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Counter-Strike Co-Creator Says Gabe Newell Got So Obsessed With Mongolian Throat Singing at Valve HQ That Staff Started Closing Their Office Doors to Escape the Noise
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ImWaitingForRetcons lemmy.world ImWaitingForRetcons@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-06-30
#52 · (edited) Quote Reply

Gabe-is Khan

lol

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Feathercrown lemmy.world Feathercrown@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-06
#53 · Quote Reply

But but but Gabe is the bestest billionaire and cannot be held accountable.

Oh no he was mildly annoying

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myyass lemmy.world myyass@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-02
#54 · Quote Reply

They are awesome! Were you there when you were young?

South of Ulan Ude from what I'm told.

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UninvestedCuriosity lemmy.world UninvestedCuriosity@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-03
#55 · (edited) Quote Reply

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism.

Gabe's colleagues: " sometimes he sings in his office and it's a little annoying and distracting."

Other billionaires response: buy media companies and government lobby, manipulate the narratives. Make a mockery of the legal system while hiding behind corporate entity.

Gabe: "yeah I asked a trusted colleague for honest feedback and feel a little bad about that.".

It's really not hard to not piss everyone in the world off or high effort.

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LowtierComputer lemmy.world LowtierComputer@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-10
#56 · Quote Reply

South of Ulan Ude from what I'm told.

Sorry, I meant to ask "very young"

But yes I was also curious about the area.

Apparently I saw the Grand Canyon in the US when I was 1 year old. I don't think that counts. (:

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๐Ÿ‡ฐ ๐ŸŒ€ ๐Ÿ‡ฑ ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡ณ ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡ฐ ๐Ÿ‡ฎ pawb.social Kolanaki@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-10-06
#57 · Quote Reply

Never heard it until I watched a video just now. Sounds like a jaw harp. I can see why people trying to concentrate would be a little peeved, though if someone were paying me good money to do something cool like make games, Iโ€™d probably happily put on some headphones and ignore it.

Sounds like a jaw harp

Mouth harp mixed with a digeridoo.

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๐Ÿ‡ฐ ๐ŸŒ€ ๐Ÿ‡ฑ ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡ณ ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡ฐ ๐Ÿ‡ฎ pawb.social Kolanaki@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-10-06
#58 · Quote Reply

Was it annoying because it was loud and out of place for an office, or did he sound like a cat being strangled? ๐Ÿค”

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Noxy pawb.social noxypaws@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-12-16
#59 · Quote Reply

Was it annoying because it was loud and out of place for an office, or did he sound like a cat being strangled? ๐Ÿค”

gotta be both.

as cool as throat singing is, it's gotta be a hell of a thing to witness the immense amount of practice that has to happen before good throat singing is achieved

or really, any singing now that I think about it

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myyass lemmy.world myyass@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-02
#60 · Quote Reply

Sorry, I meant to ask "very young" But yes I was also curious about the area. Apparently I saw the Grand Canyon in the US when I was 1 year old. I don't think that counts. (:

I can see that, unfortunately I have that curse of remembering pretty much everything. The almost 40 years I've been alive have been... very long.

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beejboytyson lemmy.world beejboytyson@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-06-22
#61 · Quote Reply

Huh throat goat

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lobut lemmy.ca lobut@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-06-13
#62 · Quote Reply

In case you didn't know, Popeye was a tuvan: https://youtu.be/zaH7VPuiZ1E?t=151

(interview with Billy West on Fox ... I recommend the entire interview but the linked part is great too)

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Geth lemmy.dbzer0.com Geth@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-07-23
#63 · Quote Reply

But but but Gabe is the bestest billionaire and cannot be held accountable.

On the spectrum of shit billionaires are known for doing this is incredibly mild. Like ridiculously so.

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brownsugga lemmy.world brownsugga@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-10-20
#64 · Quote Reply

Once you learn how to do it , it's very addictive

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Areldyb lemmy.world Areldyb@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-31
#65 · Quote Reply

But but but Gabe is the bestest billionaire and cannot be held accountable.

I want to move to the world you're from, where the worst the Epstein class ever did was play music too loud at the office

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kazerniel piefed.world kazerniel@piefed.world
Joined: 2026-04-28
#66 · Quote Reply

gotta be both. as cool as throat singing is, it's gotta be a hell of a thing to witness the immense amount of practice that has to happen before good throat singing is achieved or really, any singing now that I think about it

...or any music really. My partner is an enthusiastic amateur musician in several instruments, and it can get painful ๐Ÿ™ƒ

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dan1101 lemmy.world dan1101@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#67 · Quote Reply

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism. Gabe's colleagues: " sometimes he sings in his office and it's a little annoying and distracting." Other billionaires response: buy media companies and government lobby, manipulate the narratives. Make a mockery of the legal system while hiding behind corporate entity. Gabe: "yeah I asked a trusted colleague fo...

I hope there is a good succession plan for Valve, because losing them would be tragic for PC gaming.

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Noxy pawb.social noxypaws@pawb.social
Joined: 2024-12-16
#68 · Quote Reply

...or any music really. My partner is an enthusiastic amateur musician in several instruments, and it can get painful ๐Ÿ™ƒ

same here! my partner is a saint for putting up with all the noises I generate hahaha

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cub Gucci lemmy.today vivalapivo@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-15
#69 · Quote Reply

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism. Gabe's colleagues: " sometimes he sings in his office and it's a little annoying and distracting." Other billionaires response: buy media companies and government lobby, manipulate the narratives. Make a mockery of the legal system while hiding behind corporate entity. Gabe: "yeah I asked a trusted colleague fo...

Can we please transfer wealth from Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to Linus Torwalds and Richard Stallman. Unless, of course, you all want to distribute it all back

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cub Gucci lemmy.today vivalapivo@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-15
#70 · Quote Reply

Who has made more games in the last decade: Rockstar or Valve?

IOInteractive

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FerretyFever0 fedia.io FerretyFever0@fedia.io
Joined: 2025-05-30
#71 · Quote Reply

Honestly went to a concert for "the hu" Mongolian metal band... amazing

Didn't the hu make the opening song for Jedi: Fallen Order?

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Scrollone feddit.it Scrollone@feddit.it
Joined: 2023-06-03
#72 · Quote Reply

Can we please transfer wealth from Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to Linus Torwalds and Richard Stallman. Unless, of course, you all want to distribute it all back

I'm not that sure about a guy who eats his own toe jam in public...

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TrackinDaKraken lemmy.world DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-02-26
#73 · Quote Reply

Example:

https://youtu.be/6WlI24rv__g?t=23

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ILikeBoobies lemmy.ca ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-08-14
#74 · Quote Reply

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism. Gabe's colleagues: " sometimes he sings in his office and it's a little annoying and distracting." Other billionaires response: buy media companies and government lobby, manipulate the narratives. Make a mockery of the legal system while hiding behind corporate entity. Gabe: "yeah I asked a trusted colleague fo...

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism.

Musk's colleagues: " sometimes he makes us eat mustard and itโ€™s a little annoying and distracting."

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nullspace lemmy.world nullspace@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-06-05
#75 · Quote Reply

Remember when valve made games?

Half-Life: Alyx is 6 years old. CS2 is only 3 years old. They're still publishing games, just not HL3.

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Ann Archy lemmy.world anarchy79@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-08-17
#76 · (edited) Quote Reply

Mongolian throat singing is amazing.

You know, where I live, they have these guys coming out with leaf blowers in late April, making a racket in my neighborhood, and they just move street by street like a roving gang of crazed leaf blowers, and getting rid of all the crap that was accumulated under the snow when it thaws.

Every year, if I'm home at that time, I bring my big speakers to the window, open it wide, and blast Mongolian throat singing for them.

It mixes with the sound of leaf blowers extremely well. Whenever one of them starts wondering what the hell is going on and removes their hearing protection, I instantly mute it, and as soon as they put them back on I start blasting again.

It's a spring ritual for me.

AUUUUUUuuuuUuUUUUUuUuUuuuuurrrrrRrRrRRRRRRrrrRrrRrrRrrrrrarrrrRrRR-iaaaaaaaAAAaaaAaaaaAawwawRrrRRrRrrrRrrrrrrrrreyooooOoOOooOooOOOoOo

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Ann Archy lemmy.world anarchy79@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-08-17
#77 · Quote Reply

Example: https://youtu.be/6WlI24rv__g?t=23

This my favorite tune.

Love how his mother sits off camera, with equal measures pride and silent condemnation over his less-than-absolute-perfection performance.

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[object Object] lemmy.world SlurpingPus@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-11-03
#78 · (edited) Quote Reply

Example: https://youtu.be/6WlI24rv__g?t=23

Good example, but from what I can hear, it doesn't much showcase an important feature of throat singing: emitting two notes at the same time. That comes in properly only at the very end.

P.S. Here's a good demonstration of various styles of throat singing.

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takeda lemmy.dbzer0.com takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2025-06-04
#79 · Quote Reply

Please take me to your alternate reality. What happened to the world after Bernie Sanders' second presidency?

I am pretty sure it was sarcasm, but it is crazy to realize how even things like this would be different if we had government that actually followed its laws.

Trump invested a lot in AI companies and removed all obstacles and made sure that regulators look the other way, creating this craze.

Now, once this collapses they will use our tax money to bail them out. It is fucking lose-lose situation for us no matter what happens.

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[object Object] lemmy.world SlurpingPus@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-11-03
#80 · (edited) Quote Reply

Can we please transfer wealth from Elon Musk and Peter Thiel to Linus Torwalds and Richard Stallman. Unless, of course, you all want to distribute it all back

I don't think this guy needs a lot of money:

(Although there's a second desk in another corner, littered with hardware and a 3D printer.)

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cub Gucci lemmy.today vivalapivo@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-15
#81 · Quote Reply

I don't think this guy needs a lot of money: (Although there's a second desk in another corner, littered with hardware and a 3D printer.)

I really don't care

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cub Gucci lemmy.today vivalapivo@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-15
#82 · Quote Reply

I'm not that sure about a guy who eats his own toe jam in public...

Re-watched it. Still more appealing than Elon musk

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vaultdweller013 sh.itjust.works vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-07-08
#83 · Quote Reply

They have a flat structure so employees self-assign work. If a game idea interests them they work on it. If not, no worries thereโ€™s plenty to do on Steam.

Sounds like Bell labs... Neat.

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SabinStargem lemmy.today SabinStargem@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-03-15
#84 · Quote Reply

That is the benefit to making ridiculous money. You can really take your time and produce a quality game instead of rushing and cutting corners to meet an arbitrary deadline.

I wonder if Hideo Kojima ever asked Valve if they wanted to publish a game with him?

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Fredthefishlord lemmy.blahaj.zone Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-06-14
#85 · Quote Reply

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism. Gabe's colleagues: " sometimes he sings in his office and it's a little annoying and distracting." Other billionaires response: buy media companies and government lobby, manipulate the narratives. Make a mockery of the legal system while hiding behind corporate entity. Gabe: "yeah I asked a trusted colleague fo...

Still a ridiculously and insanely wasteful person who's significantly greedy.

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Passerby6497 lemmy.world Passerby6497@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-12-28
#86 · Quote Reply

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism. Musk's colleagues: " sometimes he makes us eat mustard and itโ€™s a little annoying and distracting."

Musk's colleagues: " sometimes he makes us watch him practice his roman salute and itโ€™s a little annoying and distracting."

Ftfy

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adjectivenoun lemmy.world adjectivenoun@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-19
#87 · Quote Reply

I hope there is a good succession plan for Valve, because losing them would be tragic for PC gaming.

I hope it ends up like one of those nature reserves with a 1,000 year lease and a charter that specifies how content creators and gamers can be treated.

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HereIAm lemmy.world HereIAm@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-02-19
#88 · Quote Reply

Example: https://youtu.be/6WlI24rv__g?t=23

This one was my first exposure that I can remember: https://youtu.be/VTCJ5hedcVA

Buy this concert one is my absolute favorite to put on repeat: https://youtu.be/i0djHJBAP3U

Hm, they're getting to the age where I should probably download them before they succumb to link rot.

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adjectivenoun lemmy.world adjectivenoun@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-19
#89 · Quote Reply

Deadlock is pretty cool

Deadlock is awesome. It combines some of the things I love most about playing boomer shooters--the movement tech and fast-paced gunplay--with the stuff I love about DOTA2--the build flexibility, character variety, and ability to coordinate timing spikes throughout the match. Unfortunately it also includes some of the stuff everyone hates about DOTA2, like inconsistent matchmaking and rude bigots with microphones.

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adjectivenoun lemmy.world adjectivenoun@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-19
#90 · Quote Reply

Sounds like Bell labs... Neat.

It's has produces some games that are obviously labors if love, but it has also left players of some games with no content bug fix updates for literal years.

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kerrigan778 lemmy.blahaj.zone kerrigan778@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-04-06
#91 · Quote Reply

Other billionaires setting up cults and trying to bring a new age to techno fascism. Musk's colleagues: " sometimes he makes us eat mustard and itโ€™s a little annoying and distracting."

I'm sorry, are you willfully or accidentally profoundly ignorant of the reports of what working for Musk is like?

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๐•ฒ๐–‘๐–Ž๐–™๐–ˆ๐–๐Ÿ”ป๐•ฏ๐–ƒ (he/him) lemmy.world glitchdx@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-20
#92 · Quote Reply

Still a ridiculously and insanely wasteful person who's significantly greedy.

he's not diddling kids or sexually harrassing his employees, as far as we know. It's a low bar but I'll take it.

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Fredthefishlord lemmy.blahaj.zone Fredthefishlord@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-06-14
#93 · Quote Reply

he's not diddling kids or sexually harrassing his employees, as far as we know. It's a low bar but I'll take it.

You set your bars too low.

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Psythik lemmy.world Psythik@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-12-21
#94 · (edited) Quote Reply

Example: https://youtu.be/6WlI24rv__g?t=23

Personally I'm a fan of The HU. It's a more modern take on throat singing.

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๐•ฒ๐–‘๐–Ž๐–™๐–ˆ๐–๐Ÿ”ป๐•ฏ๐–ƒ (he/him) lemmy.world glitchdx@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-20
#95 · Quote Reply

You set your bars too low.

you're not wrong.

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Nalivai lemmy.world Nalivai@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-30
#96 · Quote Reply

I'm not that sure about a guy who eats his own toe jam in public...

I'll take it over a guy who throws nazi salutes. I mean, the real answer is that nobody should have so much money, it can't do any good to anyone. But if the only controversy we can find about him is that he did that one gross thing to his foot that one time 20 years ago, I'll take it, oh how much I'll take it

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Aditya_K9999 lemmy.today Aditya_K9999@lemmy.today
Joined: 2026-09-11
#97 · Quote Reply

Hahahahaha
We don't call him Gaben, Jesus of gaming for no reason... He's freaking multi-talented pal and also real down to earth

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ILikeBoobies lemmy.ca ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2023-08-14
#98 · Quote Reply

I'm sorry, are you willfully or accidentally profoundly ignorant of the reports of what working for Musk is like?

By contrast it's showing how dumb of a comment the one I replied to was.

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kerrigan778 lemmy.blahaj.zone kerrigan778@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2025-04-06
#99 · Quote Reply

By contrast it's showing how dumb of a comment the one I replied to was.

Ah, gotcha, misread it as defending Musk.

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[object Object] lemmy.world SlurpingPus@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-11-03
#100 · Quote Reply

Sygyt is the style that sounds nasal-y but with a high pitched overtone. Kargyraa is the really growly sounding one. Source: im gabe newell

This video showcases a bunch of various styles.

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Historical_General lemmy.world Historical_General@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-02
#101 · Quote Reply

That's hilarious. It was a niche viral trend online, but this guy really ran with it lol

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