much as it is for the gaming industries to decide to sell their games on Steam. I can tell you from personal experience that there were a couple of games I looked at getting and then they decided to go Exclusive to EPIC games and I made it known then I wanted nothing to do with EPIC Games. So I refused to purchase those games and instead just opted to stick to my extensive library on Steam. Eventually, those games did come to Steam but I was not as interested to purchase them then as I was when they first came out. I did purchase them later but only after they had went on sale.

We are already getting told that 2026 isn't going to be a good year for new games and new hardware. Already we have seen Steam unable to launch its Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Frame due to hardware issues which stems from AI Companies buying up RAM and Graphics Cards just like "Miners" did back when mining was all the rage. In the end however these AI companies are setting themselves up for failure and they are going to take the RAM and Graphic Card makers down with them this time.

Buckle up buttercups! 2026 is going to be one hell of a year!