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i_have_no_enemies OP , to Technology in Bethesda teases The Elder Scrolls 6 in anniversary message and brags its developers are already 'playing early builds' and loving it

please learn from your mistakes, i want this to be good, i really do.

PaupersSerenade , to Gaming in An AI company has been generating porn with gamers' idle GPU time in exchange for Fortnite skins and Roblox gift cards
@PaupersSerenade@sh.itjust.works avatar

I’ll be a minority voice considering the other comments. But maybe just pay for onlyfans or whatever you guys use. I’m a generally attractive woman (I can surmise from interactions while trying to date) and I really don’t like the idea that my likeness would be used for something like this. Get your jollies off, but try and be a bit consensual about it. Is that so much to ask?

GrymEdm ,
@GrymEdm@lemmy.world avatar

It isn't too much to ask. According to Dr. K of HealthyGamerGG (Harvard Psychiatrist/Instructor), research shows that the release of non-consensual porn makes the unwilling subjects suicidal over half the time. Non-consensual porn = deepfakes, revenge porn, etc. It's seriously harmful, and there are other effects like depression, shame, PTSD, anxiety, and so on. There is functionally unlimited porn out there that is made with consent, and if someone doesn't want to be publicly sexually explicit then that's their choice.

I'm not against AI porn in general (I consider it the modern version of dirty drawings/cartoons), but when it comes to specific likenesses as with deepfakes then there's clear proof of harm and that's enough for me to oppose it. I don't believe there's some inherent right to see specific people naked against their will.

fidodo ,

I think it would be too big of a privacy overreach to try to ban it outright as I think what people do on their own computers is their own business and there's no way to enforce a full ban without being incredibly intrusive, but as soon as it gets distributed in any way I think it should be prosecuted as heavily as real non consensual porn that was taken against someone's will.

makingStuffForFun , to Gaming in An AI company has been generating porn with gamers' idle GPU time in exchange for Fortnite skins and Roblox gift cards
@makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml avatar

Imagine reading that headline 20 years ago.

Demdaru ,

God that would sound so dystopian and futuristic...but to be honest, most articles about AI today would sound like that back then. Damn people would freak out about privacy.

redcalcium , to Gaming in An AI company has been generating porn with gamers' idle GPU time in exchange for Fortnite skins and Roblox gift cards

So, it's like folding@home, but instead of donating your spare compute to science, you sell it to generate porn?

Flyberius , to Gaming in An AI company has been generating porn with gamers' idle GPU time in exchange for Fortnite skins and Roblox gift cards
@Flyberius@hexbear.net avatar

I remember when GPUs were used to fold proteins...

PDFuego , to Gaming in An AI company has been generating porn with gamers' idle GPU time in exchange for Fortnite skins and Roblox gift cards
@PDFuego@lemmy.world avatar

If I'm reading this right, it's a program that users sign up for to donate their processing power (and can opt in or out of adult content), which is then used by client companies to generate their own users' content? It even says that Salad can't view or moderate the images, so what exactly are they doing wrong besides providing service to potentially questionable companies? It makes as much sense as blaming Nvidia or Microsoft, am I missing something?

fidodo ,

so what exactly are they doing wrong besides providing service to potentially questionable companies?

Well I think that is the main point of what is wrong. I think the big question is whether the mature content toggle is on by default or not. The company says it's off, but some users said otherwise. Dunno why the author didn't install it and check.

PDFuego ,
@PDFuego@lemmy.world avatar

They said they did.

However, by default the software settings opt users into generating adult content. An option exists to "configure workload types manually" which enables users to uncheck the "Adult Content Workloads" option (via 404 media), however this is easily missed in the setup process, which I duly tested for myself to confirm.

Honestly, and I'm not saying I support what's being done here, the way I see it if you're tech savvy enough to be interested in using a program like this you should be looking through all of the options properly anyway. If users don't care what they're doing and are only interested in the rewards that's kind of on them.

I just think the article is focused on the wrong company, Salad is selling a tool that is being potentially misused by users of their client's service. I can certainly see why that can be a problem, but based on the information given in the article I don't think it's really theirs. If that's ALL Salad's used for then that's a different story.

Cethin ,

Based on the rewards, I'm assuming it's being done by very young people. Presumably the value of rewards is really low, but these kids haven't done the cost-benefit analysis. If I had to guess, for the vast majority it costs more in electricity than they get back, but the parents don't know it's happening.

This could be totally wrong. I haven't looked into it. This is how most of these things work though. They prey on the youth and their desire for these products to take advantage of them.

PDFuego ,
@PDFuego@lemmy.world avatar

Right, so it's not like they're being tricked into generating porn or anything. It's not some option that they would have turned off if they'd known about it, they just don't care what's happening because they only want the reward. Again I'm not saying I agree with it or that Salad's right to do it, but if they say that's potentially what it can be used for (and they do because the opt-out is available) then the focus should be on the client companies using the tool for questionable purposes.

stevedidwhat_infosec , to Games in A Konami code variant in Castlevania has been discovered after a quarter of a century

C-up x4

C-down x 4

C-left x 2

C-right x 2

C-left x 2

C-right x2

N64 pad's L+R shoulder + Z-trigger

poke ,

It unlocks characters, outfits, and hard mode.

EdibleFriend , to Games in A Konami code variant in Castlevania has been discovered after a quarter of a century
@EdibleFriend@lemmy.world avatar

Quarter of a century? It can't have been that long since the original...oh....oh no...

partial_accumen ,

Then you won't be horrified at all to learn the original Castlevania was released on NES in 1987, right?

EdibleFriend ,
@EdibleFriend@lemmy.world avatar

No that's the point I'm making. When I read the headline I was horrified that it's been that long since the original and they're not even talking about that.

Time is a son of a bitch.

MeekerThanBeaker ,

It just sounds like you are saying that the original Castlevania came out a quarter of a century ago, which would be 1999.

EdibleFriend ,
@EdibleFriend@lemmy.world avatar

No I didn't say it originally came out then I said that my first knee-jerk reaction was that it couldn't possibly been that long since the original and then I came to realize it's been so much longer

OhmsLawn ,

That's what it said in the title, a quarter century ago.

/s

kava , to Technology in Meta spent $4.3 billion on its VR division in three months, and made *checks figures* $440 million in return

It's sort of like how YouTube ran at a loss for a long time. The idea is to get ingrained in the market and make up the money later.

Right now Meta has the best VR / AR that is easily accessible. If some new idea or technology catapults VR into a more popular position, then Meta is in a prime position to take advantage.

Will that happen? I don't know, but Meta seems to think so.

Gigan ,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

I don't think the technology is there yet. As long as people need to wear big bulky goggles and headsets it's not going to take off. Make something that's about as cumbersome as sunglasses and less than $1000 and there might be mass adoption.

SebKra ,

March 2023 they sold 20M Quests. Half as many as PS5. That counts as "taken off" in my book.

Gigan ,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

Wow, I'm shocked it's that high. I've never heard of someone using one.

n3m37h ,

Daily active users are a much better indicator of success.

Halo infinite had a peak player count if 272,000. Now it sees DAU of only 3,000

makyo ,

There are a lot of problems keeping VR from going big and I think Meta's strategy of cornering the market is one of them. They think if they get all the exclusives they'll be the next iPhone but I think instead they're fragmenting an already tiny market which really needs a bunch of impressive experiences (and there still aren't a ton right now, even after years of VR development). I feel like the reverse would win them more users - they should win on hardware AND software but make their software available for any VR headset to use. Because right now they need to help create a market for VR because there really isn't one worth cornering yet.

madasi ,

They just announced that they opened up the OS for other manufacturers to use. I know Asus/ROG is supposed to have a headset in the works using the OS.

n3m37h ,

So they want to be the Microcrap of the VR world?

Nah I'm good, let me know when we get a Linux of the VR world

FellowEnt ,

Steam VR not good enough for ya?

n3m37h ,

Its probably great but when you need to set up a specific room, it makes it inaccessible for most people

Blue_Morpho ,

??? You don't need a specific room. Quest doesn't need any beacons or wires.

I don't like Facebook, never had a Facebook account and refused to buy their VR until they removed the Facebook account requirement 2 years ago.

But the hardware is excellent for the price. Facebook is selling the hardware at a loss and making it up in software sales. So you are hurting Facebook by buying their hardware and using it with Steam.

n3m37h ,

Sorry, was referring to Valve Index. Did not realize you can use SteamVR on on the Quest

solarvector , to Gaming in 'Marketing's dead, and I can back this s**t up': Larian's publishing director says players 'just want to be spoken to, and they don't want to be bamboozled'

It's not about what players want, it's about what they'll buy, and bamboozling works way too often.

exanime , to Technology in Meta spent $4.3 billion on its VR division in three months, and made *checks figures* $440 million in return

As others have said, the implication in this article's title is silly... Surely an r&d phase start easily explains this

What I'm curious about is how you spend that much money in such little time? Was that money actually spent or just committed?

NoSpiritAnimal ,
@NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world avatar

$1900 per second is a hell of a burn rate for anything outside the US military

VirtualOdour , to Technology in Meta spent $4.3 billion on its VR division in three months, and made *checks figures* $440 million in return

Business lesson, : never build a factory because it won't pay for itself in the first year.

And yes I know it's hard to hear but Meta's vr is doing really well in the areas they targeted, industry, academia, and special use. This is likely to end up a profitable part of their business for a long time.

kellenoffdagrid ,
@kellenoffdagrid@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

Yeah unfortunately I agree, as much as I dread knowing Meta's going to be behind a lot of the VR/AR developments as it gets more common, this isn't really an indication that they screwed up. They're not the first company I'd want to lead the VR market but it looks like they will be regardless.

lowleveldata , to Games in The wild successes of Helldivers 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 send a clear message: Let devs cook

As if managers & stakeholders would listen to reason

Badeendje ,
@Badeendje@lemmy.world avatar

They should manage the organization and stay the fuck away from the product.

Only really mature product owners that understand what they are doing and LOVE the product they are making should be allowed near your product.. and they will work with devs to make something wonderful.

Satisfactory, Valheim, manor lords, enshrouded.. just a few examples of product that is loved. And it shows.

picnicolas ,

But product make money… and we want money now.

dinckelman , to Games in The wild successes of Helldivers 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 send a clear message: Let devs cook

Just because a signal is sent, it doesn't mean it'll be received. We all know that practically any other major brand will still pump and dump e-waste, filled to the brim with mtx

NounsAndWords , to Games in The wild successes of Helldivers 2 and Baldur's Gate 3 send a clear message: Let devs cook

The lesson heard is probably "more sequels"

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