5 ms·

Look at how addicting Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Genshin Impact, etc. are. Now imagine games like these but you have the ability to win real money. Or imagin

Look at how addicting Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Genshin Impact, etc. are. Now imagine games like these but you have the ability to win real money. Or imagine a digital casino, because that's basically what this game is. I'm surprised these games aren't more popular. Maybe because if they truly become mainstream, they're basically guaranteed to be shut down or heavily regulated. Either that or millions of people will go broke, already-broke people will accumulate massive debt, and people will be playing these games instead of getting a job. It would probably affect so many people that it would actually cause major economic problems. Like, I honestly think crypto-games are really cool. I kind of want them to succeed and would play some myself (in moderation). But just, considering what we know about addiction and human nature, a game where you can actually win enough money to play them as a full-time job seems like the ultimate way to take money from disadvantaged people. "The addictiveness of social media, the addictiveness of lootboxes, the addictiveness of casinos - those have nothing on games where you can actually make money.

delaaxe 5y ago
Your grandparents used to say the same thing about the stock market
- acdha 5y ago
  Quite the opposite, at least for mine: it was known that some companies were risky but that was why they referred to people pushing investment scams as conmen and supported regulation. Solid stocks and their dividends were a key part of a lot retirements, even if they couldn’t afford that many shares.
slfnflctd 5y ago
> Or imagine a digital casino I find pretty much every casino game beyond incredibly boring. The only appeal seems to be greed-- if you take that away (or decide you don't value it), they lose all luster for me. I know this opinion isn't universal - some people will play simulations of those games for hours with no real money on the line - but I can't be the only one. There are so many much more enjoyable games out there that cost a lot less (or nothing) to play. I've thought for a very long time that if they ever manage to come up with casino games that are actually fun for more people to play for long periods, it would be a catastrophe for gambling addiction. All the same, I can't help being curious what it would look like. I'm honestly amazed it hasn't happened yet; you have to wonder whether there's some kind of hard barrier holding it back. How anyone can sit so long in front of a machine which consists of nothing but pushing a single button completely befuddles me.
- bob29 5y ago
  The more modern digital screen slot machines I've played now have 2 buttons, one that selects how many paylines, and one that selects how much money per payline you bet, and have rewards that can trigger minigames. I wouldn't say they're more engaging or fundamentally different than classic casino games, but I think for casinos there will always be an incentive to design games that can be optimally played by any drunk player. On the flip side, as someone who used to be an obsessed video game player, behind all the fancy media assets, all I see in most videogames is running through a maze and watching the output from pseudorandom number generators. To make a casino game that is actually fun, by gaming standards, I think it would look like World of Warcraft with an in-game integration of marketplace for gold and items instead of going to ebay.
  - saganus 5y ago
    > with an in-game integration of marketplace for gold and items instead of going to ebay That's what happened with Diablo 3's Real Money Action House and... It didn't end well. They had to convert the RMAH to a regulat AH after some time.
- denton-scratch 5y ago
  When I was a child, I thought wine and beer were boring. Some people have to practice quite hard, to get into problems with booze and gambling. I dislike the custom of using the word "addiction" to describe gambling; but it certainly shares many features with chemical addictions, including the role of habit. I'm suggesting: for some people, being dependent on something is a goal in itself. Actually, I'm not suggesting; I'm sure it's so for my personal microsample, which is entirely based on chemical dependencies. But I believe it might also be true of various psychological dependencies, like gambling. I've just never known anyone that had a gambling dependency.

delaaxe 5y ago

Your grandparents used to say the same thing about the stock market

acdha 5y ago
Quite the opposite, at least for mine: it was known that some companies were risky but that was why they referred to people pushing investment scams as conmen and supported regulation. Solid stocks and their dividends were a key part of a lot retirements, even if they couldn’t afford that many shares.

slfnflctd 5y ago

> Or imagine a digital casino I find pretty much every casino game beyond incredibly boring. The only appeal seems to be greed-- if you take that away (or decide you don't value it), they lose all luster for me. I know this opinion isn't universal - some people will play simulations of those games for hours with no real money on the line - but I can't be the only one. There are so many much more enjoyable games out there that cost a lot less (or nothing) to play. I've thought for a very long time that if they ever manage to come up with casino games that are actually fun for more people to play for long periods, it would be a catastrophe for gambling addiction. All the same, I can't help being curious what it would look like. I'm honestly amazed it hasn't happened yet; you have to wonder whether there's some kind of hard barrier holding it back. How anyone can sit so long in front of a machine which consists of nothing but pushing a single button completely befuddles me.

bob29 5y ago
The more modern digital screen slot machines I've played now have 2 buttons, one that selects how many paylines, and one that selects how much money per payline you bet, and have rewards that can trigger minigames. I wouldn't say they're more engaging or fundamentally different than classic casino games, but I think for casinos there will always be an incentive to design games that can be optimally played by any drunk player. On the flip side, as someone who used to be an obsessed video game player, behind all the fancy media assets, all I see in most videogames is running through a maze and watching the output from pseudorandom number generators. To make a casino game that is actually fun, by gaming standards, I think it would look like World of Warcraft with an in-game integration of marketplace for gold and items instead of going to ebay.
- saganus 5y ago
  > with an in-game integration of marketplace for gold and items instead of going to ebay That's what happened with Diablo 3's Real Money Action House and... It didn't end well. They had to convert the RMAH to a regulat AH after some time.
denton-scratch 5y ago
When I was a child, I thought wine and beer were boring. Some people have to practice quite hard, to get into problems with booze and gambling. I dislike the custom of using the word "addiction" to describe gambling; but it certainly shares many features with chemical addictions, including the role of habit. I'm suggesting: for some people, being dependent on something is a goal in itself. Actually, I'm not suggesting; I'm sure it's so for my personal microsample, which is entirely based on chemical dependencies. But I believe it might also be true of various psychological dependencies, like gambling. I've just never known anyone that had a gambling dependency.