4 ms·

I'm definitely not judging, I also spend too much money on stupid things and we're friends - we commiserate about it. I just meant it as a concrete example of

I'm definitely not judging, I also spend too much money on stupid things and we're friends - we commiserate about it. I just meant it as a concrete example of how the parasocial marketing tactics GP mentioned in these games get people to spend way more than they had planned to (or that you even could spend in "classic" games)

Dalewyn 3y ago
I agree spending beyond one's means is bad, but why is that blamed on what the money is being spent on rather than who is spending that money in the first place? We never seem to blame the source of the problem in any of these discussions, blaming one scapegoat after another in a frantic and futile attempt to blame anything but the actual problem. It prevents any meaningful answer from coming to bear.
- flangola7 3y ago
  The source of the problem are manipulative businesses models that are disappointingly still legal.
  - Dalewyn 3y ago
    At what point are you going to stop or finish eliminating those "manipulative business models"? The guy who keeps wasting his money is just going to move onto the next one. No, the source of the problem are people who can't responsibly manage their finances. Whether that stems from something within their control or not is irrelevant.
    - flangola7 3y ago
      If I wanted Ayn Rand banalities instead of serious answers, I would have asked as such.
      - Dalewyn 3y ago
        Is the goal here to solve problems or is it to just feel good about being edgy? If it's the latter, then yes we can keep avoiding addressing the actual problem.
  - johnnyanmac 3y ago
    Not much you can do. This is stuff pretty much what every form of modern advertising wants to do, especially these days with social media like Twitter/Tiktok/Instagram/etc. It's no different than how modern musician artists aren't selling you music anymore but a "brand" and "personality". Because music doesn't make the money (not for the artist at least), it just drives fans into buying merch/concerts/etc. It's not exactly new either. Toy lines were doing this as early as the 70's by leveraging colorful mascots in commercials and commisioning thinly veiled ads they called cartoons to keep the brand awareness. We simply have better tools to do this today.

Dalewyn 3y ago

I agree spending beyond one's means is bad, but why is that blamed on what the money is being spent on rather than who is spending that money in the first place? We never seem to blame the source of the problem in any of these discussions, blaming one scapegoat after another in a frantic and futile attempt to blame anything but the actual problem. It prevents any meaningful answer from coming to bear.

flangola7 3y ago
The source of the problem are manipulative businesses models that are disappointingly still legal.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  At what point are you going to stop or finish eliminating those "manipulative business models"? The guy who keeps wasting his money is just going to move onto the next one. No, the source of the problem are people who can't responsibly manage their finances. Whether that stems from something within their control or not is irrelevant.
  - flangola7 3y ago
    If I wanted Ayn Rand banalities instead of serious answers, I would have asked as such.
    - Dalewyn 3y ago
      Is the goal here to solve problems or is it to just feel good about being edgy? If it's the latter, then yes we can keep avoiding addressing the actual problem.
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  Not much you can do. This is stuff pretty much what every form of modern advertising wants to do, especially these days with social media like Twitter/Tiktok/Instagram/etc. It's no different than how modern musician artists aren't selling you music anymore but a "brand" and "personality". Because music doesn't make the money (not for the artist at least), it just drives fans into buying merch/concerts/etc. It's not exactly new either. Toy lines were doing this as early as the 70's by leveraging colorful mascots in commercials and commisioning thinly veiled ads they called cartoons to keep the brand awareness. We simply have better tools to do this today.