Asexuality is a massive spectrum, not a narrow box. Most of us see Ace as a big tent that covers anyone who experiences attraction differently, rarely, or only under specific conditions. It isn't an all or nothing thing.
What you described, needing a romantic bond first, is the core of demisexuality. And that bit about only feeling it if your partner is "sexual first"? That’s actually a specific thing called reciprosexuality. Both are widely recognized and respected parts of the Ace community.
One thing that helps a lot of people is separating attraction from action. You can participate in sex for curiosity or romantic intimacy and still be asexual. It’s about that internal pull (or lack of it), not the act itself.
Labels are just tools to help you navigate your own life and find your people. They are not cages you have to fit into perfectly. If calling yourself Ace or Demi feels right to you now, then it is yours to use.
He is just like Hillary. White and milquetoast. The Democrats suck and the only thing special about them is that they're just not as bad as the Republicans. We need better candidates.
I appreciate the civil discussion, but I think you’re confusing "convenience" with "freedom."
You mentioned adding non-Steam games, but that's just a shortcut. You lose the "Join Game" buttons, the cloud saves, and the lobby invites. That is the definition of a social moat. You can leave, but you’re socially penalized for doing so.
As for competition, the fact that GOG and Itch.io have to hide in tiny niches just to survive proves my point. When the #1 player has 75%+ of the market, they don't have to be perfect, they just have to be too big to leave.
My solution of mandated interoperability is exactly how we fixed the phone industry. You can switch carriers and keep your number. We should be able to switch launchers and keep our friends and games. If Steam is truly as perfect as you say, they should have nothing to fear from a system where users are actually free to leave. A benevolent gatekeeper who refuses to unlock the gate is still a gatekeeper.
The idea that they don't use tricks is not true. Valve’s "Price Parity" rules stop other stores from competing on price. For instance, if a dev tries to pass their 12% Epic savings onto the customer, Valve can kick them off Steam, where 75% of their revenue lives. That is a massive underhanded leverage.
Also, it is not just about making a better product. It is switching costs. Because our libraries and social circles are locked into a proprietary ecosystem, we aren't choosing Steam every day. We are just stuck there.
The solution is not for a competitor to build a "more perfect Steam," that is impossible because Valve has a 20 year head start on our data. The solution is mandated interoperability.
We need a system where:
Digital ownership is portable. If I buy a game, I should be able to launch it on any client, not just the one I bought it from. My library shouldn't be hostage to one company.
Social graphs are open. I should be able to chat with my Steam friends from a different launcher, just like I can email a Gmail user from an Proton account.
Price competition is legal. We need to ban the Price Parity rules that stop other stores from offering lower prices.
We did this with cell phone numbers (you can keep your number when you switch carriers) and the EU has been doing this with messaging apps. There's no reason we should not do it for our multi-thousand-dollar game libraries.
We did this with cell phone numbers so you could switch carriers without losing your identity. They are doing it with messaging apps in Europe so you can text a WhatsApp user from a different app. There is no reason we should accept anything less for a digital library worth thousands of dollars. The goal isn't to kill Steam, it is to make Steam actually compete for our loyalty every day instead of just relying on the fact that we're too locked-in to leave.
Raw wealth doesn't matter as much as market capture. Valve makes more money per employee than almost any company in history. They don't need Microsoft’s billions because they already own the toll booth for the entire PC industry. When you control the only road everyone has to drive on, you don't need to be the biggest car company.
Big Pharma and the insurance industries getting their money's worth.
https://www.opensecrets.org/profiles/hakeem-jeffries/us_congress/industries?cycle=2024&mpid=1050304
This tells me Netgear probably bent the knee and kissed the ring.
This is performative.
“That grammable look” is kind of a sad reality when you realize these people aspire to look a certain way to be on social media.
George Carlin on Cigars
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY1eXnbB1Mg
This is exactly how autoimmune disease works. Do something one day, you are out of commission for a few days after.
This is just a reminder that the current proposed budget cuts NASA's budget (again) by 23%.
Nope, don't like it.
This is a nuke threat. There is no other rational way to read this.
You are 100% valid.
Asexuality is a massive spectrum, not a narrow box. Most of us see Ace as a big tent that covers anyone who experiences attraction differently, rarely, or only under specific conditions. It isn't an all or nothing thing.
What you described, needing a romantic bond first, is the core of demisexuality. And that bit about only feeling it if your partner is "sexual first"? That’s actually a specific thing called reciprosexuality. Both are widely recognized and respected parts of the Ace community.
One thing that helps a lot of people is separating attraction from action. You can participate in sex for curiosity or romantic intimacy and still be asexual. It’s about that internal pull (or lack of it), not the act itself.
Labels are just tools to help you navigate your own life and find your people. They are not cages you have to fit into perfectly. If calling yourself Ace or Demi feels right to you now, then it is yours to use.
I don't understand why she would share this.
Context please?
He is just like Hillary. White and milquetoast. The Democrats suck and the only thing special about them is that they're just not as bad as the Republicans. We need better candidates.
Just a reminder, not using Netflix is free.
I appreciate the civil discussion, but I think you’re confusing "convenience" with "freedom."
You mentioned adding non-Steam games, but that's just a shortcut. You lose the "Join Game" buttons, the cloud saves, and the lobby invites. That is the definition of a social moat. You can leave, but you’re socially penalized for doing so.
As for competition, the fact that GOG and Itch.io have to hide in tiny niches just to survive proves my point. When the #1 player has 75%+ of the market, they don't have to be perfect, they just have to be too big to leave.
My solution of mandated interoperability is exactly how we fixed the phone industry. You can switch carriers and keep your number. We should be able to switch launchers and keep our friends and games. If Steam is truly as perfect as you say, they should have nothing to fear from a system where users are actually free to leave. A benevolent gatekeeper who refuses to unlock the gate is still a gatekeeper.
The idea that they don't use tricks is not true. Valve’s "Price Parity" rules stop other stores from competing on price. For instance, if a dev tries to pass their 12% Epic savings onto the customer, Valve can kick them off Steam, where 75% of their revenue lives. That is a massive underhanded leverage.
Also, it is not just about making a better product. It is switching costs. Because our libraries and social circles are locked into a proprietary ecosystem, we aren't choosing Steam every day. We are just stuck there.
The solution is not for a competitor to build a "more perfect Steam," that is impossible because Valve has a 20 year head start on our data. The solution is mandated interoperability.
We need a system where:
We did this with cell phone numbers (you can keep your number when you switch carriers) and the EU has been doing this with messaging apps. There's no reason we should not do it for our multi-thousand-dollar game libraries.
We did this with cell phone numbers so you could switch carriers without losing your identity. They are doing it with messaging apps in Europe so you can text a WhatsApp user from a different app. There is no reason we should accept anything less for a digital library worth thousands of dollars. The goal isn't to kill Steam, it is to make Steam actually compete for our loyalty every day instead of just relying on the fact that we're too locked-in to leave.
Edit: fixed final paragraph.
Raw wealth doesn't matter as much as market capture. Valve makes more money per employee than almost any company in history. They don't need Microsoft’s billions because they already own the toll booth for the entire PC industry. When you control the only road everyone has to drive on, you don't need to be the biggest car company.
Source: https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/pc-gaming/valve-makes-almost-usd50-million-per-employee-raking-in-more-cash-per-person-than-google-amazon-or-microsoft-gaming-giants-350-employees-on-track-to-generate-usd17-billion-this-year