2 ms·

Yes, people can be addicted to anything, but that's a false equivalence. Debilitating addiction to video games is incredibly rare in comparison to gambling, and

Yes, people can be addicted to anything, but that's a false equivalence. Debilitating addiction to video games is incredibly rare in comparison to gambling, and someone addicted to video games isn't normally going to lose their life's savings. We're comparing cigarettes and potato chips. Further, gambling is essentially a zero-sum game. The house always wins, equal to how much you lose, and pretty much every gambler loses besides the one or two rare examples who strike a jackpot the first time they ever play and then never gamble again. In contrast, buying a video game is a transactions both parties are normally expected to benefit from equally, and a video game's single player mode is expected to last at least 10 hours at a minimum nowadays not counting online play that lasts essentially as long as you want, while gambling machines need a constant input of money that adds up to much more over time. Even comparing to coin-based arcade machines, a session on one of those will last much longer for the price, and even in the microtransactions that have become common nowadays you at least end up with something more than the screen flashing some bright lights for a few seconds. So overall on this point, it seems to me like a gambling establishment is necessarily exploitative while a video game publisher isn't.

slyfocks 9y ago
While I agree that the gaming industry is exploitative, it's unfair to assert that gambling is zero-sum by generalizing all means of gambling as "screens flashing bright lights for a few seconds." You or I might value a video game more, but some people who gamble actually derive utility from the games themselves (and from a purely scientific standpoint, even a near-miss in gambling results in the release of dopamine [1]). [1]:http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v36/n5/abs/npp2010230a.html?WT.ec_id=NPP-201104 http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v36/n5/abs/npp2010230a.htm...
losteric 9y ago
You're making assumptions about other people's value tradeoffs. And, perhaps, simply don't understand what responsible gambling looks like. I like going to a casino once a month with friends, always with a preset $50 limit. That translates to hours of great fun, food, drinks. I'll start the day with poker if we're planning to stay for a while, I'm good enough to turn a profit (which I spend on other pure-luck games). Other times I'll just suss out the slot machines while watching a game at the bar. On the other hand, I never play video games... I just find them universally boring. $20 for 10 hours of gameplay sounds like a waste of time and money to me. However, I do understand why other people enjoy video games. At the end of the day, I've seen self-destructive gamblers pumping the slots and subtly self-destructive gamers pay2playing... as well as responsible gamblers and gamers. To each their own.

slyfocks 9y ago

While I agree that the gaming industry is exploitative, it's unfair to assert that gambling is zero-sum by generalizing all means of gambling as "screens flashing bright lights for a few seconds." You or I might value a video game more, but some people who gamble actually derive utility from the games themselves (and from a purely scientific standpoint, even a near-miss in gambling results in the release of dopamine [1]). [1]:http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v36/n5/abs/npp2010230a.html?WT.ec_id=NPP-201104 http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v36/n5/abs/npp2010230a.htm...

losteric 9y ago

You're making assumptions about other people's value tradeoffs. And, perhaps, simply don't understand what responsible gambling looks like. I like going to a casino once a month with friends, always with a preset $50 limit. That translates to hours of great fun, food, drinks. I'll start the day with poker if we're planning to stay for a while, I'm good enough to turn a profit (which I spend on other pure-luck games). Other times I'll just suss out the slot machines while watching a game at the bar. On the other hand, I never play video games... I just find them universally boring. $20 for 10 hours of gameplay sounds like a waste of time and money to me. However, I do understand why other people enjoy video games. At the end of the day, I've seen self-destructive gamblers pumping the slots and subtly self-destructive gamers pay2playing... as well as responsible gamblers and gamers. To each their own.