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The Valve and Steam Platform Discussion Thread

Sentinel

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Update: Counter-Strike Co-Creator Jess Cliffe Officially Charged With Commercial Sexual Abuse Of A Minor
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by Imran Khan on February 05, 2018 at 07:50 PM
23,348 Views

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Update: Charges have been filed against Cliffe, along with a release of the statement of probable cause.

Warning: The details of this arrest feature sexual exploitation of a minor. Do not proceed further if you are sensitive to such details.

Cliffe is accused of multiple instances of sexual contact with a minor and videotaping the final instance without her knowledge. At the time of the incidents, the juvenile victim was 16 years-old and initially referred to Seattle police by Child Protective Services because of "reports of CSEC [Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children] activities."

The minor arranged to meet Cliffe through a dating site with the expressed purpose of exchanging sexual relations for money. Police traced back information from Cliffe's ISP and the dating website to find Cliffe, who denied knowing the victim, but did admit to similar arrangements. After confronting Cliffe with the alleged chat logs, though he denied them, police felt that he corroborated enough evidence to bring charges.

Cliffe's next hearing is scheduled for February 25 and has posted the court-set $150,000 bail. There is no update from Valve after the previous comment where the company stated they have suspended Cliffe until they know more.

The original story is as follows.

Counter-Strike co-creator and Valve game designer Jess Cliffe has been booked for sex exploitation of a child, Seattle local news KIRO 7 reports.

Police have not commented yet, but KIRO 7 reports Cliffe has not been charged yet. The arrest occurred at 1:17 AM this morning at the Seattle Southwest precinct police department.

Cliffe has been an employee of Valve since 2003 after creating Half-Life mod Counter-Strike in 1999 alongside co-creator Minh Le. Valve hired Cliffe and obtained the rights to the game, which has become one of if not the most popular multiplayer shooter in the world in the fifteen years since.

"We are still learning details of what actually happened," Valve's Doug Lombardi told us. "Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such we have suspended his employment until we know more."

.[Source: KIRO 7 News]

Prosecutors: Counter-Strike co-creator Jess Cliffe paid teen for sex

By: KIRO 7 News Staff

Updated: Feb 2, 2018 - 7:15 PM
  • placeholder-16x9.jpg

  • Prosecutors: Counter-Strike co-creator Jess Cliffe paid teen for sex
Prosecutors say Jess Cliffe, the co-creator of the video game Counter-Strike who was arrested for sexual exploitation of a child, paid a minor to have sex with him in 2017 and recorded her against her will.

Cliffe, who was placed on leave from Valve Corporation where he worked as a designer, allegedly met a girl on SeekingArrangement.com, a website that “delivers a new way for relationships to form and grow,” according to the site. “Sugar Babies and Sugar Daddies or Mommas both get what they want, when they want it.”

The girl, now 16, told investigators she communicated with Cliffe via text message and another message platform such as Snapchat. The case started last May when the King County Sheriff’s Office received a Child Protective Services referral.

The teen told investigators that Cliffe would pick her up and drop her off at an intersection near her Seattle home.

She “reported meeting with Jess A. Cliffe to have sex for money at least three separate times, and that each time she was paid $300 for one hour,” according to a probable cause document. “She further reported that on the last occasion while engaged in sex acts with Jess A. Cliffe at his home, he attempted to and successfully video recorded portions of their session against her consent.”

Teen’s interview with detectives

The teen explained to detectives the Cliffe made a reference to trying out his new phone camera, but she was horrified by the idea and said no. When she realized he was recording, she said nothing out of fear, the teen told investigators.

On the way home, she asked Cliffe not to post the video and he agreed, according to court documents.

Cliffe allegedly told the teen that their arrangement through SeekingArrangement.com “was technically legal as he was paying her for her time,” according to the investigation document.

“At this point, (the teen) wanted to point out that it was illegal to be in possession of child pornography (in reference to the video he had just taken), but decided against it as to not upset him in addition to the fact that [she] could not be certain that he was aware of her true age of 16 years.”

Detectives served a search warrant to SeekingArrangement.com for Cliffe’s information. When the teen was giving his photo in a lineup, she said she was 80 percent certain he was the man who paid her to have sex with him at his West Seattle home.

Cliffe met with detectives late Wednesday at the Southwest Precinct. He admitted picking up a date and engaging in sex acts in which he paid her for her time, police said. He was arrested there and booked into the King County Jail at 1:17 a.m. the following morning.

Attorney: Cliffe ‘was just as flabbergasted as anyone’

Cliffe’s attorney Zachary C. Wagnild said he’s completely cooperating with the investigation, and noted that he drove himself to the police precinct.

There were no discussions about her age, and to Cliffe’s knowledge the video did not circulate anywhere, the attorney said.

Cliffe, who is on leave from his job in Bellevue, graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Management Science. As an amateur photographer, he also took pictures for his hobby site VintageSeattle.org, which continued until 2012. That site posted high-resolution photos of old Seattle, and Cliffe posted modern day photos with his Canon EOS 200D Digital Rebel Xti.

“We are still learning details of what actually happened,” Valve Corporation spokesman Doug Lombardi said Thursday evening in an e-mail. “Reports suggest he has been arrested for a felony offense. As such we have suspended his employment until we know more.” [/spoiler]

So apparently an underaged girl was selling her sexual services on a site meant for people over 18, pretending to be an adult, got paid for her service, and is now playing the victim.

Welp, sucks for Cliffe. His life is fucking ruined even if he's declared innocent. Will probably commit sudoku. Valve won't take him back.
 

Metro

Arcane
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Well, now we know where all that loot crate money is going... underage prostitutes!
 
Last edited:
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>16 years old
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My thoughts exactly. Headline makes it sound like he's trafficking in 8 year olds. Instead he met a girl who was at the age of consent (16 in Washington) on a site catering to younger girls hooking up with older men with the "wink wink nudge nudge he's got more money than guys your age" understanding, so it's not like he's a predator walking the streets looking for vulnerable girls to abuse. Had he taken her out for an expensive meal and given her some money for clothes or w/e it would be entirely legal.
 
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gaussgunner

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I love how they say "The girl, now 16" as if she was underage when it happened. Fucking fake news.

"So apparently an underaged girl was selling her sexual services on a site meant for people over 18, pretending to be an adult, got paid for her service, and is now playing the victim."

So his only crime was soliciting a prostittute. 'k. Better preemptively fire everyone who's ever fucked a slut or a whore.
 

LESS T_T

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Messages
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Codex 2014
Last week's top seller list (microtransactions do not count) is Even More Asian Edition:

#10 - Grand Theft Auto V
#9 - ELEAGUE 2018 Boston CS:GO Major Championship Mega Bundle
#8 - FINAL FANTASY XV WINDOWS EDITION
#7 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#6 - Slay the Spire
#5 - BATTALION 1944
#4 - FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE
#3 - Subnautica
#2 - DRAGON BALL FighterZ
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

This week's interesting fact: All games that are developed and/or published by Asian companies have their titles CAPITALIZED.

Last week's top sellers list (microtransactions do not count) is about rise and fall, except PUBG of course:

#10 - FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE
#9 - Slay the Spire
#8 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#7 - DRAGON BALL FighterZ
#6 - Dying Light Enhanced Edition
#5 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance
#4 - Subnautica
#3 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition
#2 - Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Rise and Fall
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

And as you can see Kingdom Come is starting to climb up as the release date is approaching...

Even though it's still #1 in the list, PUBG's growth is in stagnant recently. I think one big hit may overthrow it from this list. Could KC:D be the chose one next week? Or will it be one of some big discounts in upcoming Lunar New Year sale? Or, PUBG will just keep rule them all by mere 10% discount, or even by doing nothing.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Codex 2014
"Insel Games' CEO Threatened Employees to Force Positive Reviews for all Games": https://www.reddit.com/r/Steam/comments/7x5p94/insel_games_ceo_threatened_employees_to_force/

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It's Hammer Time: https://steamcommunity.com/games/681860/announcements/detail/1680276769864923201

Steam Review Manipulation

It has been recently reported on Reddit that the publisher for this game, Insel Games Ltd., have been attempting to manipulate the user review score for their titles on Steam. We have investigated these claims, and have identified unacceptable behavior involving multiple Steam accounts controlled by the publisher of this game. The publisher appears to have used multiple Steam accounts to post positive reviews for their own games. This is a clear violation of our review policy and something we take very seriously.

For these reasons, we are ending our business relationship with Insel Games Ltd. and removing their games from our store. If you have previously purchased this game, it will remain accessible in your Steam library.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
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Codex 2014
Last week's top sellers list (microtransactions do not count) is about rise and fall, except PUBG of course:

#10 - FINAL FANTASY XII THE ZODIAC AGE
#9 - Slay the Spire
#8 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#7 - DRAGON BALL FighterZ
#6 - Dying Light Enhanced Edition
#5 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance
#4 - Subnautica
#3 - The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - Game of the Year Edition
#2 - Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Rise and Fall
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

And as you can see Kingdom Come is starting to climb up as the release date is approaching...

Even though it's still #1 in the list, PUBG's growth is in stagnant recently. I think one big hit may overthrow it from this list. Could KC:D be the chose one next week? Or will it be one of some big discounts in upcoming Lunar New Year sale? Or, PUBG will just keep rule them all by mere 10% discount, or even by doing nothing.

Results are in! And Valve is trolling:

#10 - Subnautica
#9 - Slay the Spire
#8 - Human: Fall Flat
#7 - DYNASTY WARRIORS 9
#6 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#5 - Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Rise and Fall
#4 - Grand Theft Auto V
#3 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance
#2 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

Yeah, for some reason they split pre-order sales and release sales, and don't let us know which is which. So we can't know for sure KC would have won if it's merged into one.

But I think you can "guess" based on the changes of Steamspy numbers within a week for each game (and preferably reflecting regional ratios and prices), that KC probably has earned more monies than PUBG last week.
 

Infinitron

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Codex Year of the Donut Serpent in the Staglands Dead State Divinity: Original Sin Project: Eternity Torment: Tides of Numenera Wasteland 2 Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 A Beautifully Desolate Campaign Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Pathfinder: Kingmaker Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth


https://www.pcgamesn.com/half-life/gabe-newell-son-half-life-final-boss-nihilanth

Remember the Nihilanth? The creepy giant baby at the end of Half-Life? Turns out it was inspired by Gabe Newell’s son. Or rather, his impending existence.

The anecdote comes from Gray Newell himself, speaking with Valve News Network:

“The final boss of Half-Life 1, the giant evil baby monster, is supposed to be me. When my mother was in childbirth they were thinking, ‘what’s really scary’? And at the time, having a child seemed to be the most scary thing to everyone.”

So it’s not so much that Gray was at one point a giant floating alien who assaulted mum and dad with ball lightning, but that the act of having a child in general is a momentous thing.

There’s plenty else of interest in the interview. For one, Gray is following in his dad’s footsteps and making a sci-fi shooter with his own studio, Naetyr. Their game is called Fury, and it’s inspired by Titanfall and Star Citizen. It’s early in development, but there is some striking concept art, which hints at an element of planetary exploration:

fury%20concept%20art.png


Gray also has some gently critical thoughts on Valve’s direction as a company, saying he wished they took more risks, and even hinting that they may be about to:

“They make incredibly smart decisions but sometimes you have to do something stupid, sometimes you have to have a stupid crazy idea and say, ‘Fuck it, go with it’... Valve has a mind-boggingly enormous amount of resources at their back. I really hope they find the courage to start throwing them at something new. And I know what they’re working on and how they’re going to begin pushing things... I want to see them push the envelope again. I want to see Valve be scary again, in a good way.”

As far as we know, the next big thing to come out of Valve will be Artifact - a new collectible card game. We wonder if Gray is talking about this, or something else? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
 

Sentinel

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Guy with no experience goes on kickstarter asking for funds for a dream project.

Where have I seen this before? Besides, why is he even going on kickstarter? He has access to billions of dollars. He's just risking damaging his family's name.
 

Latelistener

Arcane
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
2,579
Sometmes you just have to keep your children locked in a cellar. For the sake of humanity.
I hope Gray Newell is not the case.

will-smith-brings-son-jaden-to-suicide-squad-premiere-social.jpg
 

Anthedon

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Patron
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Messages
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Shadorwun: Hong Kong Divinity: Original Sin 2 Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire
Downright normal looking people working in the games industry? Wtf.

Then again, it's Valve, so there's probably not a whole lot of work being done.
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
Results are in! And Valve is trolling:

#10 - Subnautica
#9 - Slay the Spire
#8 - Human: Fall Flat
#7 - DYNASTY WARRIORS 9
#6 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#5 - Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Rise and Fall
#4 - Grand Theft Auto V
#3 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance
#2 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS

Yeah, for some reason they split pre-order sales and release sales, and don't let us know which is which. So we can't know for sure KC would have won if it's merged into one.

But I think you can "guess" based on the changes of Steamspy numbers within a week for each game (and preferably reflecting regional ratios and prices), that KC probably has earned more monies than PUBG last week.

Last week's top sellers list (microtransactions do not count) is all about guns, except Kingdom Come:

#10 - Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet
#9 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege - Year 3 Pass
#8 - Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
#7 - Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six® Siege
#6 - ARK: Survival Evolved
#5 - Grand Theft Auto V
#4 - Hunt Showdown
#3 - Stellaris: Apocalypse
#2 - Kingdom Come: Deliverance
#1 - PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
 

LESS T_T

Arcane
Joined
Oct 5, 2012
Messages
13,582
Codex 2014
"Vulkan Is Now Available On macOS/iOS By MoltenVK Being Open-Sourced, Vulkan SDK for Mac": https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=vulkan-on-mac

Looks like this is Valve's another step to weaken the Windows/DirectX dominance in PC gaming.

Now, thanks to an arrangement with Valve, MoltenVK is being open-sourced under the Apache 2.0 license and will be available to all. The Khronos Group in our briefing didn't elaborate or purport to know the specifics of how this came about, just that Valve is to thank for their negotiations with Brenwill... I would presume a lucrative financial arrangement from Valve is to thank for that small company now opening up their code for mapping Vulkan on top of Metal.
 

pakoito

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
3,086
Cannot wait for a unified rendering backend for all platforms. The current approach to accelerated graphics is nothing short of ridiculous.
 

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