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Edit 10/13/24 - We have been seeing people connecting Junk Store announcing a paid version of their plugin to the NonSteamLaunchers plugin getting delisted. We have confirmed with Steam Deck Homebrew that this is pure coincidence, and there is no correlation between Junk Store's announcement and NonSteamLauncher's plugin.
A couple of days ago, there was a development on the Decky Loader Plugin store that caught not only my eye but also the eyes of many others who saw it happen in real-time. One of the easiest ways to install third-party launchers on the Steam Deck is using NonSteamLaunchers, and while they have a Desktop version of their script, they also have a full plugin that can install launchers without leaving Game Mode. But, a couple of days ago, the plugin was taken down from the Decky store, and we were left with little explanation at the time.
I reached out to the team behind Decky Loader, and they mentioned that the reason why the plugin was removed was due to the creator's harassment of members of Steam Deck-related subreddits and their own Steam Deck Homebrew discord server. The Steam Deck Homebrew team provided this official statement regarding the ban:
Steam Deck Homebrew has decided to remove the NonSteamLaunchers plugin from the Decky Plugin Store after being shown statements on Steam Deck-related subreddits from its creator in a report. These appear to show continued harassment of members of these communities. We have also discovered harassment from the creator in our own server. We decided to delist the plugin from our store alongside banning its creator to prevent potential abuse of our community and plugin store.
Decky plugins can be downloaded outside the Decky Plugin Store, but we have decided to separate ourselves from NonSteamLaunchers.
On top of this, they provided different links to me as evidence to support their claims and reasoning behind the ban. They mention that:
- Accusations of stalking and harassment (The Steam Deck Homebrew team found no evidence of this)
- Fighting with a dev of Bazzite regarding a removal request (They later apologized via Reddit)
- Starting random fights and accusing another user of being creepy and unstable
- Starting fights with users in Steam Deck-related communities
From their stance, it does seem the Steam Deck Homebrew team is standing by their reasons for removing the plugin, but they do note that you can still install this plugin manually if you so choose by adding the folder into the Homebrew folder where the other plugins are stored. This is some extra work, but it does mean you can continue using or install using NSL as a plugin.
I reached out to the creator of NonSteamLaunchers for a response to the ban, and he provided this statement:
I don't believe I said anything racist or wrong to anyone regarding race or color or bigotry of any type or orientation of any kind. I will continue holding this stance and will not move from it. I still don't really know what I did wrong for my plug-in to be taken away so fast but I just want to apologize to the steam deck community for causing any sort of drama and for failing them as a developer. Unfortunately, I don't know what has transpired but I am obviously not wanted in their environment.
He has also written a statement on this issue on Reddit.
As I mentioned above, if you still want to use NonSteamLaunchers, you can download it from their Github and use the desktop version or manually install the plugin. I also want to thank the Steam Deck Homebrew team and NonSteamLauncher's creator for providing statements regarding this development.
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Just revert the decision. You know you are in the wrong. The community isn't buyint into this bs justification. Why can't you all talk it out like adults. Otherwise this seems like a political/monetary decision which is a shame because it pictures Decky Loader in a bad light.
[quote]We have been seeing people connecting Junk Store announcing a paid version of their plugin to the NonSteamLaunchers plugin getting delisted. We have confirmed with Steam Deck Homebrew that this is pure coincidence, and there is no correlation between Junk Store's announcement and NonSteamLauncher's plugin.[/quote]
Sure it's not correlated that Eben Bruyns the developer of Junk Store isn't a maintainer of the Decky Plugin Database either right... RIGHT?
As far as our knowledge and what we were told, there is no correlation and JS wasn't involved in this directly other than the sources that Steam Deck Homebrew used to make their decision.
This whole thing is kinda weird tbh. The first link was deleted, so I have no idea what was even said there.
It seemed like the dev for NSL was trying to get more information about the issue the Bazzite dev brought up to see if it could be fixed, but the Bazzite dev kept saying things like "it's been explained" and refused to elaborate.
The discord link does nothing for me because I'm not in that Discord, but I imagine it's related to issues with flwwhtrbt, who seems to get off on taking people down. Some devs for her friends project were being scummy, so she tanked the whole project. She later made snide remarks about the discussion between the NSL dev and Bazzite dev.
I didn't see anything that was worth taking NSL off of Decky store, but I'd wager flwwhtrbt was the one who reported it.
While we can't comment exactly on what happened directly, the Decky team had their own independent investigation and as far as I am aware, did not coordinate anything with flwwhtrbt. I will say that the Junk Store team deleting those comments in the first link after all of this has been published is not a good move though. I do believe the Bazzite dev did explain on Reddit, and I did see the Decky team explain the issue as well.
If you can't get into specifics, then why the f*** are you writing hit piece articles about it.
This is not a hit piece. It is reporting on a development in the Steam Deck community. We have had contact with both Decky and NonSteamLaunchers since they first released, and have had extensive conversations with the both of them, and as we told both parties, we are remaining independent and not choosing a side.
I don't understand why something a developer allegedly did would affect the availability of a project. If some proof that the developer actually did something bad comes out, people are free not to use that project if they choose.
"We have confirmed with Steam Deck Homebrew that this is pure coincidence, and there is no correlation between Junk Store's announcement and NonSteamLauncher's plugin."
It sure is convenient though!
I'm not sure how it's convenient though. Junk Store moving away from Decky means less users using Decky for Junk Store. I saw and found no evidence of any connection between the two projects other than their public arguments.
I do, however, understand your first point of removing access to plugins. Ultimately, the store is under their control and they do moderate it, but I also see why it should be less gate-kept.
Yeah, neither of the first 2 links to reasonings were showing me anything but him being harassed, so idk what the problem is. I couldn't see anything from the Discord link or the last link at all, either, so I wouldn't feel bad using it at all, and might try it to access my Humble Collection from my Deck.
"We have confirmed with Steam Deck Homebrew that this is pure coincidence, and there is no correlation between Junk Store's announcement and NonSteamLauncher's plugin"
Well in that case they need to find a different excuse because the accusations in the article are nothing. It's not even reaching, just pure fantasy.
*heavy sigh*
I'm so not a fan of when people turn out this way.
I try hard when having a bad day myself to not let it bleed over and end up hurting anyone.
Sounds like the usual modern day social media shenanigans. The dev disagreed with someone's political stance and they immediately started screaming "Racist! Sexist! Phobe! Bigot!".
Great... The woke cancel mob infects steam deck. Separate the person from the work...
You sound like a brainless drone. You know that, right? There's no such thing as the "woke cancel mob". It's something grifters made up to call anyone who wants others to be decent human beings. It just blows my mind any time somebody sees social repercussions for being shitty, and people like you come out of the woodwork with your buzzwords and sciopathy in order to just project a persecution complex. You are now the snowflake you try to label others as. Good job.
While I agree about separating the work from the creator, you're incredibly dumb for calling people getting harassed a "woke mob". They're a jackass. Period. I don't think this should have happened, personally, as it doesn't benefit anyone and only takes away choices for people who would need it, but not everything you dislike is "woke". That's some middle school nonsense.