Gotchya. And yeah there's more of everything now compared to 9 years ago.

re: political stuff, need a better area to discuss that stuff instead of a profile page. :) re: gaming stuff, I agree with you, especially now in today's gaming environment. not sure if it was as prevalent 9 years ago though, was it? Could have been.

As for the context in pc gaming: Let's take the game Dead By Daylight (which I've played far too much), when Epic games offered the game for free on their store. Undoubtedly most of the money the game makes is through DLC and cosmetics in their shop. So they were happy to give the base game away for free in hopes that the profits will be made from new players who might not have given the game a chance ordinarily (even on a Steam sale for $5). I think the main reason they don't offer it as free-to-play is the cheaters, which are still too common, but not nearly as bad as GTA5.

I must admit I haven't paid close attention to the issues that people bring up these days, so if I say something that seems ill-informed, please correct me. Let's take your first example with trans activists: I don't see them as part of the left or far left. They seem more similar to white nationalists as they want to change the culture, not simply be recognized with equal rights like the civil rights and women's suffrage movements were both about. Also, I have never met a trans activist before, so I am skeptical they even exist in significant numbers, considering I've met people of pretty much every other activist variety.

I had to look up the unrealized tax gains as I haven't heard of it before... but it doesn't make sense. Why wouldn't the government simply tax the wealthy more instead of adding new types of taxes? Or they could do what they've been doing and inflate the currency...

your example re: consoles and games is a very good one actually. It's the same with movie theaters who don't make much on ticket sales, but it drives people in to buy concessions that have a huge markup. So you are right that there are many examples where products may not make much money or even no money, but that's ok because its their "accessories" that will generate the profit. I've come to realize that (and it should have been obvious) over the years, but I don't think I did in our discussion. That's a very good point that unfortunately got overlooked.

However, I wonder how relevant or compelling it would have been in the context of pc games. Consoles, sure, great example. If we were talking exclusively pc, not sure how that would hold up. Gaming including consoles or other options, yeah, case closed, excellent point.

You probably aren't a far leftist, you are probably more of a liberal who has been largely abandoned by radicals and radical ideology that has swung much further to the Left than you. It's like the White Nationalist movement on the right. They swing far in the other direction and as such, many conservatives can't identify with those particular far right ideologies. The difference though, is that the left side of the spectrum seems to be having more of an influence, significantly more, than the far right (in as far as the example, White Nationalists anyway). Far left ideology seems to be trying to go mainstream (trans activists, open borders, rights/privileges for illegal immigrants, huge increases in taxation (the proposed unrealized tax gains tax), etc. I think perhaps this past election was the people recognizing that and say "Wait, you guys are going TOO far left and we can't relate."