Gambling has nothing to do with gaming. And those ”games“ are just dopamine ticklers. They are like the South Park game “heroine hero“ youtu.be/w6tyKwEdpP4(Sadly a YouTube link, because I am very lazy and this was the first one that satisfied me)
The only type of gambling in games I like is like in ”a hat in time“ where you have a finite number of stuff you can get out of the gatcha machine and much more of the credits it needs.
What this article doesn’t mention and I really don’t see talked about often is how a lot of these ftp games are also designed to mimic elements of slot machines with the graphics and overall user experience. The bright colors, clinking sounds, big text popping up saying you did great, the animations added with a little more dazzle and it’s all made to be very overwhelming on your senses.
THAT is the foundation of the games, step one, to keep you playing. Watch those ads and maybe spend money. The rest of it is targeting whales Frankly I hate this shit it makes me feel like I’m being treated as if I’m a child.
An early win is a well-documented technique known among gambling researchers and clinicians as a catalyst for addictive play, because it creates an early dopamine hit that gamblers are then eager to recreate, even as their subsequent losses mount.
You meant to say “Because it tricks someone into believing the continuing experience has more value than it does.”
I agree with the premise of the article, but the overuse of “dopamine” to explain predatory commercial behavior is exhausting. Your brain does stuff when you experience stuff. Dopamine isn’t some evil drug that you GeT a hIT oF. 90% of the time I see the dopamine used to describe some phenomenon, it is literally just a worse, more pretentious and sciency-sounding way to explain it. Like trying to describe how microsoft excel works to someone by describing semiconductors.
I remember more than a decade ago when (because popular things are evil) online articles were preaching the dangers of World of Warcraft vanilla, a game with a fixed subscription cost and no way to monetize big spenders. “When you level up there’s a big gold explosion, that’s to help with the DOPAMINE release and keep you HOOKED on your MMO DRUG.” Jesus christ people, it’s just strong visual design that made people feel accomplished.
These games are different, of course. They are predatory. But you don’t get closer to understanding why these tactics are effective by pretending you’re a neuroscientist talking about some highly objective medical phenomenon.
And before I get accused of being uneducated or disrespecting science, I’m a published researcher in cognition and cognitive neuroscience. I don’t have a phd because I left the field sick of a lot of the same fakeness I’m complaining about now.
Non consentual gambling should be completely banned. Any games that have gambling should have the same scary labelling which cigarettes have in Europe.
Advertising and streaming games with gambling should also be illegal given how addictive and damaging it is.
It seems to be way more predatory than I thought. It is sad to see what is supposed to be relaxing and fun, converted in addiction and financial issues.
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