There's definitely something special about that era of games. The community would really shine and make creative stuff with relatively limited tech.
https://youtube.com/@excavation_goldsrc
This is the mod that's blown me away the most. They somehow made the limitations of the Goldsource engine look stylish, all the while having some incredible animations and model design. Unfortunately development is temporarily paused but hopefully they pick it up again soon.
Whats funny is that most 20 year old multiplayer games today (at least on PC) are still perfectly playable because the server tech was given to the community, at launch. Battlefield 2 hasn't been available for purchase anywhere officially in well over a decade, there's still a dedicated, albiet small community.
I understand that with large, persistent worlds, it's hard to release that server tech, but at least some form of it should be published. Ie, a smaller variant that maybe just lets a couple people join up as a co-op party, rather than dozens of people running around a large map at random, like in The Crew.
I didn't mean to imply it was a 1-1 comparison. I just used it as an example of a situation where a person or group of people were taking part in something really terrible, and were talked out of it by someone who was actually willing to take the time, and put in the effort. It can work. Not saying it always will in every situation, but it can.
Just to play devils advocate: Daryl Davis. A black man who has convinced over 200 members of the KKK to quit, by having civil conversations with them.
Edit: he directly convinced something like 50, but estimates more than 200 have quit because of his efforts
Don't forget that they're buddy buddy with amazon, and have even included amazon sourced ads within the OS at one point.
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@lemmy.world