7 ms·

> Get punished But, this isn't even a punishment. In game currency isn't real. It doesn't cost the company anything. So, this is 'be found guilty and be forced

by josho 6y ago

> Get punished But, this isn't even a punishment. In game currency isn't real. It doesn't cost the company anything. So, this is 'be found guilty and be forced to go back to your junkies and give them their next hit of crack for free.' I can imagine the ad banners: "Thousands of players will win new loot, will you be one? Play to find out".

remram 6y ago
I'm being pedantic, but no currency is "real". This one allows players to buy thing, which they are likely to want to do since they have in the past (and cared enough to start a class action over). You deciding that those goods are "hits of crack" is entirely subjective. However it is true that it only costs Epic the lost revenue from selling those v-bucks. If a freely-tradable currency was emitted to cover debt, you'd have the penalty of devaluation, but that is not the case here. Of course that makes no difference for the players, that's only about punishment.
- Krasnol 6y ago
  > I'm being pedantic, but no currency is "real". It is real in the sense that you can chose where you spend it. While this is like coupons. It may have value but that is very limited and therefore does not qualify as currency.
  - tvprod1203 6y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store Somehow feels familiar.
- joecot 6y ago
  One time I bought a Nissan Versa. It had a Continuously Variable Transmission in it. They knew that they broke constantly, and they sold it anyway. They lied to me and said my transmission was fine a few months before the warranty was over, so they wouldn't have to replace it. Years after I traded that car in and it went immediately to a junk yard, Nissan settled a class action lawsuit over it. The compensation? A voucher for a few thousand towards a new Nissan. I promise that when I joined a class action lawsuit over Nissan screwing me over, my goal wasn't to buy more Nissans. I would hazard a guess that many players who felt cheated enough by Epic to join a lawsuit against them likely feel similar.
  - amanaplanacanal 6y ago
    A few years ago the state of Oregon sued oracle over their failed implementation of their ACA marketplace. They settled for a bunch of free oracle licenses. I scratched my head over that one.
ajuc 6y ago
> In game currency isn't real It is exactly as real as bitcoin. > It doesn't cost the company anything. To see this isn't true let's imagine they give away billion points to each player at once. How will their profits from that game change? I expect a big drop.
- dantillberg 6y ago
  It's actually less "real" than Bitcoin. I haven't read the Fortnite TOS, but game companies always grant themselves unilateral permission to create/destroy in-game items/etc whenever they please.
  - ehsankia 6y ago
    AFAIK know, there's no trading in Fortnite. Games like Hearthstone or League of Legends where there is no way to exchange your goods for anything outside the game (except maybe selling the account as a whole) are indeed nowhere as real as bitcoin. On the otherhand, if it was a Valve game where you can trade items or sell them on the market place, then yes, those have a real value. Although dumping $78m of items in such a market place would probably collapse the item economy? You can buy a car with bitcoin, but you cannot buy a car with fortnite bucks, that's generally the metric I use to tell how real a currency is and how usable it is.
- mattnewton 6y ago
  It’s far less real than Bitcoin if you can’t trade it on an open market. This is like paying a settlement to employees in a company script instead of legal tender.
- MaxBarraclough 6y ago
  > To see this isn't true let's imagine they give away billion points to each player at once. How will their profits from that game change? I expect a big drop. I wonder about that. The motive in the in-game economy is to have, and spend, more than other players, right? Handing out in-game money to all participants might disrupt things in that everyone can now buy the fancy in-game items, but the competitive/relative component presumably remains. If you want even more in-game items than other players, the dynamic is still there: you still need to pay up.
Cookingboy 6y ago
>So, this is 'be found guilty and be forced to go back to your junkies and give them their next hit of crack for free.' It's worse, like you said, the in-game currency isn't even real, unlike a hit the dealer has to hand out for free...

by josho 6y ago

remram 6y ago

I'm being pedantic, but no currency is "real". This one allows players to buy thing, which they are likely to want to do since they have in the past (and cared enough to start a class action over). You deciding that those goods are "hits of crack" is entirely subjective. However it is true that it only costs Epic the lost revenue from selling those v-bucks. If a freely-tradable currency was emitted to cover debt, you'd have the penalty of devaluation, but that is not the case here. Of course that makes no difference for the players, that's only about punishment.

Krasnol 6y ago
> I'm being pedantic, but no currency is "real". It is real in the sense that you can chose where you spend it. While this is like coupons. It may have value but that is very limited and therefore does not qualify as currency.
- tvprod1203 6y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Company_store Somehow feels familiar.
joecot 6y ago
One time I bought a Nissan Versa. It had a Continuously Variable Transmission in it. They knew that they broke constantly, and they sold it anyway. They lied to me and said my transmission was fine a few months before the warranty was over, so they wouldn't have to replace it. Years after I traded that car in and it went immediately to a junk yard, Nissan settled a class action lawsuit over it. The compensation? A voucher for a few thousand towards a new Nissan. I promise that when I joined a class action lawsuit over Nissan screwing me over, my goal wasn't to buy more Nissans. I would hazard a guess that many players who felt cheated enough by Epic to join a lawsuit against them likely feel similar.
- amanaplanacanal 6y ago
  A few years ago the state of Oregon sued oracle over their failed implementation of their ACA marketplace. They settled for a bunch of free oracle licenses. I scratched my head over that one.

ajuc 6y ago

> In game currency isn't real It is exactly as real as bitcoin. > It doesn't cost the company anything. To see this isn't true let's imagine they give away billion points to each player at once. How will their profits from that game change? I expect a big drop.

dantillberg 6y ago
It's actually less "real" than Bitcoin. I haven't read the Fortnite TOS, but game companies always grant themselves unilateral permission to create/destroy in-game items/etc whenever they please.
- ehsankia 6y ago
  AFAIK know, there's no trading in Fortnite. Games like Hearthstone or League of Legends where there is no way to exchange your goods for anything outside the game (except maybe selling the account as a whole) are indeed nowhere as real as bitcoin. On the otherhand, if it was a Valve game where you can trade items or sell them on the market place, then yes, those have a real value. Although dumping $78m of items in such a market place would probably collapse the item economy? You can buy a car with bitcoin, but you cannot buy a car with fortnite bucks, that's generally the metric I use to tell how real a currency is and how usable it is.
mattnewton 6y ago
It’s far less real than Bitcoin if you can’t trade it on an open market. This is like paying a settlement to employees in a company script instead of legal tender.
MaxBarraclough 6y ago
> To see this isn't true let's imagine they give away billion points to each player at once. How will their profits from that game change? I expect a big drop. I wonder about that. The motive in the in-game economy is to have, and spend, more than other players, right? Handing out in-game money to all participants might disrupt things in that everyone can now buy the fancy in-game items, but the competitive/relative component presumably remains. If you want even more in-game items than other players, the dynamic is still there: you still need to pay up.

Cookingboy 6y ago

>So, this is 'be found guilty and be forced to go back to your junkies and give them their next hit of crack for free.' It's worse, like you said, the in-game currency isn't even real, unlike a hit the dealer has to hand out for free...