• CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    Nobody is mad that Civilization and Factorio cause us to accidentally pull all-nighters, they’re mad that the latest Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed, Grand Theft Auto, and other similar games are designed to extract as much money as possible from people.

    Once upon a time people worried about MMO addiction and that was before they added $40 horses. I was on the other side back then, now game publishers can go fuck themselves.

    • minibyte@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      The science of slot machines is applied directly to some video games. The Molecule of More is worth a read.

    • EatATaco@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Rtfa.

      Call of Duty, for instance, is criticized for rewarding players with gun and attachment unlocks, which the suit calls “a form of operant conditioning,” as well as for featuring “fast-paced play, satisfying graphics, sounds, and other dopamine lifts.” Minecraft’s multiplayer features are said to “addict players to connecting with others in the Minecraft world” and the suit warns that players with ADHD “can become easily hyper focused and addicted to building worlds.” Grand Theft Auto 5, the suit says, “includes endless arrays of activities and challenges to continually engage users and ensure they are never bored.”

      • Holyginz@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        If that’s what they want to take away than fuck them. Focus on the shit that has to do with loot boxes and micro transactions. If they want people to engage more irl the solution isn’t to ruin the only outlet I and others have, it’s to improve people’s lives where they don’t view escaping into games as a necessity to get away from depressing reality. Just my two cents.

    • WarmSoda@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      Never forget it was Bethesda that started it all with the fucking horse armor.

      • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
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        8 months ago

        Horse armor is completely above-board, relative to this abuse. It was a real expansion: you paid money for new files. Stupidly tiny new files that solved problems the game created. But new files nonetheless.

        Horse armor was the warning sign for the next decade of min-maxed bullshit DLC. That didn’t turn into this fresh hell until publishers tried doing “on-disc DLC.” I.e., you pay us for the game, and the whole game is on the damn disc, but you don’t get the whole game until you pay us again, for the game you just fucking bought.

        Once mobile trash started charging repeatedly for the same geegaws, we were fucked. Only legislation will fix this.