Valve Blog

Nice! I also ran a company as a worker coop - but I structured it as an LLC, just because it was far easier. Coop practices like revenue sharing were defined through company bylaws, not its legal ownership structure. Lots of people have done coops in tech. One decent list: https://github.com/hng/tech-coops Yanis Varoufakis, before he was the finance minister of Greece(!), worked at Valve and wrote about the economic theory of why corporations are structured as centrally controlled fiefdoms instead of democracies, and why Valve was apparently more democratic (http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-do-we-need-… Great read.

I still think this write up by Michael Abrash (from 2012) is still the best argument about why AR is hard: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-anytime… Though there has been some progress since then.

One day I would love to see an article or podcast on how Yaris Varoufakis changed Valve's direction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanis_Varoufakis http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-e…

A good read about Michael Abrash's experience of this: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-li… (And interesting history about Valve)

The most amazing example of such cooperation is Yanis Varoufakis, who was working for Valve on virtual currencies and economy of Steam Market before becoming Minister of Finance in Greece. In his own words: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-e…

He started a blog about his experiences at Valve [1], but stopped shortly after starting it. I was a bit disappointed, because the posts were very well written and insightful. I'd guess now he really has no time for it. [1]: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/

> If you care about graphical performance, then OpenGL is simply not up to the task. I'm always confused when people say stuff like that. 1. Random forum user says "OpenGL is not up to the task". 2. AAA game developers says "That the Linux version runs faster than the Windows version (270.6) seems a little counter-intuitive, given the greater amount of time we have spent on the Windows version. However, it does speak to the underlying efficiency of the kernel and OpenGL." http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ Who do I believe?

> a communist society is essentially just one very large firm. This is my favorite discussion of the topic so far: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-do-we-need-…

I would sympathize with Valve if they didn't completely ignore Linux before acting like the Linux community's best friend when it became apparent that they had nowhere else to turn to [1]. Like many, I'm a fan of their games and their flat management, but they have a history of being as short-sighted and callous as EA and I wish more people would see that [2]. I have a lot more respect for the people behind Humble Bundle/Wolfire, who went out of their way to support Linux long before it was cool [3]. Plus they don't force DRM middleware on you. [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/steamd-penguins/ [2] http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/valve-tricked-h/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lugaru

Relating this back to a recent blog post from Michael Abrash on how and why he got to where he is, the post starts thusly: "It all started with Snow Crash. If I hadn’t read it and fallen in love with the idea of the Metaverse, if it hadn’t made me realize how close networked 3D was to being a reality, if I hadn’t thought I can do that, and more importantly I want to do that, I’d never have embarked on the path that eventually wound up at Valve." http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-li…

Are there more Valve blogs besides Michael Abrash's? http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/ just redirects to http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/category/abrash/ and I can't find any way to find a listing of all categories/blogs. The RSS feed only contains this entry and abrash's.

Well put. I think monetary value and impact don't necessarily correlate. One could have an amazing, long-term impact on the world without it being reflected in 'price'. Reminds me of some of the recent Valve stories, specifically the anecdote about Doom being the most installed piece of software [1]. [1] For those that didn't know this, see the post below and scroll down to 'Valve is different' http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-li…

Finally, there is talk of economic models in software development! Valve software is an example of a software developer’s “cooperative” though you’d probably call it anarcho-syndicalist, instead of socialist. They wrote a great blog about it: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-do-we-need-… The Internet has disrupted many economic models and affected society and even democracy (journalism, social networks). Automation reduces the demand for human labor. We have to have conversations about better solutions. At my own startup, we constantly explore the intersection of technology, sociology and economics. Years ago, we explored proper compensation models using the socialist (not communist) principle “from each according to their ability, to each according to their contribution” https://qbix.com/blog/2016/11/17/properly-valuing-contributions/ And now, we are working on a utility token to power a decentralized “free market” of web software that emphasizes collaboration and re-use over competition and duplication. Would be happy to get feedback on the actual implementation and economics, as we will be going live with it soon. Here is the link: https://qbix.com/whitepaper/whitepaper.html PS: to the downvoters: The above is open to feedback and revision. Instead of simply downvoting, why not click the link and read it, and offer a scathing critique? Again, we are…

I agree that Microsoft would have push well beyond the established best of AR technology in order to darken things in the hololens, but I can't tell what's likelier: that they're totally lying in their demonstrations, or that they have kept some bit of truly state-of-the-art-advancing innovation a secret. It would be very easy to lie, but it is also difficult to believe that Microsoft would bet so hard on selling this product as revolutionary when it provides a fundamentally weak experience. So Animats, is there something concrete that you're basing this claim off of, or just a general knowledge of AR technology and its limitations? I genuinely want to know--I've spent a lot of time wondering about this, and I've seen good points on both sides. For anyone curious, Abrash does a great job of explaining why darkening is so hard here[1] and this reddit-speculator[2] does a great job of highlighting some incidents where hands-on hololens reviewers specifically noted "dark projection" during their user tests. I've heard that the field of view is smaller than videos make it appear, and also that the image it displays is not fully opaque, but nothing that suggests that they can't darken. If it turns out they can, it would be a pretty big deal, and if it turns out they can't, hololens may be a dud. [1] - http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-anytime… (3.5 years old) [2] -…

This really reminds me of how Yanis Varoufakis, Valve's economist, describes most firms: > Interestingly, however, there is one last bastion of economic activity that proved remarkably resistant to the triumph of the market: firms, companies and, later, corporations. Think about it: market-societies, or capitalism, are synonymous with firms, companies, corporations. And yet, quite paradoxically, firms can be thought of as market-free zones. Within their realm, firms (like societies) allocate scarce resources (between different productive activities and processes). Nevertheless they do so by means of some non-price, more often than not hierarchical, mechanism! The firm, in this view, operates outside the market; as an island within the market archipelago. Effectively, firms can be seen as oases of planning and command within the vast expanse of the market. In another sense, they are the last remaining vestiges of pre-capitalist organisation within… capitalism. The image of a firm as an island of control within a greater see of capitalism really stuck with me. I think it's a pretty good image to support Valve's style of organization. (Of course, I'm also a bit biased: I prefer that philosophy for reasons of my own besides just increasing efficiency.) The whole article ("Why Valve? Or, what do we needcorporations for and how does Valve’s management structure fit into today’s corporate world?"[1]) is well worth a read. I think it's a very constructive look at the issue that…

It's kinda Valve's fault. Team Fortress 2 was the first major game in the west to implement loot boxes; the CS:GO skins economy spawned a legion of scummy third-party gambling sites, from which this site is clearly derived. Weirdly, it may also partly be the fault of former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-e…

The article neglects to mention one of the more interesting detours in Varoufakis' professional life: his stint as in-house economist at Valve Software. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-e…

http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/why-valve-or-what-do-we-need-… Here the same person was much more positive about the system (easy to understand he is not, at least not to me), wonder were he was telling the truth. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-li… Also Michael Abrash thinks it is a swell place to work for - I guess if you have something to say within such a company then the experience is way better.

Easier said then done, just an LCD won't work for darkening. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-anytime…

Why are they so obsessed with 60 fps? 120 fps looks considerably better, and there are other effects like smear and judder that significantly decrease even with significantly higher frame rates, say 480 fps [1]. [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/down-the-vr-rabbit-hole-fixing-j…

So I haven't tried AR yet, but I do know it has a laws-of-physics limitation - it's impossible to draw black on the screen. Basically, you can only make things brighter than the background, not darker - so if you're already in a bright world, good luck seeing anything. Subtitles become impossible unless you're in a black/dark room because you can't draw black borders on the text, and just outlining things in general (so you can see them) is essentially impossible. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-anytime…

He had a blog at Valve http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/ And, now occasionally writes in his blog at Oculus https://www.oculus.com/blog/vrs-grand-challenge-michael-abrash-on-the-…

The comparison was 270 FPS (Windows D3D) vs 315 FPS (Linux OpenGL). At those high framerates I don't think that any performance boost is relevant anymore. Furthermore Left 4 Dead is using D3D 9 IIRC, so pretty outdated. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/

On a sidenote (but likely interesting to HN readers): Varoufakis worked as an economist for Valve[1] [1] http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-e…

It is interesting to note that Varoufakis worked with Valve on the in-game economical systems for Team Fortress 2 and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive before he got pouched by Greece. His blog posts are really interesting. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/author/yanis/ Those in the know about the economies in the mentioned games should agree that Valve probably got a good return on his paycheck.

It's from a few years ago but here is Michael Abrash's experience with working at valve http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/valve-how-i-got-here-what-its-li… + some interesting tibits about his past at Id and MS.

http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/why-you-wont-see-hard-ar-anytime… See the section labeled "See-through AR == additive blending only".

don't have any papers specifically about the correlation between framerate / judder and sickness but this older article has some information http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/abrash/down-the-vr-rabbit-hole-fixing-j… as somebody who has major issues with their inner ear I can guarantee that you really do NOT want to get vertigo if you can at all help it

For reference, this is the same Yanis Varoufakis who, before working for the Greek Ministry of Finance, worked for Valve as a digital economist: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-e…

Interesting blog post from him about how that came to be. http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/economics/it-all-began-with-a-strange-e…