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Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

positech.co.uk

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Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#101

Post by ris »

brohoolio wrote: post #41

I was totally and completely addicted to WoW for two years. Almost lost my girlfriend, friends, etc. When I finally quit I had the shakes. Literally. One thing though is I've never saved more money than when I was playing WoW because I never went out. These newer games do seem to have a different financial model that exploits addiction in potentially a much more dangerous fashion.

"These newer games do seem to have a different financial model that exploits addiction in potentially a much more dangerous fashion."

It's mostly that they're "casual" and, most importantly, primarily mobile. Which means they follow you everywhere as you conduct your life.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#102

Post by zouhair »

nostromo wrote: post #57
guntars wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So in your opinion there's nothing a gaming or marketing company can do that's legal now, but really shouldn't be? I'm also not buying that it's a slippery slope and banning, say, cross compiling profiles on customers from different, unrelated platforms would "take down the entirety of marketing and advertising as an industry". In capitalism, companies will do everything within the legal framework to make more money.…

Take a look at someone who spent $30k on ships in Star Citizen. http://www.pcgamer.com/meet-a-fan-who-has-spent-30000-on-sta... He seems like a reasonable person to me. He's not in financial ruin. He doesn't seem to regret his purchase. He's just putting money into his hobby, the same way a different 40 year old would buy an "unproductive" boat or an "unproductive" Rolex.

When you buy a boat or a Rolex, you own a boat or a Rolex. Now you can buy all Star Citizen's ship you will own nothing, if tomorrow they decide to close their servers you are pretty much screwed.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#103

Post by chejazi »

ameen wrote: post #67
chejazi wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't play games, but my roommate does for several hours every day. I asked him about it and he said he loves being immersed in it, and finds it much more engaging than other forms of entertainment, such as watching a movie. I wouldn't call him "addicted" though. We hang out all the time, and I never see the sort of desperation that the author describes. ... Are there specific genre's of games that have the sorts o…

MMOs/FPS/MOBAs are repetitive and addictive because of the fact that each gaming session could be unique. Blizzard completely stopped making single player games (until Diablo 3) because of WoW's unprecedented success (quite a few other games were cancelled to keep this machine running). LoL and DotA 2 are similarly addictive since each game nets you drops, some seasonal exclusive cosmetic items, couriers, etc. They a…

> So these games usually have a bunch of people who hate the game (Griefers) yet keep playing to grief others with relatively better success.

Sounds eerily similar to a ponzi scheme.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#104

Post by Retra »

vinceguidry wrote: post #56

Look, this is just commerce at work. People are going to use whatever edge they can get to make more money. These edges only go so far. If you think the only reason Game of War is popular because of the million dollar ads, then why isn't every single product, everywhere using these ads? These games fulfill more than just some need to mindlessly click on shit. Just because doesn't do anything for you, that doesn't mak…

>Look, this is just commerce at work.

And? Oil drilling and pharmaceutical production is just commerce at work. As is child labor, sex trafficking, drug trade, and slavery.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#105

Post by bduerst »

nostromo wrote: post #57
guntars wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So in your opinion there's nothing a gaming or marketing company can do that's legal now, but really shouldn't be? I'm also not buying that it's a slippery slope and banning, say, cross compiling profiles on customers from different, unrelated platforms would "take down the entirety of marketing and advertising as an industry". In capitalism, companies will do everything within the legal framework to make more money.…

Take a look at someone who spent $30k on ships in Star Citizen. http://www.pcgamer.com/meet-a-fan-who-has-spent-30000-on-sta... He seems like a reasonable person to me. He's not in financial ruin. He doesn't seem to regret his purchase. He's just putting money into his hobby, the same way a different 40 year old would buy an "unproductive" boat or an "unproductive" Rolex.

He is not putting money into his hobby.

If you buy $30k worth of golf clubs, you have $30k worth of golf clubs.

If you put $30k into a kickstarter project for some digital assets exclusively in a piece of software that isn't even written yet, you don't own that.

That's not putting $30k into a hobby, but giving $30k to someone without even a contractual obligation for delivery. It's exactly why the SEC won't let non-accredited investing into crowdfunded equity projects, but the reality is that people already think they're buying something without getting equity.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#106

Post by ethbro »

vezzy-fnord wrote: post #84
rayiner wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The united States was very violent in the early 20th century and many blamed cocaine.

It certainly was a tumultuous period, but what reliable evidence is there of cocaine being a major causal factor? The USA was plagued by lots of labor-related violence, race rioting and organized crime (peaking during Prohibition, of course), but was cocaine ever anything more than a scapegoat?

Cocaine aside, environmental lead via gasoline and paint weren't exactly helpful either.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#107

Post by fbbbbb »

lemming wrote: post #48
vezzy-fnord wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's plenty of legal Ponzi and pyramid schemes out there right now. Amway and plenty of other multi-level marketing enterprises, for instance. As long as you're (sort of) honest about it, it isn't even fraudulent to run one. "Magical remedies". I assume you mean alternative medicine. Does this mean you're going to ban various herbs, or what?

I would be in favour of anyone selling homeopathic "remedies" being banned from calling themselves a health professional.

You base your argument on authority. If an actual health professional sells homeopathic remedies, then according to your argument, they are allowed to.

A product should be legal, if it really does what is it advertised to do. How is this validated? That is up to the lawmakers, as long as someone handles it, unlike now.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#108

Post by WalterBright »

ethbro wrote: post #96
nostromo wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a look at someone who spent $30k on ships in Star Citizen. http://www.pcgamer.com/meet-a-fan-who-has-spent-30000-on-sta... He seems like a reasonable person to me. He's not in financial ruin. He doesn't seem to regret his purchase. He's just putting money into his hobby, the same way a different 40 year old would buy an "unproductive" boat or an "unproductive" Rolex.

I think both the original article's and your points are valid. Especially when you start to see games/virtual items as a "thing" (which probably started with UO/WoW) as opposed to a "fake thing". That said, as a thought experiment, I disagree with the fact that government and regulation have no place in the way a society consumes things like this. If you accept that our knowledge of psychology, biochemistry, and neur…

> we're getting pretty damn good at it

I'm not so sure. I play a video game, and invariably get bored to tears within 30 seconds or so.

It might have something to do with when I was a student, I had a job that involved play testing video games.

It's also true that my old game Empire was well known to be addictive. I'd play it myself, but would rarely get too far into a game before I'd go back to tweaking the AI, which was where the real fun was.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#109

Post by WalterBright »

zouhair wrote: post #102
nostromo wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Take a look at someone who spent $30k on ships in Star Citizen. http://www.pcgamer.com/meet-a-fan-who-has-spent-30000-on-sta... He seems like a reasonable person to me. He's not in financial ruin. He doesn't seem to regret his purchase. He's just putting money into his hobby, the same way a different 40 year old would buy an "unproductive" boat or an "unproductive" Rolex.

When you buy a boat or a Rolex, you own a boat or a Rolex. Now you can buy all Star Citizen's ship you will own nothing, if tomorrow they decide to close their servers you are pretty much screwed.

Owning a boat can be a real drag, though, once the novelty wears off.

Re: Hi, I’m from the games industry. Governments, please stop us

#110

Post by erik14th »

I'd draw the line at the point where the user/consumer can't easily recognize advertisement as advertisement.

For example, paying people to write blog posts or to friend your client on social media without making the "I'm being paid to do it" part explicit should be illegal.

I know nothing about US law, but shouldn't that be some kind of fraud crime or "confidence trick crime" already?

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