5 ms·

Good thing they have whales like me who will spend 100x of what you would have paid. They don't need you when they can milk me.

by Kiro 5y ago

soultrees 5y ago
Genuine question out of curiosity - what do you get out spending that much on a game? I’ve heard some whales spending 10-20k a week and that’s probably not even the highest. Do you get genuine enjoyment out of it or do you ever feel fleeced at all?
- Kiro 5y ago
  It depends on what kind of loot box. For cosmetics it's pretty random. When the game itself feels stale I want a new outfit to make it feel fresh. For P2W it's a treat after I've been grinding freemium for a while. It's like opening a beer on Friday after work. I don't spend 10-20k a week but I do occasionally spend that amount on one game during its whole lifetime. However, that also means I've gotten thousands of hours of enjoyment out of it. But yes, while I'm only a 1000x (1000x compared to someone who just pays $20 upfront) there are certainly people who are 1000000x and much bigger whales than me. I can't speak for them.
  - wellthisisgreat 5y ago
    The beer on Friday metaphor resonates with me (even though I don’t drink beer), that’s how I perceive buying in game items. Out of curiosity which game(s) did you spend 10-20k on?
  - dvlsg 5y ago
    I think that's part of the problem. Because skipping the grind by paying money is seen as a treat, game companies now have the incentive to turn their games into a chore on purpose to convince people to treat themselves.
- yomly 5y ago
  I think those numbers are all relative? If you're a bored prince with billions of liquid cash and even more billions of yielding assets, do you really care about 10-20k of weekly outlays? Or reduce the scale, if you have 100k annual salary, do you miss that $3 a day you spend on coffee or $5 a week you spend on mobile gaming? ... or $15.99 a month you spend on Netflix? Everyone has a thing and a threshold they are comfortable spending on. Some people want 4 wheels that will take them from A to B and other people are willing to spend $500 a month to get a Tesla. We focus on digital goods because they have a perceived cost of zero to manufacture and are transient (one day the game will no longer work) but fail to spot that the value we heap on many material goods are social and most of us do not buy goods for life (hence why r/BuyItForLife is a subculture rather than conventional wisdom)
  - AussieWog93 5y ago
    Just to follow up on what you said, one of the things I've learned after a couple of years in online retail is that a huge proportion of people genuinely enjoy spending money. They don't consider the opportunity cost or feel the pain of lost potential, but get a rush of "feeling rich" whenever they spend $50 on a T-shirt they'll wear once. It's cross-cultural, natural psychology, and I doubt it'll go anywhere.
    - Beltalowda 5y ago
      A lot of people have this; I certainly do: when I buy something new it feels good, for a short time. I actually live a fairly frugal life, and I think acknowledging this is important: "do I really want or need this or am I just making myself feel better for a few hours?"
  - HWR_14 5y ago
    Some people have enough money that they don't care about the money. But other people become addicted and end up spending money they don't have. Just like some people dropping 100k in Vegas in a weekend are paying for the experience and VIP treatment and others just need one more bet to replenish Johnnys college fund.
- foobarian 5y ago
  I don't spend near as much as GP but I found that I am OK spending a comparable number (or a little more) to a classic boxed game such as a console title, so around $50-$100, if I enjoy the game enough. Two examples: Roblox and Genshin Impact. Me and the kid got into Roblox entirely for free. Beyond all the games she enjoys even without any paid features, we got a dead-simple game creation platform with world-class MMO built in. I thought that was nice enough to warrant buying a few gift cards for her and the peers. We got into GI for free as well. I was apprehensive at first because I heard from friends that GI is an evil gacha game preying on addict personalities. But once we started it we enjoyed the artwork and the game so much through the hours of main quest lines and beautiful content that I thought it was as good or better than Zelda BOTW so why not kick back at least the BOTW purchase price?
legalcorrection 5y ago
This is like bragging about being in the demographic that keeps celebrity gossip tabloids afloat. Do you also lose a lot of money on MLM schemes? Are Vegas casinos comping week-long stays for you?
- Kiro 5y ago
  I'm not into MLM schemes (or gambling) but I do love celebrity gossip. Since apparently you get to decide what interests are cool or not, I would love to hear what kind of amazing things you are into!
  - legalcorrection 5y ago
    Mostly telling people on the internet that they are wrong.
    - Handytinge 5y ago
      This is the funniest thing I've seen on HN!
    - Loughla 5y ago
      This is either the most amazingly self-aware joke I've seen, or a completely tone-deaf unbelievably cynical response. I can't tell.
      - legalcorrection 5y ago
        :)
      - deleted 5y ago
        [deleted]
- unethical_ban 5y ago
  You are implying that F2P is unethical. What Kiro is saying, I believe, is that the person they responded to had an invalid point. Someone was suggesting that F2P is inherently dishonest because "developers need to eat" and clearly there are unethical moneymaking behaviors happening. Kiro is saying "No, it isn't inherently unethical, and there are people like me willing to spend the money on cosmetics and lootboxes to cover the development of the game". You are making the same logical fallacy (or simple opinion) that "There is no way for F2P is ethical".
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

Good thing they have whales like me who will spend 100x of what you would have paid. They don't need you when they can milk me.

by Kiro 5y ago

Good thing they have whales like me who will spend 100x of what you would have paid. They don't need you when they can milk me.

soultrees 5y ago

Genuine question out of curiosity - what do you get out spending that much on a game? I’ve heard some whales spending 10-20k a week and that’s probably not even the highest. Do you get genuine enjoyment out of it or do you ever feel fleeced at all?

Kiro 5y ago
It depends on what kind of loot box. For cosmetics it's pretty random. When the game itself feels stale I want a new outfit to make it feel fresh. For P2W it's a treat after I've been grinding freemium for a while. It's like opening a beer on Friday after work. I don't spend 10-20k a week but I do occasionally spend that amount on one game during its whole lifetime. However, that also means I've gotten thousands of hours of enjoyment out of it. But yes, while I'm only a 1000x (1000x compared to someone who just pays $20 upfront) there are certainly people who are 1000000x and much bigger whales than me. I can't speak for them.
- wellthisisgreat 5y ago
  The beer on Friday metaphor resonates with me (even though I don’t drink beer), that’s how I perceive buying in game items. Out of curiosity which game(s) did you spend 10-20k on?
- dvlsg 5y ago
  I think that's part of the problem. Because skipping the grind by paying money is seen as a treat, game companies now have the incentive to turn their games into a chore on purpose to convince people to treat themselves.
yomly 5y ago
I think those numbers are all relative? If you're a bored prince with billions of liquid cash and even more billions of yielding assets, do you really care about 10-20k of weekly outlays? Or reduce the scale, if you have 100k annual salary, do you miss that $3 a day you spend on coffee or $5 a week you spend on mobile gaming? ... or $15.99 a month you spend on Netflix? Everyone has a thing and a threshold they are comfortable spending on. Some people want 4 wheels that will take them from A to B and other people are willing to spend $500 a month to get a Tesla. We focus on digital goods because they have a perceived cost of zero to manufacture and are transient (one day the game will no longer work) but fail to spot that the value we heap on many material goods are social and most of us do not buy goods for life (hence why r/BuyItForLife is a subculture rather than conventional wisdom)
- AussieWog93 5y ago
  Just to follow up on what you said, one of the things I've learned after a couple of years in online retail is that a huge proportion of people genuinely enjoy spending money. They don't consider the opportunity cost or feel the pain of lost potential, but get a rush of "feeling rich" whenever they spend $50 on a T-shirt they'll wear once. It's cross-cultural, natural psychology, and I doubt it'll go anywhere.
  - Beltalowda 5y ago
    A lot of people have this; I certainly do: when I buy something new it feels good, for a short time. I actually live a fairly frugal life, and I think acknowledging this is important: "do I really want or need this or am I just making myself feel better for a few hours?"
- HWR_14 5y ago
  Some people have enough money that they don't care about the money. But other people become addicted and end up spending money they don't have. Just like some people dropping 100k in Vegas in a weekend are paying for the experience and VIP treatment and others just need one more bet to replenish Johnnys college fund.
foobarian 5y ago
I don't spend near as much as GP but I found that I am OK spending a comparable number (or a little more) to a classic boxed game such as a console title, so around $50-$100, if I enjoy the game enough. Two examples: Roblox and Genshin Impact. Me and the kid got into Roblox entirely for free. Beyond all the games she enjoys even without any paid features, we got a dead-simple game creation platform with world-class MMO built in. I thought that was nice enough to warrant buying a few gift cards for her and the peers. We got into GI for free as well. I was apprehensive at first because I heard from friends that GI is an evil gacha game preying on addict personalities. But once we started it we enjoyed the artwork and the game so much through the hours of main quest lines and beautiful content that I thought it was as good or better than Zelda BOTW so why not kick back at least the BOTW purchase price?

legalcorrection 5y ago

This is like bragging about being in the demographic that keeps celebrity gossip tabloids afloat. Do you also lose a lot of money on MLM schemes? Are Vegas casinos comping week-long stays for you?

Kiro 5y ago
I'm not into MLM schemes (or gambling) but I do love celebrity gossip. Since apparently you get to decide what interests are cool or not, I would love to hear what kind of amazing things you are into!
- legalcorrection 5y ago
  Mostly telling people on the internet that they are wrong.
  - Handytinge 5y ago
    This is the funniest thing I've seen on HN!
  - Loughla 5y ago
    This is either the most amazingly self-aware joke I've seen, or a completely tone-deaf unbelievably cynical response. I can't tell.
    - legalcorrection 5y ago
      :)
    - deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
unethical_ban 5y ago
You are implying that F2P is unethical. What Kiro is saying, I believe, is that the person they responded to had an invalid point. Someone was suggesting that F2P is inherently dishonest because "developers need to eat" and clearly there are unethical moneymaking behaviors happening. Kiro is saying "No, it isn't inherently unethical, and there are people like me willing to spend the money on cosmetics and lootboxes to cover the development of the game". You are making the same logical fallacy (or simple opinion) that "There is no way for F2P is ethical".

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]