Having your own fedi instance feels amazing honestly, it's a lot of work to get things going (federation, feeds, etc), but having full control of everything is too good.
I don't have a Lemmy instance but I do have my own Mastodon, been thinking about Lemmy but not sure.
Unique usernames cause issues with having to come up with wildly "creative" names to be able to be called the same thing everywhere if the platforms get big enough, or start adding loads of numbers to everything. Unique usernames also create prestigious names, which people most certainly care about, especially for branding or clout.
The discriminator system was clever, as it let people just pick names that they felt resonated with them better, while also keeping everyone equal - you didn't have a prestigious name like "adam", and everyone else who just wanted to go by adam on the internet had to add extras to it. Instead, everyone was given the extra numbers so nobody was special.
Now obviously, the username in itself is not that special, and nobody really goes by their username, but a lot of people do assign some value to their online identities and handles, and Discord just sidestepped that by putting everyone on the same level.
There were issues with the username system, but I don't think the 4 numbers were it. You absolutely do memorise your 4 numbers if you're adding people constantly for some reason, and if you're not, it's not exactly a major inconvenience.
From my experience, people who are happy with the new system already go by somewhat unique names, so this makes it easier for them.
So many games I want during this sale... and so little money, everything good has to happen when I'm on a budget!
Really want Trails of Cold Steel 3/4 and Ys 8/9, but it's going to have to wait I think.
It can definitely be a little confusing if you're not used to the federation concept, and are only used to the big "platforms" that currently exist.
Lemmy is not really a "platform" in the same way that Reddit or Facebook are, it's just software that runs on a website (similar to say, a phpBB forum board) that also gives the website the ability to talk to other websites running compatible software.
As you use it more, it should start becoming clearer - Lemmy and other Fediverse platforms are not necessarily complicated, just use some systems that people are not used to after the rise of Meta and Twitter.
Yep, that's how all the ActivityPub protocol platforms are designed! They're an attempt to get away from the same 5 websites ruling over the entire internet, and let people participate in their own little corners of the internet (like the old forum days), while also being able to interact with the rest of the internet without having to make separate accounts everywhere (like you had to during the old forum days!).
You can only subscribe to communities individually, and as of this current moment, there is nothing like the "relays" that other Fediverse platforms have to push known instances to your own instance.
The way federation works is that an instance must explicitly search for an ActivityPub compatible instance and then start requesting data from it, there are no central locations that will provide an instance with all of the known Fediverse.
I think it's just as simple as:
Most people want the decentralisation perk of not having a single profit driven company controlling everything, and that is where it ends.
Other than that, people would rather just have everything in one place where everyone is, but of course that is antithesis to the whole decentralised model.
People have gotten used to the convenience and ease of the silos, and people don't want that taken away.
I only game on Linux and I haven't really had any major issues. I use Lutris as well, but I'm also not really playing any games which get updates either.
While I'd love something like a Steam client for GOG, I doubt it's ever going to happen, and personally I don't really like Valve/Steam either so I just don't use Steam.
There's no way I'll actually use the platform, but I personally have no qualms with federating with it on my instances so I can communicate with friends who may be using it that haven't made the jump to the current fediverse.
Whether we like it or not, this is most likely the best chance for regular people to be introduced to the Fediverse and hopefully gain a good understanding of it, providing that Meta doesn't hide it from people too much or make it complicated enough that people are "encouraged" to use their platform instead.
Love GOG, definitely the best storefront for PC games by far due to their principles. They're not perfect, but I personally don't buy if it's not on GOG.
Looks like I can pick up Cold Steel 3/4 and Ys 8/9 for good prices this sale, so I know what I'm getting come pay day.
Wish I could consider this nice weather, when the sun gets out in full force like this, I have to hide, and that is what I am doing.