Deranged to spend the money on a case where you don't even know what you get. I chose to pay a much more reasonable $50 for a Valorant knife. Elden Ring's production value is great, but have you seen these 5 animations?
He had me in the last half ngl
Legislation to stop gambling for children when?
Id rather not because anytime the children argument is used it feels like government officials see it as an opportunity to further infringe upon privacy. Would probably push for real ids online and having to give identification cards to companies to play games. And not like companies are known for the best security practices.
There is a middle-ground though: require a credit card. You can't legally get a credit card under 18, so either your parents gave it to you (i.e. you have their permission), you stole it (they'll probably catch the charges), or you're old enough.
Don't allow this nonsense to be purchased with gift cards, require credit cards. Do the same for adult sites, gambling sites, etc. Maybe require a second factor for every new website a credit card is used at (a text/app notification should be enough) if you're worried a kid will lie and use the card at an adult website instead of their stupid F2P game.
And on top of that, anything purchase with an element of chance should be regulated as gambling, and the items should be tradable with other players if the customer doesn't want the item.
Kids aren't really the ones spending so much on games, but they are being used to help market those products. People wouldn't buy cosmetics if there wasn't someone to show off to, so thin the field a bit and hopefully we'll see less of it.
Add enough hoops like that and you'll nudge the industry to stop making so many of these games.
Issue is I don't see politicians going for the middle ground when they see an opportunity to further expand surveillance. I kind of don't trust them.
Fair.
Assuming you're including debit cards here (as most people do when they say "credit card"): you can get one under 18. In fact a few countries are already going fully cashless, with nobody (including kids) being able to pay with cash. If I open the Revolut app, I get right away on the home screen a banner for "Revolut <18".
I'm not sure what could be a better solution though.
Fuck them kids. This is a scam perpetrated against adults. They're the ones with fat wallets ready to be siphoned.
Games making you value arbitrary nonsense. That is what makes them games. There is no ethical form of attaching a real-world price tag to that fiction.
Sad.
I can't see any proof for these numbers. The link in the article didn't say how they came to the conclusions they did.
https://csgocasetracker.com/monthly#faq
It's a guesstimate based on what looks like public information. With valve not disclosing the numbers and profiles being able to hide the number that is the best you can do. Wish they would include some type of confidence interval but that's probably too much work.
Only legislation will stop this.
This is the dominant strategy. You were never going to shop your way out of it. It's in every genre, every price point, every platform. It's in single-player games. If we allow this to continue, there will be nothing else.
Ah, lootboxes, not merchandise
You mean the one and only corporation that truly cares about its users? /s
How anyone doesn't think they're as shitty as any other company of similar size is beyond me.
I don't really like lootboxes as a concept, but cosmetic lootboxes that they actually let you trade between accounts is certainly one of the better monetization schemes out there.
I'm sure there's a better reason to criticize them than teens spending $300 to get a gun with a "leaf pattern" but the reality is they're the best seller in the market and that's why people like them.
one of the better monetization schemes out there.
Let's not let minor arguments about which is the lesser evil disguise the fact that they are all still evil.
as shitty as any other company
In this case, the lesser evil is worth pointing out, because they aren't as shitty as any other company, they're less so
Yeah, the reason why they make so much is because the skins have actual value, they also get 15% on any sale made through their community market. I fucking hate lootboxes, but I also hate skins costing as much as a game. MTX (micro or macro) are always going to be shit, until regulations catch up to all the predatory bullshit we are going to be stuck with one system or another and I'd rather take CS's.
I mean I made a profit, if I sold up right now.
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