4 ms·

Just because people make decisions that you wouldn't make yourself doesn't mean that they're stupid and emotionally manipulated.

lolinder 3y ago
Have you read any of the literature from the mobile gaming industry? I don't judge the people victimized by the industry, I judge the industry, and I do it based on the way they talk about their customers. They're very open about their exploitative practices and don't even really seem to see the problem. In my other comment, I pointed to this post by Duolingo's head of product as a good example of someone talking openly about exploitative practices without even really seeming to see the problem. This is honestly mild on the scale of industry discussions of how to manipulate people into giving more money. https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-us...
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  I mean, at the end of the day it's opt-in deluxe entertainment, and games have been attacked on this vector for decades. They are by nature time wasters and they (console games) can arguably be money wasters depending on how many games or whay kinds of games you play. We did especially have an era of this with MMOs. The game design patterns aren't new nor novel. Retaining players with repetitive grinds, using guilds to create peer pressure to stay, daily rotating events with a trickle of currency used to obtain desirable characters/gear. You could trace all that back to WOW and several Korean MMOs. The only difference is that they can reach a wider audience now, some of which they drew in from the console market.
- golergka 3y ago
  I've worked in it for many years, and I've been a happy customer as well, spending a lot of my money on those games. I get a game, I figure out I like it, spend a few hundreds on it in a span of a few months, and move on after it bores me, with perfect return on investment. I've tried spending the same money in casinos, but they are just too boring — I usually can't even get myself to burn down the money I've decided to spend, so I take don't get the gambling comparison: mobile games a simply better as entertainment.
solardev 3y ago
One of those rare sentences that can be both a game design doc and a casino defense...

lolinder 3y ago

Have you read any of the literature from the mobile gaming industry? I don't judge the people victimized by the industry, I judge the industry, and I do it based on the way they talk about their customers. They're very open about their exploitative practices and don't even really seem to see the problem. In my other comment, I pointed to this post by Duolingo's head of product as a good example of someone talking openly about exploitative practices without even really seeming to see the problem. This is honestly mild on the scale of industry discussions of how to manipulate people into giving more money. https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-us...

johnnyanmac 3y ago
I mean, at the end of the day it's opt-in deluxe entertainment, and games have been attacked on this vector for decades. They are by nature time wasters and they (console games) can arguably be money wasters depending on how many games or whay kinds of games you play. We did especially have an era of this with MMOs. The game design patterns aren't new nor novel. Retaining players with repetitive grinds, using guilds to create peer pressure to stay, daily rotating events with a trickle of currency used to obtain desirable characters/gear. You could trace all that back to WOW and several Korean MMOs. The only difference is that they can reach a wider audience now, some of which they drew in from the console market.
golergka 3y ago
I've worked in it for many years, and I've been a happy customer as well, spending a lot of my money on those games. I get a game, I figure out I like it, spend a few hundreds on it in a span of a few months, and move on after it bores me, with perfect return on investment. I've tried spending the same money in casinos, but they are just too boring — I usually can't even get myself to burn down the money I've decided to spend, so I take don't get the gambling comparison: mobile games a simply better as entertainment.

solardev 3y ago

One of those rare sentences that can be both a game design doc and a casino defense...