Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The casino in your pocket

blog.curtii.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 265 posts

Re: The casino in your pocket

#41

Post by kioleanu »

Many years ago I worked for a company that offers a very popular in-browser game. The company branched and expanded and had more than 10 games with various levels of profitability, but this game, which was bringing in about 30 millions EURO per month, was the only thing keeping the company alive.

Then they decided they want to try to sell the company to a fund and wanted to increase the revenue this golden goose was bringing, so they implemented a wheel of fortune. You could spin the wheel for free once per day and get some sort of in-game resource, but you had unlimited spins if you paid coins, which, you guessed it, costed real moneyz.

There was a huge uproar from the community stating that the game was now pay-to-win and virtually unplayable otherwise and they had to reverse the change. The company didn’t get sold in the end, but they’re doing fine still

Re: The casino in your pocket

#42

Post by beebmam »

ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

If people are dumb enough to consentually waste time and money on casinos, they deserve to lose their time and money. Some might say the government should intervene; I personally don't care.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#43

Post by efitz »

ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

>something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow

No, they are very much a part of the experience. The anticipation of the reward and the tension build while the opening animation plays is an addiction mechanism. This is why we wrap presents and why “blind bags” are so successful (and also why toddlers will watch “surprise egg” videos for hours).

Re: The casino in your pocket

#44

Post by tetris11 »

beebmam wrote: post #42
ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

If people are dumb enough to consentually waste time and money on casinos, they deserve to lose their time and money. Some might say the government should intervene; I personally don't care.

If the main audience is the uninformed or the desperate, isn't that just predatory behaviour

Re: The casino in your pocket

#45

Post by efitz »

beebmam wrote: post #42
ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

If people are dumb enough to consentually waste time and money on casinos, they deserve to lose their time and money. Some might say the government should intervene; I personally don't care.

In a casino, you know what you’re there for and what you’re up against. Gaming commissions have curbed many of the worst abuses with inspections, posted odds, etc.

With mobile gaming you have a free for all that is intentionally exploiting the same neuroanatomy of addiction, but it’s wrapped up in pretty pixels and you can do it anywhere, privately. The industry is too big for gaming commission type controls to work.

I think that mobile game monetization is populated by morally deficient actors and we should consider banning the whole thing.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#46

Post by keithalewis »

beebmam wrote: post #42
ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

If people are dumb enough to consentually waste time and money on casinos, they deserve to lose their time and money. Some might say the government should intervene; I personally don't care.

Do you mean people should be held personally accountable for their actions? Next thing you know we might be living in a country full of responsible citizens. /s

Re: The casino in your pocket

#47

Post by narag »

fbdab103 wrote: post #2

Vegas machines are calibrated with a certain win rate. The author surmises that this game has something more like a loss rate at pre-determined points. Would such a machine be legal in the regulated real-world? Or only in the wild-west of online casinos?

Would such a machine be legal in the regulated real-world?

I live in Spain. I dislike slot machines and, a long time ago, while a friend was wasting his money, I made a quick calculation. Given the number of options and the prizes, if you assumed randomness, one in three coins he inserted would have produced a prize, even the smallest, that was reimbursement.

But that wasn't what happened. It was more of a prize for one in seven coins or maybe one in ten. My friend knew more than enough maths to understand what I told him, but he said he knew, right? (he didn't) and that the question was to wait for the moment the machine was loaded. I realized it was just an addiction.

And yes, at least then and there it was legal.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#48

Post by dendrite9 »

ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

I remember reading about Yanis Varoufakis studying the economics of games for Valve at a time when I played TF2 occasionally. Several years later I went back to play some games and it seemed like a wholly different world with loot crates and markets for cosmetics. My timing may be off, and I suppose the idea was already there. But hearing someone talk about markets inside popular games was a bit concerning.

Re: The casino in your pocket

#49

Post by peterlk »

beebmam wrote: post #42
ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

If people are dumb enough to consentually waste time and money on casinos, they deserve to lose their time and money. Some might say the government should intervene; I personally don't care.

> If people are dumb enough to consentually waste time and money on casinos, they deserve to lose their time and money.

I find this to be a very naive perspective. It’s not how addiction works, and even people who want to stop sometimes cannot. And even if you buy into the belief that we shouldn’t help them, what about their kids? What about the communities around them that are worse for having addicts who are pouring money from their jobs into a black hole?

> I personally don't care.

I’m sorry to hear that, and I hope you can change your mind one day. We’re all going to die one day, and life is better if we care about each other

Re: The casino in your pocket

#50

Post by squeaky-clean »

beebmam wrote: post #42
ehnto wrote: post #32

It has been fascinating and demoralizing to watch monetization roll out. To younger generations like my brother, they don't know any different, it's just part if gaming for them. But at least something like aesthetic loot crates are a sideshow to the actual game. Some games are good at keeping the separate and you can understand that it's just how they choose to fund the game. When the whole game is just a loot crate…

If people are dumb enough to consentually waste time and money on casinos, they deserve to lose their time and money. Some might say the government should intervene; I personally don't care.

One problem is a lot of those people spending that money (or should I say their parents money) are not old enough to be allowed into a casino or otherwise gamble. But since it's a reward of bytes and not dollars it's currently legally okay to take advantage of a child the way a casino takes advantage of adults.
Post reply on HN