tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-92145796294505669282024-03-13T17:10:40.448-06:00WonderGamer's Twitch/YouTube blogThis blog was originally used as a backup to the feed function that "used" to be on Twitch, it is now the primary means of a "feed" for my channel since that function was removed in 2018. This later started including updates for my YouTube channel in 2021 when Bing decided to blacklist my personal site & this blog from their search engine results.WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.comBlogger123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-39864173767112689752024-01-18T21:17:00.011-07:002024-01-18T21:35:14.307-07:00Possible aid from doctors to file police report against Steam trolls<p>After speaking with my doctor today & apparently being able to convey the seriousness of the attacks from Steam, as well as my intentions to contact the police about the attacks (but only after I get the new articles published about the revictimization from Steam), she took concern about this & stated that I should get that police report filed as soon as possible, even offering to get me in contact with a Case Manager to aid in contacting the police & filing the report. I told her I would like to attempt to file the report myself, but she said she was going to have a Case Manager contact me about it regardless & she wanted me to speak with the individuals in that office that I do speak with (Doctor, Therapist & Case Manager) every week (rather than once every month). My next doctor appointment was scheduled to be in 2 weeks rather than the normal month later (give or take a week).</p><p>I will point out that this hasn't been discussed with only my Doctor & Therapist, but also friends, friends of friends, family, neighbors & so on. The discussion has gotten some of them extremely concerned that I might take my own life in response to the continuing attacks from Steam (and Steam Management's decision to support it when they issued restrictions against my own Steam account rather than doing anything about the organized attacks from Steam aggressors).</p><p>I'm not going to lie, the thought had crossed my mind, but there are 2 reasons why I don't see myself going through with what concerns those I've talked to about this:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>I haven't been pushed far enough yet (not yet anyways, but I don't expect we're far off).</li><li>From a troll's perspective, if their attacks push somebody to take their own life, this is the BIGGEST victory for them; <b><span style="color: #fcff01;">I'm not ready to give them that victory</span>.</b><br></li></ul><p>Ultimately, now that my Doctor is getting involved in this & getting an individual involved that may have some contacts to get this taken care of quicker, I expect the police report will be filed by the end of next week (if not sooner, considering I intend on doing so myself as soon as the new Steam revictimization article & boycott is published, but I'll ultimately need to discuss this with the Case Manager if I haven't done so before they contact me & that may push it getting filed before the new publications are up).<br></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-4394283788382333972024-01-18T08:23:00.008-07:002024-01-18T14:43:12.795-07:00What was to be expected (why comments were disabled)<p>Putting things into perspective on what was to be expected when I did publish new videos to YouTube & this is in continuation to the harassment, internet stalking & doxing from Steam users (what Steam wouldn't deal with themselves & instead chose to revictimize by issues restrictions against a victim of mass-harassment starting on their platform), you can see in <u>under an hour</u> after these were published, they were already getting downvoted. The YouTube channel gained <u>6 new subscribers since this harassment on Steam started</u> & it was expected that most (if not all) of those new subscriptions were likely Steam trolls from that thread utilizing new video alerts to quickly cause more problems. Even some of the comments from the trolls on that Steam thread stating <u>they were waiting for me to upload new videos</u> (which already gave me indication this would happen).</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV21O6ZfdJ4poHhkmJZL3Lxnjr90tVY8O4LMUVqSvGEGpWPTr7wslXkLhsVXrTuIlPyeNS_zFR4T7HISA5HGJQGflalvRX8XBwvGQ1utdQq75KjNilfFedk6iW0wBEFrpXlXCOQ2ciK2xAWXNBgfYZMAMfUfFQP2atxJmRQ4jShouewAh2kijqmPkNdL29/s1171/less%20than%201%20hour%20rating%20abuse.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="215" data-original-width="1171" height="118" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV21O6ZfdJ4poHhkmJZL3Lxnjr90tVY8O4LMUVqSvGEGpWPTr7wslXkLhsVXrTuIlPyeNS_zFR4T7HISA5HGJQGflalvRX8XBwvGQ1utdQq75KjNilfFedk6iW0wBEFrpXlXCOQ2ciK2xAWXNBgfYZMAMfUfFQP2atxJmRQ4jShouewAh2kijqmPkNdL29/w640-h118/less%20than%201%20hour%20rating%20abuse.jpg" width="640" /><br /><i>Click for full-sized image<br /></i></a></div><br />Ultimately, I expected the rating to drop much quicker (likely slower because of the time they were published, roughly 7 AM in the morning), but this is <b>EXACTLY</b> why comments were disabled on my YouTube channel (as well as I've stopped linking them to my Steam profile after being personally revictimized by Steam management). Unfortunately this affects other options that were offered through comments (like higher quality downloadable versions on request or allowing users to respond when they were being called out for poor behavior, which had resulted in removing evidence videos in the past when a civil response is left), but in order to deal with the actions of the aggression from toxic Steam stalkers, this was a necessary step that now affects all viewers of the channel because of the illegal actions of those stalkers, and furthermore, Steam management's inactions to do anything notable to protect their users from it.<br /><p></p><p> </p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-77506011761493016502024-01-14T18:38:00.009-07:002024-01-14T21:22:35.482-07:00Steam supports harassment, additional permissions locked up<p>On January 14, 2024, I woke up to find that Steam had apparently put restrictions on my primary Steam account, which showed they supported the harassment coming from their users on their platform:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2WUXepV7SISCF4EgK7lZKucVzIokNJ3uPjCHGn3mzuEib5PFlSfqAo_kEeMn7BGArbEBgtBSobqbOZTWvQqPLPKB-lHLVZDo3mjNX9_-idLpiGlnktbXtrN7WJP1atJOJjNZnPguTx5rr7pdV6vj4Fwpp5UCB_sndi-oVFXcfFrYaIsKBPXUiSPtTsqg/s978/20240114_steam_revictimization1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="978" height="378" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW2WUXepV7SISCF4EgK7lZKucVzIokNJ3uPjCHGn3mzuEib5PFlSfqAo_kEeMn7BGArbEBgtBSobqbOZTWvQqPLPKB-lHLVZDo3mjNX9_-idLpiGlnktbXtrN7WJP1atJOJjNZnPguTx5rr7pdV6vj4Fwpp5UCB_sndi-oVFXcfFrYaIsKBPXUiSPtTsqg/w640-h378/20240114_steam_revictimization1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6KTvsI9Y7XdbBKMR9qumFP6Y7nhZcGsz2t5V9MbKQnx0HAZmADBIMeC1O55VpsQUlyunoAIk35Ywkvix1L8n2D1_5PMXbMmL-B87tDlxyadJlJkXDPPggiB88MsJhJvl07YmV-z7tSEdYWQuIedgL_dleYghcdo2evQWojgkRabM690C_TdnaIr7V6QGf/s688/20240114_steam_revictimization2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="96" data-original-width="688" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6KTvsI9Y7XdbBKMR9qumFP6Y7nhZcGsz2t5V9MbKQnx0HAZmADBIMeC1O55VpsQUlyunoAIk35Ywkvix1L8n2D1_5PMXbMmL-B87tDlxyadJlJkXDPPggiB88MsJhJvl07YmV-z7tSEdYWQuIedgL_dleYghcdo2evQWojgkRabM690C_TdnaIr7V6QGf/w640-h90/20240114_steam_revictimization2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZmtBlyAcULhFjxjwRgFkZqDJOhdcHSO3YsJrZiAtmEc791shqRCcmoB_8khn2yoGovKgzygCSAfqVDz85mmf4em1_zvk-bWN3LeGXfBfBxowSrjG5WKPoP2WrYhUUWtvLlO6VOelMtwThDcJKDfIr0IEVtqPkEvbgNnWYMRVbdVu4hOsajpmpiVswFb3/s686/20240114_steam_revictimization3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="97" data-original-width="686" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDZmtBlyAcULhFjxjwRgFkZqDJOhdcHSO3YsJrZiAtmEc791shqRCcmoB_8khn2yoGovKgzygCSAfqVDz85mmf4em1_zvk-bWN3LeGXfBfBxowSrjG5WKPoP2WrYhUUWtvLlO6VOelMtwThDcJKDfIr0IEVtqPkEvbgNnWYMRVbdVu4hOsajpmpiVswFb3/w640-h90/20240114_steam_revictimization3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>These actions from Steam made it clear that they were no longer a trustworthy source for purchasing video games anymore. I had already been holding off on new purchases from Steam due to the cutoff of Windows 7 becoming known half-way through 2023 (the exception being a couple of Platinum purchases in Warframe), but this makes the decision set in stone, there won't be any more purchases being made through Steam anymore (I don't even feel I can trust them to have access to my payment information, so any F2P purchases that would have been made using the Steam API will be done directly through the company, no longer through Steam because Steam benefits on those purchases are no longer a <i>bonus</i> when I can't trust the company).<br /></p><p>Once I found out about these restrictions, a number of things started happening to start negating information from my Steam profile, in addition to cutting ties from Steam over other sites:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>All other voluntary information, showcases & optional information was removed from my Steam profiles.</li><li>A slew of comments were posted to my profile regarding this matter & additional steps that were being taken in response to it.</li><li>All self-posted comments in the thread where these attacks that have been happening since October of 2023 were self-deleted.</li><li>My Steam wishlist was cleared out, given it was clear I wouldn't be putting any more money into Steam after the revictimization. </li><li>My Steam profiles were stripped down to basic display options, no longer showing additional profile display options I had earned or purchased using account points.<br /></li><li>The Steam Facebook page was blocked.</li><li>Referral traffic from Steam domains to my personal site are now blocked, resulting in a ban message. <br /></li><li>My Twitch channel was updated to disclose details about the revictimization & why streams of Steam-exclusive games won't be done on that channel anymore. Streaming of Steam games may still happen, but links that would lead to purchases of Steam versions will no longer be provided when streaming those games.</li><li>Chat restrictions on my Twitch channel now prohibit links to Steam domains.</li><li>Chat restrictions for Twitch accounts that don't have a phone number on them now have the highest restriction available before they can participate in chat:</li><ul><li>Chatters without a verified phone number must have accounts older than <u>6 months</u> (previously <u>1 week</u>).</li><li>Chatters without a verified phone number must have followed for more than <u>3 months</u> (previously <u>10 minutes</u>).<br /></li></ul><li>A new command was added to the StreamElements bot that responds to mentions of Steam with details of why it's no longer a trustworthy gaming platform I'm willing to purchase from anymore.</li><li>Giveaways were discontinued on my Twitch channel (given they only included Steam activation keys or giftable guest passes anyways)</li><li>All Steam activation keys were disabled in the StreamElements store for my Twitch channel. <br /></li><li>Comments were <u>FULLY</u> disabled on my YouTube channel, along with a post in the Community section of the channel explaining why this happened. This hid any existing comments that were on the channel, as well as negates any option of a user disputing a video calling them out for poor behavior in games.<br /></li><li>Open joining of my Discord channel was disabled, now only being allowed through private invitation using expiring invitation links.<br /></li></ul><p>Additional articles are expected to be published to WonderGamer.net giving details about the ongoing harassment, internet stalking, doxing by Steam users & revictimization from Steam management, but will have to come later when I have managed to catch up on some other tasks that have been getting put off for a few days already.</p><p>Despite removing the original comments from that thread where the targetted harssement started, that thread is still be monitored & I will continue to document the harassment, given that harassment is going to be evidence when this matter is reported to police seeking action against the criminal actions of Steam's users & potentional fines against the platforms that refused to do anything when reports were filed.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-26243848067284248012024-01-13T18:55:00.003-07:002024-01-13T18:56:17.198-07:00Discord access currently private invite only<p>After getting past messages fixed on my Discord server, I noticed that the one individual that was still on the server (joining when these attacks were active) had apparently passed around links to other Twitch channels that aided me in getting affiliate status (following me to a Discord server through one of those channels, attempting to add & message me, at which point I contacted the owner of that server, which resulted in them being banned from it because they had also attempted to do the same with them). That individual was booted from my server & permanent invite links were revoked. Until the attacks have died down, invites to my Discord server will be private invite only using expiring links.</p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-54513007147878538732024-01-02T13:58:00.014-07:002024-01-22T21:11:36.294-07:00Video ratings now a factor on visible comments<p>As of today, I am putting a new policy in place on what comments will be considered for publication after they are made on videos on my channel. This change in policy come from the following factors:</p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Continuing harassment over 3 months.</li><li>Most comments left being abusive anyways.</li><li>Any comments being accepted sparking more negative attention & retaliation.</li><li>People following the channel only for the purpose of downvoting videos as soon as they are published (without even viewing them).</li><li>Nearly ALL recent videos getting downvoted in a short time (one exception to this appears to be self-flagged age-restrictive videos getting hit less, which indicates these are mostly kids with nothing better to do with their time than being a problem & causing issues for others).</li><li>A mis-information video being published on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@CutCafe" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">another channel</a> (which I expect I will be publishing a review against if the <a href="https://www.wondergamer.net/YouTube/2024-01-02%20report.jpg" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">report against it</a> goes ignored by YouTube).<br /></li></ul><p>It may have been noticed that the public can not see ratings on videos on my channel other than their own vote, this was done intentionally because of expected harassment in retaliation to videos calling out others (or being used as evidence in violation reports) when running into griefers. While the public can't see the calculative ratings, I can. The abuse of the rating system doesn't hurt the channel because they aren't public, but after years of this type of abuse & extensive harassment that neither Steam, Twitch or YouTube management will do anything about it (without legal action taken), those ratings are now going to play a part on whether comments will go public or not (ultimately coming down to the only comments that will be going public will be by whitelisted individuals on the channel, everything else will just time out because they were never processed through moderation).</p><p>UPDATE: Taking this a step further, comments have been disabled on the majority of videos with a less than a 50% positive rating. Normally this won't affect existing comments, but in rare cases (particularly on videos published since the mass targeted harassment started from Steam & the Warframe community), comments may be hidden if the majority of what was received was abusive (whether they are still there should comments be re-enabled on the video at a later date is unknown).</p><p>Of course the hiding comments on videos plays a part in disallowing those that have been called out to clear up any possible miscommunication of their actions. In most cases the normal response is to retaliate against the video through abusive comments, however there have been rare cases where they may apologize for their actions & I'm willing to work with them in changing the visibility of the video (or at least the listing of it).</p><p>The most recent of these situations being with a Warframe player (of who shall remain unnamed) who replied to the video apologizing for killing of a Simaris target when the video went public & used in a report against them; the video was set to unlisted, removed from the Warframe Wall of Shame playlist & I gave additional information so they could educate themselves on what the scanning of Simaris targets was (referring them to the official wiki). There has also been the rare apology or clear up of comments over both Destiny & Dragonball Xenoverse (both of which I don't play anymore).</p><p>Given there are now people that are following the channel for the sole purpose of immediately downvoting a video as soon as it's published, their actions will result in comments getting disabled fairly quickly & if the individual in question does attempt to reach out to clear up their actions with an apology, this venue of contact will be cut off by those that are abusing the comment & rating systems on YouTube (that means the video stays up permanently, even if the player attempts to make civil contact).</p><p>Ironically, some of the people mentioned in videos later became whitelisted on the channel after a civil response (once again, not going to mention names), which is going to restrict possibility of new individuals being whitelisted on the channel (which bypasses comment moderation before being published, however comments can still be addressed if out of line later) when the option to leave a comment is revoked through the actions of hostile abusers, the exception being that people I already know ahead of time may still get whitelisted directly without having to leave a comment.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-62645189374895930902023-10-29T09:14:00.003-06:002023-10-29T09:15:43.270-06:00Forced YouTube ads, how I respond to them<p>YouTube recently started cracking down on people using security protocols on their site, regardless of whether they were being used to block ads or not. I personally find mid-video ads intrusive & many times I do not finish watching the video once one destroys the experience for me, usually voting down the video for a ruined experience & finding something else to do. For this reason I usually stuck to watching YouTube videos on my PC & rarely used the Shield TV, game system, mobile or tablet apps.<br /><br />The recent change now blocks the player from even running, giving you a 3 video grace period, however that gets counted down even if you didn't start the video (refresh the page even if your browser prevented the video from auto-starting & you still get docked on the unstarted video). This even affects videos that are not monetized & do not have ads on them (as with my own videos, which I will be making a point NEVER to monetize my channel with this type of bullshit being forced on users).<br /><br />My response to having to disable my security plugins on YouTube lowers my trust rating of YouTube (which is likely going to be updated to state as much in my reviews of the site) & additionally leaves me open to not finishing videos as a result of intrusive mid-video ads (if I even decide to watch videos on YouTube anymore, I know I'll be looking at other sites for videos to watch before considering similar/same videos on YouTube). If I do decide to continue watching videos on YouTube, I will continue to vote down EVERY video that is interrupted with mid-video ads. This ultimately means that ALL monetized videos over a few minutes will be getting down-voted as a result of YouTube's insistence that you either pay their premium plan or you have to deal with intrusive ads that don't allow you to finish what you are trying to watch (or just go to another service to watch the same videos; quite frankly there's a reason I have subscriptions to other paid streaming services over YouTube).<br /><br />I will be attempting to find another service to upload new videos to (as well as I have backups of EVERYTHING I have on YouTube, so I can always move them to that new service once I find something else that has an acceptable platform). Additionally I will likely be looking to persuade Steam into allowing other video sharing services to be used on user's profile pages (which probably won't go anywhere, I know my attempts to get them to allow Twitch has been a dead end).<br /><br />I've been waiting for Google Fiber in my neighborhood since I moved here in 2016, being on that notification list of availibility for almost 10 years since I moved into my previous residence. I have refused to put my payment information on ANY Google service since they allowed the attacks from Bandai/Namco targeting a link on the live streaming page of my channel that never got removed after the first attack (getting hit once again a month later even when the live channel was not even active, this time not allowing an appeal to be processed; I have had live streaming on my YouTube channel disabled ever since & do not mess with any other live channels on YouTube because that function was targeted on my own channel). I've been saying that if Google Fiber were to become available in my area, this might be the thing that ends my boycott against paying into Google services. However with what has happened with ads on YouTube, I don't know that I will even be switching to Google Fiber IF it ever becomes available in my area, I am much more likely to just switch back to Xfinity/Comcast or stick with CenturyLink (provided the upload rate is good enough, which has the primary reason why live streams on Twitch ended; I don't really want to stick with the piss-poor customer service of CenturyLink, but right now my mindset is I don't know that I can trust Google-owned services with my payment information.</p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-36616033180587044982023-06-23T03:21:00.003-06:002023-06-23T03:26:56.391-06:00Possible Warframe videos coming to YouTube channel<p>Considering I've been playing a lot of <a href="https://www.warframe.com" target="_blank"><b>Warframe</b></a> lately & have had an increase in running into Warframe leechers, I've decided to start recording my gameplay again. These recordings could also result in Warframe highlight videos being uploaded/published on YouTube (unfortunately not on Twitch as I have had issues with audio desyncronization when trying to upload longer videos to Twitch, one of the reasons Twitch channel update videos are mostly exclusive to YouTube when previously recorded).<br /><br />When I started playing Warframe regularly, I started using the SteamLink app on my nVidia Shield TV Pro (and older model, not the newer ones). Unfortunately after the last Steam overhaul update a few days ago, performance over the SteamLink app took a serious turn for the worse, so I'm back to playing on the <i>actual</i> PC again. It was determined after running into 2 leechers in 2 consecutive missions (1 per mission) that it was time for me to start recording missions in case I needed to start publishing videos of violations to go with reports again (again running into a third leecher in the third mission, which only destroyed my interest in continuing to play it for that day). The 2 leechers previously stated were not recorded, but screenshots of their information was uploaded to my Steam profile, so the information is still out there regarding their disgraceful actions (or more accurately, inactions); I didn't even feel like messing with processing & uploading the video or reporting the third leecher, this was just the "I'm done with it" point for Warframe for the day...<br /><br />Unfortunately I am still stuck with CenturyLink & a lower upload rate not capable of streaming online games (only offline games are possible with my current upload rate, the bandwidth from steaming interferes with online gameplay too much), so streaming to Twitch still is not a viable option. Also as much as I want to get back into streaming, health is still an issue & I am unable to get a date set on my operation (which will require more recovery time as was the case when I last had this same operation done, something I didn't take seriously after the first surgery, which is likely why it has to be done again).<br /><br />The plus side is my father told me that it appears that Xfinity/Comcast (my parents going back to being a customer of theirs) may have a disability discount, so I may start looking into going back to Comcast (at least for internet, if nothing else) in the near future. Unfortunately with the lack of preferable health to do extended streams, any streams that might be done after the switch will still be limited to "as my health permits" & likely be no longer than a few hours (at the most)...</p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-90606879450913814732023-05-31T17:23:00.002-06:002023-06-01T03:41:46.331-06:00Preparation for upcoming Steam cutoff<p>
In 2024, my Steam accounts will go inactive as a result of Steam deciding to cut
off it's ability to run on OSs earlier than Windows 10. I have no trust
in Microsoft after they decided to blacklist my personal site & this blog
from Bing, so I don't intend on putting any more money into Microsoft until
the issue on Bing is resolved (which is clear it won't, as is the case with
many other sites that got blacklisted backed up by search results when you do
a search on Bing regarding webmasters that were looking for answers why it
happened & receiving NO RESPONSE WHATSOEVER from Microsoft) & because
Steam is forcing this purchase, all further purchases on Steam have also
ceased (at least until I am able to acquire a copy of Windows that meets the
new Steam OS minimum requirement that won't be taking money out of my own
pocket, whether that means it's a gifted copy, acquired with fund donated
towards it's acquisition or just ends up being a downloaded/cracked copy).
</p>
<p>This cut off on Steam is going to be the same steps I have taken with:</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>
PlayStation after their cutoffs on the PS3 on their website & mobile
app.
</li>
<li>
Epic Games after they forced V-Bucks to the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite
(a mode I don't play), effectively stealing 37,100 V-Bucks from the mode
they were acquired to be used in & 4 years of my life from me acquiring
them.<br />
</li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>COMPLETED or CURRENTLY ACTIVE</u></b><br />
</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>
No further purchases on Steam. Any games of interest on Steam are
searched out on other sites (starting on GOG, then over other PC clients, lastly on Nintendo Switch) or ultimately determined will not be a game I
will be purchasing.<br />
</li>
<li>
No purchases of products promoting Steam-exclusive games, products or
franchises.</li><li>Cease all trades through Steam.</li><li>Deny all incoming friend invites through Steam. PSN & Epic Games at least had privacy options to auto-deny friend invites or restrict only to friends of friends, which has been active since I decided I was no longer a paying customer to those platforms.</li><li>Notifications for Google Play Steam app disabled or set to silent (depending on whether categorized notification disabling works correctly).<br />
</li>
</ul>
<p><br /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>IN PROGRESS or STARTED</u></b><br />
</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>
Remove/Hide Steam store page & profile links/associations to Steam from
other profiles & websites:
</li>
<ul>
<li>Steam profile & store links removed from Twitch channel.</li>
<li>Steam profile link removed from side-bar navigation links on Twitch/YouTube blog.</li>
<li>Steam profile link removed from YouTube channel.</li>
<li>Steam profile link removed from Wikipedia profile page.</li>
<li>Steam account association hidden on Discord.</li><li>Both Steam accounts removed from "Other contacts" Discussion in private Steam group. <br /></li>
</ul>
<li>Transfer games on Steam wishlist to wishlists on other platforms and/or online stores.</li><li>Remove likes & block the Steam Facebook page, as well as any other game page exclusive to Steam or for a game I lost access to as a result of Steam's OS cutoff.<br /></li>
</ul>
<p><br /></p>
<p style="text-align: center;">
<b><u>PENDING or NOT COMPLETED/STARTED</u></b><br />
</p>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>Start contacting developers/publishers of games that don't provide another PC alternative to a Steam version regarding releasing the game on other PC platforms (like GOG, Origin or Uplay).<br /></li><li>Publish details about Steam boycott to personal site when PC client is no longer able to be run, including details about how much money was put into the account (over $5300 directly, not including activated keys from other sites/store purchases/giveaways or gifts from other accounts/users) prior to knowing about this upcoming cutoff.<br /></li><li>Remove/Hide Steam store page & profile links/associations from
other profiles & websites:</li><ul><li>Remove Steam store page links from personal site.</li><li>Append details about boycott against Steam on every published review of a Steam game on personal site.</li><li>Find other profiles where links to my Steam profile hasn't been removed/hidden yet & remove/hide it (provided it don't break account linking of content in games or game redemptions).<br /></li></ul>
<li>Download official versions of F2P games originally owned & played on Steam (or look at playing those games over another PC platform that also has them, provided they can use the same account).</li><li>Test games downloaded through Steam to see if they will run without forcing Steam to run when run directly from the executable, make sure the latest version is downloaded prior to the cutoff date.<br /></li><li>Uninstall Steam games that won't run without forcing Steam to run by running the game executable directly. Update published reviews of those games to give details about their inability to run after the OS cutoff.<br /></li><li>Seek out other versions of games that are owned on Steam (or a Steam crack that will allow already downloaded Steam versions to be played without forcing Steam to attempt to run) to play while Steam won't run on PC as a result of OS cutoff.<br /><i>Repurchasing those games on other platforms won't be an acceptable option, however purchasing on another PC platform if they haven't already been purchased is & is already being looked into for games still on my Steam wishlist.</i><br /></li><li>Remove the Steam Authenticator as the primary means of 2-step authentication (leaving texting of authorization codes active) on both Steam accounts.<br /></li><li>Remove all Steam game-specific showcases (Game Collector, Badge Collector, Achievement, Rarest Achievement & Screenshots) from Steam profile.</li><li>Update Video Showcase on profile to only feature videos for non-Steam games.</li><li>Update details on profile to inform that the account is a "dead/inactive account" after the OS cutoff that is essentially holding well over $6000 worth of games hostage until my OS meets their new <i>standards</i> as of 1/1/2024...</li><li>Update profile to state other PC gaming platforms I may frequent (GOG, Origin, Uplay, etc.) since Steam became an defunct PC gaming option.</li><li>Set game activity to Private on account.<br /></li><li>If PC alternatives can not be found to unpurchased games that I was intending on purchasing on Steam (prior to knowledge of the upcoming cutoff), consider whether paying the monthly subscription for Nintendo Switch is worth it.<br /><i>If this does happen, it is likely that most games will be purchased on Nintendo Switch (outside of FPS games & other games that require precise aiming from a first/third-person perspective) over other PC platforms even if Steam ever does become an option to be run on my PC again.</i></li><li>Remove SteamLink app from all 5 personal devices it was installed on (Samsung Galaxy S6, S9 & S20 5G FE and nVidia Shield TV & Shield TV Pro) & update Google Play review to a 1-star review detailing it's loss of functionalty due to defunct PC client after OS cutoff. Look for another means to remote access PC on nVidia Shield TV devices (using single-monitor HDMI cables run under the house if necessary); remote access on Samsung Galaxy devices will remain primarily as TeamViewer, SteamLink really only be used on them when playing a Steam game).</li><li>Hide all channels on personal Discord server created for use with Steam games (as has already been done with Epic Games games or use the Unreal Engine).<br /></li></ul><p>This list will continue to be updated as I have time to work on it & in between starting/continuing/completing steps already listed.</p><p>For those who were friends on Steam or would like to add me, I expect most of my PC game playing & purchases will be on GOG until otherwise assured that I will not lose access (or have re-aquired access) to my Steam games based on an operational PC client for Steam (which won't be the case once they kill support for Windows 7).<br /></p><ul style="text-align: left;">
</ul>
<p><br /></p>
<p><br /></p>
WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-63691426452006027592022-11-01T13:40:00.002-06:002022-11-01T13:41:36.662-06:00YouTube handle assigned<p>Many of us who use YouTube may already be aware that handles are now a thing on the platform, today I attempted to re-assign my handle to the display name on the channel & found that was not an option (apparently already taken), so I had to assign a new one (one that I use on many other sites when WonderGamer is unable). For those who are interested in getting my attention on other channels, my handle on YouTube is now <u>@WonderGamer1978</u>.</p><p><br /></p><p>Note that the custom URL hasn't change, it still remains at <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/wondergamerx" target="_blank"><u>wondergamerx</u></a>.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-83789030743427772602022-09-06T15:06:00.002-06:002023-01-23T07:37:20.349-07:00Unlisted videos being relisted on YouTube<p>After the blacklisting of <a href="http://www.WonderGamer.net">WonderGamer.net</a> & this blog from the Bing search engine (as well as all other search engines <i>powered by Bing</i>), it was determined it was time to set a number of the unlisted videos on my YouTube channel back to public (previously being set to unlisted in response to attacks by certain companies). While the non-gaming videos still remain as unlisted on the channel (even after attacks from said companies), the video game videos have been relisted as public. It's expected this will result in even more retaliation from those companies that have attacked the channel in the past, however they are likely already aware of articles I have published in the past of their attacks trying to cover up negative publicity of their products (or the companies themselves), I'm certain they will be well-aware that further articles will be published in the future if they continue this same type of anti-consumer censoring.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-76842034767937679982022-06-04T08:17:00.025-06:002023-10-31T13:31:06.498-06:00Bing cutoff, where it goes from here<h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Regarding Boycotts <br /></span></h2><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">In response to the Bing blacklist of <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=site%3Awondergamer.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">my personal site</a> & <a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=site%3Atwitch-wondergamer.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this blog</a>, it's been determined that I'll be placing <u><b>ALL ACTIVE BOYCOTTS</b></u> at the time of the attack in an elevated status. What does an "elevated status" mean? Well let's first go over why all active boycotts at the time of the attack are being affected, as opposed to a single one.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The problem here is it's not currently confirmed who was behind the attack. Based on the timing, it's <i>expected</i> Epic Games is behind it, however Bandai/Namco, Black Shell Games & a number of other gaming companies have a history in these types of cover-up attacks (while I personally haven't had an issue with Digital Homicide Studios, this is a prime example). Additionally, it could have just been Bing finding the Yahoo review regarding revocation of game licenses (given Microsoft now owns Yahoo; this was an old review back when Yahoo still had games for sale) and decided to take action themselves. There's a number of reviews & boycotts on the personal site that could have resulted in retaliation from any number of those individuals or companies and Bing just isn't giving a response to why it's happened (which isn't surprising, even their own search engine is flooded with search results of people inquiring why it happened to their own sites and Bing not giving them the decency of a response, which is the same thing that is happening here; seems giving <i>support</i> to webmasters under the Bing Analytics program is no longer an obligation when their sites are blacklisted from Microsoft's search engines). With no definate indication as to who is responsible (although there's plenty of speculation on who, especially since this blog got hit with the same actions at the same time), I just have to put the same elevation on ALL active boycotts at the time of the attack until it's resolved (which I'm certain won't be, as search results on this particular matter just has a bunch of webmasters asking questions, never getting a response & never getting a resolution), in addition to starting a new boycott against Microsoft...</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Before I get into what the elevation details are, I'm going to point out why I do public boycotts. While most people will see it as an effort to get others to stop funds going into the company, this isn't entirely the case, but it does still ring some truth after looking at the purpose for publishing one to begin with. When I publish a negative review or boycott, I am looking for a change (typically a reversal of a decision that made me decide I personally was not going to be willing to put any more money into a company). This is a pressure tactic stating that if that company is not willing to change what made them lose customers, then those customers remain as <i>lost customers</i> & the negative publicity stays indefinitely. In most cases when I publish a boycott, it's a <i>personal</i> boycott, but the details of it are shared in case anybody else sees eye to eye with the reasoning behind it and chooses to be a part of it. Ultimately that change usually doesn't happen (some companies just have too much pride to care much about negative publicity against their companies or games, however then you have companies that will attempt to cover it up, attack the hosted source to penalize the publisher or seek other ways to retaliate against the author of said publication), but if it does ever get resolved, I'm always willing to drop the boycott & remove the publication (aside from some elements of negative reviews may still remain).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">While I did state I would be willing to "drop the boycott", this statement tends to lose validity after retaliation that results in some form of penalization on another service (such as Bing, YouTube or some other site that isn't directly affiliated with the attacking individual/company, but that site still allowed the manipulation to happen regardless). This is where the elevation of the boycott comes in (and given it's not clear who is responsible, it's going to affect ALL that were active at the time until it's been cleared up who is responsible). As far as what the elevation means, it differs depending on the boycott, but ultimately the terms are still very similar:</span></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the biggest aspects could be that even if the issue that resulted in a boycott being published, the boycott still won't end (however certain minor points <i>may</i> still drop off over time or immediately after it's resolution, just not the major points, meaning the company that an article is being written about).</span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course when there is retaliation that bleeds the issue over into other websites, this is a prime example of when the boycott really doesn't have any chance of being ended, even if the original issue that resulted in a publication does ever get resolved...</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">In particular, the retaliation by Bandai/Namco that affected my YouTube channel is a prime example of why that particular boycott will likely never end.<br /></span></li></ul></ul><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Any consideration of dropping certain minor points over time are locked, meaning the only way those points could be dropped would be if the issue that resulted in it's publication were to be resolved & that comes at the expense of the major points still remaining in effect even after being resolved (at least until it's determined where the attack came from, which it's clear Bing is keeping their mouths shut on the matter).</span></li><li><span style="font-family: inherit;">Additional points may also be added over time (which technically could happen anyways before an issue is resolved, but more to be expected to happen as I'm likely to be researching information relevant to the original issue, that may result in more points being added as more information is found online), which only results in further expansion of the original boycott & more companies being affected over lack of effort from the company to even <i>attempt</i> resolving the original issue.</span></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><h2><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></h2><h2><span style="font-family: inherit;">Regarding Search Engines <br /></span></h2></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Changing the path of this publication for a bit, I'm going to discuss what happens when search engines decide to negate search results or just completely wipe results for a site entirely.</span></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've personally tried using other search engines before, particularly when I found that Google was negative over 96% of the site from their one spider (a search engine indexing bot), later finding out that anything that really remains in Google are pages I typically haven't even added to my robots sitemap (a way of specifying what pages are supposed to be crawled & indexed by spiders). On a number of these other lesser known search engines, I've noticed that if they aren't cleaned of results occasionally, they tend to be a MASSIVE maze of irrelevant articles that don't get you closer to what you are searching for. While I do understand the purpose behind trying to keep a search engine accurate (which<i> </i>appears to be one of the things that Bing <i>claims</i> when a site gets hit with this type of crap), there is a line that you don't cross if you want the search engine to remain dependable. De-indexing of specific pages I can understand, but doing a full blacklist of a site only pushes search engines in the other direction, by taking things too far. Full website blacklists reverse the effort to make their search engines accurate by negating information that could still be accurate towards a specific topic and individuals that are aware of it on search engines they use should consider whether that search engine really is the best option for them to be using (this is one of the reasons I've looked at other search engines in the past, however I find many of them either don't have the results I'm looking for or the relevant information I'm looking for is in a mess of irrelevant articles that take you ages to sift through).<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">From another viewpoint, what happens when a user of a search engine is aware of sites that are being negated from it (particularly sites that they may actually go to)? Users who are aware that a search engine is <u>hiding</u> sites from their users usually start looking for other search engines to use (as I have done in the past, going through the same problems of looking for accurate results & not having to sift through too much clutter). Unfortunately many search engines that can't see from the perspective of their users end up losing their users to another search engine (one that proves it's capability over the former). Luckily, I never really had much interest in Bing (I was primarily a Yahoo search engine user before switching to Google), I only started using Bing more often when it looked like I was having better luck with search results, which became a full cutoff & easy switch (not really spending enough time on Bing to get hooked to it) when I realized that they had purged all search results for my site & this blog; <span style="font-size: 12pt;">additionally</span>, I closed my Bing Analytics account <u>immediately</u> when I realized this had happened (and realizing that this had actually happened roughly a month prior to my noticing it according to those readings).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">I still can't claim that Google is any more dependable, finding that results for my personal site barely even fills a full four pages anymore (and most of those search results are on pages or evidence files that were never submitted to search engines & are not listed in robots). Aside from the site, I've found that even new publications to this blog are also not getting indexed on Google (at least the blog follows the "mobile-first" standard they have set that negates most of the site, but it's still getting pages ignored regardless). It should be no surprise that I occasionally look at other search engines to see if there is one that is going to work better than the ones I've been using (and isn't doing widespread negations of my own content like Bing & Google are doing).<br /></span></p><p></p><p></p><p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</span><h2 align="center" style="text-align: center;"><br /></h2><h2 align="center" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What Happens Now?</span></h2><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The cutoff by Bing made it clear
that I could no longer trust Microsoft (not limiting this realization to just
Bing), so as stated earlier, I started a personal boycott again Microsoft (as
of yet, these details still aren't public, at least not on my site where I usually publish them, but it's expected to be published
to my personal site when I have time to write the entirety of the article). As
with most boycotts, I determined that I wasn't going to be putting any more
money into their company. Perhaps the hardest part of that is the fact
that I won't be willing to upgrade my OS beyond what I currently have (at least
not if it was going to take money out of <u>my</u> wallet & put it into their pocket), in addition to the fact I'll
have to find other software suites for word processor & spreadsheet tasks.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I've already been putting the Ignore on anything on Steam with an OS requirement over Windows 7 (over 800
games prior to these actions by Bing, now over 1000, an exact count being displayed on my Steam profile), but I decided I would need to start
adding any games that are either published/developed by Microsoft or XBOX as
well (even if my system is capable of running it). The ignore on the
games that were added as a result of OS over what I currently have was
eventually going to be removed and those games looked at again after I had installed an OS capable of running them, however with these actions making it
unlikely I will EVER be going over Windows 7, those ignores are pretty much
permanent at this point...</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In addition, I ended up finding out
that Minecraft was apparently acquired from Mojang in 2014 for 2.5 billion
dollars, which was a bit of a downer for me... I did have an account for
Minecraft at one point and it seems this was around the time that I lost access
to my account (believed to be an account theft, however never confirmed as
such). There was a consideration of purchasing a new key so I could
access the game on PC again, however after realizing that Microsoft was now the
owner of the game, it was determined that purchasing the game on PC again was
NOT an option, I'll just have to stick to playing it solo on the used Switch I
got recently (despite really HATING playing first-person games on console
systems without proper keyboard/mouse support).</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In regards to console systems, I
was actually considering my next console system purchase would be an XBOX
system (driven by all the cutoffs on the PlayStation 3 over the past few
years, mainly on their site & their mobile apps). Unfortunately after the actions of Bing and my recent decision I
could no longer trust Microsoft, I am now considering going back to Nintendo
systems if I were to buy a new console system (leaving them after the release
of N64, when I switched to PlayStation under the belief that
backward-compatibility would still be important to them); even if XBOX is still
keeping backward-compatibility as an important function, I can't see any value
in putting money into a company that has made it a point to show me I can no
longer trust them.</span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">UPDATE: At this point my new console system is in fact a Nintendo Switch. Additionally, with the upcoming OS cutoff with Steam, money that would have been spent on Steam is now going into purchases for the Nintendo Switch. <br /></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then there's the case of their apps
on the Google Play store. I spent several hours that same night after I
realized they had purged my site & blog from Bing just removing (or
changing) 2-step authentication over 6 different accounts (1 Hotmail, 1 Skype,
1 XBOX/GFWL & 3 Yahoo accounts) so I could remove the rest of the
Microsoft/Yahoo accounts from my mobile devices (which included the <span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m">Microsoft
Authenticator, Xbox, Skype, Yahoo Mail & Microsoft Outlook apps). In
addition to not using Skype on my phone anymore, I'm also considering removing
Skype from my PC & fully closing the account that was used with it (still
can't remember if I have anything else under that account, but I will be
closing it if I determine that's all it was used for), refusing to touch Skype
in the future (even if others are suggesting I make a new account for it).</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m">UPDATE: Note that a few nights ago I got a suspicious activity alert of somebody pulling my Hotmail account emails over a mail client transfer protocol. I was able to kick them back out after a few pulls by changing my password & de-authorizing all devices that were previously connected to it (having to re-authorize all my own devices again) & filed a claim that the access was in fact not authorized. When I traced the IP address of the <i>individual</i> that had compromised my Hotmail account, guess who it traced back to? It was none other than Microsoft themselves that was pulling my email through a mail client transfer protocol. As if it wasn't bad enough they already lost the trust of a former customer, they had to give me further fuel to throw on this fire of negative publications against them...<br /></span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m">Additionally,
I stated that there were elevations on existing boycotts that were active at
the time of the attack that resulted in Bing wiping my site & blog from
their search engine. One in particular is the Epic Games boycott, which I
had already discussed with another Twitch streamer (not spending much time on Twitch
because the Epic Games boycott extended to so many other games developed using
the Unreal Engine, not really even going to the site much on a whole), their
statement was that I should consider dropping the point that restricted
supporting streams of or buying of games that were developed with the Unreal
Engine. My response to him was that I might consider dropping it in the
future, be we could be looking at as long as 3 years before I would even
consider it.</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m">Given
Epic Games is one company that is expected to be responsible for the actions of
Bing (among a few others that have proven themselves capable of this type of
manipulation), the elevation here is the lock I said prior; the consideration
of purchasing games in the future & dropping that point just won't be
happening, not while the 4+ years of my life collecting V-Bucks in StW are
still locked behind the BR mode. Only after that issue is resolved (and
only if I'm made aware of the change, as I don't even have Fortnite installed
anymore, after being rejected twice of my request to convert 37,100 V-Bucks to
X-Ray Tickets), will there even be the consideration of purchasing games that
use the Unreal Engine again. As for whether I'll ever purchase a game developed/published
by Epic Games (or ANYTHING on their platform) again, I'll first have to
determine who was behind that attacks on Bing (and make certain it wasn't Epic
Games, or Bing will have to start indexing my site again).</span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m"> </span></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="d2edcug0hpfvmrgzqv66sw1bc1et5uqllr9zc1uha8c37x1jfe6kdd0rmau55g9wc8b282ybkeod5gw0nxhoafnmaigsh9s9d3f4x2emiv3no6dbjq4qci2qa3bd9o3vb1v8xokwoo9gr5idhzawbc8m">When
you get right down to it, I haven't even started up the Epic Games launcher is
over 3 months, that's the affect that locking the V-Bucks I had collected over
the past 4+ years in StW had on me, even putting nearly a full halt on my
interest in Dauntless, which I was playing pretty heavily prior to Epic Games
locking V-Bucks behind the BR mode. So this change didn't really just
affect my stance/interest towards Fortnite, it pretty well killed my interest
on any game I had on the Epic Games platform (specifically those that were
exclusive to it)...</span></span></p><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-70722251187514992682022-05-28T00:54:00.000-06:002022-05-28T00:54:46.871-06:00Anti-consumer business review submitted to the BBB (again)<p>I decided to take the wipe of my site & blog from Bing a step further yesterday, this by submitting another anti-consumer business review to the BBB. This is one of the same companies that has been after me since my original attempt to stream video games on YouTube in 2016 & has proven themselves capable & fully willing to take these types of actions (even attacking the blog due to the link to the site is the same method they used in the past, however they decided to abuse the report function on Bing rather than manipulating the report function here).<br /><br />Not that it's going to matter in the case of Bing, but currently this blog is still public & can be found on other search engines that aren't powered by Bing, so for the time being this company is going to remain unnamed on this blog. Those who have been following me since my PS3 streaming days is going to know EXACTLY who this company is (another channel on Twitch actually made me a moderator on their channel when we used to play that game together on PS3 while being streamed to Twitch), this same company is discussed in the boycott discussion video highlighted on my Twitch channel in that same year. Additionally, I will point out that I noticed a Twitch rep in my channel for quite a while a little more than a week ago (there's a reason why I have a constant IRC link on my channel's chat, so I can monitor it's activity even when I'm not streaming or on Twitch, along with the other channels that have me down as a moderator in their channels), at the time I expected somebody had filed some kind of report against my channel, but I never really saw any action taken against it (as of yet, my channel still remains free of strikes, despite numerous attempts from individuals that have had a vendetta against me after publishing a video of their poor behavior).<br /><br />While there is a fair chance that it may not be the company that I submitted the review on that caused the wipe in Bing (possibly being Epic Games instead, given I did give them a directly link to the boycott on my personal site in their support survey, which clearly had an unsatisfactory rating), history gives a high likelihood that it is the same company that has been after me since 2016 due to almost identical attack patterns & they already managed to get the last review submitted to the BBB about their company for such business tactics removed by what appears to be a move of address (despite the company page saying in business for 25 years), which apparently deleted the old business page that the previous review was submitted to. So given the circumstances & the new development of a full wipe of my site from a specific search engine, it was time to get that review public again on the BBB (or an updated review giving additional details about the database wipe of my personal site from Bing, in addition to the previous details; unfortunately the review had to be cut short due to a 2000 character limit, but the full updated review that could not be submitted to the BBB due to character length (over 5000 characters) is on my personal site regardless, along with the old BBB review & the new one that was submitted yesterday, still awaiting acceptance (or rejection, if that company is able to manipulate the BBB into rejecting it).<br /><br />One additional note, the review was submitted using an email address created under the domain for my personal site, so it's going to be blatantly clear which site was attacked that resulted in another negative review of their company being submitted to the BBB.</p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-52667181239590566982022-05-26T17:25:00.011-06:002022-05-27T01:48:16.105-06:00Site & blog de-indexed, expected retaliation from Epic Games<p>
I became aware today that both my personal site & this blog had been
de-indexed from some of the most known search engines, this includes Bing,
Yahoo & DuckDuckGo. In response to this, I've taken the time to post
a new news entry on my personal site (on the home page) as well as will be
blocking traffic from those search engines as traffic from those sites are
noticed (while not expected there will be any traffic from those sites given
they've done a full wipe of both this blog & my site from their databases,
I suspect traffic from other sites where their pages have been cached is still
possible).<br /><br />While it's expected Epic Games is most likely the
company that is responsible for this action (given they were the last company
to have a boycott published against them after their changes with V-Bucks in
Fortnite, locking them to the BR mode), there are other companies that are
just as likely to be responsible for it based on their history of bad
publicity cover-up (Bandai/Namco, Patreon, Pizza Hut, etc.). In either
case, because this happened only shortly after starting the Epic Games
boycott, any expectations that I would have dropped the boycott against games
that are developed using the Unreal Engine in a few years is now locked as
that won't be happening, especially while this manipulation of legal methods
& report functions to successfully allow cover-up of anti-consumer
business practices continues to restrict search engine access to why those
boycotts & reviews were published in the first place.<br /><br />There are
other search engines that still have my site listed in their databases (not so
much the blog, but there are still results for the site, even if they are
outdated or extremely lacking compared to what has been submitted to search
engines for indexing). For the time I will not be making any public
recommendations as any public listing is expected to be the next attack from
these companies to further succeed in their attacks to cover up the truth.<br /><br />Ultimately
this attack to fully wipe results for my personal site (this was already
expected with the blog) puts a full lock on any boycotts that are currently in
effect & any minor points that could have dropped off on their own over
time won't be removed until either the boycott ends (meaning the company made
the effort to correct the issue on their own) or I start seeing results for my
personal site in search engines again (which is unlikely given they've already
succeeded in their cover-up tactics).<br /><br />In addition to their actions,
I will be creating some auto-responses in my bot that will provide links to
those boycotts when I happen to start on Twitch, meaning they will still get
out one way or another. I'll also be setting a timer that will
occasionally give a link to my personal site, with details of search engines
that have allowed this abuse to allow companies to succeeded in hiding truths
about their companies (any attacks on the channel will result in further
publications being made regarding further cover-up attacks to hide negative
publicity about their companies, not that it's going to matter much when the
most popular search engines have already blocked the site from their
databases, but there are still some out there that haven't buckled to the
aggressive cover-up tactics of anti-consumer companies).
</p>
<p>
In addition to this, I will be making it a point to block & ban these game
& company pages from being able to access my channels on Twitch &
YouTube. The new commands will be triggered when their company names or
games are mentioned in chat, which will provide a link to the pages detailing
this information that they succeeded in hiding from the public.
</p>
<hr />
<p>
UPDATE: Bing has been contacted regarding this matter to ask why this
has happened, using the Feedback function on their search results (the only
functional contact function I could find on the site, the contact form for
webmasters never finished loading). In this attempted contact, I sent
them the following (having to cut the attempt short due to a character
limitation):
</p>
<p></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">
My personal site appears to have been wiped from Bing, Yahoo &
DuckDuckGo. I've already made an update about this on my blog (which is
also wiped from these search engines), the site itself, my Facebook, my Twitch
channel & created various commands in my Twitch bot to auto-respond to
various terms of what was hidden from the public as a result of this wipe
(expected to be aggressive retaliation to negative reviews displaying the poor
behavior of anti-consumer companies), giving links to the site in those
auto-replies.<br /><br />At this point I'm simply trying to find out
"Why?" This wipe is expected to be a common discussion when I start to
Twitch, how long it continues will be dependent on how long it takes to get
this issue sorted out, I will just have to tell viewers "I getting ignored on
my inquiry for a reason" until I am given a reason for this gross
injustice.<br />
</p>
<p>
Of course I don't really expect to get any response that is going to give any
useful information in it, despite getting an email auto-response to the
attempt fairly quickly (unsurprisingly, without any useful information):
</p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dbDL_urCxwxN7KIuWTXLRJbmXU8bgFGgKFRrcue1Alx5n3WAHHdDHeGizZVS3_e75VDrAXymIxH2D7z7QHB9vDG4ds_PLv7yAdeHvILC51J_jSUNnWUZ5ddMyUIPkAuqUcriq54cYgrw5dYG-mRAgBvZkkMh9lkpGELlSklnDgdwXq4BHbhICql8ag/s1057/%5B2022-05-27%5D%20Feedback%20auto-reply%20(WonderGamer.net%20wipe%20from%20Bing).jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="1057" height="371" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1dbDL_urCxwxN7KIuWTXLRJbmXU8bgFGgKFRrcue1Alx5n3WAHHdDHeGizZVS3_e75VDrAXymIxH2D7z7QHB9vDG4ds_PLv7yAdeHvILC51J_jSUNnWUZ5ddMyUIPkAuqUcriq54cYgrw5dYG-mRAgBvZkkMh9lkpGELlSklnDgdwXq4BHbhICql8ag/w640-h371/%5B2022-05-27%5D%20Feedback%20auto-reply%20(WonderGamer.net%20wipe%20from%20Bing).jpg" width="640" /></a>
</div>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p>
The mention of <u>this page</u> is what leads to
<a href="https://www.bing.com/search?q=site%3Awondergamer.net" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>
(further details about this listed in the 5/26/2022 news update on the
site). As I mentioned in the contact attempt, this will probably be a
common disussion when I'm streaming to Twitch (that is when I have the health
to do so & have decided on something to stream, many of the games I used
to stream now being restricted based on the terms of the <a href="http://wondergamer.net/boycotts/epic_games.htm" target="_blank">boycott</a> until the
issue in Fortnite is resolved, which it's clear from Epic Games' response is
unlikely to happen) until this matter is sorted out, however my research on
the matter tells me I won't ever get a response about it & the issue will
never be resolved on Bing or any other search engine that pulls results from
Bing.
</p>
<p>
In the mean time, I've decided to remove the block of traffic from Google
(previously blocked due to negating over 96% of the site from their site
crawling, but this is still better than nothing). Either way, I am going
to have to recommend against any search engine that isn't listing the site,
the recommendation of a search engine (already decided) will likely be made at
a later date (probably a few months from now, stated later than sooner to slow
down a repeat of whoever manipulated the reporting function on Bing to get the
site wiped from it in the first place).
</p>
WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-79759057240408749502022-04-02T10:56:00.004-06:002022-05-24T12:47:13.667-06:00Additional cutoffs, another emote removed<p>On 4/2/2022, I decided to extend the boycott to games that were developed using Epic Games technology, meaning that any game that uses the Unreal Engine is now included in the boycott that started as a result of their cutoff of V-Bucks from the Save the World mode in Fortnite, meaning I won't be supporting channels that stream those games or purchasing any new games that use that engine (being grounds for placing those games on ignore on Steam until Epic Games decides to do something about their decision that drove me off from their game & avoid any purchases that would put my money in their wallet). In addition to this, another emote was removed from my channel (Killing Floor's Fleshpound emote), as well as I've added more games to the "Discontinued streams" section of my Game List (the re-written one, which I started when the <a href="https://dashboard.twitch.tv/extensions/gpicqmmaaavwkg6nvl5vclrl1eagaz-2.0.0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Game List plug-in</a> stopped working correctly).<br /><br />Additional emotes will be removed or restricted from the channel as I find more games that were developed using Epic Games technology, as well as their games being restricted from being streamed on my own channel or hosted from others (possibly leading to unfollows of channels I <i>was</i> following and/or removal of those channels from my auto-host list, even if it's only temporary until Epic Games pulls their heads out of their ass & decides to fix the problem they caused with stealing V-Bucks from StW-only players & locking them in a mode they don't play).</p><p>EDIT: Channels on my Discord for games developed/published by Epic Games, exclusive to the Epic Games platform or developed using their technology have already been set to private & are currently inaccessible.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-73042729463008381802022-03-31T19:35:00.000-06:002022-03-31T19:35:21.816-06:00Decision final, Fortnite boycott started, Fortnite emotes removed from channel<p>I was going to just update the last post, but considering the response from their support was enough to only solidify the decision that I was done with Fortnite (and unwilling to make any new purchases over the Epic Games platform), I determined a new post was going to be necessary. In their response, they were clearly trying to be polite in their response, but ultimately I ran into a dead end on getting anything done:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpwomg5mod9iD7-WGK8_b_suCLggpblIClTAwa75Q-PUQM5ajJy1TRV7dfTaUOhsL3UCly3XvlHMWcRRIQac9hUkYCm4HkoFeisdduUZo9yWQDjx9VewbVc3_duTxPpXbZoXppdHfDzvHQ2Mgbl5sZ7HO9Qo0EVeyepkzX0N0i3gMN0y0Go3LeWasH5w/s1049/Fortnite%2003-31-22%20at%2006.30%20PM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1049" data-original-width="882" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpwomg5mod9iD7-WGK8_b_suCLggpblIClTAwa75Q-PUQM5ajJy1TRV7dfTaUOhsL3UCly3XvlHMWcRRIQac9hUkYCm4HkoFeisdduUZo9yWQDjx9VewbVc3_duTxPpXbZoXppdHfDzvHQ2Mgbl5sZ7HO9Qo0EVeyepkzX0N0i3gMN0y0Go3LeWasH5w/w538-h640/Fortnite%2003-31-22%20at%2006.30%20PM.jpg" width="538" /></a></div><p>Note that the support ticket was closed even before they sent the response above.</p><p>This decision is the ultimate end of my playing Fortnite and seeing as I won't have the game installed anymore, I won't be checking to see if an option to convert in the game will be added later, but will welcome any update from those that I made as friends in the game if they have the time to let me know if this changes. In addition to the decision that I was done messing with this situation as a result of their poor decision to lock V-Bucks to the BR mode, I also sent the following response:</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">Then my decision is clear (based on your response); I am no longer your customer (any new purchases over the Epic Games launcher will not be happening on my account), a player/streamer of Fortnite (possibly no other games exclusive to the Epic Games launcher either) & will be working on a new public boycott against Fortnite, which includes supporting of other channels that stream Epic Games exclusive games on Twitch or focus primarily on game content exclusive to the Epic Games launcher on YouTube (given that most of the channels on my channel stream nothing but Epic Games exclusive games, I'll probably just disable auto-hosting until I find other channels to add), as well as removing Fortnite emotes I had created for use on my own channel.<br />I will be uninstalling the game directly after this response is sent, the new boycott expected to be published within a few days, as well as updating my review of the Save the World mode to show that I have since stopped playing the game (not even having it installed anymore) as a result of a change that stole 4+ years of my gaming life in re-assigning the premium currency I was collecting for use in StW to a mode that I was avoiding (for various reasons), collection of those V-Bucks being one of the few things that kept me playing it (associating those V-Bucks to 4-5 years of my life that has been stolen from me by forcing them to be locked in a mode that I don't play).<br /><br />As for your statement of "continued support", any support that "was" there is now gone; I can not support a game or it's publishers (or in this case, their developers, as this was a development decision) when a decision this detrimental is made to a person that only plays StW, so your statement ends any support I have for the game or your company from this point forward, unless I see otherwise that I have access to what I was collecting in the mode I was collecting it for use in, (meaning considering I won't even have it installed anymore, either I need a notice that the conversion has happened or I will need a statement from other players of the game that they are allowed to spend V-Bucks towards llamas again, which has been the same situation in Genshin Impact regarding the lack of vertical invert, their lack of response towards the inquiry to add it & my unwillingness to even start it up without it, much less do the updates to even check for it; of course I won't be going to those channels while they are streaming personally boycotted games, so it will have to be over private messages from friends I have made in the game if I'm going to get any notice of such a change that might bring me back & make me even consider purchases over your platform again). <br /></p><p>As stated in that response, because there is now a boycott active against Fortnite (and quite possibly any other Epic Games exclusive games, I haven't quite decided if I'm going to go through with that yet as I started streaming Dauntless myself, but there's a high probability that I will), I will be removing the Raven emote from my channel. Given this was the emote that I was keeping in the 1000 bits slot on my channel (which 3 cheerers had achieved, given them permanent access to that emote), I will need to ask the bit leader which emote they would prefer to have access to (this is a benefit on my channel exclusive to the bit leader, they can reorder emotes on the channel on request).</p><p>If there are any more updates regarding my going back to Fortnite, it will be done on this blog, but it seems unlikely that this decision is going to be reversed...</p><p>I half-expect there may be retaliation to the response I sent them, which could quite possibly result in an account closer, which would result in the boycott definitely including all games exclusive to the Epic Games launcher (possibly on the Epic Games platform at all), but would go a step further, meaning all games developed using their technology (meaning the Unreal Engine), so may other developers & publishers would also be affected if the boycott against Epic Games goes into <b>FULL EFFECT</b>.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-23020769045899094262022-03-31T16:48:00.001-06:002022-03-31T18:06:49.119-06:00Fortnite streams discontinued as a result of locking V-Bucks to BR mode<p>Early in the morning on March 31st, 2022, I updated Fortnite & logged in to find out that the V-Bucks I had been collecting for the past 4+ years in Save the World mode had been locked to the Battle Royale mode. I do NOT play BR & I do NOT spend V-Bucks on the BR store, so this change felt like stealing 4+ years of my life from me... Earlier this morning, I went on a few rants (over 1 live channel of a former Fortnite streamer who had helped me acquire Affiliate on Twitch as a StW streamer & 2 Discord servers, including the official Fortnite Discord), stating I was done with Fortnite, had left the official Discord & was expecting to uninstall the game by the time I had woken up (expecting) around noon.</p><p>After getting some sleep, I was thinking a bit more clearly & decided I would make one last-ditch effort to keep the game in my list of games before I uninstall it, this was to contact Epic Games support & see if they would be willing to convert most of what I had prior to the change into X-Ray tickets (what is now accepted toward llama purchases in StW, V-Bucks no longer being accepted towards them). In this support ticket, the following was stated:</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">I noticed when I started StW this morning (not playing the last couple weeks due to health issues) that I got 1000 X-Ray tickets on login. After some discussion about this on your Discord server, I eventually found that the V-Bucks I had been collecting since I purchased it in 2017 (over 37,000 before this change was made, which collection of these from missions & dailies were the primary reason that kept me playing the game after Twitch dailies were broken in StW in the first year of playability) are now locked to a mode that I don't even play (BR mode). I haven't been happy about a lot of the changes in STW for the last few years, but I continued playing it because I knew I had already spent over $40 for it at full price in 2017 (plus tax, purchasing roughly a month after it was playable), mostly just avoiding the modes I didn't like (which were missions that had the enclosing storm mechanic or didn't allow you to craft your own schematics).<br /><br />Last night I blew up about this on your Discord server, stated that I was done with Fortnite & left the server (also blowing up about it in 1 other Discord server & chat in a live Twitch channel, that particular streamer not even having the Epic Games launcher installed anymore because he wasn't happy with the StW modes that didn't allow him to craft his schematics, 1 of 3 channels that helped me acquire affiliate status on Twitch while I was still streaming StW with their raids to my channel). After getting some sleep & calming down a bit, I rejoined your Discord server & decided to make a last-ditch effort to retain those V-Bucks in the mode that I "was" still playing before I uninstall the game and make that decision to ditch the game final.<br /><br />This request to retain me as a player/streamer of StW (and potential customer on the Epic Games platform) is that you convert 37,000 V-Bucks into 37,000 X-Ray tickets; this will allow me to retain most of what I collected in StW & to be able to use them in the mode I originally collected them for. I have NEVER spent any V-Bucks on the BR store & locking what I had collected in StW to the BR mode is not going to force me to play it or spend them on that store, it's only going to get me to remove the game from my system & stop supporting other Fortnite streamers on a whole (not just BR streamers, where I already have streams tagged with "Mode: Battle Royale" blocked on Twitch, but the entire Fortnite game, regardless of what mode is being streamed).<br /><br />I have already moved Fortnite to the "Discontinued steams" section of my Game List on my Twitch channel (with a descriptive reason why this game is being discontinued on my channel) & that is likely to remain the decision if the time & effort I put into StW remains as time I can't get back because those V-Bucks are now locked to a mode I don't even play. Additionally, I'm intending on make a blog post about this on my Twitch blog explaining why Fortnite will no longer be streamed on my channel (if I can't get those V-Bucks accessible in the mode I play), as well as an addition to my review of the StW mode on my personal site, which is likely to be the final update to it once I'm left with the (expected) decision that all that is left to do with Fortnite is to uninstall it & never look at it again... Another BBB complaint is also possible if I'm faced with the decision of just scrapping what took over my gaming life for the last 4+ years.<br /></p><p>Depending on their decision (whether they decide to make V-Bucks usable on StW again, convert what I have asked to X-Ray tickets or just decide to give me the proverbial finger & reject the request or close the ticket without a response), is going to be the deciding factor whether I even keep Fortnite installed anymore (as well as whether I am even going to consider additional purchases over the Epic Games platform). If the decision stands as it is now, Fortnite will no longer be played, much less streamed on my channel ever again & this will likely also affect my decision as to whether I ever purchase anything over the Epic Games platform again.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-13188637636542460362022-02-06T15:02:00.000-07:002022-02-06T15:02:29.735-07:00Twitch extensions having issues, possible removal & replacement in the near future<p>On 2/6/2022, I noticed that both the <a href="https://dashboard.twitch.tv/extensions/gpicqmmaaavwkg6nvl5vclrl1eagaz-2.0.0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Game Lists</a> & <a href="https://dashboard.twitch.tv/extensions/7kodks69rwf64tad7558abd0268uzl-0.0.4" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Exclusive Content for Subscribers</a> didn't appear to be working on my channel anymore (the <a href="https://dashboard.twitch.tv/extensions/uaw3vx1k0ttq74u9b2zfvt768eebh1-0.4.6" target="_blank">StreamElements Leaderboards</a> extension is still working however). I spent maybe an hour trying to troubleshoot the extensions that don't appear to be loading anymore to make sure it wasn't an issue on my side, eventually giving up on trying to troubleshoot them & just marking them for removal at a later date. I'll be leaving the extensions on the channel for now, but they are likely to be replaced by something else in the near future if they don't start working on their own...<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-3191394027484434102022-02-04T01:29:00.003-07:002022-02-04T01:33:36.704-07:00More chat restrictions in response to further attacks<p>As I stated <a href="https://twitch-wondergamer.blogspot.com/2021/10/twitch-restrictions-increased-on-channel.html" target="_blank">earlier</a>, I decided to increase restrictions on chatting in my channel as a result of regular harassment when I was streaming (particularly when the game being streamed was <b>Fortnite</b>). As of 2/4/2022, the minimum requirement in the screenshot on the linked blog post has been updated from a minimum of 1 week to <u>3 months</u> (if the viewer's account does not have a registered phone number or hasn't been following for a minimum of 10 minutes). Details regarding what happened on 2/3/2022 to prompt this change can be found in the extended video evidence description at <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LGHViVsJPPAyVR5TKqC_REFdJ4ubldF936HRdCpjm2Q/edit#heading=h.992ludbp7zs" target="_blank">https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LGHViVsJPPAyVR5TKqC_REFdJ4ubldF936HRdCpjm2Q</a> (with a list of <b><u>ALL</u></b> known accounts, name changes & logged attacks starting on 2/5/2020 with the original situation in the video evidence located at <a href="https://youtu.be/B-4jmNFZD-o" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/B-4jmNFZD-o</a>).<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-38936825291871372802022-02-03T10:58:00.004-07:002022-02-03T10:58:44.361-07:00Community tab disabled on YouTube channel<p>On 2/3/2022, I noticed that the Community tab on my YouTube channel was no longer present (probably gone for some time). Doing an online search would give indication that this function is only available to those with over 500 subscribers (regardless of whether they had access to it prior or not).</p><p>I was using that section for updates regarding the YouTube channel (which has probably all been wiped at this point, can't even see what was on it anymore even in my YouTube dashboard), it looks like I am going to have to do the same as I had to do with Twitch when they removed their Feed function & start running written updates on an external site (which is what is seen here). As of yet, I haven't determined if I am going to create a new blog for it, I might just create a list of posts related to the YouTube channel farther down the right-hand side of the page.</p><p>The YouTube channel is used more for highlight backups of streams on Twitch, but due to health issues that have prevented me from being able to stream much over the past couple years, it's still serving as a place for gaming highlights (or when it's necessary to display somebody for who they are as being a troll or griefer), just more for highlights recorded when I'm gaming (even if I wasn't streaming).</p><p>I still want to get back into being a regular streamer on Twitch again, however due to the whole COVID situation, medical resources are strapped tight & I'm unable to get my surgery taken care of (I've been trying to set this up for over 2 years already). Without going into too many specifics, the surgery is necessary to stop a bleeding issue, which leaves me with a lack of energy as a result of daily anemia from that blood loss. Until I can get this issue resolved, extended time gaming won't be possible & having to walk away from the PC to deal with these health issues is a common distraction from what would make it possible to continue being a streamer on Twitch... I might try to do streams occasionally when I feel I have enough energy to do so (I know I've tried setting up to stream in the last few months, but didn't have the energy to do so before I was ready to start streaming), but there's no guarantee on how long I'll be able to stream <i>if</i> I am able to get started, so we're just going to have to play it by ear until my health is good enough that anemia isn't a daily factor in my life that interferes with my ability to get things done...<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-52176127833706956262022-01-20T04:52:00.000-07:002022-01-20T04:52:34.435-07:00Internet problems again; further streams on hold...<p>While I was intending on doing a <b>Dauntless</b> stream later today, I've found that my internet with <a href="https://www.centurylink.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">CenturyLink</a> is again having issues & my upload rate currently is not high enough to run a stream of online multiplayer games (single player games perhaps still being an option). I did attempt to schedule a repair call with a technician over their online chat, but the chat representative was unwilling to schedule the call & stated that I needed to contact my router's manufacturer (which isn't going to fix anything). There's also a high probability that even if the technician does come out to fix it, my upload rate is going to be back to a mere 3 mbps, which means I won't be able to stream online games anymore anyways (not until CenturyLink offers a higher upload rate or I ultimately decide to switch back to Xfinity, the latter I've been attempting to avoid after <a href="http://wondergamer.net/reviews/increasing_costs_false-statements_early-termination_fees.htm" target="_blank">what they pulled with me in 2018</a>). I've been waiting for <a href="https://fiber.google.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Google Fiber</a> to become available in my area to get a decent internet connect at a decent price, but this still remains unavailable in my neighborhood since I moved here in 2016...</p><p>So while I was considering a stream today, no stream will be possible while my internet connection is malfunctioning (even if I do get a service call scheduled, it's unlikely it will be fixed while I still have energy to work on the last day of <b>Dauntless</b> before the new season). I'll be making a call to CenturyLink later today to try & set up a service call to have somebody come & look at the line, but if I can't get anywhere because they would rather put responsibility on my router for the problem (which is only a factor because my CenturyLink modem is in bridge mode, which was necessary because I wasn't able to update my personal site if it wasn't), I will need to make calls to start switching back to Xfinity at the end of this month.</p><p>On the plus side, if I do switch back to Xfinity, I should have the upload rate to be able to start streaming regularly again (this is provided I have the health to continue doing so, which hasn't been the case for the last few months). The bigger issue is I may not have the funds to continue paying that bill once I have to start paying my medical insurance's premiums again (especially after what <a href="http://wondergamer.net/reviews/wrongful_termination.htm" target="_blank">Patreon pulled with terminating my account</a>), so currently we're just going to have to see where the future of my channel goes based on available ISP services, whether they are functioning correctly, how much they are going to cost if I switch again & whether I can afford those costs (not to mention the continuing health issues I haven't been able to get taken care of due to COVID sucking up hospital resources & preventing me from getting the surgery done that I've been trying to get taken care of for over 2 years)...<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-19966002706245252122021-11-22T02:08:00.000-07:002021-11-22T02:08:15.178-07:00Emote reclassification, more emotes available to Tier 1 subscribers<p> On 11/22/2021, I noticed a notification from Twitch stating that they had
given us more emote slots for Tier 1 subscribers, so I decided to reclassify
my emotes so that Tier 1 subscribers would have access to more of those emotes
when they subscriber (currently 4, with 1 more still & 1 animated I may
add later). The Ammo, SeriousBomb & Fleshpound emotes were moved to
being accessible to Tier 1 Subscribers, while I moved the Raven emote back to
being available to all tippers of 1,000 bits on the channel (currently including 3 other Fortnite streamers, or at least former-streamers of Fortnite).</p><p>Of
course there would be a catch in doing this, where like many other things on
Twitch have become broke (or previously gained perks being revoked), I found
that once again I'm having to go through the initial acceptance period that
Twitch imposes on newer affiliates (where I had gained approval to immediate
acceptance of emotes over a year ago)...</p><p>Note also that the bit
leader on the channel has the ability to request an emote resort (allowing
access to emotes more to their liking in cheer slots that they have
reached). Unfortunately seeing as Twitch is now making me go through the
acceptance process again when I attempt to resubmit emotes to have them
resorted, this means that any time I have to do so, those emotes will become
temporarily available until Twitch re-accepts the emotes (even if it was
supposed to be a simple resort of existing emotes)...
</p>
WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-24792507354000711522021-11-08T11:50:00.002-07:002021-11-08T11:50:16.287-07:00CenturyLink speed changes, continued streaming pending streaming performance tests<p style="text-align: left;">
Roughly the first week of November of 2021, I noticed that my upload rates
seems slower when uploading gaming videos to YouTube, so I decided to run
another speed test on 11/8/2021 & found that it appears my speeds have
changed (download speeds increasing roughly 10 Mbps from where I should have
been, the uploading rate running roughly 4 Mbps higher than what I was
originally quoted when I switched back to CenturyLink from Comcast...but
roughly half of what I had when they fixed my internet back in July).<br />
<center><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifFOsbdyjs0yybfjKJQSitBfVsdXLq8AglOO519570gYifEjrBRW-hU97akAm64QirVOBkDRJD3bg2CHHQkBlmovizR0DHW7nP597fQQH540Eo7BJtADoK5v0UzoszTBr5THZUCdWdCdq_/" /></center></p>
<p>
While 3 Mbps was not high enough to continue streaming online multiplayer
games (what I was getting back when I first switched back to CenturyLink), 7
Mbps might be enough to allow me to continue streaming the games I'd prefer to
be streaming (although I was getting 10 Mbps upload when I was with
Comcast). I'll be running some tests when I get a chance to stream again
to see if this increase in upload rate allows me to stream at 3000 Kbps (what
I prefer to stream at); If not, I'll again be restricted in my streaming
capability to only single player games until decent internet is available in
my area (that doesn't feel like it costs an arm, leg & newborn child every
month...).
</p>
<p>
I'm still waiting on Google Fiber to be become available in my area,
with any luck, maybe Biden's new budget plans will get these companies to
start laying fiber optic cables for fiber internet plans once again (as they
stated 4 or 5 years ago when I first moved here, later finding out that those
plans were abandoned when CenturyLink changed their management company).
</p>
WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-24571609889419284132021-10-21T13:57:00.005-06:002021-10-23T00:05:37.834-06:00Dauntless streams on hold due to bug<p>After the last update with <a href="https://playdauntless.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Dauntless</b></a>, I realized that I wasn't getting awarded coins when completing weeklies & even if I do get the coins later, this is still restricting my ability to purchase limited items (like aethersparks, merits & keys), which reset each week/day (depending on the item, point being that considering I'm only getting coins on dailies, I'm not gaining enough to be able to purchase those items each week, aethersparks always being the highest priority each week).</p><p>Because of this new bug in Dauntless, I will be limiting my gameplay in Dauntless until resolved, which means there won't be enough time playing the game to make it worth streaming it on <a href="https://www.twitch.tv/WonderGamer" target="_blank">Twitch</a>. On the other hand, videos will still be recorded & <i>could</i> still show up on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/c/wondergamerx" target="_blank">YouTube</a> if I have something worthy of the time it takes to process & upload the video (usually taking around a few hours per video). Streaming of Dauntless should continue on my Twitch channel once this bug has been fixed (as well as once my health has improved enough to allow me to stream over an extended time again, one of the reasons streams have been extremely limited over the past couple months).</p><p>UPDATE: Interestingly enough, it seems that almost as soon as I started bringing up this issue on their official Discord server (including mentioning the notices I have made that I was putting Dauntless streams on hold until this issue was resolved, as if my Discord status wasn't enough indication of that), they hotfixed the issue mid-session (without needing another patch to fix it). For the most part this issue appears to be fixed, but as of yet, there are still a few that appear to be bugged & not completable (at least as far as I could tell), one in particular being the completion of dailies counting towards a weekly.</p><p>At the very least, weeklies are now awarding coins as they should be (at least those that can be completed), so Dauntless streams are back on when I have the health to run them, however I do have a lot of life issues that I've been dealing with over the past couple months, I probably won't have a lot of time to stream until mid-November (hopefully before then, although they might be limited until later).</p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-24156119862806341632021-10-16T01:00:00.008-06:002021-10-16T01:09:24.219-06:00Twitch restrictions increased on channel<p>Due to the obscene amount of "<i>buy viewers</i>" bots & abusive users on Twitch, decided to increase the restrictions beyond just email verification. This now includes a phone number verification for new chatters, but with a minimal restriction (seeing as bots typically follow & are gone in a split second, they'll never get past this...unless they were actually stupid enough to add a phone number to their accounts). The account age restriction should block the people creating new accounts just to be abusive in chat.</p><p>Anybody who has chatted on the channel in the past (and hasn't been banned) should be exempt from needing a verified phone number on their Twitch account, otherwise they can just wait 10 minutes after following to chat if they don't have a verified phone number. The account age bypass may be adjusted or removed if it bypasses independently rather than in addition to following.<br /></p><p>Restrictions will be adjusted as necessary, but I don't expect I'll have to go much farther than this.</p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_JQbzGA1666-lpifQ_xCyKW9Vm0aXYvNAM8iRvPoU_jyS1aWiWuKxYLUMtzR4qoZzhoL918p7wWA-tiLTTvVWZfW3ZpXRmNCPXI1239z84vYgSq8G5ahlY081xcFRmrKqBjrxBL4iya1/s1048/Twitch+minimum+chat+verifications.jpg"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="1048" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC_JQbzGA1666-lpifQ_xCyKW9Vm0aXYvNAM8iRvPoU_jyS1aWiWuKxYLUMtzR4qoZzhoL918p7wWA-tiLTTvVWZfW3ZpXRmNCPXI1239z84vYgSq8G5ahlY081xcFRmrKqBjrxBL4iya1/w640-h352/Twitch+minimum+chat+verifications.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /> <br /><p></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9214579629450566928.post-83202724336352405422021-10-08T20:55:00.010-06:002021-10-08T21:01:47.983-06:00Twitch breach of information<p>On October 7th, I received an email from Twitch stating that all stream keys had been reset on Twitch (being that I use older software that requires manual entry of the key on my PC, this was an important email for me, although I have yet to update it in my old beta version of OBS):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3Fr1g5RRR0tG91b4DP9E0No0wtBI3jHa01sXpdMohJgfZP3iFi_i8HMlyqm3oZ9cMbV0OQECw05X_MG7xF6u1AsEQwuXHDGKJXlfE0aEsK47r0x_zUVPF23hUPVnSZNVmXVSbcWb29jC/s600/Twitch+key+reset.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="600" height="589" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR3Fr1g5RRR0tG91b4DP9E0No0wtBI3jHa01sXpdMohJgfZP3iFi_i8HMlyqm3oZ9cMbV0OQECw05X_MG7xF6u1AsEQwuXHDGKJXlfE0aEsK47r0x_zUVPF23hUPVnSZNVmXVSbcWb29jC/w640-h589/Twitch+key+reset.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;">While at the time I was unaware that there had been a breach of information on Twitch (the email not specifically mentioning this), I suspected as much to be receiving an email like this.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The next day (October 8th) I got an email from Norton regarding the attack on Twitch, a web version of this email can be found <a href="https://secure.norton.com/pub/sf/FormLink?_ri_=X0Gzc2X%3DAQpglLjHJlTQGtbioyDwzaKpvzf13l7yzczc16m8pjbS57jUFzbqtboJbzg2GpYJGu9W9HvfVXMtX%3DAQpglLjHJlTQGtbioyDwzaKpvzf13l7yzczc16lOHTHoRD81Tza0Rzd8r6nhzcvhghoTBTWER&_ei_=Et5S065P6dxbOH4m38vSgfcw2X9Ld7GPTup5o2yKMps1uSkc2J52KF4f-msJU_t7LtVkakJN3fAoPWrA6HQFWM9ICrIt5IrSztKhJ-oZeKQYr6gvjX21VxDktIbGg8cXKjQOd_egTbxyShfBQ7MAGYfzcP9QJShfgKPWBB4DhS10j_yo-MGGLeA-L2niVjVd-th794iJKJpMV2cpJWtxR_Ks6TRJejIRXzM_7g.&_di_=crnigf03vgkof694dj3netoaba48uidivjukqddgmj7ihcgkmusg" target="_blank">here</a>. This email made me aware of the situation & after reading <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/6/22712250/twitch-hack-leak-data-streamer-revenue-steam-competitor" target="_blank">futher details about it on The Verge</a>, I realized that this could not only be the reason why certain functions are getting broken on Twitch, additional steps are likely necessary by creators to secure your account, as well as protect your identity from being stolen...</p><p style="text-align: left;">While I suspect people using 2-step authentication on their accounts are probably safe (with perhaps the exception of using a mobile authenticator, seeing as it might be possible the hackers managed to pull restoration keys to access your account), email & SMS/text secondary authorization methods should still remain secure. Changing your password might be a smart move if you are not using texting or email 2-step login protection.</p><p style="text-align: left;">The bigger problem is the theft of personal information, which might make sense to protect your identity with an extra layer of protection (like with credit monitoring or through LifeLock). I personally use the authenticator on my main account, so I expect I will be at least changing my password, if not changing the 2-step authentication method (seeing as I have Norton Dark Web Scanning for my personal information, I'll get a notification if that password gets listed, at which point I'll know it's necessary to change the authentication method beyond the password).</p><p style="text-align: left;">Stay safe out there streamers, do what is necessary to secure your accounts & identities against the technically-advance criminal enterprise that attacked not only Twitch, but every user on their site.<br /></p>WonderGamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01460619555463524543noreply@blogger.com0