I don't expect absolute best practice from any part of our economy, they are businesses not paragons of virtue, but the gaming industry since cash shops started have consistently steered to worst practice. The evolution of cash shops and DLC into GaaS and Live has just made matters worse. But as always it does not stop here, it will only get worse, unless players and/or governments do something gaming companies are not going to suddenly decided they need to do better.
Some have. Capcom has decided to never use loot boxes, and scoffs at them.
That's a good stance to take, but there is more gambling in games than loot boxes and does Capcom do online games? As a solely PC gamer I don't know the company that well only played a few single player games.
I don't expect absolute best practice from any part of our economy, they are businesses not paragons of virtue, but the gaming industry since cash shops started have consistently steered to worst practice. The evolution of cash shops and DLC into GaaS and Live has just made matters worse. But as always it does not stop here, it will only get worse, unless players and/or governments do something gaming companies are not going to suddenly decided they need to do better.
Some have. Capcom has decided to never use loot boxes, and scoffs at them.
That's a good stance to take, but there is more gambling in games than loot boxes and does Capcom do online games? As a solely PC gamer I don't know the company that well only played a few single player games.
Capcom, KOEI Tecmo, and XSEED are three publishers that mostly do DLC and microtransactions instead of rng blind box sales (loot crates). As a generalization I think it's fair to say this is a common approach for Japanese publishers. Their DLC can be extensive and expensive, but at least are fairly straight forward and mostly cosmetic in nature. Again, it's a generalization and I'm sure there are exceptions but overall that is their business model.
So the West's gaming companies need to learn fair practise from the Japanese. I don't mind expensive dlc's, you get the dlc, you don't gamble for part of one.
I don't expect absolute best practice from any part of our economy, they are businesses not paragons of virtue, but the gaming industry since cash shops started have consistently steered to worst practice. The evolution of cash shops and DLC into GaaS and Live has just made matters worse. But as always it does not stop here, it will only get worse, unless players and/or governments do something gaming companies are not going to suddenly decided they need to do better.
Some have. Capcom has decided to never use loot boxes, and scoffs at them.
That's a good stance to take, but there is more gambling in games than loot boxes and does Capcom do online games? As a solely PC gamer I don't know the company that well only played a few single player games.
Capcom, KOEI Tecmo, and XSEED are three publishers that mostly do DLC and microtransactions instead of rng blind box sales (loot crates). As a generalization I think it's fair to say this is a common approach for Japanese publishers. Their DLC can be extensive and expensive, but at least are fairly straight forward and mostly cosmetic in nature. Again, it's a generalization and I'm sure there are exceptions but overall that is their business model.
RNG mechanics are so widely used in Japan that the term "gacha" comes from Japanese.
They've got all kinds of publishers there, just like we have here in the west.
It shouldn't come as a surprise. The AAA companies have large teams specifically tasked with modeling and shifting player behaviour. It's awkward their stance is "We don't think like that at all." while pumping out patent after patent on exactly that.
Taking a step back, I think it's a broader cultural issue. The Western countries are heavily built on marketing and the USA especially so. Marketing is engrained in the core principles of how the societies run.
The difference today is that the technology supports marketing on an unprecedented personal level. The data companies hold extremely detailed profiles on people, plus games allow for shaping the product/messaging in real time (e.g. showing you a different screen based on what it thinks you're thinking).
It is questionable to what extent the user has free choice as a result. You can design incredibly precise user experience pipelines - e.g. knowing the user will play a gacha mode in X% of cases if you show them thing Y while they are showing behaviour Z.
Games happen to be (unfortunately) incredibly well positioned to exploit these systems to their fullest. And EA / Activision seem to be leading the charge. Working tangentially to this (I design user experiences in mental health - mainly with the goal of making the person feel better), I occasionally bump into people from other industries. I know for a fact that people in brick and mortar industries (e.g. supermarkets / fast food) have been salivating at what's happening in gaming and online retail. Significant resources are being invested into making real-time advertising a thing in stores. For example, showing specific versions of fast food menus based on what the camera detects from a person.
I'd be curious what people think about this as a general societal shift. Is marketing so off the rails today that it requires fundamental rethink/reform, or it is just an inevitable future we're headed for?
It shouldn't come as a surprise. The AAA companies have large teams specifically tasked with modeling and shifting player behaviour. It's awkward their stance is "We don't think like that at all." while pumping out patent after patent on exactly that.
Taking a step back, I think it's a broader cultural issue. The Western countries are heavily built on marketing and the USA especially so. Marketing is engrained in the core principles of how the societies run.
The difference today is that the technology supports marketing on an unprecedented personal level. The data companies hold extremely detailed profiles on people, plus games allow for shaping the product/messaging in real time (e.g. showing you a different screen based on what it thinks you're thinking).
It is questionable to what extent the user has free choice as a result. You can design incredibly precise user experience pipelines - e.g. knowing the user will play a gacha mode in X% of cases if you show them thing Y while they are showing behaviour Z.
Games happen to be (unfortunately) incredibly well positioned to exploit these systems to their fullest. And EA / Activision seem to be leading the charge. Working tangentially to this (I design user experiences in mental health - mainly with the goal of making the person feel better), I occasionally bump into people from other industries. I know for a fact that people in brick and mortar industries (e.g. supermarkets / fast food) have been salivating at what's happening in gaming and online retail. Significant resources are being invested into making real-time advertising a thing in stores. For example, showing specific versions of fast food menus based on what the camera detects from a person.
I'd be curious what people think about this as a general societal shift. Is marketing so off the rails today that it requires fundamental rethink/reform, or it is just an inevitable future we're headed for?
Marketing and advertising have developed as technology has developed, since it is obvious that digital and connectivity are a revolution still happening, that surge in development is not ending any time soon.
You are really asking a wider question, technology changes society, can we do anything about it? History shows us we can do relatively little but we can have an impact, however where societies have had the most impact is in the "physical" arena not the digital one. For example it is easier to enforce drivers wearing a seatbelt than it is to enforce internet users to take prudent cautions online. In fact it is almost impossible to enforce, all you can really do is advise.
It is possible that down the line we could have AI's policing the internet, but apart from that I don't see a solution. I can see some kick back from real time advertising in stores, but stores advertise, I can't see people being that bothered about that. As there will be many people in a store say twenty I assume up to twenty ads could be shown and I don't see that as far different from a loop showing ads.
It would be amusing though (sketch alert) to see a woman going into a store, finding she was the only person in there and confronting the staff when the adverts where all about cakes, chocolate and booze.
Forgive my ignorance, for I do not play nor will I ever play a FIFA game, but wtf comes in a FIFA lootbox?
They have a "build your team" mode. You start with a weak team, then buy loot boxes that have better players in them. I haven't played it myself, but I believe the players you get only last e.g. 20 matches. You then have to either find contract extension cards in loot boxes or find the player again.
The really good players are extremely rare, so having even one "star" player in a team could cost you a lot of money. Let alone building an all-star team.
I also vaguely remember there being a mode where you can bet your players and if you lose an online match, the opponent would get your player cards you own. In other words, it's full of incentives to keep you spending to even maintain a team you currently own.
Forgive my ignorance, for I do not play nor will I ever play a FIFA game, but wtf comes in a FIFA lootbox?
They have a "build your team" mode. You start with a weak team, then buy loot boxes that have better players in them. I haven't played it myself, but I believe the players you get only last e.g. 20 matches. You then have to either find contract extension cards in loot boxes or find the player again.
The really good players are extremely rare, so having even one "star" player in a team could cost you a lot of money. Let alone building an all-star team.
I also vaguely remember there being a mode where you can bet your players and if you lose an online match, the opponent would get your player cards you own. In other words, it's full of incentives to keep you spending to even maintain a team you currently own.
That sounds like survival game tactics applied to a MMO, tie that in with a cash shop and voila you have a cash cow. As FIFA came first maybe survival games based some of their gameplay on FIFA?
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Well most casinos will at least give you a free drink while you're gambling.......
They've got all kinds of publishers there, just like we have here in the west.
Taking a step back, I think it's a broader cultural issue. The Western countries are heavily built on marketing and the USA especially so. Marketing is engrained in the core principles of how the societies run.
The difference today is that the technology supports marketing on an unprecedented personal level. The data companies hold extremely detailed profiles on people, plus games allow for shaping the product/messaging in real time (e.g. showing you a different screen based on what it thinks you're thinking).
It is questionable to what extent the user has free choice as a result. You can design incredibly precise user experience pipelines - e.g. knowing the user will play a gacha mode in X% of cases if you show them thing Y while they are showing behaviour Z.
Games happen to be (unfortunately) incredibly well positioned to exploit these systems to their fullest. And EA / Activision seem to be leading the charge. Working tangentially to this (I design user experiences in mental health - mainly with the goal of making the person feel better), I occasionally bump into people from other industries. I know for a fact that people in brick and mortar industries (e.g. supermarkets / fast food) have been salivating at what's happening in gaming and online retail. Significant resources are being invested into making real-time advertising a thing in stores. For example, showing specific versions of fast food menus based on what the camera detects from a person.
I'd be curious what people think about this as a general societal shift. Is marketing so off the rails today that it requires fundamental rethink/reform, or it is just an inevitable future we're headed for?
You are really asking a wider question, technology changes society, can we do anything about it? History shows us we can do relatively little but we can have an impact, however where societies have had the most impact is in the "physical" arena not the digital one. For example it is easier to enforce drivers wearing a seatbelt than it is to enforce internet users to take prudent cautions online. In fact it is almost impossible to enforce, all you can really do is advise.
It is possible that down the line we could have AI's policing the internet, but apart from that I don't see a solution. I can see some kick back from real time advertising in stores, but stores advertise, I can't see people being that bothered about that. As there will be many people in a store say twenty I assume up to twenty ads could be shown and I don't see that as far different from a loop showing ads.
It would be amusing though (sketch alert) to see a woman going into a store, finding she was the only person in there and confronting the staff when the adverts where all about cakes, chocolate and booze.
The really good players are extremely rare, so having even one "star" player in a team could cost you a lot of money. Let alone building an all-star team.
I also vaguely remember there being a mode where you can bet your players and if you lose an online match, the opponent would get your player cards you own. In other words, it's full of incentives to keep you spending to even maintain a team you currently own.