Does any one have any info on Valve utilising slave labor in china to make external merchandise.

[Catspeare]

I love valves games and i love the ease of access and reliability that you get from steam, but i stumbled across some info saying that valve has refused to say anything on the problem since 2016. I haven't been able to find anything else on the matter so im asking the community for any evidence that it is not immoral to purchase products through steam? please respond with anything asap.

[cSg|mc-Hotsauce]

Your sources please.

[☆ƧQυiяяєL♫]

Oprindeligt skrevet af eotreasaigh:

...any evidence that it is not immoral to purchase products through steam..

:D
I know of a friend of a friend of a friend and their friends' friend said that and so it's true.
I won't link my evidence as they are in hiding from reptiles and you know, those guys.

It is immoral to do a charge-back on Steam purchases
Payment Disputes and Chargebacks
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6687-HJVM-8966

[WhiteKnight]

How many Chinese made products do you own?. Go through everything u have and see how many are "Made in China".

[T9]

Who knows

[unca.alby]

Is this another one of those things like the "Sweatshops in Vietnam" where they were paying the workers like two dollars a day, which, by Western Standards, truly would be "slave labor", but in the local area, where the cost of living is drastically lower, it was like the best paying job in the whole country? A waiting list to get a job there? A frikkin waiting list to get on the waiting list?

And some ignoramus with so little knowledge of basic economics, he thinks he's got plenty of money coz his checkbook is still half-full, gets a-hold of this info and makes a holy stink in the media? (and the media questions nothing -- if it grabs headlines, it must be true)

Is that what this posting is about? Somebody in China very happily doing Slave Labor by Western Standards?

[Catspeare]

I'm willing to admit I made a mistake. I got two companies mixed up. Though valve is not under fire for using illegitimate Chinese companies, they are refusing to reveal where they get the minerals for their products come from. These minerals are gold zinc tin and many others. it is encouraged for many companies to reveal this info so that it is known how they procure it. For a few years Game industries. biz have inquired many companies and both Sony and Valve kept firmly silent. I again apologize for getting my companies mixed up i'm just worried because I absolutely adore Valve and their games. That's why i'm asking for any more info because i would like to be sure. I came asking the community because i don't just want to jump to conclusions. Now that that's out of the way i'm sorry i didn't immediately post the links to the info it took a little while to find it again.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-07-31-conflict-minerals-and-gaming-which-companies-may-have-funded-human-rights-abuses-in-2019


https://win.gg/news/5141/valve-and-sony-face-questions-over-use-of-conflict-minerals

[Crazy Tiger]

Doesn't surprise me that Valve doesn't respond. They rarely respond to things.

[vexviron]

Oprindeligt skrevet af eotreasaigh:

Does any one have any info on Valve utilising slave labor in china to make external merchandise.

No. Why would you make up such a rumor? Are you an Epic shill, or just someone that isn't informed enough to make a decision for themselves, like a handicap person. If you honestly think an American company like Steam would utilized useless labor like "child labor" as a source of productivity; then you must live in China. China makes children work, not America. I highly doubt, useless Chinese "labor" children are coding Steam to run better.

[𝕙.𝕓𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕒𝕤]

Oprindeligt skrevet af vexviron:

... I highly doubt, useless Chinese "labor" children are coding Steam to run better.

On the other hand looking at all the Steam glitches could arouse suspicion.

[☆ƧQυiяяєL♫]

Oprindeligt skrevet af eotreasaigh:

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-07-31-conflict-minerals-and-gaming-which-companies-may-have-funded-human-rights-abuses-in-2019

https://win.gg/news/5141/valve-and-sony-face-questions-over-use-of-conflict-minerals

Speculative articles. The what-if scenarios, wouldn't it be weird if this were true.
It's plausible, it's almost arithmetic.
Like a binary mathematical operation, a commutative property
(A+B)=(B+A)
thus, "Seeing is believing" equals, "Believing is seeing"

One of the things these articles do not address are the "alternatives" because the article writing guys ...apparently have zero knowledge in Materials and Process studies.
There is nothing about basic commodity markets or simple Macro economics.

It's all about "Evil-Outsourcing"

"Blood diamonds" and "Lithium battery mining" and now these articles wax long about malevolent "gold tin" evils, but offer no alternatives, for example, gas guzzler cars versus electric cars.. (minus the evil battery mineral-mining outsourcing)

"...The U.S. cannot depend on sales in the U.S. alone. In order to sustain business from foreign countries, the U.S. must be a part of the global market to compete with products produced by companies in such countries as Mexico, Brazil, China, Singapore, India, and those in Europe...

...Whether through an offset program or as a stand-alone import of goods, outsourcing tends to allow the U.S. to obtain goods at lower costs because materials do not have to be imported into the U.S., and foreign employment is often cheaper, raising profits for the company and allowing the products to be cheaper for U.S. buyers.

Cost of labor in the U.S. can be almost $27 per hour for manufacturing labor. In contrast, cost in Eastern Europe averages $8 per hour for manufacturing labor and, in East Asia (excluding Japan), $13 per hour.

Manufacturing labor in the Philippines averages under $2 per hour, and in Brazil the average is $8 per hour. Outsourcing promotes globalization, which is a new source of growth for U.S. businesses. These figures are based on the 2011 U.S. Bureau Labor Statistics hourly direct pay data, www.bls.gov/web/ichcc.supp.toc.htm#table_2


https://www.ncbfaa.org/Scripts/4Disapi.dll/4DCGI/cms/review.html?Action=CMS_Document&DocID=14050

[Washell]

Oprindeligt skrevet af eotreasaigh:

For a few years Game industries. biz have inquired many companies and both Sony and Valve kept firmly silent.

And all the others say that they can't tell... whoop de doo, that makes a difference! You can safely assume Sony and Valve can't tell either, given that the point where the minerals enter the supply chain is several steps away from the point where these companies get involved.

[Sleepy Yoshi]

Let's think about this for a second. Journalists reached out to Valve, but Valve didn't respond. Valve has not said anything publicly.

So how is anyone on these forums going to know?

[Radene]

It's the U.S. election year, isn't it. 4 years ago it was Russia, today it's China, and in 4 years it's going to be Eritrea, or something.

[crunchyfrog]

Oprindeligt skrevet af eotreasaigh:

I'm willing to admit I made a mistake. I got two companies mixed up. Though valve is not under fire for using illegitimate Chinese companies, they are refusing to reveal where they get the minerals for their products come from. These minerals are gold zinc tin and many others. it is encouraged for many companies to reveal this info so that it is known how they procure it. For a few years Game industries. biz have inquired many companies and both Sony and Valve kept firmly silent. I again apologize for getting my companies mixed up i'm just worried because I absolutely adore Valve and their games. That's why i'm asking for any more info because i would like to be sure. I came asking the community because i don't just want to jump to conclusions. Now that that's out of the way i'm sorry i didn't immediately post the links to the info it took a little while to find it again.

https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2020-07-31-conflict-minerals-and-gaming-which-companies-may-have-funded-human-rights-abuses-in-2019


https://win.gg/news/5141/valve-and-sony-face-questions-over-use-of-conflict-minerals

Are they refusing, or do they genuinely not know? Furthermore, assuming they DID know and just didn't want to share that info (for competition, that's quite common) it still DOES NOT mean that it's being mined by slave labour nor evidence that they know about such.

They are starkly different things.

I get your altruism, I truly do, but you can't go around suspecting stuff without adequate evidence.

[unca.alby]

Oprindeligt skrevet af Radene:

It's the U.S. election year, isn't it. 4 years ago it was Russia, today it's China, and in 4 years it's going to be Eritrea, or something.

No I'm pretty sure they'll get back to North Korea. Ol' Kim lobs another missile into the North China Sea every time he wants more money.