The psychological effects are fair to discuss, but hasn’t this mechanic existed since cereal companies started putting toys in boxes? Same for baseball card packs.
Why is this different? Or would you suggest that these real-world precursors should also be regulated?
I’m mostly sharing this for the second panel, but I agree with the sentiment!
I can engineer random rewards specifically for you to maximize your purchases. Can’t do that with cereal boxes where there’s no idea who receives it. This sort of predation is screaming out for machine learning. Your money being extracted is what’s optimized. The two things are still similar, but I’d argue that degree of manipulation matters.
Also, when you take a chance on getting a prize with a cereal box, at least you get the freaking cereal.
I have no idea if putting a cap on spending makes real sense, but I find the whole manipulative aspect abhorrent.
That should not be permitted, because there’s no way to protect poor people while still allowing the rich to swing their massive dicks around. So, unfortunately, the rich will need to suffer. Boo hoo.
This sounds like a huge step-- because it is. Telling adults they can’t spend their money as they please, that’s a big leap, right? Thing is, we aren’t at the pinnacle of predatory monetization. We’re still in the bottom of the hockey stick. It can, and will, get much worse unless either a) people reject it or b) regulation.
Are people gonna reject it? Seems not.
That will lead to a great deal of human misery1 as people spend money they don’t have on worthless digital bullshit. That’s the problem NFTs were supposed to fix, but the market did reject them, and they weren’t necessary anyway as each studio could allow digital assets to be resold on the secondary market, they just chose not to because $.
1: I feel bad for mentioning this in the same breath as poor people getting ripped off, but it also means shittier games, and that impacts me.
Probably not, yeah. One can dream though.
I was gamer-shamed out of playing this any more (which is a lie, I was mostly done with the hand holding as it was boring and simplistic) but I’m still a little amazed at the depth or height of the negative reaction, is it because D2 and D3 led to such a massive endgame perseverance that the endgame is the game in D:I? See also: I don’t really understand how people are still playing WoW these days 25 years later, is Blizzard the secret CIA crack cabal we imagined?
Well, if you enjoy DI and p2w, you are in the fine company of one Ted Cruz. 😀
And now we have to have a duel sir. Only death will satisfy, state your weapon, I shall pick the venue.
If this is still on the table, I’d like to get in on it as well, thanks!
Aren’t you guys a bit old for a 16 year old girlfriend?
I’m sure you’re tough as Texas!
D3 still holds up really well. With the seasons, adventure mode, rifts, and gameplay that is hyper-refined to jewel-like excellence you can forget that you’ve seen every monster, every tile set, every effect, (nearly) every item a billion times.
Yeah, for all its issues at launch, Diablo 3 is just perfectly honed ARPG comfort food now. It doesn’t push any envelopes or try to go too crazy with its systems. Just big numbers and a tight gameplay loop that you can lose yourself in for hours. I remain hopeful that in developing D4, Blizzard is learning lessons from the current state of Diablo 3 and not Immortal.
Absolutely! You just need to spend a million dollars on IAP to be entered into the lottery for this prize!*
*odds of winning are 1 in a gazillion.
That does come across a bit creepy. I always assumed she was in her 20s playing a teenager like everybody on Beverly Hills 90210. I really should do the math before saying these things.
Send me JLH circa 1998 instead, if you would be so kind.
Oh shit, I’m so sorry. I misread that and sent you a 1998 JMJ instead. That’s what I get for manipulating spacetime before I’ve had my morning coffee.
Oh sweet Jesus no
BOHICA
The title has become one of the fastest video game IPs brought to mobile to hit the landmark, taking just eight weeks to reach the milestone. Analyzing other top franchises, Sensor Tower’s IP tags show that Pokémon GO from Niantic took approximately two weeks to reach the landmark figure, while the next fastest after Diablo Immortal, Fire Emblem Heroes from Nintendo, took 10 weeks.
Since its global release, Diablo Immortal has ranked as the No. 13 revenue generating mobile game worldwide.
Analysis does not include Chinese revenue. Mobile numbers only.