7 ms·

High end restaurants don't use casino-style tricks (random rewards or non-rewards) to get you hooked.

by diebeforei485 5y ago

void_mint 5y ago
Are all businesses to be compared to high end restaurants?
- gravypod 5y ago
  I may be ignorant but I don't know many businesses who operate mainly on dopamine hooks other than tech and gambling.
  - void_mint 5y ago
    Is it coincidence that high end restaurants usually involve lots of alcohol?
    - gyc 5y ago
      If anything given the cost of high quality ingredients, high end restaurants might even be losing money on food alone, and may depend on alcohol sales to make up the difference.
      - void_mint 5y ago
        I really really doubt that.
        alasdair_ 5y ago
        This is true, or very close to true (some just break even on the food rather than actually taking a loss). Certainly if everyone became tee total the restaurants could not afford to stay open at the prices they charge for food alone. Source: my brother spent 20 years in fine dining up to executive chef levels.
  - DrBenCarson 5y ago
    Um... * pharmaceuticals * alcohol * soft drinks * tobacco * fashion * media (film, tv, publishers like Buzzfeed, People, etc.) * half the useless shit I buy on Amazon
    - ethbr0 5y ago
      High performance automobiles
  - prepend 5y ago
    Most restaurants are garbage, convenience places relying on massive ads and such to succeed. Pretty much all fast food falls into this category. Sugar and cheap oils making up tons of calories to get people coming back.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
No, but low-end ones do. cf Domino's Surprise Frees (https://surprisefrees.dominos.com/ https://surprisefrees.dominos.com/) program.
- _fat_santa 5y ago
  Personally I don't see that as getting people hooked, more so incentivizing online ordering. My theory is Dominos has figured out that online orders are much more efficient to take than phone orders. As such they are doing everything they can to nudge people to order online. So no I don't think it's to get people hooked on Domino's pizza because of a roulette you can play when you order, I think it's a "nudge" to get you to order online. Regular Joe wants to order a pizza and goes to call Dominos, when he looks up the number he sees the promotion but only if he orders online. Even though Regular Joe usually orders over the phone, he orders online this time, even winning some breadsticks for his trouble. Regular Joe now orders online whenever he gets Dominos.
  - judge2020 5y ago
    > Personally I don't see that as getting people hooked, more so incentivizing online ordering. Not much different than the Phone then. I can assure you there are at least a few dozen people who buy Domino's once a day thanks to this promotion.
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      At that point they're winning regularly and it acts more like a 50 cent discount on each order, with no way to win big either. If you want to get hooked on that you can just pick your own random day of the week. So whatever, not predatory in the way that going for whales usually is.
  - secabeen 5y ago
    Online orders save staff time, and are much less error-prone.
- suprfsat 5y ago
gowld 5y ago
High end restaurants use social status tricks. What's the difference?
johnnyanmac 5y ago
Games as an entire concept use these tricks. mobile games aren't fundamentally different. The difference is that there was always a spending ceiling until mobile came along. Even if that spending celing was still something absurd in a few cases, like $2000 of train simulator DLC. Regardless, people spending this much money are likely old enough to choose to gamble (or stealing their money, which is a different issue altogether). So I'm as concerned for them as any other gambler/alcoholic. Wish them the best but I don't care to bring the government in and regulate everyone's behaviors (My country historically tried and failed with alcohol. And is slowly losing similar efforts with drugs).
- wyre 5y ago
  Most (US) cities already have regulations against gambling and I don’t see people having underground casinos where they are losing their life savings. AFAIK there is even regulation against e-gambling like online poker. Microtransactions give the brain the same chemicals but without the possibility of a cash payout and are engineered to take as much money from the user using techniques casinos don’t have access to because they exist in a physical space and not digitally inside a mobile phone without having to offer cash payouts for winners.
  - johnnyanmac 5y ago
    >and I don’t see people having underground casinos where they are losing their life savings. well, it wouldn't be very undergrounds if you saw it, no? I have little doubt that they exist, even if I cannot prove it. Underground betting rings is almost a cliche in modern media. >Microtransactions give the brain the same chemicals but without the possibility of a cash payout no, games do that (outside of like, Steam Marketplace where you can apparently sell digital items yourself. So the money traded IS the rush). MTX are a monetization taking advantadge of that dopamine rush. And nowhere close to the first one.
  - thegrimmest 5y ago
    > regulation against e-gambling like online poker. nit - playing poker against other people isn't gambling, it's a game of skill. Much like chess, if you're better, you win and can earn a living. No one earns a living playing roulette.
gwern 5y ago
High end restaurants absolutely do those! They track customers looking for whales, and track various random gifts and upgrades. "Monsieur? The maitre d' says he put the corner table aside for you. Please enjoy a small bisque while you wait, our compliments. And I believe it is your wife's birthday, perhaps the pianist can play her favorite song?"
- mortenjorck 5y ago
  Yes to whale-seeking, but this is otherwise not a valid comparison. Fine-dining patrons are not basing their visits around the hope that "this time they'll get the free appetizers." Put another way, I'm reasonably sure that gambling addiction support groups outnumber fine dining addiction support groups by a few orders of magnitude.
  - gwern 5y ago
    Now you are equivocating on 'hooked'. They certainly do intend to get you hooked so you come back again and again.
RandyGoldy 5y ago
Hello, everyone! Yeah, I have also heard about such tricks. A couple of months ago, I was fired from my job and I decided to look for a job. A friend recommended a great website to me https://cherrybonuses.com/ https://cherrybonuses.com/ where you can earn good money. Moreover, here you can find the top of the best casinos and choose what you need. I was able to find a great casino, earn money and withdraw it easily.

High end restaurants don't use casino-style tricks (random rewards or non-rewards) to get you hooked.

void_mint 5y ago

Are all businesses to be compared to high end restaurants?

gravypod 5y ago
I may be ignorant but I don't know many businesses who operate mainly on dopamine hooks other than tech and gambling.
- void_mint 5y ago
  Is it coincidence that high end restaurants usually involve lots of alcohol?
  - gyc 5y ago
    If anything given the cost of high quality ingredients, high end restaurants might even be losing money on food alone, and may depend on alcohol sales to make up the difference.
    - void_mint 5y ago
      I really really doubt that.
      - alasdair_ 5y ago
        This is true, or very close to true (some just break even on the food rather than actually taking a loss). Certainly if everyone became tee total the restaurants could not afford to stay open at the prices they charge for food alone. Source: my brother spent 20 years in fine dining up to executive chef levels.
- DrBenCarson 5y ago
  Um... * pharmaceuticals * alcohol * soft drinks * tobacco * fashion * media (film, tv, publishers like Buzzfeed, People, etc.) * half the useless shit I buy on Amazon
  - ethbr0 5y ago
    High performance automobiles
- prepend 5y ago
  Most restaurants are garbage, convenience places relying on massive ads and such to succeed. Pretty much all fast food falls into this category. Sugar and cheap oils making up tons of calories to get people coming back.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago

No, but low-end ones do. cf Domino's Surprise Frees (https://surprisefrees.dominos.com/ https://surprisefrees.dominos.com/) program.

_fat_santa 5y ago
Personally I don't see that as getting people hooked, more so incentivizing online ordering. My theory is Dominos has figured out that online orders are much more efficient to take than phone orders. As such they are doing everything they can to nudge people to order online. So no I don't think it's to get people hooked on Domino's pizza because of a roulette you can play when you order, I think it's a "nudge" to get you to order online. Regular Joe wants to order a pizza and goes to call Dominos, when he looks up the number he sees the promotion but only if he orders online. Even though Regular Joe usually orders over the phone, he orders online this time, even winning some breadsticks for his trouble. Regular Joe now orders online whenever he gets Dominos.
- judge2020 5y ago
  > Personally I don't see that as getting people hooked, more so incentivizing online ordering. Not much different than the Phone then. I can assure you there are at least a few dozen people who buy Domino's once a day thanks to this promotion.
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    At that point they're winning regularly and it acts more like a 50 cent discount on each order, with no way to win big either. If you want to get hooked on that you can just pick your own random day of the week. So whatever, not predatory in the way that going for whales usually is.
- secabeen 5y ago
  Online orders save staff time, and are much less error-prone.
suprfsat 5y ago

gowld 5y ago

High end restaurants use social status tricks. What's the difference?

johnnyanmac 5y ago

Games as an entire concept use these tricks. mobile games aren't fundamentally different. The difference is that there was always a spending ceiling until mobile came along. Even if that spending celing was still something absurd in a few cases, like $2000 of train simulator DLC. Regardless, people spending this much money are likely old enough to choose to gamble (or stealing their money, which is a different issue altogether). So I'm as concerned for them as any other gambler/alcoholic. Wish them the best but I don't care to bring the government in and regulate everyone's behaviors (My country historically tried and failed with alcohol. And is slowly losing similar efforts with drugs).

wyre 5y ago
Most (US) cities already have regulations against gambling and I don’t see people having underground casinos where they are losing their life savings. AFAIK there is even regulation against e-gambling like online poker. Microtransactions give the brain the same chemicals but without the possibility of a cash payout and are engineered to take as much money from the user using techniques casinos don’t have access to because they exist in a physical space and not digitally inside a mobile phone without having to offer cash payouts for winners.
- johnnyanmac 5y ago
  >and I don’t see people having underground casinos where they are losing their life savings. well, it wouldn't be very undergrounds if you saw it, no? I have little doubt that they exist, even if I cannot prove it. Underground betting rings is almost a cliche in modern media. >Microtransactions give the brain the same chemicals but without the possibility of a cash payout no, games do that (outside of like, Steam Marketplace where you can apparently sell digital items yourself. So the money traded IS the rush). MTX are a monetization taking advantadge of that dopamine rush. And nowhere close to the first one.
- thegrimmest 5y ago
  > regulation against e-gambling like online poker. nit - playing poker against other people isn't gambling, it's a game of skill. Much like chess, if you're better, you win and can earn a living. No one earns a living playing roulette.

gwern 5y ago

High end restaurants absolutely do those! They track customers looking for whales, and track various random gifts and upgrades. "Monsieur? The maitre d' says he put the corner table aside for you. Please enjoy a small bisque while you wait, our compliments. And I believe it is your wife's birthday, perhaps the pianist can play her favorite song?"

mortenjorck 5y ago
Yes to whale-seeking, but this is otherwise not a valid comparison. Fine-dining patrons are not basing their visits around the hope that "this time they'll get the free appetizers." Put another way, I'm reasonably sure that gambling addiction support groups outnumber fine dining addiction support groups by a few orders of magnitude.
- gwern 5y ago
  Now you are equivocating on 'hooked'. They certainly do intend to get you hooked so you come back again and again.

RandyGoldy 5y ago

Hello, everyone! Yeah, I have also heard about such tricks. A couple of months ago, I was fired from my job and I decided to look for a job. A friend recommended a great website to me https://cherrybonuses.com/ https://cherrybonuses.com/ where you can earn good money. Moreover, here you can find the top of the best casinos and choose what you need. I was able to find a great casino, earn money and withdraw it easily.