If that ain’t proof microtransactions are a bane on society, then we’re already too corrupt to care.
Not to mention there’s hardly any micro transactions left, a lot of these micro transactions are the prices of full games or more!
This is what I don’t get, why would you get some in game currency or item that will help you for like five minutes for the same price as a game that will give you tens of hours of fun. Cosmetics I somewhat get, you wanna show off. Still think it’s kinda dumb but I get it since I’m tf2 player.
Nah it’s worse, because you can trade TF2/Steam items. You can’t do shit with games like Fortnite, Overwatch, Valorant, etc…
Doesn’t the trading kind of encourage the gambling aspect of it though?
In a roundabout way, yes, because it allows a player to player economy to form (outside of valve’s purview), which other games prevent by preventing trading.
However, the ability for items that have been purchased or acquired to be traded to people has a great effect of making common things more accessible to players as a whole, even those who don’t spend money (Craft hats or unique weapons in TF2, for instance).
I think that as a buyer, you would want to have something that isn’t permalocked to your account, but I could see the argument from an abuse standpoint.
Macro transactions 😎
If it isn’t proof they target children, I don’t know what is.
Microtransctions prove they should be illegal every time I read any article about them
I see it as as much of a problem as cheap toys from Toys r’ us. The kids love them for about 30 minutes, then they break and that’s it (the toys that is). But does it really matter? Just because something is digital, does it really make it worth less to the children?
It’s less about the value to children and more about exploiting that to extract money without any regard to the children’s wellbeing. Crappy toys would be purged in a more ethical state of the world instead of being allowed to thrive and take over.
That’s just every single thing ever sold and marketed to children. No company has ever given half a shit about children’s wellbeing. With that said, what part about them buying a skin to show off to their friends hurts their wellbeing?
The part where they buy a skin to show off.
I worked hard to make my kids understand why that stuff is bad. They got their highs, crashes, and understanding, now they’re not attracted to stuff like that any more 😅 but man, it should totally be illegal.
Especially for kids ffs.
What did you do?
I explained how it works, that it’s just artificial scarcity, with vark patterns like FOMO, that they’ll lose it all on day (when switching game for example or the game stops existing), but also that for a small game it could help the creator (they loved a sand digging game and bought a better shovel lol) etc. I also put the money in perspective , like remember that candy we bought, it was 5€, are you sure you want to buy a skin for 8€ (they did)? But I didn’t outright forbid them to do so, they got to chose and they were quite happy about it. I very rarely gave them anything (maybe 20-30€ during like 3 years) but they hit the gramps :-) and eventually the house of cards went down and they were outraged that all their skins and “rare skins” were just useless now. They got a single skin for the next shooter IIRC so to not have the newbie skin, but then it just stopped.
How old were they, when they had those experiences? I’ve been thinking I need to have them feel they’ve wasted “their own” money to develop a sense of regret, too.
Starting around 10-11 I guess, Roblox and that popular shooter with a bus dropping the players was all the rage.
I don’t know if they got the value of money back then, the lesson was taught, but I guess learned way later. The skins and the super shovel etc. “Was” the “money” for them and poof it all went away when they didn’t want to play that specific game any more.
The current landscape of gaming is so foreign to me. Gaming for me has always been an experience to get lost in a fantasy world — something akin to reading. Nowadays everyone seems obsessed with the online and competitive sides of it. It feels like you can’t have a conversation about videogames without someone bringing up Fortnite and the new skins they unlocked by treating it as a job.
Well, some people just treat it like playing sports. Wanna go play ball? Wanna play CSGO? Hey, this ball/shirt/skin looks fancier! It’s foreign, but understandable to me.
It also seems to be as many people as it was back shooters became a big thing. Out of the few people I know who video game, one only does FPS, one sticks to a few different games (Ultrakill, TF2, Peak to name a few), one either plays co-op with his gf or does Single player, and one mostly plays single player like me. Chatting up random people about games, that ratio seems similiar.
Most people don’t treat sports like that, though. Even those who do, know to shut up about their stats when talking about their sport with someone who isn’t that into it. You don’t say “oh, I went golfing with some friends last week” and immediately hear “I can score an 85” because that’d be obnoxious. I know there’s always been people like that but it honestly feels like “competitive” play has become the norm and it didn’t use to be like that.
Damn this one stings.
Instead of wanting a video game as a present… They want a bunch of resources for the video game they already play.
And here i was assuming that with all the gamer parents, kids where going to be guided towards actually good games.
Kids want to play what their friends/community are playing.
This. When all of your kids friends are playing the same game and it’s all they talk about, forbidding it will just lead to them being left out. It fucking sucks
Hey, I got left out of things kids my age were talking about the old-fashioned way, by being a gigantic fucking dork, and it was free, goddammit!
Kids want to play the games their friends are playing more than what their parents play.
I will play Fortnite and Roblox and Rocket League with my son and I’ve never had a skin or a battle pass and have tried to show him you can have fun with out wasting your money but that doesn’t stop a kids FOMO.
Publishers know kids have undeveloped abilities to delay gratification and are susceptible to peer pressure
Yeah, for this reason i don’t plan to outright ban roblox and the like. I don’t want to be a fun-dictator.
Its also important that kids learn to deal with the reality that these games/practices do exist around them, and at some age i wont be there to guide every decision.
But there will definitely be “a talk” before i install anything remotely like it. Being capable of understanding the dangers is a requirement to get acces.
Gamer uncle of kids with non-gamer parents here.
I did what I could.
My niece’s taste in games is impeccable. She’s 13 and among her favorites are Hollow Knight, the Ori games, Inscryption, Cult of the Lamb, and of course big mass kids appeal games like Pokemon and Mario.
My nephew (9) is a lost cause. It’s all Roblox and mobile child casino garbage and he doesn’t have even the slightest interest in anything else. I’m pretty sure my partner and I are the only people in his life who have never given him Robux.
I went with my son to his friends house a few years ago, about 9. Me and his mom were hanging out while the kids gamed. Her son played roblox. I never liked the game, and know there are thousands of other games to play that aren’t so predatory, so my kid was never introduced to it. Anyway, his friend was playing so I let my son play too for this day.
After a time, her son asked for $10 for Roblox. Mom said not today and the child had a full meltdown. It hurt my ears he was screeching so loud. My son just froze and stared at his friend. It looked similar to a panic attack crossed with a toddler temper tantrum. Once he calmed down, she let him back on the game, but we went home.
Certain games turn smaller children into addicts. Roblox is definitely one of those games, it seems.
My nephew has talked about how lucky some of his friends are because they get more robux from their parents than he does and how he wishes his parents would give him more “nice things” like that.
This is a kid who has been to disneyland multiple times and has gone on multiple cruises before he was a decade old. They have a big trip basically every summer, but he doesn’t want any of that, he just wants more robux.
I thought so too. I try with my boy I really do. Ive got him understanding that mtx are the work of Satan, but beyond that I cant help him.
There aren’t 50% of gamer parents anyway.
It’s 43% of 60% of US kids. So more like 25%. Still pretty bad.
Hey I got an idea: what if we get all the kids addicted to smoking, gambling, and drinking!
Who are the parents of these kids ?? They clearly failed in life
Its not the parents fault, its just how its going.
As a kid I wanted pokemon cards, because all the other kids had pokemon cards and were showing off how many pokemon cards they had and it was on TV that you GOTTA CATCH EM ALL and the cool kid had a shiny raichu and I was a loser because I didnt have one so I really wanted one so I needed pokemon cards.
It didnt mean my parents failed me. It means toy manufacturers have all but weaponised marketing/propaganda and children are especially susceptible.
In my example, replace shiny raichu card with Peter Griffin skin.
It means toy manufacturers have all but weaponised marketing/propaganda and children are especially susceptible.
When exactly does it switch over to be weaponized? What is the line?
South Park pretty much nailed it in the chinpokomon episode
Probably the same parents that buy their kids GTA and then complain games are too violent. They just don’t care that much to look into what their kids like.
Really? Your parents never bought you worthless junk meant to be throw away like fart putty or those rubber bubbles you blow up with a straw that barely work or packs of Pokémon cards or baseball cards?
I don’t think it should be up to the parents to tell the kids what’s valuable to them. If the kid wants a vbucks card over a game then you can tell them that’s why they didn’t get a new game.
(I do recognize that the current monetization models have ruined modern gaming which is why I only play games that are 15 years old or older)
Actually my parents never bought me anything, PERIOD
Crazy stuff. Just brings to mind how many kids are playing fortnite and the like. A lot probably just goes onto skins
I would say ‘no’ on principle. No child of mine will EVER receive virtual currency as a present for Christmas. I would sooner buy them £120 worth of games than even £5 in Robux.
And here my kid wants a tamagotchi for christmas.
whatyearisit.jpg
And my kid wants a fingerboard. What’s next, pogs?
Oof.
Society peaked in 1999 and no one can tell me different.
there was no fortnite in 1999 tho 🥺
…and the world was a better place for it.
Fun fact: On December 31st, 1999 at 11:59 myself and my cousin were sitting in my bedroom playing the first Medal of Honor.
sad panda
Help us European Union, you’re our only hope.
I didn’t see a link to the survey in the article so I found it on the ESA website.
The survey says that 58% of kids want games, but it doesn’t seem to specify what percentage of kids want in-game currency?; it simply says that in-game currency is one of the top five video-game related requests, at 43%. But 43% of what? 43% of kids who want games? It’s not specific, which would make the news article meaningless.
Very environment friendly:)
I worry about how I would raise a child in this landscape. Two of the people I know with kids, the kids don’t care about video games. One of the kids is super into iPad games, and that feels like a haazrd brewing.
Maybe I’d try to stick to real games for any child I was responsible for, but I don’t think that would survive impact with peers.
