3 ms·

I have a friend who worked as a Monetization Specialist for a MMO Publisher to do exactly these kinds of "optimizations". He said after doing this work he migh

I have a friend who worked as a Monetization Specialist for a MMO Publisher to do exactly these kinds of "optimizations". He said after doing this work he might as well work for weapons manufacturers or the mob.

d3nj4l 6y ago
It's sickening, really. Jim Sterling's video on lootboxes [1] really hammered it home for me, especially the section where he quotes from a talk by one such developer [2]. The talk is literally titled "Let's go whaling", a reference to getting people to "whale" the game by paying tons of money. Fate Grand Order, a gacha game, even lampshades it: > What’s interesting about Fate/Grand Order is that the game’s marketing features a vicious caricature of dedicated players. She’s a slobbering, lecherous, gambling-addicted little monster. > Fans love her. [From [3]] 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI03CGkb4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNjI03CGkb4 3: https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/18/17247246/fate-go-free-to-play-abuse-gudako-gacho-grand-order https://www.polygon.com/2018/4/18/17247246/fate-go-free-to-p...
- bserge 6y ago
  Gacha whales are mad. They say it's disposable income, but seeing 4-5 figures in USD spent per year I can only conclude they've got major gambling issues...
  - disgruntledphd2 6y ago
    Whales in general appear to spend an absolutely unfathomable amount of money on games.
  - hnick 6y ago
    Players like to tell stories of Saudi Princes but apparently a large number of whales are just hopelessly addicted people that aren't as well off as you'd hope.