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It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

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Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#261
post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 10k over a long period is very small compared to what one can lose in a casino night, and casinos do exist. Casinos are highly regulated. Lootbox are not in most countries. And I'm pretty sure minors can't enter a casino even with their parent's credit card... Made videogames with paid lootboxes 18+ only, problem solved.

is there evidence that any of the whales are kids? i guess there are exceptions , but most kids have a highly regulated budget, adults do not

We are discussing damage to the kids psycology, and if they spend 100% of theie lunch money on a game thats as bad as adults spwnding €10k

Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#262
post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even if you thought that being addicted to gaming or gambling is no different for the creature than any other hobby, like kayaking, it might help you to look at the other side of the question: How much should we allow others to enrich themselves off the addictions/compulsions of others? I always thought that was a compelling point even when I was a libertarian for one year as a uni freshman. That people should be abl…

> How much should we allow others to enrich themselves off the addictions/compulsions of others? the current line is drawn at 18+ and non-chemical addiction, or light chemical addition like nicotine. It is worthy of debate, whether psychological addiction ought to be included. My guide would be that if it causes external harm, then it should be regulated, where external harm is defined as harm that, while undertaking…

Nicotine is not lightly addictive.

Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#263
post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It depends on the timeframe obviously, but $10k is hardly cheap.

10k a year is hardly a lot… As a Japanese gamer says, paying for games is like dining out. You get nothing useful after a good meal, and paying for games may as well be more useful.

> 10k a year is hardly a lot

In my country 16k/y is a median salary. It’s heavily influenced by 1 or 2 major cities - the rest of the country earns much less, 10k/y is considered to be a decent salary. So no, it is a huge amount of money.

Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#264
post #250

Regulation proposal: Set maximum spending limit/time tied to the purchase price. The limit is tied to account and player character. example: 1. free-to-play: $100/year. 2. other: 10×purchase price/year. For a $50 game the maximum spending is $500 per year. This would not set hard limit. It would only mandate up-front investment related to the amount of in-game spending. A Whale who spends $10k a year would have to pa…

This just woundn't work unfortuantly. It's a known fact that the large majorirty of the player base will not spend any money. This has the knock-on effect that the whales have to be squeezed in order for the game to turn a profit. People underestmate the UA costs on these games. It can cost >$10 to get a single player into the game through advertising. So right off the bat you need to make $10 back per player to make…

Killing UA business model would not be that bad. Protecting big business should not be the goal in itself.

We don't know what kind of games would replace these malevolent business models. We might get new kind of games and companies. Maybe less flashy, but more fun to play and better game mechanics.

Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#265

I knew someone who worked for EA as a UX researcher. He said that games like these are primarily targeting whales who will drop $10k on a game. They are the real money earners. The really sad part was the he said the most whales aren't super rich, they're just people with an addiction.

Rich people are rich because they do not spend $10K on a digital downloads that have no actual value... The ONLY people that would do that, are people with an addiction

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Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why?

Is it really a sickening issue? Like come on. I am not saying this predatory behavior isn't an issue but it is far from sickening in the grand scheme of things.

It might not be the greatest evil on earth, but knowingly preying on vulnerable people in society, and causing harm for your own benefit, to me is sickening and evil.

Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#267

It's even more frustrating, because the game is good . I really enjoyed playing the first 30 levels or so. Good story, good controls, very satisfying gameplay. If I could pay $60 and just have a "classic" Diablo on my phone, I might. But I won't spend a cent on consumable in-app purchases. It is so sad that "make good game, sell it" model no longer works. It's all a wonky curve of "free - couple of dollars - hundreds…

> It is so sad that "make good game, sell it" model no longer works. It's all a wonky curve of "free - couple of dollars - hundreds and thousands of dollars".

What makes you say that? I mostly play single-player games where I just buy a game and then play it. There are loads of those out there, with more released every week. Even with my underpowered Linux laptop I have plenty to choose from.

Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They do because they enrich themselves, but not because of any 'duty' whatsoever.

End result is you still have a society run by sociopaths then.

Ye but you dont need to make up excuses for why poor sociopaths have no choice.

Re: It costs $110k to fully gear up in Diablo Immortal

#269

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've played to around level 30 or so also and it feels just like any other recent Diablo. So far it seems like I can pay to speed things up/improve the drop rate, or just keep playing without just fine. Is there some spot I'm going to hit that I can't progress without paying?

The article mentions that you can get the best gear for free but it will take you about 10 years. So I'm sure you can play it and have fun. If you try PVP however then you would be at a great advantage if you pay money for upgrades.

But these games are explicitly designed to be frustrating and not fun when played for free.

The math and game design are expertly crafted to make you play compulsively. They most certainly have been designed to cause psychological pain when you don’t play it you don’t pay. They are not designed to cause fun or joy.

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