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‘No way out’: how video games use tricks from gambling to attract big spenders
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 22 Jul 2023
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Technology
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It's been true for a long time. Even long before the lootbox era.
Look at WoW. It was one of the biggest games in the world for the longest time. Randomized loot drops after a boss is very like a slot-machine and addictive, and you had to pay monthly to keep playing.
They've discovered that making people pay for each pull of the slot machine is more profitable. But the tactics and design have been around for a while.
Yeah, but WoW wasn't as incentivized to make the game addictive as freemium games are. WoW is trying to make the game addictive enough to keep repeat customers. These freemium games are trying to make the game addictive enough so that big spenders will drop a grand.