Deception, Lies, and CSGO - H3H3Productions - General

[video=youtube;_8fU2QG-lV0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8fU2QG-lV0[/video] aka Ethan became a CSGO journalist.

Re-posting this from the other thread coz this is something i find super disguting [quote]I'm honestly glad someone finally decided to bring this issue to the mainstream. People don't realize how much a gambling addiction can ruin someones life, especially if you're a child and you start it young (which some of these people are being encouraged to by watching their favorite streamers throw away disposable money on twitch) Shits scummy as fuck, and the fact Valve turns a blind eye to it is pretty disgusting, especially when pro players are constantly doxxed and abused because they lose a match that was heavily bet on and valve does literally nothing to combat it. And valve is painfully aware of this too, considering they banned several players, some of which were under 18, from tournaments after they bet against themelves, and yet Valve still did nothing[/quote] the fact Valve is so painfully aware of all this and does nothing is disgusting

reposting my opinions from the other thread too [quote=me] I can definitely see where people are coming from attacking Valve, but I don't think this is inherently a Valve issue. Valve COULD do a couple things such as revoking access, and I definitely can see where Valve can be held liable for that, but at the end of the day, the people who are actually running these sites are waaay more at fault. I think it's more a law thing, how we aren't regulating these sites because it's technically getting past already existing gambling laws. But at the end of the day, the only real money paid for the guns is something completely unregulated by Valve. You don't buy a gun with tangible money, you trade it for Steam currency. The actual money traded for virtual guns is via PayPal (which requires you to be 18+ anyways last I checked) or some other currency like bitcoin. With the gambling sites, you aren't gambling money, you're gambling guns that have a value assigned to them by a community. It's similar to pachinko machines. You buy pachinko balls, then gamble them (as they aren't currency, they are legal to gamble in Japan,) trade them in for prizes and stuff, which is then exchanged for money at a place separate to the pachinko parlor (but usually in partnership with them, this is where the shadiness happens but the government has to overlook it because it makes soooo much money for them.) I'm not saying anything that Valve or these guys are doing is right, because pachinko parlors are limited to ages 17+ and there's tons of restrictions, but if we were to outright ban this kind of behavior it would have a ripple effect on the economy through just online gambling alone. However it does need to be regulated, hard. The people behind the sites should DEFINITELY be punished just for letting 13+ players play. Valve shouldn't be the target of this lawsuit, [U]or at least the full extent of the suit.[/U] There are so many fucked up pieces to this puzzle and all parties involved should take the blame, just some way more than others. [editline]fuck[/editline] but fuck gambling, seriously. it's one of the worst things humanity has ever dictionary danced its way into the limelight and it's fucking terrible that it has such a chokehold on our fucking economy. [QUOTE=Str4fe;50641967]You can sell them on third party sites though for btc/paypal money.[/QUOTE] [QUOTE=HAKKAR!!!;50641970]you absolutely can turn it in to real money, very easily in fact. Like i said above too, valve knows this considering they were heavily involved in punishing a group of pro players that did just that[/QUOTE] this is kinda what I said, Valve can't be held accountable. maybe liable for ignoring the issue, but not fully accountable for that kind of thing. the government turns a blind eye to our gambling industry because you're not technically playing for money. you're playing for chips that can be exchanged for money. it's a loophole as old as time itself, but like i said deleting it would destroy the economy. and that fucking sucks, but we've gotta work around the workaround and find a way to punish these assholes for it. [/quote]

I hope that lawsuit mentioned in the video succeeds. It would set a nice precedent.

Valve should overnight disable all bots. They need to review the idea of allowing people to gamble.

One of the most popular CS:GO youtubers said this on the video [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/69kGT7X.png?1[/IMG]

The thing I hate most about trying to argue against underage gambling is that people will always put the blame on the parents. Like dude, do you not know what an addiction is? The basic definition of an addiction is engaging in harmful behaviour even though you know it's not good for you, or refuse to accept that fact. Most of the time the parents aren't even aware of the issue. A lot don't even know what Counter-Strike is, let alone the fact that it has a virtual market built into it. And it's not like the kid would tell his parents that he gambles, because that would mean that he wouldn't be able to continue doing so.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;50641994]I hope that lawsuit mentioned in the video succeeds. It would set a nice precedent.[/QUOTE] But Valve doesnt run those websites. [editline]3rd July 2016[/editline] Like i get they're not clear of responsibility or anything but shouldnt the gambling sites be targeted first.

[QUOTE=AaronM202;50642067]But Valve doesnt run those websites. [editline]3rd July 2016[/editline] Like i get they're not clear of responsibility or anything but shouldnt the gambling sites be targeted first.[/QUOTE] good luck dealing with the thousands of gambling sites out there. you cant just say 'oh if you stop a few, they'll all go away' something needs to be done at the source. valve might not be held accountable but they arent doing anything to combat it and peoples lives are being ruined by the loophole they've made.

So what if there's gambling? What if I want to gamble sometimes? Some website does shady/fraudy shit okay there's an argument, but the "for the kiddies" moralist argument against gambling entirely is stupid. If some dumb kid becomes a gambling addict it is not suddenly my or anyone's fault, I couldn't care less.

[QUOTE=Naught;50642078]good luck dealing with the thousands of gambling sites out there. you cant just say 'oh if you stop a few, they'll all go away' something needs to be done at the source. valve might not be held accountable but they arent doing anything to combat it and peoples lives are being ruined by the loophole they've made.[/QUOTE] How would you go about stopping the gambling sites through Valve though? Shutting down the CS:GO market stuff and trading? Or like, make all CS:GO items untradeable?

[QUOTE=Aman;50642088]So what if there's gambling? What if I want to gamble sometimes? Someone does shady/fraudy shit okay, but the "for the kiddies" moralist argument against gambling entirely is stupid. If some dumb kid becomes a gambling addict it is not suddenly my or anyone's fault, I couldn't care less.[/QUOTE] this is failing to understand the fault that's still in play. They are doing absolutely nothing to stop kids from playing, and in fact they are motivating this kind of behavior to be performed by their audience, which is mostly kids. it's like putting beer ads on Cartoon Network that use Cartoon Network characters to advertise it. it's having ultimate tunnel vision to the issue, and borders on being illegal. nobody's saying it's your fault either. idk where you're coming from considering the only people being blamed are valve and the owners of the website, unless you're trying to say you're figuratively the person behind the website (which means you're actually not just morally wrong, you're legally wrong.)

[QUOTE=AaronM202;50642094]How would you go about stopping the gambling sites through Valve though? Shutting down the CS:GO market stuff and trading? Or like, make all CS:GO items untradeable?[/QUOTE] devaluing items. making things less of an rng with crates. they've been doing that with dota 2 for the most part, ive barely seen any gambling reports with that unlike csgo. 99% of the gambling comes from knives and some stattrak skins being so ludicrously rare. just, anything. instead of ignoring it completely, because thats certainly what they're doing now. they make a ton of money off of crates, so why should they care?

[QUOTE=AaronM202;50642094]How would you go about stopping the gambling sites through Valve though? Shutting down the CS:GO market stuff and trading? Or like, make all CS:GO items untradeable?[/QUOTE] Make it so you can't trade with friends you just added. Sure it would kind've a pain in the ass, but if they actually care about this they should also shut down the trading feature for accounts that are relatively innacitve in games and are receiving unusually-high amounts of trades until proven to not be a bot. Furthermore they could try and break the ability to use trading bots on steam. They aren't innocent, they could fix this.

Oh, Syndicate? He's a grade-A cunt. He's basically toxic to everything he's involved with, and is a gigantic baby about it. Worse thing is that he actively destroys projects that he works with his 'friends' in, and attempts to take full control, and basically crashes it if he doesn't get his way.

[QUOTE=Aman;50642088]So what if there's gambling? What if I want to gamble sometimes? Some website does shady/fraudy shit okay there's an argument, but the "for the kiddies" moralist argument against gambling entirely is stupid. If some dumb kid becomes a gambling addict it is not suddenly my or anyone's fault, I couldn't care less.[/QUOTE] This thread isn't about you gambling. If you want to gamble, go ahead. We are discussing about a guy who fakes reactions and lieas about his relation to the gambling establishment he owns to get more people gambling, and therefore to get more money, and also other people with similar intentions and gambling establishments.

[QUOTE=AaronM202;50642067]But Valve doesnt run those websites. [editline]3rd July 2016[/editline] Like i get they're not clear of responsibility or anything but shouldnt the gambling sites be targeted first.[/QUOTE] It still allows them to operate. Many other game publisher/dev companies deliver DMCAs to even goddamn small fry modders remaking games. I don't think all of these betting websites are huge behemoths that would take "Apple VS Samsung" firepower during 4 years to take down. Yet, nothing is done. It's pretty much the usual "don't try to fix it until its completely broken" attitude, and most likely because they also monetize off of it. I hate to say it, but Valve really has fallen down hard. Not just for not making games that the general public really wanted like HL3, but also because its trying to be more like Activision and trying to monetize more with less effort. And I share the same feelings as WarOwl and most likely everyone else. I absolutely love CS and the community around it, but I despise how some people care more about skins and inflate the number of players for skins instead of for the actual game, and how Valve allows this shady ass shit to go by unnoticed and cripple up the game and its scene. There were even teams losing on purpose for cash on skins. Thats real world sports kind of shit, and thats just awful to see in something like CSGO.

[QUOTE=Destroyox;50642166]Make it so you can't trade with friends you just added. Sure it would kind've a pain in the ass, but if they actually care about this they should also shut down the trading feature for accounts that are relatively innacitve in games and are receiving unusually-high amounts of trades until proven to not be a bot. Furthermore they could try and break the ability to use trading bots on steam. They aren't innocent, they could fix this.[/QUOTE] The problem with that is theres always going to be false positives and inevitably, and quickly, workarounds. People are persistent with this kind of thing. Phishing bots arent as common nowadays but back in the day it was all the fucking time, and every so often you'd hear Valve implementing something or some new account safety feature and eventually Steam Guard helped to stop it pretty good, but most of the time it barely made a dent. That wont really stop the gambling scene, just slow it down. [editline]3rd July 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;50642186]It still allows them to operate. Many other game publisher/dev companies deliver DMCAs to even goddamn small fry modders remaking games. I don't think all of these betting websites are huge behemoths that would take "Apple VS Samsung" firepower during 4 years to take down. Yet, nothing is done. It's pretty much the usual "don't try to fix it until its completely broken" attitude, and most likely because they also monetize off of it.[/QUOTE] I'd say thats less Valve knowing and not caring and more due to their famous hierarchy-less workstructure meaning nobody really wants to deal with all that shit. [QUOTE=Rocâ„¢;50642186]I hate to say it, but Valve really has fallen down hard. Not just for not making games that the general public really wanted like HL3, but also because its trying to be more like Activision and trying to monetize more with less effort.[/QUOTE] Please dont start this because i could go all day as to why thats an incredibly stupid comment.

[QUOTE=Aman;50642088]So what if there's gambling? What if I want to gamble sometimes? Some website does shady/fraudy shit okay there's an argument, but the "for the kiddies" moralist argument against gambling entirely is stupid. If some dumb kid becomes a gambling addict it is not suddenly my or anyone's fault, I couldn't care less.[/QUOTE] Woah why do you feel so targeted?? :v:

[QUOTE=AaronM202;50642187]The problem with that is theres always going to be false positives and inevitably, and quickly, workarounds. People are persistent with this kind of thing. Phishing bots arent as common nowadays but back in the day it was all the fucking time, and every so often you'd hear Valve implementing something or some new account safety feature and eventually Steam Guard helped to stop it pretty good, but most of the time it barely made a dent. That wont really stop the gambling scene, just slow it down.[/QUOTE] Of course it won't stop CSGO gambling, but perhaps it might be enough to dissuade enough people to make some kind of difference. The main point is though, Valve are doing literally nothing to fix this. They are pretty guilty.

For some reason I was expecting this to be another CS:GO video with Jontron when I saw the thumbnail earlier on mobile, and almost ignored it entirely. But wow, I hadn't really known about these types of sites existing until a few days ago in one of the news sections where someone posted about the lawsuit with Valve. I shrugged it off then because I thought it was just a case of a guy wanting to be refunded for being irresponsible with their money, but now knowing about this new layer of controversy makes it disgusting.

valve has to blacklist steam login access to these sites, plain and simple. they are already straddling a very thin line with the crates and marketplace themselves: [U]crates are literally gambling[/U] and the only thing saving them is that it's 'steam dollars' instead of real dollars (anyone can see how dodgy that is when the steam $ can be exchanged for items of real value). they have to show that they definitively do not support this shit these sites will be a lot less popular if you have to use some dodgy third party trade bot instead of the steam inventory integration

You know, now that I think about it, I thought I had heard about this syndicate project motherfucker before. So I tried remembering and checking my liked youtube videos and what do you know, I find this. [video]http://youtube.com/watch?list=LL62JjZPOTGE-5CS59HOoctQ&v=WHt0NyFosPk[/video] Also, the animator has gotten his payment now, just to tell you that.

Gonna ask my younger brother if he knows about this site or these youtubers and then show him the video, he does a lot of gambling and betting with CS:GO skins.

The only way Valve can effectively kill any sort of gambling that uses their item economy is to kill their own item economy. They can discourage it all they want, but we'll be negatively impacted as well. Did you think escrow was bad? If you want them cracking down on this, it's only going to get worse. Valve won't be happy, the users won't be happy, and the gambling site owners will be laughing all the way to the bank.

[QUOTE=Aman;50642088]So what if there's gambling? What if I want to gamble sometimes? Some website does shady/fraudy shit okay there's an argument, but the "for the kiddies" moralist argument against gambling entirely is stupid. If some dumb kid becomes a gambling addict it is not suddenly my or anyone's fault, I couldn't care less.[/QUOTE] No, actually, for the kiddies is the exact reason why its illegal. There is a reason why in the US you must be 18 to gamble. You're missing the point that these sites are illegal electronic gambling. I could not care less if you're 18+ and want to gamble your steam inventory.

God this video reminded me I need to stop csgo gambling. The last 5 month's I've put $100s of dollars into it. Actually that might be over $1000 now. God damnit I have an addiction.

[QUOTE=MrJazzy;50642302]Gonna ask my younger brother if he knows about this site or these youtubers and then show him the video, he does a lot of gambling and betting with CS:GO skins.[/QUOTE] Tell us what happens when you do ask that from him. I for one want to know what he thinks about this "gambling for kids" thing, as he seems to be what these youtubers aim to market for.

I've wasted over $200 trying to unbox cases hoping i'd actually get something good.

Piece of shit is just taking the hits like he doesn't care. [media]https://twitter.com/TmarTn/status/749797381319852033[/media]