• saintshenanigans@programming.dev
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    10 months ago

    Subscription services rely on the customer forgetting and paying for something they don’t necessarily actively want, especially in gaming, not sure how thats such a better alternative than a cosmetic you can simply not purchase.

    There is no psychological manipulation for a straightforward cosmetic purchase lol

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      They don’t rely on it, and you can make a model that requires you to purchase months in advance, and refill as necessary, without charging again once that’s up.

      There absolutely is psychological manipulation, that’s what advertisement is. Are you saying they make cosmetic shops some hidden feature you have to unlock? Lmao. Even just seeing it in-game is subtle manipulation into buying more.

      F2P games are experiments in psychological manipulation more than they are games.

        • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          On a much smaller level, sure. Advertising in general is predatory and manipulative. F2P models are stores you cannot leave without leaving the game entirely, unlike paid games.

          • saintshenanigans@programming.dev
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            10 months ago

            Advertising in general is a way for a person to show people they have a product worth buying, so the producer is able to make a living on it.

            This argument isn’t even about consumer protections anymore, it’s just anti-business. I’d be completely with you if there were only giant FAANGS corps in gaming, but there are also small developers trying to make a living.

            Also, the same example I’ve been using, I just now opened league, the homepage is defaulted to the latest patch overview. If you hit the play button you go straight to the lobby and from there into a match, all without seeing an advertisement. You’re making broad generalizations that only accurately describe some of the worst store models, and you’re generally acting like it’s a horrible thing for a business to pursue profits